Yet another blog...

...

2006-09-09T19:23:00.000-04:00

a couple of great new time wasters

2006-01-30T21:10:00.000-05:00

Check out Fastr and Guess-the-google. The wonders of modern technology. What will they think of next.

Jesus's blog

2006-01-30T12:27:00.000-05:00

I heard about this on the Relevant Podcast and I just had to post about it. I think it's pretty well done and funny. Ranks up there with the Jesus bobble head doll and Jesus of the week.

great Christmas music

2005-12-23T21:50:00.000-05:00

I'm looking forward to the brodcast of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols tomorrow. I started listening to it last Christmas. It's one of the few things that gets in the Christmas spirit with the overloading and commercialization we have in our culture now. I saw a piece on the Newshour yesterday which summed it up beautifully. The brodcast for the Festival comes on tomorrow at noon if you're in the Tampa area. Or you can listen to it online or find when it's on your local npr station. I'm going to try to record it with my computer, so if you miss it and want to hear it, ask me later.

Oh, and don't forget Sufjan's stuff as well.

be nice to your ears...

2005-12-22T22:08:00.000-05:00

I just read this article. I go to alot of shows and am rarely without earplugs. There aren't a whole lot of other people that wear them though. I remember when I first started going to shows regularly in college, I went to a show with MxPx, World Against World, and I think Spudgun without earplugs. That was a mistake. I don't make those kinds of mistakes very often any more.

If for some reason the text doesn't come up for the article, try this one. And here's another article I found on the same subject.

overdue concert pics

2005-12-22T21:38:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning go get these up for a while and never got around to it. The last couple months have been really good for shows. Especially for Tampa.

The Ted Leo show was amazing. Standing there watching it, you get the feeling that you're experiencing something you'll be able to tell your kids about someday. They were that good.

Maggi, Pierce, and E.J. was just one of those rare finds. I heard them by chance on WMNF doing a live in-studio performance and decided to go see them live. They are a mostly folk, sometimes rock group from Pennsylvania and they are good. Lots of great three part harmonies.

Tegan & Sara put on a pretty good show as well. I can't say that I've ever been to a show with that many lesbians in the audience. Or just women in general. It was odd. I didn't really like the two opening acts, Vivek Shraya and Rachel Cantu. They just didn't do anything for me.

Xiu Xiu was good too. Very unique sound and vocals. Wasn't able to stay for their whole set, because it was going too late and I had to get some rest. I would definitely go see them again though.

Jack Williams was very enjoyable. This was the last Under the Oaks house concert. He is an incredible guitar player and a really funny guy. That melody he does at the end is quite impressive.

As always click on the images for the rest of the pictures. Next year is shaping up to be good too. Here's a list of the good ones that I've already heard of.
1/28 Sa - Son Volt - Jannus Landing
1/21 Sa - Mike Roe, Mike Pritzl - Gainesville Vineyard
2/3 Fr - Kaki King - Common Grounds, Gainesville FL
2/10 Fr - Andrew Bird, Tallahassee, FL - Club Downunder, FL State Univ.
2/17 Fr - Of Montreal, Orlando, FL - The Social
3/1 We - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Elefant, The Morning After Girls - The State Theatre, $12/$12, 7p
3/5 Su - Mute Math - The Social, 7p, $10
3/11-12 - Langerado - Markham Park, Sunrise, FL
3/21 Tu - Eisley - The Orpheum, $12/$12, 7p
5/12-13 - Cornerstone Florida

Merry Christmas!

Wal-Mart movie

2005-12-03T16:01:00.000-05:00

I went and saw the Wal-Mart movie a little while ago and it was good. I mean, I knew there were problems, but wow. I think what made it so striking was the amount of first-hand accounts they had from former employees. Pretty much the whole movie was made up of interviews. I had meant to post earlier and encourage people to see one of the free screenings, but I didn't get around to it. I would certainly recommend it though. I found a good review here. Here's another link to Ebert & Roeper's review.

more shoulder stuff

2005-12-03T15:04:00.000-05:00

I've got a few more shoulder pics. I went to the doctor again a little while ago. He said it's coming along well, but not out of the woods yet. Hopefully, it won't require another surgery. The first four pics that I added are of the plate and screws that are in my shoulder. The next four are of the piece that they would put in if the bone doesn't heal right and he would to do a shoulder replacement surgery. If that were the case, I wouldn't have half the range of motion that I had before the accident. Pics here.

Matisyahu, Pigeon John

2005-11-08T20:18:00.000-05:00

Here's the pictures from the Matisyahu/Pigeon John show this past weekend. Pigeon John was good as usual. He did quite a few of his older songs like Clueless and Golden Motorcycle which made me reminiscent of older days. It was cool that he was able to bring a drummer on tour with him. He sounded good.

