“Work on your craft and don’t just focus on your career — your career has to have an underpinning of substance or your lack of knowledge will catch up to you.”

~ Barry Kennedy~

True lasting Success doesn’t simply happen overnight. Even our ‘instant starts’ from various Idol  shows have sung for years, often in church choirs or bands before they were ‘discovered’.

Of course, lucky breaks can always play a part in Success, but watch one of the bajillion Texas Hold’em poker tournaments on TV and note that when the cards suck, experienced players know when to either bluff or fold and wait for the next hand, and that’s when we see the substance of their craft shine through.

So, work on your craft– hockey, medicine, financial analysis, music, politics, photography, parenting — and the experience base you build will give you the foundation your Success needs. And have patience. Time spent on your dreams is never wasted.

An excerpt from Stand Up & Succeed by Tim Reynolds from Cometcatcher Press.

Ciao for now,

Tim.

Some holiday music that they don’t play on Oldies 103.3.

1. “The Christmas Song” by The Raveonettes [Listen to Kiersten Holine's cover] >>thanks roomie!

2. “Someday At Christmas” by Jack Johnson [Listen]

3. “Winter Song” by Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson [Listen]

4. “Christmas Song”by Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds [Listen]

5. “Baby It’s Cold Outside” (from my favoritey favorite Elf) by Zooey Deschanel & Leon Redbone [Listen]

Of course I have some traditional favorites, too! What are everyone’s favorites (modern takes or oldies)?

Peace,

]]> http://thetaooftim.wordpress.com/2009/12/15/stand-up-comedy-life-first-impressions/ Tue, 15 Dec 2009 07:01:02 +0000 tgrey468 http://thetaooftim.wordpress.com/2009/12/15/stand-up-comedy-life-first-impressions/

“You’ve got 45 seconds to a minute to establish your character on stage.”

~Jocko Alston~

We’ve all been told to “Dress for Success”, but too many people still don’t realize that it’s more than just about the wardrobe, or the haircut or the leather briefcase. It’s about the package, the way it all comes together to make that vital first impression.

First impressions make or break every relationship, whether professional or personal. That woman you give up your bus seat to could be your future mother-in-law or boss. That impatient jerk in the Jaguar you give the finger to from the crosswalk could be your ten-o’clock meeting with the $5,000,000 account up for grabs. There’s no way to know, so make the most of that moment. And remember to smile.

An excerpt from Stand Up & Succeed by Tim Reynolds from Cometcatcher Press.

Christmas Mix

It’s that time of the year when Christmas Music takes over the airwaves and become part of everyday life.  Christmas is one of the few holidays that has special music for it.  I gave you my thoughts and suggestions for Thanksgiving music, but here’s my mix for December.

Something old, something new and some Mozart just for you…

*Rubric: Song ~ Artist (Album)

Happy Xmas (War is Over) ~ John Lennon & Yoko Ono (Happy Xmas)

All I Want for Christmas is You ~ My Chemical Romance (Gift Wrapped)

Baby, It’s Cold Outside ~ Bing Crosby & Doris Day (unknown)

White Christmas ~ Bing Crosby (White Christmas)

We’re Going to the Country ~ Sufjan Stevens (Songs for Christmas Vol. 1)

Mele Kalikimaka ~ Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters (unknown)

I Saw Three Ships ~ Sufjan Stevens (Songs for Christmas Vol. 2)

Blue Christmas ~ Elvis (Blue Christmas)

Christmas Song ~ Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds (Live at Luther College)

Sister Winter ~ Sufjan Stevens (Songs for Christmas Vol. 5)

Greensleeves ~ Mozart (they didn’t really have em back then)

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing ~ Sufjan Stevens (Songs for Christmas Vol. 2)

Oh Come All Ye Faithful ~ Pomplamoose (Youtube Songs)

Christmas Time is Here ~ Vince Guaraldi Trio (A Charlie Brown Christmas)

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas ~ Coldplay (Maybe This Christmas)

Getting ready for a race in West Yellowstone.

After a long time of being AWOL, I’m back in cyberspace. Our last accommodations in Bozeman had no internet access, but before that, I guess I was just being lazy. Sean yelled at me about not blogging. It really sucked. Anyway, here’s a long recap of what I’ve been up to.

In the last 24 hours: writing! You can find an article I wrote about the transition to on-snow training over on FasterSkier, as well as a new blog post about my awesome friend Ellie Johnston, who is attending the Copenhagen climate negotiations, on the Green Racing Project homepage.

Monday: traveling! It was a long, long day. When we woke up at 6:30, it was -32 degrees outside our little cabin across from Bohart Ranch, up the valley from Bozeman. We surfed down the long driveway, which was quite snowy. Then, going through airport security, Pepa took off her overalls, sent them through the scanner, and walked through the metal detector in a spandex race suit. That pretty much made my day. Unfortunately, things went downhill from there: from Bozeman we flew to Minneapolis, where we had a 3-hour layover. Then to Detroit for a 4-hour layover. Then we were late departing for Burlington, and didn’t get back to Craftsbury until 2 a.m. LONG. DAY.

The weekend: racing! Saturday was a skate sprint in Bozeman’s Lindley Park. The course looped around a whole lot, and you could basically see the whole thing from the stadium. I felt pretty good, fast, and powerful, which is unusual, because I am not a sprinter and usually feel, well, lost, struggling, and frantic. I ended up 35th, just under 2 seconds out of qualifying for the quarterfinals in a SuperTour. Not bad! I spent the afternoon watching the heats, where my teammate Ida won her quarterfinal, made a good but ultimately unsuccessful run in her semifinal, and then tired in the B Final, finishing 12th. Hannah and Tim didn’t advance out of their quarterfinals. Perhaps the most exciting run of the day belonged to my former teammate Pat O’Brien, who was last in his heat coming into the final two hills and managed to pass four skiers, with a ridiculous V1 across the finish line to advance to the semis. Go Pat.

