Igby.

As promised...get your oooh's and ahhhh's out now...cutest puppy ever...IGBY!!

Finally!

I had to open at work yesterday and while there, I kept checking the fed ex website every 2 minutes for my package. It was really kind of sad...and scary. But I wanted my damn game! I went home around noon and took a nap. When I woke up it was like, 1:30 and STILL no game. I checked the fed ex website and it said the package was delivered. Huh? I looked outside and there it was! Woo hoo! The game is aweosme! But, I went to see Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven last night and while I was out, my wife got really, really good at the game. Way better than me. It kind of ruined it for me.

Last night was fun. I went to Dempseys and had the once in a lifetime opportunity to say to Scott, the bartender, "Hey...I know this is a bowl game, but can you switch to CNN so we can watch the hanging?" He complied but they didn't really show much. It also seemed very off color to have a hanging on TV in a restaurant.

Today we're getting a PUPPY! Adorable photos to follow...

DAMN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

I still don't have my Guitar Hero 2!! Ugh...sooooo annoying! I keep checking the Fed Ex tracker like an obsessive stalker, waiting for it to enter Sonoma County, but no luck. The last time it was scanned was last night at 8:49 in Sacramento. Impatience is not a virtue.

Update at 5:19 p.m.
So I just called Fed Ex to figure out what the hell was going on and it appears the douchbag I bought my Guitar Hero 2 set from sent the package to SAN JOSE! Whatta frigging idiot. I'm emailing Ebay now...

Post Holiday Wrap

Before I launch into my usual musings, I just wanted to say that Nates memorial was really, really nice and very special. Almost all of the "Phoenix Family" was there including people I haven't seen in close to 15 years. It was a really nice way to give love and respect to our fallen friend and celebrate his life at the place where most of us grew to know him. We miss ya Nate!

That was Saturday and then Sunday we did our annual Christmas at my parents. We open presents on Christmas Eve at my parents house. I used to think it's because we'd drive to my Grandparents house on Christmas Day so we got the big stuff out of the way on Christmas Eve. Now I think it's got something to do with me pestering my parents into letting us open gifts. Since we're getting a puppy Saturday (oh, I forgot to tell you all...we're getting a puppy Saturday...a Puggle!) most of our gifts were gift cards to Petco/Petsmart. I also scored some cash and my mom got me some new Wilco gear that hasn't arrived...still. More on that later.

That night my wife and I exchanged stockings (the Christmas ones you pervs!) and I got some candy, a DOUBLE INDEMNITY Special Edition DVD and a years subsciption to Paste magazine...which kicks ass. The next day we had Christmas with my dads side of the family, and it was nice. However what I really want to blog about took place last Monday, December 19.

On that day, I bought myself GUITAR HERO 2 off some dude on ebay. Look at that playlist! My goal for the four day weekend was to drink beer and play GH2. The guy assured me I'd have the game by Friday but when Friday rolled around, no game. I searched everywhere...maybe they came and the note blew off the door. I went to our old house in case there was confusion in shipping. No game. Anywhere. I eamiled the guy and he said Fed Ex had "lost the shipment" and they would call Tuesday. Dammitt! Around 1:00 Tuesday I hadn't heard anything so I called Fed Ex and gave them the shipping number. They said a tag had been created, but nothing ever shipped! What an asshole this guy is! He obviously didn't have the product he was selling and planned on getting it later. I mean, had this been my kids "big" Christmas gift, this jerk just ruined Christmas.



So after hearing this, I sent him 4 emails saying "I want it now" in varying degrees of anger. Now I see it's apparently on it's way as is a boatload of bad feedback for this dick. I just want my game dammit!! Grrr! I hope everyone else had a great holiday and oh! GO SEE "LITTLE CHILDREN!" It's the best movie of the year. Speaking of that, look for my top 10's this week!

Grief.

I'm sure I'm not stating anything shocking or uncommon here but man do I hate funerals. My family has been really lucky so far in that we ahven't had all that much death. For me, grieving has always been a personal, quiet kind of thing. But everyone reacts differently. Today's Nate's memorial and there's going to be upwards of 300 people there I'm guessing. I just don't want to deal with all these different feelings and personalities and peronality disorders. Like...

When nate died this guy we all know called my wife's friend and left a message that went something like, "Hi _____ this is _____...Nate got stabbed and killed. Merry Christmas." Click. I mean, some people are insensitive and I get that, but when you're calling your phone list in a snide way to be first guy on the block to shit in someones stocking, it just seems wrong. But that's what I'm getting at.

When Nate died, I called our friend Dave. He lives in New Mexico and he and Nate shared a close bond. I sure as shit didn't want to call him...but I did because that's what friends do. But I also have respect and class and I'm not a self absorbed asshole who needs to like...gossip about tragedy. The other thing that brings this blogging on is the internet.

The local paper, the Press Democrat has been covering the story and if you read it online, there's a place where you can comment on the story. The thing is, it's all anonymous internet posting and some of it is just plain creepy and sick. One person decided to say that maybe Nate had it coming because he was at the Phoenix and what kind of adult goes there. Another person alluded to the fact that people shouldn't be hanging out at bars. Even more sad and disturbing are the people advocating some kind of lynch mob for Nate's murderer. Erica and I know who some of the people posting are...even behind their pseudonym. And again, I understand everyone grives differently and deals with tragedy differently. But I frigging hate the way some people simply must be suffering more than everyone.

It's like that person you tell, "Hey...my wife has cancer" and they go, "oh yeah...well, my mom had cancer and so did my aunt." It's like a cancer pissing contest. I don't get people's need to try and outdo one another in the tragedy/grieving process. And it's going to be in full swing today. Lots of sad, screwy people vying for attention. Ugh...funerals suck.

losing one of your own...

From the time I was in about....11th grade until...sheesh...now...I've hung out at the Amazing Phoenix Theater. Basically the Phoenix is an old movie theater that became a hang out/concert hall once the single screen movie theater bizz dried up. I think the first Timothy Dalton Bond movie was about the last big movie they had. And the Yahoo Serious movie. Then it was second run...then it was no run...then it was us. Our ring leaders were Tom Gaffey and Dave Marquez and the rest was a collection of basically...societal orphans like...me, matt and marc, jeremy, danny mckenna, scotty, mikey, big mike, jodell, robert and Nate. There were others too but those come to mind.

