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Thursday, December 30, 2010

Mr. Brown comes to town

Since about 1998 i've been listening to Greg Brown. He is a musician I believe originally from Iowa. His songs are incredible and his voice is one of a kind. He is one of those artists that you have to see live. Once you do you will be a fan for life. I was already a fan and was able to see him a year or two ago at the Cactus Cafe. He is returning in two weeks. It was an amazing show last time and I've been spending the last couple days trying to come up with a good reason not to go again. It was cold then and should be cold now. He sounds the best when it's cold outside. Since the experience is worth more then money I can't come up with one.

As my wife and a couple lucky friends can attest if you go to a show with me you tend to get there early. When we saw Mr. Brown before we got there early and got an awesome seat right up at the front. I would have to say it was well worth it. I've gotten better about getting to places early lately, but I had been waiting for 10 plus years to see Greg play live so I was going to be there early regardless.

Greg Brown is one of those artists that has a limitless amount of songs. I had been listening to him for over 10 years and purchased several albums along the way. My Library of his songs consist of about 40 songs or so. At the show I attended he played maybe 5 out of 20 plus songs I recognized. And they were all good. He started the show by playing a song called "Laughing River" which I had never heard and has since became one of my favorite songs. He told a story about how he was out at a recording studio that day with Robert Earl Keen and he was going to record it (and did) so it was fresh on his mind. Turns out the studio he was at was The Zone recording studio which is right were my wife and I got married, and I've been to several times.

After the show as we were walking to our car there was a man sitting by himself outside in the cold smoking a cigarette. Turns out it was Mr. Greg Brown himself. I couldn't help it and struck up about a 1 min. conversation with him trying my best not to be awkward. I'm pretty sure I pulled it off. He couldn't have been a nicer guy and hopefully I'll make it back out to see him.

There were not many quality videos of him that I could find but here's a couple to check out if you are interested.


all these songs below I had never heard until today.





Wednesday, December 8, 2010

I like weather whether you do or not

I'm studying for a test right now and came across this video. It's basically a years worth of weather at a park in the Rocky Mountains. I hope to one day aspire to be able to make something like this. It only took a year (plus however long it took to edit) to make. Probably a thousand or so or more dollars worth of equipment at least. I think I can swing that.........once I get a job and have that thing that I keep hearing people talk about.....what is it called?

oh yeah...... Money.

Friday, December 3, 2010

A trip down a river

Took a camping trip down the Brazos River back in early October. Finally was able to get the video I took put together. I suggest to everyone to take this trip. We paddled something like 22 miles or so starting just below Possum Kingdom. I didn't see any possum. There were a lot of bees though.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

a day in my shoes

So I had just finished writing a 40 page research paper on the American Southwest. I learned to much to remember. After turning it in I had the melody of this song called Excuses by The Morning Benders stuck in my head. I played it in my head as i was walking away from class. I wanted to share......


on a side note I got the Iphone 4 on my birthday. I made this video with my new phone.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

The Legend of The Tyler Rose

Well football season is starting to get into the meat of the season. Usually it's around this time of year that I sit down and look up my favorite football power run I've ever seen. This year was no different. What is different is normally the only video I could find of it cut off at the end and the video quality was really really bad. I've still never seen anything like this. If you have please let me know. Ya see what had happened was........ Earl Campbell hits a poor Rice defender just inside the 5 yard line and propels him into the end-zone. You would not want to get in the was of this guy in his prime.





also don't forget to check out:

http://www.earlcampbellmeatproducts.com/

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Keeping the music alive

So there's this band that I have been wanting to go see for over a year now. Deadman is their name. They play often at the Saxon Pub, which is one of my favorite bars. The timing has worked out so I have yet to catch them. I have, however, looked them up on youtube to see what the buzz is about. I dig it. They remind me of that one band....what was their name? oh yeah...The Band. I love it when new bands get together and takes cues from an older genre of music that you don't get to hear that much anymore. Of course Deadman is different then The Band. Which makes them even better. (i'm not saying they are better then The Band) They make their own music and it's a breath of fresh air. Which is something I love about Austin. There are so many great bands and musicians playing on any given night of the week. Another good band in the same vein as Deadman is a band called Slowtrain. I would suggest checking out both bands if you can. Here's some clips from Deadman to check out. (couldn't find any recent ones from Slowtrain, here's a link to their myspace link: http://www.myspace.com/slowtrainmusic )

link to Deadman: http://deadmanonline.com/

I actually just saw that Deadman is playing on my birthday at the Saxon. hmmmmm......probably a late show and the wife has to work the next day so i don't see it happening....but maybe?








