This Yellow Taxi Cab In Which I Ride

I had a blast at the concert last night. (btw: I spelled 'Morissette' right. English Teacher; mmmm-hmmmm.) I love concerts. Which is mostly why I wanted to play guitar in the first place. I wanted to be one of the people on that stage with the lights and the cheering crowd singing along. Being a local-level folk musician is a lot like being a rock star in absolutely no possible way. I could list all the differences, but I came here to blog about the concert, not my ineptitude at being a rock star. Sooo... Mute Math was the opening band. They are a poppy rockish (I'm terrible at labels) foursome from New Orleans. They rocked out. They have a song called Typical , which I've heard on 102.7 and happens to be pretty good. I might have bought a CD at the concert except for that they were 20 dollars and that is about twice as much as a CD full of music is worth (and is a completely different debate for a completely different time). Here are some pictures: The second is tough ...

I'm leaving to see Matchbox Twenty and Alanis Morissette (not enough time to look up the correct spelling of her name) and Mute Math in Albany. I'm leaving in... oh... five minutes. Stephanie has to get something done first and then we are set to go. We hope to get some quick shopping done first and then have enough time to hang around the Times Union Center with the intent of meeting one or more of the members of the aforementioned bands before the show. It's happened before. We met Rob Thomas. Jewel said "hi guys" to us. I've also met the band Tonic and the two guitarists from Matchbox Twenty a very long time ago. I've met some other lesser known musicans too, but I can't really remember them all. I'm going to sneak a camera in (though, our seats aren't great). Even so, tomorrow, I hope to have a great blogging to do about tonight. Wish me luck.

I haven't blogged in forever! Well, over a week anyway... I've tried to sit down and do this a couple of times, but I just didn't have the energy. Well, I'm energized now (a little). I played at MochaBlend on Saturday (which is the biggest music related news this blog has seen in some time). The crowd was sparse, but for a cafe gig it was appropriate. It was snowy out and the roads were nasty, so the fact that there was a crowd at all was fantastic! Also, they listened! Yay! And I played quite well. Overall, I am very pleased with my performance. I didn't do a set list, but I later jotted down most of the songs that I played in something that is close to the order in which they were played. Here they are: Road to Nowhere Jessie Passenger Until I fall Away Rainbow Connection Sink or Swim Frozen Ring of Fire Behold! The Knight Falling Slowly Endless Walking; Standing Still Red Shift Phila St. Serenade House of the Rising Sun Crayons ... I think I forgot one or two... ...

Erghhh... I hate practicing with my sound system at home. There isn't a room in my house that's big enough to require the use a sound system. Which makes me sound like crap, which makes me hate music. So, that's where I am right now. I'm ready to quit music forever. I probably won't... but I'm ready to. Anyways, I didn't blog about Lena's last Thursday because Saturday, my usual time for journaling, was a busy day and I didn't get to it. Sunday was equally as busy. As was, Monday and Tuesday. So, here is a quick blog about what I can remember happening on Thursday through now. At Lena's I played Walking; Standing Still and What's Up by the Four Non-Blondes. People sang along. It was fun. I sounded like crap. For some reason I had high anxiety and was feeling whatever the opposite of wanting to be around people feels like. I hid in the back room for much of the night. I didn't take any pictures. I don't remember what anyone else play...

I finished reading the last book in the Harry Potter series today. Wow. What a long strange journey it's been. I started reading in August and have been immersed in it ever since. Somewhere in the midst of book 4 or 5 I was beginning to wish that I hadn't decided to read the entire series straight through. But, because I had started, I couldn't finish. Now that I finished, I feel like I need to take some time to take it all in. I mean, I didn't stop in between books to discuss or relax or read something else. When I finished book six at eleven o'clock one night, I instantly went to the book shelf and exchanged it for book seven. And I started reading. Now I'm overwhelmed. I have seven books worth of adventures and things going through my head. I'm sad because a lot of good characters died (unnecessarily, at times). I'm also sad because it's all over (book separation anxiety -- if it's not a real term, then I totally invented it, because it is tot...

This past week at open mic, I hosted... um... adequately. I received compliments on my hosting... so, it couldn't have been that bad... even though, it felt like I was doing a terrible job. Still, the night as a whole was definitely out of the ordinary. This is true for a variety of reasons. Firstly, I was hosting. Secondly, we had drunks in the audience (one of which started to yell at another for no apparent reason). Thirdly, I broke my capo (right when I went to put it on my guitar while on stage). The list: My broken capo: ------ On Friday, my friends and I went cruising for chicks (for my friend, Bill). We drove to Saratoga and ate at Panera Bread, which was quite funny because normally we are pizza and wings guys on Friday Nights. We referred to ourselves as 'civilized.' Actually, we did a lot of things that I typically do when I leave the house, but don't usually do with my friends. First, however, we went to downtown Saratoga and walked to Backstreet Billiards (...

