This Yellow Taxi Cab In Which I Ride

Tonight I decided I would take a walk. Once I had my sneakers on and my hoodie zipped up, I decided I would walk some place that had ice cream. That some place turned out to be Stewart's and the ice cream that I got was cookies and cream. On my way home, which was a different way than my way there, I realized something about my town: it feels like a different town when you are walking it than when you are driving it. In fact, I felt like I was in some one else's town and the people in cars that drove by were people who didn't live in my town and who most certainly didn't know me. It was an odd feeling and the ice cream melted quicker than I thought it would. Interestingly enough, I developed my thoughts about being a stranger in my own town after running into a friend and her tiny, cute dog at Stewart's. So strange that you can go from having a conversation with someone you know to feeling like you are some place other than the place that you've lived for the pa...

Everyone should be forced to work on Labor Day. Then, we should have every other day of the year off... right? Wouldn't that make more sense? I have a three day weekend because of "Labor" day... Regular everyday stuff confuses me. Currently, I am in Uncommon Grounds on Broadway in Saratoga. Had a late lunch. Wandered around a bit. Read. Played FarmVille on facebook. My plan is to go to Gaffney's at 9 to see Bluesology play. I have a few more hours to read or type or whatever. I had a rather horrid day at work yesterday. It was the first really bad day that I've had since working this job, which I have been working for one month short of a full year. I suppose that it is a good percentage of good days to bad ones. My co-workers were incredibly supportive and stopped what they were doing to lend an ear or some advice on how to deal with the situation that was making my dad horrid. I'm really glad for the support and companionship that was offered. Otherwise, the...

I'm at Uncommon Grounds on Sunday. Earlier today, I went to the track. I went with 40 dollars to spend on making bets. I cashed out with 18. So, consider the cost of getting in, the hot dog, the pretzel, the water, and the parade magazine, the whole day was a break-even kind of day. Since I didn't spend anything for five hours worth of entertainment (and excitement: I actually hit TWO superfectas and a trifecta!!! Too bad they were on tiny bets. Rather, I spent a lot on various bets), I've decided to see the Honeycutters play at Caffe Lena tonight. The Honeycutters are based out of South Carolina (I believe) and are fronted by a former Caffe Lena regular, Amanda Platt. Last time I saw Amanda play, she played with the lead guitarist of her band at open mic... maybe... a year and a half ago. She sounded amazing. She well-rounded in her playing and confidence, as oppossed to the rougher and less-confident Amanda that I remembered from open mic's passed. I'm interested ...

I'm walking in saratoga. And texting at the same tome (time... Damn it). On my way to the track. First and probably last time this year. Stopped off at the hat store. Tried some on. Like my current hat best. Bought a new feather for it though. Sucked the old one up in a vaccuum long ago. Here is a pic of the new feather. The old one had more color to it (red and yellow) but this one will do. Stuck a Feather

I hate ragweed. On my way to work every day, I pass this house where there is some ragweed growing in the side yard. Every day, I silently curse this person and swear to return with a flame thrower... At the moment, my allergies aren't bothering me too much. I took sudafed, allegra, clariton, flonase, and astelin. I was in bad shape at work and decided to take some sick time. That's when I came home and popped the sudafed, took a nap, and am now feeling better. People at work explained that the weather was shifting and that could also be a partial cause to my earlier discomfort. My hope is that I am in decent shape for Saturday's famer's market gig... I haven't been practicing because of the allergy problems I've been having, but I have continued playing at open mic. This past week, I played I'm Alive by Jackson Browne. I will probably play that song again this week because my mom is going to be there and she is a big Jackson Browne fan. Not a lot else to b...

On break at work. Cleaning out the camera part of my phone. While in New York City a week and a half ago, i took a quick picture of Mickey Mouse. After snapping the pic, I walked around the corner and was surprised to see... Another Mickey Mouse!! Shouldn't they have gotten together and picked different corners?? Random

Sitting in Grand Central Station. Train leaves in 15 mins. It seems too early to be heading home. My legs, dead tired from all the walking, are making the decision for me. I had a good time shopping in the city. Bought a sweet, hip sweater, and a sexy pea coat. I'll be a slammin' hottie this winter for sure. Saw an interesting ad on a bus: 'Learn English Today. Call 1-800-ENGLISH' and there was a picture of an Asain girl smiling... I had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe -- of course -- and bought two guitar pins for my awesome collection. I should take a picture of the collection and post it... There was also a picture taken of me at the Hard Rock Cafe standing near one of Bob Dylan's old guitars. I'll post that soon enough. For now, a self-taken photo in front of a neon sign: What I Did in New York City.

