Don’t worry, this’ll all be interesting when I’m dead.

ow cool is that? Tally Hall has added the two groups I made for them on their LINKS page. Furthermore, they credited me on making them. So my name is up there. Nice. Additionally, this has caused a bit of a boom on both groups. I’m loving seeing all these people from around the country joining up and wanting to get on the bandwagon. You should, too.

As for me, I really don’t have much to say these days. I’m still working on the house. Still schooling. There’s really not been much exciting news to share so I will not try to create any.

left a little after 4:30pm to get to the event at 7pm. Despite a slight misunderstanding in exactly which campus the Spring Fling was being held at and ending up at The Short Hills campus of The Pingry School slight after 7pm, my friend Liz and I finally made it to Martinsville around 7:45. Luckily the band didn’t go on till a bit later. To our surprise, the admissions stand immediately recognized that we were not students and let us go right through without paying a cent!

Their mics didn’t work when they first went on stage and the band tried to improvise by playing The Mario Brothers theme for 5 minutes or so until the mics got working. A string on Joe’s guitar broke after a few songs. Later on, Rob broke one, too. This would be the first two casualties in about a year, they said. They were having a hard time hearing themselves clearly in the tent. It was not exactly the BEST time for the boys, but the important thing is it didn’t make a damn bit of difference to any individual listening to the show because it sounded great. Just great. Just… just great. The crowd of hyper high schoolers appeared to be loving every song and bouncing to even the most intricate of rhythms. I was a little nervous to hear Ross play since I hadn’t heard any recordings of him aside from the most recent cut of “The Bidding” just days prior to this show. I was blown away by his skills! I think because my dad was a drummer and I’m a singer, I focus a lot on the drums and singer of any band. Not that Steve sounded bad at all, but the addition of Ross to the fantastic harmonies of Joe, Rob, and Zubin, makes Tally Hall a band I have little to critique on… if anything.

After the show, I was approached by friend of the band and little merchandise helper, Ryan, who I had emailed with a few times in the past. He recognized me and took be “backstage” to meet the band. To my surprise, they all seemed to recognize me off the bat and I was greeted with handshakes and words of gratitude from all of them. Call me modest, but I still don’t think I have done much, or at least as much as I could for the band but I’m happy to do whatever I can for them and will continue to do so. I purchased 2 copies of the exclusive EP release at the show called The Pingry EP. It contains a handful of delightful songs as well as the infamous cell phone call from Joe made to Rob during a concert just before Joe joined the band. If you don’t know the story, read the bios on www.tallyhall.com. I got a great picture of me and the band and they invited me to Andrew’s house for their after-party. Whoo! I was debating it a bit because I was so far from home and the later I delayed my departure just meant the later I would have to drive for 2+ hours back home. Then I realized I would be an idiot to pass it up and I got directions to the house and headed over. On our way, I almost ended up going to New York but luckily found a place to turn around and made it through the dark and lonely roads to The Horowitz Estate. We stayed there for a few hours and got to talk in depth with the guys, getting to know each other better. I think it’s a safe bet that whenever they are able to book a gig in the Philly area, they’ll be staying here. Nice. These guys are not only extraordinary musicians but also extraordinary people who I’d hang out with any day I had the chance to.

Before I left, Joe gave me a DVD copy of a film he completed recently for his thesis entitled “The Other Way.” I hope this short film will be available on the internet at some point for all to see. He will be submitting it for one or two or three festivals so maybe one day it will begin to make its rounds on the net. Brilliantly made and conceived, this film is definitely unlike anything you’ve seen before. If I had the means to get it on the net, I would, and make sure people see it.

Thanks Tally Hall! Hope to see you again soon.

And now… the pictures.

More details later. Stay tuned…

his Friday I will be venturing up to Martinsville, NJ to see Tally Hall perform at The Pingry School. I’m so happy I get to see them play and will most likely get to meet them face to face, finally. If you care to hear a new song by Tally Hall, they have released another one on MySpace, so click it. It’s an AWESOME song, as you should know. Since they have all different types of songs, you might even like this one if you don’t care much for the others you’ve heard.

I was out all day today shopping for a bunch of things. I came home with a new set of sheets, identical to what I have now, from Bed Bath & Beyond. Also, I finally got some window treatments for the front windows (YAY!), also purchased at BB&B. I got a shop-vac from Home Depot for all the work that will be done and has been done thus far. As for lighting, I picked up a new ceiling lamp from IKEA for the dining room which will be re-painted in the very near future. I already have the paint, actually. It’s going to be a tan color, not unlike a tan suede jacket. Coincidentally enough, the paint itself is a Ralph Lauren texture called “Suede” — so — in addition to being colored like suede, it will LOOK like suede. Interestinck, no? Picture of that room will be posted upon completion.

