This Yellow Taxi Cab In Which I Ride

I have had a rather busy day today. I woke up and had some Fruity Pebbles. Then, my dad came over and I helped him move a whole bunch of stuff that is his and his wife's from my house to the Uhaul that he rented. He drove off and I moved a couple things around to make use of the new space in my house. Then I did some recording! Yeah. Things seem to be working pretty well with the new mic. My voice sounds froggy today and so the demos I did are not going to be heard by anyone but me. Still, I feel good about what I can do with the mic and the software and I'll be working at it again soon enough. After the recording, I took a nap. Now, I'm typing a quick blog before dinner and doing-nothing-until-bed-time. Here is a scan of the list of performers from this past open mic. I hosted. It was a longish list, so I kind of went fast and tried to keep the long-winded jokes to a minimum. It was a great night and there were a lot of great performances. Mike Gowans, for instance, is inc...

Thursday I went to the Best Buy where I had gotten my USB condenser mic. I returned the $!*#&$ thing because the recordings were coming out distorted. I attempted the tech support thing and was getting nowhere, so it went back to the store. I couldn't get my money back. They gave me store credit. I bought the one other USB condenser mic that they sell there. It's a Samson. It came with Cakewalk Sonar LE. It seems to be working. What I'm disappointed about, however, is that the Sessions software that had come with M-Audio mic that I returned had had some nice presets for reverb and compression -- two things that I cannot figure out which way to dial the nobs for to get the sound I want. Which is why I liked the presets in Sessions. The presets in the new software are not so great. I'll have to play around with them (which sucks because I just don't have the amount of time I'd like to have to be able to fool around with things that I don't really know what...

An interesting situation I was involved in tonight. Driving back from somewhere (I had gotten there by Stephanie's directions; being that it was in the middle of nowhere, I had no idea what the town was, what the place we were was called, etc.), we came across four police cars -- two on each side of the street -- and six or seven police officers standing in the middle of the road. They were stopping cars. Checking registration stickers, breath, etc. I stopped the car, rolled down the window. "Hello." I said. The officer leaned in close through the window, shinning his flashlight. "Where are coming from tonight?" Oh f**k, I thought, I don't even know. It's going to look so bad when I say, "Err... somewhere back that way." I looked at Stephanie and she answered for me. "something, something, senior center," she said. Then I explained to the police officer that we had come from a rehearsal for a scholarship pageant and that he should buy...

This has been a rather taxing week. I have been going to Albany each day for training for my job, which adds about 45 minutes to my commute. Thus, I have been having to get up an entire hour earlier, which after a week takes it toll. Of course, I stayed up late for open mic on Thursday, which made Friday seem even longer. And, since I had been at training all week and returned to my actual job in the afternoon, I had a whole load of work that had piled up and included a few important phone calls that I needed to make ASAP. Which was stressful. Friday night was another late night with Rock Band, which was a great way to release the stress of the week, but lead to me being incredibly tired and quite cranky today. So cranky, in fact, that I'm going to vent a little and probably wish in a few days -- once I'm no longer cranky from lack of sleep -- that I hadn't written what I'm going to write. Inside the Open Mic is the first topic of my vent. I posted an episode on YouTub...

Last night some friends of Stephanie came over to make sushi and tempura and eat it. I have had sushi before, of course, but have never made it myself. It proved to be fun -- five people around a table cutting vegetables, fish, and such, telling stories and making jokes. Particularly, jokes about the possible pronunciation of the wine that we were going to drink. Here is a picture: Friday night was Rock Band 2 (as always). I decided to use some colored light bulbs to make stage lights. I also set up this neon guitar light that I have to add to the ambiance. Some might consider this to be a bit ridiculous. I don't. And Thursday was quite possibly one of the best open mics ever! There was a very long list: 29 performers. I had to make the call that it was a one-song night, but I added that if people stuck around, I would go through the list again and let people play an additional song. There were a lot of great performances throughout the night and about seven or so performers stayed...

