i may or may not have spoken too soon

it seems like my last few blogs are interconnected.
maybe. it could be true.

i'm okay with that.
it's true.



i think it's his fault.
more than likely.

i never blame myself for things i should not do.
it's usually the fault of others.

there could be ______ (fill in the blank) amount of songs from butch walker that i could substitute for this video that i'm about to post, but that would be melodramatic and stupid and be a means of emotion...i'm not about emotion.



bump that.

emotion is for the strong.
the weak.
the normal.
the...

human.



i'm not human,
i don't try to be.

i don't lie to myself.
i don't sit in confession after i do/don't.



this music makes me think.
this music makes me dwell.
this music makes me live.

i'm thankful for that.

insert picture of turkey ____here____.

okay. the night started off innocent.



i swear.

after a few sessions of something i like to call: life

things changed a bit.
i relied on the only thing i see stable.

i relied on butch walker.



listen to the song. i know it's long. if you're impatient, when he starts to just play instruments and becomes a long solo session...then just fast forward to the 5:00 minute marker to pick up from where you left off...

it's worth it.
he's an amazing musician.

it makes my skin crawl.
really. i start to think about what his music does.
i start to think about what his music stands for.

then, i ultimately get this feeling to break things.
not in a violent way.



mazel tov (so says my best friend).

i want to break things in terms of celebration...

if you have never experienced someone's music that makes you want to change...you should find it. i can't come in handy here. i can't "request" what you should listen to.

it could be mozart...it could be limp bizkit...it could be dr. dre or eminem and a pink floyd or garth brooks.

really...i don't care.



is this the face of someone who cares?

no...

what matters is that you find it. music moves people.
and when i find the person it doesn't move, i want to relocate to another planet.

because not feeling music is unhealthy... (in my eyes)
and being unhealthy sucks.

regardless of how unprofessional that sounds.

what i beg...if you get nothing else from anything i've ever said...ever...
i want you to find what matters.

i want you to listen to a song. and i want it to move you.
because without the music...i would be here tonight...

alone.



i may or may not be out of wine (the big kid's bottle 1.5 liters).

and without the music...i might be depressed. but, i'm not.
i'm here. i'm ready for tomorrow.

my body is clean, but my hair hasn't been washed in six days and 21 hours...and i'm not ashamed to say that (well, maybe a little).

this might make more sense for (me) you in the morning.

me. this might make more sense to me.

long live robert mondavi



(june 18, 1913–may 16, 2008)

until next time
-nick

define "love"

in the last blog, i dealt with subject matter on what happens when you lose your love for a song. mainly, it dealt with losing your love for a song because of a certain memory associated with it.

it's possible.



yes,it does happen.
that's the best way i could simulate the nodding of a head to support my claim.

anyway, in my last blog, a reader proposed the question:



to answer that question, i think i have to think of a few different ideas before i can really answer it. i rarely answer what i'm asked. it's not out of disrespect. it's not because i like to revolt. it's because my brain usually scatters in more directions when proposed with something interesting and that harbors possibility for more than one response.

i'll take this step-by-step.



(if you don't remember the association with the phrase "step-by-step" that i make with this picture, then you should disregard it completely. and you should be ashamed that you never watched t.g.i.f. on friday nights as a child)

1. you can love songs in different ways.

for instance, i love this song:



and it was used in this commercial:



our reader asks: "what happens when you hear a song you used to love used in an advertisement? what does that do to you? to the song?"

well, reader: what happened to me was that i was reminded of my youth. i remembered the muppets and everything they stand for. what does that do for the song? well, i think it brings it back to life a bit. it's not everyday you turn on the television and see your youth in a commercial. in this instance, i don't associate an advertisement as being a bad thing to my love for the song or for the song itself. maybe because it's a timeless song. maybe because it's a song that's meant to be fun.

but, i think this happened because i don't love the song like i love other songs.


