Why Am I Here? (Archived Blog)

Ah give $30 to tha local musick scene

Posted on 21/08/2008 by Severe

Most of my contributions to tha SF scene is by way of bartendahs – ah don’t gae to all that many shows except tha ones ahm playin at as of these days. But on Sunday ah went ta see my friend Brian Ostreicher’s band Geographer have thar CD release at tha Cafe Du Nord at tha bottom of tha Haight. Tha venue is very nice, excellant sound (sounds like a cd playin from tha outside, until you git rite up to tha floor), chill, decently priced drinks (red strip fer 4.50 but thars a $10 covah? Deal.), etc. Wasn’t really intae tha opener (altho it apparently included membahs of bright eyes n tha botticellis, as well as tha closin band, which ahll git ta), but Geographer sounded great. So ah paid tha covah n bought an album from them n tha closer.

Real quick – Bri is one of tha best drummers ah know n an old Berklee friend whos place ah spent MUCH time at. He actually helped tha Mysterious Odors come about, altho he wasn’t directly involved. Tha band is also comprised of his friend (my Berklee acquaintence) Nathan, a nasty cello playah (sometimes playin 6-string electric cello), n thar friend Mike Deni, principal writer/singer/guitar/keys. They used ta have anutha vocalist/keyboardist, Kasey, but she left ta pursue her own thang. At tha CD release they had a session basist sit in w. them. What this all means tho, is they have a very interestin n different sound, playin intae tha indie-electronic thang, which is big now. N that seein Brian have tha CD release fer one of his major projects just felt good ta me, cuz ahve known tha guy fer so long.

So, ah plug downloadin thar tracks – when else when you git indie electronic w. cello? n harmonies?

But, ahll admit that tha real draw was tha headliner Judgement Day who ahve already plugged in tha BG, a metal band made up of drums, cello, and violin. And they totally rawk. Ahd checked them out before tha show n knew ah was gawna be buyin thar album Dark Opus. N they made a zombie video.

Part of me meant ta hang out aftah tha show just ta know them how much ah dug what they were up to, but it was late on a Sunday n ah was drunk n ah knew tha bike ride home would be cool, so ah split. Ah did myspace them w. adorin messages n comments so they know ahm creepy like that.

Posted in my friends rawk, spent some cash, string metal, zombies zombies zombies | Leave a comment

OH, tha FLAKES

Posted on 17/08/2008 by Severe

Anutha addition to tha list of flakin SF musicians:

Rawk guitarist n drummer w. some rough (sometimes downrite ugly) demos from craigslist that ah contacted specifically b/c of tha close proximity. Amgiguous email sent a week n a half ago about potentially jammin last Saturday – ah git a call last Saturday afternoon n say next Wed would be bettah, nae problems). That Wednesday, cancellation b.c drummer can’t make it, nae big deal. He suggests this Saturday at 6:30 or 7:30, n ah let them know ahm cool from 7 pm on today. Ah hear nuthang n send anutha email this mornin lettin them know ahll be available even a lil earlier. It’s 9:15 n ah haven’t gawten any word from eitha.

Ah will take part of tha blame, in that ahve been if nawt flakin, nawt followin up too hard w. any of tha folks ahve been in contact with that have seemed unlikely. But this is tha 2nd guy this week who’s scheduled or almost scheduled a meeting but haven’t heard from in 3 days.

Ah guess what else should ah expect – this is San Francisco – N THESE ARE MUSICIANS!

Posted in craigslist, flakes, jam please | Leave a comment

Best Damn Movie Ah've Seen in a LONG TIME!

Posted on 15/08/2008 by Severe

Network

Holy shite, how have ah nawt seen this before?

A truly great film that delves intae tha world of news shows, corporate greed, fanaticism, shock-tv, n even a touch of interpersonal relationships. Released in 1976, this is tha story of Howard Beale (who is “Mad as Hell” and “Not Going to Take This Anymore!” – a soundclip familiar ta many, er at least me) who tells his television audience he’s going to shoot himself on tha air b/c he’s been fired. This sends of an eventual shockwave through tha television audience, n ah won’t say any more about tha plot.

Ah was turned ontae this a while back when watchin Zeitgeist – The Movie which is scary, thought-provokin, n also a bit off tha deep end. Howevah ah dae recommend it – n it had me interested enuff ta search out Network, so its gawt that gaein fer it.

Seriously, Network rings almost yesterday-true despite bein ovah 30 years old. Quick dialogue, fast-moving shots, and excellent acting take this movie intae tha realm of “timeless”. It suffers from a flaw here and there, but is a convincing, and subtley shocking, piece of cinema that will stick with you. This will possibly be tha first movie ahve netflixed n then ended up buying (n ah don’t even remembah how long its been since ah bought a dvd – certainly more then a year).