I had a very late night last night and a very strange dream some time after going to sleep. If anyone has any skill (or not) at analyzing dreams, please take a shot at this one: In the dream, I had just gotten a new job in a busy office area. I have no idea what the job was, but I met many people who worked there (some were people that I actually know). On my first day, I met one young woman who worked there. Her name was Regina Spektor. I kept trying to talk to her and she didn't seem to want to talk to me. At the end of the work day, we walked out of the office together and stopped at her van. She needed a plastic bag to put some stuff in and, so, I went to find one. I returned later (not sure where I had gone) bruised and bloody with torn clothes. Regina hugged me tightly for a moment and pulled away. I wouldn't let go of her. She gave me a weird look and broke away, got in her van. As she started the van and pulled away, I told her that she had a nice body. Later that night...

I'll be heading out in a little bit to attend a friend's end of summer BBQ. Haven't seen the friend in a while. Glad to be invited. A little bit ago, I mowed the lawn. As I was just getting started, I noticed my neighbor with a camera in his backyard. Then I noticed a while string that ran the length of his property. He started moving his mouth (The lawn mower was loud and I had headphones in, mp3 player blasting). I shut off the lawn mower and took out my headphones. He explained that he was considering putting a fence up, which would segregate our backyards. His purpose for the fence was not to separate us (or make him more like Wilson from Home Improvement ). Rather, he is getting old and has cancer and is attempting to make his yard care easier. You see, I have three GINORMOUS (to borrow a hip-high-school-age-kid's word) pine trees in my backyard and they shed pine needles like mad in the fall. My neighbor always cleans them up out of his backyard in the spring so t...

Life is actually full of pleasant surprises. They await in hiding for the right time to jump out at you and make your feelings of unpleasantness disappear. Sometimes, the result is a moment . Moments are more than just moments (note the lack of italics). Moments are little pieces of happenings that occur in your life that you keep with you forever. If you carried around a little jar, you could put moments in it and then them out whenever you wanted to and relive it. What makes a moment different from a moment (besides the italics) is that moments happen when you least expect them to. This past Friday, I went to see Jackson Browne with my dad -- who is a big Jackson Browne fan. I remember hearing most of the songs he played Friday when I was younger. The concert was really quite great and I had a great time. I ran into a friend from a while back, who -- randomly -- was sitting two seats down from me. It was a pleasant surprise. I took a bunch of pictures: Anot...

I'm blogging from my phone. Yes. I got it fixed with Sprint thanks to a customer service person who could actually provide me with service. I'm at crossgates. Waiting for Harry Potter to start. We ate dinner at Panera Bread, except for there wasn't any bread. Again. I often order soup in a bread bowl. Broccoli chedder soup. I love bread and I totally love cheese, which makes broccoli chedder soup in a bread bowl a tasty dinner. However, the last four trips to Panera have ended with me being grumbley because they ';are out of bread bowls.'; As far as I'm concerned, Panera is 0 for 4 and might as well change their sign to Panera Bowls. Panera Bowls

It's been a very crazy week for me at work. With short deadlines and crises rising every minute, I was quite stressed by the time it got to be Thursday night (Open Mic Night!). Typically, I look forward to Thursdays rather than Fridays. There is nothing more refreshing that a relaxing night at Caffe Lena's Open mic. Which makes Fridays a breeze and then it's the weekend. This past Thursday, however, was incredibly hectic at open mic. We had 28 performers on the list, which meant we had to cut down to a one-song night -- which sucks for multiple reasons: 1) the musician only gets to play one song. 2) the host has to run back up the stage every four or five minutes and doesn't get to sit down long enough to relax. And 3) more people on the list, means more people at Caffe, which makes the place quite crowded. I hosted. And I felt like I was running around like a crazy person the whole night. The crowded-ness didn't help either. I get a little anxious in crowded areas....

I have still been unable to blog from my phone... I'm going to contact Sprint's customer disservice department later today, I think, and attempt complaining again. Currently, it's a little after noon, and I have only just woken up a little bit ago. I had some wicked strange dreams (I was a prosecutor on a cruise ship that sails black seas under blacker skies? I helped two girls that I liked back in middle school get out of some kind of trouble...). I am incredibly tired... my body is telling me that I worked too hard yesterday, playing at the Farmer's Market in Gloversville. I played for three hours straight! No breaks. There was a steady flow of people, so I didn't want to stop and miss my chance to sell a CD or pick up a tip. I had a great time playing and I did pick up quite a bit in tips. I also came home with a loaf of bread (which is delicious, by the way), that was given to me as a tip from the guy who makes his own bread. I had a couple of weird experiences ...