This is a very blurry-crappy-cell-phone picture of two people who went to see Coraline in 3D yesterday. The one that looks like me wearing really huge, goofy-looking 3D glasses is, actually, me wearing really huge, goofy-looking 3D glasses. The one that looks like Stephanie not wearing her 3D glasses, is -- actually -- Stephanie refusing to put her 3D glasses on until she is in the dark movie theater where no one can see her wearing 3D glasses because they are rather huge and goofy-looking. We decided that we really enjoyed the movie and, especially, the 3D-ness of it, which surprised me because the last time I saw a 3D movie, I was given paper glasses with one blue "lens" and one red one and I became kind of dizzy watching the movie, trying to balance the focus of my two eyes (if you balance too much on the left eye then there is too much red and the 3D doesn't work right and if you balance too much on the right eye then there is too much blue and the 3D doesn't wor...

The guy who works at the garage where I take my car when it's broken is a nice guy. I can never remember his name (Bill? John?) because every time he calls me and says, "This is ________ from Warren Tire..." my mind always shifts to: don't be too much, don't be too much -- and so I miss his name. Still, he's a good guy and has given me a break on things and offered alternatives and whatnot. I have been taking my car to him for years after being screwed over by the last place that I was going to, so we have developed a rapport and I trust him. Anyway, I left my car at the garage last night because the muffler is falling off. First thing this morning (about 10 minutes after I finally stopped hitting the snooze button and rolled out of bed), he called. Again, I missed his name as I braced for "how much." 400 plus. I need new tires in the front. I knew I was going to need new tires and an alignment. My car seems to lose it's alignment easily. I coul...

There wasn't enough milk this morning for both a bowl of cereal and a hot chocolate. I had a difficult decision to make. On the one hand, hot chocolate is smooth and warm and tasty. Plus you get to sip hot chocolate and you don't have to use a spoon (except for the initial stirring, of course). On the other hand, Fruity Pebbles (yes, I eat a kid's cereal) have a great texture and, obviously, taste "fruity." I opted for the hot chocolate and it was a good decision. I am sipping the warm, smooth drink in between typing and watching the Foo Fighters concert that I DVRd from the High Def music channel. I also DVRd an Oasis concert will most likely watch that tomorrow. I don't know why, but the Foo Fighters have steadily crept up into the fictional top ten list of favorite bands that I pretend I have. Since late last year, I haven't been able to escape the band. The radio stations that I like have played a few of their newer songs and I couldn't help but lo...

I said last time that I would post photos of my dining room if the painting job came out good. The painting did come out good, but the room isn't quite photo-ready yet. We purchased the wrong size blinds for one of the windows (three windows in the room -- two different sizes... go figure), and the curtains need to be shortened (we found great curtains for the room at Bed, Bath, and Beyond and they were on sale and too long). I will post photos. The room really looks a hell of a lot better. Currently, I am in bed. I am enjoying the heated mattress pad, which is on the second level of heating. I believe there are nine or ten levels. I am feeling quite cozily warm on level two and can't imagine what it would feel like if I cranked it up to the highest level. I'm sure it would burn the house down. I'm listening to WEXT 97.7 . Right now, Echoes is on. It's a mellow, mostly instrumental segment. It's very relaxing and, as it turns out, great to blog to. So, is the h...

I'm taking a break from painting (the dining room -- I'll post pictures if it comes out good...). The house smells disgusting... I also smell disgusting. Anyway, there is an article in the Leader Herald (Fulton County's local newspaper) about me and Inside the Open Mic. I know it. Two articles in one month! Craziness. Here is the link: article . I feel like there was something else I was going to say, but what that something else is, I cannot recall. So, I guess that is all for now. Oh -- open mic night. Yes, I often blog about open mic night at Lena's. I have the list of performers folded up right here next to my laptop. The paint fumes must be getting to me (we do have a window open, and a fan going, but not all fumes get sent outside). Well, I will blog about open mic later. Now, I must get back to painting.

