Theme Park Experience

With Best Buy announcing they are acquiring Napster, I present a personal timeline: Mid-1990s: Growing up on infrequent trips to Sound Warehouse, Sam Goody, and Camelot for CDs and cassettes, I went out of my way to go to Best Buy once the first store opened in Houston. They had a better selection, and the average price of a CD was $11.99. 1997 Best Buy was the place that I bought CDs, along with video games and VHS tapes, once the store in Humble opened. 1997 was the year I started working for them in their media department. I proceeded to work there off and on for the next four years. I learned a lot about myself in the process, and I can say without any cynicism that it was a good job for me at the time. I also realized that working retail is not something I should consider as a career. 1999 Hearing about a free program where I could find hard-to-find/unreleased material by Jimmy Eat World and Coldplay, I downloaded Napster and loved it. A few weeks later, I introduced the program...

Last Saturday the Tah-Dahs played their final show (or Roy's final show as a Dallas-ite before he and Laura move to Chicago), thus ending one of my favorite local bands' tenures. I can't say that I'm sad that the band is no more -- but I don't mean that in a negative way. I saw them play over twenty times in the last five years, so it wasn't a situation where I just found out about a great band who just broke up. Since the first time I saw them (Red Blood Club, when Ashburne Glen opened for them) to last Saturday at the Amsterdam Bar, I was never let down. Using terms like "nervy," "spastic" and "tight" only give a glimpse as to what it was like to see them play. Something about the mix of smart, albeit random, pop culture banter with these songs always made for a sight to see. Now, not to sound like some scene codger that says things just won't be the same, but things will be a little different for me. As great as Le Fun and ...

Well, even they lost power for a few days, my family came out of the storm unscathed. Plenty of trees fell down and debris was all over the place, but no major damage. Haven't heard anything from my friends though. UPDATE: Heard from my friends, and they are fine. Whew.

Regular blogging is on hold at the moment because of Hurricane Ike . Because its projected path, I've got at least twelve reasons to be extra anxious for the next few days. Not only do I have family in Galveston, but Matt and his family are nearby. Plus, there's my immediate family, my brother-in-law's family, and over a handful of friends and their families, further north of the area. I hope the most I hear about is a lot of rain. As a result, we're due to get a lot of rain this weekend in Dallas. Regardless of the rain, the Tah-Dahs will play their final show. Anyway, here's to hoping for the best despite hearing about the possible worst.

I find it hard sometimes to get a full sentence out when someone interrupts me with his or hers negative feelings about an album, book, or movie. Be it a groan of displeasure or a bunch of harsh words, I tend to get sidetracked when trying to say something. Of course, this all carries over into internal conversations, and things can get very nerve-wracking. Why can't I say what I want to say and not be interrupted by a naysayer? I've long thought that why I love blogging is because people don't interrupt me when I talk about something that I like. I know there are plenty of people who absolutely despise Jersey Girl , St. Anger , and Journey (pre- and post-Steve Perry). But I don't have to worry about someone coming into my space, knocking my keyboard out of my way, and turning off my computer when I blog about how much I love these bands, albums, and movies. I have all the time and space to think and write what I want, but is this really conquering my difficulty? If I w...

Some updates on stuff I've blogged about in the last few months, weeks, and days: --The mice situation is still in place at our house. They love Juliet's dog food, and will do anything to get it. We got a plastic container for the dog food, but still, they've tried to gnaw their way into that. So, based on a suggestion from a friend of ours, I took small baggies (smaller than sandwich bags) and put some dog food in them. I also put small shavings of Tomcat rodent poison in them. I placed the bags in the most highly-traveled spots for the mice (the utility room and behind the oven), but away from Juliet's reach. The bags have quickly disappeared, and if I find one, it's empty merely hours after I put it out there. I've had some success so far as our utility room now reeks of a dead mouse. --Still no release date or any word about the availability of Post . The last time I blogged about the book, I heard something the following day. Let's hope that happens tom...

With a lot of bands, I hope each album they release offers something that affects me. I don't expect each new album to be drastically different than the last. Rather, I like it when a band finds their sound and progresses from there with each ensuing album. So when a band starts to sound like they're not breaking any new ground (or going back to the proverbial well), I usually say no thanks and stick with their records I already like. In the last week though, two major excepts to this idea have become abundantly clear to my tastes: Metallica and Journey. Repeat listens to Death Magnetic , Revelation , and Generations have enforced this. And yes, I'm well aware I'm talking about one of metal's most respected titans and a reviled survivor of 70s/80s corporate rock in the same sentence. There's a deeper effect these records have had on me; beyond the question of whether or not these records have pure originality on them. You can argue both bands have thrown in the...