The next day I woke up feeling just really crappy and sick and didn’t race the distance race. It was probably ok, since the temperatures were almost certainly below the legal limit and a lot of people really struggled. A few teammates got serious frostbite, and there was a lot of vicious coughing going on in our cabin afterwards.

Perhaps one of the highlights of Sunday was our trip up the valley from Bozeman in the evening, after we had hung out at Montana Ale Works with a bunch of other skiers. The driving wasn’t too bad until we got to the driveway. I really gunned it up the long, winding hill, which was covered in at least six inches of snow, and the 15-passenger van drifted all over the place. When I made it to the top, I let out a long sigh of relief before realizing that I had to turn the van around. This turned into an ordeal, at least a 50-point “turn”. I was fine until I had to back uphill, and then the van got really stuck. The rest of the team piled out and pushed. We had to try three different strategies before we finally got it moving. All this at 11:30 at night when it’s -20 degrees outside. Thanks for pushing, guys!

Racing in West Yellowstone.

Earlier: West Yellowstone! We spent ten days there, skiing and racing. It was great to finally get off of pavement and onto real skis. Plus, it was beautiful country, and I got to catch up with a lot of friends from Dartmouth. Most of the country’s best skiers come to the Yellowstone Ski Festival, which is quite an event. I spent one evening manning the SkiErg table at the expo, where I got to watch tons of little kids really go all out to see how many watts they could generate in exchange for some Concept2 ski ties. Pretty entertaining. The races didn’t go well for me, but, eh, you’ve got to start somewhere, and hopefully I’ve gotten bad races out of the way to some extent. We also had a great Thanksgiving with an absurd amount of turkey. Yum.

Right now: I’m happy to be back in Craftsbury, where I can sleep in my own bed. It’s been snowing all day and there is plenty of the white stuff to ski on. We’re hosting our first race of the season this weekend, as well as a clinic for the kids’ program. We’re also running a vigil of sorts on the common on Friday night, calling on politicians and world leaders to make real, meaningful progress at the Copenhagen climate negotiations.

It's snowing outside the window. Yay!

In terms of Chelsea’s book club, I’ll try to keep it short. I read Kathryn Stockett’s novel The Help, which was excellent. I’ve been reading about food issues on Barry Estabrook’s blog and his Gourmet archive. And, there were some cool op-eds in the New York Times in advance of Copenhagen.

Moose in the Bow River at Castle Mountain. Image Copyright Tim Reynolds.

Like 90% of my best/favourite images, this one was a case of the right place at the right time.

My friend Linda and I were driving from Lake Louise to Castle Junction, down the Bow Valley Parkway to try and photograph the fresh snowfall on Castle Mountain with the clear blue sky. We had all our camera gear with us, ready, willing and able.

Linda was driving (she owned the car) and as we turned west over the bridge over the Bow River back toward the Trans Canada Highway, I looked north and there they were… a  moose cow and her calf standing in the river.

I was so stunned at our luck all I could do was shout “Moose! Moose! Moose!” Without question, Linda pulled over as soon as we cleared the bridge. We grabbed all our gear and ran, knowing that at any second the opportunity could be lost. As soon as they were within sight, we stopped and shot. Handheld at first and then on tripods when we could reach level-ish ground.

But our luck held. Instead of trundling off into the woods, mama moose simple interposed herself between us and her calf. I should add that we did remember to employ two of the most basic wildlife-stalking techniques used by both hunters and photographers:

1. Don’t face directly at your prey, avoiding obvious eye contact.
2. Don’t walk directly at your target, moving in at a variety of angles, so as to look casual and unconcerned.

By doing this, we were able to get right down on the gravel/stone river bank and set up our tripods. We shot carefully and quietly, knowing we had limited film and limited time until someone else wandered along and spooked her.

So, a million-in-one shot, with a rare-for-the-area wildlife, combined with the perfect sky, the dusting of snow and exactly where to get to for the mountain images. It was an easy sell to The Postcard Factory, especially since my first postcard sale was to them.

So, there are many ways to shoot this image, depending on the use.

1. Shoot wide, getting the famous landmark mountain and moose so that it can sell to the tourist market (what I did).
2. Shoot tight on the two moose, from river level for possible sale simply as a wildlife shot.
3. Shoot tight from above, on the bridge, to get a better angle of the calf.
4. Shoot vertically, with some blue sky on top for the title of the magazine/book. If you crowd the mountain to the top of the image then it could be too cluttered for any print.

Yes, Photoshop & other software can do wonders with images, but if you think it through before you take the shot, you can create opportunities and save yourself some work later on.

Until next week… (SUNSETS, SELF-PORTRAIT, SOMETHING SPIRITUAL)

Ciao for now.

Tim.

This poem is a result of too much thinking about growing old. I’m almost 50 and some things just aren’t working as well as they used to. That’s what is addressed here.

~TR.

ME, MYSELF & AGE

Old age hasn’t sneaked up or creeped up or sauntered on up behind me;

It’s been sitting here beside me on this old comfy couch,

Reclining back, eating my peppy pizza, drinking my cerebral-cell-killing bevvy’s

And laughing at old sitcoms.

So I’ve passed the pretzels and fired up the ‘Q’,

And Age seems to be settling in for the long run, of fun and frolic —

Just so long as it’s on basic cable and we can see it from this sofa of safety.

Pants with elastic waists,

Doctor’s orders with a tofu-burger taste,

Me, myself and Age find our excessive, extreme, exacting excitement —

Every ten minutes on the tens or with the extreme weather warnings raising blood pressure to dangerous levels.

A healthy dose of the ultimate reality show mixed in with fantabulous fiction,

And divination for a nation who can’t scry the sky and sniff a wiff and say

“Looks like rain, smells like a storm. Good golly, Miss Molly, better wear a mac and carry a brolly.”

