Today’s my birthday so I’d like to pay tribute to the artists that have made me think the way I do by turning you on to them. That and I’m kind of slacking off by not writing a real post. 🙂 First off, The Wildhearts… One of the greatest, most underrated rock bands of all…
As an artist always reaching for exposure, I’m always interested in how others are making the web work for them. So I was excited to read Viral Loop by Adam Pennenberg. The Viral Loop is a collection of case studies of companies that rocketed to the top using viral loops as promotion. Everything from Tupperware…
I’m a little behind the game on this one as I caught the DVD instead of the big screen version. But there ya go. 🙂 I just watched It Might Get Loud featuring Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White in a tete-a-tete on screen about music and where they come from in creating it….
(It’s creative writing time today…) This is the story of Captain Unibrow. He may have but one magnificent, bushy brow, but at least he doesn’t waste money on women with strings at the mall. On a daily basis he wages war on needless beauty products for men and women around the world. With his sidekicks…
The Winter Olympics are on, which means nothing is getting done in my house. It means long hours spent sitting on the couch watching other people be athletic. Conversely, I do jumping jacks while watching televised poker. One of the commentators made a great point the other night. Winter Olympians engage in far more dangerous…
Today we’re interviewing a man by the name of Hershel Benkowitz who recently created the world’s largest latke for last year’s Hanukkah celebration. Q: Mr. Benkowitz, what was your motivation for preparing the world’s largest latke? B: Well, my mother said I’d never amount to anything and I wanted to show her I could do…
In my time traveling as a performer, I’ve been to about 19 states outside my home in California. And I’ve noticed two prominent things. I have a rule in life… Don’t walk in front of something that weighs 11 times my own weight. Like a car. I think it’s a good rule and it’s kept…
We live in a remix culture. Nothing can be just what it is anymore. Of course it all started with music. Someone said, “Hey this crappy song might be slightly crappier if we throw an 808 kick drum and some wooshy keyboards on there. Oh, and make it twice as long!” Do we really need…
Ooh, it’s been a long day. I’ve spent 19 hours driving over the past two days and I’m getting ready to hit the stage here in Montana in just a couple hours to start a two week tour. I’ve played this room twice before, and the question always is “What will I do different this…
I saw this ad recently and well… See for yourself. This is it, word for word. ——————————– THE SUPER COLON IS COMING! ARRIVING IN ALL ITS SUPER COLON GLORY. DISCOVERY GATEWAY : 444 WEST 100 SOUTH : SALT LAKE CITY MAY 28TH−30TH : FREE ENTRY NOON−9:00 PM. COME EXPLORE THE 20-FOOT LONG 8-FOOT HIGH REPLICA…
I’ve talked in the past about how I think NASCAR would be more interesting with a gay driver. (6th track on this page) Thought of a new idea last night. Since people really enjoy seeing crashes at these things, they should make them more likely to happen by making it more difficult for the drivers…
I’ve never been the macho man type. I don’t watch sports, I don’t hunt, not interested in firearms (except when it comes to particularly stupid people), and I can’t fix a car to save my life. My girlfriend likes to joke that it doesn’t matter what’s wrong with my car, I’ll check the oil, water,…
So, it’s January and you’ve decided you should stop mainlining heroin and staring at 14 year old girls at the mall. Good for you! Unfortunately, statistics and science say you’ll be back hitting on Britnee with a needle hanging from your arm by January 31st. See, will power apparently doesn’t exist according to neuroscientists in…
I just finished reading a really interesting post at Music Think Tank entitled “Farewell to the Casual Music Fan” . I always like to dig into contrarian thinking and this certainly goes against the grain of current music industry thought. In short, many people have floated the idea that a music artist can make a…
My teenage years were spent digging up every obscure metal band I could find. The faster and heavier the better. But I never quite understood mosh pits. Ok, I understand them on a sociological level. Since men aren’t generally needed to hunt for food each day anymore, they have to take out their aggression on…
I thought long and hard about weighing in on this one. Mostly because I don’t want to be just another talking-cyber-head yapping away idiotically into the wind of cyberspace. But the potential from idiocy has never deterred me before, so what the heck? There’s no point in me actually reviewing the film. I’m an unabashed…
Because apparently that’s how many idiots have ADD now. I was just reading this post from Mashable http://mashable.com/2009/12/11/online-video-buffering/ and apparently 80% of people will click away from a video that buffers JUST ONCE. That’s how impatient and short attention spanned the world has become. People can’t wait an extra 3 seconds to see their video…
I just picked up a copy of this film, “Never Been Thawed” because a website mentioned Greg Behrendt was in it. And the plot looked like just the thing I’d like. And I certainly wasn’t disappointed. It was originally released in 2005, so don’t look for it in your local theater anytime soon. But I…
It always seems like some things have been around forever. Like Christmas. Surely we’ve been dragging trees in the house and roasting chestnuts since year 1, right? Well, no. The holiday of Saturnalia was started by the Romans in 217 BCE as a day to honor the god Saturn. It started out as a one…
I was reading that they now have carbon fiber athletic cups. Carbon fiber is a new super-strong material that’s being used in everything from shoes to windmills to plane parts. To test the new athletic cup they hired a minor league ball player to put one on. Then they sent him into a feminist studies…
I was just reading this article in the St Cloud Times about the constant battle between small music venues and performance rights societies. http://www.sctimes.com/article/20091117/NEWS01/111170004/1009/Sounds-of-silence?-Fees-spur-venues-to-scrap-live-music- Here’s the basic idea. When a business uses music in their establishment, it’s supposed to pay a licensing fee. If they’ve got a jukebox or karaoke, they pay mechanical fees. If…
I’m constantly amazed at the things that people will spend their hard earned money on. Truck nuts for instance. Someone has to actually stand there looking at these things and make a conscious decision that this is a worthwhile investment of their income. For some reason I can’t picture myself saying, “You know, I think…
One of my lifelong dreams has been to visit the Disney studio and I got my wish this past Saturday thanks to D23. Now if D23 can fix it so I can write a song for a Disney film, I can knock another goal off the bucket list. 🙂 Disney does not give tours of…
Something that popped out of my head yesterday. This was some kid’s Halloween this year. It might be a song later. I’m not sure yet… I’m prepared for a night of evil A night of debauchery A night of fun I’m prepared to brave the elements But mom says it’s cold out I have to…
