state of the Bono address

This is absolutely one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite writers, Bill Simmons. It's from an article he wrote right after going to a U2 concert and it completely sums up my feelings about Bono.

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Bono is completely out of control. He's a rambling lunatic, not that he wasn't before, but now he's just plain nuts. Told a fantastic story about the Pope that was absolutely incoherent, followed by Bono pulling out some rosary beads that the Pope gave him and dramatically hanging them on the microphone. Had a speech about Africa where people were glancing at each other like "Do you understand this?" He's the best.
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I couldn't have put it any better myself. Anyway, that's the best part. For reasons beyond my understanding, they took this article down off of ESPN, so here it is, in its entirety:

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I saw U2 last night at the Staples Center and sent an e-mail to my friends about it before realizing I should have just posted it right here. Here's what I sent:

1. Bono is completely out of control. He's a rambling lunatic, not that he wasn't before, but now he's just plain nuts. Told a fantastic story about the Pope that was absolutely incoherent, followed by Bono pulling out some rosary beads that the Pope gave him and dramatically hanging them on the microphone. Had a speech about Africa where people were glancing at each other like "Do you understand this?" He's the best.

2. The stage was really cool – speakers were over their heads, and there was a circular stage that went all the way around so Bono could prance around and do Bono things. Best part of the show: He pulled some hot chick on stage during "Mysterious Ways" – like Springsteen with Courtney Cox – only her friend (had to be a stripper) decided after a minute that she would jump up as well with her 44DD's, delighting the audience and terrifying Bono, who grabbed the other guy and ran away from her. The stripper followed them and they did a complete circle around the stage, followed by security going after the girl before Bono changed his mind and decided she could stay. Then she crawled on the ground and shook her butt at him during the end of the song, which actually worked. Bono ended it by saying, "Only in Los AN-ge-les!" He refuses to call it "L.A" by the way.

3. Bono dedicated "Running to Stand Still" – a song about heroin users, if I remember correctly – to the U.S. troops overseas. He also dedicated "One" – a song about a relationship falling apart, if I remember correctly – to the plight of Africans, even changing some of the lyrics. He's turning into the new Elton John. I kept waiting for him to change the lyrics of "Party Girl" to honor Princess Di.

4. Some random older stuff they played: "Electric Co," "New Year's Day," "New Song," even "The Ocean" – a short song from "Boy" that most of the crowd didn't recognize. (I was DELIGHTED by this. I'm convinced they played "The Ocean" to see how many real fans were in the audience – it was like they were saying, "All right, head count!") I thought "New Year's Day" was the best song of the night – replete with The Edge playing the piano and guitar. It was really good. "Where the Streets Have No Name" was also top-notch. The crowd was 4X-5X more excited for anything from the '80s – every time they started a newer song, everyone was trying to hide their disappointment, except for "Vertigo" and "Beautiful Day," which had all the pseudos in the crowd going crazy. They also did a really good job with "Zoo Station" and "The Fly," which were always underrated songs I think. They didn't play anything from "Unforgettable Fire" other than "Pride," which was downright indefensible since it's been 20 years.

(Note: Shouldn't they play "Unforgettable Fire" – the song, not the album – in every concert? Shouldn't this be mandatory? I always thought that was their greatest song other than "One Tree Hill," which they never play in concert, either. Go figure.)

5. Bono didn't call The Edge "The Edge" nearly enough for my liking. I also didn't like their choice to open the show – "City of Blinding Lights" – which was just a lame pick and didn't get the crowd properly fired up. They should have started with "Vertigo."

(Remind me to go as The Edge next Halloween. Easy costume – dark jeans, a black T-shirt, a bandanna and a guitar.)

6. They played "Pride" and Bono went into his "Dr. King" routine – he really has run out of things to say about MLK at this point and doesn't seem that interested in the first place. He needs to mix it up with this song and re-dedicate it to Abe Lincoln or something, so he can discuss the ramifications of slavery back in the 1860s. Or maybe Nelson Mandela.

