Prosaic Paradise

Here they are, all 40lbs of books for my summer semester. It’s a little intimidating, a little exhilarating. I really want to unpackage them and look at them, but at the same time, most of them are unreturnable if opened, and I want the prof to confirm I got the right books. You DO NOT […]

This is my guitar. I bought it 8 years ago at Chuck Levin’s with a plan to get Alex to teach me to play. He learned quickly that I was a terrible student at things that require the kind of patience instruments do; so the guitar has lain dormant for the most part until late […]

It would appear that 2010 is not going to just stop having concerts I want to attend despite the fact that I want to start living frugally. It starts with the Jaxx calendar. You know I hate going alone so if you want to give the gift of musical friendship, offer to join me for […]

First of all, THANK YOU everyone who participated in my Best Songs I’ve Never Heard contest. Almost everyone had songs I had never heard, and I have a hard time breaking out of my little box so it’s really good to get some listening time to new things. I was so psyched to line up […]

Well, I’ve joined the ranks of the sick. I thought it was just residual discomfort from being in a smokey bar, but no. It’s some kind of ick. I was supposed to be in Norfolk meeting Ian for the first time, but since Genie & fam are shrouded in darkness and apparently it’s my turn […]

Here is the recipe for turning around a bad day: 1: Have a really good guitar lesson. We spent the entire lesson on Josh Homme’s solo at the end of Little Sister, and I learned that I need to get way more aggressive about bending the strings. While I play it at a snail’s pace […]

Went to Orion Studios in Baltimore for the first time last week. It seemed like every time I wanted to go there and support the prog scene, there was something in my way. But finally the stars aligned. I felt extra motivated to go after chatting with Mike Potter at ProgDay; what a great guy […]

Like thousands of other folks on faith I signed up to go to this show with reasonably vague expectations and I am definitely glad I spent unreasonable sums of money to get tickets to this show off craigslist. The personalities are larger than life but of course what is it really about? The music. I […]

This post is for Genie’s 9th Living Out Loud project: See the guidelines here. I’ve always been wary or perhaps even phobic of the concept of bio-mechanics. You know, implants, anything foreign going under the skin. When all my friends were getting all into William Gibson and playing Shadowrun and talking about getting “ports” tattooed […]

Why do I continue to get myself involved in more things, when all the time I fantasize about having nothing to do? This contradiction in myself is pulling me in two directions pretty much all the time. Product placement: I heretofore endorse the the Timbuk2 Cargo Tote as really nice even if not necessarily the […]