2. what about when you really love a song and it gets played out by an advertisement?

thank god and everything decent and holy that i have not been subjected to this yet.



in a non-pretentious way, i don't think that a lot of the music i listen to would ever be mainstream enough to make it on to an advertisement that would never go away. i mean, i'm not saying that independent musicians have never been played on popular media or culture.

for instance:



the cw's show gossip girl, featured a song by motioncity soundtrack, a band that isn't quite mainstream enough to hear on the radio or see on mtv.

i love this band. do i love the fact that their song is featured on that show?

not really.

but do i think it's a great break? sure. they are really talented and they need to be heard. the only thing that makes my skin cringe is the idea of tweenie girls running around making claims that they "so discovered motioncity soundtrack." that's what bothers me.



but, if a song such as this one... (butch walker's "atlanta")
a song that moves me. a song that has made me tear up a bit (i don't regret admitting that)...

well, if a song such as that one ever made it to an advertisement and i had to watch it be butchered by anything that does not do it justice such as soap, shampoo, triscuits, banks, eye-candy for teens to get off to, sodas, ointments, or anything of that nature...then i might take out the west wing of the corporate building that made that possible.

don't alert the authorities.



i just feel strongly about that man's music.

so, to answer the question, i think that it totally depends on the context. it depends on the song. it depends on the love for the song. it depends on whether or not the advertisement is tasteful and what comes along with it. do i ever want a song i love to be a part of an advertisement?

not for me.

but, if it helped the artist, then totally.

judgment. i think they should use good judgment, though.

in the end, it all comes down to the definition of love.
yeah, you can love a song...but then again, you can really really really love a song.

until next time
-nick

baby, it's cold outside. no, really, it's cold.

it's that time of the year.



the time where the weather starts to change.
where the moods start to get a little more hectic.
where family starts flying or driving in from weird corners of the country

all so that everyone can have that unified feeling that christmas is right around the corner.

we've all had that song or movie or place that reminds us of someone/something.
what happens when that particular thing is one of your favorites?

i'll tell you what happens.
you're prone to losing it.

but how?



you might ask...

this is how:



when you have a certain memory, movie, song, significant area...etc
associated with something/someone you can easily lose your love for that memorable thing.

it's not intentional by any means.
for example, i used to love broccoli cheddar soup up until one year (in fact, on christmas) i had a temperature of about 103 or so. all i ate was soup...



needless to say, all that came up was soup.

to this day, i can't look at broccoli cheddar soup without cringing a little.

same goes for a favorite (anything). in this case, i'll expose a case of mixed media.
my favorite christmas song is also in my favorite christmas movie.

"baby, it's cold outside"



the ella fitzgerald version.

and, my favorite christmas movie:



so...now, you might get where i'm going with this.

that movie harbors that song.
for roughly two years...i haven't been able to watch that movie or hear that song without thinking of a certain someone. that form of media was tainted for me.

every time my ipod played that song at random i immediately had to switch tracks.
usually to something loud

see: the used

in order to get the thoughts out of my head.
it was never an act of malice. never.

sometimes, you have to forget people and times in order to keep your sanity.
it happens to the best of us...and sometimes, the best of us only know one way to move on.

okay, i'm not going to get melodramatic. i just wanted to say that now, i can actually listen to my favorite song again. i can actually watch my favorite christmas movie again. and i don't care if my memory trails to the past.

without further delay, here is my exposure:



i just wanted to say: thank you for letting me watch my favorite movie and hear my favorite song again... you know who you are.

until next time
-nick

take that to the chip-shop, why don't you?

so. it's been awhile since my last update.
i know. i'm sorry. but, if it means anything, i've been really busy.

really.



i hide behind my notes.

11/06/08
that's me. and that's my notebook.
and that means that i had research for an interview in that notebook.

yesterday, i had an interview with shawn harris from a band called the matches.
this was the first time that i got all my research done in a quick manner. it usually takes me a few well planned days to get everything i need to feel comfortable with my material.

not trying to sound conceited at all,



but i was not that invested into this interview as i had been in my prior ones.
let me explain:

with my two prior interviews, i was a die-hard fan before i interviewed them.
with this one, i found them in order to have an interview to post. which isn't bad, because i appreciated their music and found myself liking it more after i conducted the interview.

that. is a good thing.

the interview was very chilled. it was very comfortable, and i think that it went fairly well because i was not so critical about the questions i was proposing as i had been with prior interviews.



this is a video that the lead singer directed. it got a lot of praise from rollingstone, alternative press, and spin.

what i found out in my research is that he does a lot of video arts within his graphics company, which is called oxen.

which is pretty admirable, if you ask me.
go ahead...ask me.



this is their latest video.
it's really good. not to mention that their music is really fun.

and, if you're like me, and were not 100% sure what the hell a "chip-shop" is, it's a place to go get french fries when you're drunk. mcdonald's apparently kills that for us here in the states, but in places like london, they have them placed around the town. just a big, steamy, greasy, pile of fries...



until next time
-nick