Ramblin' Rose

I'm getting kind of sick of the typical "OMFG, JImi Hendrix is teh b3st guitarist! lolol!" or the same with Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, EVH, or whoever. Yes, these people are wonderful guitarist but there are others who get little to no recognition. For example:

Wayne Kramer and Fred Smith - The MC5's dueling guitar assault is brought down by Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith. With Smith on rhythm and Kramer on lead (except for a rare version of "Kick Out the Jams' that has them dueling on a solo) they fueled the bluesey rhythm behind the band. On the video "Metal Roots," the band does an improved solo at the beginning of Kick Out the Jams. Kramer and Smith go eye for eye, matching each others leads. It proves how great of a guitar tandem they were.

Omar Rodriguez Lopez - Former At The Drive-In guitarist and current Mars Volta axe-slinger, Lopez is truly one of today's greatest and a legend in the making. Listen to "L'Via L'Viaquez." The guitar solo at the beginning is amazing to say the least.

Check them out.

Chickenshit Conformist

So, Green Day's up for 8 MTV nominees at the Music Video Awards. Consider that another nail in the casket of selling out. Why? When you have MTV calling you punk and the mass media calling you punk, you know you're in trouble considering a.) you're an MTV tool, therefore, you can't be punk and b.) the general public doesn't know punk from new wave.

I've already wrote about this before (see: American Idiots) and most of you know how much I loathe this new "poser punk" trend, but it sickens me more to see Green Day go down like this. I've lost almost all respect for that band.

Smells Like Teen Spirit

Have you ever been watching CNN and seen a newscast that makes you want to go into a beserker rage and eradicate the Christian religion? Well, I did.

I was watching a story about a new Christian camp called "Love in Action" that helps teens deal with the "sin"of homosexuality (because love is bad). The idiots who lead this concentration camp actually think that being gay is a choice. They don't know even acknowledge the chemical reasons behind it. They all think that they can pray it away. This camp also has specific rules too.

1. No Touching.
2. No music, unless it's Christian music.
3. Hair must be short at all times (like Nazi camps?)
4. No clothes from Abecrombie or Clavin Klien, because clothes make you gay in "God's" eyes.

What pissed me off the most is when they interviewed a kid who had been sent there after his intolerant parents realized that their son was gay and that they were too pathetic to accept him. After finishing the course, the reporter asked him what his future plans were. He said Journalism, which is an interest of my mine also. She then asked if he was going to get married and have kids, and he said the unthinkable. He said he wasn't sure if he likes girls enough, but he'll try.

It's nice to see that dick-for-brains is brainwashed into thinking he has a choice. I'm sorry kid, but you're gay. Like it or not, learn to deal with it and figure out that it's not something the sky fairy will fix. This church is one step closer to relgious holy war.

Jock-O-Rama

It's kind of old news around my state, but it's still going on. Recently, our sports obsessed government put in a 1 or 2% beverage tax on all food and drink in restaurants. Why is this in place? Because the Colts (our local football team, I hear) want a new stadium. Read that last sentence again. The Colt's want a new stadium. They have a stadium, the RCA dome, and it's in good condition. But instead, they would rather tax people, many people who could care less about this ordeal or are against it, instead of taxing people who go to the games.

Now, the city of Indianapolis isn't going to be rehiring any more police officers of fire fighters anytime soon (short staffing) because they can't afford too. Why not? The Colt's Stadium is first priority. Boy, it would be a real shame if the Colt's Stadium caught on fire and there weren't enough fire fighters to put it out. That would be a real shame, wouldn't it? If that happened, all the idiots... er, players wouldn't be able to run around like drunken goats. It's a shame.

I hate football.

Set Phasers to Stun

I was sitting around, eating KFC in the hotel room and watching CNN tonight. They were talking about the dropping economy and the plight of the poor and how the rich were getting more tax cuts on their (inherited) money. An idea hit me. Wouldn't it be great for the poor of America (middle class, even) to revolt against the rich and start a civil war. Imagine, the rich would have their fancy, pancy armies all lined up in the street and fighting like good, high class officers of their militia. The poor however, know how to fight the right way: guerilla warfare. We'd break into the rich people houses and eat their babies.

Oh my, let's start a war.