Later in life, all of our paths always crossed as we were forever part of "The Phoenix Family." If a big show (Faith no More, Greenday, Primus, metallica. d.o.e.) came around, we all came to the show, helped out, got loaded (later) and had fun. It was like...our playground. Hell, when I was 17 I was booking half the shows there. We slept in there, looked for ghosts....made out with chicks. Well, not me...but people did. But as we got older, we all still kept in touch and Tom has an annual Christmas Eve party every year where us oldies can socialize with the new breed. Nate Reifers was always around. When I finally decided to really give in to my teenaage insecurities and officially "hang out" at the Phoenix, Nate was one of the first to welcome me.

My first real memory of Nate was...we were going to go inner tubing like we had a hundred times before, but we "had to go get Nate." "Going to get Nate" I soon found out is like a catch phrase for, "be ready to be delayed an hour due to fire, maiming, arguing, stumbling, sleeping, writing a paper, on the phone, listening to music, general stonerness" or just plain "Nate said he'd be here..." This time we went to Nates house and he was knee deep in making pot brownies. I frigging hate pot and he was all of 15 years old but immediately launched into a long explanation of how you have to put the buds IN the butter and let them rest. His excitement and apparent knowledge was both interesting and annoying. Luckily that only took an hour and we went tubing. Nate was a fucking blast. We did the river round TWICE.

As life rolled on, I got married to my wife Erica. Erica, as it turns out, was best friends with one of my old Phoenix Family friends, the aforementioned Nate Reifers. Ironically, I remember about a hundred conversations with Nate when he and Erica hung out, but I never met her to my knowledge. But that's another blog. Life went on and Nate wandered in and out of my life. He was at our wedding and actually got in a scuffle with his best friend at the wedding after party. His mom lives like, 50 yards away from my in-laws. Trhough all the incarnations of knowing him, Nate was...Nate. You all have a friend like that. Flakey, annoying, honest, funny and always there. In his heart, Nate was the best but sometimes he was prone to being a pain. But dammit...all the best people you know are all over the map and you wouldn't want them any other way.

Unfortunately this blog has a sad ending as Nate was somehow stabbed and killed Saturday in Petaluma. You can read about it HERE. I don't know at this point where the sadness ends or starts and where the anger/frustration/apathy towards society begins with the same jumbled confusion. I think I speak for everyone when I say, "what the fuck?"

I went down to the Phoenix Sunday after I heard the news and a good bunch of us family were all there. We hugged Gaffey and kind of stood around dumbfounded, just like when Danny McKenna died. But when Danny died, it felt like he had succumbed to his demons and kind of gradually drifted away. At least, that's the way I felt. With Nate....it's just surprising. We're talking about a guy who two years ago nearly blew himself up trying to see why his gas generator had went out by using a lighter to see. He shouldn't have died at all let alone a year after his daughter was born...let alone by not doing something really boneheaded....let alone at the frigging bars in Petaluma. It's just not the way Nate Reifers was supposed to go. But he's gone now so all we can do is let the magic and memories of the Phoenix try and make it O.K. this Saturday. Godspeed Nate!! We miss ya man!

Funniest thing I've seen in a while...

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

Garbage Sa...err...GARAGE Sale

We had a garage sale last Sunday and boy, did it ever suck. I hate getting up at 6:00 a.m. and getting up that early on a Sunday especially blows. But, we have a bunch of junk to get rid of and earning some extra Christmas money sounded cool. I rolled into Petaluma at 7:15 and sure enough, there was an early bird parked in front of our house. I snuck right past her and darted into the house. We took an ad out on Craigslist and it clearly stated the sale started at 8:00 so she should have paid attention.

I went out and set up the garage and sat down to wait. At about 7:30 the early bird came down the driveway looking pissed. She was Asian and her English was so-so but I gathered she was mad to have been kept waiting. I said we started at 8:00 so...there. She then proceeds to ask me if I have any "electronics...cell phone....computers...cell phones...printers....calculators...cell phones." I told her nope, sorry but she kept asking if I had any cell phones. Finally after idly rifling through some stuff she stormed off.

About 30 seconds later this Asian guy came down the driveway and said "What did that lady just buy from you!?!" I told him nothing and then he started in with the "you got any cell phones....electronics...computers." Ugh. It was destined to be a long ass day. Fortunately he bought an old vacuum cleaner and some speakers. About that time my wife arrived and proceeded to try and boss me around which didn't go over well. Her parting words were in regards to this slightly broken partition we had...kind of like portable french doors. She said, "why is that even out here? No one's going to buy that..."

About half an hour later the only normal customer of the day came down the driveway. He bought some old records (three Faith No More imports to boot) and then he bought...you guessed it....the slightly broken partition. In your face Miss Bossy Pants! A while later two hardcore garage salers swung by and bought a box of crap apiece and then I saw a big ass truck out front with George Bush bumper stickers on it. Oh, great. Some old lady comes down the driveway and I say hello. She goes, "You got any old shotguns or pistols?" As I told her no I notice this Hispanic guy coming and talking loudly, in Spanish, on his cell phone. He brushes past the gun lady while blabbing on his phone, picks up a car stereo...looks at it....puts it down and walks off all the while talking on his cell phone. I could tell the lady desperately wanted me to make some racist comment to like, support the look of contempt in her eyes, but I didn't oblige.

When all was said and done we made about $40.00. Total. Waste. Of. Time.

Update central

Ugh. I'm tired, stressed, confused and am generally going nuts. Here's a quick and dirty update.

Last weekend I:

1. Shot my first short
2. Moved
3. Worried about my grandpa who was sick in the hospital

It was not fun. Last Wednesday the stress of moving and shooting my film got to me and I went downtown and blew off some steam at Dempseys. Five hours later and a tour of the downtown bars in Petaluma to the tune of $75, I arrived home. Although I needed to spazz out and be free for a few hours, I felt crappy all day Thursday and was even farther behind than I had been.

But, I got caught up and the shoot really couldn't have gone any better. My actors were simply awesome and it was fun and fast. However, when I get stressed I tend to cut corners and just push towards the finish line. As a result, I neglected to check over the equipment I borrowed from school when I checked it out. I was in a hurry as the shoot was the next day and our house was in disarray. I just grabbed the stuff and went.

I also neglected to spot-check the camera and whatnot during the shoot. Those two antsy moves were just plain stupid. I mean, it's frigging filmmaking 101 to check your stuff before and during the shoot. I just didn't do it. As it turns out, the camera I was using was slightly broken and the first 1/4 of my footage is virtually unusable. Grr. Now I really have to buckle down and edit to try and piece something great together. I refuse to try and make something "good," I want to make something great. All in all, I'm making progress but have a shit ton of work still to do.

