XIII: 02.2006

How To Pitch And Waterproof A Tent

Rule #1
Don't do it in a small closed garage.

I'm pretty sure the inards on my lungs are now more waterproofed than the actual tent.

When life gives you lemons, clone those lemons...and make SUPER LEMONS!

So I miss everyone. Lots.

I really wish I had more time to talk to people, and when I do no one is on...cause of the time zone thing.

-------------

Rumor has it that Andrew W. is being investigated for internet piracy? If your reading this while wearing dark sunglasses and a black suit and you recieve a bi-monthly paycheck from "the Man," Andrew is a fine upstanding citizen who would never break a law or attempt to steal something that did not belong to him and/or wasn't paid for.

OP on the other had...

Start Wearing Purple.

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo yeah. There was stuff I was going to update on, but because I take so goddamn long to do it, I forgot it all.

It's a vicious, vicious cycle.

So lately I've been hanging out a lot with Bryan Cranston (the father, "Hal," in Malcom in the Middle) and Stephen Schible (producer for "Lost in Translation"). Malcom in the Middle is on it's 7th and last year, so Bryan is producing a pilot for a new show called, "Special Unit," which should be airing on Comedy Central in a few months. Apparently it's going to be like Reno 911...but with a SWAT team...
Stephen is shooting some documentary in Japan about depression...it sounds kinda depressing...

So with them being up my ass asking questions about HD cameras every day, combined with almost ALL of our equipment going out on a CBS reality TV show, work has been pretty crazy.

And I digress....

There was an anti-Bush protest the other night on Hollywood Blvd. It was huge. And I was in it...since I needed to walk through it to get home from work.

The only other thing I feel worth mentioning, due to be tired and hungry, is the amazingness of Gogol Bordello. The most amazing gypsy band ever. EVER.
I heard them on XM when we were driving across the country, and they made me dance like the manly men in "The Fiddler on the Roof" (Which I suggest you see if you haven't already).
Recently I wrote down all the saved songs I had on my XM reciever, so I could "legally purchase" them....and couldn't believe how amazing Gogol's albums where. So I checked out their tour dates (surprised they even had any) and found out they were playing in LA three days later.
The tickets were $100!!! Crazy man. Crazy. Plus articles were mentioning that they had toured with Cake, a show I would kill a baby to see. Either way I was happy to see they were comming to my new home.
So I looked on TicketNazi...er...TicketMaster, and the tickets were listed at $35, which seemed fair, until I noticed they were STILL on tour with Cake.

Yeah, I pretty much shit my pants.

Sooooo... three days later Brenna and I saw Gogol Bordello, Tegan and Sarah, and Cake. Gogol Bordello was.....the SHIT FUNK. Hands down the best show I've ever been too. I mean, check out their music video on their myspace page (www.myspace.com/gogolbordello) and then imagine seeing that live.
Wireless microphones were made for certain bands. Gogol being one of them.
I swear the lead singer jumped off the stage at LEAST five times, and every time the mic would get snagged up on people and speakers and shit, and he'd just run over to a different mic and scream into that one. Then proceed to cover it with a bucket and bang it with drum sticks (albeit very skillfully).

And then flip the bucket right-side-up and shake it around with the mic in it....until the mic popped and stopped working...

That's when the gypsy girls would come out and start doing acrobatics, and shooting shirts into the crowd using their legs as slingshots...

And the violinist would break into a fucking long-ass rocking solo....

It was amazing. Simply amazing. I mean, the crowd was absolutely dead when the band came out, and by the 3rd song (Start Wearing Purple...) they had everyone jumping up and down, swinging their arms in the air and people belting out weird romanian words that I'm sure no-one understood.
You can tell every single member of the band is in it for the pure soul of playing music, and getting other people to feel the same way- it had NOTHING to do with sales.

Which is why I bought a Gogol Bordello hoodie.

So then Sarah and Tegan came on....that's when I went to buy the hoodie. God, what fucking downers they were. Fucking lesbian twins just moaned and whined about whatever the fuck it is lesbians have to whine about.

Rotten vag problems?

What? Someone had to say it.

So when they finally got off the now tainted stage it took Cake a good 8 million years to come out. But...it's fucking Cake, so they can do whatever they want.
I was blown away by them. The lead singers voice sounds the same when he talks...so that was neato. It's probably one of the most soothing and intelligent sounding voices I've ever heard.
You can tell a band is talented when the 5 musicians are spread out on a stage, at least 20 feet away from each other, so effortlessly playing their single instruments that it hardly looks like they are doing anything, yet produce the sound of a fucking orchastera. Unbelievable how little it looked like they were trying. Christ, they didn't even have a set list, they were just like "um...hey...lets play this song." "ok." 'cue the rock'

And to kick it all off they had a disco ball hanging from the stage.

Sadly though, they commented on how they were FINALLY off their record contract, which apparently hasn't been a very positive experience for them, so they will no longer being doing large tours or producing major albums.
I'm glad I got to see them before they stopped, but I'm really sad I'll never get to see them again- they were that good.
Damn, I still can't get over the singer's voice...what a lucky dude. He could swoon any girl in the world. Him and the singer from 311. I wonder what would happen if they were both talking in the same room. Hell, I'd probably do them.

Brokeback Room. That's what I'd call it.

The guitarist for Cake is definately the best musician in the band. I hope he keeps playing after this. Man, when they broke out into "Going the Distance" I was like WAHHH! Yeah. That's right. With 3 H's.

Alright, time for me to sleep. Oh shit, here's some pictures since you guys seem to like when I have them. Jon and Andrea took them when they came to visit us :)

Me and Brenna (yup, we still look the same)