Dreams

I can’t recall the majority of my dreaming, but when I do it’s fairly vivid.  Whether or not I recall the details or the events, I always seem to know who was in my dream.  And I definitely take a lot of stocking in dreaming, being part of generation screwed, and all that jazz, and I know I’m not the only one.  I’m a one to seek out the path that brings true happiness, with lots of passion and love for this world, anything to further my art, my music, my writing, helping to share my unique cultural perspectives, and desire for great social change in this world.  And I mean that’s a good deal of what this is about, with me writing a blog about my thoughts my feelings, my point of view, sometimes quirky, sometimes well thought out and meticulous, chill and down to earth, awake and dreaming, dreaming and being, being and living, moving and shaking, doing, breaking the sky.  This is what i do and this is what is important, no matter how few may read it.

 So anyways, I had this dream on the weekend, I was hanging out with Carrie Brownstein of Portlandia and Sleater-Kinney, and I was sort of amused and excited that I got to hang out with someone whose work I really admire, and who is just awesome in general, or so I surmise, from my dream and from the fact that she is a comedic genius as well as a kick ass Indie Rocker.  And I would also assume that to be the case because of my dream in which, we must have partied or something. I don’t even know to be honest.  I think i was just way too excited when I woke up and had a dream in which I hung out with her, that it completely slipped me mind what the dream was about other than this fact.  Who do you hang out with in your dreams?

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The Continuing Adventures of Things That Happen to Me in Cars….

This weekend, I was on my way back home, once more from the strange land of Massachussetts, after driving on a number of completely clear roads, and only about a couple miles from home when I came across a beautiful little snow drift and found my car doing a 360 and then some as it went off the road backwards and sideways. No damage to me, no damage to my car, and only a little bit of damage to my wallet, and I could drive my beast home.  There was no fear, there was no worry, there was only the “Holy Crap,” moment and the “I’m okay,” moment.  It wasn’t like my sleep driving adventure in my white car, it wasn’t like any of the times I got stopped by cops for any reason.  One benefit to living in a small town, a very big one at that, is that if you don’t know someone that can help you, all you have to do is call your family and the know the answer.  Ten minutes in the cold versus, not having a car to drive?  I’ll take ten minutes in the cold, thanks!

Insert song lyrics here…

So living in the digital age, when we update our facebook status or feel like being charming or clever  , we like to put words that aren’t ours out into the infosphere we call the internet.  Sometimes it’s a play to show how cool we are, sometimes it’s to reflect our feelings and emotions at that moment.  Songs have always been good for this purpose.  We do the same thing with quotes and passages from books. Sure that’s all well and good.  But it also isn’t.  Someone once said that to quote was to cover up the fact that we don’t have any of our own words to say.  And no that isn’t a direct quote, but I do recall hearing this from somewhere fairly recently.  And whoever that person is, I have to say they make a lot of sense, even though I sort of quoted them to prove my point.  But that in itself isn’t really an issue.  It is an issue, when we post song lyrics and other things as our statuses and don’t attribute them to the source.  That is sort of a big no no isn’t it?   Someone thinks they are clever for coming up with such words, and the poster ends up taking the credit.  Don’t get me wrong, I do lyrics and things a lot as my status.  Music is my first love after all.  But I always do my best to give credit where credit is due.  So be careful folks. 

The January Unthaw

For the last week or so, when the weather started going all warm and rainy and the like, I was thinking of blogging about the January thaw, which was a welcome change to the weird up and down weather New England is plagued with year round, and also to talk about how much I hate it, with the mud and slush that comes with it, as well as those dirty snow piles infesting parking lots everywhere, that probably won’t melt until June. But instead, I’m spending as much time indoors as possible to escape the cold. Below zero weather is a great motivator for a below zero social life. Or something like that. Oh well.