The good news is, our new house is cavernous. I love the space but still hate Santa Rosa. The other great news is, my grandpa is A-O.K.! More soon, I promise...

Pre-Production peaks and valleys

So as I mentioned a week ago (Yikes! Has it been that long!?!) I'm shooting a short film for my directing class called OLD TIMES. It's based on a song Todd Snider did on his new album "The Devil You Know" only the song is called "Just Like Old Times." Brevity my friends, it's the way I need to go. Anyway, I've been really focusing hard on working everything out ahead of time for the shoot. When I first decided to do this for my project, I got alot of good luck.

First, I emailed Todd Sniders rep at Universal in order to get some kind of permission for the project. Long story short, they loved the idea. The short is basically a fictionalized or live version of the song. Kind of like what Sean Penn did with INDIAN RUNNER which is an adaptation of Bruce Springsteens "Highway Patrolman." Not only did Universal give me the thumbs up, Todd himself (via email to his manager) said "sure they can use it. can i be in it?" I responded with, "umm, that's flattering, but I already have it cast." Apparently he was joking. A few days later I got this from Todd via Todd's manager: "this is cool. tell them thanks for me." Nice!

Next stroke of luck...sorta...
my friend Dan who I hadn't spoke to since moving back to Nor Cal agreed to shoot the film. Dan's a great guy and has a keen eye, as they say. He also recently got a business partner and together they own and utilize $10,000 worth of high end equipment! I did not know this and was like "whoa dude, this might kick some ass!" He said he'd shoot the thing for me with the good stuff! Sweeeeet. But then he got a paying gig and had to bail on me. I totally understand but still...dang!

This was when things went funky. Namely, my run of luck that started with Austin hit a snag. I can't find a location to shoot the thing in. I just need a hotel room dammit! Every place I've asked has said, quite succinctly, "No way." I tell them it's not horror or porn but they just aren't budging. I have some leads that I need to follow up on tomorrow and if they don't work, I'm just gonna do it somewhere and hope it works.

One last thing...
I signed up for "The Lot" which is a website in which you can submit films in the hopes of being selected to be on the FOX show "The Lot." The show is like project greenlight only more reality TV like. The guy who created Survivor teamed up with Steven Spielberg to do it and I'm hoping to land a spot on the show. Check out their site at: http://www.thelot.com/ and sign up so you can vote me onto the show later!

I'm off to class....

Newswire...

Sorry I haven't been blogging...I've been either really busy or really lazy. Here's what's new...

We're still submitting STRINGERS to a few film festivals. It's expensive submitting to fests! Like, $30-$40 a pop and that's just to apply. We submitted to SF Indiefest and Cinequest and have some more deadlines coming up.

I'm shooting a short film for my directing class! I'm nervous as hell! It's an adaptation of the song "Old Times" by Todd Snider. Directing takes alot of work...if you want to do it right, and I'm trying to do it right. I've done a ton of pre-production and am starting to breakdown the shots in my mind. I also have 2 incredible actors involved so that's going to be a ton of fun.

Oh, we're moving. Boo! To Santa Rosa. Ugh. I hate Santa Rosa. But, it's a bigger house for the same money, a bigger yard, we can get a dog, it's closer to work and I get the garage as an office. Plus, I'll save money because I won't be able to walk over to Dempseys and spend all my cash. But still...Petaluma is home. Ah well.

So that's the scoop, alot's going on. Oh, go see FAST FOOD NATION and if you can, check out THE HAMILTONS tomorrow in a city near you. It's part of this weekend long horror film festival called Horrorfest. Clever. The guys who made it live in Petaluma and filmed it here and Lionsgate is releasing it soon.

Here's the website for The Hamiltons
and here's an interview I did with The Butcher Brothers.

Have a good weekend!

Wanna laugh really hard at a big ole phony?

Since I really have nothing to blog about, I'll continue to steal funny shit from other sites via youtube.

Watch this clip and watch Faith Hill's reaction when they announce the winner of the Country Music Awards Female vocalist of the year. She's like, the second person down on the left. Frigging classic !

When Tweedy attacks...

Dude, Jeff Tweedy smacked the crap outta some guy who jumped onstage at a Wilco show last week. I didn't know the demure Tweedy had it in him! It happens about a minute and ten seconds into the song...

I'm an AWARD WINNING filmmaker!

STRINGERS won the audience award at the Austin Film Festival!! Absolutely amazing!!! I didn't think we even stood a chance to get in and now we won the damned audience award! John from the AFF called me last night and told me the news. I was driving home when he called and I seriously don't remember driving after that. My mind was racing. It feels so good to know people liked our film. Now maybe we can pitch it as a TV show again...

CLICK HERE>>> to see it in writing if you don't believe me. I've clicked it at least 50 times since last night.

Happy Halloween

Erica and I made these Jack-O-Laterns the other night. I'm serious. They're on our porch as I type this. We're just that talented. See if you can guess which one's I made and which ones Erica made...

Texas recap

In case you missed it, I was blogging part of my trip over on Film Threat...go check it out over there if you care to. Lets see...

I had a GREAT time. Austin is easily my favorite town and it was my birthday, my wife, my mom, my sister and my aunt were there....Pete came....it couldn't have been more fun. Also, the screenings went really well! People I didn't even know asked insightful questions which was nice. The short docs program on the whole was really good and diverse. Made it alot easier to sit through twice. I will say, I was super, super nervous for my first screening.

I took the red eye and had to sit in the hotel lobby for almost 2 hours until I could get a room. Then, I crashed out and was in and out of deep sleep for about 6 hours. Then I woke up and hit the town. Not wise. I had a mini-meltdown when I got back to the hotel...that no one was going to come to the screening and those who did would hate my film. I also had some freaky dreams that I wrote about on Film Threat.

Anyway...I drank lots of beer, ate LOTS of great food and enjoyed myself. Now, it's back to reality...

We interrupt this endless flagellation...

to bring you Jeff Tweedy singing "The Thanks I Get" from his new solo DVD due out October 24.

Watch it here. When I heard him play this live, it just hit me so right. It's a song he wrote for a Soloman Burke tribute album but he got it in too late. Now, we all get to dig it.

Cheating on my blog...

Greeting Petaluma Films Blog readers...

In order to help promote STRINGERS at the Austin Film Festival, I've been posting my pre-festival activities on the Film Threat blogs. While it may be hard to believe, my blog isn't as popular as Film Threat. Shocking, I know. Anyway...

