Battles

Tonto

Been a long time again.

So I have been on the go lots what with reno's of the house, and building the dog mansion. This fall has been super warm and I have been snatching up all the new musical gems as fast as they come out.
The new Radiohead is solid I am comparing it to "the Bends" or "OK Computer" I find it is not as electronic and experimental as "Amnesiac" or "Kid A". Actually some of the songs are similar to what Thom put out on his own.
I bought Serj Tankian's new album and if you are a fan of "System of a down" then you will enjoy this fine twanger.
The new Dropkick Murphy's album....... need I say more??? Come on get off your ass and go get it.

I think there is an endless list of goodies that I could go on about but I will finish with this. "Battles" it is an amazing album and for anyone who is a fan of 'Mr Bungle" "Mars Volta" or "Mike Patten" you will think this is fine calculated music.

Go on you diserve it.

4 years and counting so click "HERE"

Dropkick Murphys - Skinhead on the MBTA

Nice I was kicked out at this piont but as you can see.. Andrew is on stage he is on the right with brown ccargo's and a white t-shirt....

Oi,oi,oi

Sunny Saturday.

Well I have been taking advantage of the most consistant weather I have experienced in about 13 years. Between growing the garden and swimming it has been a plesant summer... yes plesant.
The boy is coming back from his summer trip soon to signal the end of summer vacation, this will be a good thing since we have been missing him lots.
We are gearing up for Virgin Fest in a month, it will be our yearly festival of sort. Since we try to go to at least one major fesival a year we decided on this one. The lineup looks fairly solid.. Amy Winehouse, Interpol, Bjork, Tokyo Police Club, Blonde Redhead, Matt Costa, and many many more. I think we will have a good ol' time traveling there and taking it all in.
I am currently enjoying the sounds of 'The Street Dogs' also I am enjoying ' The Foals' lots. So go get you some....

Danny Boy

Too funny.

Busy Summer

Well I have been on the go more or less the whole summer. I haven't really taken the time to drop you a line, but here it is. I have been enjoying the new Spoon album I personally think it is worth the price especially on iTunes you can pick it up for $9.99. Go ahead you diserve it. The weather has been scorching hot and I am not complaining. We finished our sitting/music room, we are just working on some decorating ideas as to how we would like to have it. Here are some random pic's to sooth you.

Deerhoof

Something about Japanese women singing in English... or even Japanese is just so child like. If you get a chance pick up Deerhoof's album called "Friend Opportunity" one listen through and you will be smirking at how simple the lyrics are but effective. The album is an instant mood enhancer, for instance when you listen to the second track "+81" the catchy riffs and lyrics like "Chew Chew Chew Chew, Beep Beep" will have you chuckeling but at the same time it is groovin. So make no mistake this is not Raffi (not sure I could take more of him) it's Deerhoof.

On a side note Interpol's new album is coming out soon.

Foals

Good music.... look at my playlist on the side and listen to them, damn fine band.

Yul Bryner was a Skinhead....

So there folks how have you been? I have been surviving on a steady diet of The Dropkick Murphys, and the Tossers... sprinkled with a little bit of The Real McKenzies to keep the jig going. I am planning for a shin dig her at the hasienda in a month I have put the invitations in the mail and if you didn't get one well..... I guess I may have missed your name on the list. Anyway I have people trekking from all over this great land just to make an appearance at Casa Del Bentaco. I know on the Friday before the shegolligy starts I will be picking up a Chappy at the airport and we will be riding the rocky road to SJ to take in some history.
I hope all of you have been playing safe and making sure not to run with scissors.

Reno's

Well now that we are settled in our new house we are working on doing some reno's The first big project is on the main floor we are taking what the last people used as a dining room and turning it into a sitting/music room. We find that the use of a formal dining room has lost it's use. I know growing up any house we had that had a dining room would be the room that had stuff piled on the table in it so I don't want one and neither does my beautiful wife. We find that a sitting/music room is way more useful to us we can have all of our musical equipment set up, and also a couple of chairs and all of our records and CD's. This is a before shot so we can all refer to it later.

Vancouver

I didn't really post any pictures of my trip to Vancouver so I thought that I would share some of these jem's with you. The last night that I was in Vancouver I met up with Joe, and Trish also Aaron and his wife to be Tracey... or Tracy... or Tracie.. lets just call her Aaron's wife to be.




Aaron gives the thumbs up for o.k.







Tra... what ever says "you so fly"













Trish and her friend... Beer













Whispering sweet nothings into Joe's ear.








A sorted crew.

Some Pic's

Some Pic's

Some Pic's

Some Pic's

Some Pic's

A pic or two.

Fischerspooner At Coachella 2004

I enjoy this band my wife really likes them allot this was the year we were at Coachella... Look closeley you will see m lovely wife jumping around in the crowd.

The van is the race car of the future...

So it is a funny thing how you can put a middle aged soccer mom, or father of 2 in a van and they think they are the fastest most powerful vehicle on the road. I would bet dollars to doughnuts that anytime you are being tailgated, or trying to merge into traffic a van is the problem. I was talking about how I hated van drivers, and how they always seemed to act like they were driving race cars. While I was saying this stuff a guy that I know said to me that he had a van and it was 240hp so it was lots of power. I responded by asking him if he took corners at 120km/ph and squealed his tires when he pulled away from a light? He said no, and I said my father in law has a Porsche that has 240hp, and it is built to go fast. I let him know that his vehicle was made to carry lots of people from point A to point B, and that no one looks cool driving a breadbox tailgating other people with 4 kids and the dog hanging out the window. For the record I HATE vans.