Matisyahu was solid also. It was the first time I'd seen him live. Solid band playing with him. The only complaint I have is that it's hard for me to listen to someone doing reggae without a real West Indian accent. It just doesn't sound right. I probably won't buy his cd.

Derek Webb - Mockingbird

2005-11-03T17:19:00.000-05:00

Derek Webb's got a new album coming out Dec. 26th and you should go preorder it now. I have already. Derek is one of the few artists whose new album I would buy without listening to it or hearing the music live, and I don't say that lightly. I found a good recent interview he did with Phantom Tollbooth. You should read it. He's got a lot of good things to say.

Dead 60's, Nic Armstrong & the Thieves

2005-11-02T16:22:00.000-05:00

These are a little old, but I wanted to get them up here because they came out pretty well. I went and saw the Dead 60's and Nic Armstrong & Thieves at the State Theatre. Both were great. They were opening for The Bravery, which I didn't like as much. I didn't like the way the lead singer staggered around stage. It just looked ridiculous and a bit pretentious.

questions and answers

2005-10-05T17:24:00.000-04:00

I've been reading some good stuff on Justin McRoberts' myspace blog. Wanted to post them here.
uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco.

Shoulder stuff

2005-10-03T22:34:00.000-04:00

For those of you who haven't heard already, I was in an accident in August. I was riding my road bike and I got hit from behind by a car. They had to do some surgery on my shoulder. I got some pics from the doctor and I thought I'd post them here. A couple of them are kind of gross though.

Politics test

2005-10-02T23:07:00.000-04:00

Saw this test on Tai's blog. Fun little test. Two thumbs up. Lots if interesting info at the end with the results. It said I "exhibit a very well-developed sense of Right and Wrong and believe in economic fairness." Take it here.

You are a
Social Liberal
(63% permissive)

and an...
Economic Liberal
(38% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Centrist

Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid
Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Sufjan Stevens - 05.09.24

2005-09-30T16:55:00.000-04:00

So I saw Sufjan last weekend at the 40 Watt in Athens. Great show. Muchas gracias to Ben and Ginny for driving me up there. Sufjan and Co. impressed me with all the cheers and such. That was quite a lot to memorize in addition to the lyrics. Hand motions and all. Took some pictures at the show. They're not all that great, because I couldn't get that close because of my arm. Better than nothing though. Check it.

If you want to hear some of his music online, along with interviews and explanations of songs, click here, here, and here.

Well, it's finally done...

2005-08-10T12:18:00.000-04:00

Not bad, eh? The street's still a mess b/c there's still a lot of construction going on. I've finally got all my stuff in there and everything installed/delivered. I'll try to get some more pics of the whole process up here when I get the chance. Notice the real estate sign on the left. Out of the six units in my building, three are unoccupied and for sale. It's crazy how much the price of these things has gone up since I signed.

Black Keys - Skipper's Smokehouse

2005-07-09T16:11:00.000-04:00

Well, it's way overdue, but here's the pics from the Black Keys show here in Tampa at Skipper's. Thanks to a healthy bit of nagging from a certain friend (*ahem*, htwice), I've finally gotten them up on this here blog. Click on the image to go to the set. Here's links to the full size images: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.

The picture quality isn't the greatest. These ones I actually had to scan from regular film prints. There should be better pics coming in the future though. I just bought a Canon PowerShot S60. Should get it this week. Just in time for some shows next weekend.

I gotta get one of these...

2005-05-17T21:02:00.000-04:00

Isn't it a beaut? I saw it online and like drooled over it for hours. If anyone wants to contribute to the "Daryl needs a n91 fund" just drop me a line.

check out the new crib...

2005-04-03T18:27:00.000-04:00

okay, so it's a little rough now. It'll be done in no time though. See the whole set here

got any secrets?

2005-04-02T21:06:00.000-05:00

Heard about an interesting website the other day on NPR. There's a guy that asked people to send him postcards with secrets on them. Check it out here. It's amazing the stuff people will share with complete strangers. In the NPR interview they talked about how much of the postcards does he think are true. from looking through the ones on his blog I would think the vast majority of them are true. I don't know why someone would make up most of that stuff.

Langerado

2005-03-16T12:16:00.000-05:00

Went to Langerado this past weekend and had a great time. The weather was absolutely brilliant. There were tons of people there; I wasn't expecting it to be that big. Really good lineup of bands too. I didn't get to see everyone play, but I enjoyed KDTU, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Mofro, MMW and others. I've never been a huge fan of String Cheese Incident, but they sounded pretty good.