Here's a link to an RSS feed for my Film Threat blogs. While I won't pretend to know "exactly" what an RSS feed is, I'm pretty sure it's like setting up a subscription to blogs and websites. You can join my Film Threat RSS feed here:
feed://www.filmthreat.com/blog/feeds/lewis_rss.php?feed=rss&author=5

In other news...

We got our screening times:
STRINGERS is playing the Austin Film Festival on Friday October 19 at 9:45 at the Hideout and then again on Sunday October 22 at 3:00 at the Dobie. If you are for some reason reading this and planning on attending the festival, please come check it out. The fest is looking like a GREAT one with lots of celebs and inside people running around. Kevin Smith is going to be there!! Check out the Austin Film Festival website HERE.

I've been working really hard on getting a poster going and trying my best to get people to see the film. I can't wait to get to Austin!

Sweet Subversion

Anyone with kids or furthermore, anyone who works with kids, has their fair share or horror stories regarding kid movie sountracks. Currently we're all suffering through the brain aching and redundant "I Like to Move it" song from the film "Madagascar." The song is just the words, "I like to move it, move it" over and over and over and over again. Those clever lyrics are finally punctuated by "I like to move it...MOVE IT!" Ugh, die song...DIE!!

Yet last week the kids movie "Open Season" opened and there was something especially sweet about it's soundtrack. Paul Westerberg did it! The Paul Westerberg from The Replacements. When my buddy told me about it, I explained that I already knew about it and would be skipping it. I told him I worked with kids and went on to explain the "Move it" phenomenon to him and that I didn't need to hear Westy shilling cuddly bears and like...their wacky pie stealing antics. However he insisted the album was not only good, it sounded like the Replacements. Hmmm. Intriguing. But not intriguing enough. Then he said not only did it sound like the Replacements but that the Replacements bass player Tommy Stinson did some songs on it with Paul! O.K..that was it...SOLD!

See, for us die-hard Replacements fans, the thought of any or all of the remaining Mats teaming up for anything makes us all gooey inside. Even if it's for a kids album. So, I got the soundtrack and it's AWESOME! If you like the Replacements or Paul Westerberg solo, you gotta get it. But here's the rub.

I've only seen Paul Westerberg twice in my life. The first time was at a Virgin Megastore in San Francisco where he was performing solo and acoustic. It was an incredible show because he was sounding amazing, even as this drunk douche bag behind me kept heckling him. About 5 songs in, Paul got sick of the heckler, ran into the crowd, slapped him upside the face and took off. Seriously. That was my first live Westerberg show. It's great that I saw it now, in hindsight. But at the time, I was beyond pissed.

The second time was last year when he went on tour. His first tour in a long time. I won't bore you with the details, but it was everything I hoped it would be. Beautiful, fun, disastrous and legendary. Paul got pissed at one point and cracked his guitar on his amp. Yet when he did so, he accidentally whacked himself in the head and played the rest of the show while bleeding profusely. Fucking. Awesome.

This brings me back to the topic at hand. Paul Westerberg, the man who can't remember the Replacements days due to major drug and alcohol consumption, the guy who, at 50 years old hits himself in the noggin with his guitar in the midst of a tizzy fit, just made a great album. For a kids movie. What the hell? I highly doubt he's going to tour on the "Open Season" soundtrack. But since the movie is #1 and probably will be next week too, he's raking in some phat cash. While I couldn't be more happy for my favorite songwriter finally getting paid, this all means it'll be that much longer before he "has" to go on tour.

Buuut...
I find it simply wonderful that millions of kids are demanding this soundtrack because it's available and that both them and their parents are listening to Paul Westerberg and digging it. If only those parents knew...

Ohhh shiiiiiit...

Our G5 crashed the other day. My wife ran a software update on iTunes and the computer totally, totally wigged out. It was incredibly bad timing as I'm trying to get together a birthday party/film festival party on October 15 and I wanted to get cracking on it. Plus, all my stuff with STRINGERS. I'm trying to get people to come to the screening (which is October 19 at 9:45!) as well as get some press for the lil fella. But all that came crashing to a halt as my computer came crashing down.

Saturday morning I called the Mac hotline and had to pay $49 to have a guy try and help me. We did a bunch of tests and whatnot and the end result was "take it to the nearest Mac dealer and have them fix it." Shit. I know taking your computer in for a fix can take weeks and I frankly don't have weeks so I wiped the hard drive and here we are.

It's like having a bad hangover and slowly remembering what was on the other hard drive. We must've lost about 300 songs and some photos as well as just knick-knack things that have accumulated on my desktop. It's incredibly frustrating, annoying and sad. The most annoying thing I've thought of so far is that the iMovie version of the STRINGERS trailer was on there. I think I have it on DVD, but I'm not sure I can pull it off there. Grrr.....

Our trailer

Here's the trailer for STRINGERS. In the actual movie, I make a camera "move" that embarrasses me EVERY time I see it. So, I included it in the trailer because I like feeling lame. See if you can spot it!!

Bad sandwich turns great

This story has a Shyamalan ending....stay tuned....

When I'm feeling stressed out or on the run, there's a deli right by the freeway here that has the BEST tuna sandwich. Not too much mayo, no celery and lots of fun little chunks in there like green and black olives and maybe pickles. It's like someone who really likes chewing antipasto barfed in your tuna...but in a good way. So today I was running late to work after my directing class and I was starved so I went to the deli. Unbeknownst to me, they sold it and now there's an apparently very nice Middle Eastern Family running the joint.

It was pretty funny in hindsight because usually there's a bevvy of slacker punks making sandwhiches, looking hungover and trying to act like they give a shit. When I rolled in I was like, "Oh, they hired a hispanic lady for the deli. Oh...wait...Middle Eastern...oh wait, they never come in ones...wait...Oh man, I think someone sold the deli." Then I saw an older guy stocking stuff, a middle aged guy moving a shelf...sure enough, they sold the deli. While I harbor no ill will towards immigrants owning a deli, I feared the worst for my tuna sandwich. But the lady took my order and I was kindly and promptly rang up.

I got in my car and laid out the chips, napkins, diet coke and packaged sandwich on the passenger seat so I could eat and drive "safely." I opened the sammy. The tuna looked O.K. BUT...she made my sandwich with the heel of the bread! THE HEEL!! Ugh!!! I hate the heel. Ugh. But, I was late and hungry and truth me told, it was O.K. Just O.K. A little bready though. Not enough martini olives. Safe to say, I won't be back.



So I roll on to work listening to Wilco Live at the Ryman Autotorium and when I get to the point where I have to go over a mountain to get to work (I shit you not), I turn off my phone. I cruise while eating, get to the downside and turn my phone on. There's a message from John at the Austin Film Festival. Austin, Texas that is. Land I love. Cheap beer, BBQ....music. I think I forgot to mention I entered the short documentary I made into the fest.