Normally on a Saturday (or Sunday as it happens to be), I would be typing away, much like I am now, about my Thursday night at Lena's -- what I played, anything interesting from the night, etc. Unfortunately, however, I didn't attend open mic this past week, because I received a phone call from my dad just as I was about to grab my guitar case and start the car. It was one of those phone calls that stop you from doing whatever it is you were planning on doing and go to see your dad instead. You see, he told me that my uncle Bill had died earlier that day. He was 51 and had a heart attack. My uncle, like most of my dad's side of the family, lived in Florida for much of the time that I knew him. He came to visit often when I was younger and less so as I grew older. We visited him and all Florida family on occasion. The last time I saw him was when he was up with his wife for a ski-trip. That was at least five years ago, if not more. The time that I saw him before that was bac...

It's New Year's Day. And this posting is going to be a predictable thinking-about-the-past-year type of posting. It can't be helped. I just re-read my posting on this day last year . I was surprised by what I read. I really wasn't expecting to find any differences between my current self and my last-year self, but I did. I grew, in certain ways. And that is promising. For starters, I was having a lot of trouble last year with my live sound (PA system, reverb, etc.). I had received some pedals for my birthday and I absolutely could not get them to sound right at all. Recently, however, I have had no trouble setting up my live sounds for gigs and, in fact, have been quite pleased and confident with the way my live sound turns out. It feels good to know that I've grown in the past year and am moving in the right direction. Getting better at things is definitely promising. 2008 was a pretty good year for me overall. I worked steadily for the entire year, which is someth...

I wrote a song earlier this year called Lost in Boston . It's not a particularly good song and so I don't play it much. Tonight. I am in Boston. Earlier today, my dad got totally lost and we waited for him to be found for over an hour. At any rate, I'm bored in the hotel room and thought I would quickly put up some pictures that I find to be entertaining to look at. Jenn, Josh, Stephanie, and James not lost in Boston: The same as above, with the exaggerated super hero-hanging-out-in-the-park pose: @ Hard Rock: Stephanie @ Hard Rock: Stephanie at the hotel wearing duck PJs and not giving me back my laptop even though I asked nicely: It's Sunday and I've had a great weekend. Visited my brother in New Hampshire. Opened some gifts. Played some games (Apples to Apples and Cranium Conga). Then came to Boston earlier today to see Jim Brickman in concert (a gift from my dad). He is a great pianist. His instrumentals are soothing and great for relaxing background music. His ...

I was planning on posting the following video on Christmas Day. However, I expect that Christmas Day will be busy with me needing to be at certain places at certain times and available to various people when they want me to available, and as such, I may or not have a free five minutes to do this. So. Please enjoy this song by Aimee Mann. NOTE: I don't particularly like the video, but I love the song. The song is 31 Today and is very appropriate for today for that very reason. That is all. Except for: Merry Christmas!

Not a lot of time to blog. My friends are on their way over (yes, even in the snow storm -- perhaps they are coming by dogsled) with Rock Band 2 -- even after my insistence that I'm sick and won't be able to sing (oh alright, maybe I'll do that song... and, okay that one too... and... ugh... that one too). I wanted to say that last night at Lena's (I didn't play -- too sick), I interviewed Kyle Miller for Inside the Open Mic. And while I did that, I was followed around by a photographer and Brian (the Gazette reporter -- who, earlier this week, had interviewed me about Inside the Open Mic). It was quite odd at first -- being photographed and all -- but I warmed up to it. Brian says that the story will be in the Sunday edition of the Gazette (which more people receive than the weekly edition I can safely assure you since I used to deliver the paper WAY back in the day) some time after the first of the year. I suppose this means I will have to start editing some video...

