Friday Music

It's Friday. I need music.

"Come in. Every night you enter me like a criminal. You break into my brain, but you're no ordinary criminal. You put your feet up, you drink your can of Pepsi, you start to party, you turn up my stereo. Songs I've never heard, but I move anyway. You get me crazy, I say 'Do it.' I don't care just do it. Jam me, jack me, push me, pull me, talk hard!"-- The Eat Me Beat Me Lady

"I like that. Talk hard. I like the idea that a voice can just go somewhere uninvited and just kind of hang out like a dirty thought in a nice clean mind. To me a thought is like a virus. You know, it can just kill all the healthy thoughts and just take over. That would be serious." -- Hard Harry

That would be totally serious.

So I start the day with "Wave of Mutilation" by The Pixies. Next?

That's Some Good Business Right There

I've been saying something lately and I'm wondering if I picked it up somewhere else or if I just started doing it.

Business

I've basically been using the word business in place of stuff, like so:

(i.e. The DM makes an awesome stir-fry)
"That's some good business right there."

(i.e. I'm getting into my backpack)
"Man, there's all kind of business in here."

Am I just horking this from the kids?

Holy Hail!

What a storm we just had! I thought for sure my car was jacked, but it seems to be fine. The hail stones were sort of like small marbles. It was pretty intense!

Pet My Peeve

A very good friend and co-worker of mine, Jessie, mentioned to me today that she thought a post about pet peeves could be fun, and I'd been considering one anyway, so here goes. This one's for you, Jessie. I look forward to reading everyone's pet peeves.

Here's one of mine from yesteryear: When I was in college, I worked in retail (CD store), and I absolutely, positively hated it when I'd be trying to help a customer and this other dude who worked there would listen in to what the person was asking and would chime in with the answer. Dude! I've got it under control! My god this guy was a putz. I finally told him that it was the most annoying thing I'd ever encountered and if he did it again I was going to jab him with the pin on my name tag, and he stopped doing it. I could see him chomping at the bit when he'd overhear a customer's question, though, and I'd just sort of subtly tap my name tag and shake my head. Try me.

My biggest current pet peeves involve the good coffee pot in my office. (I don't care about the bad coffee pot -- enjoy your half-strength Maxwell House, freaks.) The good one is a pain in the butt, though, because it has a built-in grinder and it has to be completely taken apart and cleaned between each brewing.

Peeve #1: People who brew a pot without completely taking it apart and cleaning it. DON'T! It'll taste like crap and waste the coffee that either Jessie or I brought in! And trust me, I can tell if it's been cleaned or not.

Peeve #2: Only Jessie and I bring in good coffee, but lots of people drink it! The company only provides Maxwell House. Good coffee drinkers -- pitch in! That stuff's expensive!

Peeve #3, and the biggie: Okay, fine, don't bring in any coffee. You can drink mine or Jessie's, we're happy to share, really. But for the love of GOD, man (and one woman), clean the pot at the end of the day so I don't have to do it at 6 AM when I'm ready to mainline straight coffee beans into my veins! Seriously, why is that only Jessie and I clean that damn coffee pot? If she and I are bringing in all of the good coffee, and there are eight people drinking it, then there are six other people who should be cleaning that pot at the end of every day.

I still have an old associate's tag from Camelot Music. If that pot's not clean in the morning, somebody's getting jabbed.

Friday Music

It's Friday. I need music.

But I'm leaving mid-day for a weekend in Maryland, where I'll be watching Team USA defend their title at the annual Motocross of Nations event. It's the first time the MXoN has been held in the U.S. since 1987. Should be fun.

So it's gonna be more like Friday A.M. Music.

Go ahead; make my day.

Just In Case Anyone Forgot that Bjork is Actually the Queen of the World

Feast or Famine

Haven't heard Hot Water Music frontman Chuck Ragan's new solo CD, Feast or Famine? Really, really good stuff. Check out a few songs on his MySpace dealio.

Aquanetta's Amazing Boy

Best Video Of The Year - Watch more funny videos here

Marching Up and Down the Square

Me! Me!

I've been tagged. I've never done one of these things, but since Josh is responsible, I'm game.

DISCLAIMER: If I tag you and you don't want to do it, you won't have bad luck, you won't lose money, your face won't melt, your computer won't die, and God will still love you. In other words, no pressure.

Here are the rules:

1) Post these rules before you give your facts

2) List 8 random facts about yourself

3) At the end of your post, choose (tag) 8 people and list their names, linking to them

4) Leave a comment on their blog, letting them know they've been tagged

So here goes, my first meme. (Turns out "meme" doesn't mean "Me! Me!" like I thought it did. Go figure.)

1. I like to eat cheese in really small bites. Except bleu cheese, which I prefer to eat in no bites.

2. I was once beat up by a mob of fraternity boys on Halloween night. They were all in costume. I didn't know them; I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was grossly outnumbered and was kicked in the head a number of times. It didn't hurt that bad.

3. The first concert I ever saw was Donny Iris at the Robinson Grand Theatre in Clarksburg, WV. "Love will rock you. Never stop you. Ah. Ah. Ah. Ah. Love is like a rock!" He did this big shtick on stage where he talked about getting sand kicked in his face in front of his girl at the beach back in the day, so he used it as motivation, went to the gym, did his push-ups, and finally he got the last laugh on the bullies. But I thought he still looked skinny as shit.

4. When I was in the third grade, I thought Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" was the worst song I'd ever heard. I remember thinking I was going to vomit one time when I heard it. My teacher that year was Mr. Beech, and he wore his watch with the face on the inside of his wrist. That bugged me.

