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I Kan't Spell



Tuesday, December 30, 2008

 
A Not So Young Man Looks at a New Year

Where the ground gets warn away to brown, trodden, lumps of grass; they look so wet and matted with wear and time - that is the place where your foot steps gently. The tall crisp, almost neon grass on the sides, near the pavement, drinking of what hopes is soon-to-be Spring is framed like priceless heirloom. The brown stays slick and warns your heel as if to say, "Be careful of me. I'm slimy and moist."

There is black muck that you reach your hands into because it's your job now. You are the one that roots in the danger. You are the one that puts your foot forward before the young and before the old. It's your place. It's your time and what black muck sticks to your hands, face, and breath, comes away repainting your soul.

With the breath of the responsible come the spoils of the rewards. Dark glasses on the end of your nose guard your squint from the light off the table of water in front of you. Your woman sits in a chair enjoying her security. Your friends merriment and cheer can be heard to the clouds. Your face almost let's you enjoy it.

The slope that you want to walk down isn't 45 degrees but it sure seems that way. It's more or less a 7% gradient. It's more or less a death sentence. It's time to come to that ledge and spit.

At some point all men should hold up their fists and scream, "Enough! No more! Not today! Not now! Not ever again!" This is the time that your body rejects your brain. You quiver in your spine and you can feel your heart beat through your neck. It's too late for anything else. You stand. After the initial shock, the adrenalin subsides and it's just you and why you said the things you said. After the initial tremble you realize that you have what is needed to do anything.

Brown grass. Green grass. Black muck. Water like glass. Slanted hills. Raised fists. Welcome to manhood. Welcome to the granularity of life that allows for books to be read, meals to be enjoyed, and moments to be savored.



Tuesday, December 23, 2008

 
Easily the Best 12 Pains of Xmas Video




Friday, December 19, 2008

 
Soccer vs Football

For those who think that American Football is the most exciting sport... I really... on so many levels feel sorry for you. While I may have grown up in a soccer household; my father would often drag me to bars in the 80's and early 90's to watch world cup matches that were only shown on some crazy Italian satellite channel and I would watch Dutch Football on ESPN2 at 8 am every Sunday morning. Cruiff was always in my living room. But... anyway...

American football is just that... American. It's loud and it has way too many fucking rules and leaves far too much to the farcical judgment of officials and referees and cameras.

Soccer is like liquid being poured out onto the floor. You have no idea where it will go or how it will play. The rules are simple. The game lends itself to beauty and movement. I hope those of you that bash soccer one day give it a try... take it from a prior die hard football fan... soccer... is so much more fun to watch.

This is the draw for the Champions league -

Chelsea - Juventus
Villarreal - Panathinaikos
Sporting - Bayern
Atletico Madrid - FC Porto
Lyon - Barcelona
Real Madrid - Liverpool
Arsenal - Roma
Inter - Manchester United

I can't even compare this to American Football. I could if anyone else played Football and they were in Mexico, El Salvador, Canada, and Iceland and they were all equally amazing yet equally different in their styles... and there were dozens up dozens of those teams with rabid fan following year round...

My pick to win it all - Inter -



Thursday, December 18, 2008

 
Set List

Ryan Adams & the Cardinals @ MSG setlist - 17th December 2008

Cobwebs
Crossed Out Name
Everybody Knows
Fix It
Off Broadway
Go Easy
Sink Ships
Natural Ghost
Come Pick Me Up
Magick


Oasis @ Madison Square Garden Setlist - 17th December 2008

Rock 'n' Roll Star
Lyla
The Shock Of The Lightning
Cigarettes & Alcohol
The Meaning Of Soul
To Be Where There's Life
Waiting For The Rapture
The Masterplan
Songbird
Slide Away
Morning Glory
Ain't Got Nothin'
The Importance Of Being Idle
I'm Outta Time
Wonderwall
Supersonic

Encore:
Don't Look Back In Anger
Falling Down
Champagne Supernova
I Am The Walrus



Wednesday, December 17, 2008

 
This will be played tonight at MSG



A TOAST! To the Irish Pub and the Masterplan!

 
IASIP



Greatest show ever made.



Tuesday, December 16, 2008

 
100 things I hate about America

After attending the Ravens game the other night and the week before - I realized - that I really only do what I LIKE. I don't put myself in positions multiple times that I find pathetic, dreadful, and just sad. It's not that I didn't like going to the game with my friends and being with them... it's the surroundings of that game...that make me shudder .

Along with this, too many times in the past months I have been watching television or been out and about and have muttered my new favorite phrase "God damnit America."