My joints are shot, my hair is almost ‘not’ and I prefer the smell of Tiger Balm

To the neighbour’s cloud of skunky pot.

I wear sunglasses at night

But the damned things are bifocals so I can see the subtitles just right.

~

An excerpt from the upcoming The Cynglish Beat by Tim Reynolds, from Cometcatcher Press.

Phish

That’s from the Jeffery Lewis song “I Saw a Hippy Girl on 8th Avenue”. But just because most hippies have successfully made the transition into the 21st century isn’t a reason to shun Phish. As you might guess, there are plenty of great reasons to catch them while they’re in the area. Starting tonight through Friday they’ll be at Madison Square Garden, so you can just hop on down to midtown for what’s going to be a great show. They just put out a new album – “Joy” this year, which was a first for them in five years. And in part of the buzz-making process they played a full-length acoustic set a month ago at Festival 8. So anything will be possible at these upcoming shows.

Tim Reynolds

Also, tomorrow night you can catch another fantastic show – Tim Reynolds at the Blender Theater at Gramercy. Tim, as you know, is good friends with Dave Matthews since they met at a bar in 1987 and most recently played Electric guitar on Dave’s “Big Whiskey and the Gru Grux King” which came out earlier this year. Tim will be performing with appearing with the other two members of the Tim Reynolds Three (TR3). It’s going to be awesome, and what’s more – we’re giving away tickets to the show! Sign up in the lab soon!

Jumping ahead two days we come to a band that I’m very excited about and frustrated at the same time. Excited, because they put on an incredible live show, and frustrated, since I’m not going to be able to go. I’m talking about The Cat Empire, who are coming to the Nokia Theater on the 5th. If you haven’t heard of The Cat Empire, they’re a Aussie rock band out of Melbourne, that’s got a great world sound to their music. The last time they were in NYC was three years ago, where they opened for the Brazilian Girls at a free Summerstage show in Central Park.

Felix Reibl, right, and Harry Angstrom, left of The Cat Empire

But they’re back now, one album later, with the devilishly handsome Felix Reibl leading the vocals. Following close behind is Harry Angstrom, who’s voice can be heard on about half of the band’s new tracks. Harry backs up his powerful tenor voice with a blazing trumpet that cuts through the rest of the music. And he scats to boot. Of all the shows in NYC this month, this is the one I wish I could go to the most. So please, if you can, check it out for me and let me know how it was.

Good friend of the station Derek Trucks will be playing with his band down at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at NYU on the tenth, with a follow up performance the next day at the Paramount Theater in Peekskill. Audiences at both shows will be treated to a performance by Shannon McNally as well, the singer/songwriter from Long Island.

Matthew Paul Miller a.k.a. Matisyahu

Now in the realm of Zion-reggae, December means Hanukkah time, and when Hanukkah rolls around, things come in eights. White Plains’ own Matisyahu knows this and that’s why he’s got eight shows this month – a climactic end to his appropriately named Festival of Lights tour, which has been ongoing since the release of his latest album “Light” in August. The 10th, 12th, 13th, and 14th you can catch the bearded bard at Webster Hall, and the 16th, 17th, 19th and 20th he’ll be at The Music Hall of Williamsburg. Each show will be with a different local artist ranging from indie singer Kevin Devine to dub rock group Dub Trio – both from Brooklyn. Check online to try and win free tickets from The Peak!

December gets rounded out with two great female performers – Ingrid Michaelson and Dar Williams. Michaelson will be performing a sold-out show at City Winery on the 21st, a Monday, as she settles down in New York for the holidays. She’s just come off of a host of shows abroad with fellow musician Greg Laswell in Europe. Hopefully you snagged tickets for that show.

Dar Williams

And Dar Williams will be playing at Southpaw Entertainment and Music in Brooklyn on the 27th. Support this Mt. Kisco singer by seeing her live in her home state. Plus Vanguard Records is offering a free holiday sampler of some of their singer/songwriters. She is giving away one of her songs, It’s Alright, which was the first cut off her 2008 album “Promised Land”. Incidentally, Greg Laswell is on the album as well, with his cover of Kristen Hersh’s “Your Ghost”.

So big things, as always, happening in New York’s backyard. Check them out – and if you feel like there’s a great concert or event going on that I should be talking about, feel free to leave me a comment.

So happy holidays – and make sure to see some great concerts so you’ll have plenty of conversation material to fall back on at that awkward holiday work party.

————————-

PEAK KEYWORD: SMORGASBORD

“If you don’t feel at least a little fear when you go up on stage, you need to try a bigger stage, because fear is where the adrenalin comes from and adrenalin is what feeds Success.”

~ Tim Reynolds ~

Every Successful person in every field of endeavour will tell you that each individual Success against the odds creates a ‘rush’, a joyous electric current deep down in whatever passes for their soul. Creation is called “the spark of life” for a reason — it gave God a six-day workweek and it made Frankenstein’s monster sit up and fart. So strap the alligator clips to your parts and turn up the juice, because once you know the rules, the only one that’ll be blocking your path to Success is you.

An excerpt from Stand Up & Succeed, by Timothy G.M. Reynolds, from Cometcatcher Press.

Hikinen hellepäivä keskellä Pariisia. 6 suomalaista istuu puistossa ja juo halpaa punaviiniä. Yksi on nähnyt paria vuotta aiemmin Dave Matthewsin ja Tim Reynoldsin duokeikan, mutta kukaan ei ole nähnyt koskaan aiemmin Dave Matthews Bandia livenä muuta kuin DVD:n tai YouTuben välityksellä. Settilista- ja aloitusbiisiarvuuttelut pyörii ilmassa, tunnelma on jännityneen odottava. Yksi soittaa puhelimestaan Dave Matthews Band- soittolistaa, se tosin jää keskustelun ja liikenteen melun johdosta taka-alalle. Osa siirtyy syömään ennen keikkaa ja loput poliisi häätää puistosta hetkeä myöhemmin – punaviinin nauttimista saa toki jatkaa, mutta nurmikolla ei saa istua.

