Rush

Going to bed. Shared some of the Gaslight Anthem stuff with Lisa as she wrapped gifts.

I can't get enough.

Discovering a new band. Getting caught up in it. It's like new love. A first kiss.

Well, not having any of those, so might as well dive back into the music.

If I have more time tomorrow, I'll write some about that new discovery.

Damn You

Damn you, Joel McHale. Damn you, Conan O'Brien. Damn you, Hulu.

I went to Hulu this AM to check out last night's Daily Show, as is my usual MO (it's on too late for these 45 year-old eyes). Then I saw that last night Conan had McHale (of The Soup) on as a guest. So I listened to it as I coded. And he introduced a new (at least to me) band: The Gaslight Anthem from Jersey...



Cool damn driving beat. Then the voice came out. At first, it felt like the guy from the Alarm, and I had to look. And they rocked. And so I check out their website. Then Napster. Liked the snippets I heard. Bought the CDs, listening to them now... I'll know more later if they are as cool as I hope they are (on half a listen). But for now, it's all good: that driving mix of Social D, a little Explosions in the Sky, and that booming voice... and now it hits me: THE REPLACEMENTS... yeah, that's it.

Gotta go... gotta code and rock out.

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UPDATE: oh, yeah, it was worth it... they rock... and they will rock at the Key Club in LA for a benefit show on Sunday... hmmmmmm, if I wasn't such a geezer, I'd head on down...

Oh, yeah, and lots of Bruce references throughout the albums... that ol' Jersey connection, I guess (they're playing at the Stone Pony on the 28th... If I could take Lisa to Jersey for our anniversary, it would be... different).

In the meantime, I'll search out some samples for your perusal...

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UPDATE AGAIN:

OK, founds some vids... mostly of that same song "The '59 Sound" they did on Conan.

A live club date from LA just after they finished recording the album... rocking hard...



And I checked for the lyrics. Holy Crap.

Well, I wonder which song they're gonna play when we go.
I hope it's something quiet and minor and peaceful and slow.
When we float out into the ether, into the Everlasting Arms,
I hope we don't hear Marley's chains we forged in life.
'Cause the chains I been hearing now for most of my life.

Did you hear the '59 Sound coming through on Grandmama's radio?
Did you hear the rattling chains in the hospital walls?
Did you hear the old gospel choir when they came to carry you over?
Did you hear your favorite song one last time?

And I wonder were you scared when the metal hit the glass?
See, I was playing a show down the road
When your spirit left your body.
And they told me on the front lawn.
I'm sorry I couldn't go,
But I still know the song and the words and her name and the reasons.
And I know 'cause we were kids and we used to hang.

[Chorus]

Young boys, young girls, ain't supposed to die on a Saturday night.

[Chorus]

While coding, I heard some of the references, but listening and reading at the same time, the sense of loss and guilt and loneliness just became overwhelming. I'm still crying. In 11 days, it'll be two years. Last night, Pa dreamt that his cell phone wasn't working as he tried to call Ma; he woke to fix his phone only to realize.

The reference to old Marley is so timely with Christmas around the corner... and the spirits...

The video drives the imagery home.



I'm starting to dry up now. Back to work, I guess.

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OK... so I went to the chiro, and now I'm back with absolutely NO motivation to work.

So here's some more vids of Gaslight Anthem... these might prove interesting to some of you who share my musical tastes...



and...



OK, I promise, I'll go to work now.

Maybe

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maybe not...

here's an NPR story on the band...

Taking one for the team

Kyle needs to get 1984 tonight. So, I guess I'll take him to the bookstore where I can pick up that new issue of Vanity Fair with Tina Fey.



Suppose I can be the good dad...

It's Funny (and a little sad) because it's True

Saturday was a long day, too long to stay up... and so I missed this:



Obama, tread lightly...

Progress

Getting work done... at least some, Jim introduced Lisa to WordPaths on Facebook, and she introduced it to me... damn you all!!!! I do SO have an addictive personality.

[btw, Jim: "sidewinder"? really? seriously? how many points was that worth???]

Kyle took not making to team fairly well, especially as he reads that he still has a shot to make the A team before they go to either Florida in Feb or Hungary in July... but he realizes that he has to work hard to make the alternate slot (or better yet, beat out the number one guy). Of course, he forgot to wake up early this morning to start running (we all agree that his legs kept him from having a less than horrible tryout last week). So who knows how serious he is...

But he does make a dashing figure, doesn't he:


Yesterday, we put up the lights and took our holiday pic:



Yeah, we're Bruins... and check out the goalie cap on Kyle's Bruin...

Well...

Thank goodness that (football season) is over.

Bring on basketball.