Normally, I think, they don't call to tell you that you didn't get in. Such was the case here. The movie I made with my buddy John GOT INTO THE AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL!!!!! I'm so freeking PSYCHED! I'll write more later but just wanted to share with the 4 of you that I got my film into the documentary shorts competition at the Austin Film Festival!!!!

Get 'em Keith!

I always loved Keith Olbermann when he was on ESPN. When he made the switch to MSNBC, I lost track of him. Lately I tuned in here and there because Randi Rhodes on Air-America speaks so highly of him and I noticed the guy is like....a better John Stewart.

Don't get me wrong, I love John Stewart and "The Daily Show." But a 30 minute show really doesn't give you mush time to delve into topics in a deep way. Yet Olbermann steadfastly refuses to let the right slap him around (much like Stewart) and he's got an hour to do it with. "Countdown" is a better news show than "The Daily Show" as well. Olbermann is every bit as funny, smug, assured and liberal as Stewart, but he also can get serious. For instance, this here.

That is some Edward R. Murrow type stuff right there. Last night, Olbermann took umbrage with G.W. Bush for saying something to the effect of how Americans should "never even think our morals are aligned with those of terrorists." While it would be nice if Americans were not terrorists, Olbermann's point and I agree is that...as Americans we are totally allowed to "think" whatever we want. Bush disagrees. It's an excellent point.

I just wanted to encourage people to start watching Olbermann because he's going to start getting backlash really, really soon. And if what he's done so far is any indication, he won't take it sitting down. You don't want to miss it!

In remembrance of 9/11

As I walk through
This wicked world
Searchin for light in the darkness of insanity.

I ask myself
Is all hope lost?
Is there only pain and hatred, and misery?

And each time I feel like this inside,
Theres one thing I wanna know:
Whats so funny bout peace love & understanding?
Whats so funny bout peace love & understanding?

And as I walked on
Through troubled times
My spirit gets so downhearted sometimes
So where are the strong
And who are the trusted?
And where is the harmony?
Sweet harmony.

cause each time I feel it slippin away, just makes me wanna cry.
Whats so funny bout peace love & understanding?
Whats so funny bout peace love & understanding?

So where are the strong?
And who are the trusted?
And where is the harmony?
Sweet harmony.

cause each time I feel it slippin away, just makes me wanna cry.
Whats so funny bout peace love & understanding?
Whats so funny bout peace love & understanding?
Whats so funny bout peace love & understanding?

I'm not hungover, I'm exhausted from drinking all night...

I went to my inlaws Friday/Saturday and Sunday...I borrowed some money from them and in order to pay them back, I needed to paint their shed. I really dislike painting so it wasn't much fun. They live in a beautiful house in the mountains, but I get like...island fever when I'm there. When we got home last night, I needed to go out and blow off some steam.

I went to Dempsey's and saw some friends. My buddy Thom and I made up a new song, it's called "Chuck D's in Love." Look for it in stores this Christmas season. After spending a few hours at Dempsey's, my buddy Marc and I went to the local dive bar to see our friends band play. They were actually really good! My friend Dimitri is a great drummer, but you never know how your buddies band will be. You can check out their site HERE. I took these photos at the bar and really don't remember it. Also, I did NOT drink those shots....the people next to me did.

Random

My August has been star-studded and it ended with a bang yesterday, in Calistoga of all places. I rolled into work around Noon and noticed a film crew at the corner store. It felt kind of good to recognize a film crew and say little jargony things to myself. "Oh look, they have some huge C-Stands and a bunch of stingers all in that one outlet...that can't be good." Then I remembered David Fincher (dude who directed SE7EN and other great stuff) has been in and around Napa shooting his new flick on the Zodiac killer. I immediately thought that he could be there and debated on going in to look around. Alas, I had to pee really, really bad and I was starving. So, I decided to push forth into work.

Later, on my way home, I noticed they were still there. I wanted a big ole Coke anyway, so I went in. They were holding people at the door and I'm talking 10-15 people who just got off work. The store is also a cheap gas station so there were some pissed people who just wanted to go home. I felt kinda bad for the PA who was holding people from going in, I've been there. Plus, it seemed bad form to keep filming at the busiest time of the day. I hung out and discovered the film was just some indie job, no David Fincher.

I went in and got my soda and there was the star du jour! John Ratzenberger! Cliff Clavin! Hamm the Piggy Bank! Here he was in Calistoga. I also spotted the director and it brought my Clavin sighting to a dead stop. Here was this typical L.A. hipster douchebag yelling out crap like, "lets strike the lamps over there and take ten. I'm hitting the honey wagon." He had on aviator glasses, a long sleeved cowboy shirt (it was easily 95 degrees yesterday) and mussed up hair. And faded jeans. I mean, come on. Do you really need to look that way in order to be a director? Can't you bring it down a notch when you're in rural wine country?

As I paid for my soda, I remembered every wannabe douchbag I've met at festivals over the years. They all came flooding back. It really annoyed me and I don't know why. I guess I'd just prefer to let the work speak rather than try to look cool.

Baltimore...or less

Steamy in Baltimore...

I'm still in Baltimore and I'm ready to come home! This town is 'O.K." at best. See...I like to be able to get off the beaten path and roam around. However Baltimore is reaaaallly muggy and realllly urban so going exploring isn't a real interesting idea. The photo above is of the Hard Rock Cafe in Baltimore which is located in a place called The Power Plant near our hotel. It's basically obnoxious chain restraunts (Hard Rock, Chipotle, ESPN Zone, Barnes and Noble) but I have to admit, I've been to ESPN Zone 2-3 times. Good, cheap food and a gazillion TV's. I'm dying to find somewhere local and cool, but like I said, have no real desire to go find it. I think Edgar Allen Poe is buried around here too, but I have no clue where.

So far, my travelling companion and I have had fun. The first day we went to the Baltimore Aquarium, which was really cool! I'd say it's one of the nicest, coolest aquariums I've ever been to. They had a nice rain forest exhibit and a very cool "Outback Exhibit" with some cool bats. Then last night we went to the Orioles game. I tried to do an audio blog but it evidently didn't work. Camden yards was..."O.K." It's very pretty and very cool. Kind of the gold standard for new ballparks. But overall it just felt like a ballpark, nothing more, nothing less. You'd have to be a baseball fan to know what I mean. Like, once you got up into the hallways, it looked like any old stadium and there was no real sense of anything "special" about the park.

