Rob and I talked about this last night. Let’s pick an artist each month and have everyone learn a song or two of theirs. A good way to pick the artist would be to hold nominations in the comments of this post (nominate one artist) and then I’ll change the poll to reflect the nominations. When an artist is chosen I’ll take them out of the poll and put in someone new, but I’ll leave the ones already there for at least another month or two.
I have the final say on nominations and artist selection, but unless I feel strongly about a particular artist or your picks are really bad I’ll probably go with what you guys want.
Also, Jay posted a bunch of pictures again from the open mic.
Rob and I talked about this last night. Let’s pick an artist each month and have everyone learn a song or two of theirs. A good way to pick the artist would be to hold nominations in the comments of this post (nominate one artist) and then I’ll change the poll to reflect the nominations. When an artist is chosen I’ll take them out of the poll and put in someone new, but I’ll leave the ones already there for at least another month or two.
I have the final say on nominations and artist selection, but unless I feel strongly about a particular artist or your picks are really bad I’ll probably go with what you guys want.
Also, Jay posted a bunch of pictures again from the open mic.
Nirvana’s band bio from their Bleach days shows that they knew they had something good, but didn’t take themselves too seriously. Here’s a good lesson for the musicians out there! Most of the bios I read on your sites are so bad they make me want to avoid you. Some are worse than others, and I’ll concede mine is nothing special either. Check this out:
NIRVANA sounds like mid-tempo Black Sabbath playing the knack, Black Flag, the Stooges, and a pinch of the- Bay City Rollers. Their personal musical influences include H. R. Puffnstuff, Speed Racer, divorces, drugs, sound
effects records, the Beatles, rednecks, hard rock, punk rock, Leadbelly, Slayer, and, of course,
the Stooges.
NIRVANA sees the underground scene as becoming stagnant and more accessible to big league capitalist pig major record labels. But does NIRVANA fell a moral duty to fight this cancerous evil? NO WAY! We want to cash in and suck up to the big wigs in hopes that we too can GET HIGH AND FUCK. GET HIGH AND FUCK. GET HIGH AND FUCK.
Read the rest here. I got the link from More Boom in the Room.
Nirvana’s band bio from their Bleach days shows that they knew they had something good, but didn’t take themselves too seriously. Here’s a good lesson for the musicians out there! Most of the bios I read on your sites are so bad they make me want to avoid you. Some are worse than others, and I’ll concede mine is nothing special either. Check this out:
NIRVANA sounds like mid-tempo Black Sabbath playing the knack, Black Flag, the Stooges, and a pinch of the- Bay City Rollers. Their personal musical influences include H. R. Puffnstuff, Speed Racer, divorces, drugs, sound
effects records, the Beatles, rednecks, hard rock, punk rock, Leadbelly, Slayer, and, of course,
the Stooges.
NIRVANA sees the underground scene as becoming stagnant and more accessible to big league capitalist pig major record labels. But does NIRVANA fell a moral duty to fight this cancerous evil? NO WAY! We want to cash in and suck up to the big wigs in hopes that we too can GET HIGH AND FUCK. GET HIGH AND FUCK. GET HIGH AND FUCK.
Read the rest here. I got the link from More Boom in the Room.
Come out tonight to the Tree House open mic. It runs from 8:00PM – 11:00PM. You can sign up in advance here or just come to hang out and drink coffe. Lots of good musicians are already signed up to play.
See you there!
Come out tonight to the Tree House open mic. It runs from 8:00PM – 11:00PM. You can sign up in advance here or just come to hang out and drink coffe. Lots of good musicians are already signed up to play.
See you there!
Last week we had a good time at the open mic, although I was a little out of it. We had a few new performers, which is always great unless they suck. Luckily for us they didn’t.
Jay posted a bunch of pictures from the open mic, too.
1. Ben Garvey – Among others I played “Big Dipper” by Built to Spill for the first time. I screwed it up a little, but I think I’ll try it again next time.
2. Jeff and Todd – These guys played some pretty long acoustic rock songs. They said they came in before and at the time I didn’t remember them, but I think I do now.
3. Charlie T. – Were those orginals he played? Not too bad. The girl he was with looked just like Jennifer Love Hewitt.
4. Gabe – Great voice! Sarah Allen thinks he’s really good, too. His voice reminded me of someone, but I can’t figure out who.
