I bought a bride

Yesterday was one of those days that you will look back on in two years and say to yourself, "holy shit that was fucking cool."

The other night Black Mountain played here in Seattle and I am sure that is all I have to say.  This band is incredible and needs to be heard by Y-O-U.  Think of Pink Floyd's "Atom Heart Mother" meets Jefferson Airplane.  I love it.

Brand New played an acoustic set yesterday for about 2 hours at Neumo's in Seattle.  I managed to buy a ticket the night before at a bar and I wound up being in the second row, dead center.  I have never been able to see Brand New for some reason or another and finally after a few years it kinda came true.  Jesse and Vinnie were on stage taking requests and playing new songs as well as old songs, both acoustic, which was a great treat.  Both of them had to have been stoned or tripped out because it was a free for all up there.  Jesse kept forgetting lyrics, Vinnie kept forgetting his parts and then just when you thought they had their shit together, both of them forget the whole song.  All in all, it was a one off show.  I must say, if you have never seen Jesse Lacey play acoustic guitar get your ass out to the next solo tour and check it out.  It was incredible to hear him sing Jesus and Degausser over a guitar with no effects or drums.  I must say that I think I now understand why Jesse has that demeanor that you always see him have.  I have been listening to Brand New for four years now, and never have any of the songs sounded or seemed so personal to me.  Maybe it was the fact I was blazed out of my head, but never the less I will be able to put that in my top five shows of all time.  

Afterwards Mimi and her co-worker Chris (which is a cool dude and reminds me of all my friends back home and I may start a Drone metal band with) and I went out to a bar for a cheap pitcher and found this neat little hole in the wall underground bar that had the feel of the Clairmont Lounge in Atlanta and El Mir in Atlanta. All the members of These Arms Are Snakes Work there so that is an obvious plus for me.  Afterwards we all wound up walking around Downtown and found another sweet spot to chill and grub.  Pardon me but I forgot the restaurants name but to put the atmosphere into words think of:  Amsterdam meets a Train Car.  Each of the tables was its own nook and they all had curtains that you draw for privacy and cheap good food.  Everything had either Blue Cheese and or Hummus on it.  HEAVEN!

Anyways, back to normal work week.  This weekend was very special to me and magical.  I just cooked a very nice Italian Stew and it is ready to be consumed.  I wish I were back in Atlanta to see my friends.  Miss you dudes.

Music:

Black Mountain - In The Future

Brand New - Two new songs ( They are on YouTube just google Brand New Seattle )

Russian Circles - Enter

Brand New - Gasoline ( New Song First Time Played Live )

stoney stoney high

Today was a magical day.  First wake up, toke a bit.  I made some pretty kick ass mexican style rice this morning for lunch.  Next stop, Bagel Oasis.  Bagel joints are no joke, they seem to have the same feel as a coffee shop except with edibles not drinkables.  Mimi hooked it up with a weeks worth of bagels and cream cheeses.  After she got out of work we went to Snowqualme Falls.  Traffic was an utter nightmare and believe me it puts Atlanta traffic to shame. 

Not even a mile away I get pulled over by a cop for doing like 56 in a 40.  I see that she pulls a u-turn so I ditch a joint that I rolled earlier.  Dumb move.  Anyways she pulls me over and is real cool, starts asking me about Atlanta and asking if I like the northwest yet, yada yada yada...So she runs my licence just to check on me and no shit- I have a suspended licence.  Oh well she says she told me to get out and let someone else drive away and she shrugged her shoulders.  Then she says " is there any pot in the car?" I say no maam not at all.  She goes, " well its not like you would tell me truth anyways" and laughs it off.  

So we got to the falls and let me tell you one quick thing, it was my first time ever seeing a water fall and it kinda took me back a little bit.  This thing dropped 236 feet that is 100 feet higher than Niagara Falls.  We hiked all the way down all the way through  very dense old forest with tall trees and moss growing on them.  We went exploring around the rocks next to the water fall and took a lot of funny pictures, check them out below.  At least we still had one joint when we got to the water fall.