Playlisting: Awake and Dreaming

19 tracks of pure excitement, genre crossing, ocean spanning, underwater mountain climbing sort of excitement. Take a look and consider taking a few listens. 🙂

1. On Top Of The World- Imagine Dragons

2. Everybody’s Watching Me(Uh Oh)- The Neighbourhood

3. White Teeth Teens- Lorde

4. Politics in Space- Kate Miller-Heidke

5. Center Stage- Capital Cities

6. Sunburn- Muse

7. Runaway- Grace Potter and The Nocturnals

8. Supergirl- Kate Miller-Heidke

9. Things That Stop You Dreaming- Passenger

10. Normal Person- Arcade Fire

11. A Taste Of Honey- The Beatles

12. Overbiter- Say Anything

13. Take A Walk- Passion Pit

14. The Tourist- Radiohead

15. In The Meantime- Spacehog

16. Bad Drug- Tristan Prettyman

17. New Fang- Them Crooked Vultures

18. Carmelina- Matthew Good Band

19. Breathe Me- Sia

Playlist time: A number of things I like.

I asked her what sort of theme she wanted for a mix cd, since I’m all about trying to make songs fit together well, no matter what they are. She told me to just put some favorite songs on it, and so I did, but didn’t think it explained my favorite songs well enough. So I gave her two cds. So here are 37 awesome tracks for you to sink your ears into.

1, Helter Skelter- The Beatles

2. Sweater Weather- The Neighbourhood

3. Chasing You- Capital Cities

4. Feeling Good- Muse

5. Rain- Mika

6. Hairdresser on Fire- Morrissey

7. Ready To Start- Arcade Fire

8. Easy To Crash- CAKE

9. Selfless, Cold, And Composed- Ben Folds Five

10. I’m Alive(Life Sounds Like)- Michael Franti and Spearhead

11. Somewhere Over The Rainbow- Melody Gardot

12. Team- Lorde

13. Howl- Florence & The Machine

14. Crooked Teeth- Death Cab For Cutie

15. Clocks- Coldplay

16. White Lies- Stacy Clark

17. Voices Carry- Till Tuesday

18. Shout- Tears For Fears

19. Let It Go- The Neighbourhood

20. Faust Arp- Radiohead

21. Jumper- Third Eye Blind

22. Pillars- Sunny Day Real Estate

23. Disarm- Smashing Pumpkins

24. Islands- The XX

25. Rock n’ Roll- The Sounds

26. Tomorrow Comes Today- Gorillaz

27. Trying To Pull Myself Away- Glen Hansard

28. Fallen Empires- Snow Patrol

29. So Good- Say Anything

30. Make Believe- Silversun Pickups

31. Demons- Imagine Dragons

32. Hey Bulldog- The Beatles

33. Throwing Shade- Abe Vigoda

34. Up All Night- Blink-182

35. All Along The Watchtower- U2

36. Lifes For The Living- Passenger

37. Madness- Muse

Constant Vigilance or some such thing…

Anyone who reads this, or knows me personally could tell you that I take harassment very seriously. It’s just not that cool ya know? And harassment by a civil servant is something just as horrendous, and in many cases more so. Now I can’t say it’s the first time it’s happened, because it wasn’t by any means. I have, probably about a handful of times in the past, been stopped by cops floundering for excuses as to why they stopped me, seemingly because they had nothing better to do than stop a man following the rules of the road. Yes it’s annoying, nobody could say otherwise, unless you really like being pulled over. And let’s face it nobody does. I was just getting off of the highway on the final leg of my journey home. I had gone over to Eastern Massachussets to see my girlfriend. She’s pretty cool by the way. And I told that to the cop when he asked the standard where are you coming from and where are you going hullabaloo. He made some sort of claim that someone complained about my driving and I said I was blown around a bit and had to slow down to straighten out, which is true. Why would I lie to a cop? I have nothing to hide. He takes my required documents, runs them as he should and all of a sudden this woman is there shining the flashlight in my eyes. The light from the car was enough to see me in, and let me tell you it’s a wonder those flashing lights don’t give you seizures. But that’s beside the point. This woman claimed to be the person that told the cop to pull me over, she also claimed to be a state trooper. I didn’t see a badge or anything. Whatever. I’m not one to argue when pulled over, but then she asked a bunch of the same questions, including some that are none of anybody’s business unless I really am committing some sort of crime or violation, which I wasn’t. Also, if you call it in, let the officer pulling them over cast the judgement, am I right? I’m not wrong. I said I was heading home from visiting my girlfriend. “You’re lying to me,” she said, “I wish I knew why.” It’s my first relationship in a while, I don’t think I would lie about that. Who would? As I said she’s the bee’s knees or something of the like. “What medications are you on?” My answer a prompt, “None.” “What level of education are you? What kind of job do you do? What kinds of illicit drugs did you take prior to getting in your car and driving?” I’m seriously more than a little uncomfortable right now, and quite frankly really mad. It is not within my rights to answer you, when you accuse me of something, when I’m minding the rules of the road, and being compliant and yada yada. Does someone’s level of education prove their guilt? Furthermore I was called sketchy and told to show her my arms to look for track marks. Are you kidding me? I feel in full violation of my rights because of last night, and I will let this matter slide, but not without recording it here, because too many people think such abuses of power are mostly relegated to the pages of crime novels or to movies and television. But I’m telling you it’s not so. I would be curious to see a sounding off in the comments about your experiences, your stories, your feelings about these sorts of injustices. Up next: The playlists I made for my girlfriend, because they are really good, and because I’m not lying about her existence. That would just be foolish.

