Successfully Avoiding Anything Planned
Archives: D.I.Y.
Recording the HaHa
For the past month my behavior has been odd. I’ve been mumbling words to myself. Missing exits while driving. Spacing out while spacing out. Pacing like an Umpa Lumpa in skinny jeans. Visualizing each beat of a story about being at a party where a tiny bread crumb projected from my mouth and landed directly into the tear duct of the woman I was talking too. A tragic tale of dating dreams crushed by rogue bruschetta.
Why relive such a mortifying moment (over and over and over)? This is a question everyone who performs comedy must answer and it’s not an easy one. While I’m still seeking why I’m compelled to stand in front of friends and strangers and share these bits and pieces of my life for their entertainment, one thing was certain: I was recording a comedy album on October 23rd and I needed to mumble my way into cohesiveness.
Navigate
I’ve heard stories of Native Hawaiians who navigated their canoes by the stars. They found direction by studying the sun, ocean swells, and the flight patterns of seabirds. I’m lucky if I can find the Big Dipper. It’s incredible they learned to use elements in nature to map specific destinations. I’ll try to remember this next time I yell at my GPS for re-calculating when I miss a turn. Continue reading
Turbo Pascal: Dusting Off Songs From Yesteryear
Turbo Pascal formed in the summer of 1995. Yes, 1995. Guitarist Michael Marty, bassist Danny John, drummer James Treichler and I all met while attending MacArthur High School in the soy bean capital of the world, Decatur, IL.
After spending countless hours driving around between Pizza Hut and Holiday Inn bus boy shifts expanding our musical horizons to the likes of Screeching Weasel, Rancid, Pennywise and XTC, Mike and I were inspired to start a band of our own. We got to work with the goal of writing catchy songs that fell in line with the guitar driven anthems of our heroes. James joined the band after witnessing my failed attempt to do a kick flip on a skateboard wearing work boots. But wait, there’s more!…