7. LA was a goofy place to see a U2 show – decked-out chicks, guys on their cellphones, different type of energy. Bono must hate coming here.

All in all, it was a solid time, although I felt old for most of it. One of these times, I want to see them have a concert where they strip away all the BS and just belt out some of their best songs – "Running to Stand Still" was excellent and had a different vibe than most of the other songs they played, I wish they had gone in that direction. They desperately need to do an "Unplugged"-type concert before Bono loses his voice for good.

wallflowers... or something like that

I've been waiting for a little while to post this, and I think it's been long enough. In the parking garage beneath the building in Farmington Hills that used to house Continental AG, where I worked on contract for a few months, I came across something so unique, I didn't have words to describe it. The way that the cement was poured for the walls down there was such that it left a circular mark in the middle of each section of concrete. Furthermore, there was some moisture that had gathered on the walls, and created permanent marks in various patterns. What I didn't expect, was that while pulling into a parking spot on a normal day of work, that my headlights would illuminate something that would change my life forever. Or at least my day. By adding recurring giggling.

Warning, this is not for the faint of heart. Explicit content ahead.

So this is what I saw as I drove up.

Wait a second, let me get a closer look.

Yeah. I've never seen anything like it in my life. I'm pretty sure it was formed naturally too.

I feel like I've witnessed one of those miracles where someone sees an image of Jesus or the Virgin Mary and they call the Vatican, except I feel like I should be calling La Leche League or something instead.

that ringing in my ear is gone... er, ring.

i've made a life decision. i've decided that there comes a time in your life where you have to deal with past decisions, and no longer be apathetic about the future.

dramatic intro, i know, but it was a dramatic decision. i knew i wasn't going to keep it my whole life, but the question was: when do i get rid of it? how long is too long? when is it a force for me to still have this? when do i take out my earring?

you know how when you meet a dude, you have a first impression of him, but then if you notice that he has an earring, it's "ah ha.. hmmmm..." and your impression changes slightly somehow? well, i would do that, and then realize that i had an earring. that was a sure sign that it had to go at some point. that, and the fact that i didn't want to be an old guy with an earring. because the kids make fun of those kinds of people. well, i needed an excuse, and i had a job interview coming up, so what better excuse than "i need to look professional"? here are some before and after pics:

before

after

you can tell from this series of photos, the sheer emotional impact of this decision (clear happy to sad transition). and how i miss it already. i'm getting misty eyed just writing about it. i should go.

but first, we're playing a show over in chi-town. the embrace race charity event. apparently, they're trying to break the world record for number of different people hugged in 24 hours. the record is currently 4216. and then they're giving donations to Dreams for Kids. although now that i think of it, where is that money going to come from? well, most importantly, the point is that you'll see a much more professional looking, albeit emotional, guitar-player/singer in note to self if you're there. (that'll be me).

instrumental

i just had a dream last night that the copy of whiteout that i had was missing vocals on nothing can stop us now. and so i started recording vocals using my little home recording station (which is not much bigger than a coaster), but then starting thinking "i feel like these should get recorded in the studio too." and then ben began and the guy from new york that mastered our album showed up and were arguing about how to record it. i hope that doesn't mean anything. actually it probably just means that i just sang a song while playing the piano in jason's wedding on friday, and that's just residual stress. every time i see my piano keyboard, i think to myself "i should practice the wedding song."

whiteout

okay, so this is long overdue, but we released whiteout and we're all pretty juiced about promoting it. you can take a look at it here and it'll be on awarestore.com and iTunes pretty soon. we're all really happy with the way it turned out, and just want people to listen to it. so if you want to help us out here's what you should do:

1) buy a cd (and a tshirt)
2) tell someone you know to do 1)
3) go to 2)

if you ever get out of that loop, and want to do more, talk to us, because we love talking to people that are as fired up (sometimes more) as we are about our music.