5. Cynthia and Blade – This was the first time Blade took the stage, although he’s hung out a few times. Hearing Cynthia sing without her guitar playing was a different experience. Roz had to fix Blade’s guitar after the jack fell inside.
6. Sarah Allen – She was battered into playing a few cure covers and I’m sure she’s excited about the upcoming Cure tour.
7. Willie Tapps – Great job by Willie as usual. Make sure you come out to Willie Fest at the Tree House on May 1st.
8. Bob Michel – I wonder what type of music Bob played when he was a teenager.
9. The Forest Greens – They’ll be playing Willie Fest on May 1st and Eric’s back from Italy now.
10. Ryan Williams – New guy playing some acoustic pop rock. He even did “Pretty Good Year” by Tori Amos, which is one of her best.
11. John Quinlan – John’s music is really starting to grow on me.
12. Joe Alam – Joe said he’s turning over a new leaf and played a tribute song to the Tree House called “the Legend of Christ.” I liked it. He also did a cover of Phil’s Tree House hit, “Baking Slave.” Rob was happy about that.
13. Jason Vertucio – So far there are only two rules for the open mic. No cursing and no playing Good Charlotte on my guitar. Another new rule is if you’re going to read a story you have to read the whole thing. There will be none of this “read the rest on my blog” stuff.
14. Roz King – Roz’s guitar has the oddest tone. He impressed some people by fixing Blade’s guitar earlier in the night.
15. John Shaughnessy – I know I’ll screw up if I try to recall the songs John played, but I know he played a new one and it sounded like it had some promise.
Last week we had a good time at the open mic, although I was a little out of it. We had a few new performers, which is always great unless they suck. Luckily for us they didn’t.
Jay posted a bunch of pictures from the open mic, too.
1. Ben Garvey – Among others I played “Big Dipper” by Built to Spill for the first time. I screwed it up a little, but I think I’ll try it again next time.
2. Jeff and Todd – These guys played some pretty long acoustic rock songs. They said they came in before and at the time I didn’t remember them, but I think I do now.
3. Charlie T. – Were those orginals he played? Not too bad. The girl he was with looked just like Jennifer Love Hewitt.
4. Gabe – Great voice! Sarah Allen thinks he’s really good, too. His voice reminded me of someone, but I can’t figure out who.
5. Cynthia and Blade – This was the first time Blade took the stage, although he’s hung out a few times. Hearing Cynthia sing without her guitar playing was a different experience. Roz had to fix Blade’s guitar after the jack fell inside.
6. Sarah Allen – She was battered into playing a few cure covers and I’m sure she’s excited about the upcoming Cure tour.
7. Willie Tapps – Great job by Willie as usual. Make sure you come out to Willie Fest at the Tree House on May 1st.
8. Bob Michel – I wonder what type of music Bob played when he was a teenager.
9. The Forest Greens – They’ll be playing Willie Fest on May 1st and Eric’s back from Italy now.
10. Ryan Williams – New guy playing some acoustic pop rock. He even did “Pretty Good Year” by Tori Amos, which is one of her best.
11. John Quinlan – John’s music is really starting to grow on me.
12. Joe Alam – Joe said he’s turning over a new leaf and played a tribute song to the Tree House called “the Legend of Christ.” I liked it. He also did a cover of Phil’s Tree House hit, “Baking Slave.” Rob was happy about that.
13. Jason Vertucio – So far there are only two rules for the open mic. No cursing and no playing Good Charlotte on my guitar. Another new rule is if you’re going to read a story you have to read the whole thing. There will be none of this “read the rest on my blog” stuff.
14. Roz King – Roz’s guitar has the oddest tone. He impressed some people by fixing Blade’s guitar earlier in the night.
15. John Shaughnessy – I know I’ll screw up if I try to recall the songs John played, but I know he played a new one and it sounded like it had some promise.
Adrien is opening up for the famous Jeffrey Gaines tomorrow night at the Tin Angel in Philadelphia. Tickets are $20 and you should definitely check it out if it isn’t sold out already. Congratulations to Adrien for landing the gig!
Adrien is opening up for the famous Jeffrey Gaines tomorrow night at the Tin Angel in Philadelphia. Tickets are $20 and you should definitely check it out if it isn’t sold out already. Congratulations to Adrien for landing the gig!
Here’s an idea for a movie script. Let me know what you think. It’s a comedy where a guy goes to a hypnotist to do a past life regression. This is where your past lives are revealed to you under hypnosis.