I also hate Vans...

















I don't like them either.













I only ride in Vans going to Soccer games..

Crunch..Chew, Chew.... Gulp.

Just so were clear this site is 100% Trans Fat Free. My wife has been making sure that everything we eat now has no Trans Fats.. Up until a few months ago I wouldn't have known one kind of fat from another, now I know that when ever I buy something from the store it has to have no, or virtually no Trans Fats. It is crazy how many things have Trans Fats in them, I am not going to get into the large list of goodies that have TF in them mainly because I don't want to write that much. So in the future look for Trans Fat free foods, I hear that your heart will love you for it.

On another unrelated note we put the dock in the water yesterday, yes there folks I was chest deep in chilly water and the neighbors thought I was crazy. Still the dock made it into the water. So now we will keep our eyes open for a cheap boat or Jet Ski to pull a skier.

Hope everyone is well, and on another unrelated note My buddy Joe had his birthday last Sunday. I e-mailed him but as usual no reply, so Joe HBD your older.

Stop me if you think that you've heard this one before.

So I have been enjoying the spring weather. Snow, rain, snow, sun, rain. What a wonky weather pattern, but I don't mind we have a house on a lake.
I have been listening to allot of stuff latley and I am finding that I enjoy the music by Joanna Newsom, now she is more folkish with a very interesting voice. I find that the more I listen to he the more I like her. I think that anyone that takes the time to digest her music will feel the same. I just checked, and she is not available on iTunes but you can go here and pick it up.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000I2K9M4

And here is a nice old gem... well old in the world of music now. The Amps, now this was a band that Kim Deal started after.. between... during the Breeders in 95'ish So they put out 1 album, and if you like the Pixies/Breeders sound then I think you will be happy with this album. So you can pick it up here.
http://www.amazon.com/Amps/artist/B000APZRJ4/102-7811738-1427322

Enjoy the gooy goodnes that these listening stylings produce.

On a side note last July My lovely wife and I had tickets to see Social Distortion at the Morongo Key Club outside of Palm Springs. Well that was one of those things that just happens, I think allot had to do with the fact that we were 3000kms away from the gig, and we had decided to stay where we were on vacation. So anyway my buddy Andrew is going to see them Saturday at Mac Hall in Calgary. I told Andrew to jump on stage and kick Mike in the shin and say "this is from my buddy, now play story of my life".



Well there my little minions, play safe and play correct.

Lets get going again

Since I am going to start to update a little bit more I figured I might go back to my old school ways and give all of you a couple of musical picks. Over the last few months I have picked up a fair amount of music, anyone that knows me knows that it is sort of an addiction. So anyhoo I have a couple of groups to force on you..


SPOON- They are not a new band, they have been around since 96' they cut their teeth touring allot with Pavement, and anyone that is a fan of Pavement would have heard of this band. Here is a link to get a taste of what they are like. I say go run out and get the album, they are also on iTunes
http://www.spoontheband.com/site.html


THE EVENS- Now here is a band that I have taken a big liking to. I picked up their album back in Novemberish, the band is a 2 piece consisting of Ian MacKaye who is essentially one of the main contributors to the best music ever "Punk". Ian was a member of Minor Threat which was one of the bands in the D.C. sound, and started the straight edge movement. He later was in Fugazi, only one of the most amazing bands ever. The other contributor is Amy Farina who keeps the tempo, and sets the pace. She also sings and for those of you that know the history was a member of "The Warmers" which Ian's brother Alec was a member of. So since Fugazi is on an indefinite hiatus they started to make some sweet sweet music, and I must say I am glad they decided to . I am highly recommending this album, walk.... no run to get this.
Here is a link to buy it http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/7302622/a/Get+Evens.htm

So Ian... Amy.. If your out there, great job.

Moving

So for the last few weeks it has been lean and mean. I got back from Vancouver doing the commercial, and was a little worn out. So worn out that I got Pneumonia, I ended up going to the Dr. and getting all fixed up. then 3 days later loaded up the uhaul to move our stuff into the new house. Everything is still in boxes, and we are slowly putting things away. My beautiful wife is so happy with the new place, so am I.

Well, now that I have a regular connection I will be posting allot more. take care.

With a mighty thunderous clap a star falls to the earth.

KABOOM. Well my little chillins I have a story to tell so gather round. I have been selected to be in a commercial... Yes, a commercial. Not a Haines or a STD commercial, I am going to be in a commercial for the company I work with. So the screening was done almost 2 weeks ago, my lovely wife tried out also (She wanted it, mainly because you get a personal assistant) and they let me know today that they will be flying me out on Tuesday to spend the week in Vancouver to do the shoot. So I will be making sure to contact a whack of folks to visit while I am there. So if you see a commercial that has a dashing young lad... it isn't me, more than likely they want me because I fit into the company mascot uniform. So ya... be good.

Bought a house

Well it is official today we bought our house, we signed tha papers and it is a done deal. We are all quite excited. Here are some shots. A breif description would be, 2000 sq feet of living space, 90 feet of waterfront living all for under 200. So we done good.