Religious Vomit

Christian Exodus is an Ultra-Conservative (Theocratic dictators) who want a government based on the Bible. They want no abortion (no women's rights), no gay marriages (intolerance), no stem cell research (People with terminal diseases are screwed), no euthanasia (if you have a terminal disease, you can't work to cure it, but you can't die either. Screwy, eh?) and forced religion (therefore, America loses the freedom touch). If they can get enough people in South Carolina (home base, basically), then they plan to changing the government to a theocracy. Or possibly seceding.
When I heard that they plan on a possible secession (if they get more than 500 members), I cheered. I hope they do. For two reasons:

1. This will rid me of so many annoying people.
2. I want to see feds bust their heads.

One thing this group doesn't seem to notice is this document that I found. Check it out. Apparently, it's quite important to our government. Christian Exodus must be unaware of it. Here's the group's plan:

"The political strategy is to support candidates, first on the local level -- school boards and county councils -- and then on the state level. The Upstate has been chosen as part of the first phase of the relocation program, with a goal of having 2,500 members in two yet-to-be-named counties by Sept. 30, 2006."

This is pathetic. You're going to have these people on school boards. Schools are places where kids, of all types and faiths, come to learn. Forcing religion on them is just wrong. The more you push, the more people like me will hate you and your faith.

"...The group's distrust of President Bush -- they believe he's been soft on abortion and homosexuality -- also is out of step with most South Carolina voters, Guth said."

I totally agree with them on that subject. Bush should have been killing homosexuals years ago. Also, he should have started bombing abortion clinics, because the only way to stop the killing of a non-living "child" is by killing more people. Oh wait... that's hypocrisy.

"'Some people think it's some kind of whacked-out religious invasion. It's not that at all,' Rev. Tony Romo said."

It's people moving into one spot so they can force their religious influences on to the populace and attempt to change the government. Sounds like an invasion to me.

Check out the website and then leave me comments. I'm guessing I'll have some comments from people saying stuff like "OMG, tehy hve a g00d cas3!11 tehy wnt peec!"

Sing Sing Death House

So, I read Fight Club on the way to South Carolina, and I finished it in the hotel. I enjoyed this book very much. It was better than the movies, even though I don't remember much about the movie, except the Pixies song at the end. The characters in this book were well set up. Anyways, I definitly need to get more books by Chuck Palahnuik. Any recommendations?

The Aeroplane Flies High...

Today we took a plane ride over Charelston and midway through the flight, I started feeling like shit. The pilot kept calling me "Kyle" and talking about Lynard Skynard. I was just sitting there, feeling horrible, when suddenly, I grabbed a bag and puked. I hate flying.

Night of the Living Rednecks

So, on the road to South Carolina, we stopped in North Carolina to eat at Applebees. My dad and I were trading Southern jokes, mainly just quoting Family Guy. Suddenly, a group of kids walkd in and I was amazed. They all had farmers pants, hick accents, John Deer hats, Nascar shirts, and, you guessed it, mullets. There was actually a girl who was somewhat decent, but I figured she was with her brother. Haha.

I walked to the restroom, and on the way back, I got the crappiest looks from everyone. Why? Well, all of them were inbred, Christian, church clothes rednecks. I was in my tight pants, TBS shirt, and long hair. That sounds common, but they looked at me like I was an alien. It was great.

No Fun

Vegetarian Journal
Day 7 - FAILED

I had biscuits with sausage gravy this morning. FORGIVE ME.

Holiday in Cambodia

6 a.m. this morning, my family packed up and headed for Charelston, South Carolina. I just arrived at the hotel, and I have tons of pics, so I plan on putting those up in the next few hours/days.

The trips was a miserable 12 hours, but I had burned two new CD's before I left and I started reading "Fight Club" by Chuck Palahniuk. It's sooo good. Better than the movie that I barely remember. One of the CD's I burned has a great song by Mohammed Rafi. It's the song from the movie "Ghost World" which 0wns.

Anyways, I'll put pics up soon.

Natural Anthem

Vegetarianism Journal
Day 5

Yay! Kai's made it 5 days without eating one delicious taco or having any lucious chicken. Wow, that's making me hungry! I wonder how much longer I can do this.