During his first session the guy sees himself in the American Civil War, fighting on the confederate side. Then, it turns out in a past life he was really just a civil war reenactor. On his second session he thinks he’s Hitler or some other horrible person, but then realizes he’s only a body double. Lastly, during his final session he sees himself as Michael Jackson and the audience expects it to be a ruse but he really is Michael Jackson reincarnated. I know, Michael Jackson isn’t dead yet, but that just gives me more time to flesh out the script.
Here’s an idea for a movie script. Let me know what you think. It’s a comedy where a guy goes to a hypnotist to do a past life regression. This is where your past lives are revealed to you under hypnosis.
During his first session the guy sees himself in the American Civil War, fighting on the confederate side. Then, it turns out in a past life he was really just a civil war reenactor. On his second session he thinks he’s Hitler or some other horrible person, but then realizes he’s only a body double. Lastly, during his final session he sees himself as Michael Jackson and the audience expects it to be a ruse but he really is Michael Jackson reincarnated. I know, Michael Jackson isn’t dead yet, but that just gives me more time to flesh out the script.
The place packed with high schoolers on spring break, but only 9 performers showed up. It wasn’t a problem because most of the performers stuck around long enough for extended sets.
1. Ben Garvey – I played “All My Dreams are in Cartoon”, Beck’s “Jackass,” and “99%.”
2. Jarrod Schafer – “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and an Avril Lavigne song, served up by your friend Jarrod Schafer.
3. Joe Alam – Joe isn’t afraid to do anything, including John Lennon covers and going out with high school girls.
4. Roz King – I think Roz’s cover of Fake Plastic Trees is my favorite at the moment.
5. John Quinlan – Played a bunch of his original stuff that supposedly will be out on CD soon.
6. John Shaughnessy and Marty Cruz (aka Jason Vertucio) – Roz said Jay looked like Steve Van Sandt up there with his bandana and his Italian name. Jay and John sounded like they practiced a lot this week. They did one of John’s originals about the Circle K and then “Hard Days Night”.
7. Willie Tapps – Another great performance bringing his streak up to 367.
8. Forest Greens – Sans Eric once again, since Eric was in Italy like a few people I know. Hopefully Eric is studying classical guitar over there or something. Sarah Allen filled in nicely.
9. Sarah Allen – Her friend stopped who goes to Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, which has to be one of the nicest looking towns in the country. I went there once a few years ago and it was incredible. Sarah covered “Grace” by Jeff Buckley and it was awesome.
The place packed with high schoolers on spring break, but only 9 performers showed up. It wasn’t a problem because most of the performers stuck around long enough for extended sets.
1. Ben Garvey – I played “All My Dreams are in Cartoon”, Beck’s “Jackass,” and “99%.”
2. Jarrod Schafer – “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and an Avril Lavigne song, served up by your friend Jarrod Schafer.
3. Joe Alam – Joe isn’t afraid to do anything, including John Lennon covers and going out with high school girls.
4. Roz King – I think Roz’s cover of Fake Plastic Trees is my favorite at the moment.
5. John Quinlan – Played a bunch of his original stuff that supposedly will be out on CD soon.
6. John Shaughnessy and Marty Cruz (aka Jason Vertucio) – Roz said Jay looked like Steve Van Sandt up there with his bandana and his Italian name. Jay and John sounded like they practiced a lot this week. They did one of John’s originals about the Circle K and then “Hard Days Night”.
7. Willie Tapps – Another great performance bringing his streak up to 367.
8. Forest Greens – Sans Eric once again, since Eric was in Italy like a few people I know. Hopefully Eric is studying classical guitar over there or something. Sarah Allen filled in nicely.
9. Sarah Allen – Her friend stopped who goes to Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, which has to be one of the nicest looking towns in the country. I went there once a few years ago and it was incredible. Sarah covered “Grace” by Jeff Buckley and it was awesome.
One a scale of one to ten I rate this email a one.
Dear Benjamin,
We hope you’re enjoying the convenience and selection of Netflix. Our goal has always been to offer a great service at a great price, and we’re dedicated to bringing you the largest library of films delivered quickly to your home.
Since launching our service almost four years ago, the subscription rate for the 3-at-a-time program has never changed. We’ve added more than 20 distribution centers in order to provide one business day delivery to most of our members. We’ve also expanded our library by thousands of titles and now offer more than 18,000 to choose from. During the four years, improvements such as these, as well as postal rate changes, have increased the cost of doing business.