Keikkajono hetkeä ennen ovien avautumista

Tuntia ennen lämmittely-yhtye Alberta Crossin keikan alkua jono ulottuu pitkälle Boulevard Des Capucinesia alaspäin. Kasaamme porukan uudellen yhteen amerikkahenkisessä baarissa, jossa piti olla muitakin faneja ympäri maailman. Muita ei näy, mutta kuuden suomalaisen jännitys kasvaa, kun keikan aloitus lähenee. Yksi meistä on juuri oppinut kysymään ranskaksi mitä kuuluu ja testaa taitojaan ranskalaisen tarjoilijan kanssa, joka on silminnähden iloinen siitä, kun joku ulkomaalainen osaa kaksi lausetta ranskaa – ” Ca va?” ja “Ca va bien, aussi”.

Sitten se hetki koittaa. Astumme baarista ulos ja lähdemme kohti keikkapaikkaa, L’ Olympiaa. Pitkä keikkajonokin on kutistunut ja sisään päästään miltei jonottamatta. Oven edestä löydetään vielä 2 suomalaista lisää. Allekirjoittanut vetää syvään henkeä ja astuu muiden mukana sisätiloihin jättäen helteisen kauniin Pariisin ulkopuolelleen.

L' Olympian keikkataulu

L’ Olympia on keikkapaikaksi ideaalinen. Koko salin kattava alataso seisomapaikoille ja yläparvi istumapaikoille. Dave Matthews Band on vetänyt heinäkuisena hellepäivänä pariisilaisen keikkapaikan täyteen faneja ympäri maailman. Paikalla on myös ihmisiä, jotka eivät välttämättä tiedä bändistä paljoakaan. Mutta kaikki ovat innoissaan odottamassa, että keikka alkaisi.

Osalla meistä on istumapaikat parvelle, me muut etsitään omat seisomapaikkamme yleisön joukosta. Ihan eteen ei enää tässä vaiheessa pääse, mutta erittäin lähelle kuitenkin. Noin vartin odottelun jälkeen sali pimenee ja ihmiset alkavat taputtamaan ja huutamaan. Taustamusiikki kuitenkin jatkuu vielä hetken, vaikka soundcheck on loppunut ja lavahenkilökunta poistunut näkyvistä. Yleisö taputtaa voimakkaasti ja sitten ollaan hetki hiljaa, kun taustamusiikki jatkuu. Tämä kaava toistuu vielä pari kertaa, kunnes musiikki hiljenee ja yleisö repeää pelkästä Dave Matthewsin näkemisestä.

Dave Matthews saapuu lavalle rauhallisesti tallustaen, yllään farkut ja t- paita. Daven olemuksessa on vaan jotain ihan selittämättömän sympaattista. Hän heittää alkuun pari sanaa ranskaa ja muutaman tanssillisen liikkeen ja yleisö on riemuissaan. Mies on kuin kotonaan lavalla ja yleisöllä on kodikas olo. Mutta tämä ei ole todellakaan Folsom Fieldin DVD mitä katsellaan, vaan tuo on oikeasti Dave Matthews. Ja Dave Matthews on 5 metrin päässä minusta. Dave toivottaa kaikki tervetulleiksi omaan davemäiseen sävyynsä ja esittelee lämmittelybändi Alberta Crossin, joka soittaa 45 minuutin setin ennen Dave Matthews Bandin keikkaa.

Alberta Cross

Alberta Cross on erinomainen lämmittelybändi. Vaikka itsekin kuulin bändiä nyt vasta ensimmäistä kertaa, niin silti siinä oli jotain tuttua, omaperäiseen sävyyn soitettuna kuitenkin. Uuden polven hyvää jenkkirockia hyvin soitettuna ja laulettuna. Varsinkin setin viimeinen biisi “ATX” jätti hyvän ja odottavan mielen illan pääesiintyjää varten.

Tässäpä olis lyhyehkö keikkavideo Dave Matthews Bandin heinäkuun Portugalin festarikeikalta. Ko. pätkä on nauhoitettu TV-lähetyksestä eli kuva ja ääni ovat katsottavaa luokkaa.

Biisilista:
Shake Me Like A Monkey
Ants Marching (Snare Intro)
Don’t Drink The Water
Alligator Pie
Seven

Video näkyy ja kuuluupi ainakin VLC-soittimella. Kuva on Xvid ja ääni Mp3.

Lataus Megaupload:in kautta

Hubby took me to FarmAid this weekend. We had these tickets for a long time & with Saturday’s gruesome event, we thought it was best for us to still go. It was good to go. Get out of the house, be alone with Hubby… I did spend much of the day sobbing in my seat. The people around us must have thought I was a crazy, emotional, pregnant woman. Seriously. Sobbing. It didn’t help when Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds played nearly the SADDEST set I’ve ever seen. EVER. EVER. If you’re a DMB Fan, like us, you can check out the setlist here. I’ll also list the songs here for those that don’t want to take the jump to the link:

*Funny the Way It Is – not a SAD SAD song… but it’s not a super happy one either. The title mainly says it.

*Grace Is Gone – if you’re a Dave Fan and this song hasn’t made you cry… I just don’t think you have a heart.

*Stay or Leave – the last bit of the chorus goes “stay or leave, i want you not to go, but you did”

*Gravedigger – played with Willie Nelson, I don’t need to get into why this one is sad. It was really awesome to hear Willie Nelson singing it. I actually like his cover of this song better than Dave’s version. Something about Willie’s voice makes it extra… incredible.

