July 2004 Archives

Posting will be scattered throughout the rest of the week, just like my whereabouts. In a couple of hours, I'll be heading down to Greenville, SC for an interview. This is a potential real job that would start after I graduate and would carry me through at least a few years. I'm still not convinced it's something I really want to do, though, and it would require a lot of moving and relocating during that time period. Still, it's an honor to be considered for the program. It's super-competitive, though, so we'll have to see how the interview goes.

After I fly back into Roanoke late Thursday night and get some rest, I'll be heading back up to parts north, namely Maryland and northern Virginia (again). The reason? Episode IV of the Wedding Tour 2004: Rob and Melissa. It's not time for the wedding yet, but we'll be having a practice session for the music Gerritt, Heather H., and I will be playing for the ceremony. Just wait till you hear us! So we haven't even practiced yet, but I'm sure we'll sound great.

Keep yourselves entertained by leaving comments, if you wish. I'll try to post some interesting tidbits about my travels as I find quality computer time.

I've got a short selection for this week's new music, but it's from one of my favorite "sleeper" bands, one that I tried out on a whim from Borders and have loved their stuff ever since.

The Old 97's - Drag It Up Available July 27

The Old 97's started out being what you would call alt-country, and I discovered them in their Fight Songs album when I was in a phase of buying stuff I'd never heard of to see if I liked it. And I did, quite thoroughly. Though they were even more country in their albums previous to Songs and 2001's Satellite Rides, which was basically summery pop, I believe they've returned to form on this effort. Try it out, or try out one of the albums I already mentioned. They're in my collection, and Drag It Up soon will be.

I just saw that in Otey's away message. I don't quite know where it came from, but I'm pretty sure it's funny and worthy of a post title.

...It was a busy weekend right from the start. Gina and I went to see The Notebook on Friday night (as sort of a gift-in-return for her taking me to see Harry Potter earlier this summer -- we've seen quite a few movies so far, it seems). It was a definite tearjerker, the kind of movie that always leaves me feeling depressed. I'll give marks to the acting and directing, though, which was believable and well-done. It's still a chick flick, though.

...Saturday, Otey and I went to see DMB again, this time in Charlotte. The show was superb, even with a few repeats from the Hershey set. Otey got to hear his "Watchtower," and I just got to have a good, relaxing time. We fared better with our neighbors this time around, except for a guy trying to do Drunk Gymnastics over the bar in front of our seating area. He ended up on his butt. There was also a couple directly in front of me that seemed more interested in kicking each other in the butt and yelling sweet nothings into each other's ear rather than focusing on the music. They should have just made out and gotten it over with, but they weren't too bad. All in all, an enjoyable time. I just have one disclaimer: if you're paying a lot of money to see a concert, why not go to actually see the show instead of getting drunk and trying to get laid?

...Sunday was uneventful except for a meeting, which I won't describe in detail here. Suffice it to say that I think I can now focus on the beginning of the school year in a more positive light now. And I had another great, relaxing evening with Gina.

...And today? The Taylor came! It plays like a dream, and I haven't even gotten a chance to put new strings on it yet. Exciting times are ahead for me musically, I can tell already. Props to eBay for pulling through.

This looks to be a busy week for me, as I have a big interview coming up on Wednesday. More about that in the days to come. In the meantime, get a load of how quicksand works as my Fun Fact Of The Day.

Success! After nearly a week of prowling the darkest recesses of eBay, after figuring out the inner workings of PayPal enough to trust it, after being outbidded time and time again ... I finally found the perfect deal on the exact acoustic guitar I wanted. A Taylor 414CE Grand Auditorium, to be more precise.

This is one of the seller's pictures. (I was going to embed it straight into this entry, but apparently the CSS of this new layout has issues with images...hmm, looks like a job for Emergency Coder!) Ain't she a beaut?

No, I didn't spend as much as Taylor's Suggested Retail Price on this one, since it's several years old (made in 1998) and has a couple of minor blemishes. Those are the kinds of things that happen to a guitar that's played often and for several years - even if it's treated gingerly, some minor accidents are bound to happen. This just gets those first couple out of the way so I won't feel as bad when I ultimately do it myself! I'm also just thrilled to finally be free of the compulsive urge to check eBay every 10 minutes to make sure I'm not missing out on the perfect deal. Now onto the compulsive playing ... once it gets shipped here from upstate New York.

