again, in no particular order
- my friend (via my lovely wife Amy) Jake from Austin, TX (like there's any other Austin that rates) wrote this review for my band's soon-to-be-released album. Some of my favorite quotes are:
- "Jade" has so many things going for it, I'm not sure where to start. It's chock-full of prog-rock chord changes, some wonderful, liquid guitar work, surprising transitions, all of which could have made it chunky and obtuse. It's not. It's catchy as hell.
- There's a lot of space for everyone in the band to do their thing, but they resist the urge to turn it into a "aren't we great musicians?" wankfest.
- I wonder if bands get irritated when people give more attention to the one cover song on the album than the original material? It wouldn't surprise me, but that's not going to stop me.
- If you know me, you know this isn't the kind of music that I usually listen to, but I'm digging this record and catch myself humming (humming?!?!) songs from it when I'm not listening to anything.
- Elektra is eating again. Elektra is eating again. Thank WhateverGodIsResponsible for this, Elektra is eating again! She got up last night and stomped her little rickety way over to the couch where I was having pizza. She demanded (as has been her way, but not recently) that I share, so I did. She ate the beef and cheese from nearly an entire piece.*1 Today I bought two of nearly every flavor of wet cat food my local grocery carries and went into my guest bathroom (so the non-starving cats wouldn't shove her out of the way) with her to find one she'd eat. She's a fan of salmon so I tried that first. She ate half the can. Sure it took her thirty minutes and repeated visits to the bowl, but she hasn't eaten that much, that eagerly for a long time. I am ignoring the voice reminding me that plenty of people and pets rally just before the end and am enjoying my hungry little cat. Thank you all for the warm wishes and the love you sent after my last blaaag.
- Vera Bradley, because it's inspiring that even talentless colorblind autistic spasmodics*2 can still be financially successful designers.
- I just love Terri Gross. She has one of the best voices and her interviewing skills are both disarming and insightful. What makes me like her even more is that she can go from interviewing four star generals with both respect and a drive to get to the heart of the story, to gushing (and if you've heard it you know I mean gushing) over the latest Apatow vehicle or actor (the Jason Segel and Seth Rogan interviews were particularly fun, though to be honest her interview of Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly for their film Step Brothers was pure magic). She's just great.
- Successful Tree Abatement - I had this tree growing up against the front of my house. I don't know if it was there when the house was built or what, but it was so close to the front porch that when I put new gutters on they had to put a special divider on the edge of the roof because the tree was so damn close. We've had tornadoes, ice storms that destroyed the state, and even a hurricane and that tree didn't come down. I felt like I had tempted fate for far too long: I had it taken down today, and while I hate the idea of chopping down a tree (it was a beautiful tree, too) the thought of it coming down into my bedroom was ulcer-inspiring. Some of the cats sat in the window and watched eagerly as it went and others sat on my head in the office and twitched painfully at every crack and thud. It's gone and I think the house looks better for it, or at least less like a house about to be crushed by a giant tree. My great dane Nefret barked so energetically at the men working out front that she pooped in the entry hall. Nothing says "fearsome" quite like "I pooed myself".
1) That's not such a big deal for most of my little chubs, but for her that's remarkable. She's a vocal and pushy eater, but a dainty one.
2) No offense intended to actual colorblind autistic spasmodics... though comparing you guys to Vera Bradley is pretty crappy of me.