i wonder what his free throw percentage would be...

for no reason, this: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/03/28/china.tall.ap/index.html
this has got to be a publicity stunt for this woman's career, right? no worries, if that's the case, the universe will right itself and she'll get what's coming to her. if they try to have kids, she's clearly going to explode sometime during the third trimester. it'll be like when Neo kills Mr. Smith at the end of the Matrix. all that will be left is a 5'6" baby, flexing.

we're very close to releasing the cd. we're currently getting all of our online selling points set up. don't worry. we'll tell you when it happens.

i didn't see the wardrobe malfunction live...

...i was playing a card game, so i missed it. but i did see this. this may rank as number one in "what did i just see?" live tv moments for me. i still have no explanation.

(note: the original video i posted here got removed from youtube, so here's a replacement: go to 8:03 of this one)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA4LZLTrpGA

for those of you who didn't know, this was right after Barkley (an NBA hall of famer, "the round mound of rebound") and Bavetta (oldest NBA ref at 68) had a footrace because Barkley, during a tv telecast, had said Bavetta was too old to ref games, being that you had to run up and down the court, and that he could outrun Bavetta. so they decided to do it at the all-star weekend. Barkley won, and obviously, there are no hard feelings...

the thing i really wonder, is that if they had a mulligan on that hug, would they change it? meaning to say, was that on purpose, or was it just a volatile snowball of miscommunications that flashed back and forth 20 times in a split second before ending in something neither of them intended? i mean, i've definitely done the awkward "handshake or hug?" greeting, where you change your mind about 5 times of which to do before settling into an overly enthusiastic hug (because you don't want them to feel like you're not good enough friends for the hug) and that naturally leaves both of you with nothing to say to one another immediately following and avoiding eye contact for the next few minutes. but i've definitely never had that accidentally end in a man kiss. knock on wood.

and i might as well say something note to self related. the new cd is in production right now. they're pressing discs and printing cover art as we speak. or. as you read. unless you're reading this a month from now, then they'll be done. also, the music on those cds sounds awesome. awesome.

studio week x

okay, i'm giving up on counting. it wasn't really doing anything for me anyway. the point is that we're done with all of our initial tracking, and we got the first mix of 6 of the songs this past sunday. we've been listening to them all week and it's shaping up really well. however, we did sit down and compile a list of tweaks that we wanted to make, and we ended up with three and a half pages. so we still have some work ahead of us. they're all pretty minor things, like levels and maybe re-recording a guitar track here and there because we didn't like the tone we chose, but it's all pointing towards a really good record in the end. also, right now i'm working on the templates for stickers and tshirts. hooray for merch! don't worry, they'll be so sweet when i'm done with them that you will have no choice but to buy lots of each.

studio week 2

okay, so i can't call this entry "days 3-6" because that would get annoying, and if we work for half a day, does that count as a whole day or not? and i can't call it "week 1" because we've already been in for a few days. therefore, we're starting at week 2. it's kind of arbitrary, but i'll post a key that does the calculations for you so you don't get confused.

so this time around, i took some pictures, so you can get a feel for what it's like to be here.

here's the front door. on a sunny day. notice the tea strainer that jason found and hung on their mailbox.

this is jason laying down a rhythm guitar track. and wearing a really bright blue sweatshirt.

since tom finished his drums in december, this is basically all he does when he comes to the studio anymore.

and this is basically all i do. i don't have an excuse.

here's the master at work. this is ben began, the controller of our universe until the end of january. whenever i sit on the couch and watch him mixing/recording, i feel like he looks like the phantom of the opera, surrounded by pipe organs from that angle. so i wanted to share that with you all.

well, i actually wrote this last week, and i'm starting to get confused as to when i took the pictures, so just take it all in as an experience. at this point, we're done with all the initial tracking except for the vocals for "everything" (yes, the song that jason performed with laura jones at my wedding) and "nothing can stop us now" (yes, the song that nobody's heard of). we will start getting mixes this weekend, and by sunday, we should have first drafts of all 9 songs. i'll let you know how it goes. rock on.

