For some reason, I have never been able to get into anime. I find this odd, since there are so many people I know who absolutely love it. People who I generally have a lot in common with, and like a lot of the same things. Somehow it’s just never hooked me. I’ve tried half-heartedly a few times and always found my inteerest wandering and thinking about going and surfing the net or something. I really feel like I should love anime. I will give it another go (in fact Jess has “Spirited Away” for me to watch), but I just feel weird. It’s like if everyone you knew, respected, hung out with, loved Krispy Kreme donuts, but you just found them bland. Of course that scenario is just ridiculous, for Krispy Kremes are the krack of the food world. I think my anime gene is broken.
Haiku
I am ecstatic with my new email home, Fastmail. I’ve used Gmail for as long as I can remember. Since I first heard of it. However, I only used it to send and receive mail from my own custom domains, never from my actual Gmail address. I also used it for things like Calendar and YouTube because using those with a non-Gmail address didn’t used to be possible (now you can sign up with Google with your own non-Gmail email address). However, I recently read here that the “send-as” feature would be going away in January 2027 which makes Gmail no longer an option for me. Gmail’s “Send as” alias feature has always been a little janky and become more so over the years. I used to be able to send using Gmail’s SMTP servers but at some point that changed and I had to start using my web host’s SMTP servers. You also had to use “app passwords” with the alias accounts. It always felt a bit forced and cobbled together. So the search began for a new solution. I didn’t mind paying for the right service.
(more…)I just remembered a story from my 6 months as a male singer for a 6 piece “show band” on a cruise ship that I don’t think I’ve ever told.
(more…)When I was a young musician, I used to sit around playing music for hours just for the pure pleasure of it. I wasn’t necessarily learning songs for bands or rehearsing for anything in particular. I just loved learning and playing. Now, somewhere over 40 years into my career, I’m almost always preparing, learning, and rehearsing for various bands and upcoming gigs. However I have recently made sure to keep that perspective and remember that I love doing this. It’s not work or an obligation. It’s not a chore that is keeping me from something else. It is still something I love and enjoy. This perspective is so important and makes all this “homework” so much infinitely more enjoyable.
In today’s nap dream (REPEAT THIS WAS A DREAM):
I was trying to figure out the best way to dispose of a body. I was doing it for $30 for a man who said this person had owed him money and this was also my third time performing this service. I tried to make myself feel better by believing this must have been a bad person involved in crime or something. I had the body mostly covered so I couldn’t see the face, and was trying to cut the head off with a sword, and it was not going well. It was taking many swings. I was also house/pet sitting and trying to figure out what I should do. Bury it in the yard? I considered searching the internet for solutions but thought it best not to have that in my search history. Burying in the yard was a lot of work, and if the (now 3) bodies were discovered they might think that I also was responsible for their deaths. I really wondered why I was doing this for only $30 and was really regretting getting involved in this. Even worse, 3 times.
Then I woke up not very rested.
My new Emerald X20 carbon fiber acoustic guitar arrived on Saturday, and let me not bury the lede, I absolutely love it. The best acoustic I personally have ever played. Now for the longer version.
(more…)I am well and truly SHOCKED (and I’m not just saying that to be “humble”) to not only again be nominated for “Best Multi-instrumentalist” (which I previously won thanks to all of you who voted) but ALSO “Best Male Vocalist” and “Best Performer” in the ATBC Awards. Tons of immensely talented folks in all the categories. I encourage you to go vote for your favorites and support local music and musicians!
FAB!, the Beatles tribute I’m in is also nominated for “Best New Artist”
Yacht Z, the yacht rock band I’m in is nominated for “Best Cover Band” (as well as Skyrocket who I have the pleasure of subbing with occasionally).
I was also in the “Band On The Run” and “Heat of the Moment – ASIA tribute” one-off special projects.
I’m also in several bands with Chris Nine and Matt Patterson who are both nominated as well!
If you’d like to support me, local music in general, or any other of your favorite Austin musicians who are nominated, you can vote here!
Firstly I always though and still think it’s a great song. I grew up in a time when people liked it in earnest and it had not yet become the cliche/punchline that it would become. People actually wanted to hear you play it. I just had the most vague traces a of a memory. I think it was in high school at some point and Eric Taylor (I think) recruited me and Richard Bade to be in a one-off band playing for a school talent show (I think). Eric was a great guitar player and I *think* I was just singing it, a rarity. My 6 month tenure on a cruise ship is the only other time I’ve been a dedicated vocalist who wasn’t also playing an instrument (and a one-off sub gig with Tumbling Dice, a great Rolling Stones tribute). Still a strange feeling to me when I do it. I’m sure there must have been at least one or two other folks involved in that band but I can’t remember who. I also have vague recollections of all kinds of technical snafus wreaking havoc with the one-song performance. It’s all so vague, I can’t swear by any of this. Other than I still think it’s a banger.