Blacking Out on Friction

Emo Addiction is meh.

I've been sucked into the world of emo, first with Bright Eyes, than with Death Cab, and now with Underoath. I love that band. I usually don't go for that annoying screamo crap, but Underoath and a few other bands really r0ck. I've even found myself wearing girl pants (more on that later).

Oh well, check out Underoath here: UnderOATH Official Site.

I'm Not Okay

For those of you who haven't read "Perks of Being a Wallflower," you're missing out on the greatest book EVER. Anyways, there's an awesome poem in the book. You must read it.

Here's a link to the poem: Perks Poem

No Wow Now

Someone asked me recently what the main topic of my blog is. I searched my mind trying to figure out what the main point of my blog really is. Politics? No, because I talk about music. Music? No, because I talk about politics. Me? I am awesome, but that's not it.

I finally just answered her with another question. Why do I need a topic? Why can't I just have a blog that I post what I want in it? Now, I don't mean I'm going to be talking about cooking casseroles one day, and then bisexual four ways the next, but I think you know what to expect out of my blog.

So enjoy.

Kick Out the Jams

Holy shit! I'm so awesome/godly that I decided to make you a list of the best CD's ever. Keep in mind though, this isn't a list of my opinions, its a list of facts. So don't bitch.

• "In Utero" by Nirvana. Perhaps the greatest CD ever, its the true Nirvana album. It has it all. Pop hooks, screeching guitars, primal drums, deep bass, and rough vocals. It's simply a CD that can be listened to over and over.
• "Sister" by Sonic Youth. It was hard to pick my favorite Sonic Youth CD, but this was my first and my favorite. Hey, I even named my song off of track 4: "Stereo Sanctity."
• "Get Behind Me Satan" by the White Stripes. The White Stripes have several great CDs, but this one is magnificent. It made me realize how much the piano rocks. Jack managed to get rid of that "slow song" stereotype, and bring the piano back as a badass rock machine. "My Doorbell" and "The Denial Twist" are by far the best tracks.
• "Wave of Mutilation" by the Pixies. The Pixies are easily the best live band. Ever. I got the privilege to see them a few months ago, and it was incredible. This CD is their greatest hits, and my favorite, just because it has a lot of my favorites. Unfortuneatly, it's missing a few good songs. "Tony's Theme" and "River Euphrates" mainly.
• "Add It Up" by the Violent Femmes. Another greatest hits compilation, the Violent Femmes are one of the most creative bands that put material out. I demand that you buy this. Now.
• "Live Through This" by Hole. While intolerable at times, Courtney Love's voice is a ray of bitter sunshine on Hole's sophmore album. Even though most of the songs were written by Kurt, it's still a very emotional, angsty look at one of the 90's best bands.
• "Gorillaz" by the Gorillaz. Popularized by "Clint Eastwood," the Gorillaz debut is a wonderful, techno-ish, alternative-ish adventure. Add this one to your shopping list, because I have no qualm eating you if you don't buy it.
• "Fun House" by the Stooges. The Stooges were godfathers in the punk scene and very unique for their time. Iggy Pop is one of the greatest frontmen ever. He's wild, psychotic, and sexy all in one. While not as raw as their self-titled debut, this album still contains greats like "Dirt," "TV Eye," and "LA Blues."
  

Insight

Ok, I'm so nice, I'm giving you guys a song to listen to. Since most of you have noticed that I'm a Sonic Youth fan, I figured I'd leave you one of my favorites to check out. If you like it, hit me up with some comments and I might leave more. Oh well, here's "100%" by Sonic Youth.

Meat is Murder

Vegetarian Journal

Day 4

Ok, so I'm just now starting this on Day 4 of my vegetarianism. I really think that this is a stupid thing to write about, but I have nothing else to write about. Deal with it.

So anyways, I'm on Day 4 of not eating meat. At the moment, I'm feeling great, but I was with Harry, Lana, and friends at the zoo today and Harry was eating a hot dog and I started craving meat. So, when I got home, I downloaded a video of animals getting slaughtered, just to help me out with the process. Why am I doing it? I've already acknowledged that this isn't a permanent thing (because I looove tacos) but it makes rednecks angry, so its fun. Plus, its somewhat healthy.

