Here’s my list of music from 2008 that I dug the most.

Big Elf - Cheat The Gallows
I had been told about these guys in the past, but never listened to them cause I thought they were a Turbonegro rip off. Got a promo of it and was pleased with the over the top opening song. Full of circus noises and such. They are just super heavy and over the top theatrical sound. And not in a Meat Loaf way. I want to get the rest of their stuff now cause I really dig this album.

Black Diamond Heavies - A Touch Of Someone Else’s Class
Got this as a promo and threw it on cause i like pretty much everything from the Alive Recordings label. It’s 2 guys playing drums and organ. It’s recorded really shitty and that’s why I like it. Everything is distorted and blown out just the way it should be. It’s got a little bit of blues, garage and sole in the music. Singer Reverent James Leg sounds like he’s smoked 10 packs a day since he was a kid.

Black Keys - Attack & Release
I like the Black Keys, but when this album came out I refused to buy it cause it is produced by Danger Mouse. I hate when bands get together with Hip Hop producers or pop production teams. Just look what happened to the Mooney Suzuki when they worked with the Matrix guys. The band sucks now and I don’t like any of their new stuff. When a band can write great music on their own the label needs to let them do what they do and not force these pairings just to make a bunch of quick money. Danger Mouse is rad on his own or with Gnarles Barkley, but I didn’t want him fucking up a band I liked. I finally broke down and listened to the album, and it’s rad. You hear only slight tweakings from Danger Mouse in the production and he didn’t try and make it this huge epic commercial release. I would be stoked if these guys worked together again in the future.

Blood Ceremony - S/T
Metal from Canada with a female singer who play flute. WTF!?!?! Flute in a metal band? Yeah, it works perfect and the album is fucking rad. Go buy it right now.

The Bronx - The Bronx III
Third self titled album from The Bronx. Same hard hitting rock as the last 2 albums. First album with Kenny from the Dragons on guitar. Little more rock than punk on this album but it’s another solid release from the band. First track kinda sounds like “Bring Us Bullets” by RFTC but that’s cool.

Delta Spirit - Ode To Sunshine
Ok, so this album was released in 2007 I believe, but it got re-released on Rounder Records so I still think of it as being released in 2008. Would talk with John from the band at Lou’s all the time but never listened to the band. I always thought they were another indie band that came from San Diego. Then they did an in-store and was pretty pleased with how they sounded. The funny thing about this album was in February of this year I was in Nashville in a bar drinking some beer when a DJ showed up. Once he got all settled in the first track he played was “Trashcan” and I was like, “WTF?!?! Really?” Congrats go out to the guy cause they are all super good guys.

Eagles Of Death Metal - Heart On
At first I was a little disappointing with this album. Not really sure why, maybe it was I was looking for it to blow me away from the first listen? Maybe there was lots of hype about how great it was going to be? Who knows, but I was bummed. Then after listening to it for a week straight I realized that I loved the album. It’s pretty solid from start to finish. Nothing as good as Peace, Love, Death Metal, but if I expect any band to come out with a better album than the one that got me into them I would hate any and all music and would think ever band sucked. This is a different album from the other two the writing style has evolved. You still have the steady back beat held down by Baby Duck and the almost too simple guitar parts from Boots, but the little filler parts add to this album.

Eli “Paperboy” Reed - Roll With You
Jack, our WEA rep at Lou’s, picked up this album cause he heard it was pretty good. So I decided to check it out as well to see if it was any good. It’s old school R&B/Soul through and through. Great sound, great players and strong vocals. Great to listen to when driving down the coast of California on a sunny day.

Flight of the Conchords - S/T
Another album I refused to listen to cause I felt they were trying to be the new Tenacious D. I remember seeing Jemaine doing Outback Steakhouse commercial and thought it was weird that Flight of the Conchords are from New Zealand and I thought there was a riff between folks from Australia and New Zealand? Anyway, I never saw the show and this is pretty much the soundtrack for the show. On release date someone played it in the store and it was pretty damn funny. Ended up listening to it a bunch in the store and I finally ended up buying it.

