New Years Resolutions

#1 Cook. A lot. Not just for me, but for Kristin and my friends. Make use of all the fancy new tools at my disposal including the awesome Mandoline I received from Kristin for Xmas. Stop letting hardware or unfamiliar ingredients (hello son, yogurt is meant to be curried bitch) stop this. Goal- a new dish a week. I won't be Harry any time soon (incidentally, click that link. His blog "The View From Here" is awesome.) but baby steps, ya know?

#2 Become a better lead guitar player. I have really fast fingers, and a great knowledge of the fret board but somehow I have not put the work in to develop a real lead style. This will change. Especially now that I have the means to boost my volume for solos and can really showcase myself, if there is something to showcase.

#3 Pick a concrete direction for Scream Bloody Virgin and finish a record. Pardon me I am going to give myself a quick pep talk: You want to go heavier darker and weirder right? Do it. And also, "Exposed" is a great song. I know your heart isn't in the words any more but who cares? Finish fucking writing them. This could be "the one" so just fucking FINISH it asshole!

#4 Re-kindle some old friendships. There are a lot of people who used to be very close in my life who are now acquaintances. This is the cycle of life, and maybe some of these people will just not be my BFFs anymore and that is ok. But that doesn't mean I shouldn't be more aggressive about trying to hang out and putting myself out there. I may not be getting some invitations but there are people out there who may feel the same about me.

#5 Buy an HDTV. Just fucking do it. Seriously. As long as this tooth thing doesn't put me out thousands of dollars just get it. And a PS3. And the Blu Ray version of Blade Runner.

#6 Pick a work out routine. Am I the dude who does cardio at home? Do I need to re-join the rec center? A proper gym? Figure it the fuck out and do something on a regular basis. Seriously.

#7 Lighten the fuck up. Life is pretty awesome right now. Like more awesome than it has been in a long time. While it seemed for a while that 2007 was going be the year of "teh suck" it hasn't been at all. Spend less time worrying about shit, and more appreciating the good. There is a lot of good. Deal with it. And accept you have control over your own destiny? Alright asshole?

PS- Learn Sonar. For reals. Invest in a DVD tutorial. Become a Sonar Jedi.
PPS- What fucking tense is this in? Is this first, second or third person? Learn some fucking grammar, aight?

Vacation part 1 - the roomate is gone

So my vacation is starting to take shape. For the first leg of complete freedom my roomate is away in California. I wanted to create some activities that would take advantage of the silence.

Activity #1: "A food borne illness grows in Brooklyn." Kristin received a frozen turkey as a Thanksgiving gift and a black truffle as an Xmas gift from her work. So we are going to have a full on Xmas dinner this weekend. Turkey is defrosting and by tomorrow night it is getting a brine. Neither of us have cooked a turkey so this is going to be pretty interesting. Definitely going to make a truffled mashed potatoes, and may even baste the turkey in truffle butter. Any other suggestions for truffle oriented sides? I imagine by the time the truffle has run its course I'm going to drop it in olive oil and have an awesome truffle oil for a while.

Activity #2: Demolish what is left of my hearing. I will be recording. A lot. LOUDLY. I want to experiment with both recording live guitars in the studio and using some new mic techniques. Expect some noise up soon.

Twenty Favorite Albums of 2007 (Metal Edition)

In alphabetical order:

Three Inches of Blood - Fire up the Blades
Arch Enemy - Rise of the Tyrant
Austerity Program - Black Madonna
Behemoth - The Apostasy
Big Business - Here Come the Waterworks
Destruction - Thrash Anthems
Devildriver - The Last Kind Words
Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works
Dimmu Borgir - In Sorte Diaboli
Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos
Entombed - Serpent Saints: the Ten Amendments
Helloween - Gambling with the Devil
Iced Earth - Framing Armageddon
King Diamond - Give me your Soul...Please
Megadeth - United Abominations
Nile - Ithyphallic
Sebastian Bach - Angel Down
Symphony X - Paradise Lost
Turisas - Varangian Way
Ulver - Shadows of the Sun

Ten Favorite Albums of 2007 (Non-Metal Edition)

In alphabetical order:

Grinderman - S/T
Jay Z - American Gangster
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Monster Magnet - 4 Way Diablo
Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, are you the Destroyer?
Public Enemy- How do you Sell Soul...
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
Saul Williams - The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust
Thurston Moore - Trees Outside the Academy

Best of 2007 - live shows

I went to a lot of shows this year, and thought it would be fun to acknowledge, in no particular order, some memorable moments...

Best show seen from the "front row":
3 way tie between Mudhoney@Music Hall of Williamsburg, Melvins/Big Business@Irving Plaza, Dream Theater@PNC Bank Arts Center

Best show seen from the top row:
Heaven and Hell (first time)@Radio City Music Hall

Best band seen three times in 2007: Heaven and Hell

Biggest disappointment: 2 way tie between Boredoms with 77 Drummers and Jesus & Mary Chain@Webster Hall

Biggest regret of the two tickets I had to eat in 2007: Testament@The Chance in Poughkeepsie

Band I most expected to suck but were totally awesome: Art Brut@Bowery Ballroom

Over-hyped show that did not live up to expectation but was still pretty good: 2 way tie between Sonic Youth playing Daydream Nation@McCarren Park Pool and Daft Punk@Keyspan Park

Best example of a band being better as an opening act than a headliner: Two way tie between Megadeth@PNC and Celtic Frost@Irving Plaza

Best band I never expected to have the opportunity to see: Hawkwind@Europa

Steve Vai@Irving Plaza or Joe Satriani@Gramercy ? Both were much better and more enjoyable than expected, but Joe Satriani edges into the lead for being so damn personable and keeping the show fast paced and rocking. Minimal wanking FTW.

Megadeth@PNC or Megadeth@Irving Plaza? Megadeth at PNC for sure.

Dream Theater@PNC or Dream Theater@Jones Beach: Dead even draw. The set list was much better at Jones Beach but lining my beers up on stage next to John Petrucci at PNC was a unique thrill.

Best sounding show: Placebo@Roseland

Best example of old people "getting it": Rush@PNC

Best example of old people not "getting it": UNCLE TED!

Best show where I felt really bad for the performer on stage: Qui (David Yow)@Mercury Lounge

Best show of 2007: Sebadoh@Webster Hall for being so awful that I decided to go to Vince's party to blow off some steam. And ended up meeting Kristin.

Even more updated concert schedule

12/9 Air Supply
12/16 Dillinger Escape Plan
12/18 Gods of Fire at Club Midway (with Punk Metal Karaoke)
12/21 Twisted Sister
2/1 Supersuckers
2/17 School of Rock with Gibby Haynes performing an evening of Butthole Surfers!!
3/14 IRON MAIDEN!!!!!!
3/17 Van Halen
5/1 Ministry w/Meshuggah
6/20 The Cure

RIP Karlheinz Stockhausen

True tales of the Steve

Steve Albini facts can be found here

They all sound reasonable so I believe each and every one is true.