"Find" is a song that I composed entirely. Music & lyrics.
I didn't write it specifically for the Bandit Kings, but that was soon realized. This is a Bandit Kings song.
We recently recorded the song for our second album, it has also firmly established itself in our live show. I'm proud.
Last night, Steve the Dancing Guy was singing along. It took a minute to sink in, but hit me like a ton of bricks.
I realize it does not not appear powerful on paper:
One guy singing.
In a bar.
In Gloucester, MA.
On a Monday night.
It seems like we are setting the stage for Insignificance, but that one guy completely flattered me, inspired me, blew my mind...
He asked how he could get a copy of the lyrics. "Best bet is to bring a pen next Monday, or wait for the new album..."
but that doesn't seem like a nice way to treat someone who just blew your mind, now does it?
FIND
This morning the bed was cold
I searched the house for ghosts
but I was alone
I pulled myself out of the drink
I ended up there last night
I think
Enough about me
I'll find you
On a Friday night
No matter where you are
I'll find you
On a Friday night
I'll hunt you like a dog
Through the walls comes a big bass drum
Pulsing some from neighbor punks next door
They never work they just rock all day
And smoke a lot for people who claim to be poor
Forget them anyways
Saturday we rage
Sleep away Sunday
I'll find you
On a Friday night
I'll search the seedy bars
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
In Sickness and In Health
I haven't had Health Insurance since April 2011.
April 2010 I experienced massive migraines.
*Worth noting here that up to that point I never believed people with "invisible" ailments. Migraines. Stomach aches. I used to laugh at the kids at Berklee who would show up to class with wrists in a cast, victims of Carpal Tunnel, from practicing too much. Those poor delusional bastards...
That was until last April. A week of powerful, debilitating migraines.
At that point I saw Doctors. Neurologists. They all gave me a clean bill of health, as well as dirty bills of Debt.
In the end, the Chiropractor did more Healing than all of those greasy pill-hawkers combined.
I was insured at the time, and yet the bills that came were also Debilitating. For non-diagnosis' and buck-passing. For nothing.
These bills piled up and I eventually paid them with my credit card, which means I'm still paying for them today.
AND I HAD HEALTH INSURANCE AT THE TIME.
I decided right then and there I didn't want to play anymore. Why should I have health insurance?
The general answer is thus: "In case something catastrophic happens..."
Sorry to be a Downer, but If something catastrophic happens, it's going to be Bad. Being rich or poor won't matter at that point.
I've tried again recently, to get insured. I make too much money for the Commonwealth Care. I cannot afford the Commonwealth Connector. Those are my two legal options.
*****
Paying for health insurance is akin to gambling that I will get sick.
In case you didn't know, "the secret" of life is that if you desire something to happen, it will. That's true.
The problem with health insurance, to me, is that it's almost Hoping to get sick. If not, your monthly fee is Wasted.
The whole thing makes me sick.
April 2010 I experienced massive migraines.
*Worth noting here that up to that point I never believed people with "invisible" ailments. Migraines. Stomach aches. I used to laugh at the kids at Berklee who would show up to class with wrists in a cast, victims of Carpal Tunnel, from practicing too much. Those poor delusional bastards...
That was until last April. A week of powerful, debilitating migraines.
At that point I saw Doctors. Neurologists. They all gave me a clean bill of health, as well as dirty bills of Debt.
In the end, the Chiropractor did more Healing than all of those greasy pill-hawkers combined.
I was insured at the time, and yet the bills that came were also Debilitating. For non-diagnosis' and buck-passing. For nothing.
These bills piled up and I eventually paid them with my credit card, which means I'm still paying for them today.
AND I HAD HEALTH INSURANCE AT THE TIME.
I decided right then and there I didn't want to play anymore. Why should I have health insurance?
The general answer is thus: "In case something catastrophic happens..."
Sorry to be a Downer, but If something catastrophic happens, it's going to be Bad. Being rich or poor won't matter at that point.
I've tried again recently, to get insured. I make too much money for the Commonwealth Care. I cannot afford the Commonwealth Connector. Those are my two legal options.