Beginning June 15, 2004, we will be raising the prices of all our subscription programs. Your plan, the Netflix 3-at-a-time program, will change from $19.95 per month to $21.99 per month.
We believe our service offers an exceptional value and hope you’ll continue to enjoy the benefits of Netflix at the new price. We realize that you have many home entertainment choices, and we appreciate your business.
I’ve been a Netflix subscriber for about 2 years and I like it a lot, but hopefully they’ll invest in some replacement DVDs now that they’ll have more money to spend. Recently I’ve gotten a lot of damaged discs that freeze halfway through. There aren’t many more annoying things than not being able to watch the last 10 minutes of a movie.
One a scale of one to ten I rate this email a one.
Dear Benjamin,
We hope you’re enjoying the convenience and selection of Netflix. Our goal has always been to offer a great service at a great price, and we’re dedicated to bringing you the largest library of films delivered quickly to your home.
Since launching our service almost four years ago, the subscription rate for the 3-at-a-time program has never changed. We’ve added more than 20 distribution centers in order to provide one business day delivery to most of our members. We’ve also expanded our library by thousands of titles and now offer more than 18,000 to choose from. During the four years, improvements such as these, as well as postal rate changes, have increased the cost of doing business.
Beginning June 15, 2004, we will be raising the prices of all our subscription programs. Your plan, the Netflix 3-at-a-time program, will change from $19.95 per month to $21.99 per month.
We believe our service offers an exceptional value and hope you’ll continue to enjoy the benefits of Netflix at the new price. We realize that you have many home entertainment choices, and we appreciate your business.
I’ve been a Netflix subscriber for about 2 years and I like it a lot, but hopefully they’ll invest in some replacement DVDs now that they’ll have more money to spend. Recently I’ve gotten a lot of damaged discs that freeze halfway through. There aren’t many more annoying things than not being able to watch the last 10 minutes of a movie.
Some people have a fascination with tabloids, gossip, or driving by car accidents. I like to read the Craigslist missed connections. For the uninitiated, a missed connection is when someone thinks they had a fate inspired moment with a stranger, but for whatever reason (usually a good reason) they never meet. So instead of talking to their potential soul mates they make a make a post on the Internet about them. I think today was the first time I read an entry from Collingswood.
Cute girl at Wawa – m4w – 22 (Collingswood)
To the cute cashier at Wawa in Collingswood, haven’t seen you in awhile. Hope you didn’t quit already.
From the guy w/the piercings.
Hopefully piercing guy will hook up with Wawa girl and they can toast to Craig and me at their wedding. Now that you know I’m reading, don’t any of you losers try and put me on there. I already thought of that.
Some people have a fascination with tabloids, gossip, or driving by car accidents. I like to read the Craigslist missed connections. For the uninitiated, a missed connection is when someone thinks they had a fate inspired moment with a stranger, but for whatever reason (usually a good reason) they never meet. So instead of talking to their potential soul mates they make a make a post on the Internet about them. I think today was the first time I read an entry from Collingswood.
Cute girl at Wawa – m4w – 22 (Collingswood)
To the cute cashier at Wawa in Collingswood, haven’t seen you in awhile. Hope you didn’t quit already.
From the guy w/the piercings.
Hopefully piercing guy will hook up with Wawa girl and they can toast to Craig and me at their wedding. Now that you know I’m reading, don’t any of you losers try and put me on there. I already thought of that.
Tuesday night I stopped by the Doc Watson’s open mic and it turned out my old friend J the Enabler was hosting in place of the usual guy. Before I got to Doc Watson’s I stopped by Moriarty’s and tried their buffalo wings because several sources cited them as the best in Philly. They were excellent and surprisingly cheap. You get a dozen uncut wings for around $8, which is really an order of 24 since each wing has a drummette and a middle. The tips are there too if you like them, so it’s 24 wings plus 12 tips for $8.
Dan, the usual host, has been blogging the open mic for a few weeks now and you’ll recognize some familiar performers if you’ve been to the Tree House. The best entry recounted an exchange between Dan and the band Fuck Souls, made up of Joe (crazy wite-out on the face guy) and his friends.