So - this is an attempt at the 100 things that I hate about American society. Not all of them are going to be beholden to America itself - but I think we will be able to see a trend. These are in no particular order:

1. Drunk college girls.
2. The ability for drunk college girls to set trends for girls older than 22
3. Girls that use cell phones like their life depended on it.
4. Text messaging
5. Litter
6. People over the age of 23 smoking pot
7. Liberal democrats that live in Million $ houses
8. People who think 2nd-tier colleges aren't a sunken cost that just prove you are able to borrow money
9. People who openly sell and do drugs
10. Football games with people that only LIVE for football games. It's really not that important. Go home and lay your wife, play with your kids, lift a weight, IMPROVE yourself - the Ravens WILL carry on ... trust me.
11. Poor art carried out by poor people
12. Cable television
13. The misconception of Obama
14. Open air mutual racism between two races – like when a white dude thinks I'm just going to start agreeing with him because he uses the "n" word openly.
15. America's inability to control it's own media
16. Single moms out on the town
17. Losers that follow local bands because they know someone in the band and then tell everyone else in the world how great that band is…and then end up working the merch counter for them.


I'm too sick and ready to leave to keep writing right now… but you saw where this list was going.



Thursday, December 04, 2008

 
Personal Hero of the Day - Eric Burdon

He went from the Animals to War to being the Eggman to John Lennon. Eric Burdon should be every budding white boy's blues voice hero.






Wednesday, December 03, 2008

 
Overdue Oasis Review

I don't know if any of you read but Oasis had the #3 album in the country for a couple weeks this year. I don't know what that means in comparison to downloads or what people really listen to but I imagine it means very little.

I don't know yet what my tour schedule is for the coming weeks - xmas money plus other things make the tour not... really... the greatest timed thing in my life but... I would like to go - else they will be back for the summer and if you've seen Oasis once you've seen them as much as I have (27 times).

Well the new album Dig Out Your Soul was once again a mixed bag of psychedalia that spawned from Noel's record collection while he was in a cover band of the Stone Roses. Quite the interesting blend if you ask me. I really do like it - and I think it's much more mature than anything they have released in 5 or 6 years but at the same time -- it's missing the anthem... it's not flat - but it's definitely something that would play at a mid 30's something dinner party.

That is all.




Favorites List
Pandora Song List
Amazon Wish List
Reading
Revolutionary Wealth - Tofflers
Brian Jones

Things Making Me Smile
The City
Newness
Listening - [out of 5]
Benjy Ferree - 4.8
The Thermals 3.1
David Gray 3.8

Quote(S)
Like the guy with the beard? YES - like the guy with the beers. What? Yep

Bands That I Check Schedules For
Badly Drawn Boy
Belle and Sebastian
Benjy Ferree
The Black Keys
Deerhoof
Drive By Truckers
The Eels
Enon
Kimya Dawson
Mark Hopkins Band
Oasis
Iron and Wine
Mates of State
Ted Leo
Travis
Two if By Sea
Ween

Places I Rock in the Flesh
9:30 Club
Black Cat
Electric Factory
Fletcher's
8x10
The Knitting Factory
The Otto Bar
Recher Theatre
Sonar

Places I Eat/Drink in the Flesh
Aldo's
Bishop's Collar
Boccacio's
Cross Street Market
Hull Street
Joun Gak
Mick O'Shea's
No Way Jose
Porter's
The Irish Pub
Turner's
The Waterfront Hotel

My Greatest Hits (that's so lame)

The time I almost killed a child
July 4th in Korea
Excerpts from Demian
Why I screen phone calls
Bret's Death Metal Report
A conversation at a cocktail party
A conversation at breakfast
So you think you are a Baltimorian
A conversation about a girl singer
Observations from a bar
Observations of strippers
Tech Language
Why I love Oasis
I would go to war
"You Son of a Bitch" An Open Letter to Tom Friend
Dance to Your Ocean
Dream Ranch
When men become pussies
Jason Whitlock is a racist propaganda promoter
Pitchfork takes music snobbery to new level
The Cosmic Clash of the Red Sox and Cubs
The Hatred that is Runts Candy
Starting corporate line-up
Google Bio
Do you know me? List 1 / List 2 / List 3
The Night I Burned Philly Down
So You Want to be a Booze Hound
She Said it was Free
Funniest Corporate Story Ever
Striped Shirts and the Fucks that Wear Them
Death Peddle
NEW!!!
Pieces of Morning
Oasis Album Revew
The Art of Tipping
Starting Fires With Grass Stains
Bret's Federal Hill Food Review
Sexcapades and your Picture on the Internet
Stupid Secrets
Stupid Secrets the Return


Contact Me

Stuff I Swing By From Time to Time

- MUSIC
Donewaiting.com
hive3.com
Indie Video Archive
Large Hearted Boy
Important Records
Oasis News
Pitch Fork Media
Reptilian Records
Scenestars MP3 Blogs
Sound Garden Baltimore

- BUY
Aloud.com
Pre-Shrunk
Shotgun Apparel
Warrior Clothing

- HUMOR
Angry Little Girls
Atom Films
Eye Envision
Homestar Runner
Kill Frog
Junior Varsity Meat Market

- PERSONAL
Baltimore City Paper
The Baltimore Sun
Calvert Hall
Degroen's Brewers
ESL Cafe
Fantasy Sports
Korean Herald
Villa Julie College Baseball
W3 Schools



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