Thursday, December 29, 2011

The Christmas(ish) Episode

Well it started talking about Christmas but then somewhere in there we started talking about Impalas and cop cars.  Happy Holidays everyone!!

Enjoy.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

You ever played D&D? Yeah, me either.

Yeah, i grew up in a different world, D&D was nowhere near my circle of life.  I'm going to go out on a limb and say that no one in my area was playing it.  If anyone grew up in McCarthur Park area in LA that can prove me wrong, please let me know, i'd love to have a conversation with you.  In the meantime, Juan teaches me how D&D works and how to play it.  We even try it, but i die in the tavern, after 45 min of playing. Seriously, it's a good listen, dont let the orcs and dwarfs and elvins and wizards and god knows what throw you off.


Enjoy.

Friday, December 16, 2011

We return to familiar ground

Can't believe i forgot to put this up yesterday.  We're back on familiar ground, lower ceilings, beers and catching up since we hadn't gotten together since the CS Gallery two part episode.  So that's basically do, catch up and talk art.


Enjoy

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

More music i've been listening to for a long time


ALBUM:            Pinkerton

YEAR:             1996

ARTIST:           WEEZER

I got introduced to Weezer by a neighbor i had at the time with the Blue Album, a kid my own age who also introduced me to BUSH.  I found Weezer to be refreshing at the time, just smart college guys having fun making good music together.  I listened to that album a lot, still to this day i listen to it but their follow up was the one that did it for me.  Lyrically it is one of the best albums i've ever heard, the honesty of Rivers Cuomo is heartbreaking at some points, yet the music was fast paced and full of energy.  Now that i think about it, it was a pretty emo album, the dude was going through some stuff, women were a main character in his little opera but he punks through it in some parts.  But yeah, heartbreak, heartache, not being able to understand the opposite sex and acting out because of it is the main theme of the album.  Unfortunately it was not a well received album, no, the fans hated it, they wanted the sequel to the Blue Album.  Instead, Rivers felt like his fans could understand him and he unleashed on them, he vented out but only got rejected just like so many girls in that same album.  It was so heartbreaking for him that for a long time he couldn't play the songs live.  Which was heartbreaking for fans like me who really did love the album as much as he did.  Fast forward to the present, it's built quite the cult following, i think it's easily become of the most popular of their albums.

Lyrics that sums up album:

The world has turned and left me here
Just where i was before you appeared

If i had to pick a song:

ACROSS THE SEA



Thursday, December 8, 2011

Part 2: At the CS GALLERY






We kept drinking and kept the mics rolling after our conversation about Art Basel.  A little liquor loosens the tongue and we have a good time talking about everything.

Spoiler Alert:  FUCK MOTHER'S OF AMERICA!

I'm not discounting that at some point they have done some good, i'm sure the care packages are awesome and the words of encouragement must boost morale.  But not everyone who joins the military is destined to sit behind a desk for their term.  A lot of individuals are there to learn how to fight and prepare for war.  Last i saw that shit isn't pretty.  So you need some tough muthers going out there and even tougher muthers training them.  Don't limit them by setting so many rules that hurting the feelings of this Boots is the worst they get.  They are making men out of boys and preparing them for war, they are making men that will not come back in body bags but instead rack up confirmed kills.  So yes, worry about little Joey cause he's 19 years old, away from home and going through a tough time.  But don't complain cause he's having a harder time than he's ever had, something he chose to do by the way.  Be thankful it's only someone yelling at him to shoot straighter than his enemy and not an enemy shooting straighter than him.



