Exercise. Who needs it?

I do. I just went out in my exercise shorts (which were purchased about 5 or 6 years ago and got about 2 wearings), new shoes, and Less Than Jake t-shirt to run/walk to get some much needed exercise. It was mostly walking though. I tried to kep the pace brisk even when I was walking, but man, I am tired and sore and just pathetic!

Why the sudden interest in exercise? Well, we've ordered ourselves a treadmill and it comes on Friday and I am ten pounds over the weight limit. Now, I'm not a HUGE guy, but I'm very tall and I'm certainly not skinny. And well, yeah, I need to lose some weight before I can start using the exercise equipment. Sigh. I'm trying to make the best of it, but I'm WAY out of shape. I was one of those guys who relied on his metabolism to stay on the skinnier side, but then the metabolism slowed down, but the habits didn't. So that's happening.

And so is this! I got a track from this Maryland band McTwist. I gave it a listen and I was VERY impressed. They're touring around the area right now and I would suggest you check them out. If you want an inadequate comparison, this song reminded me at first of Jimmie's Chicken Shack (specifically "Do Right") if it was sung by the lead singer of Better Than Ezra. Take a listen for yourself! If you like it, go to their Myspace and listen to more and check out their tour dates!

McTwist - Prizefighter from Amateur Hour

McTwist's Myspace Page

You know, when I get around to making a playlist to exercise to, I bet this song will be on it.

Yet another reason I love Radiohead.

So, I'm listening to my songs that begin with L in alphabetical order (as part of my quest to do my entire library that way) and Radiohead's "Like Spinning Plates" comes on. Now, I know that it's composed from the song "I Will" which would be released later on Hail to the Thief being played backwards, but I couldn't think of that at the time. So I'm looking at the information about it and well, let me paste in what I read that gave me goosebumps of thrilledness!

[There's a line in the song about "living in Cloud-Cuckoo-land]
"The hidden booklet found underneath the CD tray of Kid A has a page that references the above lyrics, 'Cloud cuckoo land'."

WHAT HIDDEN BOOKLET?!

Sure enough, I go to my copy of Kid A (which conveniently happens to be within arm's reach of where I sit) and pry open the CD tray. There it is. Lying there like a hidden treasure that has been waiting nine years for me to discover it. It's a booklet full of weird Radiohead-y goodness and I am just so happy :)

Three things!

1. There are still several spots left on the mix CD I'm making. Don't be shy :) It's going to be fun! I've used my random integer generator (well it's not mine, but I use it when I need random numbers) to generate my two letters. Should I tell you what they are? ;-)

2. So, apparently, Bob Dylan is going to be releasing an album on April 28th (in America) called Together Through Life. Awesome :) Modern Times was so good and I'm hoping this is just as awesome. It seems like it just randomly showed up, though. I kind of like that though, it's like a nice little surprise.

3. Warped Tour this year. I'm pretty sure my sister doesn't read this (or know about it), so I feel confident that I won't be giving anything away if I spill the beans on here. It's my sister's 15th birthday on 4/1 and I thought it would be a fun gift to give her tickets to her first Warped Tour (and really first concert). So that's the plan. So, here is a list of the bands scheduled to play that I'm excited to see (of course the list of dates that these bands are playing hasn't been posted yet, so it might be that some of the following won't be there at our venue.

*Anti-Flag
*Bad Religion
*Big D and the Kids Table (I've actually only heard a couple of songs by these guys, but I like what I hear and hey, it's a nice Boston ska band, what more can you ask for?)
*Bouncing Souls
*Escape the Fate (a buddy of mine just turned me on to these guys. The song "We Won't Back Down" is one of my current jams (and I would post it here, but I'm typing from my bedroom and the portable hard drive is in my office. If you can't find it, email me and I'll see that you get it)
*Flogging Molly
*Less than Jake (they WILL play "Scott Farcas Takes it On the Chin" this time or I swear to God, they'll regret it. No, I'm not making a threat. It's just that this will be like the 5th or 6th time seeing them and they've NEVER played it and I REALLY want them to!)
*NOFX
*Streetlight Manifesto
*The Ataris
*Thrice

The other thing is, unless they've changed the way they do it, they pick the schedule for each venue the morning of the show, so it could be that there are conflicts that will prevent me from seeing some of those. Also, my sister has bands that she wants to see that aren't listed above. So I'm hoping to get a good post out of this. And some good sibling bonding :)

Still Plenty of Room on the Mix...Plus a Moz Request!

So two quick things and then I'm off to work.

1. There is still PLENTY of space on the mix cd if you were interested in contributing some letters (see the previous post if you're wondering what I'm talking about) so don't be shy! Email me some letters :)

2. If anyone is in possession of the Morrissey songs "Tommorrow" and/or "The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get," and would let me have them, I think we could make some sort of quid pro quo arrangement. Email me if you're interested. This is for that collection I'm making of #1 Billboard Hot Modern Rock Songs that I mentioned a while back.

