CDL School: Day 2

Monday I started CDL classes with Tri-C (Cuyahoga Community College), the real name of the school is the RTI or Regional Transportation Institute, sounds fancy don't it? It is sorta fancy: Big red trucks, instructors with 3 millions road miles, big screen LCD monitors, LOTS of videos - heh. My primary instructor used to drive the double Decker buses in London...and he drove HazMat Tank here in the USA. Today the class 'next to mine' (they are a couple few weeks ahead of us) went to test for CDL today and ... whadayya know .. they ALL failed!!!! Yep, they all failed. And in fact, two of the three of them didn't even make it off the skill's pad for the OTR section of the test. Sigh. I have heard my instructor say they are hoping that MY class will be the first to have all the students pass the CDL tests the FIRST time we try, ok, whatever. I have never even been IN a truck before...ever. But I am feeling confident.....my first few days in the Big Red Truck (with a ten speed manual transmission) will be telling. More later...oh, my site is back up, steve2.net..ok bye.

"Paul's Boutique" - Beastie Boys 1988-89

Wow, I guess I am a little slow, I took me all these years to really tune into this album. Only recently have I had an understanding of what it means to use samples in the making of an acoustic artwork. Anyhow I am listening to it now, over and over again, in an effort to really get at the artistry of this fine piece of werk.

Here is a lyrical analysis with sample notes:
http://beastieboysannotated.com/paul.htm#HighPlainsDrifter

Here is the Wicki entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul%27s_Boutique

The Job: Funny!

More Cleveland Bands for Consideration

I am listening to Cleveland Bands this morning while I work to Organize My Life Into More Managable Piles. (Pssst: I am adding links to music over there =>) I like The Very Knees, hmmmmm, and I went there from the Dreadful Yawns, and then over to Hobo Monk. The Yawns are mellow groovy, the Afternoon Naps sound cutesy. Maybe I need to go out and hear more Cleveland bands? LIke, in an effort to join one as bass player?? After all, I HAVE a bass and I can PLAY IT too - so there it is then.

Very Cool Music: William Orbit

I have been looking at the 'it' list over at Wimpyplayer just diggin' round there for what I think of as the coolest music webs and they have this link to William Orbit - here is the wiki link for more - really a great little site, tight and fast, informative and to the point, great photos, with really kickin free tunes (this guy produced Madonna and Pink among others).

My Cellphone Camera is Broken!! BooHoo!!!

All of the photos I have posted in this blog and in my website have been taken with my 2mega pixel cell phone camera and I really don't think anything can be done with a malfunctioning camera cell phone, I had it explained to me once that a cellphone will slowly 'cook' its Operating System with it's own emission of microwaves - sounds plausible. So, does that mean my cell phone is slowly cooking my brain? Will my brain eventually break down due to microwave exposure?? Scary.

Tarp money? What TARP money??

The gov gave (or loaned I am not clear on that detail) 45 BILLION dollars in taxpayers TARP money to CitiGroup (C) not to awfully long ago and, look, today the stock is below 5 bucks a share and dropping as the bank appears to be on the verge of breaking up. Hmmmm, so is that what the 700 BILLION bucks in TARP money is supposed to do, disappear into the deep dark recesses of failing banks, maybe never to be seen again?? I understood it was meant to loosen up the lending/credit markets....so when does that part of the deal kick in?? What's really going on here, did the taxpaying public just let 45 BILLION bucks disappear into a toilet? Damn.

Oh my it's Jessica Lea Mayfield .... all around

Jessica Lea Mayfield continues her efforts at World Domination in category Acoustic Guitar Slinger Songwriter .... and she may yet succeed beyond anyones wildest imagination, who knows. Here she is in a very keen video taken somewhere nice in Amersterdam gee, neato. And check out the sound of that guitar pickup, good huh, I like her sparkly eye makeup. Sigh :)

popcorn

The Detroit Theatre in Lakewood Ohio is now a First Run movie house, maybe you didn't know that. Thankfully, Yes Man is leaving by this Friday to be replaced by something for girlies. Hmmmm, more later.