As for today, you get to see my new blinds! I was planning on putting a light fabric framing the left, top, and right sides of the 3 windows. Nothing that draped anywhere, just a solid piece of twisted fabric that formed a frame around those three sides. I’m thinking I might not even need it, though. I could use your opinions.
You also get to see my TV which I finally was able to put up on a stand now that no one can see inside my house. For those who don’t know… don’t worry, I plan on hanging the TV from the brick fireplace behind it. So here you go. TAKE A PEEK!

had a theory at the start of the contest, when I had but one person (Liz) there to support me. The theory was that I had no chance in hell to win the thing. This theory was justified a bit when they announced a last minute voting catagory. For this new catagory the judges add points for crowd reaction. …yeah.
And so what really solidified this theory for me was when I actually got up to sing and still had only Liz there supporting me.

Wouldn’t you know… they picked a male and female winner for the night. I was runner-up for males, which means nothing. But as much as I am not so surprised that I didn’t win, it kills me to know that I had a very good chance of winning had I had a group of people there yelling their heads off… you know… like the winners did.
So thanks.

It never ceases to amaze me how I have this list of “friends” I send invites out to once in a blue moon, be it for a party, a show, or some random event like this, and I get one or two responses. It’s a lack of closeness, I suppose, with these people. I mean little to nothing to them when it comes down to it, stripping away the fake smiles and hellos and “how have you been?” Yet… I still think they would. Why bother anymore, really?

I should have a sub-title to my name or myself in general: Runner Up. I’m always the runner up.

“Someone’s always beating me. Someone’s always quicker.
Someone’s always sipping from your sunflower petals with total disregard.”

So close. So close. So close. So close. So close. So close. So close. So close. So close. So close. So close. So close. So close. So close. So close. So close. So close. So close. So close. So far. So far. So far.

Dammit, man! My life is going well. I’ve been happy for christ’s sake. Why must I be brought down to this place I know and hate so well? This is the shit we all must scrape from our plates. It’s not worth the disappointment. It’s not what I need. No one does. Do what you gotta do to keep your head above water. It’s all we got.

he yard sale was a fairly good success. I may not have sold everything and my problem was that I was expecting to. But I made out ok and got rid of the majority of stuff I wanted to. The remaining went to the Salvation Army, library, or back in my house. It ended up spreading over Saturday and Sunday because the rain on Saturday kept a lot of people from coming out. Wouldn’t you know it… Sunday was even LESS busy! I don’t understand.

Karaoke contest round 2 — finally arrives. Tomorrow, I will be competing for a “house finalist” spot. There are 2 spots to be won. If you didn’t get an email from me inviting you, it’s probably because I either don’t have your email, don’t want you to come, or don’t think there’s a chance in hell you’d show up anyway. If you DO want to go, try to let me know as soon as possible. Like… within the next 12 hours. As a gift to those who wish they could be there, I have added 2 more karaoke recordings on the music page. They are me singing to Tool’s Aenima and Billy Joel’s Piano Man. Go to Music. (p.s. I noticed a glitch when viewing that page in Firefox. Please excuse that and view it in IE. I will be working to not only fix that but also try to get a flash player working so the songs stream better anyway.)

If you emailed me at all today (5/5/05) I did not get the email and may never get it. My host switched servers and some things got messed up. When the dust settled I had a lone email waiting for me. This can’t be possible. I always get at least 20 to 30 emails a day without question. So if you sent me something, please re-send it as I didn’t get it. Sorry.

That band thing didn’t work out. The whole thing is incredible childish if you ask me and I’m happy it is done with. Last week I got an email from a guy who has a band around here. He’s got a bunch of songs done and recorded but no vocals. He’s looking for someone to write and lay down some vocal tracks so they can send copies of it around and perhaps play a few gigs while he’s on break from school in Florida. So I tell my guys I *might* be having a little side project going on for the summer and they flip out. “We need to know we are going to be your priority and be put above everything else no matter what.” Umm… We’ve barely got 2 songs done and it seems like you guys aren’t even happy with them. My musical suggestions get ignored and you’re having me re-write songs you’ve been playing and listening to for a couple years now instead of working on new things and progressing. “What if he doesn’t go back to school? What if you’re offered to sign with them? What if a gig is booked on the same night for both bands? — And by the way, when are you going to be done another one of our songs so we can practice something else?”
AH!!! The guys don’t even know if they want me yet. They’re just interested in meeting with me to see if I’m right for the part. But you need to know now what it’s going to be like if this happens and this happens and tie me down to something I’m not yet even confident in? I think I need to re-think things. And with that, they bid me good luck and farewell. Ah… Well, if you asked me a week ago, I would have not even taken a second thought to dropping out of the band but my feelings have gone straight to “good riddance.” Farewell indeed.

Oh, one of my turtles died. Damned thing has fungus growing on its skin. Don’t ask me how… the baby in the tank is doing fine. Farewell to you, too, Sir Groucho the Turtle! You were a funky little creature with a tiny brain and an uncanny inability to recognize that glass is hard and you should stop trying to swim through it. But at least you were not afraid to let me feed you by hand.