Once Again, Mark Morford Rocks

America Loses Another War

Good Things, Part 3

Another in a continuing series...

Red wine

U2

Coen Brothers Movies

A Prayer for Owen Meany

Caramel Corn with Almonds and Pecans that the Boy Scouts sell

MCR Rawks!

My daughter turned 16 last week, and one of the gifts we got her was a ticket to see one of her favorite bands, My Chemical Romance, who by coincidence are playing here in town this Thursday. It’s the Y101 “Snow Ball”, which features Sparta and Say Anything in addition to MCR. She was pretty darn jazzed about the opportunity to see Gerard and the boys in MCR play songs from their new CD The Black Parade. However, since I’m not quite ready yet to turn her loose in a crowd of several thousand for a show of this nature, I got TWO tickets. Though this particular bill is not one I would have chosen to see, and I hate the Coliseum, I’m looking forward to it. Compared to similar bands, I think MCR is pretty good. They have a way with melody and infectious hooks, and they have ambitions above and beyond their genre (most often they’re labeled Screamo). I also like the only song I’ve heard by Say Anything. I wonder sometimes if it’s embarrassing to my kids that I enjoy some of their music. I don’t think they mind. There’s a huge amount of stuff I listen to that they will have nothing to do with, though my son is more flexible. He likes a lot of classic rock, The Who, U2, Pink Floyd…he just chose “I Wanna Be Sedated” for his new ringtone, which I think is a riot. Of course he likes new stuff also. The daughter, on the other hand, sticks mostly to current rock, pretty hard stuff usually, like MCR, System of a Down, Evanescence, the Used. I remember my parents being pretty flexible about the music I liked, even though there were occassional comments like “It sounds like just noise to me.” In general they were open to being exposed to the music my sibs and I listened to. There seems to be a thin boundary between being a (moderately) cool, involved parent, and being nosy. I don’t want to invade my kids’ territory, I just want to stay in touch.

UVA-VT

Here it is, folks. The game many folks wait for all year, even in years when one team (usually Virginia) has little hope of winning. This year it's in Blacksburg, which means Virginia has even less hope, since they have rarely won on the road in the Al Groh years. They haven't won in Blacksburg since 1998. Both teams are having seasons that are less than they hoped for back in August. Tech is 9-2, ranked 17th. UVA is 5-6, and has won 3 of their last 4, all at home. It's always a game of high emotion. On another note, why can't I get those logos to line up?

The Dave

My brother turns 40 on Wednesday.

My younger brother. My little brother.

OK, not so little. He is, after all, soon to be 40. He got married before I did, had kids before I did, defended his country, which I never did. Not long ago his actions quite likely saved someone's life.

Not so little.

A goofball, for sure. He makes me laugh. He makes everybody laugh.

He lives too far away. I just got to see his family for the first time in 5 freakin' years, which is WAY too long. I intend to try to make sure THAT never happens again.

I don't talk with him enough either. He and I both mention this frequently, when we do talk, and say how we want to try to communicate more. Then our lives intervene, and we go for weeks without a word. My sister too, though I see her more often (since she lives in the same state), but still not often enough.

Anyway, my brother is One Cool Dude, he's got a great life and family, and I love and miss him, and I'm really proud of him.

I didn't start out to write something quite so sentimental, but oh well, that's what came out.

The truth is, he's also a Judas Priest-listening, no-hair-having, Cowboy-watching, tattooed psycho nutjob freak. Keep up the good work, bro!

Happy birthday.

Sam Cooke

Watch this. Was there ever anyone like Sam Cooke?

Frankenbass

Back in the summer, I built a bass. I guess it's not really a Frankenbass, since I didn't use various found parts, but ordered a kit from Carvin. In any case, it was a lot of fun, there weren't too many major hitches, and I added a new bass to my stable for not much money. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. It plays pretty well, though not as nice as my Watts 5-string. It sounds pretty much like I had hoped...single coil, Jazz-bass kind of sound. And it looks...OK, if you don't look too closely. I've used it a number of times at church, and most recently at the picnic where we played some old rock songs. I've been happy with it all along. Next up...Carvin also makes a Strat kit...!