Dave & Tim finished the set with three (? maybe four ?) more songs. I love Dave. And Tim. I especially love acoustic sets – which this was, and is generally how Dave & Tim play together. Guitars always make me cry. I just think they’re so beautiful. Of course, violins, pianos, and other instruments make me cry too. (Music moves me. I’m one of those people.) I’ve never seen them play together in person so it was exciting in that respect. This was the saddest set I’ve seen Dave/DMB/Dave&Tim do since Leroi died. We were there when they did their first post-burial show at the Gorge. So sad. And in a way, Sunday’s set was a lovely tribute to my little cat. Right? We watched the show again last night on TV and sure enough the tears came flowing again.

When will this become easier? It thunderstormed last night and when I woke up at 6:30am to take my medicine (I’m on a strict 6 hour pill taking schedule), I couldn’t get back to sleep. I kept thinking of my poor little cat, buried in the backyard, getting soaked to the bone. Will I ever stop worrying about her? It seems silly that I do… but I can’t help myself.

I’d totally be a crazy old cat-lady if I never got married… or if Hubby died. He says if he dies, he knows I’ll become one. Maybe. I don’t really argue this fact because well… I probably would!

*sigh*

*sigh*

In other news, I’ll be 28 weeks pregnant tomorrow. It seems unreal how time has flown! That means I’m in the third trimester! Only 12 weeks to go after tomorrow! I also have a checkup tomorrow so I’m excited to go and ask my doctor all my questions (I have lots!) and hear the heartbeat, etc. I still think Snowdrop is coming Thanksgiving weekend. If not Thanksgiving weekend, she’ll come before her due date. (Great – now that I’ve written that, she’ll probably be overdue… haha!) So I probably have LESS than 12 weeks to go! Whoohoo!

I have been having a few contractions here & there… not super worrysome but something I’m keeping tabs on. I still haven’t had more than two (maybe three) in an hour so that’s a good thing. But they are painful when it happens. Braxton-Hicks are still coming & sometimes I feel a pinching down there. I felt it last pregnancy but I can’t for the life of me remember what it meant. I suppose I could Google it but then I’d get myself worked up into thinking something was terribly wrong. I’ll just wait until tomorrow…

Junie & Mags are doing great! They’re talking a WHOLE LOT MORE and SINGING every day. And I’ve figured out that they LOVE to watch cooking shows! Any time I’ve been watching the news or something where they go and have a cooking segment -the girls are enraptured by it! Today I watched Rachael Ray make Bolognese sauce. The girls didn’t look away from the TV during the whole segment! Then, they proceeded to “cook” me some food in their pretend kitchen. How cute is that? I think it’s adorable. I might be biased.

So I’m trying to figure out something to make with them tonight. Actually, Bolognese sauce sounds really yummy. I would totally eat some right now. Too bad I have no meat to cook up…

It’s quite literally been forever and a day since I’ve posted anything on here. It was the beginning of the summer if I’m not mistaken. And now October is right around the corner. Halloween…pretty soon Christmas…New Years…then what, summer again. I almost made it full circle.

You would think after being away for months on end, I would have a plethora of ideas to talk about, but I’m kinda out.

Saturday night I did see Dave Matthews Band in concert. Being my 10th show, I can honestly say this was my favorite. Besides playing a ton of new songs off of Big Whiskey, they busted out some older ones that I wasn’t expecting. The band seemed more into it than ever before and the crowd felt it too.  We all miss Roi. He will always be missed. But they could not have come up with a better substitute than Jeff Coffin. The man is a beast. At one point during the song Jimi Thing, trumpeter Rashawn Ross was pumping out a sweet solo. Instead of standing off to the side, Coffin picks up two saxes, sticks them both in his mouth and gives a nice little background for Ross to play over. It’s things like that that make this band great.

I could go on forever, but I wont.

I have homework. Am I going to go do it….probably not. But I should. We’ll see.

It’s good to be back America.

Read More . . . . .

password: WHiTeBiSHoP

I promise this will be my last dmb-related post in a while as I do not have any more concerts I plan on attending. You are almost free of my fanboyness!

We spent most of the day on Saturday just relaxing in the hotel. We got Moe’s for lunch, explored a little and then went to the Cruzan Ampitheatre. It was a little rainy, so we tailgated in the car. We made it to our seats just as the band was taking their places behind the curtain.

Our seats ended up being next to a guy who appeared to be sitting by himself. Periodically, he would talk to me about the show and before long we found out he was one of the fans staying at the same hotel as us. At one point he handed us these little monkey figurines that he had a bunch of. He said some girl staying at the hotel was handing them out to people. Although odd, I thanked him. The figurines turned out to be super awesome, but that’s neither here nor there.

We were in the fourth row, but way off to the left so part of view was blocked by security and stage stuff. Despite this, we could still see pretty well and had a blast. The show was incredible and the exclamation point was the set closer and encore.

I’ve wanted to hear “Halloween” live for as long as I can remember, but the band rarely plays it. PiC heard it earlier this year and I was super jealous. My dream was shot down about mid-set when our new friend showed me a text message on his phone. It was from someone else at the show who said the person who runs AntsMarching.org saw the setlist and “Halloween” was not on it. I was a little bummed out, but the show was going so well that I didn’t really care.

However, during the encore, Carter began to play a drum solo to start the final song. It sounded somewhat familiar, but I told myself it was too good to be true. The guy next to me and I joked that the band was playing “Cornbread” again.

Finally, we both decided to ignore the possible jinx and said “Are they going to play Halloween?” at about the same time. Moments later those distinctive first notes began and I yelled in excitement. The Ex got a kick out of the concert buddy and my sheer joy.

Once the show ended, we tried to snag some drumsticks, but Carter wasn’t looking our way. Slightly defeated we went back to the hotel and this time remained awake for the after party. There was a small band playing and tons of people hanging out. We got some food and mojitos and relaxed in the lobby. When the bar cleared out, we went out to walk around the pool, which some drunken fans had already jumped in.

