Friday, February 27, 2009

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Another tiny Mojo review

Here.

If you look closely, you'll see a quasi-review of our show at the end. I described it as being used as the stick to beat up another show. A big backhanded compliment. But hey, I guess any compliment is a compliment, back-handed or not. Brent, one of the younger guys in the show, said, "Can't someone just give a straight forward compliment in this town?" and Scotty said, "No."

It's the last weekend of this monkey. Come see her if you can. Some good work happening out there. Then a brief respite and I'm back at it again.

xo,
mmyers

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

15 albums that changed my life

My gal-pal Gayle said to write down my 15 albums that changed my life in ten minutes or less. It really puts the pressure on. Anyway, I did it and then I went back and made a little note about each one.

I should add that my criteria for 'life changing music' is stuff that I heard and blew my mind and made me want to make music. Also, they created a style that others tried to imitate but had difficulty doing it. All of this list isn't hip, but it did shape my music tastes. You should do it too. I'd love to hear it. Onward!

1. Pavement- Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Heard this in my friend Jason’s car in high school. I didn’t like it at first because it was ‘so weird’, but then it grew on me. It was so smart and economical with words and sounds.

2. NWA-Straight outta Compton
Living in the taint of Florida, I had never heard songs from this perspective. Catchy and angry. A weird mix. We listened to it everyday after school.

3. Elvis Costello- My aim is true
I went the opposite direction of most folks with Elvis. I knew the singles. Then I bought the reunion album with the Attractions. Then I started getting the back catalogue. This was Elvis at his best. Fiery, young, and with a sharp wit. It all clicked for me. I thought, "Wow, I totally get why people love this guy."

4. They might be Giants- Lincoln
Most friends I had at the time hated TMBG. This album was so weird. They were smart and simple and sometimes funny. This one blew my mind and made me rethink what I expected from songs.

5. Tom Waits- Frank’s Wild Years
I’m dim-witted sometimes. Often times. Tom Waits didn’t click for me for a long time. And then one day he did. My pal George said (when I didn’t like Waits) that he paints a picture then he takes you inside it (I’m paraphrasing a tad). This album did that to me. I was like, “Ohhhh, I get it.” And then everytime I listen to it I get something else.

6. Lemonheads- It’s a shame about Ray
I like happy music. I’m not ashamed. And it spoke to me at a time when I needed speaking to. It said, “Have fun. Life is short. Appreciate the small things.” And so I did. It was also a gateway album. He made drugs sound fun.

7. Ben Folds Five-self-titled
This album made me go out and buy a chord organ. Why? I dunno. Ben didn’t play one, but it did let me know that you can rock with any instrument you choose. And the lyrics were so personal in a hilarious way.

8. Guided by Voices- Alien Lanes
The best albums change your gears. I hadn’t heard much low-fi until this album. In much the same way The Ramones inspired people to start bands, this album showed that there was low-hanging fruit. Of course, when you try to do what they did, you realize how great they were at it.

9. Beatles-White Album
Everyone loves this album and if you don’t, you’re a douche. The End. I grew up on the Beatles cartoon and the ‘love me do’ era, so hearing this was really weird. My mom always sounded like she felt betrayed when the Beatles went psychedelic. It blew my mind.

10. Wilco-Yankee Hotel FoxTrot
I was a decent Wilco fan before this album but became a HUGE fan afterwards. It’s pop, it’s rock, it’s mellow. It’s the deconstruction of music and rebuilding of it. It blew alt-country out of the water and made it seem narrow-minded to me.

11. Descendents- Liveage
I was never a good punk rocker. This was the first album by the Descendents I ever listened to. I loved how funny they were and self-deprecating and sweet. It was the first punk that really spoke to me. It was punk but it was personal.

12. Decemberists- Castaways and Cutouts
I described this album, when I first heard it, as sounding like something you found under the floor boards of an old cabin. It made me miss playing (or trying to play) music. Smart stories and great instrumentation. It was exactly what I was missing that I didn’t know I was missing.