*****
Paying for health insurance is akin to gambling that I will get sick.
In case you didn't know, "the secret" of life is that if you desire something to happen, it will. That's true.
The problem with health insurance, to me, is that it's almost Hoping to get sick. If not, your monthly fee is Wasted.
The whole thing makes me sick.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
The Separation of Sport and State
This is about The Mitchell Report.
and the subsequent trials of Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.
Minimal research has led to some astonishing estimates of the "cost" to the "taxpayer"
20-60M for the Mitchell Report
6-10M each for Bonds & Clemens
I don't know how to confirm these numbers. They are a vile combination of hearsay and conjecture.
I can understand the perjury charge. Read the following aloud slowly and sternly, with instrumental patriotic music playing in the background:
NO ONE LIES TO THE GOVERNMENT AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!
TO LET HIM WALK SETS A HORRIBLE PRECEDENT!
PERJURY IS A SERIOUS CRIME!
Major League Baseball is a billion dollar industry. Which is a different debate, for another day.
Shit. I'm having trouble clarifying my argument. I'll use an extended analogy to further muddy the waters:
There is a chess match happening. On a ship. Between a deckhand, and the cook.
And the Captain of the boat is watching over the game intently, saying,
"No, no, no you filthy Cook you've been cheating for the past ten years and now you are tangled in a web of lies..."
My question is this:
Shouldn't the Captain be driving the boat? Who is steering the ship if the Captain is this concerned about a Game?
and the subsequent trials of Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.
Minimal research has led to some astonishing estimates of the "cost" to the "taxpayer"
20-60M for the Mitchell Report
6-10M each for Bonds & Clemens
I don't know how to confirm these numbers. They are a vile combination of hearsay and conjecture.
I can understand the perjury charge. Read the following aloud slowly and sternly, with instrumental patriotic music playing in the background:
NO ONE LIES TO THE GOVERNMENT AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!
TO LET HIM WALK SETS A HORRIBLE PRECEDENT!
PERJURY IS A SERIOUS CRIME!
Major League Baseball is a billion dollar industry. Which is a different debate, for another day.
Shit. I'm having trouble clarifying my argument. I'll use an extended analogy to further muddy the waters:
There is a chess match happening. On a ship. Between a deckhand, and the cook.
And the Captain of the boat is watching over the game intently, saying,
"No, no, no you filthy Cook you've been cheating for the past ten years and now you are tangled in a web of lies..."
My question is this:
Shouldn't the Captain be driving the boat? Who is steering the ship if the Captain is this concerned about a Game?
Sunday, July 10, 2011
I Love Justin Smith
Decade.
Ten. Years.
It blew my mind when Dan told me.
Our band was Failing Gym. Dan, the lead singer, myself, and Justin Smith, the guitarist, were scheduled to meet in Dan's garage and write a song. Our first song. We didn't have any songs.
Justin Smith never showed up. It must have been, at least relatively commonplace, as we became mad enough to compose a number entitled "I Hate Justin Smith". The lyrics were mean spirited, but the chords & form were simple enough that we could all play it. And we did. At every show. It was our big closing number.
Justin Smith never gave a shit, and he shouldn't have, because it was a stupid song that we wrote in twenty seconds.
I realize (now) just how really awesome that was of Justin Smith, to not torpedo the gag. We never even had to explain ourselves, he was just down. He got it. He gets it.
He was (and remains) smart & funny, quick & dry. Stood up there with us rocking out, not bitter or angry, certainly not a jolly Louis Armstrong either, just being himself, in the moment...
Most high school kids are weak and would have been depressed and needed medication & counseling thereafter such an incident, but not Justin Smith. Justin Smith is a rock.
It's been ten years since our high school punk band. Gross.
The cover of the demo is the three gym teachers from the movie PORKYS but their heads have been replaced with Castro, Stalin & Hitler. I need to admit here (to cleanse my soul) that on the bottom of the inside cover reads, in big capital letters, RAPPERS ARE SHOT FOR A REASON and I feel like that was my idea, but I'm not sure Why? and I'm not proud of my sixteen year old self.