So then we went to see Black Mountain at Neumos tonight.  This band bridges the gap between old Pink Floyd a little bit of The Beattles trippier sounds and Jefferson Starship/Airplane.  Go check them out.  Im talking 15 minute jams and crazy solos and this girl that has unbelievable control over her voice and her pitch.  

BUT CHECK THIS OUT:

Brand New had to cancel the show in Alaska tomorrow and instead they are playing an acoustic show tomorrow at 4:00pm.  I bought a ticket tonight and I am stoked as all hell to finally get o see Brand New in some sort of a fashion.  

Music:

Black Mountain - In The Future

Anthony Green - Avalon

Cave In - Perfect Pitch Black

Im finally out where I belong.

1000 hymns of inspiration

Im not really sure if anyone is actually reading this, but I will not let that thought let me stop updating.  

Last night I drove down to Tacoma with my friends Mimi and Eli.  We went to our friends house to pick up a few bags and to hang out.  First off let me tell you that it would seem that nothing goes on in Tacoma.  When we got to downtown Tacoma I suddenly started talking about the apartment that I was supposed to move in when I got up here.  Out of no where the apartment just seemed to show up and we drove by it.  Tacoma has a neat little historic feel to it and there is a lot of this so-called "urban development".  Long story short it is the same distance as Kennesaw is to Atlanta and it is just like Canton/Kennesaw.  

Over at our friends house that we went to there was this beautiful half wolf half lab there.  His name is auto and he is the chillest dog I have ever seen.  Let alone the fact that this dog is half pure, straight out of the woods wolf.  He was just like a big fuzz ball and it all made me think of my dog back home that died yesterday.  Louie was the sweetest little bulldog anyone knew.  He will be greatly missed and I wish I had some time to go back into and just love him all over and let him know that he was loved by all.  It really hurt my mom a lot inside when he died yesterday and all I've thought about was how sad my mom must be having her dog die, having her only son 3000 miles away and how she is seemingly lost at times in this world.  My mom is a smart woman but it just seems that she cannot let herself go enough to find joy in everything around her.  But don't most of our parents seem that way.  Well I am about to get to this granddaddy purp as the kids call it and watch LOST.  

Music: 

Butch Walker - Sycamore Meadows

Thrice - The Alchemy Indexes - AIR

Deftones - White Pony

let your light shine through

Now see-saw your partner

Last night we all went out and tried line dancing.  Now first off I must warn you, it was not my idea but I am glad that we went.  Ok, so now that is out of the way.  Yeah, so line dancing is apparently really popular up here.  We went to this bar that every other Monday night what looked to be a few hundred people all gather up drink their Tall Boy PBR's and all doseedo with their partner.  My goofy ass self was not having anything to do with it at first but I finally said "what the hell, lets go".  Anyways, I suggest that you try your way at line dancing too. I just felt like that was something out of Reading Rainbow when all the kids were doing audible book reports art the end of the show.  But hey, "don't take my word for it".

After that we made it to Easy Street Records to pickup the re-issue of Ten on vinyl last night at midnight.  Apparently the dudes from Pearl Jam were going to be there but I didn't see them at all.  That record shop is pretty much on top of their game.  The Metal section is kinda bleak but they have every major Hydra Head album that is still in print, in stock.  Im talking Boris, Sunn O))), ISIS, Jesu, Kayo Dot, you name it, it is there.

The girls from Colorado have left and returned home today.  I have a new respect for polaroid cameras.  There will be eventful photos to be seen very soon.  I'm finally out of my element and I am having way too much fun.

Music

ISIS - NEW SONG!!!!!  20 Minutes / 40 Years 

Golden Boots - New Album ???

Team Sleep - ST

Take'em out back behind the shed and shoot em'

This weekend was great.  Mimi had two really cool friends come into Seattle from Boulder Colorado.  Two really opposite girls in all aspects, but genuinely great friends.  Saturday marked the first day of Spring, and what a beautiful day it was out here.  Mimi and I went to this book store called East West Book Store.  It was very much like Phoenix and Dragon back in Atlanta or just picture Crystal Blue on steroids and there you have it.  They were having a welcoming Spring open house with tarot readings, speaking from various speakers, massages, aromatherapy you name it, it was there.  I picked up a really cool aragonite stone and some sage and a smudge stick.  There are a lot of very interesting Speakers coming to the book store and I will be enrolling in meditation classes there.  The first classes will be all about breath awareness and observation of the flow of breath with chanting.  