Before long it was off to sleep and my incredible weekend was over. I had so much fun at all the concerts this year. I went to four different states to see five shows with numerous people. Each show was special for different reasons and were definitely highlights of my year.

-TWO STEP. MY GOD, TWO STEP. This song has been blowing my mind all year since the Fenway show. It keeps getting better and better. Carter has an insane solo and the band goes NUTS at the end. The new outro they added this year is incredible. It’s such a perfect addition. What made this version even more special was some improv. At the normal ending point of the song, Dave did his standard “Thank you’s” and “Good nights!” but Carter and Stefan kept going. Surprised, Dave grabbed a new pick, spun  around and joined in. The rest of the band soon followed suit..it was awesome. You must watch.
0:00-1:43: Standard awesome ending.
1:43-4:06: New ending
4:06 – end: Dave says, “Good night” and the Improv starts.
-I was really excited to hear Warehouse because it’s been so long since I heard it live. Dave did the “Under The Table & Dreaming style intro, which was a nice change. Once the regular part of the song started, the crowd did the “Wooooo’s” and it was deafening. Really kicks in at the 0:27 mark
-Dave’s family was at the show and we could keep seeing him make funny faces towards his daughters who were on the side of the stage, it was pretty funny.
-Intro featured the curtain again, which dropped at the 2:15  mark.
-Halloween!!!
-It started to rain during “Ants Marching,” and despite being under the pavilion, my whole left side got wet. There was so wind that blew the rain in just enough. I didn’t really mind though, it added to the fun of the night.
-I heard four songs I had never heard live before
-Boyd rocked out so hard. There were a view songs (Ants, LIOG) that he just ripped up when he had a solo. He rocked so hard his sunglasses when flying off.

HUGE FANBOY ALERT. AFTER A BRIEF ABSENCE, MY GROUPIE SIDE HAS RETURNED. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

The day after seeing Darius Rucker was an exciting one for me. It was day # 2 of my vacation and time to head to West Palm Beach, Florida for a weekend of Dave Matthews Band!

Yes, yes I went to see them AGAIN. Get over it. These were my fourth and fifth shows of the year, which easily trumps my previous high of three.

After the weekend, I’ve now seen the band 23 TIMES since 1998. I’ve seen them play at 7 different venues in six different states (CT, MA, NY, NC, SC, FL). According to AntsMarching.org, I have heard 442 total songs (123 different songs).

In any event…The band was playing Friday and Saturday night at the Cruzan Ampitheatre and the guys who run the biggest DMB-obsessive website in the world (AntsMarching.org) who once again holding a gathering in honor of the shows. They set up a discount rate at a fantastic hotel and put together an after-party for each show. I missed out on the festivities last year, so there was no way I wasn’t making the trek this time around.

Even though I knew the weekend was going to be a blast, I never imagined it panning out the way it did. Thankfully, I had a good partner to go with me.

The Ex has become what I’ll call a medium-core fan of the band. She hasn’t reached the obsessive heights that myself or PiC have (which is probably a good thing for her), but she has really gotten into it. I knew there was no one else I could go with and still have as much fun as possible, so I was happy she could go too.

I know, I know…We’re weird. Despite being broken up for almost a year, we are still best friends. She may not tell me EVERYTHING about her life, but I’m sure it’s pretty close. I don’t care if it’s weird, because we had a damn good time.

In any event…we got up super early and made the long drive south. We took turns driving and napping (sometimes at the same time) and finally got to the hotel around 3 pm. Despite being over-tired still, we become as excited as kids on Christmas after seeing the beautiful PGA Resort & Spa. Easily the nicest place I’ve stayed at.

It was even more exciting to see all the dmb fans gathered and preparing for the concert. Some drank in their rooms, others hung at the pool, while the rest relaxed in the lobby bar. Every was amped for a fun weekend.

The Ex and I settled into our beds for a quick nap and then it was time to head to the venue! We arrived an hour or so before the band went out and cracked open some Bud Light Limes in the parking lot. This was easily the quickest I’ve ever gotten into a venue. There was very little traffic and zero hassle. I wish every concert venue was like this one.

The venue itself was pretty standard for a summer, concert amphitheater. It had pavilion seating and a lawn. It also had really lax security. Taking pictures/videos was no problem at all. Great place.

After picking up some $10 beers (one downside to venue), we went to our upper pavilion seats just as dmb was coming out. Despite being towards the lawn, our seats were pretty good.

The first night’s set was really, really good. Nothing mind-blowing, but solid overall. Every song was played well, but no real surprises. The only surprise was the band bringing out a trumpeter named Lasim Richards. I had never heard of him, but he was awesome. He added a nice change of pace to the four songs he guested on.

With the show over, the crowd was abuzz. Everyone enjoyed it, but they definitely left wanting more. Everyone hoped for an incredible second night…

…but first it was time to head back to the resort was the after party!

I was really excited to hang with the other fans, but it never happened. We got back to the hotel, saw the party in the lobby, and rushed back to the room for a quick bathroom stop. Sadly, we had a few too many concert beers and passed out. I came out of the bathroom to see the Ex sprawled out in a bed. I figured laying down for a second wouldn’t be a problem…next thing I knew it was Saturday…damnit.

I’ve never been to a bad Dave Matthews Band show. I’ve just been to really good ones.

Saturday’s show at West Palm Beach was the night of jams. Was it for LeRoi? Was it for the new album? Or was it just because Dave, Boyd, Stefan, Carter, and Tim — yes, Tim Reynolds: for the entire set — fed off the crowd and each other’s energy? That type of energy you can’t manufacture. That energy comes with near 20 years of playing together; that compatibility comes with founding members as still current members 18 years of their first show — a feat that few bands can achieve; that passion comes with overwhelming respect for other band mates’ ability on their instrument of choice.

That energy makes a good band.

