It's been a long time since I'd posted anything here. I forgot how much I like this site, actually. Still smooth and effective with good readin'. Looks good on an iPad, too, which is where I read most blog-type-stuff.

Anyhow, I've been working with a new local band, American Stories. We'll be releasing a record soon to the usual non-existent fanfare that local bands get. Still, it's going to be a good record and I hope people enjoy it.

We had the good fortune to have friends from "Nickel City Blend" film a recent rehearsal. They're posting them as videos and I think they sound pretty good for straight-from-board rehearsals.

Nickel City Blend does mostly hip hop videos. So, I think it was especially cool of them to branch out and take interest in our little indie/americana/whatever rock band. (Whatever you want to call it, it isn't hip hop. It's far from it.)

Without further ado, here's the videos.

Here's one called "Little Bird":


and here's another called "Occupy My Heart":


If you enjoy this kind of music, awesome. I hope you'll follow us on the interwebs and such and maybe come to a show. We make the twitter noises at @AmerStories.

Every month or so, you can catch us playing a free show at Ulrich's tavern downtown. It's a lot of fun and still unbeknownst to many a hipster.

Anyhow, glad to see estrip still alive and kicking. Leave comments, for I like the validation!

About 2 weeks ago, I got an email from an old friend, Bob Fera. Bob and I go way back. I played bass with his band for a few years, wrote songs with Bob, recorded a record or two. Needless to say, I love Bob like a brother. A brother I hadn't really heard from in a decade.

Here's the backstory...

About 10 years ago, I'd quit his band. Just showed up at practice and said "Sorry guys, I'm done."

I just wanted to play different stuff, was fresh out of college, broke, lost my parents, and just needed a change in my life. It was a bit of a dick move at the time, but people quit bands. It happens all the time. Bob was not happy, but accepted it. After that, we hardly spoke.

So, a decade went bye. I got a job, played in other bands, recorded my own stuff (some good, some not so good), and generally moved on. Life's been, well, pretty good lately. I could complain about a few things, but compared to my 20's, my 30's have been a breeze.

About Bob Fera's music:

I think Bob's voice is unparalleled. Just about everyone who sees him does. The man can sing. Unfortunately, he's never gotten the acclaim I really believe he deserves, not only as a singer, but as a songwriter. Bob's songs are simple, catchy, honest, and full of heart. The fact that his voice is so perfect sometimes distracts the listener from hearing how damned good the song itself is.

Here's an example... I was at his gig last weekend at the Tudor Lounge and shot this video:


Please excuse the cheesy video cross-cuts, I was covering up for my poor iphone camera skills, beer spills, etc. In the end, I tried to make the footage fit the song (titled "Just another mile...") and cut out my thumb on the lens!

Here's another track that I'd recorded with Bob back in the 90's. (The man can sing, but the song itself is pretty excellent..)

::DOWNLOAD SOUND::

Anyhow, seeing Bob perform this past weekend highlighted (for me) how important Bob should be on the buffalo scene. More people should hear his music. Seeing Bob light up a stage is something we need to see more of.

So... why did Bobby email me 2 weeks ago? Well, Bob asked me to come back and play bass with him again. He's moving the current bassist (Nate) over to the piano.

Of course, I said "yes". Bob's making some of the best music in town and I am excited to be a part of it. More importantly, I'm even more ecstatic that I'll be seeing my old friend a lot more.

The "Double Rainbow" video. If you haven't seen it, you will... it's everywhere.

I've seen several articles talking about how this simple little video of a guy going bananas over a rainbow has gone, well, bananas since Jimmy Kimmel tweeted it on the 4th of July.

Most of these articles I see focus on one of two things:

1. The speedy rise of the video's popularity (6 million views as of my typing this...)
2. The guy... Paul Vasquez (aka "Hungry Bear") and the fact that news outlets are calling him.

To me, that's the wrong side of the story. Very few writers are focusing on WHY this video is so popular. Why do people watch it over and over?

In this case, yes, the video's kind of funny, but I think this one's more than just that. What I believe attracts people to this video is the joy. This man is not faking it. The emotions he's going through, the glee, the pure joy at a simple fucking rainbow, are real and infectious. Who wouldn't want to feel that kind joy? Who wouldn't want to see someone else feel that kind of joy?

It makes you feel better just for having seen it. That's the kind of video that I really think SHOULD be viral. I see a lot of funny videos. Most are staged (Keyboard cat), some are cute (David after dentist), but this one is uplifting.

If you're laughing at the video, it's likely a GOOD laugh. The "Hungry Bear" wants you to laugh and smile and feel some joy, too.

The world sucks enough joy out of each of us every day, it's pretty cool that stoned guy (he's gotta be high) lovin' a rainbow can put some of it back.

Ok enough, if you haven't seen it yet, then here it is:



So far, I haven't seen anyone making fun of the guy. The only "parody" I've seen was this song done with his consent. (The proceeds from the mp3 go to him and Yosemite, which I think is pretty cool, as well.)



So go ahead, watch these videos and laugh, smile, and feel good.

Hey folks. I've decided to create a new art form. It's called Reading Poetry to the Lawn Mower. This new medium is sure to revolutionize the art world. You see, garden equipment needs more culture. It's starved for some lyrical content. As such, I've taken up the task. I've even offered services to read to my mower on commission.