Gutter Twins - Saturnalia
Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan are the Gutter Twins. I had been waiting for some time for this album. When they first announced that they were doing a project together I was stoked then they said it wouldn’t be out for some time. Afghan Whigs and Screaming Trees are 2 of my all time favorite bands cause they are kinda dark and both Greg and Mark have powerful voices. There are some tracks that sound like they could of been Afghan Whigs or Screaming Trees tracks just freshened up. Got to see em live as well and they sound just as rad live as they do on record.

Hank Williams III - Damn Right, Rebel Proud
He didn’t want to do another country album, but the label made em. Same crazy country rebel sound that Hank III is known for and that ain’t a bad thing at all. Start off with a song calling out the Grand Ole Opry which you shouldn’t really do if you’re a Country musician. You get the twang and the traditional Country Music sound on this album as well as the Hellabilly sound. It’s a perfect mix of all his styles of music. That’s Hank III’s specialty, the fact he can bring so many types of Country Music fans of all ages together. Long Hauls And Close Calls is probably my favorite song on the album.

The Hellacopters - Head Off
The final album from the Hellacopters. After listening to the album for a couple weeks I found out they were all covers. Funny cause the songs sounded so much like Hellacopters songs that I didn’t even bother seeing who wrote the songs cause I figured they did. They also released the album as a deluxe edition that came with a patch, button and had a bonus track that was a thin layer of vinyl on the top of the CD. Yeah, you put the CD on your record player and put the needle down on it. Not the best sounding LP I’ve ever heard cause the layer of vinyl is so damn small. Cool concept, but I doubt it will ever take off. I only played that song once so I could record it to my computer and then never have to play the vinyl side again. Bummer the band is no longer around cause they knew how to rock.

More to come later.

I stole this from the internets:

Ok, imagine your life is a movie - what songs would be in it? To find out, here’s how it works:

1. Open your library (iTunes, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that’s playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button

Opening Credits :
Martin Denny - Forbidden Island

Waking Up :
Little Walter - Hate To See You Go (Single Version)

First Day of School :
Os Haxixins - Davi & Seus Lirios

Falling in Love :
Elvis - Tomorrow Is A Long Time

Fight Song :
The Vaselines - Bitch

Prom :
Marc Ribot & Los Cubanos Postizos - Aqui Como Alla

Life :
Wheely McSidewalk & The Ball Bearings - Funky Beat

Mental Breakdown :
Mono Men - Scotch

Driving :
Squarepusher - Port Rhombus

Flashback :
High On Fire - Thraft of Caanan

Getting Back Together :
Pearl Jam - World Wide Suicide

Losing Your Virginity :
Chet Atkins & Les Paul - Caravan

Wedding :
The Black Angels - Science Killer

Birth of Child :
AC/DC - Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be

Final Battle :
Rocket From The Crypt - Dumb Blind And Horny

Death Scene :
Roky Erickson - I Have Always Been Here Before

Funeral Song:
Orquesta Del Desierto - Reaching Out

End Credits :
Faith No More - The Real Thing

Up in San Jose for my aunt’s graduation from SJSU. It’s pretty damn nice up here. I could see myself living up here, but at the same time don’t see myself ever moving up here. Then again you never know what could happen and I might end up here.

I’ve been coming up here ever so often since I was a kid cause my Mom’s side of the family lives up here. Never really did anything up here except hang out at family house and such so I guess I can’t really judge the area as a whole. What I’ve seen of it I like.

In my life I’ve thought about picking up and moving somewhere that I know no one or at least very few people to just start over. Have not had the chance to do this because of school, work, band and other things. Now, I have a job that lets me work pretty much anywhere there is wifi. Don’t get me wrong I love where I live and the people I have in my life, but sometimes you need some things to change..

With my current job I’ve been to a bunch of different cities and met quite a few cool people. Makes me want to get out and see more as well as do more. Get out of my comfort zone and not let things tie me down. Would love to do music more, but dont feel playing music is my calling. We’ll see what happens the rest of this year and go from there.