This wasn’t a concert for the fair-weather fan. This wasn’t a concert for newbies. This was a concert for those that have stuck by the band through solo albums, standard studio albums, and founding member’s deaths. This was a concert thanking those fans with 20-minute jam sessions of So Much to Say, Cornbread, Lie in Our Graves, and Two Step.

Boyd Tinsley set the tone for the night with violin skills I didn’t know existed in Warehouse. Carter Beauford took it to the next level when he kicked in the all-too-familar beats of Ants Marching. But, I’ve never seen a group of people more happy than when Tim and Stefan killed it during Crush.

It didn’t even matter that we spent more time in the 8-hour, roundtrip carride than we did in the actual concert itself. It didn’t even matter they played a 3-hour set when he could have played for 6 — the crowd wouldn’t have even noticed. It didn’t even matter that a small hurrcaine pummeled through south Florida Saturday night and the entire lawn resembled one giant poncho.

In fact, I think it made it better.

Standing here
The old man said to me
“Long before these crowded streets
Here stood my dreaming tree”
Below it he would sit
For hours at a time
Now progress takes away
What forever took to find
Now he’s falling hard
He feels the falling dark
How he longs to be
Beneath his dreaming tree
Conquered fear to climb
A moment froze in time
When the girl who first he kissed
Promised him she’d be his
Remembered mother’s words
There beneath the tree
“No matter what the world
You’ll always be my baby”
Mommy come quick
The dreaming tree has died
The air is growing thick
A fear he cannot hide
The dreaming tree has died
Oh have you no pity
This thing I do
I do not deny it
All through this smile
As crooked as danger
I do not deny
I know in my mind
I would leave you now
If I had the strength to
I would leave you up
To your own devices
Will you not talk
Can you take pity
I don’t ask much
But won’t you speak
Please
From the start
She knew she had it made
Easy up ’til then
For sure she’d make the grade
Adorers came in hordes
To lay down in her wake
She gave it all she had
But treasures slowly fade
Now she’s falling hard
She feels the fall of dark
How did this fall apart
She drinks to fill it up
A smile of sweetest flowers
Wilted so and soured
Black tears stain the cheeks
That once were so admired
She thinks when she was small
There on her father’s knee
How he had promised her
“You’ll always be my baby”
“Daddy come quick
The dreaming tree has died
I can’t find my way home
There is no place to hide
The dreaming tree has died”
Oh if I had the strength…
Take me back
Save me please

Dave Matthews ja Tim Reynolds tekivät pienen session BBC2 with Bob Harris -ohjelmassa tämän kesän euroopan kiertueen aikana. Sessiossa Dave ja Tim antoivat haastattelun ja soittivat Big Whiskey -kappaleet Funny The Way It Is, Dive in ja Lying In The Hands of God.

Katso kuvamateriaalia Bob Harrisin nettisivuilta.

Lataa kappaleet ja haastattelut Dave Matthews Band Fan Audio -sivuilta FLAC-muotoisena.

After the cool late-night performance by Jason Mraz, I woke up excited to the next day, about to see Dave Matthews Band for the first time! So taking that into account, this isn’t so much a review of the show, but a personal account of how I felt that evening, seeing a band I’d been wanting to see for many years.

I went to the show with some Finnish friends, one of whom is also a big DMB fan. We had one seat on the mezzanine (that I had accidentally purchased) and all our other tickets were standing. I decided to go to the mezzanine, because I knew I’d be happy to just see the band, and definitely could see them well that way. And it also felt natural because most of the time I’ve been listening to DMB I’ve been by myself.

I think the whole mezzanine was sold to fan club members, so I was sure to find some people who speak English next to me. Funny thing was that right next to me happened to be a Finnish couple who I didn’t know at all. Those seats were just the perfect place to see the band, very close to the stage.

The opener was Alberta Cross, a New York based band signed to Dave’s ATO Records label. It was so nice of Dave to come up and introduce them first. Alberta Cross played played a good set, but I was just too excited to see DMB in a moment to concentrate on their music. Then it took about half an hour to make the stage ready for DMB, and Dave’s koa-colored 12-string Taylor was right there waiting for him.

After an intro that fooled many, the first song finally turned out to be Bartender, which was just the perfect start to the show. I loved the solos and wanted it to go on forever, and it did last almost 15 minutes. Next up an energetic new song Shake Me Like a Monkey that really got me up and going. Most people were seated who were on the balcony, but some where standing. During this song the someone behind me tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to sit down. That wasn’t nice, how can you possibly sit through such an energetic performance? But I was feeling so good that I didn’t let it bother me and tried to stay as low as possible, finding all kinds of ways imaginable to dance on the chair. And this is something that changes from country to country and venue to venue, whether people get up or stay seated, so you want to be discreet about it.

“Somebody hit me with a moose,” Dave said after the song. The toy moose was supposed to be my friends’ nice souvenir from Finland, but Dave thought it was from Canada because that day was Canada Day. We tried to shout that it’s from Finland, but he didn’t hear us. Afterwards somebody told us that Canadian people who don’t like him throw moose at him, so we can just hope he didn’t take it in a bad way.

The next song, You Might Die Trying has developed into a cool jam towards the end, the song did well to keep the flow going. Spaceman is a song from the new album Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King and I was thrilled to see it live. Corn Bread is not usually one my favorite songs, but I have to say it was amazing. Moreover, everything they played that night was impressive to me. Last year I had been thinking about traveling to the States to see them, and was pondering whether I could get anything better than tickets to the lawn (from where you can hardly see the band), so it felt unbelievable to see all of them play so near and I dug every moment of it.

Everyday is a song that European audience loves, especially the “honey honey” chant. I always get so excited about the scat parts. Seven is another new song, there’s just something about watching this amazing band play right there in front of you and sing along “love you, love you, love you, you, you.” Grey Street was one of the songs that I was hoping to get, and it was even better than I had expected!