Last night, Stephanie and I saw Simple Theory (Maurizio and Brittany) at Mochablend. Wow. Firstly, they have a great sound set up. I'm envious. Secondly, Brittany has an absolutely awesome voice. Thirdly, they were more entertaining than a typical coffee house/cafe performer typically is (typical/typically -- I did that on purpose). I've always thought of Maurizio as being better than most; he's quite captivating. Now that he is playing with Brittany... they are just on the next level. Here are some pictures: I tried to take an artsy-ish picture by getting the candle light in the shot... it didn't really work out... (ps-that is a root beer bottle on the right) Unfortunately, the lights were low for ambiance, which is not good for Razr camera phones. This is a hot chocolate. I love the cup, and the foam is incredibly awesome! The great sound set up, and being at Mochablend, has prompted me to *gasp* actually work on my own sound. I have been at it for an hour or so and I...

I played Lena's open mic this past Thursday, as usual. I played a new song called, Frozen . I've talked about it before. I had to cheat (as in: bring a sheet of paper with the words on it up to the stage with me). I tried to look away from the sheet as often as possible, because I do know most of the words... but when you debut a song, you need that safety net. Or, at least, I do. I also played Passenger . It was a fairly big crowd of newbies, or non-regulars, which was cool. ----- I have gotten back into reading. I left off half way through the 6th Harry Potter book some time in December. I was sick and so I stopped. Then, it was the holiday and I was busy. It feels good to be reading again. I did three chapters last night. So, to recap: I've written a song, I'm reading, I have a gig coming up in February... life seems to be rather typical at the moment. Which isn't to say that life has been untypical. It's just that some times I get caught up in other things a...

My friend, Justin, received a Playstation 3 for Christmas. He brought it over last night and we basked in all of its glorious graphic clarity. Although, there aren't a lot of multi-player games, which -- for me -- makes the thing worthless, because I pretty much only play video games nowadays when friends are around. True, Assassin's Creed -- one of the games Justin brought -- was so life-like and so endearing that I could have just sat there and watched him play it for hours. We did play a fighter pilot game that was two players. To move your plane, you had to tilt the controller. I flat-out sucked (but, then I have never been able to get a handle on plane flying games). Here is a picture of my friend, Bill, tilting and exhibiting pure concentration. -------- Caffe Lena on Thursday (in pictures): Chris O'Brien, who comes to open mic when he is home from school, and has a wonderful voice and very contemporary style. Ray Pashoukos, who was the host for the night. Frank and ...

... same... (I think I posted the exact same title/intro last year... except I may have swore then...) It's been a little bit of a while since I last blogged, which means that Stephanie hasn't learned anything about my life in that time. Or so she'll say. I haven't really been up to much, except celebrating Christmas three times, having parties of which some people have attended, and "celebrating" the New Year by watching Law and Order reruns until 11:59 -- at which point I changed the channel and watched a giant ball of lights slowly descend a very long pole to the counting down of thousands of people in New York City and Dick Clark (who, by the way, makes me want to cry each year when I see him). I got a lot of cool gifts for Christmas/my birthday (they are the same day, after all). To name a few such gifts: a Neil Gaiman graphic novel, pajamas, the Traveling Wilburys CD/DVD set, a Bob Dylan 3 CD set, a Jeff Tweedy concert on DVD, an indie film called Once ...

Christmas party last night at my place. We stayed up late. Had a great time. I've taken two naps today so far. One game that we played (and had played 5 or so times the night before) is called Apples to Apples . I recommend it. It's a great English teacher game in which the two most important parts of it are nouns and adjectives. I won't get into too much detail (as I feel a third nap coming on), but you must all beware of colorful ninjas... and play Apples to Apples .