Some words from the front man of Deadman I found interesting:


"Current music lacks significance. some people would call it substance but it's really significance. Because you have substance in modern songs, but you don't have the significance of why they should exist. And when the balance is thrown off the struggle is success over significance. But you can't have success without significance...you can have it... but you can't have true success without significance. That's like the cart before the horse. In today's times we see a struggling music industry, we see a struggling economy and I think the result is you've got everybody grasping for success, but they are forgetting the significance of what they do. And that may be in music, that may be in banking, that may be in the auto industry. And when that goes awry you have problems."
---Steven Collins of Deadman

Friday, October 22, 2010

The Jazz Singers

So I guess it was about a year ago when I first heard of Melody Gardot. She was tragically hit by a car and used music as therapy to recover from her very traumatic injuries. She doesn't wear sunglasses to try to look like a rock star. She is still sensitive to light from her injuries and has no choice but to wear them. I included two videos here. Both taken from the same Norwegian/Swedish talk show. for some reason they don't have shows like this in the states. At least i don't know where to find them. The first video is an interview where she explains a little bit of what she went through. The second is her performance. Lets just say I immediately bought her album after watching these a year ago. I was just reminded of them and had no choice but to share.

Just for the heads up it takes about 15 min to watch them both. I suggest watching the interview before the song.

The interview


The performance


since we are on the topic of jazz singers......
a bonus video......Kat Edmonson is a local musician in Austin that has been branching out but still very much local. Saw her once at a wine festival and left with the vinyl. Excellent album. Who knew I was such a Jazz fan. I have to thank Miles Davis and Stan Getz for getting me hooked.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Boom Goes The Dynamite

I just want to say that I'm very proud of Brian Collins. I heard on the radio that he landed a job as a sportscaster somewhere north of Texas. I wanted to post this infamous clip in honor of him. Good stuff. The catch phrase happens right around 2:30 in. Way to overcome bro. You're an inspiration to us all.




Some more info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Collins_%28reporter%29

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Happy Birthday Mr. Simon, and how some things have changed



On October 13th, 1941 Paul Simon was born. I guess I really listened to him for the first time when I was around 16 or 17. That's not counting the video he made with Chevy Chase for his song "You Can Call Me Al". That was my favorite when I was a kid, but I only knew him from that one video. I'm sure I had heard his music but it didn't really make as much sense when I was young and naive. When I became older his songs started making sense and I could tell how much of a unique and different songwriter and singer he was compared to everything else I heard on the radio. To sum up....when I was young I didn't think much about his music, but when I got older and wiser I realized just how great it is. At least that's my opinion. But when looking up a video of Paul Simon to post I was reminded of something. As everybody knows things have changed a ton in music and the marketing of music over the years. Most of the time it appears that it's not even about the music at all, but about how many dollars can be made in selling what the bigwigs think will be the most profitable product. Which of course is not what music is about. Here's my example of how things have changed:

Paul Simon on Sesame Street around 1978 (and yes i'm using Sesame Street as my example) Just Paul sitting and singing with some kids.



Now flash forward to 2010 and take a look at what Sesame Street is now showing the kiddos



2010 is just a little different and in my opinion all smoke and mirrors with no substance. I can understand if kids like it because they don't know any better. I just hope they are like me and grow up to like good music and realize what it's about since the mainstream media won't unless it puts more money in their pockets.

Didn't mean to get on a soapbox or anything. Just something I noticed. If you don't agree with me then fell free to tell me:

Monday, October 4, 2010

The guitar is full out sobbing

Say what you will about Prince. Some people like him. Some people don't. I've never really formed much of an opinion about him either way. But one thing is for sure. That guy can play the guitar with or better then the best of them. I barely even noticed him on here and then he magically appears about 3:30 min in and plays a killer guitar solo that basically lasts the rest of the song.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Elephants are underated

They can paint self portraits





play music



and sports




Just in case you were wondering.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

OK GO

So there is this band called OK GO. I've never really listened to them very much. But one thing that has perked my interest are their music videos. Always very creative. I don't know how they do it. They just came out with one recently to raise money and awareness for homeless animals. They did the video all in one take and had some help from their animal friends. If only MTV played music videos then maybe it would get seen.






Here's another one of their masterpieces

Monday, September 20, 2010

Saturday Afternoon Jam......and I'm not talking about jelly


This last saturday myself, my father-in-law, and his father-in-law (Mr. Gimble) ended up hanging out and playing some music. It seemed like some history being made so I hit record on my Iphone voice memo app on my phone. Two guitars and one mandolin. Tons of fun. Look for us out on the road. I thought myself and my father-in-law did a pretty decent job considering the guy playing mandolin has won a couple grammys and something like 9 CMA awards.