I'm craving a salad.

Perpetual Abulia

Ok, so I'm fufilling my promise and giving you a sample of a supremely badass band from my area. Introducing: Perpetual Abulia, an alternative, avant-garde band from Thorntown, IN. They are made up of:

• Whitney Galvin - Vox
• Josh Grow - Lead Guitar
• Stacia Lowery - Rhythm Guitar
• Nevada Buckly - Rhythm Guitar
• Steve Wissig - Drums

They are an amazing band. Steve is my band's drummer's brother and Whitney is my cousin. Anyways, check out their m4d websites: http://perpetualabulia.tripod.com/index.html.

Also, I'm cool enough to give you a sample song of theirs. This is just a scratch track, so there's no vocals on it yet, or secondary guitar parts. Who cares though? It still owns your soul. Here it is: http://www.purevolume.com/perpetualabulia

More to come, dipshits.

Township Rebellion

http://http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8647176/page/2/

"Censorship is the tool of those who have the need to hide actualities from themselves and others. Their fear is only their inability to face what is real. Somewhere in their upbringing they were shielded against the total facts of our experience. They were only taught to look one way when many ways exist. " -Charles Bukowski

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has been rated "Adults Only" by the ESRB after a whole bunch of bored soccer moms decided to ruin the fun for everybody because they are too stupid to monitor their children. People like this really need a hobby. Oh well, just figured I'd update you on social injustice.

Cut Your Hair

I got a haircut today. It's not bad, actually. Usually, they always suck, but for the first time, it's pretty good looking. Anyways, it's pretty s3x. Check it out.

Mr. Self-Destruct

I let my friend Skippy borrow my copy of the "Downward Spiral" by NIN, and he just now gave it back to me. I was listening to it again, and realized how great of an album it is. All the songs really convery eerie feelings and it has great atmospheres. I don't think Trent Reznor gets enough respect for his work.

I mean, I'm not a religious NIN fan, but I enjoy their music, and I know Reznor is extremely talented. He's got a lot of skills when it comes to using music making software. I've tried Reason, and to craft a whole, creepy song like Trent does is not easy, at all.

Anyways, check out "The Downward Spiral." It's a couple years old, but still a gem.

Triumph of the Swill

Ok, just after posting my last blog entry, I had the misfortune of reading the most bullshit article I've ever read. The article was titled "Terry Shiavo's Final Hours--An Eye witness Account." It was written by Fr. Frank Pavone. Pavone was with Shiavo during her starvation period and was there when she died. He is a member of the Pro-Life Religious Council.

In this article, Pavone basically states the normal by saying that Terry was "murdered" and her death was "horrible." Pavone doesn't mention that her life was also horrible, since she couldn't move, communicate, let alone think. He goes on to claim that she was fully responsive and full of life. Again, Pavone doesn't say anything about the fact that the autopsy on Shiavo revealed that the front of her brain was destroyed. Therefore, making her incapable of ever recovering or any other basic functioning.

Here's one quote by Pavone that was slandered in misunderstanding:

"But besides Bobby and his sister and Terri herself, you know who else was in the room with us? A police officer. The whole time. At least one. Sometimes two. Sometimes three armed police officers in the room. You know why they were in the room? They wanted to make sure that we didn't do anything that we weren't supposed to do, like give her communion or maybe a glass of water. In fact, Bobby, sitting on the other side of the bed, would occasionally stand up to lean over his sister. When he stood up and did that, the officer would change position. He would move around towards the foot of the bed so that he could have a direct line of sight on what we were doing." -Pavone

Oh my, how dare those police officers do their job and prevent you from possibly trying to keep Shiavo's horrible life from lasting any longer! I'm not saying Pavone was planning to do anything illegal, but it was the officers job to make sure that the court's ruling was carried out, and that no "Pro-life" assholes would try to stop it.

"As you may have also seen, those who killed Terri were quite angry that I said so. The night before she died, I said to the media that her estranged husband Michael, his attorney Mr. Felos, and Judge Greer were murderers." -Pavone

Murderers? Michael Shiavo, first off, cannot be considered a murderer in any way, shape or form. I'm sorry, Mr. Pavone, if Michael didn't want to keep his suffering, vegetable wife alive any longer, but he had no malicious intent, therefore, it's not murder.