It's 6:45am as I start to type this (no doubt, I'll finish much later as I certainly tend to ramble... and proof read). It's Saturday and it's still dark out. For some reason the combination of being awake on a Saturday morning while it's dark out is incomprehensible. I set my alarm last night for 9:00... So, I went to Lena's on Thursday, as usual. I sucked. For some reason my legs were wobbly and I couldn't get myself to stop thinking about it. My voice wasn't quite where it should be either. I played Christmas Time by Bryan Adams and Passenger . Some pictures were taken, but I haven't taken them off of the phones that they were taken with, so... I'll just talk about it and post the pictures later. Besides sucking, the night was pretty melancholy-ish. I don't know why. Maybe it was the stillness of winter. Maybe it was the fact that I decided to wear a Santa hat, which I regretted as I felt very silly. I got heckled on stage. There were mar...

I recently purchased a pocket notebook and a very small pen -- which, incidentally, cost about four times as much as a regular pen -- so that I can write lyrics, thoughts, etc, when such things come to me without having to wait until I can get to a computer or non-pocket notebook. I have been carrying it around with me for a while now and have started to use it more routinely. I'm actually (and finally) writing a song. Here follows some other things I wrote about: 12/12 Went to Jitters Cafe open mic. Played "Road to Nowhere" and messed up the lyrics, "Endless," and "Christmas Time" by Bryan Adams. Phil Drum was given a birthday cake complete with candle; age jokes ensued. Found out from a reliable source that Phil spends "all his free time" on myspace and youtube. Rainman played Christmas songs. Lisa K. covered "When the Stars go Blue" by Ryan Adams. 12/13 Drove home during a snow storm. A plow passed over a bridge as I passed under...

I haven't taken any interesting pictures lately, so I haven't had anything to post. I have also been quite sick (sinus infection) and had to miss the open mic this past week. I did, however, attend Victoria Bouffard's show at Fulton Books on Friday. She played quite well and did most of my favorites of her originals. She also did the one (cover) about watching cartoons and having a better view of the moon if your house burns down. Can't remember the name of it, or who it is by though. Fulton Books is an interesting place to see shows. The lights are off and the stage is lit up, which is cool, and people listen. But, it is eerily quiet. It must be all of the books on the shelves or something, but there is no depth to the sound. Even the sound coming from the amplified PA is sucked from the room. It's like playing in a vacuum... which -- oddly -- isn't exactly bad... it's just different. I'm sure some musicians/bands sound better in such an environment, wh...

I got to host the open mic/mike at Lena's last night. Firstly, it was quite a wonderful open mic. There were a lot of great performers. It was one of those nights where each performer transitions into the next seamlessly, like you are watching one long performance instead of many little ones. Everyone played and sounded wonderfully; it was a great evening of music. The crowd was rather small, but it was a good crowd of mostly musicians. And it was an appreciative crowd that really listened to each performer. It was a great night. What can I say about my hosting? I opened with a joke (how do you catch an elephant? dig a hole. fill it with ashes. put peas around it. when an elephant comes to take a pea, kick him in the ash hole). I snapped gum in the microphone (unintentionally, of course). I stuttered, sputtered, tripped over my tongue, and showcased various other "talents" of along the same lines. I took some pics of performers: Phil Drum. (who also played with Dave Schef...

It doesn't really feel like holiday time to me. It should -- being that today is the Friday after Thanksgiving and many people (though, not me. never in a million...) are shopping. I had a wonderful feast last night that consisted of the usual Thanksgiving food things and took pictures of a mini village (you know, those little porcelain houses that have lights in them and are only seen around the holidays). But, I'm holiday cheerless. I'm fairly certain that this is because all of the holiday traditions that were prominent in my family have diminished up to a few years ago when they simply became no more. True -- new traditions have developed... but there is the lingering melancholy associated with the loss of the old ones. And, this year, I can't break it. I'm looking forward to the weekend before Christmas when my brother and his wife come in from New Hampshire, and we have dinner with my dad and his wife at their place 45 minutes from here, and what is left of ou...

Yesterday, I came home from work to find this: (if you require a better description: it is a pile of leaves -- at least three feet high with about a five foot diameter -- in front of my drive way... which meant I parked in the street, got a shovel and a metal rake, spent about an hour shoveling/raking/pushing/pulling leaves to the side, and THEN pulled in my driveway.) I have no idea why the leaves were there. They weren't blown there or accidentally moved there by an unsuspecting driver. They were pushed there on purpose. I called the city and they said that there was no leaf pick up going on in my area. So, it wasn't their fault. The police wondered why I wanted to report it. Figures. I'm baffled. And my back hurts. And whoever did it deserves... well, I'll let you pick their fate. ------- After shoveling/raking/pushing/pulling, I rested for a bit, changed and went to Lena's. It was a wonderful night at open mic. I had a nice conversation with Kyle Carey about how...