My favorite birthday present every year.

I had a really good feeling I'd be seeing Blind Pilot. I wonder if them playing while I browsed the new line up had anything to do with it. Either way, this whole "law of attraction" thing is getting weird.


I can handle another night of Phish to be able to see my all time favorites such as Feist, The Avett Brothers, and most importantly, Bon Iver. And Ludacris?? I cannot wait to have flash backs to a little eighth grader named Christina who thought she was ghetto and wore her sweet sweat pants rolled up mid calf. Also looking forward to the Beach Boys. I had a brief obsession with them and the Jackson 5 in high school which was nothing short of random. They performed on the Grammy's this year to kick off their big Reunion/Fare Well Tour. It was sort of bitter sweet to watch. On one hand you're excited because a band you thought you'd never be able to see is giving you one last chance. At the same time however, they're old, therefore lacking the same vocal ability and energy that made them so good in their prime. I almost thought their opening acts covering their hits were more appealing. This especially rang true for Foster the People, who I will also be squishing between swarms of intoxicated sweaty people to see. By the way, did anyone who watched the Grammy's feel a little confused about the ads for a Skrillex performance? I swear there was a bunch in the beginning that seemed to disappear as the show went on. Needless to say, he may not have performed at the Grammy's but that's okay because he will be at Bonnaroo.

I'm kind of also excited to see Alice Cooper. As some of you may know, Mr Cooper has become a very popular radio DJ who seems to especially favor Pink Floyd these days. At one of my jobs, this is all I hear, ALL. DAY. LONG. I can tell you from experience that this is the last thing you want to be listening to after a break up with a guy who is obsessed with Roger Waters and David Gilmore. However, some how this corny dark voice has become so imprinted in my head, that it has me excited to see another artist way past his prime.

Some other bands I'll most certainly be seeing are Flogging Molly and Radiohead which has me thinking that the overall theme for Roo this year is "remember when...". Remember those two summers you spent every day poolside watching over people so disabled, it was required to wear a life vest, and blasting in the background was Dispatch on repeat while some little girl with a voice that exactly resembled a possessed Linda Blair screamed at people for no reason from the deep end? No? Just me?.... The show seems to be highlighting a lot of artists who have been around for a while. While there are a ton of new acts as well, no one really seems to stand out in a big way. That's fine with me though. One of my dearest of friends will be celebrating the dirtiest of 30. I think old prom dresses will be involved somewhere in the mix, making this quite the skip down memory lane. Not to mention the complete line up has still yet to be announced. Bonnaroo always throws in something big and magical last minute.

Hardest of Hearts

Did you know that Florence Welch is only 25 years old? Next week her and I will be the same age. She's got a killer voice, a knack for writing amazing music,and millions of followers. What I have is so insignificant next to that, I can't even write it. The best part is she got discovered singing in a public bathroom. How do you even compete with that?... You don't. If she didn't have such a humble geeky personality and addicting music, I'd probably be too jealous to like her. I think it's time to get my Idol on the next time I drunkenly stumble into a scuzzy bathroom down town.



"Darling heart, I loved you from the start
But you'll never know what a fool I've been
Darling heart, I loved you from the start
But that's no excuse for the state I'm in"

"I realized the problem: You write short stories, and I think you like living short stories,".....

...."but I'm kind of ready for the novel."

Just watched HappyThankYouMorePlease.

The title sounds a bit cheesy, kind of like Eat Pray Love, but surprisingly the movie was really good. Kudos to Netflix for recommending this little indie flick that I would have never heard of otherwise. I still can't quite pinpoint what I liked about this movie so much. I think it may have been the dynamic of the characters and the odd story line. It was something new, yet it had the corny romantic comedy qualities that I tend to feed off of (lots of awkwardness and bad lines). That, and the soundtrack includes one of my favorite tracks from my new favorite band:


... I'm sure the 3 glasses of red wine I had didn't have anything to do with it either.

A simple reminder.

An old friend posted this story today. Her version was longer and had a lot more to do with thanking God. While religion is still sort of a mystery for me, I thought the centering story was a good lesson for anyone. It reminds me of past mistakes and what I'm still trying to understand about relationships in general. Whether you're the girl or the boy in this story, it's a good reminder about perception.

"There was a blind girl that hated herself because she was blind. She hated everyone except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She told her boyfriend, “If I could see the world, I’d marry you”. One day someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages came off, she was able to see everything, including her boyfriend. He asked her, “Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?” The girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The sight of his closed eyelids shocked her. She hadn’t expected that. The thought of looking at him for the rest of her life led her to refuse to marry him. Her boyfriend left her in tears and days later wrote a note to her saying; 'Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for before they were yours, they were mine.' "

I could not be stuck on you, If it were true

I've just discovered Blind Pilot about a week ago and somehow between working two full time jobs, I've managed to play their entire album over ten times. If you like your mellow tunes like the Format or Matt Pond PA (one of my other current obsessions), I think you'll like this...



Unfortunately they let an idiot swing around this beautifully amazing camera in front of such a talented group, but at least the sound guy knew what he was doing. The mix of vocals and instruments are so perfect, it actually gave me chills at the build up. I highly respect artists that sound as good or better live than on their records. I wish I was that camera man capturing this moment. Or rather I should be...

Bringin it back.

I just spent the past 30 minutes or so rediscovering this blog. It's weird reading these old post and remembering what I was feeling or thinking back then. I was actually surprised that some of those ideas came from me. I'm still the same pensive person always stuck in their own thoughts, but I think it's safe to say that I'm a lot more positive then I was. Everyone has their doubts though.

Lately, I feel like there's been so much I've wanted to share and put out into the world, but I really haven't had the time. I think it's almost necessary to bring this back mostly because not many people read this so I don't have to worry about censoring myself. I'm also for the most part over facebook. It's hard to say or post what you want when you know your boss is going to read it or your mother is probably going to be the only one to "like" it. I'm also not a fan of blowing up someone's newsfeed with things that have no interest to them. I know my newsfeed is currently being overwritten with negativity about how people's lives suck. I sort of don't care and feel that there are most likely others out there who care even less. I think getting my thoughts back down on this site will allow the people who want to know what's up the chance to seek that out, and it will save those who don't from being bombarded.

Bonnaroo 2009

It's been a while, but I am just now recovering from Roo this year. That is if it's even possible to recover. I saw many many things. Good, bad, and just plain magical.

Working on the Post Office was a lot of work, but also a life changing experience. I hate the term "life changing", but that is what it was. Building with natural materials is a ton of work, and also a whole lot of fun at the same time. The end result is mind blowing. It has definitely opened my eyes to different ways of living. The whole structure cost almost nothing. Why aren't the hobos of the world doing this? I actually have money and am considering this option one day. It was also great to do something besides sit at home twiddling my thumbs. Especially something that had great educational value.

Bonnaroo itself is a whole nother world. I can't even begin to describe half the things I saw. We got the best camping of the festival through our visual design volunteer work. It was a tiny gated lot hidden in the very center of all the stages called "the Bone Yard". This spot is way better then any VIP section because we were actually already inside the festival at all times. Sharing this camping heaven were a group of gypsie circus performers that called themselves "The Art of Such 'N Such". Pretty much even relaxing at our site was never a dull moment.

I got to see tons of amazing artists including Bon Iver, Grizzly Bear, MGMT, and Snoop Dog. The best show of the weekend though was definitely Of Montreal. Think Bowie's Labyrinth.

Here's some of the photos from the whole experience. Many were lost due to a not so sober friend trying to make room for more, but there's still some good ones. I'm working on getting them organized and uploading more so check back at some point.