Weirdly another musician equipment anxiety dream last night once again starring Skyrocket! In the dream we were playing in an HEB. We got to the song “Der Kommissar” and I realized I hadn’t hooked up my guitar stuff yet so I frantically hooked it up as fast as I could but missed most of the song. Then it was time for “99 Luftballoons” and I started scrolling through keyboard sounds and couldn’t find it. I then realized that though I had recently upgraded, I had brought the old keyboard which didn’t have my sounds (they were both almost identical looking Nords). At break I was very apologetic and feared they would never hire me again. I made plans to just try and do the best with what I had and find sounds that worked.

I’ve been playing bass for 40+ years. A Ric was never particularly on my “wish list” or anything though I knew they were great basses. Over the decades, the more I played and learned about various basses, I started to think a Ric might just be a good fit for me. I finally decided to take the plunge and I am completely sold. I could go on for days about all the things I love. I chose the 4003S because it has a more rounded and comfortable body since it has no binding. The models with binding I find uncomfortable on the right forearm. And also the dot inlays are what McCartney had and we all know I love me some McCartney.
(more…)I had a dream last night that I was part of a group of musician friends who had signed on for a short run of shows on a cruise ship. Once we were on the ship and out on the ocean, I realized I had left all my gear in my car back on land. I was trying to figure out how I could maybe get by using somebody else’s gear on the ship. Extra weirdly, my cabin mate was Jake Connelly, the actor who played “Dipshit Derek“ on Stranger Things and he was being a total jerk to me about it all so we had an argument and went our separate ways while I looked for the office where I was supposed to get my ID/Swipe card as it was hard to go anywhere or open any doors without it.
kind with you on this one, carnale.
I’ve sat through Akira, and GhostinthefuckinShell, and Ninja Scroll, D: Hunter of the Vampeeer, and a few more…
And while I generally find the world’s created within anime to be compelling, the visuals… the voice acting… All of it is just kinda…
I dunno. I DID like “Adieu, Galaxy Express 6781933” or whatever it was called, mainly the movie was virtually incomprehensible.
Oh, and Cowboy Bebop kicks ass. But for the most part, I think Anime is one o those genres i just don’t “get”. Like soft-core girl-on-girl porn, “erotic” thrillers, mistaken identity comedies, and studio-released horror films.
Fuck the anime! More queso!!!
I’m not into anime either. I mean, not that you would assume that I am, but like you, I too have tried. My ex-husband and his friends were into it and I watched a lot back then. Mostly I found it disturbing and scary. (The scariness probably has to do with my high wuss factor.)
I got it! What I was trying to say yesterday: anim� is not a genre, it’s a medium.
Anime does vary a lot. I certainly find that watching it in the original Japanese is much more fun than dubbing as a) Japanese people shriek and howl at each other a lot, which is very funny and b) most dub actors sound as though they’re on Valium.
I never got into Cowboy Bebop for some reason. I’d tell you what I do like here, but I’ve recently sent a good old rambly PM to Jess on that very same subject so she may or may not be inflicting some of my dubious tastes on you soon.
Oh, you don’t need the accent on the e, BTW, unless you feel you can’t pronounce the word without one. (This coming from someone who feels twitchy because she hasn’t yet discovered the alt codes that make that nice straight line across various letters in Japanese words to lengthen them, and has to rely on the Symbols menu in Word instead.)
Oh, and I must totally agree with your statement that Krispy Kremes are the krack of the food world. Damn, yes, they so bloody well are.
*drooool*
See, I hate subtitles. Hate them. I find my enjoyment of a movie is greatly diminished if I have to read the whole time. I don’t get to fully appreciate the visuals, acting, and such if I’m having to read the whole time.
Also I didn’t know about not needing the �. I wish I’d known that before I had to type Alt+0233 throughout that entire post!
Most anime is not worth bothering with, in my opinion. Of course, there are some fantastic things in amongst it all, and I’m sure you’ll like some of it. Yes.
I’m a casual enjoyer of the stuff.
Robotech, Starblazers, Inuyasha, Cowboy Bebop, and the occasional episode of Gundam will hold my attention.
I love most of the movies that I’ve seen – which isn’t many. I prefer series. LOVE Millennium Actress & Metropolis, though.
Pretty “mainstream” – nothing overtly sexual, please. I like my cartoons PG at the most.
See, I hate subtitles. Hate them. I find my enjoyment of a movie is greatly diminished if I have to read the whole time.
Quite understand, as my other half feels the same way and prefers dub as a result. I’m lucky in that I’m a speed-reader, so subtitles don’t detract from the film for me, which is a good thing, as I just love listening to foreign languages. Particularly Japanese..!