Chicago MMXII

goddammit i don't want to be in the office today

You probably want to drink outside.

duh

http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/423027_10151366682905473_75994265472_23193723_668103629_n.jpg

Is that about M.I.A.?

Jesus. 60 degrees. I'm bored.

i like miles' hard work in profiling a ton of lesser-known, underappreciated bands in chicago (mine own included) but he's not great on the "big topics." haven't read that article yet though.

No? I think he's as good as anyone on "future of music" topics (the Internet, legal issues, etc.), at least as far as just laying out what the deal is.

i went outside at lunch and a (drunk/crazy/homeless/all of the above?) guy veered towards me and poked me in the shoulder while mumbling something incoherent. so i yelled at him.

what did you yell at him?

"hey - don't touch me. don't touch me!"
first time was startled, second time louder and more emphatic
i feel a little bad about it now since there was something obviously wrong with the guy, be it mental or chemical or whatever. but not too bad. i was also talking on the phone with sarah while it all went down. pretty exciting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyUnSuYYs18

sorry, first thing I thought of

me too

Its gorgeous out, glad I had to walk around the UIC campus this afternoon.

Onion headline from a couple weeks ago:
"The Cartoon Network Celebrates Brak History Month"

this is awesome, especially the last owl pic

http://chicagoist.com/2012/03/01/the_snowy_owl_is_a_badass_against_a.php#photo-1

<3 snowy owls

Cool. The last one is great ;)

I'm partial to the first one, where he seems disturbed and indignant.

Good owl.

I posted this elsewhere a little while ago but it's pretty important so I'm posting it here too.

Just saw a guy and girl walking down Clark St. near Diversey. Guy had one arm over the girl's shoulder and the other in his jacket pocket, pulling it over his belly. As he went by I saw what he thought he was hiding. Proud bobbling tent led the way, plainly visible to everyone on his right side.

?

Boner?

Yes, boner. At literally a 90° angle.

I don't even know her! xp damn it

good thing you carry a protractor for such emergencies

That guy had clearly already bought his compass, so together they were ready for geometry class.

lol protractor

also totally unrelated I am 1. glad the anti-eavesdropping law that was used to make recording cops in public spaces illegal has been ruled unconstitutional and 2. amazed that the comments on the trib article on the subject are pretty much wholly in favor of the ruling -- fully expected some major insanity there

i feel like i need some kind of new, focused creative project but i don't know what it should be.

Sandwich artist.

make a record using only 1 - 3 instruments/sounds

make a sandwich using only 1 ingredient

i've been trying to do music stuff but i do think i need some kind of focus/constraint because i have trouble figuring out exactly what i want to do. also i don't really have much time at home to do music stuff, and really only after evie goes to sleep so i can't be too loud.

but maybe i need to do something totally new and different, challenge myself.

focus all of my energy and creativity on my tweets

you should do a record where each track only uses one sample for everything, like pitched around/stretched/cut. like a minimal thing with voice + that, and each track is based around a different single sample. i always wanted to do something like that.

I encourage the tweet thing because I find your twittering amusing.

Alternatively, take up a life of crime: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-cta-red-line-delays-police-activity-near-chicago-avenue-20120302,0,288532.story

that's an idea. i don't really know much about samples/sampling though. here are other restriction ideas i had:
1. no recording for a year, only writing - i feel like i tend to start working on recording stuff before songs are totally done because i enjoy the recording part, so maybe i should focus just on writing for a while
2. do a bunch of instrumentals, because i'm really lazy about lyrics and not a great singer - problem is i'm personally usually bored by instrumental music, especially rock/pop instrumentals - but maybe that would be the challenge

instrumentals are not boring!

i like the instrumentals on the new lambchop album a lot, but they have a big string section going. generally i just have trouble latching onto songs with no vocals at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOpRGGcHW5w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQvObik_cHI

those are the two instrumental tracks on the lambchop album. so good.

Should I listen to that album? IIRC I have never heard Lambchop.

(Obv. I have no issue w/instrumentals.)

i think it's really good. it's very very mellow but also very warm. if you like those two i posted, you'd probably like the rest of it, the vocals are very low-key

i love stuff that doesn't have lyrics but still involves the voice in some way

guys, i used the word "very" four times in my last post

i'm having my third cup of coffee for the day

nick I'm always up for playing if you wanna

cool, thanks. i like playing music with friends. i need stuff i can work on at home though too.

Scoobie doovie be ba ba ba bum

btw that reminds me -- my parents visited recently and brought a load of my "crap from the attic" with them, including a full set of drum shells and some random hardware. it's not high-end stuff (Tama Rockstar) but it's in good shape. if anyone knows anyone interested I'd be into making a deal on it...

Take an upholstery class.
And blog about it.