Jammin' on a saturday | Upload Music
That color was Blue

Saturday, September 18, 2010

The time has come

Finally two of the greatest thespians of our generation have put aside their egos and combined their talents to focus themsleves completely on the true art of film.


It appears to have the same blueprint as Planes, Trains, and Automobiles but i'm cool with that.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

What does not work correctly at my house

1 lawnmower
2 vacuums
1 computer
1 iphone
1 dryer
1 air mattress
all video making software
all music recording software
1 external hard drive
A/C barely works
1 backdoor lock (there's a steel beam we put in so you can't open it)
1 schnoodle
1 dustpan that just broke

But they are just things so it's all good. Except the schnoodle. According to the wife she's a person.



we are now accepting any and all donations.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Overindulgence of Sucess

So last night while fighting sleep by watching TV I came across a show called "Man vs Food". The host Adam was in Boulder, Colorado at this place called The Buff Restaurant. He tried a dish there called "saddlebags". It's bacon or sausage cooked, mixed in with pancakes and then topped with poached eggs, butter, and maple syrup. Looked like a very unhealthy combination of deliciousness.




For some reason all day today I couldn't get it out of my head. I got the approval from my lovely loving wife and decided to attempt to make what I witnessed the night before. The only problem was I've never poached eggs before. It is highly suggested that you use a little bit of vinegar in the water so the eggs stay together when you put them in the water. (some sort of chemistry i wish i knew more about) I didn't have any vinegar. Apparently if you get the water spinning in the pan when you put the egg in that also helps keep the egg together. It worked well enough. There are also tools you can buy that help but I didn't anticipate needing to cook poached eggs. Needless to say it was a great success. An overindulgence of success.



I normally don't eat two pancakes at once much less eggs and bacon with it. Tonight was all of the above. If tonight's dinner doesn't motivate you to work out I don't know what will.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

"Machete don't text"

Today I felt like I was part of a social experiment. You know you are about to see a pretty ridiculous movie when there are 10 grown men in a theater all by themselves and no one has a date. No one even brought a friend. I'm guessing they are in the same boat as me. All their friends are working and their wives/girlfriends refuse to see the movie with them. So you skip out on work and go during the day when the movie is cheap and it doesn't affect anyone else's schedule. At least that's what I did. Especially when it's a movie made in Austin with lots of explosions and gratuitous violence. One of those movies you know going into that it doesn't have to make much sense so you don't worry about how the plot unfolds or question the characters' actions in the film. Just fun. The point of this B movie is that it is suppose to be so bad that it's good. Sometimes resulting in a film that is "Badass". If you understand the guys making the film and what they were trying to do then you would know that this film has reached its goal. Let's just say that this movie is so good that I would never make my wife watch it. But if you're a guy then I think that watching it will make you a better man.




Warning This preview is Graphic

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

can't beat it

If you are ever in Austin on a Sunday night check and see if this band is playing at Momos on west 6th street. Warren Hood is the name. If they are do yourself a favor and go. I just finished my first paper I had to write this semester and needed some good winding down clear the head music. This did the job. It's pretty amazing how many good musicians live in Austin. You must support them. Every time I get the chance to go that's what I do. I've never been disappointed.





This instrumental is pretty incredible




Another excellent band to check out is the Marshall Ford Swing Band. Great Music.

Friday, September 3, 2010

No turning back

I made a dip, or spread, for tomorrow. And it's giant. what the crap? I've never made a dip before. I think it's large enough to appetize Rhode Island. I really hope it's edible. I didn't exactly go by a recipe. That's my style. It's my very own monster of a creation. If it's good great. If it's bad then It's the wife's fault for not supervising. I'm pretty confident in my idea so hopefully the execution was precise. If so I'm going to patent it. UT football game in the water at lake LBJ. If you want to give it a taste that's where it will be. Just look for the dip. You won't miss it.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

My good friend



I actually don't know this guy. But if I did i'm pretty sure we would be boys. One thing I'm not good at (and a reason I have to turn down many gigs) is playing cover songs. I just don't do it. Most of the gigs that are available to me are gigs where it would be very beneficial to me to know some popular covers/crowd pleasing tunes. What's funny is: I do know a few of some other people's songs, but they are random and most people haven't heard them so I might as well just play an original. (run-on sentence? wrong use of a colon?) When I do have the time to sit down and play guitar I normally just end up writing rather then trying to learn someone else's tunes. Just how I work. To each their own. I'm actually very impressed with people that know lots of covers because that's a serious memory at work and something I'm not very good at. I don't know how Matt Deaton does it. http://www.myspace.com/mattdeatonandfrontporchtexas
That guy remembers everything.