There is so much positive energy out here, all I have to do next is quit my fucking job.  This job is not what I need to be apart of, I just need to get money for Bonnaroo and then I'm home free.

Saturday was cool, we all went to the Seattle Science center and watched Dark Side of The Rainbow.  You know the deal, push play on dvd player for Wizard of Oz, hit play on CD player of Dark Side of The Moon.  Kinda cool seeing how it was projected huge as fuck on a dome kind of like the planetarium in Atlanta.  

Pot is out of hand up here.

I am going hiking and camping in the rainforest that is up here next month.  I cant wait.  

Music Playlist:

Thrice - Live at The House of Blues

Starting Line - Direction

Blacklisted - Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God

New is happening

Creation of this blog has been debated for quite some time and I figured I would finally create one once I had found myself settled in for the long haul in Seattle.  So far everything is working out the way it is supposed to, but if I didn't like the outcome does that mean it still ended up the way it was supposed to?  

Seattle is a wonderful city.  Everyone seems like they are welcoming me with open-arms and it is greatly appreciated.  I am still working my same job, but to tell the whole truth I can't see myself promoting the false sense of security and good will that you have when you are stuck working a "9 to 5".  Not saying that it isn't a good gig, which it most certainly is, but I just don't think that it is a road that I could take and get any sort of self gratification out of.  Call me selfish but I don't care at the end of the day if I am making anyone happy out here.  I made this move for me and me alone.  It is hard to say that knowing how long I have worked and all that I have invested in working for this company ( "company" is used in place of the true name of the company I work for ).  I don't know, maybe it is just time to finally get that out of my life just like everything else that was more like clouds in the sky blocking the light that is demanding to be seen.  

That just made me think about Light, the next album by Irreversible and it made me realize how much I miss my friends in the band and everyone else that is connected within our circle that I commonly refer to as IRR.  I see the band as everyone that I know that goes to the Land Trust, to practices, to the dinners I miss so much to everyday people that come into contact with one of us.  Irreversible is more than a band to me, its a communal common-ground that no matter what anyone says is more powerful than that of any single thought that you or I single handedly have because of the collective consciousness that goes into the creation of the sound.  I can't wait to go home and sit on that couch and watch them practice or here the recordings or go to a show.  I would love to find a way to get home on the first to go to the show so hopefully that may happen.  Basically all of that adds up to:

Listen to Irreversible

Go to this blog:  http://www.readirreversible.blogspot.com

Go outside, do something

Don't settle for what is easy to see

Find a few good friends

A few is all you really need

I've been trying to read on my spare time and at work on lunch.  I finally found "Breaking Open The Head" by Daniel Pinchbeck the other day and I have read about a chapter and a half into it.  I case you didn't know, Daniel Pinchbeck has experienced and written about very personal encounters with the Bwiti tribe of West Africa and the sacred psychedelic powers of iboga.  I am always finding myself trying to pickup another book and read it at the same time as I am attempting to read another book.  I think finally I will be able to sit down and fall into this book the same way as I did with DMT: The Sprit Molecule.  That book radically changed my understanding of what reality truly is, and how to attempt to prepare for it.  I highly suggest it as a read, even if you would just like to read about some truly undeniably truthful connections with other worldly beings, places and things.  

Each time a come to a closing part of my entries I will leave you with some of the music I find myself listening to.  I have really found a lot of time to find some good music since I'm all out here on my own for the most part.  So until next time listen to this music, if you can find it.

Playlist:

Kevin Devine & The Goddamn Band - Brother's Blood       ( Not out yet )

Norma Jean - The Anti-Mother

The Hope Conspiracy - New Song Out On Deathwish Sampler

Portugal The Man - Censored Colors