Netflix it!

Posted in howard beale, mad as hell, movie reviews, nawt gawna take it anymore, network, watch this shite, zeitgeist | Leave a comment

WE COOK!

Posted on 12/08/2008 by Severe

Yes, ah forced my house ta have dinnah togetha. N they LIKED IT! Gawta love message boards…..

Ah stepped in ta make tha main course – stuffed shells a la my mom’s recipe. It might’ve smelled like mom’s cookin, but it has a way ta gae – both in terms of texture (ragu was too watery) n taste (BLAND stuffin – even w. spinach!).

Howevah, ah feel prety proud fer takin tha first step – cookin my mom’s ragu from tha get-gae. Ah can’t share her recipe (nawt that it would help much) but here’s a glimpse at tha ingredients used:

That was mostly fer tha ragu – which ah multi-tasked on n also made lunches fer a few days. An ol’ throwback to my bawstan/nova days, some SUPAH MAC N CHEEZ. This time includin:

At one point in time ah was simmerin tha ragu:

While ah was also steamin broccoli, fryin tofu/peppers/zucchini, n boilin macaroni:

Thas rite, ah ken multi-task.

Anyway, tha shells came out passable – lookin nawt TOO shabby:

Altho a lil shabby, ahll admit it.

We had tons of food, n people came ta visit! Then tha roommates posed (Cuz it was tha first time we’ve evah been in tha same room togetha, nae joke).

Say cheese Roommmates!

Finally, ah was extra happy cuz ah found Gallo, a Guatemalean beer ah enjoyed greatly, sold in my favorite container – tha LITER Bottle. Out here they call it Famosa, but it tastes tha same as cheap….

Updatin ken be fun!

Posted in cookin food, gallo es famosa, guateamala, house dinnah, make some dinnah, multi-taskah, ragu, recipes, roommates | 1 Comment

Location is….

Posted on 11/08/2008 by Severe

Putting on slippers ta gae to tha liqour/convenience store. When yer in a t-shirt n pajama bottoms. Sweet.

Posted in location location location, munchies, pajama bottoms, slippers, t-shirt | Leave a comment

Yes, ahm in on a Saturday

Posted on 10/08/2008 by Severe

It’s been a long couple weeks. So ahm takin a nite off. At least ah am as of 10 pm. We’ll see if ah stay here.

So – thar was an awesome fundraiser fer VAGABOOM! last week n a bunch of bands played great musick n we didn’t raise enuff money. It did give us a great stage to play on tho n we met some fun people. Some of them mite even have lawts of money ta give us! We also rawked Kimo’s on Wednesday nite w. our friends Dirty Orange Sun n a metal band from Concord which was a suprisingly good nite.

In otha news, my hair is gittin kinda crazy now that tha red is washin out – which is part of tha point. Here’s a shitty pic from my phone while ahm at werk – check out tha view in tha background from my cube (of tha office buildin across tha alley).

Also, here’s a shot of tha sweet truck that brought our gear to tha House of Shields gig in mid-July:

Our crew has style, eh?

Today was a VAGABOOM free event in Golden Gate Park, which ended up being a good learning experience but took a lil trial n error. All in all tho, ah think we pulled it togetha pretty good – just weren’t promoted er high profile enuff. Tha vibe is captured pretty well by tha front sign (of which ah was partially responsible fer puttin togetha – altho NAWT paintin)

Finally, anutha reason why SF is so much fun – nawt only was tha weather in tha Mission fricken AWESOME (especially aftah a cold cloudy mornin in tha park), when ah met up w. my buddy in Delores Park in tha afternoon, a funk band was playin thar fer free. From time ta time, youd see/hear a crew of bicyclists passin by, one of them pullin a speaker blastin 80s musick. Eventually they ended up at tha park, n a bunch of people dressed in 80’s club gear (Especially tha girls) showed up w. beer, drinkin n dancin like it was 1988 on a Friday nite in a club n thar was blow fer everyone. Check it:

Ah apologize fer tha crappy phone-pics, but thar all ah have as of recently. Bettah then nuthang tho, rite? RITE!

Finally, ahm in a good mood cuz at my organization my roommates n ah are supposed to ahve a house dinnah this monday – tha first time we’ve all been in tha same room talkin to each otha. Could be good….could be AWKWARD. We shall see…..

