xo,
mmyers
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
New Year's Resolutions- Late edition
With April almost gone and May right around the corner, I can see a clear pattern emerging for the year. I didn’t make New Year’s resolutions this year due to how depressing how I accomplished none of the previous year’s resos. With this in mind, I think of New Year’s resolutions I should have made for this year and how on track I would be to accomplish them.
-Smirk more. I find myself smirking a lot. I blame Harrison Ford in BladeRunner’s special edition that I just picked up. Nobody looks more satisfied after a good smirk than Harry Ford. Plus I’ve had a lot of smirk-worthy moments over the last few months. I may have to switch sides that I smirk on so the right side of my face doesn’t get too built up.
-Eat more unsatisfying foods. I can’t seem to win with my comfort foods lately, and believe me, my comfort foods aren’t really that special. KFC and Pizza Hut top the list and both of them have just been terrible. What gives??? Usually fast food gives me a weird sense of shame, but now it’s giving shame and disappointment. Colonel and um, whatever Pizza hut’s guy is, get back in the game! I need comfort food and a bit of shame and you’re falling short.
-Have more mysterious ailments. I can’t seem to turn my head lately without pulling a muscle in my head, neck or back. Suddenly, I’m fragile.
-Almost get hit by lightening. Was 20 feet away from a telephone pole that got hit yesterday. It was like that scene from The Natural. And it scared the shit out of me. And it made my left arm feel tingly.
-Grow a crazy beard. Usually before my beard can get too crazy, someone tells me to cut it. However, no one is telling me to cut it so I’m growing a crazy beard. I wanted to get a haircut (and have the theatre pay for it) so I’ve just let my hair go and my beard go, but so far, everyone seems fine with it. Is it only a matter of time before the wilderness calls me? Is it only a matter of time before I start sleeping with bears? Um, I mean the animal, not burly gay men.
-Watch an ironically depressing movie. Done. Mission accomplished. Superheroes: We work for tips. Anyone catch that one? It’s about people in Hollywood who want to be famous so they dress up as superheroes in front of Man’s Chinese Theatre and take pictures with people. I guess it was supposed to be very nudge-nudge, wink-wink, but instead it just struck me as incredibly sad. The folks in it have the “I want to be famous at ANY cost” bug (that weird spacey creepiness of reality show people) and are slightly (or more than slightly) delusional about it. The positives I got out of it were my love for the crazy Batman guy who has more holes and gaps in his life than Crisis on Infinite Earths and also that now, when I see a camera somewhere, I act like I’m going to ‘get discovered’, even if it’s a camera at the bank or someone taking a picture of a building.
-Lose all respect for the Miss America contest. Not that I ever respected it, really. And not that that blonde haired box of rock’s comments on gay marriage did it either. It was the fact that that waste of space Perez Hilton was one of the judges. How exactly is he qualified for that? What has he ever done but leach onto famous people? I’d have more respect for him if he dressed up as a superhero in Hollywood.
-Learn to love Battlestar Gallactica and Heroes. Got the first seasons of both of those. Battlestar, after years of people telling me I’d love it, and so I do. A cool balance of real and fantasy. As for Heroes (another show people have told me to watch for years now), well, I’m trying. It’s not quite clicking but I’m only two episodes in, and I’m guessing it’s one of those shows that takes a bit to find its legs.
-Write more, sleep less. For better or worse, this would have been a great resolution. I always seem to write a lot when I’m tired. And there seems to be no shortage of stuff I need to write. On the upside, my play Spoon got picked up and will be performed in 2010, so that’s a good thing.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
April Fool's Day 2
This is dedicated to my coworkers, who are very serious about their April Fool's pranks.
mmyers
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
You CAN go home again, you'll just need a map
Had to go to a funeral this weekend. Never a comfortable thing. Oddly, the funeral was in my old stomping grounds of Warner Robins, where I lived the first 8 or so years of my life. A couple of funny observations:
-I still remember my way around the town. We got lost. I took a wrong turn. It was at night so most of the places were closed. My wife spotted a closed store and said, “Roses. I wonder what that place is.” Well it turns out I knew exactly what Roses was. I used to get Star Wars action figures there when I was a kid. And it was still there. I said, “If there’s a Krispy Kreme up here on the right and a movie theatre on the left, we’re in Macon and need to turn around.” Turns out they were still there and we were in Macon. Not bad for not having been in that area in 25 years or so.