Studio Day 2

Well, we're officially done with recording drums for the album. Actually, we'll almost for sure add some tamborine and other percussive instruments here and there (we could use a little more cowbell) but the main tracking is done. Tom definitely felt more comfortable this time, and was able to pound out 4 songs in less than 5 hours. We got some pretty sweet artistic shots of him drumming, and I was able to keep from laughing during the filming, for the most part. This studio video will turn out one of two ways: awesome, or something that only the band members enjoy watching. I think the album itself probably has more promise.

Studio Day 1

Yesterday was our first day in the studio for our upcoming album. Right now we're just tracking out the drums, and then during the off days, Ben Began (our producer and sound engineer) is cleaning up the tracks a bit. We've finished the drums for 5 of the songs, and next Saturday, we're doing the final 4. I guess that lets you know that we're doing 9 songs for this go-around. And another tidbit is that the album will be called "Whiteout". But I shouldn't even be talking about this - it's nowhere near ready.

We have decided to bring a video camera into the studio with us, to document the process, which we're not sure was a good idea yet. Hopefully, we'll be able to put something interesting together to post on our website, or YouTube, or something. And I'll bring in a digital camera to take some stills to post here if I remember.

Also, yesterday I learned that Tom sits high up on his drumming stool when he plays. That's neat. I wonder if I have any tendencies like that. I'll let you know if I find any.

The Budweiser Chach Seat

Has there ever been a lamer interview gimmick than the Budweiser Hot Seat on Sportscenter? I remember when they first started doing it, they actually asked difficult questions, and tried to "grill" the person on the hot seat, but they quickly learned that they normally just refused to answer the questions and got kind of pissed. So now the whole thing has basically been reduced to a normal interview, with really intense music in the background. And flames around the person being interviewed. It's what it would look like if Satan decided he wanted to work for ESPN. The effect is really anti-climactic. Like something exciting might happen... just wait for it... wait for it... and then it never happens. I'd like to see this applied to other things, like the State of the Union address. How great would it be to see George W sitting behind the Oval Office desk, with computer generated flames on either side of him, with really dramatic drum music in the background? "My fellow Americans, this is the BestBuy.com Hot State of the Union Address..." Tell me you wouldn't watch that.

baby talk

apparently i've reached the stage in life where everyone is having babies. i wasn't really informed that i had passed the stage where everyone is getting married, probably because i just got married, and i still have a few weddings on my schedule (namely, jason's). as fun is it is to get emails from friends, telling us about their baby/pregnant/ultrasound status, lines like this always make me uncomfortable: "We were able to find out the sex." it sounds like a foreign person describing their wedding night. can we bring the word "gender" back into the rotation please?

studio prep is going great. we're all on the same page, and we're making some really good progress. we're being like 100% more deliberate about our writing, and our lyrics, and just everything for this record than we were for the last one. i just feel like our sound is so SOLID. also, i'm doing the cover art this time, and i think it looks pretty. you'll see.

release date tbd

well, in terms of live shows, we'll be disappearing from the public eye, much like the Tigers after their inexplicable collapse against the world champion with the least wins in history. (on a side note, someone should tell the pitchers that the ball boys in foul territory aren't on the team, and can't field the ball, so they shouldn't throw the ball to them). anyway, we're plugging away at new material right now, and we're going into the studio starting on dec 17th. technically, that's next month. holy crap. if you've seen our live show recently, you'll know a few of the new tunes. overall, we're really excited about this whole project, because we're spending twice as much studio time on each song, and we're doing more production. so we all have our work cut out for us. don't worry, i'll give frequent and outrageous updates whilst we studio.

why jim leyland is the best manager in baseball

i mean, besides the fact that he managed the tigers to the world series...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRO2ZGSVa4M