5. I'm a decent juggler, and I can juggle three of just about anything I can handle, i.e. a basketball, a whiffle ball bat, and a tennis ball. If I'm juggling something soft I like to mix in hackey-sack tricks. If I'm juggling something edible I like to eat it while juggling it. Unless I'm juggling some kind of animal. Unless it's a fish. Speaking of which....

6. When I was in college I had a pet piranha named Roach. I actually had two for a short time, but apparently Roach didn't like Grady much. I wrote a series of poems about him and put them in a collection called My Pet Roach. It was all pretty much random, just like the urge to go get a piranha was.

7. I can blink my way through time, but only forward.

8. I liked Bjork even more after she wore that swan dress. I personally wear very boring clothing, but I really like when other people wear crazy, truly original stuff. The swan dress qualifies.

Now the tough part: who to tag. The problem is that most of the people who comment here on RtN don't actually have blogs. I'll do the best I can, though.

1. My Mule. Yes, Josh, I'm tagging you back. However, instead of having to answer all eight questions and tagging eight more people, you just need to write a haiku about how great the Pittsburgh Steelers are. That's five syllables, the seven, then five. Of course I broke the rules of this meme, so feel free to break the rules of the haiku.

2. Random Bite Marks. Sorry if you've already done this little meme, Valyna, but your answers are always so much fun. Plus, you actually have a blog.

3. Rob Zero. I believe you like lists, Rob, so maybe you'll participate.

4. Mungerphut. You may not have time to do this, Munger, seeing as how you're always reading. Like, apparently, always.

Okay, now I'm going to tag people whose blogs I'm finding randomly based on their excellent taste.

5. Queen of Napville. She likes A Confederacy of Dunces. Need I say more?

Wow, it's harder to find interesting random blogs than I thought. Therefore, I'm going to leave it to five now instead of eight. Wait a second, I can tag people who are contributors of this blog! You guys only have to worry about the second rule. Okay, here we go, the last three:

6. Zee. Tag.

7. Raoul Duke. Tag.

8. The Dalai Mama. Tag.

Friday Music

I was going through my iPod a few days ago trying to find something to listen to that matched my mood, and I stumbled onto an album I hadn't heard in a long time: Pink Floyd's The Final Cut. This isn't just any old album to me -- in fact, back in the day, it changed music as I knew it.

My pal G2theLow turned me on to Pink Floyd in high school with The Wall. I was familiar with "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2," but that was about it. One day when we were cruising around he kicked The Wall and I was floored. I'd never heard anything like it. I wanted it to be mine.

So the next time I went to the mall I checked Camelot Music, and The Wall, being a double CD, was like 25 bucks. I must have been short on bread, so I picked up the budget-priced Final Cut instead and I beelined to my dad's apartment and his new stereo--my only access to a CD player.

He wasn't there, so I loaded up one of the slots in the 6-CD Techniques cartridge with my new Floyd, turned up the volume, turned out the lights, and laid down in the middle of the floor. It was almost like I knew my life was about to change and I didn't want any other stimuli to interfere with the process. I remember it like it was yesterday, which is impressive, seeing as how I forget most of my life.

Play.

Automobiles pass in the rain. A car radio switches from station to station.

"...announced plans to build a nuclear fallout shelter at Peterborough
in Cambridgeshire..."
[phzzt! of returning]
"...three high court judges have cleared the way..."
[phzzt!]
"...It was announced today, that the replacement for the Atlantic
Conveyor the container ship lost in the Falklands conflict would be
built in Japan, a spokesman for..."
[phzzt!]
"...moving in. They say the third world countries, like Bolivia, which
produce the drug are suffering from rising violence...[fades]"

Tell me true, tell me why, was Jesus crucified
Is it for this that Daddy died?
Was it for you? Was it me?
Did I watch too much T.V.?
Is that a hint of accusation in your eyes?
If it wasn't for the nips
Being so good at building ships
The yards would still be open on the clyde.
And it can't be much fun for them
Beneath the rising sun
With all their kids committing suicide.
What have we done, Maggie what have we done?
What have we done to England?
Should we shout, should we scream
"What happened to the post-war dream?"
Oh Maggie, Maggie what did we do?

And my mind was completely blown. I stayed on the floor and let the first listen take me. Then I spun it again. I felt punch-drunk afterward.

I soon found the 25 bones and bought The Wall, which continued to reconstruct my idea of what music could be as I explored it more deeply. More Floyd albums followed. Then I tried Neil Young, Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead. Others followed, and I let them all in. As the music in my life changed, so did my life itself.

I've been searching for the next mind-blower ever since, and I've found many, in various genres, but nothing will ever have the effect that The Final Cut had on me.

What was the first album that really got you? That's what I want to listen to today.

'Eers vs. Terps

WVU takes on Maryland tonight at 7:30 (ESPN2). Predictions, anyone? Pick the winning team and the score. The closest pick gets to choose the photo that runs over to the right there. (That's the best prize I could think of right now.)

I'll start it off.

WVU 55 - MD 17

Smurfin' Funny

Friday Music

It's Friday. I need music.

I just found out that Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello are coming to Pittsburgh together in October. While I probably won't be able to make the show, I'm going to start my day off listening to these fine gentlemen. Then I believe I have some stuff from last week to catch up on.

After that? You tell me.

NFL Eve

It's NFL Eve and I'm starting to get excited. (In the meantime, Roddick vs. Federer will do.)

Go Steelers!

Classic Spider-Man

This is for anyone who grew up watching Spider-Man cartoons, like I did.



By the way, this is the 200th post on RtN. I've been a bit too busy to post much during the last week, but I should be able to pick it back up this week. Hopefully that trailer hot spot will open soon, because I'm still looking forward to checking it out.

Dick in a Box

One of my all-time faves from SNL, "Dick in a Box," has been nominated for an emmy. It's performed by Justin Timerlake and Andy Samberg. If you haven't seen it yet, check it out.