 

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Sometimes it's just that simple

There are a few things i've never expected from myself: I've never expected to have to sit in front of a computer, behind a desk to make my living; I've never expected an easy day at work; I've never expected for my body to give out on me; I've never expected someone to do something I myself was unwilling to do; I've never expected to lead others with just words; never imagined living past 70; never expect to win the lottery; and never expected to ever stop needing things.
But there are days when I have had my morale beaten, trampled and felt the thumb of an unknown giant pressing down on my back as I walked on torn boots being held together by sheer will.  Yesterday was one of those days.  A day when I missed the 8 hour mark, the 10 hour mark and around the 12th hour at work I realized that this was not how a Monday was supposed to be.  I hit a wall, a large poured cement wall that hurt my hand more than it made a sound as I pounded on it for an explanation.  Then there was a moment of enlightenment, epiphany even, I remembered that I never expect to be home until the work is done.  It's masochistic almost that at that moment I felt a huge relief, I've never accepted a job I did not intend to finish.  An hour later I was in my car pulling out of the parking lot and heading home.
I won't lie about it, I was not happy driving home, I was mad at an unseen force that no matter how hard I work it always seems to have a little more for me to do, I've never expected to have a pass on hardship.  That drive home was too short it seemed, I've always been fond of driving at night when there is little or no traffic, it feels great to have the windows down and have a refreshing breeze wake you up from a funk like that.  But all I could think about was the hour and a half I had to get to sleep so I could do it all over again the next day. I've never expected to sleep so comfortably that i didnt want to get up.
I walked into my house, grabbed a few beers and checked the mail.  There was a large package waiting for me.  My eyes actually lit up for a minute, it was a weird sensation to catch yourself forgetting about what was bothering you for a single moment.  The best part really was that I had forgotten about having ordered this item, so finding it there after such a long and tiresome day really centered me.  It was The Black Keys new album "El Camino" on vinyl, if you know me a little, you know I love music, I've never stopped believing.  
I grabbed a few more beers, placed the needle down a centimeter away from the first track and for a second, maybe two, heard the familiar static of a record as I backed up against the nearest wall and slowly slid down to the floor while the intro kicked my overwhelming day right out of my body.  Half way through "Lonely Boy" I was ok again, my dog came to comfort me too, he pushed his face into my chest, with one simple sigh he let me know he understood that today was about me and that I didn't need to chase him around the house like we do all the other days. I've never expected it to be anything other than this.

Friday, December 2, 2011

And now back to our regular scheduled program.

I visited the CS Gallery and got hang out with Juan and JC in their element, plus Eddie Arroyo was there and he sat in with us for the podcast.  We had a great conversation about Art Basel and all the activities in Miami surrounding it. Some of which i will hitting up this weekend. But it's also about the state art is in, the value of art and artists themselves.


I first met JC through Juan at one of the exhibits held at CS Gallery a few years back and have always heard of him through Juan and the stuff they have going on.  I've always wanted to sit down with JC because of how Juan speaks of him, not just as an artist but as a person.  I went to his TWENTY EIGHT exhibit and was very impressed with his work.  The only way i can describe what i've seen is "beautifully messy", his paintings show you a perfect picture, but are very loud with colors and strokes.  They hold your attention and you recognize his work after one viewing. Not really knowing much about art i've always just been a fan of things by how attracted i am to them.  Juan has always said that it's the best way to look at art, since i'm the one who has to live with it.  I finally get the chance to sit down with him and honestly i'm not entirely happy with the outcome.  As pretty as the gallery is, well it's got high ceilings and empty space which can cause an echo, so the recording is good, but not great.  At least not as good as i'd like it to be, but i can put up with it because a good conversation happened between everyone.  But i definitely need to sit down with him again.  His sense of humor and view on what art is and what an artist should be deserves more air time.

Eddie Arroyo i met the night we recorded the podcast.  A funny and enthusiastic guy about art and the experience of it.  The funny thing is we both knew of each other but had never met.  He listen to the podcast for Juan, i've been to one of his exhibits that i really liked.  While talking to him preparing for the recording i realized who he was and vice versa.  The exhibit i saw of his was very cool, a mounted exhibit you could say.  He turned the gallery into a living room, wall paper and all, and with his unique style of capturing people in rare moments, almost like a photograph made the scene so perfect.  Like i was at a house party and things had dulled a bit so i was just walking through this strangers living room.  He was great during the recording, very informative and even better in the second show.  I'd definitely like to get him on wax again in a smaller setting.

Once the beers had kicked in we decided to just keep recording, everyone was looser and conversation flowed like we did it every week.  It was a great first experience, a learning one, but overall a fun experience.  Like i've always said, do what you want to do until it stops being fun.  This is the start of something good.

Enjoy.