Monday, December 12, 2011

Music for Christmas

Hello, my avid readers (all two of you!). I've been blogging rather infrequently, but I hope to increase my blogging consistency in lieu of having more time due to the ending semester. Which was actually a pretty good one for me. Starting my second year at MAC, I found myself greeting a ton familiar faces--friends I had made because of classes, theater, and other such connections. I just wish there was more of me, so I could give my time as many of those friends as possible, but c'est la vie.

Anyway, Christmas is drawing nigh (and Hanukkah is a week from tomorrow!), but I haven't yet had my yearly surge of Christmas joy. It's something that sort of happens in my mind where I just think, "Man, this is Christmastime. How awesome!" And seriously, Christmas is the best holiday all year. I don't care where you live or what your religious beliefs are--nothing can top it (although Hanukkah comes close; Hanukkah could be a bad-ass holiday).

I'm particularly liking that I actually have an income this Christmas (I'm on the work study program for MAC's music department--got my first paycheck last Friday!), and I can go out buying gifts for people. I've been trying to mentally compile a Christmas shopping list of things to get my family and at least a few of my friends; again, I wish there was more of me to spend money on all my friends, but oh well.

What I'm not particularly liking is that I'm having a hard time imagining what I would like for Christmas. The same thing happened for my birthday (which was ten days ago today). I just didn't really know what to ask for. Maybe I'm just content with all that I have, or I figure if I want something I should just go get it myself. I don't know.

But I did have a realization. It occurred to me as I was in the green room waiting on the elevator. My friend Spencer was talking with the other theater kids there about the kind of music he was listening to lately. I wanted to pipe in and say something before I had to leave--the elevator was being particularly slow, anyway--but that's when my mind hit a wall. I tried thinking of the newest music I was most recently into, but nothing came to mind. The last musical kick I went on was when Thrice released Major/Minor, but that was almost a month and a half ago. Since then I've been recycling the same 2000+ songs in my iTunes library, hitting the shuffle button every time I plugged into my iPod, passively listening to whatever came up.

Finally the elevator door slid open, and I stepped inside asking myself, "Why haven't I been trying to find any new music?" Well, I wrestled with the question the rest of that day, and I realized that music just hasn't been that accessible to me for the past few months. I only recently started working in the music department, and up til then my funds had been draining slowly. I couldn't really afford to spend money on anything besides food and gasoline, so I had to give up buying any music for a while; I made an exception for Thrice's latest album because they're one of my top two favorite bands. Other than that, I've been in a musical drought.

But that brings me back to Christmas, and I realized what I want is music. For me, the easiest way to access music is by downloading it through iTunes (I'm such a good little boy, getting my music legally), so although iTunes gift cards have gotten a bad rap as being the I-didn't-know-what-else-to-get-you gift, some iTunes money would make my year. I even have my eye on a few albums that would be so much easier to find in an online store than at Wal-Mart.

So yeah. I don't want this blog to sound like I'm just pouting about what I want for Christmas, so let me conclude by drawing your attention to my blog's shiny new title! Ooh, ah! Okay, so all I did was take out a few words, but I like the change. The way the title was before, I always felt like it was too wordy, too cluttered. But now it's cleaner, more efficient, and hopefully easier to remember and more likable, too.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Golf Course Kamikaze: Hi, I'm Timmy

Deep within the oceans of YouTube, I found a legendary video of Golf Course Kamikaze playing the first song we ever wrote: Hi, I'm Timmy--AKA, The Timmy Song. There's even some pre- and post-song banter included. This was at a show in March earlier this year, the last one we played before our drummer Henry left for military basic training. Good times, good times.


The video was uploaded by a friend named Jason after being recorded in his basement; check out his YouTube channel thedeadpawns to hear his band and the countless others he records and helps out. He's done a lot for GCK, and I owe him more than a shout-out on a blog, but it'll have to do for now. Enjoy!