Finally playing music again.

Well after a long time, I'm back to playing music again. It's in a (cover) band and I'm mostly playing rhythm guitar as well as some bass on a few tracks. What started as just 4-5 songs has become more like 15.


While it's true that I've been (and still am) collecting a ton of ideas for songs, the fact that there is no time, or resources for me to do something useful about it has been eating away at me for a very long time. The inability to simply pick up a guitar, plug it into an amp, connect things up to record all the necssary parts that make up a song, all of this has been getting under my skin for ages.

How is this connected to playing in a cover band?


Of course it's not exactly the kind of music I would prefer to play. But perhaps that's not the point. I think I'm playing because it's a chance for me to focus on learning something again, not just the songs, about myself. Since I didn't know any of the material prior to agreeing to join, in my mind it was a test as to whether I still had the mental capacity to apply what I know to get what I needed done.

My technical ability on a guitar has more or less stayed the same. But my ability to analyze songs, listen to them, figure out chords, riffs, even a few leads, that sparks something in me.

But even that's not it. I suspect the reason why I went along and am doing it, is because, on some level, I think I feel like I need to be wanted for something other than cleaning up other people's messes (i.e. working in IT in QA). It's nice to be appreciated and perhaps even admired for a chance by other adults for something one is fairly good at. It's nice to be held in high regards for a change. And I get to make a bunch of new friends (as well as reconnect with some old ones).

My hope is it'll lead to something more, not just in this group, but for myself. We'll see.

Overheard on a bus - 05-11-2011.

Bandana'ed fellow named 'Javier' was ranting away on his Bluetooth device to someone about how he has to fight to get his pay for his 40 hours.

I know this useless piece of information because Javier was loud enough so that the whole front half of the bus could hear him whine.

I'm not sure who to feel more sorry for - us, or the motherfucker on the receiving end of that call. It actually might be the latter, as after about 10 minutes, that person evidently had enough, we all heard Javier say, "Oh you have to go now?"

At that moment, I got the distinct impression that many of the people on the bus were either -

1. Laughing on the inside
2. Wishing they had a big stick to beat the shit out of Javier
3. Some combination of 1. and 2.

Seriously - these individuals are fucking self-absorbed. No one seriously wants to hear such morons at 5 PM, stuck in traffic, in the pouring rain. If you want to whine about your problems, be passive-aggressive like the rest of us and complain about it anonymously on a blog.

Otherwise shut the fuck up.

Save Jock Ewing!

http://www.ultimatedallas.com/dallasnews/2011/05/10/save-jocks-portrait/

Mr. Hagman is placing a number of items for auction, and Ro Kim's infamous Jock Ewing portrait of actor Jim Davis is up too.

It's times like this I wish I had lotsa money.

But seriously, a wonderful portrait like this that serves as a memory to both the character and the actor doesn't belong in some private collection, mine included.

Let's hope this portrait finds its way to Southfork Ranch.

Here's the link to the portrait listing -

https://www.julienslive.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/24/lot/6587/

As as bonus, here's a fantastic poem written by the late Jim Davis himself. This is fucking awesome. I truly wish I had met the guy.

How many people do you know who can get the words 'son-of-a-bitch' in a poem?

Why I can't stand lobbying.

Lobbying is an affront to democracy, in my opinion. It allows a segment of the population to have access to government individuals either don't have, or don't have the time to take out of their day.

It allows those segments unfettered access to instruments of society (government, politicians), and effectively curtains them into their bidding.

And ... that really fucks up society. As in peoples' lives get destroyed.

Case in point.

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2011/05/center-for-responsive-politics-los.html




This right after the 2010 West Virginia Coal Mining explosion.

Read more here - http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-coal-mine-safety-20110508,0,1300434,full.story.

No matter what any right-winger tells you - the number don't lie.

Corporations don't know how to profit from future misery, you might say?

"Already, agricultural companies such as Monsanto are investing in developing such strains for maize and soybeans, but that leaves less profitable wheat and rice at the mercy of shrinking public sector agricultural research budgets. "Working on a trait like drought resistance is more complex than introducing a trait like insect resistance," says plant breeder Robert Reiter, vice president of biotechnology at Monsanto. "We don't have a lot of genes [to work with] that help produce more grain under water stress."


Nevertheless, Monsanto plans to begin field trials of such a hybrid corn next year, and hopes to introduce it for sale as early as 2013. "Our first gene close to commercialization—what it seems to be doing is helping the plant basically maintain more normal metabolic levels as opposed to trying to shut those processes down under stress," Reiter explains. "We may be taking [genetic] leads from corn and putting them into wheat to help it be drought tolerant and high-yielding.""

Way to go Monsanto!

Oh wait a second ... we're talking about Monsanto and their frankenproducts that the rest of the world calls genetically engineering.

For a good cause you say?

Really? You think so?

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=climate-change-impacts-staple-crop-yields

Basically the human race is either going to get fucked over by global warming in one of three ways -

1) Companies like Monsanto will create frankenfood that will destroy us from the inside.
2) Global Warming and all it's subsidiary effects will eventually doom us to extinction.
3) Some combination of 1) and 2).

Have a nice weekend everyone!

(h/t to The Disaffected Lib)

Quote of the day - 05-03-2011.

"I cannot tolerate other people's idiocy. Heck I can barely tolerate my own."

President Obama's 2012 re-election strategy kicks off.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Osama_bin_Laden

Assuming this to be validated as fact, it's pretty shrewd. Whether it was justice for those whose lives were lost is another issue.