-Byron, which is the area I spent the majority of my time, looked completely different on the outside but was exactly the same on the inside. Something is off about that area. I mean that in a great way. That area is off like I’m off. I stopped by a Target to get some sinus meds and everyone in that place was not quite right. This culminated into this obese young boy with thick glasses walking up to me and saying, “Hello, sir” and that was it. These are my people. My weird, the hills have eyes-like people.
-I got lost several times while I was there. I brought no instructions other than some hastily scribbled stuff on the back of a daily calendar page. So stuck in the middle of nowhere (central Georgia is sort of a geographical anomaly like that, in that you’re always in the middle of nowhere) and unable to find a gas station to ask directions, I saw a little bar called “Friends” with nothing else around it. It was packed. I told my wife to stay in the car and lock the doors and wait while I went inside. This incident echoed a similar time in Ireland where we got lost and I stopped at a bar for directions.
Anywho, I went to the bar and asked the bartender for directions back to the interstate. She said, “It’s too loud in here,” because it was karaoke night, “let’s go outside and I’ll tell you.” Now I thought the bar was one of those ones where the bar area is lower than the seats around the bar. So I waited for her to step up from behind the bar but she never did. She was exactly that height. Probably about four feet tall. And dressed as a catholic school girl. Reminded me of the Britney Spear’s “Hit me baby one more time” video if the vertical hold on your TV was screwed up. Anyway, she got me back on the interstate. For a tiny person, she was very pretty.
-While driving through Macon, I drove past a bar called 8 Ballerz. 8 Ballerz featured airbrushed pictures of Eazy-E, Snoop Dogg and Too Short out in front of it. It was pretty shocking. All I could manage to think was “Why Too Short?”
-Ritz soda. I’ve never seen it anywhere else but Byron. I used to drink a Ritz soda (they come in all sorts of flavors) that was Pina Colada all the time. It had little floaty bits of coconut (maybe) in it. It was SUPER sweet. Anyway, stopped off at a convenience store (I’ll tell you a story about that store next) and they still carried it! I couldn’t bring myself to have one again, though. It is a creepy looking drink, all murky with bits floating in it.
-Stopped off at the last convenience store I went to when I lived in Warner Robins (which sold Pina Colada soda). I was 8 or 9 the last time I was there. All of our stuff loaded into my grandparent’s farm truck, I was very upset to leave Georgia for Florida. My mom said
I could get a comic book from this store while we were fueling up with gas. I loved Iron Man so I grabbed the latest issue of it. It was set during Christmas and Tony Stark (alias Iron Man) was a horrible alcoholic and spent the whole issue pretty much staggering around the town. It was DEPRESSING. Iron Man wasn’t even in the damn thing. And that’s what I read on the way to Florida at 9 years old.
Well I checked to see if they still sold comic books but they didn’t. They did sell Big, Black and Beautiful, though. If only my mom had bought me that way back when. What a different trip that might have been for me.
-A shout-out to my mate Daniel who has moved on from this mortal coil. He was my wife’s cousin. A really cool cat; very animated and excited and intense in the best possible way. He loved writing and music and landscaping and movies. I really liked talking to Daniel at AC’s family gatherings. He was just jazzed about everything he was into and was a freaking whirlwind. He always wanted to talk to me about making films and screenplays he was writing. Met a bunch of his friends this weekend and they were all such nice dudes. Very befitting of a guy who had a lot of soul, sometimes a troubled soul, but always a good soul. He loved intensely and was loved intensely. RIP.
-I still remember my way around the town. We got lost. I took a wrong turn. It was at night so most of the places were closed. My wife spotted a closed store and said, “Roses. I wonder what that place is.” Well it turns out I knew exactly what Roses was. I used to get Star Wars action figures there when I was a kid. And it was still there. I said, “If there’s a Krispy Kreme up here on the right and a movie theatre on the left, we’re in Macon and need to turn around.” Turns out they were still there and we were in Macon. Not bad for not having been in that area in 25 years or so.