UPDATE: I have now gotten the Morrissey songs that I needed :)


Thanks!

Actually, I have one more thing. What concerts are people excited about this summer? I had planned on taking my sister (15) to her first Warped Tour, but it may be that the scheduling isn't going to work out. Any cool tours going around the U.S.? Any Festival type events in the Virginia/Maryland area this summer? Let me know :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Mix CD Idea (A contest of sorts...)

Hi. It's been a while. Do I always start my posts that way? It seems so.

I've been thinking about something that one of my best friends did like 2.5 years ago over on LiveJournal. He basically asked people for a random pair of letters and he took that pair of letters and sent them a song that he thought they would like. I sent him TS and he sent me a great Carbon Leaf song called "Texas Stars"! Get it?

So what I propose is something like that. With a few slight twists. I'm going to make a mix CD. Based entirely on reader letter submissions. Ok, I might contribute my own, or I might not. I don't know yet. But anyways, then I'd send you the mix CD as a thank you for contributing! Here's what I'd like you to do:

Email me at aodblog@gmail.com with the following things:

1. Your name (I might already know you, but I might not!)
2. A letter or two or three that you want your song to start with
3. A mailing address for where you'd like your copy sent

Using the first 15 submissions I get, I'll make a mix!

I think this could be really fun! Let's see what we can come up with!

When I win the Lottery

1. I will quit the job that I have tolerated because it provides a paycheck and experience that I can hopefully use elsewhere. Screw that. I'm going to live off my luck for a little bit.

2. I will tell my wife that she absolutely has the option to also quit her job. She may not take me up on it, though. I think she gets a lot more intangible rewards from her job.

3. Give some of the money to my Father-in-Law to invest. I know that lottery money isn't there forever. I understand that. So maybe he can help me perpetuate it a little.

4. Travel. I'm going to do some extensive travelling. Both inside and outside America. There are lots of places I've never been to and there are lots of places that I want to go back to. Maybe I can also do a CP Nation visiting trip! It could be like The Muppet Movie. Whoever wanted to join the journey would be more than welcome. All they'd need to bring would be a good Road Trip Mix. Because, let's face it, even the wealthiest person in the world can't hear everything. Some things are beyond wealth and I think musical exploration is one of those. Ok. So maybe The CP Nation Muppet-Movie-Style Visitation Road Trip should be #5

5. The CP Nation Muppet-Movie-Style Visitation Road Trip.

6. After I've gotten my fill of travel, we'll settle down and get started on having little ADD babies running around un-alphabetizing my CD's. And while we do that...

7. I'M GONNA START A RADIO STATION. This would be an absolute dream come true. I don't think I'd mess with the FCC so it would be an Internet Radio station. That means all you beautiful people could do some DJ work if you wanted. :) Who's in? What's your show on the radio station gonna be? Also, on the radio station, I'm going to buy the broadcast rights to the Casey Kasem American Top 40 countdowns and maybe the Festive Fifties. I think it would be so fun to broadcast some old countdowns like that.

I know that winning the lottery is basically impossible and that "the lottery is a tax for people who are bad at math" but it's fun sometimes to fantasize. :)

Discovered this Poem tonight

I really like this. It's dark, but really really beautiful.

IN BED WITH A BOOK
by Mona Van Duyn
transcribed from Near Changes (Knopf 1990)

In police procedurals they are dying all over town,
the life ripped out of them, by gun, bumper, knife,
hammer, dope, etcetera, and no clues at all.
All through the book the calls come in: body found
in bed, car, street, lake, park, garage, library,
and someone goes out to look and write it down.
Death begins life's whole routine to-do
in these stories of our fellow citizens.

Nobody saw it happen, or everyone saw,
but can't remember the car. What difference does it make
when the child will never fall in love, the girl will never
have a child, the man will never see a grandchild, the old maid
will never have another cup of hot cocoa at bedtime?
Like life, the dead are dead, their conciousness,
as dear to them as mine to me, snuffed out.
What has mind to do with this, when the earth is bereaved?

I lie, with my dear ones, holding a fictive umbrella,
while around us falls the real and acid rain.
The handle grows heavier and heavier in my hand.
Unlike life, tomorrow night under the bedlamp
by a quick link of thought someone will find out why,
and the policemen and their wives and I will feel better.
But all that's toward the end of the book. Meantime, tonight,
without a clue I enter sleeep's little rehearsal.


For more info about this poet: go here
Oh, and I should say, I put the poem in italics because Greer does it. Go visit her website where she has lots of great poetry and stuff. :)