13. Public Enemy- It takes a nation of million to hold us back
I was scared when I first heard this. No shit. I really thought there was going to be some crazy revolution. Very intelligent, thoughtful, and angry in a focused way. It became my measuring stick for intelligent hip-hop. I quoted from it constantly in 9th grade.

14. Simon Joyner- Room Temperature
Caught this guy live back in 1994. It was my first exposure to punk-rock folk music. I wanted to play guitar fiercely after that. Caught him a few more times and completely nerded out on that guy. Come on, he wrote a song about how the world was going to Hell under Reagan-omics and all he wanted to do is play Defender. It spoke to me like nothing else. And it apparently spoke to Bright Eyes as well.

15. Alan Sherman- Hello muddah, hello fadduh
My parents had this on 8-track. I can’t say I understood all of it (and I had no idea what a Jew was) but I knew one thing, he was hilarious. I couldn’t believe my parents listened to things that were funny. We all laughed as a family and I knew I wanted to make people laugh like that. It also exposed me to parody for the first time.

Honorable Mentions: De La Soul's "Three feet high and rising", David Dondero's "Spyder, West Myshgen", The Pixies "Trompe Le Monde", Ice Cube's "The Predator", Frank Black's "Teenager of the Year"

Monday, February 16, 2009

26 Things that show I'm self-absorbed

Hey, there's a mild review in the Sunday Paper for Mojo. Mainly I think we're just the stick used to beat up some of the other shows around Atlanta near the bottom. But whatever. Any publicity is sort of useful publicity.

Oh yeah. Folks have been doing the 25 things around Facebook, so I eventually acquiesced and wrote my own. I may put it up on Facebook even, provided that I can remember to do so. Send me yours too, if you want. I like to read stuff at work and can't get into Facebook there. Ok, here goes.

25 Things about Me

1. I have Synaesthesia. That means I taste shapes. This generally only happens when I’m tired. Very tired. Only once or twice have I ever thought I might choke on the shape in my mouth.

2. I wanted to go into advertising until I found out I probably wouldn’t get to make up stuff until after years of paying dues and fetching coffee.

3. My Dad kidnapped my brother and I when we were kids (otherwise it would have been adult-napped, I suppose) and we lived in Pennsylvania for a while. Of course we were eventually returned to our mom, but we totally ran from the law in a Jeep for a time.

4. I fell in love with theatre while watching The Super Medics wrestle the Wild Samoans in Pensacola, Florida when I was 9 years old. I sort of knew it was fake but then I didn’t have a problem with that. It was theatre at its most awesome.

5. When I was a kid and wanted to go to sleep, I’d often envision I was crushed under a lot of rocks or that I was sleeping on the roof of a moving car. Sometimes thinking about sleeping on the roof of a moving car still makes me go to sleep.

6. The most scared I’ve ever been for a short period of time was nearly driving off the bluffs in Pensacola because the cars brakes went out. I was in a car full of people on acid. It was nuts.

7. The most scared I’ve ever been for a long period of time was getting laid off in 2007. I was out of work for 4 months roughly and I don’t think that feeling of fear has left me since.

8. The angriest I’ve ever been was probably the night my wife got robbed in front of our apartment. The robber guy ran off before I got to her but I swear I would have murdered that guy with my bear hands if I got ahold of him.

9. I’ve had alter egos all my life. These have included: Gibney the Alien, Mr. Ahowdi-do, Flavio De Martini, and Mr. Tai-bo Croco (whose theme song would be sung by Dave Matthews).

10. My brother used to tell me I was retarded and that everyone didn’t want to tell me because they wanted me to feel like other kids. For awhile I totally thought this was true. When I got tested for the Gifted Program (PATS) in 3rd grade I totally freaked out because I thought they were taking me to be in the retarded kids' classes. Subsequently, I did not get into the Gifted Program.

11. I credit my brother’s best friend Ricky Halgen (aka Rockin’ Rick Nugent) with convincing me to be an actor. He said he wanted to be a racecar driver and then one day he showed up at our house with a racecar and then he went and raced it. I thought, “Say something ridiculous then go do it. I didn’t know you could actually do that!”

