Up in San Jose again for another graduation. Drove up with Jordan and Mom on Wednesday and Brian’s graduation was on Thursday in Emeryville. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I love it up here. If it weren’t so damn expensive to live up here I would move.

I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately. Moving out of San Diego. Not cause I don’t like it there, but cause I’d like to get out of town for a bit while I can. I don’t really have anything keeping me in San Diego right now since my job allows me to work from anywhere I have an internet connection. It would be tough for me to move being as though I would miss friends and family, I have a sweet set up living with Jordan and Elvia and I do love it in San Diego. I’ve never lived anywhere other than SoCal and I’d like to see what it’s like elsewhere. You know, get out and see the world so to speak. I think it would be good for me to get into a new “scene” of people, make new friends and all that stuff. I have a lot of friends and with their friends, I know a good amount of people in SD. For me it’s tough to meet people out of this group of people in San Diego, but I feel it will be easier for me in a different town. Especially when you’re the “new kid” in town.

While up here we went to the Lick Observatory which is just East of San Jose. You can see it up on the hill from most of the Bay Area I guess. The drive up there was super cool. Steep hills and windy roads for a good 30-40 minutes. Made me feel like I was driving in the Swiss Alps or something like that. The observatory itself was pretty amazing as it was built in the early 1900’s and has all those little touches that you don’t see in buildings of today. Makes me wonder what people will think in 100 years from now when they look back at the buildings being built today. Will they think they are boring? I think they are. No one really goes into fine detail like they did in the past. I guess the real question is will the buildings still be here in 100 years since most aren’t made as good as they were back in the day.

Tomorrow I fly out of San Jose to Phoenix and then on to Newark, NJ. Tony and I are going out there for some work stuff an we’re staying with some of his family at night and going to New York City during the day. I’ve never been to New York City and I’m really looking forward to it. We’ll have a few hours each day to see a little bit of the city, but not much. I’m cool with that cause it will give me an idea of what to expect for the next time I do go back for an actual vacation and also get me used to how a big subway system works for when we go to Belgium next year for my birthday.

The Kings hockey season starts tonight and it’s about time. I’m ready for some NHL hockey and here’s to the Kings making the playoffs this season. This is the 3rd year of my 5 year prediction that the Kings would win the Stanley Cup. I have a good feeling that I’ll be right. We’ll just have to wait and see now won’t we.

This is going to be more of a photo blog than anything. I’ve been getting everything in my room organized and cleaned up. I go a few months with it one way then get the urge to move it all around.

Last week I got rid of all my old paperwork and filed the current stuff in new bins I got. Today was the vinyl. I’ve had a lot of LPs on the ground and been wanting to do something about it but didn’t have any money to do anything. Now that my finances are in order I got a new shelving unit.

Also got a few frames that wouldn’t have to be custome framed. Got the art on the wall and everything cleaned. So now, on to the photos.

Quadcam:

Anyone know where this is from?:

One corner:

Above the desk:

New vinyl rack:

I have not been keeping up on my updates to this here blog. Not sure how many read it but it will be cool to go back and read it when I’m like 64. I’m gonna start updating on a more consistent basis. Here’s what we got in short:

- Vegas next weekend for Frozen Fury 12, will be our 3rd year.
- Going to see the Reverend Horton Heat and Motorhead in Vegas on the 10th with Sergio.
- Work is awesome and I love it.
- Gonna be selling CDs and LPs at the Pearl Jam show on the 9th for Lou’s.
- I’ve been rocking the gym with Sergio. Lost about 10lbs so far, but looking like I’ve lost more. Means I’m getting ripped.
- Planning a trip to Belgium next year for my big 30.
- Not playing music. Lots of people have been asking me to jam with em, but only one or two sound like fun.
- Pretty much got my finances in order and should be debt free by the end of October.

I’m sure there’s more but I forget all the cool shit. Like I said, I’ll try and document it here rather than Facebook and such.

I don’t remember the last time I went to a big city park to do nothing but lay down and do nothing. Today was a perfect day to do just that. Weather wasn’t perfect, nice blue skies and a slight breeze. We packed up some blankets and headed over to the part of Balboa Park where the inbount jets fly over before touching down at Lindberg Field. It was awesome to just relax with the sounds of the 163 humming in the background. Every few minutes a jet would fly over. I’m gonna have to come and take advantage of this more often.

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.