Diamond in the Rough

On many occasions I've thought about spending time going to second hand stores and places like that where you can buy used and random stuff but never seem to have the motivation but this story I read today makes me think it might be time to give it a shot.

Beth Feedback is an artist from Greensboro who went to Goodwill to grab a sweater and picked up 2 large paintings for $10 each. She didn't like the paintings but was going to reuse the canvas for her own works. A few months later, she noticed an art gallery tag on one of the paintings and decided to look up the original artist before she turned the paintings into scrap. The artist turned out to be Ilya Bolotowsky and the painting is worth over $15,000! Here's Beth, her hubby, and the painting:

How freakin awesome is that? $10 for a $15,000 painting! It's not a common occurrence so don't start searching planning on making it rich but every once in a while instead of shopping at the mall or some big chain store, hit the thrift shops or swing by a local yard or garage sale and give it a good once over. You may not find something worth a ton of money, but you may find some of the coolest collectibles or random treasures you've ever seen.

Under the Covers

There are several ways to cover a song. You can do a direct cover where the new song is essentially a copy of the original or throw the whole format out the window and use the lyrics to build a totally new sounding song. And covering a song isn't a new thing BUT it seems to me that in today's world where music comes and goes at the speed of light, that some people have started to abuse the cover.

In the past covers were a rarity. Most bands didn't even record them but would use them as a cool extra or encore song in concerts. Then slowly but surely more and more covers were added as "hidden tracks" or "bonus tracks" added to a re-release. Nowadays, there are whole albums of covers and even bands who built careers doing covers... but that's not always a bad thing.


Two of the biggest "cover bands" out there have got to be Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine and Me First And The Gimme Gimmes. Richard Cheese takes popular rock and metal songs and twists them into a lounge/swing style. Me First does the same but with a punk sound instead of lounge. Both acts have built careers on covering other songs in their respective styles but both do it with a tongue-in-cheek attitude that makes it more about having fun than making money off someone else's ideas. Here's a sample from each:

Then you have albums that compile covers like Fearless Records' Punk Goes... series. Each album focuses on a genre like pop, 90s rock, and hip hop and modern punk and metal bands cover songs from that genre. Some bands stick more to their personal style and others stay more true to the original track with a touch of their own style mixed in. These are also more about having fun as the artists doing the covers all have active touring and recording schedules and make plenty of their own music. Here's an example:

Then you have bands like Puddle of Mudd or Counting Crows who, after years of making original music, crank out a cover album and start releasing singles like it's a new album. This is where my love of covers ends. Covering a song to honor the original artist or even to have fun and blow off some steam is all well and good, but just because you've run out of creativity, don't start trying to peddle someone else's wares as your own. 

Happy Birthday America!

Tomorrow is the 4th of July. For most countries it's just the 4th day of the 7th month, but here in America it's got a slightly different name... Independence Day!

Every year we celebrate July 4th as the day we officially became an independent nation, but that may not be exactly right. Turns out July 4th was the day the Declaration of Independence was approved. Congress had actually voted to approve our independence on July 2nd. There's even rumor that the Declaration of Independence may not have been signed until early August. But regardless of the specific details, we became seperated from British rule in the summer of 1776 and that's a damn solid reason to celebrate.

Celebrations have been held every anniversary, and even back in the 1700's they partied similarly to what we do now: a 13 gun salute (for the 13 colonies) at sunrise and sunset, a big dinner, parades, speeches, fireworks, and red, white, & blue EVERYWHERE! Most of the traditions started there ring true today. Honestly, the only major changes since 1800 were in 1870 when July 4th became an UNPAID federal holiday and in 1938 when it switched to a PAID holiday.

Have a safe and happy Independence Day tomorrow. Celebrate being an American and hold your drinks high in toast to the freedoms we enjoy here. Take a moment to remember that no matter how bad you think it is here, it's much worse in many other places. Remember that even though government makes us crazy sometimes, the fact that we can complain openly about that government is a privilege not many have the luxury of enjoying.