Posted in 80s dance party, crazy hair color, think13, u really should visit, vagaboom | 1 Comment

Goodbye, Beautiful

Posted on 04/08/2008 by Severe

Tha picture doesn’t dae her any justice, but this instrument is a phenomenal creation that ah dearly love(d). Yes, ah finally sold my carvin AC40 to a good home, but it hurt a lil bit.

This bass is (was) one of my most impressive possesions. An excellent example of solid craftmanship, woodworking, delicate balance, and playability. A common problem w. many (all) acoustic basses (and guitars in general) is that because of the size of the body of the instrument, it’s hard to play too far past the 12th fret. Not a huge issue, but somewhat limiting. The Carvin AC40 allows you to play all 24 glorious frets w/ relative ease, b/c instead of being a full-on acoustic, is actually a semi-hollow bodied electric guitar. This means you can get great acoustically sounding notes, with all 24 of the frets. But, you have to plug it in.

Unfortunately, at least for me, this was (And is still ah believe) billed as an acoustic/electric bass. N thar mite be some fine print explainin all this – ah bought this before ah knew how ta research thangs on tha internet (er even cared). What this means tho, is a naive 20 year old me spent oodles (less then a thousand, but nawt by much) of cash on a bass that didn’t dae what he thought it would. Namely, be an acoustic bass that you could also plug in.

These days, acoustic/electric basses are much easier ta find – everywhar. N craigslist has hooked it up in terms of findin them at an affordable price. Back then, ah didn’t know tha first thang about shoppin n bought a brand that ah knew was solid (as ah did fer pretty much everythang back in tha day). It wasn’t until ah put out some REAL money fer my 6 string that ah started lookin intae RESEARCHIN potential buys n found ah ken be quite a picky bastard. Of kerse, that bass doesn’t git much love either, but ah won’t be sellin it anytime soon (providin ah keep tha jobby job at least).

So, ah imagine one of these days ah will buy a real acoustic/electric – n hopefully spend less then 400 fer a pretty decent one (cuz ah know bettah now). But tha demand is nawt large enuff at tha moment ta necessitate an immediate buy. Ah will prolly put some money intae fixin up my current 4-string w. new pickups n a minor overhaul, n then start up a “real amp” fund (btw, did ah resolve tha blog? ah found a bass cab online that was bein sold by tha guys who we rent our practice space from. It’s nawt a great cab, but it does tha job fer now n ah gawt it fer pretty cheap. Too easy).

Tha bass itself is actually semi-custom. While ah picked it out from a catalog, ah had ta call Carvin themself and order it. W. it’s fancy color (called Greenburst. It’s current owner “isn’t all that crazy about green” actually). N then they made it n shipped it ta me. That bass was made fer me, literally. but now it belongs to, n will git played by, Chuck. So it gaes.

All in all tho, ahm glad its gawn off to a new home, n ahm glad ah gawt my bare minimum askin price (almost half what its werth new). Ah will miss it though – ah nevah played it, but ah sure did appreciate it. An hour before ah sent it away, ah wrote a song on it (sorta). One that ahve just realized ah can’t actually play on my current 4-string – cuz that one only has 20 frets n ah need 21. 🙁

Goodbye Greenie. It was nevah meant ta be…..

Posted in $, acoustic basses, goodbye geetar, mixed emotions, sold my bass | Leave a comment

News Flash: Health Care sucks

Posted on 23/07/2008 by Severe

Fer those of you who haven’t seen Sicko, health care is lame. A brief background that ah may nevah have typed out:

In sept of 2005 ah overused my hand rite hand (Thas what she said) while werkin at the United States Patent n Trademark Office (as a proofreader – ah really ken spell actually) to tha point whar ah could barely use it. Ah saw a PMRT (Physical/Preventative Medicine and Rehabilitative Therapist) doctor who treated me fer pain w. gizmos like mild electric shock, heat, n ultrasound. This made it feel sorta bettah er a lil while.

Since then this has gawten bettah n then worse n then betta n then worse, etc., until now it pretty much hurts my whole arm/shoulder from time ta time. Weird unhealin n overuse (hello computahs n bass geetars) n compensatin fer injury has screwed up most of my right arm – altho nevah at tha same time. Every day, every hour sometimes, a different part of it hurts – w.o much method it seems. Most disturbin, is sometimes a fingah twitches – most recently these days is tha middle one on my rite hand. This bugs tha FAWK outta me n freaks me out. Since Feb. of this year it has appeared 3 times, most recently this week. Tha last two times it has eventually just kinda disappeared but ah don’t know exactly why.