I question his motives. I shake my head & fist at him in Shame, and with the bitchiness of Hindsight.
I like to think that I've achieved higher levels of consciousness in ten years, and that we're past hate songs & condoning violence. But that shit was pretty fucking punk...
at the time.
to us.
Ten. Years.
It blew my mind when Dan told me.
Our band was Failing Gym. Dan, the lead singer, myself, and Justin Smith, the guitarist, were scheduled to meet in Dan's garage and write a song. Our first song. We didn't have any songs.
Justin Smith never showed up. It must have been, at least relatively commonplace, as we became mad enough to compose a number entitled "I Hate Justin Smith". The lyrics were mean spirited, but the chords & form were simple enough that we could all play it. And we did. At every show. It was our big closing number.
Justin Smith never gave a shit, and he shouldn't have, because it was a stupid song that we wrote in twenty seconds.
I realize (now) just how really awesome that was of Justin Smith, to not torpedo the gag. We never even had to explain ourselves, he was just down. He got it. He gets it.
He was (and remains) smart & funny, quick & dry. Stood up there with us rocking out, not bitter or angry, certainly not a jolly Louis Armstrong either, just being himself, in the moment...
Most high school kids are weak and would have been depressed and needed medication & counseling thereafter such an incident, but not Justin Smith. Justin Smith is a rock.
It's been ten years since our high school punk band. Gross.
The cover of the demo is the three gym teachers from the movie PORKYS but their heads have been replaced with Castro, Stalin & Hitler. I need to admit here (to cleanse my soul) that on the bottom of the inside cover reads, in big capital letters, RAPPERS ARE SHOT FOR A REASON and I feel like that was my idea, but I'm not sure Why? and I'm not proud of my sixteen year old self.
I question his motives. I shake my head & fist at him in Shame, and with the bitchiness of Hindsight.
I like to think that I've achieved higher levels of consciousness in ten years, and that we're past hate songs & condoning violence. But that shit was pretty fucking punk...
at the time.
to us.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Did The Jetsons invent Skype?
According to Wikipedia:
I watched The Jetsons as a child. I remember George getting yelled at by his boss, Mr. Spacely, who was on a video screen. Amazing.
I also remember a video conference in Back to the Future 2, when a co-worker (portrayed by funk bassist Flea) dares an aging future version of Marty McFly into some digital mischief...
The Jetsons obviously came before Back to the Future 2.
But did The Jetsons really invent the idea of video conferencing? That doesn't sit well with me.
Minimal internet research has led me to this nugget:
1936 beats 1962.
But, I don't like the word "public" in that quote. It bugs me. It tells me there was something first. Something Private.
I'm going to try to beat 1936. To dig deeper into the history of video conferencing.
Whose idea was it? I want to know about that guy. I like Skype.
The Jetsons is a prime-time animated sitcom that was produced by Hanna-Barbera, originally airing from 1962–63... a half-hour family sitcom projecting contemporary American culture and lifestyle into another time period... a futuristic utopia in the year 2062...
I watched The Jetsons as a child. I remember George getting yelled at by his boss, Mr. Spacely, who was on a video screen. Amazing.
I also remember a video conference in Back to the Future 2, when a co-worker (portrayed by funk bassist Flea) dares an aging future version of Marty McFly into some digital mischief...
The Jetsons obviously came before Back to the Future 2.
But did The Jetsons really invent the idea of video conferencing? That doesn't sit well with me.
Minimal internet research has led me to this nugget:
The world's first public video telephone service was developed by Dr. Georg Schubert and opened by the German Reichspost in 1936... which quickly closed in 1940 due to the outbreak of WWII...
1936 beats 1962.
But, I don't like the word "public" in that quote. It bugs me. It tells me there was something first. Something Private.
I'm going to try to beat 1936. To dig deeper into the history of video conferencing.
Whose idea was it? I want to know about that guy. I like Skype.
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