Oh! One funny/cool/unusual thing that happened was, I went to HOOTERS Thursday night! I love HOOTERS and not just for the girls. I like beer and wings and TV too. And I like the way Hooters is designed to always have the girls doing something subversively nawty. Like, the plates and cups are stacked way high around the walls so they have to reach way up to get them. I just find it hillariously distasteful. Plus, I like the way the waitresses flirt with you like their strippers, but you actually get food and beer from them at a regular tip price. Anyway, I met this guy at Hooters and we ended up talking music for a few hours. He gave me a 2-CD bootleg of THE BAND live outtakes! Sweet!

Other than that, I've been sitting in different conferences or sitting in my hotel reading THE RUINS by Scott Smith. My friend Neil reccommended it and HOLY SHIT...it's really, really good. Really f-ed up, but I can't stop reading it. I've only got 100 pages or so left and a 5 hour flight tomorrow so I'm trying to make it last till then. Don't know if I can though. I need to get out today/night as all I did was wake up late, not get into an overcrowded conference, go back to bed, read, go get a crab cake at the street fair outside (The Duhks were playing!) and then get a salad at ESPN Zone. I felt I should eat a salad. Maybe I'll go back to Hooters or something. I'll be glad to get home tomorrow!

Business trippin

So tomorrow I fly to Washington D.C. and then drive to Baltimore for a work conference on underage drinking. We got a big grant to help study the effects drinking has on kids...it's apparently bad for them. I'll know more later. But I know there's been some changes in what you can and cannot bring on the plane. I was just going over the list on the Transportation Security Administration's website (http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/prohibited/permitted-prohibited-items.shtm) and these items surprised me.

NO:
Meat Cleavers
Sabers
Box Cutters
Ice Axes/Ice Picks
Swords
Baseball Bats
Bow and Arrows (not sure if you can bring them seperately)
Spear Guns
Flare Guns
Ammunition
Firearms
Parts of guns and firearms
Realistic replicas of firearms
Starter Pistols
Axes and Hatchets (not just ice ones, any ones!)
Cattle Prods
Crowbars
Saws
Black jacks (huh?)
Brass Knuckles
Kubatons (again...huh?)
Nunchakus
Stun Guns/Shocking devices
THROWING STARS!
Dynaite
Fireworks
Hand Grenades
Plastic Explosives
Realistic Replicas of Explosives
Gasoline
Cheese in pressurized containers
Jell-O's
Pudding
Whipped Cream
Yogurt or gel like food substance

and finally...

No gel like shoe substances....I shall not be gellin' like a felon...

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you...

So I made it through the night, thankfully. Man, that whole thing is still kind of creeping me out. Anyway, enjoy your Sunday and remember to watch The Venture Brothers tonight!

I'm scared!

So, I went to see the Sorentinos tonight at the Mystic here in
Petaluma. It was great! Then, I decided not to stay for the other band
and opted to walk home, get some beer and catch up on the backlog of
movies/TV shows I've accumulated on my "Tivo (it's really comcast
DVR),. Anywho...

I roll over to the one 7-11 thats on my way home and some creepy, yet
gentlemanly dude holds the door for me. I thought it was nice of him
because I'm one of the few that really, honestly takes 5 seconds out
of his/her day to hold the door for people. Yet this guy watched me
cross the parking lot, waited for me to get there and was holding the
door the whole time. Admittedly, I am totally, totally PARANOID and
lately I question every persons motive (in my mind of course). But,
the dude abides. I get a sixer of coors light and a taquito and the
door holder is like, "shopping" but eyeing me like I was his childhood
basketball coach. And, I could be. I coached alot of kids. But 8 out
of 10 of them go "Heyyy....weren't you my basketball coach when I was
9???" This guy bought some chips, some smokes and a whole eyeful of
DLew.

I'm the guy behind the guy behind stalker and I buy my stuff, say
hello as always to the middle eastern guy behind the counter and on my
way I go. Sure enough, I look to head out...and that dude is holding
the door for me. He bought his stuff, watched another guy go out and
was holding the door for me. Whatta (freak) guy! Holding the door for
me with authority.

I had already thought it odd, but come on man. Waiting a
customer ahead to hold the door for me? Weird. So, I get wigged out
and say thanks and out I go. He's following me. Seriously. Going the
same way I am, looking at me...etc. I cross the street and watch.
Still there. Smoking. I then make a smart move. I decide that since
I'm coming up on the bus stop, I'll stop there and act like I'm
waiting for a bus. If he's truly following me, he'll sit down and wait
too. Right? RIGHT? So I do that. I duck in behind the bus stop and I
calmly look over and see him standing there, looking at me looking at
him...and he takes a drag off his cig and turns down a street that's
like, 1/2 a block. Nobody lives on it. Dude. NOBODY lives on that
street. Ugh.

I then kind of trot out and get way ahead of the distance I should be
if you're following me without really watching. I scoot over to a more
populated place where I know I can cut through a parking lot and get
home. I then stop and talk to my friend Jay who runs a bar in town. No
sign of Mr. Head-hunting-good-samaritan. Whew. Maybe you had to be
there, but it was fricking creepy. I was, and still am, freaked out
kinda. My wife isn't here and I'm all alone with a 6 pack of coors
light and 5 episodes of Venture Brothers cued up.

I'm closing with this: I will post something the SECOND I wake up. If
you're reading this and it's Sunday night and there's no new post, you
know what happened. Tell the dude at the 7-11 on the boulevard by the
movie theater to roll tape at about 9:45. I'll be the first murder
victim who told everyone what the hell happened!

p.s. The sorentinos rocked!

Neglected to mention...

In my rush to keep blogging lest I get yelled at in traffic again (Gabby!), I forgot to mention my two favorite TV shows at the moment. The first one is THE VENTURE BROTHERS. I'm not a big animation guy. Sure, I went through the same SIMPSONS phase all us 30-something males did, and I love THE FAMILY GUY. But I just don't get into the stoner TV that is ADULT SWIM on Cartoon Network. I just don't have the patience. I also hate anime. But I love, LOVE the VENTURE BROTHERS. To try and explain the show is impossible. It's just ridiculous and hillarious and highly entertaining.

My best description is...The Venture brothers are the sons of Doctor Venture, a hack inventor who's a mega-millionaire. The brothers, Hank and Dean are total idiots. Hank dresses like Fred from Scooby-Doo (I don't know why, but it's funny) and Dean reminds me of Richie Cunningham. The Ventures are protected from an onslaught of supervillains by Brock Lester, my least favorite character. The #1 enemy of Team Venture seems to be the Monarch who has recently got out of prison and is not really after the Ventures, per se. I mean, I guess he is...but he's so obsessive I think he forgets.