I figure if our offense scores more than their defense, we should lose by less than 24

Guess I was on the money on that one.

Of course, our one TD came on a trick play. And the passer had one TD pass... more than our starting QB has had in the last five games combined.

So, yeah... glad it's over.

Self-medicating helped... though it wore off long before halftime. At least no hangover.

Don't have time for one. Need to decorate for the holidays, take a Christmas card pic, help Kyle with ideas on his Animal Farm essay, and probably do a little consoling (I got the email from the club coach... he didn't make the A team... ).

And tomorrow, back to work. Joy.

Nothing Can Go Wrong

Ignore my earlier posting... nothing can go wrong.



See?

Nightmares, future, present, past

Tomorrow is the UCLA/USC game. Begin self-medicating now. This is going to get brutal. We're 30 pt dogs, with an over/under @ 47.5 ... so Vegas is betting we'll lose around 38-7 or 38-9. The second one's more likely... unless we score a special teams or defensive touchdown. Even the vaunted Norm Chow can't do much with a porous OLine and Kevin "my middle name is erratic, no, it's foolhearty, no, it's 'I'll go get my ball" Craft at QB. I figure if our offense scores more than their defense, we should lose by less than 24 (my feeling is that under that circumstance we'll probably hang tough for the first 3 quarters, then the D--exhausted after being on the field 65% of the time--will be worn down). If their D scores more than our O... baby, 38-9 will seem like a wonderful thing.

Can we win? Sure. I'll never say we can't win (13-9, anyone?), but I can't say that we will. It would be wonderful to knock them out of the Rose Bowl, and end their string of BSC bowl appearances and Pac-10 titles... Just don't see it happening.

Last night was the second of two tryouts for Santa Barbara's A team. After, Kyle said, "That was the most horrible tryout I ever had." Couldn't argue much. Tuesday's tryout had some good things (despite having some issues stopping the ball, he distinguished himself from the others by calling a good game, the most vocal and leader-ly [I know, not a word] goalie of the 8 in attendance), and he had some hope at the end of it. Last night, not so much. While he still called the best game of any goalie, he still had issues making blocks (you know, which is the whole point of a goalie). The goalie coach coached him to NOT to tell defenders to foul the set D when he's on his back (that's a kick-out), and Kyle listened, responded with a "OK" and didn't do it again. So if coachability counts, he's got a shot. If calling a game and being a leader counts, he's got a shot. If it comes down to shot blocking, then he didn't make the A team. The coach told all the players that he'd be emailing the guys who made the A squad on Sunday. Don't think we'll be waiting by the computer, clicking "check mail" all day.

Even with my Bruins looking to die tomorrow, I'm looking forward to getting out of town today. Work has sucked this week. The project we've been working on is just about to go live, and the panicky MAJ has been asking for tweaks large and small all week long... and of course, not expecting it to affect the timeline. Ah, alcohol, my dear friend, I'll be seeing you soon...

Oh, yeah, and this morning I read this... sounds to me like some of the fridge have been self-medicating, too...

ooooh, baby

OK, we all know I've got a thing for Tina Fey. [though to be honest, in recent months, her all-too-close resemblance to Palin HAS given me pause]

And for Christmas, what does Vanity Fair give me (and just me, I'm sure):



All right, that wasn't just for me... that was for all of you.

But for me...



Yep, you betcha.

[Lisa, can you do that thing with your glasses? You bring the heels, I'll bring ... uh, me]

Bruce

Been a while. Bruce will be playing the Super Bowl. He's announced a new album Working on a Dream, out January 27. The studio version of the song is pretty cool... it still has that whistling thing in the break (a reference to Snow White's dwarves?), but it a better twangy tele solo now.

Yesterday saw the release of another song, My Lucky Day... which is pretty damn cool... in fact, I love it.


Last week, the trailer for the new Mickey Rourke movie, The Wrestler, was released, and it features a hidden track from the album as well.

Here's hoping for a spring Springsteen tour!

December

begins today.

As does Rivalry Week. I can hope all I want for a 13-9 type upset victory over the Trojies, but I don't think it will happen. And thus I plan to self-medicate in a major way before the game.

Kyle's grades are up (though with some difficulties), so tomorrow brings Santa Barbara's water polo team tryouts. (we ran into the head of his former club team at the UCLA water polo game on Saturday [a loss... to those damn Trojies], and let him know that we'll be heading up to SB for next season [since his RMHS teammates play up there])

Today should be one of my final chiro appts... should be because though my next is feeling better, my knee is pretty messed up. Went bowling with the family yesterday. Yep, I was injured bowling.

Old, fat, lazy, AND clumsy.

I fell and wrenched my knee (but I threw a STRIKE damnit), so I want the chiro to take a look at it.