Friday, March 21, 2008

Shhhhhh....

It's 3 am and I am awake. There is nothing strange about that. I am usually up around this time. The strange part is that i was actually trying to fall asleep. And I was until my yorkshire terrier, Franklin started barking. But it was an unusual barking cadence. Silence. Then a low growl. Then a single "ARF!" What is he barking at? I can usually hear a sound that he would be responding to, trucks, wind or rain. But what is it? As I slowly tune out the sound of the ticking clock near me, yes some people still own clocks that tick, I can very faintly hear a very quiet, as to mean far off, single bark, at which Franklin responds. How can he hear that? No wait, how can I hear that?! After all it is actually softer that the tick, tock, tick that is closer to me. Last night as I tried very hard to fall asleep all I heard was the ringing in my ears from rocking with my band and being in a noisy bar for 5 hours.
Franklin has calmed down. And yes, if you know me I don't call him Frank or Frankie, 'cause his name is Franklin. Sometimes I simply refer to him as dog. What? Is that wrong? People sometimes refer to me as man. Hey man. Hey guy.
Now I start to hear some noises. My ears are very attuned to my surroundings now. As I lay, trying to sleep, I hear a garbage can being dragged up and down the block. Perhaps someone digging through the receptacles looking for bottles and cans for deposit. My curiosity has forced me up. Oh, it's just all the garbage cans on my block rolling around from the wind. That's all. End of story. Or is that the beginning of the story? Perhaps the first dog was barking at the garbage cans rolling around, which then arose my dog from it's slumber to start chatting with that dog, so I would start listening to every sound around me that would in fact lead back to the wind blown garbage can which started the whole thing. Which then inspired me to share this seemingly boring story with the whole world, the very words you are reading right now.
As I look to head back to bed, I am reminded that I will be woke up by Franklin, the dog, again. Why? Cause tomorrow he is going to the groomers. He doesn't go out often, so anytime someone tries to put his leash on him, he barks like crazy. Mostly for the excitement of the chance to go outside. It's a really fast repeating, high pitched bark. The kind that will wake you right up.
Good night.
for a little bit.
-Andy

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Awarding Art

I don't even know where to start. I've been slacking on this blog thing. I don't really know why. Maybe it's because I have a lot to say, or maybe I don't. The truth is that i have a few unfinished blogs that i have not posted. One about the golden globes, and a general award show season wrap-up. But who really cares about my opinion? Well maybe that's the point. You can read here about my opinion and then agree or disagree. So here we go.

Award Show Season Wrap-up.

First I would like to say that I hate award shows, but if you want to have a conversation with someone you should at least know what is going on. It's very hard for me to watch these shows for a few reasons. First, everything I like never wins. Second, you can't award art. Movies, music and performance is all opinion. If someone can run faster than you - they win. That's it. So how can you award art. You can't. but they do.

I was happy this year that a lot of the people that won, I respected and liked. Finally the right people are winning. But still you have people that don't really deserve the acknowledgement.

Golden Globes. Whatever. No writers and lame show with lame people giving their opinions.

Grammy's. I am very pleased that Herbbie Hancock won album of the year. I have been a fan of his for a long time, and am very happy that he is getting the acknowledgement for changing the world of jazz, from being this decrepit fossil of a history lesson, to an evolving life form, that moves forward with time.
Does anyone else find Amy Winehouse boring? Why am I supposed to like her music? 'Cause it has a retro-'60's-soul vibe? If you want to listen to retro '60's soul, listen to Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings!!
And I'm happy, Flight of the Conchords won best comedy album. yay!

Oscar's. My 2 favorite movies of the year were 'No Country for Old Men' and 'There Will Be Blood'. So I was happy about the outcome of these awards.

In other news.........

The Entertainment Resistance is rehearsing like crazy. We are getting ready to start recording. We are also playing on wednesday, the 19th at the Cargo Cafe, in staten island NY. And joining us will be Bess Rogers, starting at 10pm. So come on down.

I think that's enough for now. See ya soon.
-Andy