A good example of the show's hillarity was the episode a few weeks back where the Monarch tries to get some new henchmen so he sends his two moronic, but dedicated henchment to recruit more baddies. They go to the inner city and recruit a bunch of gang-bangers who drink 40's and smoke weed all day. I guess you had to be there. Anyway, the show is fricking awesome and it's on Sunday nights at 10:30, right after my other favorite show...



HBO's ENTOURAGE. The show started way shaky this season, especially after last years great season. But they recently righted the plane and the last few episodes have been great! I love the new role Vince is taking on (**Hint: "Hey-ho, let's go!**) and Jeremy Piven as Ari the agent is always top notch. Thank goodness for Sunday nights!

One of these things is not like the other...

Look at the quotes on this website for the film A GUIDE TO RECOGNIZING YOUR SAINTS.

http://www.firstlookstudios.com/guide/

Which one of these film reviewers seems way, way out of his league.

**Hint: It's the guy listed first**

Super, Super, SUPERSTAR Sunday!

So at about 1:30 in the afternoon this last Sunday, the wife and I went to Applebees for lunch. We roll in there and get seated and as we do, I see this short little buffed guy kind of strolling around the restaurant. I always make little jokes about people I see like, if I see an old lady I'll go "Oh look, it's Bea Arthur." Or perhaps there's a portly hispanic man. I'll go, "Oh look, it's Horatio Sans" and so forth. This time I look at the buffed guy and say, "Oh look, it's Ken Shamrock." I was only half joking but as he drew closer I realized that this guy was, in fact, UFC champion and former WWF superstar Ken Shamrock. In Applebees. In Petaluma. At 2:00 on a Sunday.

All the bartenders were giggling like little girls and they all stood at the window as Shamrock went out to his car for some reason and then came back in. It was all pretty funny and extremely random.

Then that night I went with my mom, aunt and sister to see the movie HOLLYWOODLAND with special guest Adrien Brody! The movie is pretty good and a tad too long, but it's worth a look when it hits theaters. Brody was cool and the films director Alan Coulter was there as well with some great insights. Plus I'm a big fan of Brody so it was cool to see him and his beak in person.

I go to sleep now

Hammer.....you're on notice...that Dave Edmonds solo....

MARAH and the MATS

I often wear a Marah shirt and I often get asked..."what the hell is a Marah." Keeping in the theme of the weekend (and so I don't lose it!!!) here's why I love MARAH:




Again. step away from youtube...

My hero zero

Don't ever go to youtube.com or else you'll find yourself sentimental and drunk at 1:00 a.m. But on a happier note, Paul Westerberg....I fucking love you. When I was a kid, I thought Danny Sorentino of The Sorentinos was actually Paul Westerberg. Hey, I was like, 12 and all those long hair abrasive songwriter types looked the same. And while Danny is a mighty, mighty great songwriter (one of my all time faves!), he's not Paul Westerberg. Who is though? Well, Paul is.

This one is for Trent, Jason Smoliak, Chuck and Danny Sorentino whereever you all may be....you're assuredly not surfing the net at 1 a.m. wondering if you can sneak out and get more beer without your wife noticing.

What I've been listening to and seeing...

I've been pretty busy with movies lately, for better or for worse. I've been trying to spend less time channel surfing and more time watching movies. We got Comcast digital cable and...wow. Wow. There's like, 500 free movies on demand every month and for the next 3 months they have like, every Alfred Hitchcock movie ever made on there. I've seen most of them, but that's still a nice thing to have at your fingertips.



I saw MIAMI VICE and fricking despised it. It's strange because 2 people whose opinion I like Pete and David Poland at Movie City News found it passable and "pretty good" respectively and that freaked me out. Am I losing my edge? Or maybe I'm gaining an edge and theirs is dulling? I dunno...but you can read my MIAMI VICE review HERE at Soundwaves Cinema. Click my name, not the review.

Yesterday I saw ROAD TO GUANTANAMO and it was good, but really confusing. I also just got in from WORLD TRADE CENTER and liked it as well, but still need to let it sink in. It is a bit schmaltzy, but I think that's O.K. This weekend I hope to see LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE and will also be seeing HOLLYWOODLAND Sunday with Adrien Brody in attendance.

Music wise, it's all about 3 CD's for me right now.

1. Todd Snider- The Devil You Know. It's his best album yet (as I already mentioned) and I seriously cannot get enough of it. I try and take it out of the CD player because I don't want to get sick of it, but it always finds it's way back in.

2. Head Automatica- Aside from having one of the worst bands names ever, this band kicks so much ass, I had to buy a HEAD AUTOMATICA ringtone. They sound like a combo of Elvis Costello, Phantom Planet and Weezer. They simply kick ass. Check them out HERE

3. I downloaded a 1982 live performance of Nick Lowe who I absolutely love. The CD sounds amazing considering it was probably taped on some little analogue device. It's got most of the songs of his I dig ("I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass," "Switchboard Susan" and "Marie Provost," the song with the rad chorus of "She was a winner/who became a doggies dinner"...the songs about the cops finding a lady who had been dead in her apartment for a week) and it even has his tourmate Paul Carrack singing "Tempted (by the fruit of another" as well as "What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding." Anyway, it's a great, fun bootleg.

This weekend I'm just laying low after last weekends shennanagins. We went to the fair to bet on the horses (I lost) and to see five a.m. Here's one of the many races I lost



So...that's what's good to see and listen to. Go have a nice weekend and buy that Todd Snider CD!!

New Todd Snider...BUY IT!

One of my all time favorite singer/songwriters is Todd Snider. I've been a fan since his first album "Songs from the Daily Planet" and I bet I've seen him over 25 times in concert. Sometimes he great, sometimes, he kinda sucks...same for his albums. I will say that I think his last 2 albums (well, the last one and the new one) are his best yet...and I'm not just saying that. His last one "East Nashville Skyline" was his best album in close to ten years. I didn't think it could get any better till I got his new one, "The Devil You Know." This one features his best songwriting yet.

So...go get it! You won't be dissapointed. It rocks, makes you think, makes you laugh and conjures up all kinds of great and not-so-great feelings. If you want a sneak peek of the man, go to his website at http://toddsnider.net/ or watch him on Jay Leno tomorrow night!