There's nothing quite like the expression on a weed wacker when you read it a nice passage from Frost, Poe, Dickenson, or Lady GaGa. You can see the years of abuse melt away. I had to document the phenomenon.

For my first forray into this new, emerging artform, I've taken on a song by the budding English artist SiFu Music .

You may ask yourself: "Why SiFu Music???" or "What the hell is SiFu Music?"

To answer both of those questions, I present to you "Aint Whatcha Say", the classic opus by SiFu Music:



I know what you're thinking: "Wow, that's the most amazing thing I've ever fucking heard!!". Well, my friends, you are correct. Your life has been altered. You may thank me, later. I, too, was blown away. With lyrics like "Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju", Bob Dylan's legacy is sure to fall.

I then proceeded to listen to the song for 24 hours straight. Although, it might have been 24 seconds. You see, I can't tell because listening to "Aint Whatcha Say" actually has time travel as a side effect.

So, when I returned to my senses, I said to myself: "Self, your lawn mower needs to hear this...". After hearing myself say that to me, I sprung into almost immediate action. (Ok, I waited like a week, but I'm a busy mo'fo and there was time travel going on.)

I grabbed my trusty video camera and made a movie... check it out:


But that's not all. I felt this song deserved more. It needed a tribute. An homage to the inspiration. Sleepless nights ensued. I was haunted by the sound of "Ju Ju Ju Ju Ju...".

It had become the white whale to my Ahab.

I had to conquer "Aint Whatcha Say".

So I busted out my trusty axe. I started riffin' in tongues. I traveled to the netherworld. I spoke to the animals. My soul took flight. I made an mp3.

::DOWNLOAD SOUND::

he iPhone's a pretty neat device. Sure, it's not the best at being a “phone”, but it is a very handy device to have in your pocket. As advertised, there really is an “app” for just about anything you can imagine. Sure, most of those apps are silly crap, but in truth, most of what people can imagine is silly, in fact, crap.

Over the past year or so, my little black iPhone has become an integral device in my daily life. I use it for e-mail. I surf the web on it. I use it to find restaurants, look up directions, answer random trivia, it's my camera, about 90% of my tweets and Facebook posts come from my iPhone. It's also my music player of choice. (Nothing yet designed tops the design of the iPod.)

So, what could be so wrong with the iPhone that I am considering ditching it? SMS popups. They are unstoppable.


That's right, iPhone's SMS Popup can't be stopped!

When a user receives an SMS on the iPhone, it pops up. By default, this “feature” will display the message on your screen, no matter what you are doing. The iPhone will light up, even if it's locked and asleep to show that text. So, by default, your text message is shown to whomever is looking at the screen at that time.

You can imagine the obvious implications of this. In fact, there are people who've run into nightmare-like problems because of it. All you need is the wrong text coming in at the wrong time and you could lose a job, a girlfriend, or ruin someone's birthday. (Thanks iPhone!)

Apple's solution: Users can shut of the “preview” mode for texts. This setting, which is buried in the phone's settings menus, will prevent the iPhone from displaying the message in the popups. However, the popups themselves appear to be unstoppable.

So, this setting removes the content of the message. The name (or number) of the sender will still show on the screen. So, if you don't want someone you're with to know who else is might be texting you, you're shit out of luck with the iPhone.

Apple's die-hard kool-aid drinkers will tell you “Just flip the phone over and you've got no problem”. I could not agree less. I should not have to worry about which side is facing up to keep my privacy intact.

Other iPhone-o-philes will say “Just download X app and it'll handle SMS differently...” Well, I have two retorts to that. Number one: I shouldn't have to buy some third party app to properly handle a core feature (SMS) on a phone. That's just stupid. Number two: None of those apps truly handle SMS. They handle e-mail, which is not SMS. So, using those apps, you cannot receive SMS from short-code based services. Therefore they are really all just shitty email clients. (Again, why the hell would I want to buy a feature that my crappy old BlackBerry could handle??)

If this were a new problem, I'd have more patience, but this has been a problem with iPhones since their initial release. How does Apple not see this as a privacy problem?

Oh wait, it gets worse. This can also become a power/battery issue.

Consider my situation: I receive SMS messages from a server. I get a text every time a process runs, and every time it finishes to let me know that things are working OK. This process runs about a hundred times a day, sometimes more. Needless to say, this adds up to a lot of texts. Hundreds per day. With my iPhone, this means that the display lights up every time a text comes in, sucking my battery dry for no good reason. On top of that, typing an e-mail, playing a game, tweeting, or doing just about anything is constantly interrupted by popups. (Very annoying.) All I want to do is shut the popup off. Doesn't sound too earth-shattering, but it appears that the “genius” designers at Apple are dumbfounded.

In general, I'm a fan of Apple's products. My Macbook is the best laptop I've ever owned. My iPhone is, in general, the best handheld device I own. However, this one flaw may very well be unbearable. How can Apple, who spend so much on design, let this slip by? How could they have not noticed this when beta testing SMS on their devices? Worse yet, they've had several years to correct this problem and, despite a vocal outcry, have utterly ignored this obvious flaw in their otherwise well designed device.

Sure, a year or two ago, there was nothing that compared to the iPhone. However, the worm has turned. Google's Android phones have caught up in features and useful applications. This small annoyance may very well be the tipping point that drives me to Android.