*man, this post is super deep man. Wwooohhh*

So it’s been a while since I last updated. Been a bit busy with the site I’m now working on. You can see a sneak peek in the image i posted. So far everything is on track to meet the launch this Friday. We had the site pretty much done when I did my last update, but never had a launch date. We also didn’t really have an idea how we were going to market this site or anything like that. It was going to be done how we normally do things in the world of Indie Record Stores, from the store level out. This would have meant it would of taken a little while to get it off the ground, but it still would of done pretty well if you ask me. A few weeks back we signed on this PR guy named Chris Parker and he went through and created an entire brand for not just the site, but Indie Record Stores as a whole. We had to completely re-dress the site in about a month but we got it done and now I can’t wait to launch this sucker. I can’t wait to see the response to the new design and new branding of the site.

In non-work related stuff, I’ve been busy, but not in the work sort of way. I went to Vegas for the Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekender. That was pretty out of control with a bunch of “doucheabilly” folks getting all drunk and crazy in Vegas. Just how I like it. This all went down at the Orleans, but I stayed at the Tropicana. Was nice to get away from the chaos at the end of the night, but did kinda suck having to get a cab all the time. The only draw back of the trip was being in Vegas for 4 days. Anything more than 2 is too much in my opinion. The best part of the trip was my buddy Megan drove out Saturday morning and we ran around Vegas till 6 Sunday morning. Got 3 hours of sleep and i ditched out on my flight home and drove with her back. That made the entire weekend. Ohh shit, i forgot about the tiki bar. Frankie’s Tiki Room is the best. I’m going there every time I go to Vegas and so should you.

Went to LA for Geri’s birthday and what an awesome time we had. Jase and Geri can down for a Belgian Beer Fest at Pizza Port in Carlsbad which was fargin awesome. Was such a great weekend all around. They then came back down for a Thee Corsairs show. That’s right, we played a show after a year of not doing anything. We opened for The Head Cat which features Lemmy from Motorhead and Slim Jim Phantom of the Stray Cats. Another amazing time with the Rex’s. This weekend we meet up with them again for a weekend at the Disneyland Resort for Jordan’s birthday. We’re gonna rock DCA on Saturday and then Disneyland on Sunday. I already know it’s going to be a crazy/fun weekend cause of the folks that are gonna be there.

Ok, i should get back to working on the site. Only got a few more days till launch.

So here I am on a flight to Nashville for work. Tony and I have to present the digital store to both CIMS and AIMS since they are the stores we represent. It’s gonna be nice to be away from home for a while even though I’ll be working most of the time. It’s rad cause we get to take a tour of one of the biggest record pressing plants in the US. I’ve always wanted to see records being made. I think that is going to be the highlight of the trip.

While one Nashville I’m gonna get to check out the store Grimey’s which I’ve wanted to ever since Metallica did an instore there about a year ago. Will also be getting to have dinner with my buddy Paul. He’s the drummer for the Reverend Horton Heat and he lives in Nashville. I have family here as well but I didn’t tell em I was coming. Before you call me a dick for not telling them, I’ve got work to do and networking to do as well so I wouldn’t have time to hangout with them anyways. If I had time I would hang out with them for sure, but I don’t.

Last night went to see Danzig at HOB. They had a no cell phone rule which is lame. They don’t even get service down there and the photo quality on phones sucks so what’s the point of not letting people take em? Anyway, Danzig was pretty cool. Exactly like I expected one of his shows to be like. WAY over the top and way “metal” if you know what I mean.

Ok, were just about the get to Nashville so time to turn off the ol’ iphone. I’ll try and do some blog posting while out and about in Nashville. If anything I will have updates on my facebook and twitter accounts so check those out if you know where they are.

So I’ve not taken the train for a few weeks now so I guess I’ll have to change these to my weekly gym update. I started going to 24 Hour fitness with Sergio, Aaron, and their buddy Mark to get in shape so I can start playing hockey again. The first few days were a bit tough cause it’s been so damn long since I have done any sort of physical activity. After a week of going I had to miss a few days which sucked.