Metallica

I got Death Magnetic from the library tonite, not sure yet what I think, its very strong, like straight whiskey, I been listening to allot of these guys recently, the Ride The Lightening sessions and the Re-Load album, I really dig it, do you dig?

The Formula, Dandy Warhols, Moby, Cold!!

I re-visited Tim Fry's Formula MySpace page tonight - to give yet another listen to the new recordings - and I see he lists the Dandy Warhols as a friend! Wow, cool, and now that I see it, I understand the connection, I wonder how long Tim and his gang have been listening to the Dandy's? Courtney Taylor used to play drums in Neros Rome, another PDX outfit from waaay out of the past, man, I never thought much of them at all, but they were popular, I guess. A rare example of a talented drummer re-inventing himself as a guitar slinger vocalist song writer and fronting a success full band. Anyway, in my humble opinion, The Formula leans slightly more towards Roky Erickson than they do the Velvet Underground or Lou Reed, but again, the connection has been made. For some reason, these clicks led me over to Moby's MySpace page and as I write this I am listening to the big wonderful arrangements that he composes, I have been listening to PLAY a whole bunch lately, my daughter likes it too. Anyhow, I am gonna go to bed, its soooo cooooold in my place, brrrrr. If you read this, please visit my web page, thanks, there is some new stuff up.

The Best MySpace Pages (Musicians and Music)

I really don't care much for MySpace. I was booted off in about 2005 or 2006 (somewhere in there) for no reason that I could ever determine, and anyway, I have always felt that most of the pages are ugly and or boorish. The only pages I give a hoot about are the pages that represent musicians and the musicians that I like .... and the free music rules OK (like the Dandy Warhol's used to rule OK). Anyway .... the best layout I have EVER seen EVER for a MySpace page now officially belongs to Cleveland's own KICKDRUMS, it's just, gosh, awe inspiring - head and shoulders above anything else I have ever seen. So just tonite I am putting them at the number one spot...here is my hot list:

1.) The KickDrums - Outstanding layout, clean sharp songsmanship. I liked IDIOT SAVANT right away when I heard it. They give it away as a download, looks like they give away loads of Dloads. This layout just shocked me with its sweet ass animation and clarity of concept.

2.) Jessica Lea Mayfield - Only a pretty good layout, nice CD ad header at the top, overall a distant second for layout. The only reason I put her second is that I really like these free recordings, and this is the girl who used to be Chitllin. Seemingly her tour schedule has been taking her everywhere and she is in tite with the Black Keys . (Note: Jessica and KickDrums have close to the same number of profile views 233,848 and 246,880 respectively. The Black Keys have MILLIONs more hits than either one of these two artists at 2,813,390)

3.) Tim Fry and The Formula - I am putting Tim's project in here at third because I just listened to the posted recordings tonite and I find satisfying large roomy retro grooves and attractive breadth, appropriately and softly surfish with that guitar and those lyrics wrapping themselves around the theme. (The Formula has 29,474 profile views)

4.) Megapuss - Yeah, this is fun musical stuff, arty enough that it might take you a listen or three to dig/get it. This is Devendra Banhart and all his pals, I found him while surfing for Natalie Portman, this guy was her dude for awhile, I can see why, and I just watched some Star Wars a few days ago, it all fits together, right? Nothing special about the layout here, it's really almost too wide, but features a cool BIG bw picture. If you go to the Megapuss website you can download the lovely PDF document that goes with the album. (Megapuss has 132,357 profile views)

5.) John Fegy - Hmmm, John has upped the ante in regards to the listenability of both his voice and his recordings, he spent time on these and they sound all spiffy studio perfection: These songs are dressed up for a night at a five star restaurant. Layout is good, the most basic kind of good. John has posted some video to this page, and he lets us know what is gwink on with him, apparently he is getting all smarted and networked up at school and landed a job in, uhm, Antarctica. (John is currently showing 12,634 profile views)


6.) Alan Medej - I have liked and continue to enjoy Alan's recordings, even if his profile layout clearly illustrates the I Have A Way Too Wide MySpace page concept. (Alan is showing 18,497 views)

Ok, enough for now.