Calling Felos or Greer murderers is just as ridiculous. Felos was an attorney. He got paid to work on the case. It's his job. Greer made the ruling because he knew that keeping Shiavo alive was selfish and immoral. Terry's family was completely selfish because they wanted to keep Shiavo around as their little pet.

"Our culture also promotes the idea that as long as we say we want to die, we have the right to do so. But we have a basic obligation to preserve our own life. A person who leaves clear instructions that they don’t want to be fed is breaking the moral law by requesting suicide." -Pavone

What Pavone is trying to say here is: If you are living with a horriblediseasee, stuck in a vegetive state, or any other terminal illness, wanting to die is bad. Pavone likes to think that no matter how horrible your life is, no matter how much pain you have, and no matter how much you hate for your family to have to deal with the tragedy, you should still put up with it, because that's what the sky fairy--er, God wants from you.

Pavone finds the time in his article to call Michael Shiavo and his camp immoral, but ignores the reality that he is the immoral one. He's already judged Shiavo and his group as immoral and murderers. Don't we have a part of the Bible that says "Thou shalt not judge, lest ye be judged?"

Another thing that Pavone said that was quite off the truth was this:

When her mom first introduced her to me, she stared at me intently. She focused her eyes. She would focus her eyes on whoever was talking to her. If somebody spoke to her from the other part of the room she would turn her head and her eyes towards the person who was talking to her.You know what some of the doctors have dared to say about this? "Oh, it's just reflex reactions. Unconscious reflex reactions." -Pavone

Pavone fails to mention that recent autopises have proved that the front part of Terry's brain was gone, and she was blind. Real smooth, Frank.

Pavone really needs to learn what he's talking about.

Kill the Poor

Axis of Justice, an activist site that contains hundreds of articles on social injustices and such, posted an article up on Friday that caught my attention.

"Crying anit-Americanism" by Sean Gonsalves is an interesting article that points out something that should be obvious to all of us by now: if you're suffering, protesting, poor, or a minority, you are just a "special interest group." conservatives across the nation constantly label activist groups as "special interest goups" constantly. Basically, they are just "crying victims" to the rich, white, Christian men of America.

Anyways, check out the article, and leave me comments on what you thought about it.

Macho Insecurity

So today, I went to see the film "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" with my girlfriend (Amy) and Tanner. The movie was decent and watchable. I enjoyed how Burton added dark elements into it. Also, after the film, I saw Harry and was very glad to see him. I met his friend Brian and all was good.

But let's talk about something that bothered me about this film. Actually, it wasn't the film that bothered me, it was the environment I was in while watching the film. Every kid in the audience had a cell phone. Everyone. They also all had attitudes, matching clothes (in the sense of brands) and all that other shit.

This was a pointless post, but was just posting my disgust for today's youth.

At the Bottom of Everything

One of the many things I'm working on is getting up demos from local bands (including my own) for your "listening pleasure." There aren't too many bands in my area, but I'll work with what I have. Two of the most prominent bands are Acrimony and the Preppies (my band).

Acrimony is a alternative metal band that contains members of an older band known as Tetragon. They're influenced by CKY, HIM, the Smashing Pumpkins, Tool, and Metallica.

The Preppies is an Indie Noise Pop band that also contains members of Tetragon (which, by the way, was a very bad band). They take influences from the Pixies, Sonic Youth, Bright Eyes, Death Cab for Cutie, White Stripes, and The Shins.

Soon, my friends, soon...

American Idiots

Yesterday, Michael and I were ducking Pearson's radar and trying to avoid having to play basketball with the "Penis Patrol" (Masochists) of our class when Michael noticed the kid sitting a couple yards away was rubbing his new pair of black and pink Adios. They were spot free, of course because god knows you can't get them dirty, and you could tell they had been worshipped since coming out of the box. Michael stated the obvious, telling me that he doubted the kid skateboarded. But to prove his thesis, Michael asked him. Here's a quick sample of the intelligent conversation:

Michael: Hey, do you skateboard?
Kid: Why?
Michael: Just curious. By the way, I like your Adios. So, do you?
Kid: Why do you want to know?
Michael: I don't know... just curious.
Kid: Oh... um.... uh....