Some photos for the weekend

The above photo was taken at the SF Giants game a few weeks ago. We took a field trip with work and sat in the bleachers. I went to get a soda and realized I was standing at the exact same snack bar where Andrew Morbitzer caught Barry's 715th home run. For those of you who aren't baseball fans, you might not have heard this so listen...it's pretty amazing.

Morbitzer and his wife went to the Giants game and in the middle of it, the wife asked Morbitzer to go get her a hotdog and a beer. Like an idiot, he did it. I mean, who goes to the game with their wife to see history made (Babe Ruth had 714 home runs, second all time) and then gets up just before Barry comes up to get his wife a hotdog and a beer? So Morbitzer hopped off to the snack bar below the bleachers with fresh thoughts of a drunk wife and probable promises of sexual favors later on to get his wife her crap. As he stood in the very spot pictured above, Barry crushed number 715.

In the photo on the left you see a barracade to keep people from falling out of the bleachers. That's where the ball was hit. Several people reached over that edge to grab the ball, but it bounced off their hands. The ball fell from there right into Morbitzers hands and now the ball is being sold on ebay and will garner hundreds of thousands of dollars. Can you imagine? Wow.



A few weeks ago we saw Rick Springfield at the fair. It was awesome! I really am a big fan of Mr. Working Class Dog and he put on a great show...for a fair show. After all, he's done everything for you..and you've done nothing for him.



This is Jed after the Rick Springfield concert. He's not really drunk though. He's doing his Tom Waits impression and I think it's a pretty good one!



A couple months back, Petaluma had "American Graffitti Day." Many people think AMERICAN GRAFFITTI was filmed in Modesto, but it was merely set there. Alot of it was filmed in Petaluma. So the City declared this one day "American Graffitti Day" and they had stars on hand to put their hands in cement. Think of the stars of AMERICAN GRAFFITTI! Harrison Ford, Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Cindy Williams...wow. George Lucas directed it and only lives a scant 20 minutes from Petaluma!! So which stars I just named were there? None.

We got Paul LeMat, Candy Clark, Manuel Padilla Jr and (luckily) Bo Hopkins who worked with Peckinpah! It was a fun afternoon and real, real cheesy. But they had John Milners sweet car (the license plate is: THX 138!) so I snapped a photo. Autographs from the "celebs" were $20! I passed.



And finally this one. I didn't take it, but damn that's funny!

Have a great weekend!

New Review, CLERKS 2

I mentioned before I do reviews for SOUNDWAVES CINEMA...it's a great site! Since there were already two CLERKS 2 reviews over at Film Threat, I decided to get off my ass and finally do something for Dennis over at Soundwaves. I usually try and do new releases for him because FT always has it covered but driving to San Francisco for screenings is rough...between gas prices and actually having to work all day. But I'm making a renewed effort, starting with CLERKS 2.

As you can read HERE, I frigging LOVED the movie and can't wait to see it again. I'm admittedly a big Kevin Smith fan, but was less than thrilled he was beating the CLERKS horse again. but now, I'm glad he did. It's a great, funny, gross and sweet flick. Go see it NOW! He can use more dollars.

I also saw MIAMI VICE last night and will be reviewing it tomorrow. Here's a sneak peek: It's one of the worst movies I've ever seen in my life...and that's not hyperbole. DO NOT SEE MIAMI VICE THIS WEEKEND!!! You've been warned.

White trash pool party

It's freeking HOT here. I know my freinds from Texas and Chicago skoff at my idea of hot, but 107 degrees is hot and we San Francisco based folks ain't used to it. I'm willing to be that 80% of the reason people are willing to pay $800,000 for a tiny 2 bedroom house here is due to the usually perfect weather. As I said to my wife Friday, "If it's going to be this hot, we should move to Texas."

So yesterday as we drove home from my grandparents (wow, party weekend!) we noted the temperature gauge said 107 degrees. "Honey, why are we going home to sit in the house which has no AC? let's go get one of those plastic kiddie pools!" Wheee-hawww!

We went to KMart because when you're going to have a white trash pool party, that's where you go. But they were sold out of the cheapie ones! Rather than search around town in the heat, my lovely, and rich wife bought a 13 feet by 4 feet deep pool! It came with 2 inflatable rings, an inflatable volley ball net and a beach ball. I went and bought a snorkel and a scant 3 hours later...



We sat out there until at least 9:30 and it...was...awesome. I'll be there all week if you want to come by.

I got nothin'

It's been brought to my attention by several people that I'm a total blog flake and all I can say to that is, guilty as charged. See, during the months of September through June, my workday is about 4-5 hours long and usually in the afternoon. I have all morning to ramble on and on and on. But during the summer, I actually have to be at work 8-9 hours and it really sucks. How do you people with "real" jobs do it? Ugh.

That being said...I really haven't been doing squat. I haven't seen a concert since Springsteen and my movie going has really dwindled. I did see SUPERMAN RETURNS (twice) and I'm excited about CLERKS 2 this Friday. But overall, I've just been chilling at home and downloading movies and music (il)legally. I found a website and it's just....awesome. I mean, I'm against piracy, and I still buy albums from people I really dig to support them, but there's some albums I just don't want to invest $15.00 on. Plus, there's a shit ton of movies on this website that aren't available around here. So as you see, I'm justified.

I'm currently downloading a video on "How to Levitate Like the Pros" so that's pretty exciting.

I promise to write more soon...I'll just think of something to say. In order to apologize, here's a picture of me on a camel in Israel with what looks like the cast of MUNICH around me.

Pay me my money down...

So the Springsteen show Tuesday night was, as expected...simply amazing. First off, I love the new album. It's a bluegrass/dixieland/folk mixture of old Pete Seeger songs that really hold up today. Hearing music like that is just plain fun and seeing it live is really something special.

My sister got Erica tickets for her birthday and as I mentioned in the previous audio post, they were in the eighth row! Here's a bad photo of how close we were:


Damn, that's close!

The Boss and his 16 piece band hit the stage at around 8:25 and just nailed the opening song, "John Henry" and he never looked back. Not for three hours! Well, the band stumbled on the encore which was "Rag Momma Rag" by the Band...but still. They simply killed all night long. He played pretty much everything off The Seeger Sessions album and did worked up versions of his songs "Atlantic City," "Johnny 99" (I think) and "Devils and Dust." It was a great, great show.

As with every time I've see Springsteen it's a totally uplifting experience. The guy is honest and amazing and his heart and soul are in the music. I could literally feel the music in my heart. I know it sounds cheesy, but it's true. He doesn't get up there and preach, he lets his songs do the talking. As such...I was moved and inspired by the show and am now set to take on a new project at work. More on that later...