I'll let Bill Pullman close this blog out for me. Bill...

Rock In The Desert

So this past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the 2nd annual Sunset Sessions Rock! This time we were back in Cali but moved the party to Palm Springs (the desert). The scenery was unbelievably beautiful, here's the view from my balcony:

Mind blowing, right? Well, if you missed the recap from last year, Sunset Sessions Rock is a rock conference that brings up and coming artists, rock veterans, radio programmers, and all kinds of music professionals together for a weekend of discovering new artists and building the rock community. 

The first day started for me at 4am (1am Pacific time) when I left for RDU and flew out to Dallas to connect to Ontario, CA. I shared a rental with a few friends from last year so we piled in and made the 2 hour drive to the resort. The surroundings blew me away immediately because of how different it was from ENC. Mountains everywhere, wide open desert, and wind farms galore!

We arrived and wasted no time getting things going. The first day started with The "Real" Social Networking Panel, which was basically an organized meet & greet. It was a fun way to get to know some of my fellow rockers and talk music for a while. Then we had a little happy hour with Serj Tankian while we listened to his new album, Harakiri, and an interview with Serj and Matt Pinfield.

Each night there were 2 mini concerts: the Main Stage Shows and the Late Night Lounge. The first night Versus The World (Warped Tour punk), Black Oxygen (alt rock), The Parlotones (alternative), and Dead Sara (high energy female fronted rock) performed on the main stage and Slatr (very talented young teen rockers), Tanlines (power pop), Big B (rock hop), and Lit (90s rockers) rocked the lounge. Our good buddies Skratch 'n Sniff worked the turntables between bands in the lounge.

Day 2 was spent mostly in the pool. It started with a Creating Change panel that focused on going green and working with charities. That was followed by a pool party where we listened to Linkin Park's new album, Living Things. We hung around the pool until the SECOND pool party where we listened to Lostprophets' new album, Weapons. Here's the view from the pool:

That night the main stage hosted Killinger (80s metal), Cheating Daylight (teen rockers with a 10 year old bassist who stole the show), The Last Nova (rock), Courier (alt rock), and P.O.D. (90s rap rockers). The lounge was rocked by Beware of Darkness (Jack White meets early Nirvana), Hyro Da Hero (hip hop fronted hard rock), 7Lions (2 singer rock), and Oedipus (rock). That night also hosted a Super Duper Late Night Lounge with an acoustic performance by The Nowherenauts.

Day 3 I was too sunburned from Day 2 so I avoided the pool for the most part. The day kicked off with a very insightful Radio Panel followed by an acoustic performance by the legendary Richie Sambora! After that we sat down for a Q&A with Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins and then took turns doing one on one interviews with Billy. I had a great chat with him and was blown away by how articulate and friendly he turned out to be.

The last night of the main stage was closed out by The Royalty (indie female fronted rock), The Nowherenauts (alternative), Stellar Corpse (rockabilly punk), A Silent Film (brit alt), and Taproot (rock). The final late night lounge hosted Art of Dying (rock), Junior Giant (alt rock), and Everclear (90s alt rock). 

There was a lot of partying, I learned a lot, met some amazing people, and brought home several bands that absolutely blew me away! Can't wait to see what next year has in store...

The Dirty 30

So today is the big day, my 30th birthday. It's one of those events in life you don't really think about until it happens but strangely, it feels the same as yesterday.

Like most people, the closer 30 got, the scarier it seemed. I had moments where I would question myself and what I've done with the past 30 years but the more I thought about it, the better I felt. I've got a great family that's been there every minute of the past 30 years for anything I needed. I still have fond memories and great friends from my grade school and high school days.  I spent 5 years at ECU partying my ass off, making some of the best memories with some of the most awesome people ever. Then I stumbled into my dream job and have been living the dream every day since.

