Current location:	Home
Current mood:	Panatelistic
Current music:	Hum
Entry tags:	alphabetter, book, corporate circle-jerking, cougar night, glenn beck sukz, needless digression, satan, star power!, too long to be fully read

Back in the Saddle Again
That's a country song. I guess it means that he was in the saddle, came off the saddle, got back in the saddle, got off it again, then back on it again? Why'd you get off twice if it's so great? He never really says. Maybe if I'm being so literal about the title I should also take "back in the saddle" literally. So that would mean it's his third time riding in the saddle. But who writes a song about their third time doing something? That's not very interesting. Let's move on.

I recently played in a cd release show with my band at Club 101, a venue normally reserved for acts that have already peaked and are on their way into obscurity, e.g., Smash Mouth and Sugarcult (who we opened for once there). They also have a Cougar Night, occasionally.

A pretty fun night. I cleaned up nicely and wore a jacket and a tie as they wanted to dress up for the show. I think I'll only do that for important shows from now on like how Seinfeld only wears suits on his. Or how older mexican guys wear their nicest denim shirts when they go to court.
My least favorite part was at the end when everybody's family and a few friends wanted group pictures. I kept thinking we were done and started walking away only to get jerked back annoyedly and annoyingly. I'm the one with the right to be annoyed! I'm the Star!! I don't like taking pictures.
But it was great.

If anyone is interested, the album is, currently on iTunes, available for purchase. Maybe an uneccessary use of commas but I think it still works.

Even more recently we played a much more eventful show for El Paso Magazine's Annual Best of El Paso Party at the beautiful Grace Gardens. For this show I was severely underdressed. Our mayor was there presenting such prestigious prizes as Best Place to Buy Tires, Best Frame Shop, and Best Tack Store.
I'm picking the lamest awards for humorous purposes. Sorry to ruin it for you! To be fair, they also had an award for Best El Pasoan which was also won by the man who won Best Philanthropist.  Best Website went to www.newspapertree.com which, along with El Paso Magazine, is part of the El Paso Media Group. For Television: Best Morning Show, Best Afternoon Show, Best Evening Newscast, Best Female Anchor, Best Male Anchor, Best Meteorologist, and most importantly, Hottest Female Reporter or Anchor all went to KVIA.

Best Philanthropist? I guess you can be the best without being the biggest. Maybe the biggest philanthropist donated great amounts of money to Save the Strays (while at the same time still keeping they stray) or the Teach The Homeless to Eat Other Homeless School for the Hungry Hungry  Homeless. A German-Run camp that helps people overcome Attention Deficit Disorder. Everyone pitch in!

Let's talk more about the party. There were vendors from all over with booths inside and outside under tents that dispensed free food and free things that might not have been food. I only got to the classification of 'not free food' before I decided to move on. Even the bands got a table outside under the tents! The sign they had printed for us read 'Alphabeter'. That is misspelled, for those of you who are not fans. We had set up our merchandise(i.e. shirts, cd's and buttons) and reprinted our name on the back of the sign. Singer Pablo related a story unto me upon which the elderly asked questions such as "where are you located" because they didn't know we were not a business. So they wrote "(A Band)" on the sign.

Our stage was at a right angle to the building the awards were being presented in and the outdoor vendor tents, surrounded by water except for a grassy walkway at the diagonal splitting the vendor areas. So several people walked by the entrance but no one walked into the area because a 15 second detour from the free things and most people aren't willing to make that commitment. Everything was run by a gas-powered generator behind the stage.

We were the third band to go up and before they did they helpfully turned on the lights connected to the generator as it was growing dark. We played our first song to the friends and family who decided to show up and to a few of the members of the other performers when the power cut out. The generator had been running pretty much all day, it seems. So they brought over a very long extension cord to allow us to play in the dark to our friends.
At our back was a huge Best of El Paso banner as well as high-winds. The winds caused a corner to come off and envelop our drummer so a friend decided to help and tear the banner down. It was then we noticed  the banner was blocking most of the wind. So we played another dramatic song in the dark, heavy winds blowing at our backs, occasional lightning strikes in the distance.

Then we cut our set short. It would have made a cool music video, though.

I hate El Paso Media Group!! Why did you even invite us to play?! So we stole the banner.

Long entry.

I finished that music book. I learned that music probably predates language. Satan also predates language, friends. Coincidence? I also learned listening to/performing music uses more areas of the brain than probably anything else. Mozart doesn't really make you smarter. And a bunch of other interesting things I will probably never get to use to impress people in any natural conversation.

I also learned that we should probably target kids around 14 years old because the music you hear around that time stays with you until you die. So, in the movie The Notebook, when the old lady starts playing a piano without sheet music, it doesn't necessarily mean that she isn't losing her mind enough so that she should be suffocated by a giant indian. It's just the brain man. It's complicated.

"It's just the brain man. It's complicated" is my new go to response.

People I Currently Hate: Glenn Beck and Ben Stein

Here's an AOL Instant Messenger Conversation to end with!