I bumped the Tuesday music discussion to today to make way for the final installment of the Hershey story. Also, I couldn't find a whole lot being released this week that I was interested in, but after some digging, I came across one that should be pretty interesting:

Kieran Kane, Kevin Welch, Fats Kaplin - You Can't Save Everybody Available July 20

I used to watch CMT a lot, while I was still big into my country music phase. This was back in the middle school days, mind you. But back then, they had their own version of MTV's 120 Minutes, called something like CMT Jams or the like. This was where CMT could get away with playing alt-country videos from the likes of Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett, and even the occasional Jimmy Buffett tune. Like its MTV counterpart, it was on at a very weird time - I'm wanting to say late Saturday night. It was watching these videos that got me introduced to alt-country-rockers/singer-songwriters Kieran Kane and Kevin Welch. I don't remember much about their history, other than that they co-founded Dead Reckoning Records and the Dead Reckoners. I may indulge in finding out more about them during the next few days, but my main point here is that some of their singles from those videos I watched years ago still ring in my head today. They wrote some really good songs for a mid-90's guy like me to enjoy.

As it turns out, these two have now teamed up for a new collection of songs. I know little to nothing about this album, but if nothing else, seeing their names on a new release has reminded me of that span of years in the 90's when I was first expanding my music listening. I may have to give this one a try, or at least try to pick up some of Kane and Welch's back catalog.

We last left our heroes at Hersheypark Stadium as the Dave Matthews Band wrapped up its set on July 10...

As Dave and the boys finished with a high-energy send-up of "Ants Marching," Gina and I collected our t-shirts, the free poster from the drunk guys, and our complimentary Hershey milkshake cups and made our way to the entrance to meet up with the rest of the group. At this point, I was basically exhausted, but in the best possible way. The reactions from the rest of the group made the whole weekend worth it for me (again), since a bunch of them were seeing DMB for the first time and were duly impressed. I can only hope that the newcomers got a little glimpse of what I get out of their music, and I know the vets like Ben, Gerritt, Stephen, and Otey also had a blast. [A character profile on Colleen, Gina's friend, is also in order: this was her first time meeting many of our friends in person, and this was also her first DMB show. I believe one of her favorite songs is "Grey Street," which they played. She goes to school in WV. Hi, Colleen!]

We last left our heroes packing up their cars for the trip from Maryland to Pennsylvania...

We all knew we were in for a long day, but after resting up a bit (and after a few of us got a huge breakfast at Gina's house, courtesy of her mom), there was a general sense of excitement that only kept growing as we cruised up Route 15 towards Hershey. Sarah spent most of this leg of the trip trying to figure out how to pronounce the name of the place we were planning to stop for lunch at on Sunday. Turns out it was the Distelfink, a local drive-in phenomenon somewhere near Gettysburg (the details are fuzzy at this point); however, none of us could really remember the name through the course of the weekend, so we spawned every name we could think of, from Finkleduster's to Stinkywinkly's. I digress again, however.

The trip to Hershey was actually much quicker than any of us had anticipated. We got a late start thanks to the breakfast mentioned earlier, though, so instead of pitching our tents and claiming a campsite, we drove on into the park. It didn't take long for the smell of chocolate to take over our senses and turn us toward the entrance, after we commented about how freakin' hot it was and put on sunblock.

As promised, here's the first part of the story of the Great Hershey Trip of 2004. (Okay, it never really had a name like that, but I think that could easily be the name if we had to vote on one.) Apologies for it being practically a week after the fact, but one of the aftereffects of the trip was me having to catch up with my online class and work. So goes life!

In all my life, I've never had a concert/road trip experience that didn't have at least one glitch. Car trouble, forgetting tickets, getting lost, subpar traveling buddies -- you name it. In addition, having a group as big as ours (maxing out at ten people) could easily make everyone cranky and angry, thanks to close quarters, cabin fever, amnesia, lack of toothbrushes, or something like that.

This group, and this trip, disbarred all those notions. That's why I still love taking trips like this: the good always outweighs the bad.

There were a few minor setbacks, sure. Late starts on two of the three days, for example, but they were nobody's fault in particular. We probably also underestimated how tired we'd get by the time of the concert after walking around in the heat all day, too. But due to the greatness of the people along for the journey, everyone had a great time and tempers remained cool through the majority of the weekend.

As noted, the five of us traveling from Southwest VA departed from Stephen and Jen's house in Vinton a little later than first planned, but only after christening Stephen's (and Jen's) new grill that a bunch of us bought for them for their wedding. Those were some tasty, 100% not-soy burgers, let me tell ya. The car ride north to Maryland was actually pretty fun, even for poor Tim, who unfortunately earned the honor of "middle-back-seat b****". [It's time for a character profile on Tim: this was his first official college road trip and concert rolled into one weekend. According to him, the show was "wickedly awesome" and he had lots of fun. Thumbs up to Tim!]

Here's the weekly rundown of my picks for new releases this week:

Mutual Admiration Society - Self-Titled Available July 13
Some musical collaborations come in the form of a couple of singers belting out a duet here and there, or maybe a well-known band will come in and back up an established artist (see Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Johnny Cash), or maybe a bunch of guys named Ben will decide to write a few songs together (see The Bens). There are even a few you wouldn't have normally thought up on your own, but somehow the artists met each other and hit it off well enough to come up with a batch of good songs together. The Mutual Admiration Society is one of these groups.