“Fuck Souls” was comprised of two guys: SKINNY and LEGCRUSHER. LEGCRUSHER was from the ‘burbs and had hauled his drum kit in to center city. SKINNY had promised LEGCRUSHER that he would be at Doc Watson’s at 9:00 to sign “Fuck Souls” on the list. Needless to say, SKINNY didn’t show up until 11:00. I kindly told them (trying to be helpful) that i couldn’t promise anything, but they could hang around and if there was time at the end of the evening, they could set up and perform. I felt I was being fair. SKINNY pulled me aside and, with a look of meek pleading in his eyes asked me to “please, please, please” tell LEGCRUSHER that “Fuck Souls” was defintly going to perform.
“I can’t promise that, because it’s not true.”
“Please! If you don’t, he’s going to beat me up!”
“…that sounds like an unhealty relationship,” I said, trying not to get involved
“Please, just tell him that we can play!!”
“No. I’m not getting involved in your band politics”
I stepped away quickly. I could tell by the fear in SKINNY’s eyes that he wasn’t kidding about LEGCRUSHER’s famous anger and rage.
Make sure you read the rest.
On Tuesday there were some good performers including J doing “Asshole” by Dennis Leary. I caught Fishstick again and I liked what I heard. As usual there were a bunch of comedians at Doc Watsons and for the first time I actually liked some of them. Anne Putnam made me laugh with her routine about how she’s trying to rope in a husband by bragging her mom is a MILF, or in this case, a MYLF. Another guy made a great joke about how after watching the Paris Hilton video too many times he now gets turned on by videos of the first gulf war and the last scene from Silence of the Lambs. A guy named Aaron tried to do a cover of “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” by the Darkness. I think I must have sucked because J kept changing the EQ settings while I played. I’m not blaming J, because he wouldn’t have had to change much if I sounded good. At that point I probably had a few too many 16 ounce $2 PBRs. You can’t beat a drink special like that, it can only beat you.
Tuesday night I stopped by the Doc Watson’s open mic and it turned out my old friend J the Enabler was hosting in place of the usual guy. Before I got to Doc Watson’s I stopped by Moriarty’s and tried their buffalo wings because several sources cited them as the best in Philly. They were excellent and surprisingly cheap. You get a dozen uncut wings for around $8, which is really an order of 24 since each wing has a drummette and a middle. The tips are there too if you like them, so it’s 24 wings plus 12 tips for $8.
Dan, the usual host, has been blogging the open mic for a few weeks now and you’ll recognize some familiar performers if you’ve been to the Tree House. The best entry recounted an exchange between Dan and the band Fuck Souls, made up of Joe (crazy wite-out on the face guy) and his friends.
“Fuck Souls” was comprised of two guys: SKINNY and LEGCRUSHER. LEGCRUSHER was from the ‘burbs and had hauled his drum kit in to center city. SKINNY had promised LEGCRUSHER that he would be at Doc Watson’s at 9:00 to sign “Fuck Souls” on the list. Needless to say, SKINNY didn’t show up until 11:00. I kindly told them (trying to be helpful) that i couldn’t promise anything, but they could hang around and if there was time at the end of the evening, they could set up and perform. I felt I was being fair. SKINNY pulled me aside and, with a look of meek pleading in his eyes asked me to “please, please, please” tell LEGCRUSHER that “Fuck Souls” was defintly going to perform.
“I can’t promise that, because it’s not true.”
“Please! If you don’t, he’s going to beat me up!”
“…that sounds like an unhealty relationship,” I said, trying not to get involved
“Please, just tell him that we can play!!”
“No. I’m not getting involved in your band politics”
I stepped away quickly. I could tell by the fear in SKINNY’s eyes that he wasn’t kidding about LEGCRUSHER’s famous anger and rage.
Make sure you read the rest.
On Tuesday there were some good performers including J doing “Asshole” by Dennis Leary. I caught Fishstick again and I liked what I heard. As usual there were a bunch of comedians at Doc Watsons and for the first time I actually liked some of them. Anne Putnam made me laugh with her routine about how she’s trying to rope in a husband by bragging her mom is a MILF, or in this case, a MYLF. Another guy made a great joke about how after watching the Paris Hilton video too many times he now gets turned on by videos of the first gulf war and the last scene from Silence of the Lambs. A guy named Aaron tried to do a cover of “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” by the Darkness. I think I must have sucked because J kept changing the EQ settings while I played. I’m not blaming J, because he wouldn’t have had to change much if I sounded good. At that point I probably had a few too many 16 ounce $2 PBRs. You can’t beat a drink special like that, it can only beat you.