-Byron, which is the area I spent the majority of my time, looked completely different on the outside but was exactly the same on the inside. Something is off about that area. I mean that in a great way. That area is off like I’m off. I stopped by a Target to get some sinus meds and everyone in that place was not quite right. This culminated into this obese young boy with thick glasses walking up to me and saying, “Hello, sir” and that was it. These are my people. My weird, the hills have eyes-like people.
-I got lost several times while I was there. I brought no instructions other than some hastily scribbled stuff on the back of a daily calendar page. So stuck in the middle of nowhere (central Georgia is sort of a geographical anomaly like that, in that you’re always in the middle of nowhere) and unable to find a gas station to ask directions, I saw a little bar called “Friends” with nothing else around it. It was packed. I told my wife to stay in the car and lock the doors and wait while I went inside. This incident echoed a similar time in Ireland where we got lost and I stopped at a bar for directions.
Anywho, I went to the bar and asked the bartender for directions back to the interstate. She said, “It’s too loud in here,” because it was karaoke night, “let’s go outside and I’ll tell you.” Now I thought the bar was one of those ones where the bar area is lower than the seats around the bar. So I waited for her to step up from behind the bar but she never did. She was exactly that height. Probably about four feet tall. And dressed as a catholic school girl. Reminded me of the Britney Spear’s “Hit me baby one more time” video if the vertical hold on your TV was screwed up. Anyway, she got me back on the interstate. For a tiny person, she was very pretty.
-While driving through Macon, I drove past a bar called 8 Ballerz. 8 Ballerz featured airbrushed pictures of Eazy-E, Snoop Dogg and Too Short out in front of it. It was pretty shocking. All I could manage to think was “Why Too Short?”
-Ritz soda. I’ve never seen it anywhere else but Byron. I used to drink a Ritz soda (they come in all sorts of flavors) that was Pina Colada all the time. It had little floaty bits of coconut (maybe) in it. It was SUPER sweet. Anyway, stopped off at a convenience store (I’ll tell you a story about that store next) and they still carried it! I couldn’t bring myself to have one again, though. It is a creepy looking drink, all murky with bits floating in it.
-Stopped off at the last convenience store I went to when I lived in Warner Robins (which sold Pina Colada soda). I was 8 or 9 the last time I was there. All of our stuff loaded into my grandparent’s farm truck, I was very upset to leave Georgia for Florida. My mom said
I could get a comic book from this store while we were fueling up with gas. I loved Iron Man so I grabbed the latest issue of it. It was set during Christmas and Tony Stark (alias Iron Man) was a horrible alcoholic and spent the whole issue pretty much staggering around the town. It was DEPRESSING. Iron Man wasn’t even in the damn thing. And that’s what I read on the way to Florida at 9 years old.Well I checked to see if they still sold comic books but they didn’t. They did sell Big, Black and Beautiful, though. If only my mom had bought me that way back when. What a different trip that might have been for me.
-A shout-out to my mate Daniel who has moved on from this mortal coil. He was my wife’s cousin. A really cool cat; very animated and excited and intense in the best possible way. He loved writing and music and landscaping and movies. I really liked talking to Daniel at AC’s family gatherings. He was just jazzed about everything he was into and was a freaking whirlwind. He always wanted to talk to me about making films and screenplays he was writing. Met a bunch of his friends this weekend and they were all such nice dudes. Very befitting of a guy who had a lot of soul, sometimes a troubled soul, but always a good soul. He loved intensely and was loved intensely. RIP.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Speaker warnings
I just bought new speakers for my computer. They came with instructions and a series of very cryptic warnings. Pictures, I mean. Not understanding what the warnings meant, I wrote the company and now have official explanations for the pictures. In case you buy new speakers and suffer the same confusion, I've included the translations. Word.
You may have to click on it to see it better. More word.
xo,
mmyers
You may have to click on it to see it better. More word.
xo,mmyers
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
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"
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"
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