I claim no prize...yet

X-Rays from peeling sticky tape. Cool!

This video is sweet, that is - if your into this kind of thing. Just before you watch this hearken back to the days when you were a child and you went to bed at night in your fresh, clean, dry flannel pajamas.....nothing? Granted when I was a boy going to bed in my flannel jams I was living in the great state of CA where, during the summers, it was hot and dry. So, what happened? Under the covers?? Uhm, gee I can't imagine anyone not having had the experience of creating giant sparky flashes - bolts really - of static electricity with their flannel PJ'S!! It's just a very vivid memory for me, really, I remember creating HUGE flashes of PJ lightening!! HA!!! Seriously, that fascination stays with me...I love cosmic rays...and lightening...and cloud chambers...and scintilators...and..gieger counters, and electrons, and lots of electrical things. So if your into that kind of thing you will really dig this video!

Lehman joins the Dead Financial Dinosaurs Club

Lehman joins the Dead Financial Dinosaurs Club: Lehman Brothers (LEH) has gone the way of the dinosaurs, joining Bear Stears and Freddie and Fannie in the financial graveyard of Catastrophically Lost Causes. Is it even worth noting that this is the single LARGEST bankruptcy in the history of the USA? 690 something billion dollars, according to CNBC, yeah, six times more than World Com, the only other bankruptcy that even comes close to Lehman in terms of dollar impact. And, whew, dig this analyst Nouriel Roubini, economics professor at NYU's Stern School, he is ALL OVER THE NEWS, and he is a super harsh BEAR, bashing EVERY FINANCIAL OUTFIT known to man, he says things are just starting to get BAD, and its going to get worse, he says, nonchalantly, that even Goldman Sacks (GS) may fall. And now we have AIG (AIG) seeking cash, stock crashing, and who is going to give em cash? Looks like the gov will give them a huge 85 Billion Dollar Loan....now that's a jumbo sized loan!

The LHC is coming....run for your LIFE!! Agh!

The LHC is coming....run for your LIFE!! Agh! The Large Hadron Collider is supposed to be coming up to speed and will be 'online' Wed. Sept. 10 2008 ... I have read there is a possibility that bringing this thing up to energy may end the world, something about it producing dangerous tiny black holes, that might grow and engulf the world ... oooh sounds refreshing ..... here is MSU's Kate McAlpine showing off with her somewhat infamous Large Hadron Rap... Hmm, this is a pretty cool little ditty. At any rate, I am sure the fact of this thing coming online is VERY exciting to all the graduate students involved in the project, and you can follow some of that excitement (if your inclined) over at this ATLAS control room... and at the ATLAS home page

Frances Bean Cobain at 15

Oooh, looks like F. B. Cobain has grown into a well dressed, high heeled, high fashion model. Fascinating. She looks terrific - I hope she can hang onto the ropes REALLY tight, you know what I mean, uhm, off balance behavior runs in her family tree....I am a huge Nirvana fan and I had almost completely forgotten about Frances...and now here she is....my own daughter is only a few years younger than the Bean and also born in Seattle...when I lived in Seattle and worked as a tour guide for Argosy Cruises I always made a point to mention to the cruisers to look for the house (among the many similiar looking huge mansions) just above and along the shore of lake Washington where Curdt had blown his brains out...it always seemed important to mention the house as we floated along past it...strangely, I never did visit the house myself, or Curts park, however, I will always remember the front page of the morning paper the day after Kurdt's body was discovered.

Lil Links Jungle

Lil Links Jungle!

Lil Links Abandoned

Lil Links Abandoned

Lil Links gone Wild

What happened to Lil Links?