Stranger Flowers Yet; There Will Never Come a Day that I Will Ever Regret
Wednesday. Man I'm bored. Of course, that's nothing new since I am always bored. Today I am enduring the endless monotony of putting together a complete list of all outstanding items for my biggest customer and including notes for each line item to help discern why they have yet to be paid. I mean we're talking $1.8 million in aged receivables here. Once this thing is completed, I should have a strong tool to help collect said $1.8 mil, but until then I think my brain might just go completely numb. That may not be a bad thing working around here.
Billydwilson wants me to root for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the upcoming Super Bowl. He makes a good case. They were ranked sixth seed and beat the no. 1, 2, and 3 teams on the road to get there. It would be the first time a no. 6 seed ever won the big game. However, this will be the first time the Seahawks have been to the Super Bowl in their 30-year history, as opposed to the Steelers who have already won four of them. So... whom should I root for? I'm leaning towards Pittsburgh, but if anyone wants to lobby Seattle's cause to sway me, please comment below.
I listened to 311's Grassroots on the way into work today. I was trying to think of bands I haven't heard in a long time, and 311 came up. Some who've known me a long time might find it strange that I can't remember the last time I put in a 311 album since I was pretty much 311 obsessed for most of the '90s. I mean, this Modest Mouse thing lately has been puppy love compared to how much 311 I listened to back then. For a good stretch of time my CD player was loaded with only 311 albums set to constant rotation. I saw them five times in concert, three of those times with lampsidebriefcase (billy, were you at the Cypress Hill show?). While I'm not near as cool as lampsidebriefcase who once met guitarist Tim Mahoney, footage from one of the Red Rocks shows I saw did end up on the Enlarged to Show Detail video (I'm the guy about two-thirds up in the crowd yelling "311!").
So, what happened? I don't know. I would say I burned myself out on them, but I still listen to other bands that I've been that obsessed over. Maybe it was because I was listening to a lot of rap, reggae and rock at the time and they just provided a convenient mix of all of those genres. Maybe I related to the lyrics a lot more then than I do now. I don't really have an answer. I still like 311. I just don't have the urge to listen to them that much any more. I chose Grassroots because that used to be my favorite (I now say the underrated Transistor is their tightest musically). I still think there are some good songs on this album. 8:16am is in particular a great track, and Lucky, Applied Science and Lose stand out as well. I find it hard to recommend this album, though. The lyrics aren't necessarily profound. The dual lead vocal is pretty cool, but that's nothing new. Other bands like the Grateful Dead did that decades before. 311 is good don't get me wrong, but if you are into the punk/rap/reggae hybrid thing go pick up one of the best albums of all time, Sublime's 40oz to Freedom instead.
8:16am
Stranger flowers yet
There will never come a day that I will ever regret
The hours days years and the minutes
The joy the pain the sunshine and rain in it
Excerpt from Kerouac’s On the Road
Stranger flowers yet--for as the Negro alto mused over everyone's head with dignity, the young, tall, slender, blond kid from Curtis Street, Denver, jeans and studded belt, sucked on his mouthpiece while waiting for the others to finish; and when they did he started, and you had to look around to see where the solo was coming from, for it came from angelical smiling lips upon the mouthpiece and it was a soft, sweet, fairy-tale solo on an alto. Lonely as America, a throatpierced sound in the night.
Now, that's cool.
Billydwilson wants me to root for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the upcoming Super Bowl. He makes a good case. They were ranked sixth seed and beat the no. 1, 2, and 3 teams on the road to get there. It would be the first time a no. 6 seed ever won the big game. However, this will be the first time the Seahawks have been to the Super Bowl in their 30-year history, as opposed to the Steelers who have already won four of them. So... whom should I root for? I'm leaning towards Pittsburgh, but if anyone wants to lobby Seattle's cause to sway me, please comment below.
I listened to 311's Grassroots on the way into work today. I was trying to think of bands I haven't heard in a long time, and 311 came up. Some who've known me a long time might find it strange that I can't remember the last time I put in a 311 album since I was pretty much 311 obsessed for most of the '90s. I mean, this Modest Mouse thing lately has been puppy love compared to how much 311 I listened to back then. For a good stretch of time my CD player was loaded with only 311 albums set to constant rotation. I saw them five times in concert, three of those times with lampsidebriefcase (billy, were you at the Cypress Hill show?). While I'm not near as cool as lampsidebriefcase who once met guitarist Tim Mahoney, footage from one of the Red Rocks shows I saw did end up on the Enlarged to Show Detail video (I'm the guy about two-thirds up in the crowd yelling "311!").
So, what happened? I don't know. I would say I burned myself out on them, but I still listen to other bands that I've been that obsessed over. Maybe it was because I was listening to a lot of rap, reggae and rock at the time and they just provided a convenient mix of all of those genres. Maybe I related to the lyrics a lot more then than I do now. I don't really have an answer. I still like 311. I just don't have the urge to listen to them that much any more. I chose Grassroots because that used to be my favorite (I now say the underrated Transistor is their tightest musically). I still think there are some good songs on this album. 8:16am is in particular a great track, and Lucky, Applied Science and Lose stand out as well. I find it hard to recommend this album, though. The lyrics aren't necessarily profound. The dual lead vocal is pretty cool, but that's nothing new. Other bands like the Grateful Dead did that decades before. 311 is good don't get me wrong, but if you are into the punk/rap/reggae hybrid thing go pick up one of the best albums of all time, Sublime's 40oz to Freedom instead.
8:16am
Stranger flowers yet
There will never come a day that I will ever regret
The hours days years and the minutes
The joy the pain the sunshine and rain in it
Excerpt from Kerouac’s On the Road
Stranger flowers yet--for as the Negro alto mused over everyone's head with dignity, the young, tall, slender, blond kid from Curtis Street, Denver, jeans and studded belt, sucked on his mouthpiece while waiting for the others to finish; and when they did he started, and you had to look around to see where the solo was coming from, for it came from angelical smiling lips upon the mouthpiece and it was a soft, sweet, fairy-tale solo on an alto. Lonely as America, a throatpierced sound in the night.
Now, that's cool.
posted by john at 11:43 AM
1 Comments:
I think you might have been in Africa during the Cypress Hill show. I just remember driving from Eau Claire to lampsidebriefcase's apt. in Minneapolis before heading out, but I think Chris was living with him at the time.
You may have me convinced to root for Steelers. I used to work for Qwest, so 'nuff said about that. Anybody want to stick up for the 'Hawks?
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