The reason for missing the gym didn’t suck though. The Murder City Devils went on tour after not doing so for like 8 years or something like that. So a bunch of us from San Diego went up and saw them in Pomona at the Glass House. Even though it had been a while since they had played they still ripped it up big time. I have no idea what it is they have, but they have it. So many of my favorite bands had it, but lost it. Maybe the time off was good for them? Who knows but they kicked ass. I was bummed I was going to miss their 2 shows in LA, but then Aaron decided he didn’t want to go to the first of two LA shows so I bought his ticket off em. I thought the first show was good but damn, the LA show was amazing. So much energy from the crowd. Was so glad I got to go see them not once but twice.

Next day I went to Disneyland with my friend Ana cause it was her birthday and she got in for free. I got an annual pass so it was pretty much free for me as well. It’s great going there and not having to worry about getting on all the rides and everything. I’m glad I got my annual pass again cause I get to go whenever and it’s gonna be a chill day. I like those. After Disneyland Ana and I went up to LA for day 3 of MCD. I got to go to that show for fee cause a buddy of mine hooked me up so I felt obligated to buy a shirt even though I had already got a shirt at the first show and hoodie at the second one.

Next week I go to Nashville for a work conference. The hotel better have a gym so I can ride the bike every day for a little while. I like the gym cause I get to hang out with friends while going through the workout. Much better than doing it all on your own. Keeps each other motivated.

- going to the gym is more fun than I thought it would be.

- I think eating better will be pretty easy.

- I love how I now love the things I used to hate

- North Park looks so different now.

- I still don’t understand body language and actions and I will never understand the opposite sex, then again, I should just tell em how I feel. Just hate the fear of rejection.

-I still have no clue what others think of me, not that I should really let it bother me.

- busy month. Murder city next week, as well as the reverend then off to Nashville.

- can’t wait till Viva.

- I love hockey and I love the kings.

More later….

So this week I didn’t take the train all week long. It was kind of nice having my freedom to drive around when I got to Oceanside as well as have the chance to do what ever I wanted on the way home. Then again there was something missing this week. Maybe I like the train to much? This coming week I was going to start going to the gym with Sergio and Aaron so I wanted to see how traffic and such would be and also see how the getting ready times would work at home. Everything seemed to work out just fine so I was all ready to get the gym membership until I did something to my finger. Could be broken or I just jammed it somehow. Today it feels much better than it did the other day, but I’m still going to the Dr tomorrow to see what it was.

Went to Riviera with Megan, Mike and Jolene. It was super packed there and the wait was one and a half to two hours unless we could find something in the bar. There were what looked to be a couple empty tables, one had a plate and half a drink and the other had one person sitting there talking to people standing up. Jolene checked one and Megan checked the other. One table the people were just at the grill and the other the folks were just sitting there while their table was being set up so they let us have the table. SWEET. Of course the food was great and the drinks were mixed perfectly. I fucking love this place and more than the Turf. There is just something about the Riviera that I like and it’s had to pin-point it.

At dinner I was convinced by everyone that I should go to Viva Las Vegas in April. They all said it’s nothing but fun and I had always wanted to go, but not by myself. So I went online to book my stuff and the hotel it’s at is completely booked and I’m not sure I want to go if I have to stay at another hotel. Then I say to myself, It’s Vegas and everything is close so why not get a good deal somewhere else and then take a cab to the show. So that’s exactly what I did. I got a pretty sweet deal from Travelocity and I’m staying at the Tropicana and I’m kinda pleased about that. If I wanna get away from the crazyness at the Orleans I can go back to my hotel and play some video poker or something. Can’t wait for that to come up now, the only bummer is I’m gonna have to miss Turbonegro I think cause they play the following weekend in San Francisco. I’ll figure something out. HAHAH

So, here it is Tuesday and I’m on the train again. I don’t remember where I left off last week so I hope I don’t double up on anything. Friday I went to the Fish Joint in O’side with my friend Megan. I had not been there since like a week after it opened maybe 5 years ago or so. Really good sushi and way more options since I can remember from last time. Can’t wait to plan a trip there with Toby and Adrian. Soon my friend, soon.