But (I learned in school not to start a sentence with but) every once in a while a song comes along and hits a chord with me and I have to learn it. That's what happened with this song. Heard it and the next day I was playing it. The song makes me want to move to New York City just so I can move to the country. I hope you like it too. If not...To each their own.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Oregon Trail

The Movie



Anyone from my generation will know what I'm talking about. Couldn't have made it through school without it.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

The kid has grown up

So around 2004 I was at a show at La Zona Rosa in Austin, TX. One of my friend's bands was playing. After the set they introduced me to someone they had just met. There was a shy kid off to the side not really talking to anyone. They introduced him to me by saying something to the effect of "this kid is great and he's going to be huge one day!" The kid kind of blushed and shrugged it off with the sarcastic expression of "yeah right." He looked like he was just happy to be there hanging out. I noted his name and went about my business. About a year later I was at a hotel in Colorado and I heard someone say his name to the effect of "man that guy is great."

Fast Forward to 8/31/2010.

That "kid" has released two albums produced by former Black Crowes guitarist Marc Ford and just released his newest album "Junky Star" produced by Grammy award winner T. Bone Burnett. He also appeared in the movie "Crazy Heart" alongside Jeff Bridges and wrote the song "The Weary Kind" that won him a Golden Globe and an Academy Award. Not a bad year. That kid's name is Ryan Bingham and I think you should pay attention to him. Here he is playing his song "Depression" on the David Letterman show last night:




Here's the music video from his song "Bread and Water" off his album "Mescalito"

Monday, August 30, 2010

a late addition to the post "dads that write songs"

I had to make this late add.


It's A Dad's Life - Watch more Funny Videos

pig vs turkey






Yesterday for breakfast I tried something new. Turkey bacon. My wife and I are huge fans of bacon. Thick peppered bacon is the best. Especially when cooked with a little extra fat left on them. Delicious and not good for you. bittersweet. Lately we have been trying to eat healthier so we bought some alternative bacon made from bird. I had heard good things so I was anxious to try it.

The gobble bacon was smaller and very thin. I cooked the bird bacon at the same time as I cooked the regular bacon. It wasn't as fun to cook. The aves bacon never really changed colors which made it harder to tell when it was done. Real bacon gets dark and toasty and juicy if you cook it just right. So when the regular bacon was done I took off the feather bacon at the same time. Luckily it was also done.

I can't say that I was a fan of the turkey bacon. I'm still going to give it another try. I guess it's one of those things I just have to get acclimated to. I must say though if you were looking for overall appearance the bird bacon did an amazing job of staying straight and never curled up or anything. (pictured above, turkey on the left, pig on the right) For health's sake i'm going to do my best to stick to it.

More exciting stuff to come other than bacon comparisons. It's just been something that's been on my mind. Now I feel better. Thanks. I'm thinking about comparing paint drying vs grass growing for my next blog.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Today's undertaking

There's a little secluded park a few miles from where I live. Sometimes I take the animal there so she can run around. Sometimes I don't. Sometimes I make videos. Here's a little video of one of our visits.


Allen Park
Uploaded by jrod1024. - Discover more life & style videos.

music provided by M.Ward

Friday, August 27, 2010

seems like yesterday

20 years ago today SRV passed in a helicopter crash in Wisconsin. He's been a big influence on me even though I didn't really know who he was until after he was gone. he is often debated as one of the best ever. I would agree. It's hard for me to say that one person is better then another person at something when it involves an art form. But I would say he should always be in the conversation. Definitely one of the best blues/rock guitar players that's lived. I could make this last forever because I've read books about Stevie and even wrote a research paper about his life in high school. I'll leave you with this:



and this



gotta love the slow blues jam. makes me want to go bbq out at the lake and throw washers.

in other news:
Happy Birthday Blake!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Cledus!

I grew up watching Smokey and the Bandit. When I was around 7 I saw cledus (aka snowman...aka Jerry Reed) play at the Fayette County Fair right down the road from some family land outside of La Grange, TX. Wendish territory. Google it. so.... I was too young to realize the talent at the time. I was messing around on the guitar with a country lick recently and Mr. Reed came to mind so here we are. I never realized how good this guy was at the guitar until about five years ago when I finally bought a cd of his. I feel like he was very appreciated by his peers but under appreciated by the media. In case you don't remember smokey and the bandit here is some of his acting chops in waterboy opposite the Fonz and Adam.



Not the best video.