When I was 18 or so, I unofficially made a list of things I wanted to do before I die. I didn't write these things down (thus, the unofficialness) and, so, I have no record other than my vague memory of making the list to go on. I don't recall how many items there were on the list, but they ranged from really ridiculous things (like: learn to rollerblade backwards) to things that are really totally, super-ridiculous and probably wouldn't ever happen anyway (like: marry Winona Ryder). My 18 year old self was a much different person than my current self, but we share many similarities (like: ridiculous sense of humour and slight inability to take life too seriously). Yesterday, I accomplished one of the items on my list. In the late 90s (when I was 18 -- yes, you can do the math), I was a huge fan of the Wallflowers. 6th Avenue Heartache hit a note the first time I heard the intro. My dad gave me their CD (wait, I think it was a cassette first...), because he worked for ...

Sprint is being uncooperative and has decided to take away my picture mailing privileges, which means I can't blog from cell phone. I'm quite perturbed by this, especially since I am paying for unlimited picture mail capabilities. The issue is that, even though I am paying for unlimited picture mail, I am not paying for unlimited data usage. It doesn't make sense to me either. I plan on trying to work it out with their customer disservice department so that I can have my unlimited picture mail back without paying extra for it. In the mean time, I have to post pictures and blog the old fashion way. Lena's this past Thursday was a great night as usual. It was one of those summer days where you felt like you could stay up all night. Maybe that was because I had Friday off from work for the holiday. I played Passenger and God Says Nothing Back by the Wallflowers. I took a picture of the facade with the new guitar lights and tried to send it via picture mail to the blog. I...

A quick posting here with two videos at the bottom. They are two parts, and as a whole make up the final episode of Inside the Open Mic , my video series. It is a two parter because it features myself and I am long-winded and ramble. Toward the end, there is a song about peanut butter... If you've missed any episodes of the series, or want to go back and watch one you liked, there is a video player located at www.jamesfrederick.net/inside.shtml that contains all of the episodes. Or go to YouTube and type in "Inside the Open Mic" and you'll find them all. Enjoy!

Open mic was incredibly crowded this past Thursday. I got picked late in the drawing, but miraculously the first slot was still open. So, I played first -- well, first after the host Kate Blain played one of her own. I played Walking; Standing Still and Walls by Tom Petty. I love Walls . I wish I had learned it sooner. I received a good response from the huge crowd. The following day, I brought my guitar to a training for my job. It was the the third day of the training and I was beginning to build some rapport with the people that I sat near. During one break, I played a couple tunes, one of which was Passenger . After the song, one of the trainees said, "Do you mind if I make a comment on the song?" I said, "no" and she went on to say that I must have been really depressed when I wrote the song. I don't remember her exact words, but she talked about parts of the song and the feeling that she got from it. I was pretty excited that she totally "got" ...

Intermission. So, here are a few pics of David performing. Sounds great! Your missing an excellent show. Getting to hear some songs I've never heard him play, including the Tom Waits version of 'Down Town Train.' Pics From Caffe Lena 6/24

I'm writing from Caffe Lena. David Fey is playing the emerging artist series and I am here to listen. I'm mostly sitting alone, except that Rik Kent is sitting nearby with Laura his girlfriend. I was also introduced to some of David's family and had a nice conversation about live music with two live music lovers. Before coming here, I ate dinner (leftover Panera) at Uncommon Grounds and checked my facebook. Which, by the way, still drives me insane with its non-compatability... After dinner, I stopped at Borders and bought Pete Yorn's new CD. I also looked at every book in the fantasy section before buying Mostly Harmless, the last Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy book. And the show is starting, so... David Fey at Caffe Lena 6/24

It's the 21st and I haven't done a true blog since the 14th. In between I posted a couple pictures with words from my cell phone. A true entry, however, is now due. Even so, I don't really have a whole lot to post about. I covered open mic from the open mic. I didn't do anything Friday night because the friends I typically get together with on Friday both had lousy excuses, but excuses non-the-less ("It was a long day at work and I have a headache" and "there is chick involved"). Saturday was a family gathering on Stephanie's side. I became a jungle gym for a period of time as a nephew and second cousin of Stephanie's crawled all over me in acrobatic-like ways. I also watched a lot of Dora the Explorer and was referred to "anti-social" at one point for hanging out where there were cartoons instead of where there were people socializing. This morning I went out to eat with Stephanie, her brother and his family, and their parents for ...