MAS consists of Glen Phillips and Nickel Creek. Glen was the lead singer of Toad The Wet Sprocket, and Nickel Creek is one hot pop/bluegrass/folk trio, if you've never heard of either. Phillips' solo songs are pretty exceptional little ditties, and I've been a fan of Nickel Creek for a while, so I can't wait to hear how these collaborations sound as mixed from the studio. Apparently, the group recorded these a few years ago and are just now getting around to releasing them, after touring together for a short time and playing songs from this collection. I've heard a few of these live versions, and let me tell ya - this will be a fine set of songs.

Carbon Leaf - Indian Summer Available July 13
I just recently discovered Carbon Leaf this spring, after seeing them open up for Guster here at Tech. Many of my Virginian friends swear by them, however, and I can see why after being exposed to them for a few months now. They are great musicians, that's for sure, and their songs seem to capture that feel of Virginia like few bands can (Eddie From Ohio, maybe). They've released several albums independently up to this point - including Echo Echo, which I highly recommend. Summer, however, is their first big label debut, which is a major step up for these guys. Hopefully, this increase in marketing muscle will make it easier for you to find the disc in stores; if not, you can always order it online. But definitely, definitely do yourself a favor and check out some Carbon Leaf soon.

Hello, faithful readers! Our group of intrepid road trippers pulled into Blacksburg yesterday evening after waking up in Hershey, PA ten hours earlier. The trip deserves a large write-up, and I promise to deliver just that to you. Tonight, however, I've had to play catch-up with my online class for the second half of the summer: Marketing 3104. While this one will certainly seem shorter then the economics course I took through June, and there are half as many tests, it hasn't captured my interest half as much as Econ. And I didn't even really like Econ that much to start with. The book is well-written, at least, so I'm learning little interesting tidbits about what goes on behind the scenes of marketing with some companies I've actually heard of, so that's a plus. The authors do a good job of keeping the text current and relevant. There are, however, just some long chapters in this book, and the sections sometimes seem to describe nothing at all in a third of a page. Not an easy feat - though I do it all the time.

So anyway, I'll be writing up the Hershey rundown for your enjoyment. Sooner rather than later, with some pictures thrown in. For now, I'm going to catch up on some more reading (bleh) and sleep (yay).

Hey, anybody know any good blog communities I could read/join?

As I write this, I'm getting more and more pumped up for my trip this weekend to Hershey, PA. I've been planning this, along with nine of my good friends, for months now, and it's time for the payoff! We'll be camping, going to Hershey Park, and seeing the Dave Matthews Band play on Saturday night. I'll write all about it when I get back.

... Last night, Gina and I went to the Salem Fair, right down the road from where I'm working this summer. The only thing I don't like about fairs, usually, are the guys working the game stands that always try to heckle you into playing one of their overpriced games for some semi-lame prize. This was kept to a minimum at this year's fair in Salem (either that, or I didn't let it bother me much), so I was pleased. Actually, the best part was right from the get-go, when we went into the petting zoo tent. Watching Gina, a future vet-in-training, go crazy with all the cute animals planted a smile right on my face. Being with her when she's around animals makes me appreciate the critters that much more. I think the zebra and I got to be pretty good buddies over the course of our little safari. I'll post some pictures from the tent - and the fair - soon.

... Before I sign off for the big weekend, I wanted to share some feelings from my trip back to West Virginia last week. I guess it had only been a month since I'd been there last, but it felt far longer than that, and I must admit that when I arrived on Friday evening, something felt different. It could've been the presence of my grandma, who is now living with mom and dad. It could've been that my room had become the overflow for things mom didn't quite know what to do with, so it looked less and less like how I remember my room should be. I'm not sure why, but I just felt ... out of tune with home. Some would say this is a sign that I'm growing up, and at first, that's just plain scary to think about.

Over the course of the weekend, though, and as I hung out with my family and got to see Joe on Saturday, my incongruity seemed to smooth around its rough edges a bit. I think I came to terms with the different things that were bothering me. Sure, I wish I could spend more time at home, but it's not like I'm wasting my time at school, either. I look at my friends who have already graduated and realize that I'm ready to start making my own life, too. I'm not sure what that's going to involve, but I'm ready. Home is always going to be there, in some form or another, and I'm not going to let that go, which is a plus. There's not much I can do to tie Time's hands behind his back and make him run backwards (however funny a sight that would be), anyway, so I've gotten a renewed mission to make the rest of this summer the Best Summer Ever. And then I'm going to extend my mission and make this fall the Best Fall Ever. This weekend should help to make that all happen, and nothing's gonna break my stride. Ain't nothin' gonna hold me down!