After that I went down to 2 Roses Tattoo to watch a skating video called “From deathbowl to downtown” followed by the Creepy Creeps playing live. The movie was pretty rad cause it showed the transition from freestyle skateboarding into what we know now. Never realized New York had such an impact on street skating. Normally when you think skating you think SoCal. This movie is kinda like the Dogtown and Z boys for the current generation. The Creeps played a blistering set as they normally do, but I do have to admit it was kinda weird seeing them play an all ages show. Ran into my other friend Megan, what is it with me knowing so many people with the same name, her roommate and Rayna. was good to see them all there.

My buddy Drew is doing some tattooing now and she needed to practice on some people since practice makes perfect. So on Saturday I went down to Flesh Skin Grafix in IB and got a tattoo. Of course it’s pirate themed since that’s kind of my thing. Turned out pretty sweet and I’ll have her tattoo on me again for sure. The rest of the night I just worked on getting the rest of my cd collection onto my computer. It’s taking me forever to get this done. I’m halfway do so there is an end in sight even though it’s way off I’m the distance. We also watched the NHL skill competition which is crazy. I don’t think I would want to be in front of a 105.4mph slap shot no matter how much padding I had on.

Sunday Jordan, Elvia and I went to the farmers market by out house and got some stuff. I wanna go again this week and get some more of the garlic stuffed olives we got. Why is it things you hated when you were young you end up loving as an adult, but most of the stuff you loved as a kid you still love today? When we got back I did some more burning of my CDs to my computer while I did a little moving around in my room. I have to tidy up everything every few weeks cause I can’t stand things being one way for too long. Maybe I have a slight case of OCD but it only applies to my room/desk/work space. Linda weird.

Yesterday I worked on getting music added to Think Indie since were almost ready to launch. I sooooo can’t wait to launch the site. There is always reservations when launching a new site, but with this one I got a real good feeling about it. Not sure why but I do. I mean, we’re not tying to take down iTunes cause that’s not going to happen, we’re just giving indie record stores a chance to provide high quality mp3 to their customers since downloads is a new viable format. If it does real well and we do well it will be an added bonus.

This weekend is Magic Mountain for Spencer’s birthday. Haven’t been there I’m forever. I’m really looking forward to hanging out with friends at MM.

Have you seen the show Biggest Tool on tv? It’s pretty funny that there is a show about girls that have tools for boyfriends and that they have to tell em they are a tool by bringing them on a tv show. Haha. Fargin tools.

I’m extremely tired right now cause I went and saw 3 Mile Pilot last night at the Casbah. If there was one band from back in the early 90s that I never saw but always wanted to I was them. When I heard they were playing at the Touch & Go party out in Chicago I was bummed I couldn’t go. Then the Casbah had their 20th anniversary and sure enough 3MP was on the list of band to play. What made one of the show better than the others is that Physics was also playing. I have no idea the last time I saw them, but I for sure wanted to see em again. Didn’t get home till super late and now
I’m on the train to work. It’s gonna be an early night for me tonight that’s for sure. Fuck, I got gnarley heartburn from the La Posta rolled tacos at 2 in the morning. Got to stop doing that.

Last week I went to Disneyland with my friends Juan and Danielle who were on their “honeymoon” and by that I mean they were supposed to be but got sent out of Fiji cause of bad weather. Rather than go back to Minneapolis where it was -20 and covered in snow, they came to SoCal to visit with family and friends. When Danielle comes out to visit we have to go to disneyland and that’s exactly what we did. I got my annual pass again cause I could and cause I wanna go back as often as I can this year.

On Saturday I’m getting tattooed again. Have no clue what I’m getting though. My friend Drew needed some people to practice on so I signed up. Told her I wanted to get what ever was more challanging to her as she’s got to practice and I got enough skin open for her to work on. I’ll post a picture some time next week while I’m on the train again.