Here's a clip of some of his guitar chops. This is just an instrumental but he had some killer vocals and lyrics as well. Maybe one day a question concering this will come up in some trivia. If so you're welcome.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Dads that write songs

So I looked up a musician a couple days ago to check in on him. Will Kimbrough is his name. Great singer/songwriter/guitar player/producer. Nice guy. Played with Todd Snider and the Nervous Wrecks back in the day and has recently played with Rodney Crowell. You may have heard the song "Goodnight Moon". That's him. anywho...... He has a newish song called "Three Angels" i just heard for the first time. I started feeling sentimental so I thought I would share.




Great tune. Much better than whatever the #1 song in the country is right now if you ask me. I have no idea what the #1 song is right now, but i'm sure it has a nice dance beat with some shallow lyrics. I digress. So will's song reminded me of another great song titled "Daughters" by an artist named Greg Brown.


Greg Brown- Daughters
Uploaded by jrod1024. - Explore more family videos.



You would think I have daughters considering how much I dig these tunes. I'm happy right now with my Angel and a half. Casey said Pearl counts as half because she is a dog.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Homarus americanus

So tomorrow I begin school for about the 21st time in my life. not counting summer school. To celebrate I cooked a feast. The wife was pretty happy about it. Here was part of it.




I also threw in some grilled okra, and potato crusted tilapia, and some leftover potato salad from my mom's birthday. It did the trick. It was my first time to cook lobster. It was pretty easy. bought a tail from the H-E-Beer store and cut it in half. set it in a bowl. poured some virgin olive oil on it with a small amount of salt and pepper. let it sit for 10 min. probably should have let it sit for 20 more minutes but i was too hungry to wait. Grilled it for around 4 min, about 2 on each side. Could probably do it for less depending on the heat of the grill. Meanwhile I had a pan on the stove on medium heat. In the pan I melted some butter and mixed in a little bit more olive oil and added some garlic. Took the lob off the grill and let it cook the rest of the way while soaking in the pan until it was white throughout. You should try it. In your face Julia Child.

Monday, August 23, 2010

respect

one night a few years back I was in a part of the united states known as Colorado. I was at my friends bands show. They were already an established band for the most part, but still fairly new to most people at the least. They have come a long way since. I was in the crowd and started talking to this guy in the audience. He was by himself and digging the show. Just had some pointless small talk, but seemed like a nice guy. about ten minutes later he was called up on stage to sing with the aforementioned band. Then it dawned on me that the person I was talking to was this person.



he's been doing pretty good for himself. He recently released a bluegrass album. I have much respect for people that make the music that they want to make the way they want to make it. Most bands wouldn't have been able to play considering there was a power outage. A good band can and will play. respect.

Happy Birthday Timothy




My cousin Tim was minding his own business on his birthday morning. He was being responsible sleeping in his boat because he didn't want to drive after he had been drinking. I'm not sure what the odds are of this happening, but someone who was exiting IH-35 ended up flipping their truck into the parking lot and landing it on top of Tim's truck. Luckily it didn't hit the boat. (although for insurance purposes it may have been better. But not as good for Tim) That's one hell of an alarm clock. everybody is ok. Even the driver who wasn't wearing a seat belt walked away. reminds me of a damn good song I heard the other day. Trouble find me by jeff plankenhorn.

I don't have a case of the Mondays

last night for dinner I grilled some trout, asparagus, and squash. It was delicious. I'm starting to get better at this grilling thing. I think the wife would agree. I'm hoping that one day she buys me a grill sergeant t-shirt. I bought one of those baskets you can put stuff into and set on the grill and it's probably one of the best things i've ever bought.

So today is the last Monday before school starts. I'm doing the only thing I could think of with my day that makes the most sense. Float the River. Comal here I come. My friend has a connection at the tube rental place so I'll maybe spend 10$ for the whole thing. How could I not go. I better start putting on the sun block now. at least 3 layers. Time the walk the animal since she'll be chilling by herself, then some exercise and then the river. I hope your Monday is going well.

Friday, August 20, 2010

One of the places I grew up


Tow Texas
Uploaded by jrod1024. - Discover new destinations and travel videos.

a little video i made. last time i checked i didn't own the copyrights to the songs. I'm pretty sure i still don't.

Day 1

There are about 100 different things I should be doing right now. Instead I'm setting up a blog. Writing something to no one. Or to many. Who knows. There is a small chance this could be the only post. The dog doesn't seem to appreciate it and she is a pretty good barometer of how something will go. I had what I thought was a brilliant idea where I would take a Julia Child cookbook and attempt to cook something out of it everyday and then blog about it. I'm sure that's never been done. But right now it's time for me to stop being worthless and clean the kitchen, exercise(the weight demons), and take care of some official school business.