But the strange thing is, today has become less about what I've done and more about what's next. I've heard more than one person say "My 30s were where I had the most fun" which sounds like a challenge to me. My early years were great and my 20s were unbelievable so if the next 10 years have the chance to top that, I can't wait to see how!

And after that, who knows! What will I do in the next 30 years? Where will I go? Who will I meet? What adventures await? Guess we'll have to wait till 2042 and see...

The Death of Celebration

I was driving to work this morning and in the news heard that schools in Pitt County were cracking down on excessive cheering at their upcoming graduations. Really? We stress how important school is to kids for the first 18 years of their lives and they can't celebrate making it to the end? The people who are proud of them should be able to express that feeling, otherwise there's no damn point in having a graduation other than to take pictures with your principal in a cap and gown.

A student in Ohio had his diploma DENIED because his family cheered too loudly at his graduation. So let me get this straight, your family being proud of you is a bad thing? I always thought America was all about "family values" and all that crap but apparently it's not ok to be excited and celebrate your children's accomplishments. The worst part about this story is that the kid is now being forced to perform 20 hours of community service before he can get his diploma. He's being treated like a damn criminal because his family was proud of his accomplishment.

Another incident happened in Myrtle Beach when a girl's mother was ARRESTED for cheering when her daughter walked across the stage. ARRESTED! The school had posted that anyone cheering would be escorted out but arresting this woman is ridiculous. Honestly, I think it's insulting to "outlaw" cheering in the first place, but to arrest someone for showing their daughter how proud they were blows my mind. Again I ask, what is the point in having a graduation ceremony if you can't cheer for your friends and family?

If this is the way things are going to be done, why not just have someone film the damn ceremony in an empty auditorium and send the parents the DVD of their kid's graduation? Then they wouldn't have to worry about anyone making noise. Or do 2 ceremonies: one where they do all the speeches and tassel turning and any other "traditions" that is only open to immediate parents/guardians and then a second later in the day where the students actually get to "walk" that is open to friends and family where people can cheer, students can celebrate, and a day that should be happy and full of fun and excitement can actually have some fun and excitement. Hell, you could even make the 2nd part optional so the lameasses can go home.

I just don't see why a celebration needs so many rules and restrictions.

Taking the "Social" Out of "Social Life"

It's been sad to watch people's definition of "social" evolve over the years. 10 years ago, if you described someone as "social" it probably meant they had a lot of friends and spent a lot of time going out to social gatherings like bars, concerts, or wherever. Now social means you have a Facebook or Twitter and a bunch of "friends" or followers (I use quotations back there because really, how many of your Facebook friends have you met in person?). Now that line is blurring even more with the new app SceneTap.

SceneTap is an app connected to cameras that are mounted in bars and clubs that estimate the number of patrons, average age, and male to female ratio of a particular bar so you can check to see if it's somewhere you want to go. It also tracks recent data from the bars it covers. Most of you just read that (as did I) and thought "Wow, that's pretty awesome! No more nights at an empty bar or sausagefest!" but take a minute to think a little further down the road.

RIGHT NOW the app is great because it's still got a small base of people using it but think 10 years down the road. If the app really takes off and every bar in every town has a camera installed and 90% of people use the app NOBODY WILL EVER GO OUT AGAIN! If it gets to a point where more than half of people are checking an app to see if people are at a bar/club before going out... EVERYBODY WILL BE AT HOME CHECKING THEIR SMART PHONES!

And that's even looking at the issue of invasion of privacy. Right now the cameras don't record faces or personal information, but how hard would it be to install upgraded cameras and/or software to start tracking where people frequent and selling that info to corporate America (basically just like Facebook does every time you log on and keep browsing the internet)? Nothing! Just the monetary push to make it worthwhile.

And if this trend continues, what's next? An app that tells us when the bathroom at work is vacant? An app to check and see if lines at the grocery store are short?

Don't wait for your phone to tell you it's ok to go out and live life. Just open the door and step out.