It is incredibly cold out. Actually, it's incredibly cold inside too... I came home too early and the digital thermostat didn't kick on until about the time I got here, which means that it's only 62 instead of 68. So, I'm sitting on the floor of the bathroom with the laptop on the toilet (seat down, of course) with the space heater on high. (This of course being the most efficient use of the space heater as the space that it is required to heat is smaller here in the bathroom than, say, the kitchen or living room or computer room). Thursday night did not go as planned and the wicked storm that passed through (mostly lots of snow and icey-rain, but LOTS of icey-rain in Saratoga) caused me to postpone the interview for Inside the Open Mic and the interview with the guy from the Gazette. That will be happening this coming Thursday instead. I went Christmas shopping today -- just grabbed a couple things quick for my brother and siter-in-law. Stores and places to eat were w...

I should be going to bed. It's 9:20 and I am usually in bed at this time reading -- especially over the past two weeks in which I have been relentlessly reading The Well of Ascension , which is part two of the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson. I am enthralled by it and I would be reading it now if it wasn't for the fact that I finished the second novel last night. Now, I am jonesing for more and the third novel, which is titled Hero of Ages , is unavailable at my local library and on reserve at Barnes and Noble in Saratoga for me. I'm going to Saratoga tomorrow, which doesn't help me at all for tonight. The other worry is that I am meeting Brian McElhiney from the Schenectady Gazette tomorrow before open mic to be interviewed about my Inside the Open Mic thing and I might not have enough time to go to Barnes and Noble first and pick up the book. I'm hoping the weather will be in my favor. It's supossed to not be in my favor, however -- which is the cause o...

I was driving home from Albany where I was at a training today and I noticed that the moon looked cool. It was a sliver of a moon -- like a fingernail that was clipped and fell on a dark carpet. There were also two stars -- one under and one just to the right of the fingernail moon. It really looked cool in the steadily darkening sky. After arriving home (I wasn't home for more than five minutes) my dad called and reminded me that he likes cool things in the sky (which he very much does -- I often get emails from him about satelites passing by at certain times and planets and such) and told me that there was a very cool looking moon with two lights near it that looked like stars. I stopped him and told him that I saw it and I agreed that it was cool looking. He then explained that the "stars" were actually planets: Jupiter and... (damn, I can't remember what the other one is...). We again agreed that it was cool looking and that was all he really called to talk about....

It's Thanksgiving and I am feeling quite tired from the turkey and the wine. I stuffed myself with mashed potatoes and gravy and pillsbury cresent rolls and it was well worth it. I have taken a little flack for not wanting any pie. I'd rather fill myself with carbs than sweets. I just don't like sweets. I retreated to upstairs after a watching a few episodes of House , which apparently is on a marathon today. Now, the kids and some adults are watching Home Alone while other adults play dominoes at the now empty kitchen table (I was invited but I turned it down). Others are sitting in another room talking about one uncle's recent trip to Russia. I can hear all of their conversations (and the moving ochestral theme song to Home Alone . I'm having trouble enjoying any of this holiday this year. My cousin, Ryan, died two days ago. He lived in New Jersey with my uncle on my mom's side, my aunt, and his two brothers. He was seventeen. He died of brain cancer and I ju...

This has been a very busy week for me. So much so, that I slept until about 11:30 this morning and still feel exhausted. It's a little after 1pm right now and I am eating lunch, which seems to be rejuvenating me. So that's good. Finally. All of the busy-ness started Monday when I checked my email in the morning and found a brief message from Mike Guzzo, who runs Crumbs.net , a local music website. I visit his site quite often and enjoy his Crumbs Cafe internet radio show, which features interviews and performances from local musicians and songwriters. I also visit and some times reply to posts on the Crumbs.net blog, which is a part of Albany's Times Union News Website. The reason for Guzzo's (as many people refer to him as) email was to have me call him. I called him later that day and he asked me to contribute to the Crumbs.net blog and, in particular, post my Inside the Open Mic episodes there. I enthusiastically agreed and my first post can be read here . Soon, I...