Ah started yoga n acupuncture n some exercises when ah moved here cuz ah finally had tha time n willpowah. Thangs have gawten much bettah – tha wrist itself rarely bothers me, mostly just pain in otha parts of my arm/shoulder, sporadically. N finally ahve been gittin “proper” medical treatment – gaein thru tha rigamarole of a general practitioner referrin me ta a specialist, who referred me ta hand therapy. Hand therapy is nawt blowin me away – n they want me ta wear a splint at nite. Whatevah, fine. But ahm startin ta think ahm best just daein what ahve been daein n spendin money on a massage from time ta time.

Today my follow up visit to tha specialist was pretty blah. He told me ah definitely have mild (very mild almost) nerve problems in both hands givin me Carpal Tunnel. Most of my pain is nawt actually from that. B/c its mild, he cannot recommend anythang but a splint n hand therapy, but wants me ta nawt fergit about eventually gittin surgery – he guesses ahll need it in 15 er 20 years. Ta stop tha twitchin he recommended Aleve – as an anti-inflammatory. Wonderful.

Tha most obnoxious thang about this is ah needed a day off werk sick ta just git to tha general practitioner fer tha original referral. N b/c ahm in an HMO, ah am stuck to my location – my specialist could only refer me to hand therapy in tha east bay, n my gp could only refer me to a specialist in my group. So ahve been travellin ta oakland durin work hours (thank you sick leave) cuz its tha only place/time ah ken git treatment. If ah switched groups, ahd hafta see my new gp AGAIN, git referred to ANUTHA specialist, n then FINALLY therapy. WHACK!

Excitin stuff, huh? Is this what grownups blog about? How awful ta be growin up – at least ah live in a slummy apartment ta feel young!

Posted in boring, carpal tunnel sydrome, hand therapy, stupid assed hmos | 1 Comment

Mid-July? You are SO full of shite…

Posted on 22/07/2008 by Severe

it’s nawt actually July 21st. Fer one thang, it hasn’t gawten above 60 in a week. Coldest wintah indeed…..

It bein mid-July means that GA was like almost a month ago already n that is just hard ta fathom – it feels like way longah then that.

Ontae otha thangs tho – ahm actually kinda comfortable in my crazy house. Doesn’t mean ahm nawt kinda lookin fer a place ta live that doesn’t have church downstairs every day, er buses gaein past it 24-7, just means that ahm adaptin a bit bettah then ah may have expected. Ah mean, ah still have serious furniture issues (a real dresser n a decent lamp) ah haven’t figured out yet.

Tha boys from that jawbreaker cover band emailed me today – 3 weeks aftah ah last wrote them. Since then ahve seen them repost thar call fer bassist/vocalist at least twice. Bottom line? nawt interested in werkin w. people who don’t follow through. Nawt ta mention at tha last practice tha guitar playah couldn’t play half tha tunes we’d talked about daein (n ah dont mean ta be a snob, but if you don’t know whar whats F n whas F#, ahm nawt sure if we should be werkin togetha). It would’ve been nice, but me n flakes don’t git along too well, so it’s fer tha best.

Today it rained a lil bit, which was especially awesome b/c ah nawt only biked ta werk, but gawt thar n realized ahd left my lunches on my bed. Ah don’t mind payin fer lunch from time ta time, but if ahd let tha poor tupperwares hang out in my hawt room all day, they would’ve gawn bad by tha time ah gawt home (mac n cheeze). So, ah spent my lunch break pedallin back to my house n then back ta werk. Thas about a 9 mile roundtrip. Ah might nawt’ve minded if it wasn’t so grey n cloudy n borderline rainy…..

N ah watched Combat Shock last evenin, a Troma movie from tha mid-80s. This movie is on tha list of “Most disturbing movies ever made” that ah have in some horror movie book from my teenage years – from it ahve learned about such classics as Eraserhead, In a Glass Cage, n Maniac ta name just a few. Combat Shock was nae dissapointment – low-budget of kerse, but incredibly grim n disturbing. Franky is a Vietnam vet who may er may nawt have slaughtered tons of his fellow men (yes, a la Jacobs Ladder, although ah think this is oldah) with an ugly wife n mutated baby (a la Eraserhead, yes), living in run-down NYC where life gets worse every day. It’s convincing in its grimness however, and obviously a labor of love – tha final scene is depressing as hell but hard to turn away from (Although it ends pretty much exactly how you mite think). Fer those who share my appreciation fer twisted art – please give this one a test drive. But ah can’t imagine many actually enjoyin this……

Anyway, ahm home early, nawt gaein ta yoga cuz tha extra bike ride set my whole day off n now ahm grumpy. Hmph. Perhaps ahll make somethang tasty ta make up fer it….

Posted in combat shock, fawked up movies, flakes, nawt july | Leave a comment