And then he left. Without answering our question, the little twit left. Which brings me to the point of this horrible side tracked article: Don't wear the shoes, claim to listen to the music, or claim to be something your not.

I don't know where the hell this whole trend of "I'm a punk!" came from, but it's taking America's over-impressionable youth by storm. I'm guessing it started with the beginning of corporations realizing that they can rape skateboarding (and the culture behind it) for their grubby, greedy needs. First Nike, then cellphones, and soon Verb and other pointless shit that pollutes our airwaves. And that was with skateboarding, but now Avril Laveigne (sic) has decided to drop the bomb shell that "skater bois" listen to punk.

No, we don't mean punk, like the Damned, the Clash, Distillers, or X. No, we mean "Punk!" This "poser Punk" music/fashion trend isn't about rebelling against corporate/conservative America, No! Instead, its about buying into it as much as possible, while still saying your cool and a rebel, because you skated the opposite way at the skating rink. You Punx3rs!

The entire subculture, which I doubt it truly is, should be called "Washed out, Middle Class Kids who are looking for a new way to think, since they are to goddamn air headed to have their own ideas." Maybe that titles to long, but it works. I mean, you see these kids every day, with their Hot Topic shirts (I'm a hypocrite, I own a lot of shirts from there, but thats because that was the only place I could find before Interpunk.com) and they usually adorn themselves in Simple Plan/Good Charlotte/New Found Glory/Corporate whore wrist bands. And that makes me wonder how they can listen to GC or Simple Plan and not get stomach ulcers. Seriously, for those of you who do consider that shit punk.... just listen to it. When the hell was punk about singing for ten year old girls about falling in love and Jr. High romances. This crap isn't fast or heavy. The lyrics aren't good, and the instruments are worse than regular punk. It's all a bunch of upper middle classed kids who never feared that they would be able to go to college, yet alone anything near that. They decided they would mimic new Green Day and call themselves punk. Holy shit, Carson, I think we have a fad. And that brings me to my last point. What the hell happened to Green Day? I mean, back in the Berkeley days (1039, Kerplunk) they were great. And then Dookie came out, and that was decent, and then some filler later and American Idiot comes out. Now, I respect their presidential bashing, but they have become commercial sluts. They sell to any movie soundtrack, commercial, kids show, or learning format they can. We even had some guy come into our school and talk to us (God knows about what) and mention "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" (a song where they sing about how much their rich lives suck).

And that made me think: ten, even five years ago... would they have have mentioned that band? Of course not! You know the whole adult equation:

Punk Means Bad Equation"Punk" rock+long hair+"rebellion"=stoners and bad influences on the country

Even though they weren't "punk," they were a hell of a lot more respectable back then. But Green Day fixed the equation, and is now managing to get mentioned everywhere, for the learning purposes of all. [/sarcasm] So now, the whole equation looks like this:

"Punk Lite" Means Good Equation"Punk (lite)"+short hair+"rebellion against drugs"+a big label contract=fun and friendly music to be misnamed all over the world.

So there you have the great math solutions to all your burning questions. And the next time you see a "Punx Rawker" listening to his painful Simple Plan music, tell him that you appreciate his contribution to the great American capitilism. And then destroy his CD Player.

TeenAge Riot

What the hell is up with rednecks feeling the need to bitch?

I was jamming at Michael's house (at about 11 o'clock on Thursday night) and we were right in the middle of playing "Broken Face" by the Pixies when his mom rips the door open and says that everyone on the street is standing outside their houses and complaining. So, we had to stop playing.

The next morning, we looked out and saw all the happy rednecks watering their flower, fixing their lawns, shouting rascist comments, and other normal traits for their kind. Michael and I made are way over to the garage and started a 10 minute noise fest that consisted of screeching guitar, feedback and me using Michael's drumstick like a bow (no, I'm not trying to rip on Jimmy Page. He sucks).

But anyways, why do rednecks feel the instinctive need to bitch? It would seem that their life consists of nothing but bitching, gay bashing, racial bashing, and bitching. Of course, I guess you could relate racial bashing and gay bashing to bitching. Rednecks are bitch machines.

I hate rednecks.