Of course, being a mostly jam band festival, there were plenty of people having in depth conversations with miss Mary Jane, if you know what I mean. One guy even offered me LSD. LSD. That's just crazy. It's really kind of sad to see that many people with not much more than that to live for. Although it's not like everyone there was doing it, but it was pretty visible. And everybody was friendly too. I was impressed with how far people were travelling to come to the festival. I had to work the ID tent as part of volunteering and there were people from all over the country - Minnesota, California, New York, Texas, Kansas, etc. And I thought I was hardcore with my puny little 4 hour drive. ha. And the music was great. I'm definitely going again next year. Who's with me?

so Christmas has come and gone

2004-12-29T22:04:00.000-05:00

I had a pretty good Christmas this year. Got some stuff I wasn't expecting to get. Gave my dad an mp3 player that I kind of wanted to keep for myself. I find that now that I'm an adult it takes me longer to really enjoy the season and get into it. All the commercialism and hype starting from before Thanksgiving has a lot to do with it. I think the thing that really gets me into appreciating Christmas is the music. It's funny that one of the things that stands out in my memory from Christmas as a child is that my parents would always play the same album every Christmas morning. Christmas Jollies by the Salsoul Orchestra. Old school. I think I'm going to start some new traditions when it comes to music now.

A friend told me about about some Christmas ep's from a friend and listened to them most of the day Friday. All Christmas songs by Sufjan Stevens. Absolutely beautiful stuff. I wish there was more Christmas music like this.

Also, I found out this year about Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King's College Chapel in Cambridge, England. They've been having this service every Christmas since 1918, and apparently they've been broadcasting it worldwide on the BBC since the 1930's. I wish I had heard of this before. I'm going to have to add this to the list of the things I have to do before I die - spending Christmas eve in that chapel. So serene and reverent. I don't know what it is about accapella choral music that I like so much. The St. Olaf Christmas thing is good too.

so I've gotten all the cd's...

2004-12-26T21:17:00.000-05:00

The Flaming Lips cd is good. There's only one track I didn't like on it. For some reason it wasn't quite what I was expecting. I've heard so much about the band and this is the first I've heard of their stuff. I'm not sure what kind of sound I was expecting, but I enjoyed the cd.

I already talked about the P86 cd.

K-os was great. Even better than I had expected. I'd seen a couple of his videos on Subterranean. This was his first cd that I bought and I'll probably buy the second as well. Very talented individual, a la Lauryn Hill. Many different styles on the cd. I would have liked to hear more straight forward hip hop from him though.

Salif Keita, of course, was great. Only drawback to the cd is that it's a retrospective, so most of the tracks have alot of 80's synthesized instrumentation on it. But if you can get past that, the infectiousness of the melodies and rhythms are there to be savored. I've got Moffou as well, and he's got another version of Ignadjidje on this cd. I didn't like it as much as the one on Moffou, which is acoustic and slower.

Ohio was just beautiful. The whole cd is laid back, wonderfully textured, and flows together well. It'll probably take a while to completely digest all the lyrics and stuff, it's that good. I saw them live last year at Cornerstone FL and loved it. Hopefully they'll come back this way again this year.

a good time for cd's

2004-12-16T16:10:00.000-05:00

So it started with a splurge at BMG. I bought five cd's for $30, including shipping:

The Flaming Lips "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots"
Project 86 "Songs To Burn Your Bridges By"
K-Os "Exit"
Salif Keita "The Mansa Of Mali...A Retrospective"
Over The Rhine "Ohio"

I love BMG. The selection leaves much to be desired, but when you find some good stuff it's great. And I just love getting new music in the mail. I've only gotten the Project86 cd so far and I've been listening to it all week. It's solid. I wouldn't say it tops 'Drawing Black Lines', but it's a good cd. 'The Spy Hunter',
'The Great Golden Gate Disaster', and 'Solace' are my favorite tracks.

And then I find out this week that three of my favorite groups are all releasing cd's. Soul-Junk released 1937, a cd of remixes. They've posted a couple of the
tracks on their website. Galaxalag is hands down one of the best and most creative lyricists I've ever heard. Pure genius in my book.

Mars Ill sent out some bad news that Pro-Pain is getting pushed back again until next June or something because of our friends at Gotee. Wasn't too happy about that. But Mars Ill made me feel better by announcing that they're selling two cd's, 'Pirate Radio' and 'Sound Methods v.2.0' through Paypal.

And finally, speaking of labels slowing up the release of good music, we finally have a chance to buy LA Symphony's 'Call It What You Want'. This is the cd that was supposed to come out on Squint before Warner shut them down. I'm really happy for LAS that this is finally getting out. But if you want to buy it you better hurry up, because it's only available until the end of the year.