Cheers and stay safe on those crazy roads!

Shameless Plug for Listening To Records

Music is a beautiful thing. And with a Crossley turntable in your room, music becomes an even more beautiful thing than previously thought possible.  I mean, what better way to listen to music that came out in the time before Casettes, CDs or Digital files?  Listen to it on what it was originally put out on. You’ll thank me later. The sounds are so much crisper, and all of the subtleties in the layers of the music become all the more exciting, and it’s like listening to something for the first time once more.  What new records should I get?  I’m itching for some actual new vinyl, thinking I at least need some Modest Mouse and Death Cab to listen to anew in this manner. But I’m sure there’s more I want, but what?

New playlist: 3 of a kind

I don’t know where this idea came from, but I kept hearing that old cliched line, “The best things come in threes.”  And going from there I thought, why not make a playlists, featuring three songs from each artist in residence upon it. And this is what I came up with!

1. Sweater Weather- The Neighbourhood

2. I’m Afraid- The Neighbourhood

3. Flawless- The Neighbourhood

4. Panic in Detroit- David Bowie

5. The Man Who Sold The World- David Bowie

6. (You Will) Set The World on Fire- David Bowie

7. Never There- Cake

8. Federal Funding- Cake

9. Sick of You- Cake

10. Come Together- The Beatles

11. While My Guitar Gently Weeps- The Beatles

12. Sexy Sadie- The Beatles

13. Muscle Museum- Muse

14. Dead Star- Muse

15. Time Is Running Out- Muse

16. All I Need- Radiohead

17. Myxomatosis- Radiohead

18. Blowout- Radiohead

Movies, Movies, Movies…

Out of the sheer amount of good movies that I saw in 2013, it is truly hard for me to pick one that really struck me in a lasting way. The final movie that I saw this last year, really struck a chord with me more intense than most films that I have seen in recent memory. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty was one such movie. Full of imagination, and wit, and blurring the line between reality and fantasy, with a great cast, and some simply beautiful visuals, it really sold me as movie of the year material. Walter is a man that lives his life more or less unnoticed, yet his job is to really make a magazine shine every month, by making sure certain pictures get put within its pages. The film is permeated with many of his daydreams and things that he wishes he was cool enough to get to do. And as the movie moves forward, his dreams become actual life experiences, and the viewer is left astounded and really adamant to truly live the life that they want for themselves. And isn’t that what a good movie or book, or song, or whatever else should do to us? Art is truly an imitation of life, so why can’t life be more of an imitation of art on a regular basis? I say it should. Never settle! You’ll be happy you didn’t. Too many Walter Mitties in this world aren’t realizing their true potential. I say let’s fix this. I also say, see this film, it’s incredible.

And the year 2014 started in much the way 2013 ended. If you want movie of the year material this early on: Check out American Hustle! An All Star cast which works perfectly togehter, an amazing soundtrack, an equal mix of humor and true to life sort of drama, and a story which is equal parts heart-rending and gut-busting, but typically resides somewhere in-between the two, and a film that really takes its time to work all the angles, as any movie about hustlers should be, this film is perfect. And I don’t mean it is without its flaws or boring moments, though it has very few of the latter, but you never think about how long this film is until its over and you look at your watch and you’re like, “Damn that was a lot longer than I thought it would be.” And that my friends is the mark of cinema gold. The director of Silver Linings Playbook has another hit on their hands, and if you pass up this film, I really don’t know what I can reccommend to you. See it!