Mountain Country

I spent last Saturday at a friend's family house in the woods near Huntingdon, Pa. We went to a great little bar called Boxers in Huntingdon that evening. The band that played there stayed out with us at the house, and they rehearsed while everyone else drank and partied Saturday afternoon, along with some nice hikes through the woods. What a nice day it was, I'm glad I got out. The drive from Carlisle(where my friend lives) out there was great as well, we stayed off the turnpike and soaked up the scenery.
Wish I could remember the name of the band, but they were great--a violin, guitar, and flute/harmonica player, and they all sang. The guitarist had an especially great voice. They played a lot of older stuff, but great arrangements--especially a version of the Allman Brothers' "Jessica".

Other updates--I signed the lease for a new apartment, and should be moving in sometime in June. It's a nice place, spacious, all the appliances, a nice balcony, swimming pool, etc. Not the house I was hoping to get by now, but my first year of rent can be applied to purchase one of the developer's homes. But after this weekend, I wonder if I'm contributing to the problem by living someplace that was probably built on old farmland, or just woods. Although it is right next to a main road, so maybe not. Anyway, it's also close to a state park area that has a great view of the Susquehanna River, and it's pretty much the same distance to Lancaster, York or Harrisburg. I got central Pennsylvania covered.

One thing I'm really looking forward to is having my privacy again. I can spend the summer playing and recording, and get the "album" out before I turn 40 and this decade ends. Geez, let's not think about that for a while. Anyway, it should be a good summer, even if it means I have to be careful with spending for the first time in a long time.
My fortunes seem to run counter to the rest of the world. When things were still going well back in 2004-2005, I had lost my job and was struggling to find anything as good as I had. When things started to turn south last year, I had worked my way back into a good job in the legal profession and had taken care of most of my money worries. But having my own place again gives me the freedom to work on music without feeling self-conscious.

Green Day

It's St. Patrick's Day here, which isn't particularly notable for me since I didn't want to get trashed on a work night, but it reminds me that it was almost ten years ago that I took my first trip overseas to Ireland, County Kerrey(or was it Kerry?). We were on the Dingle Peninsula in a cottage that looked directly out over some spectacular cliffs to the Atlantic. That was a great week, I don't think I truly appreciated beer until that time. Awesome scenery, great people, so much history and art--and most of the pubs have live music every night of the year.
If I had to live somewhere outside the U.S., Ireland would definitely be at the top of my list.

Ahh

soma.fm on a Saturday morning--I like the Digitalis station.

I know...I never call, I never write...

Holy shit, it's February and I haven't posted since last August? I was pretty caught up in following the election, obsessively. That was awesome, to quote Chris Farley. Most of my family supported him, and my dad and I scored tickets to the inauguration (thanks to my cousin who works for a congressman). Good tickets too, right up front in the Orange section, although we didn't have a direct view of the stage. We were right in front of a big screen though, and I was surprised I could send texts and pics. So that was cool, although it would have been better if the Chief Justice could remember the oath of office, or simply read it.
We left my brother's house at seven a.m., about 20 blocks from the Capitol, but didn't get in to our section until 11 a.m.--what a fucking ordeal. We got stuck in several crowds on the way that were so thick I wasn't sure we'd make it through. Wow. I'd do it again too.

In other news, my new job is great(it's good to be where the action is, and have weekends off! Screw retail!), I'm planning on moving in to my own place again this spring, and looking around for new gear--mainly a digital recorder. I think I like the tascam with the built in cd burner, but either way I need to get my music posted here and finally do what I started this thing for.

Also trying to get things updated and deleting or replacing dead links. I updated the link for my amigo Bruno, but I'll have to figure out if any other buds have new links that they want posted here. I hope everyone is still active somewhere, although I know there are other priorities, most of you have real lives, ha.

I was just thinking, I haven't written much new music lately, for the past couple of years really. I think part of it is I let other things distract me, I'm living with family and I'm also really self conscious when I'm just jamming or writing--I definitely did more when I lived alone--and I also haven't listened to much new music for inspiration. I haven't delved into any other forms of art that would inspire me either, so I can't really blame it on anything but myself. I'm starting to feel more like I did in my late 20s and early 30s again, so hopefully I can finish what I've wanted to do for ten years now--before I turn 40. I know it's just a number, but it just seems much harder to be new or relevant or whatever after you get to be a certain age. Turning 30 didn't bother me nearly as much, but now I'm starting to think about missed opportunities, and I'm sick of regrets. We'll see how it all turns out, but I tend to work better with deadlines, real and imagined.

Guitar talk

since last Christmas I've purchased two new guitars--a Fender American Tele, and a Gibson Les Paul Studio. They're both great, although I think I'll need to upgrade my amp--this marshall combo isn't a true valve, and there seems to be a problem with the footswitch or the connection. Anyway, they still sound great and its great to finally have an electric again. Whoo--

I think I have a tendancy to listen obsessively to certain music for periods of time--whether days, weeks or months--to the exclusion of almost everything else. There are a few that I always come back to, others not so much. Anyway, at the moment it's the Who and Pete Townshend. I really didn't appreciate bands like the Who or Led Zeppelin when I was in high school--they were badly overplayed on various AOR stations in the Philadelphia area where I lived at the time. Except for the Beatles, I didn't have much interest at all in bands before the 1980s, unless they were punk/new wave groups. It wasn't until I got into college and beyond that I actually delved into their catalogues beyond the stuff that I had been fed ad nauseum.

Obama's Senate Record

I'm gonna lay off the election here for a little bit, but wanted to post this page which lists Obama's record of accomplishments in the Senate. Save this for the next person who tells you he lacks "substance". You know, aside from being a law professor and state legislator for many years--but that's not as good as sitting in Washington for your whole career making deals with lobbyists./sarcasm

TPM

More politics/news--I hadn't read Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo site for ages, and was surprised when I checked it out again recently at how much it had grown. It's almost like a real news site now! And not some bullshit "neutral" reporting that's really just another way of saying "corporate shills who actually favor Republicans, no matter how godawful". Did that make sense?
Anyhow, the major media outlets are mostly a bunch of whores, and they sure as hell aren't "liberal".

p.s. Okay, this wasn't "more" politics, there was another post I had drafted that I never posted, re Obama's Senate record, which I'll post above.