Studio 360

2004-12-16T12:09:00.000-05:00

There was an interesting show on NPR this past weekend. On Studio 360 they were talking about art from Christians. They had a lot of interesting things to say about the current state of the Christian culture/market that has been created. You can check it out here.

a step in the right direction

2004-12-05T16:27:00.000-05:00

I usually listen to the speakers on WKES, the local Moody station in Tampa and I often hear David Zanotti do his little shorts on politics and stuff. I was quite surprised to hear his statements this past week. He didn't say everything I would have liked him to say, but it's a step in the right direction.

somebody told me...

2004-11-22T20:08:00.000-05:00

so I went and saw the Killers the other night here in Tampa. But before I talk about the show, I have to go on a little rant here.

I am so freakin' sick of clubs and shows that can't do anything on time. If it were 15min., half an hour, I could deal with that. The Killers show at the Masquerade started a whole 2 hours later than it was supposed to. 2 HOURS. The website said 7pm, the doors didn't even open until 7:40 and the first band didn't come on till 5 'til 9. And don't tell me they were waiting for everybody to get in, because the Death Cab for Cutie show wasn't sold out like this one was and I didn't even get to see Travis Morrison play because it took so long to get in. <deep breath> ok, I'm done.

So the Zutons were up first and I enjoyed them alot. They kind of had a 60's woodstockish roots rock thing going on. Sounded real good. They didn't sound like anything else I've heard, which is usually a good thing. Now It's Overhead came on next. They were ok. I liked their sound musically, but I didn't like the lead vocals. They were kind of shaky. I think they suffered crowd wise because they were considerably more downtempo than the other two bands. They didn't really fit the bill. There were some people who appreciated them though. The crowd seemed to have an interesting mix of people. There were the indie rock, 'too cool for school' people there, and then there were the people who would never have been there if the hadn't been spoonfed the Killers by some commercial rock radio station.

I certainly enjoyed the Killers though. They had alot of energy, good sound, the lead singer has an amazing stage presence, and a unique voice to match. Only thing I would have changed is that their set should have been longer. And get rid of the encore. Totally played out. Another rant for another day.

There was an older guy near me who stood out pretty awkwardly among a crowd of much younger people. It makes me wonder if the culture will change so much between now and when I'm his age that I'll be that guy standing out like a sore thumb at a show. I hope not. It could totally happen though.

Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated...

2004-10-26T17:35:00.001-04:00

Well, I finally gave in and started a blog. As if the world really needs another blog. I'm curious to see how many people if anyone reads this thing. We'll see. I enjoyed reading the blogs of some out of town friends so much, I thought I'd give it a try. This is kind of like when the web was picking up steam years ago and everybody and their dog had a personal web page. Most of them looked like crap, but that didn't stop anybody. I guess I wasn't able to resist this time around. This is much easier to keep up though. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to put up on here either. I thought I'd start out with a journal entry from a mission trip I made to Japan in '99. Don't be misled, I'm not really the journalling type. They asked us to do it though. I found this recently while cleaning up a old yahoo group. I hadn't seen it in years. I'll have to go find the rest of them one of these days. Reading it now almost sounds like it's a different person. weird. Here you go:

Sunday & Monday, June 6th and 7th-

Man, it's early. I had to get up at 0430 Sunday morning because we had to leave at 0600 to get to the airport. Any other Sunday morning and I would have had a really hard time getting out of bed. But after the week of school I just had, with having to take my finals early and all, this is cake. I was just glad to get the 3½ hours that I did. Besides I figured I could sleep on the plane. So, we drove to the airport early Sunday morning. Oh yeah, it's Sunday. It sure doesn't feel like a typical Sunday. I'm usually headed to church first thing Sunday morning. At about 0700 we arrived at the airport and everyone was on time. I was impressed. Usually when you ask a bunch of college-aged students to be somewhere that early, someone's bound to be late. We all had our white Seahorse polo shirts on, so we drew attention. We were asked many times by people in the airport and on the plane why we were together. It was a good opportunity to tell people what we were about. It felt good to be part of a team like that. We flew to Portland first, which was 2 hours, and hen to Japan, which was 10 hours. The trip went by fairly fast. I slept for a few hours, watched a movie, ate a couple meals, and wrote out my testimony.

I can't believe I'm in Japan. I found myself saying this to myself over and over once we landed in Nagoya. The airport looked very nice. Cheryl (CCC staff) told me it was brand new. We got our bags and went through customs. It was still only about 1530 there, but to us, it was late at night. We took buses and subway trains through the city and ate dinner at a Japanese restaurant. It was a long day.