the shit factory

but it’s less of a lag than the last time…

anyway, I’ve decided to dive back into the jazz thing. I took a lesson with alfonso ponticelli which was helpful, but as with all other jazz lessons I’ve taken, my head starts to spin after 2-3 new chords. at the end of the lesson though, he said what I guess i knew all along - the way to learn jazz is to just start learning tunes… the more songs you play, the more chords and changes you come across, and the more you’ll start to reckognize those patterns in other songs… So I’m telling myself that I’m going to pracitce every day (along with practicing my drums every day) and start working on songs. I’m also trying to get a weekly jazz practice going with some people I met in alfonso’s class at the old town school.

so anyway, if you see me on the street, ask me if I practiced my jazz and drums yesterday. if I didn’t, then insult me. it’s for my own good.

I took a dorky beer quiz and got something to put on my blog.. I’m a guinness… so I guess I’m thick, murky, and give you the shits in the morning… stole the link from jenny. thanks jenny…

You Are Guinness

You know beer well, and you’ll only drink the best beers in the world. Watered down beers disgust you, as do the people who drink them. When you drink, you tend to become a bit of a know it all - especially about subjects you don’t know well. But your friends tolerate your drunken ways, because you introduce them to the best beers around.

i know. like all my other posts are so deep, and this one takes the cake… but if I don’t keep posting, i won’t keep posting… right? stupid blog…

found this link somehow. it’s a bunch of aerial photos of mexico city.

http://homepage.mac.com/helipilot/PhotoAlbum31.html

so i started getting e-mails today about eve today, turns out that someone I used to work posted it on digg… go digg that…

i gotta post more. it’s really not that hard…

ok, so the basement is basically done, there’s some outlet covers and a little trim, and the closet to finish still, but the major work is done. the lights are up, the floor is down, the walls are painted. I’ve moved my stuff into there. I think it may be the happiest place on earth…

click the picture to see more on flickr.

well, the only way to keep from going 4 months without posting is to post more, right? well here I go…

I recently discovered a band called Wolfmother, and boy howdy do they rock! Like taking a glass of Thee Shams, pouring in a shot of Black Sabbath, and then the small enough dash of prog (a sweet organ break, and a 2112 style buildup) so that you don’t get sick to make one of those drinks that tastes so good you don’t know is getting you shitfaced until it’s too late…

I managed to miss them in chicago this past thursday, and found out I missed them because friday morning when I was walking into the airport i saw this group of people unloading instruments from a van. I walked by, and spied the name on all of the cases was “WOLFMOTHER”. I asked them when and where they played: “last night at the empty bottle”, proceeded to curse myself for missing it, and walked away…

oh well.. I’ll catch them next time. their full length comes out in the states in may (they’re from australia)

also, I’ll hopefully be posting some more music reviews as I just sold off 100+ cds to reckless and lauries and got a nice stack of shiny used cds and some cash…

since my last post. my blog posted a comment to itself yelling at me about the neglect, telling me how the basement has taken me away…

well i’m here to tell you… there’s something else. the afterbasement. the basement is almost done actually, i have a few hooks to hang in the bathroom, I have to fill in the giant holes around a couple of outlets (what was I thinking?), I have to hang light fixtures in the green room, and figure out just where I’m going to put the drums (yes, drums. I got a drum set!!!)

i suppose I should post some pictures, but I stopped taking progress pictures a while ago (the progress was too painfully slow) so I think I’ll wait til the lights are up…

just got back from new orleans. shana, the saint, is coming back today, after working her ass off for common ground for 4 days. I was supposed to help for 1 day when i was there, but we missed the parades on saturday (sitting in a bar at noon will do that) and everyone else wanted to go to parades sunday, and well, if you had a choice between gutting a house or standing on the side of the road while people in strange costumes on giant crazy floats pulled by tractors throw beads at you… yeah I thought so.

well, that’s it. see you in 4 months

well, it’s taken 100,000 years, but woo’s site is finally up… one day I’ll finish all these damn projects and the damn basement and I’ll be able to relax…

speaking of 100,000 years, i have to transcribe it for my kiss class. our show is on 10/29 at phylis’ musical lounge in logan square.. makeup and all!

hey fellow kiss people. here is the track listing from the cd I handed out today:

2000 man
Deuce
Strutter
She
Black diamond
Strange ways
Detroit rock city
Beth
Let me know
Love theme from KISS
100,000 years
Got to choose
Firehouse
Nothin to lose
C’mon and love me
Let me go rock and roll
Calling dr love
Shout it out loud
Rocket ride
God of thunder

they’re all tuned to E so that you can tune your guitar to standard tuning… also, some of us are thinking about getting together outside of class to practice more. if anyone else is interested, send me mail: shawn at nwahs dot com…

some things to check out from the cd - listen to the end of “she” and “let me know” they have this end jam thing that I think would be cool to do. everyone that wants to could take a solo during that part.

well, 6 days since I worked for the man. this physical labor stuff is tiring.. i can’t wait to sit behind a desk all day again. hopefully my bathroom will be done in time. more pictures here.

oh, and I’m sick of being dirty. I want to be clean again.