More Beef Please

I soon will be boosting my guitar pedal presence! huhzah! To start the addition kick-off i'll be introducing the OCD Fulltone overdrive to my set up. I found out about this pedal after watching Delta Spirit play several times and seeing what they had in their lines. I love the sound that comes from it and hopefully will be a gritty boost to what i'm trying to do. I love what Jack White and the Black Keys can grind out of their guitars, i don't want to be a biter, but on occasion when it fits the song i'd like to deliver the same beefy sound to what we do in GV. Next on the list is a Tremolo pedal of supreme versatility and tone. I'll post when its in possession.

A Day For Me

(Madison Park circa 1930's)

Luxury is waking up when you want to and looking at your day with nothing planned and stepping into it with a casual anticipation. Ben and I took a late lunch at Cafe Flora in Madison Park where we dined in their green house like dinning room. Ben had this amazing Portobello French Dip with yam fries...wow and i had a falafel pita with a quinoa salad. We are both now discovering how much garlic was in our dishes. After our light springy lunch we walked down Madison and I showed Ben the 2 joints i used to work at back in the day. A cafe that's different now and the Cactus. Trippy. We then strolled to the waters edge, found a sunny spot of grass, and parked ourselves in its comfort. Ben off to his book and i to writing in my Moleskine. Here's a bit of what i wrote:

"At Madison i'm reminded of my societal status and how the comforts of money makes having money not an issue. If you want a sandwich for 20 bones you get one without thinking, you drive the finest and spend your time doing what you want to do. Sunbathing, gelato, reading in the sun, shopping as desired. Mmmm... What would i do if i were in this position? Who would i be in this social ladder? Would i stop praying? I want to depend on You so i'm never wanting."

How Was Your Flight?

I left my home yesterday.

Always bitter, but what i needed to do. I got on the plane, took a seat, and tried to ignore the bitterness. Then over the speakers came a tone of harmonica. Huh? I thought it was someones ring tone at first but then out of the front side i saw our pilot lean around the corner with a harmonica in his hand and holding the walkie talkie up to it! He played 'home on the range' and 'Oh Susanna don't your cry for me'. Some people started clapping and then he stopped and said " I'm not going to fly this plane unless everyone is happy and i'll keep playing until everyone is. " He then played again and stopped. "Oh i see, you guys must think my playing is comparable to my flying skills? Well let me tell you, i've only been playing for 3 years, but i've been flying for far more years than that! " He then told us what time we'd get into Sea-town and then disappeared into the cockpit. That was a good way to start my day.

God knew what He was doing,
He always does.

Here's some snaps from my flight so ya'll can see how my flight was.

Day is Dying in the Mid-West

Grandpa Carr

My Uncle Wayne sent me a photo today of my Grandpa Carr whose appearance i resemble. It's weird looking at him and thinking of myself. Really weird but super cool. It's nice having some Irish roots as well. Grandpa Carr is the gent standing on the right with the specs. Yup i have four eyes as well. Thanks Grandpa.

Summer Breeze

I like cologne. Yup. I love that there's seasons for diff. colognes. I like that there's diff. colognes for diff. occasions. I like that colognes can match someone really well too. While on tour we hit up an Nordstroms' to get Abby a free facial and while the 40 minutes passed Noah & I went on a hunt for some man fragrance. I looked at the new bottles, their design, font choice, name choice and then just started looking for something that would be new & appropriate for the coming summer. My search ended with Facconnable something reminescent of Lacoste but a little warmer smelling. I fell for it right away and began right away imagining myself playing tennis in all white threads. Everytime i smell it i think i should be doing something fun in the fresh grass, picnic, croquet, sunbathing, badmitton, watermelon. YUM! So coming this spring i'll be leaving Juicy Coutures' Dirty English for Lacoste and then phase into Faconnable by July. MMmmm...Summer.

HIGH FIVE & AMEN

THIS gent is a hero to me. Don't know him, just proud of him even if it was just for a joke. I get really angry at trash like the above. The big billboards on the highway that make God out to be this sarcastic & selfish prick, people who are abusive in words/actions and take God's name in vein to fuel their own hate/bigotry/agendas and staple Gods' name to the end of it to make it righteous. This is what i would call taking Gods name in vein and this more than anything is what offends me the most. Have these people ever read the verse 'judge not lest you be judged' ? God who is perfect and the only one who can know a mans heart leans over to tend to a woman caught in adultery. This perfect love of Jesus cast out the fears of a desperate and needy person, that's the same love we ought to be showing and writing on signs. This love of Jesus is captured in this verse: 'For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him.' John 3:17 -> this verse should be as well known as 3:16.

Most of the time i try to see a method that would defuse things, but when stuff like this goes on i get pretty vocal and my heart pumps heavy. I wrote words for a GV song called 'Do No Harm' as apart of my retaliation. Another stranger hero below who points out the misuse of Gods' name as did the gent above.

Everyone should listen to Ben Folds' "Jesus Land"
Here are the words:

Take a walk
out the gate you go and never stop
past all the stores and wig shops
quarter in a cup for every block
and watch the buildings grow
smaller as you go

Down the tracks
beautiful McMansions on a hill
that overlook a highway
with riverboat casinos and you still
have yet to see a soul

Jesusland
Jesusland

Town to town
broadcast to each house, they drop your name
but no one knows your face
Billboards quoting things you'd never say
you hang your head and pray

for Jesusland
Jesusland

Miles and miles
and the sun goin' down
Pulses glow
from their homes
You're not alone
Lights come on
as you lay your weary head on their lawn

Parking lots
cracked and growing grass you see it all
from offices to farms
crosses flying high above the malls
A longer walk

through Jesusland
Jesusland

GIGGLE

I like comics. I don't collect them.
I read them ever so often.

Every sunday my grandfather would hand over the 'funnies' and I would hunt my favorite ones down: Dick Tracy, Peanuts, The Phantom, Spider Man, and one that had Foreign Legion guys in it often..forgot that one. My comic history continues on a personal level with my friend Eric Halder drawing comics during chemistry class that got me eyes from Mr. White when I couldn't hold the laugther in. I then met a comic kid named Liz Prince in Santa Fe who worked at this dope video shop that had sweet foreign/indie films and then a year or so ago I saw 3 of her own comic books at a comic shop in Chicago! I was super proud. My latest comic run in is reading/finished V for Vendetta given to me by my pal Noah Gundersen during our tour. We had talked about it and Watchmen during the tour and then he surprised me with the graphic novel right before our last 2 shows. I was very touched and am now going to watch the movie again to compare it all.

Tonight i found out about Techno Tuesday by Andy Rementer who likes to draw comics about life/technology and the complaints that surround those two. It's funny in a dry way and a societal observation as well. It sometimes can border dark humor and crass things, but overall right up my alley. He releases a new comic strip for free every Tuesday (hence the name) so when you need to get over a bad case of Mondays drop by his site (click the BIG RED above).

Here are a few i've been chuckling over!

For the iphone name droppers

For ALL of us

For Bruce who sees the dark side of my humor more often than most

For me who learned a lot of Bach's million or so Inventions, this is genius!
Heheheheheheh...so funny! brilliant!

Come All You Weary