12. I think the most important characteristic in other people is genuineness. It’s more important to me than talent or humor or what the other person can ‘do’ for me. Even if a person is an asshole, I appreciate them more if they’re a genuine asshole than a fake asshole.

13. The term ‘fake asshole’ makes me think of Will E. Coyote when he paints a fake tunnel and Road Runner is able to go through it but Will E. isn’t.

14. I don’t enjoy children. There are a few rare exceptions.

15. I never, ever thought I’d have a pair of Calvin Klein jeans. I just thought they were too expensive and it was pretentious to own them. Today, I uncomfortably admit I own a pair. They’re pretty beat up, though. Take that, Marky Mark and Cindy Crawford.

16. In college, my professors told me that I’d probably be miserable as an actor and that I should try to continue writing instead (I wrote a lot back then). I balked at that and worked extra hard to be an actor. On sulky days I think they may have been right.

17. One time I called my grandpa up and was bitching about how my life is completely busy all the time and wondered how he (a guy who was in WW2, came home and bought a farm and farmed during the day and worked at a paper mill 40+ hours at night while supporting a wife and 3 kids) did it. And he sighed and said, “You just do it” and said it so I felt like the biggest whiner/cry baby ever. Anyway, on days when I think I may crumble under the pressure I wear one of his hats, generally the beat up brown one. This hat is also known as my ‘bourbon hat.’ However my grandpa doesn’t drink.

18. When I first saw my wife, she was 16 (I think, maybe 17) and I sang “There she goes” by the La’s while I was working in the coffee store. She was breathtaking then and gorgeous now.

19. I’m fairly certain that most of my idols would be assholes if I met them in real life. This has spawned me saying, “Respect the art and not the artist” more times than I can remember.

20. Heaven is: a cabin in the woods with my wife and dogs and a fresh pot of coffee on the pot. Maybe some salmon on the grill.

21. I never wanted another animal after my poodle Muffin died. He was 15 years old and my mom couldn’t bear to put him down so she made make the decision. I promised I’d never have one again. AC showed up with a Rottweiler nine years ago and I’ve had a house full of animals ever since. Now my dogs are my pride and joy.

22. I have few regrets but a growing one is never getting to see the people I love very often.

23. If I had a car just for kicks (and not for any sort of practicality), it’d probably be a late 60’s Nova or a Plymouth Valiant. My brother’s second car was a Valiant and he hated it. I loved that car.

24. I used to LOVE dancing at clubs. I would try to sneak into bars to dance. Sadly I’m too uncomfortable with myself to dance anymore. I’d rather drink or not be there at all.

25. My perfect birthday gift these days would be a nice glass of scotch (on ice) and a good cigar.

Friday, February 13, 2009

The reviews are starting to trickle in...

Here's the one for Creative Loafing. It's not glowing but it's not a destruction. I can live with that.

That being said, gosh I don't like this picture. I have a gigantic non-gay but slightly gay love for all of these dudes, but come on, they're all a lot better looking than this in real life. Well, maybe not Ed. That's a good picture of Ed. But the rest of us? Nah.

Curt does give a nice shoot out to the trailer. That's good.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

"She'll be amazed at your giant pecker"

This was today's piece of spam.


xo,
mmyers

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Toasty and Mr Creeps

This one came to me in a dream, as comics often do. Of course it was in a stripped down form but I always like the ones that are already there for me.


Hey, I'd like to give a shout out to a mate of mine who passed away this weekend. His name was Jim Royal, although we always referred to him as Jimmy Royale, or after Pulp Fiction, Royale with cheese. Jim was a good bloke and funny as heck. He was a comic book artist, working on Catwoman and StarMan and I think Green Lantern as well. Jim and I were buddies through college and awhile after. We sort of lost touch when I moved here, but I did see him a year or so ago at a show mutual friends of ours were playing at the Earl. Anyway, Jimmy isn't here anymore and the world is a little dimmer knowing that he isn't out there somewhere, bumming drinks and making a scene. Jimmy, I hope you found the peace you were looking for, brother. RIP.

mmyers

Friday, February 6, 2009

Preview for the show I'm in



It runs until the 28th of February at Dad's Garage. Come check it, playa.