... Here's an expanded version of a comment I made on Daryl's d103:

I got in a fight with a fly while watching a DVD at home. It was one of those lazy flies that doesn't really move when you first swat at it. I've always wondered what was up with those. Are they battle-hardened veterans that have been blinded by fly-swats and bug spray? Or are they the stoners of the fly world, hopped up on filth and unmotivated to do much actual flying? Whichever the answer (because it's got to be one or the other), this little bugger would only move across the room and back when I swatted at him. This went on for several minutes, until I used my lightning-fast reflexes to actually pin him under my foot! Success! Brilliant!

Sure he was dead, I removed my foot with a mental note to wash it soon and moved to scrape the fly's remains off the furniture. As it so happens, he was only playing Fly Trick #4 on me. Yes, the old "play dead" routine. I should have known! Before I could get the adrenaline rush needed to use my lightning-fast reflexes, he had already flown away to safety.

The moral of the story? Fly drugs make flies smarter, after all.

The previously mentioned tales from the Fort will be forthcoming, I promise, but tonight I'm going to take the opportunity to grab some much-needed sleep. When it gets this hot this fast, I generally have a hard time adjusting (especially with no air conditioning), and sleep becomes a luxury. It's not much better when everything else is in a whirlwind as I try to get a lot of things done before heading off this weekend. But, I will triumph!

In Wesley news, our Operation: Paper Jam II went off without a hitch. This operation involved many top-secret objectives. I can only hint at one, which involves flying monkeys, but the main one was trying to spread word about our fundraisers around town during Orientation. Hopefully, the payoff for our hard work this evening will shine through in the weeks ahead.

Cheers, and good night.

This summer's forecast for new music looks very, very promising. In response to that, today marks the start of a new feature at Project BS: every Tuesday, I'll take a semi-in-depth look at my picks for the newest releases of that week. You don't have to take my word for it, but I'll at least point out a couple of albums that would be worth checking out, in my opinion. For this week, I'll paradoxically backtrack to last week, June 29th, and fill out the picks with some comedy gold.

Dave Matthews Band - The Gorge Available June 29
In honor of my upcoming trip to Hershey, PA to see DMB in concert again, I have to bring up their latest live release. Fresh off the heels of their dynamite Central Park Concert, DMB has continued their tradition of yearly official live releases with this two-disc-and-one DVD set recorded live in September 2002, at one of the nation's most highly-regarded amphitheaters. The DVD is an interesting twist, since it has no repeats from the two audio CDs.

The Warehouse, DMB's fanclub, voted on the choices of songs for the Gorge release, and it shows - the tracklisting for this is pretty eclectic. I can't imagine the general fanbase voting for some of these songs over others, but having soundboard versions of "The Song That Jane Likes" and "Kit Kat Jam" with lyrics are a definite treat. I like this set because it's different from many of the other live releases, the energy in the performances is over-the-top, and it's definitely a cut above 2001's Folsom Field. The fact that it's being released right in the middle of DMB's summer tour makes it a well-timed and welcome treat. Grab it while it's hot. If you're not a huge DMB fan and don't have a lot of their live stuff, though, go with Central Park first.

Jeff Foxworthy - Have Your Loved Ones Spayed Or Neutered Available July 6
It looks like Jeff Foxworthy's on a bit of a rebound these days, with the success of The Blue Collar Comedy Tour. And hey, I like that, because his comedy was a staple in West Virginia in the mid-to-late 90's, as you can imagine. Most of his jokes from Games Rednecks Play were very close to home for me, which made them all the more funny. I haven't listened to any previews from his latest album yet, but I can bet you that they're pretty funny. So, Mr. Foxworthy gets a pick from me just for being a cool, funny Southerner on the comeback.

That's all for today's picks, but since I had fun with this, I'll be sure to bring it back next week. Over the next couple of days, I'll be writing about my July 4 weekend at home, and then you can look forward to the Hershey Park Journals. And please, feel free to leave comments on other great new albums hitting stores, because I'll probably want to check them out soon.

The hustle before a weekend trip home is in full swing now, as I try to get everything in order before I take a few well-deserved days to relax in the comfort of my own home. It'll also be a nice chance to catch up with my hometown buddies, whom I haven't seen in far too long! There's a definite downside to being so involved with college things: you tend to lose touch with your other friends the more you have to shift your time to your new life. I'm determined not to let that situation get too out of hand, however, so that's part of this weekend's goal.

Is it the dog days of summer yet? I can't quite remember when those are supposed to be, and I'm too lazy to look it up right now. Perhaps we're just in the puppy days, but it's certainly heated up in the NRV over this past week. I've been sweltering a bit in my basement room, which probably means the ground's ambient temperature is up, as well. Time to break out the fan the next chance I get, so I can start sleeping better.

Next up: stories from the Fort!