Next up were two new songs, Alligator Pie and Funny the Way It Is, both were cool. Then two songs that were among the best that night, an old classic Crush and So Damn Lucky, which has developed into an amazing live song. Lying in the Hands of God was definitely one of the best of the new songs, even though this was a pretty short version of the song. An old song Jimi Thing was nice to see. The new trumpet player Jeff Coffin showed off a with solo playing two saxophones at the same time. He’s a great musician and has done a good job bringing his sound to DMB. I also liked the trumpet player Rashawn Ross very much during the show.

Next the drummer Carter Beauford started playing the snare intro of Ants Marching. What followed wasn’t Ants, but a song called Too Much. Then again, it wasn’t. They just played a “fake” version of Too Much in between, and even though I knew they did things like that they still got me! Ants Marching is like an anthem of DMB, it felt good to see. This closed the set.

People in every direction...

Dave started the encore by himself with an old American song Rye Whiskey, Tim Reynolds played cool guitar solo after that. Don’t Drink the Water was a big crowd pleaser. The theme song of their new album – Why I Am – closed the encore. That song really has got a nice groove. I was sure they are not going to close the show with that one and play a double encore, but that didn’t happen. Instead, Carter Beauford threw one of is drum sticks to me, and that was definitely the best souvenir from the trip!

I had so much energy for the show, I was feeling so good all the time. When I look at the show on paper now, it doesn’t look that impressive. But it truly was for me, and I think for most other people there. Many of the hardcore fans in the States like to demand very much from the setlists, but they have seen the band over 50 times, usually. We get to se them so little that we are easy to please.

The full setlist with notes is available on DMBAlmanac.com. There’s also a taper’s recording of the show on antsmarching.org torrens area. It’s of pretty good quality, and to me, brings back good memories!

Domenica 5 luglio 2009, Lucca. C’è un caldo umido del cavolo.
Il concerto della Dave Matthews Band. Meno male!

Emozione incredibile. Quasi tre ore e mezza di rock americano e nel palco un inaspettato pazzoide di nome Dave, ad arricchire con la sua splendida voce una successione di note già di per sè perfetta.
È accompagnato dalla migliore band che ad oggi abbia mai sentito; un batterista che mentre terzina a 1234567 bps fa bolle con la sua gomma da masticare rosa come se stesse semplicemente giocando a lego. Un sassofonista che ha sostituito egregiamente il suo povero predecessore, improvvisando come pochi. Un trombettista da 150 kg che quando vuole sa anche tirar fuori una voce grandiosa. Un violinista bravissimo, col fisico da giocatore di rugby, calmo nei pezzi che lo richiedono, schizzofrenico quando assola. Il bassista-fico di turno che buoniddio suona da non credere. E c’è Tim Reynolds, una chitarra un perchè…
Al centro del palco c’è Dave, e quei 3 metri che lo dividono dal resto del gruppo sembrano non bastargli mai, perchè si vuove, balla, cazzeggia, si pavoneggia e canta da dio. Canta benissimo.
Cazzo! forse il più bel concerto mai visto. O comunque quello dell’anno scorso dei Radiohead sono alla pari.

Un concerto così sò che non ricapiterà presto, perchè in un concerto della DMB c’è il jazz, la fusion, il progressive, il melodico, c’è il rock. Cazzo che rock.
Ma poi perchè i componenti senti e capisci che stanno suonando per te, non per loro stessi. Lo vedi dalla faccia, lo intuisci dalla facilità con cui affrontano 200 minuti di musica, dalla serenità del fare il rientro non tanto perchè ormai è d’obbligo, quanto perchè senti che ne hai voglia e che lo fai per gli altri.
E infatti al rientro la scaletta segue schemi illogici, dal pezzo folk della cultura america (unica cover della serata) al brano pop più moderno. E gli artisti indie del momento sembrano di un altro universo. Non mi sembrano artisti… scusate.

Non so dire altro.
Vi presento alcune foto.
Giusto una nota tecnica: non portate mai una compatta digitale ai concerti. Io ho provato a farlo con questo… mi sono pentito tantissimo.

Grazie Dave della splendida domenica.

Jammie Thomas-Rasset

A jury last week determined the decade old question of just how much money a song is worth if it is illegally downloaded.  The jury’s answer:  $80,000 per song.    Jammie Thomas-Rasset was accussed of illegally downloading 1,700 songs through the file sharing program Kazaa, although she was only prosecuted by the Recording Association of America (RIAA) for illegally downloading 24 songs.   Thomas-Rasset alleged that other people in her family may have been responsible for the downloads, she replaced her hard drive because it was broken and not because of illegal downloads that would have been found on it, and that she never received any sort of cease and desist orders despite the plaintiffs producing such evidence that such messages had been delivered.  http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6534542.ece

The RIAA said that they tried to settle the case with Thomas-Rasset for a sum of $3,000-$5000 but she refused to settle.   Thomas-Rasset was the first person to refuse to pay a fine and challenge the RIAA in court.  The RIAA, however is still willing to settle the case despite winning a $1.92 Million verdict. 

The RIAA is taking the high road on this case and doesn’t want to alienate music fans.  By settling the case for a small sum, the RIAA will deter people from infringing on music, but not alienate fans at the same time by looking like some kind of ogre.  The RIAA said they are moving away from suing individuals for infringment and are trying to work out arrangement with internet service providers to take action against infringers.

Ms. Thomas-Rasset was extremely ignorant and misinformed by her lawyers that she had any chance of winning this case.  The evidence was too concrete and stacked against her from the beginning.  When a case can be settled for a couple thousand versus having to potentially pay millions in damages and lawyer fees, it doesn’t make any sense to try the case.  This is why most rational people settle their infringement cases and move on with their lives.    

For a play by play analysis of how the trial went down, check out:  http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/06/jury-selected-in-thomas-retrial-shockingly-law-abiding.ars