Jason Boland - Hardcore Troubadour
Here are my two favorite sites for discovering new music, reading about bands I already love, and generally knowing more about music overall.
(I guess that this makes me someone who talks about people who talk about music)
Search for the Last of the Hard-core Troubadours
I love these chicks. Whiskey soaked posts about music and stuff. I don’t agree with their politics but these days it’s harder and harder to find anyone with whom I can agree on that subject. The site title is a full on nod to Steve Earl/Townes Van Zandt and the writing full of sass and cyncism. I would recommend this site to anyone who cares about Americana/Southern Folk/Southern Rock or just plain old rock ‘n’ roll. If I ever make it to their town I have a feeling I will die for alcohol poisoning. The song above is a cover of the song for which their site is named.
Nine Bullets
Met this fellow on the Lucero Board and he recently (in the grand scheme of things) started this music blog. He uses the same plugin that I use so you can play the music about which he is posting while you read the entries. He has great taste in music and I have to admit he has turned me onto more music that any site other than the Lucero board.
So go visit my friends and get yourself a better playlist already.
I have a secret project in the works. I cannot tell you about it or I would have to kill myself. It’s gonna be cool. It’s gonna be the bee’s knees. But I can’t tell you what it is until the launch date. So just be ready.
I am thinking about this only because of a post by the wife. This is not some sort of guilt trip attempt to get comments.
I post here on a pretty regular basis. There are quite a few people subscribed and I know that the notices work on public entries and I know a good amount of them come look. But why don’t people comment? That’s a rhetorical question. No need to answer. I am not wanting each of your personal reasons for not commenting unless you really feel like giving them.
I wouldn’t be wondering this at all except that on myspace I can post the same entry and three or four people comment and yet here where I have more page views and more people subscribed there are a whole lot less comments. Minion used to have a pretty decent crowd on the message board but not a lot of comments on the entries and yet people read them. Contrast this with blogs that post about as much about nothing as I do and have a ton of comments. What I mean is that I understand why sites like The Rott have a lot of comments but I don’t get the difference between myspace, here, and other sites like mine. Of course there are tons of blogs all over the net that don’t get comments because no-one reads them. I am simply confused by the fact there are known readers and a good amount of traffic but the comments do not reflect that.
I mean it could be because I am as exciting as watching paint dry but I would think that people would stop reading if that were the case. I don’t think I am the be-all-end-all of blogging but I do have a decent crowd reading and that tells me at the very least I am not boring. The wife is more concerned about a feeling of community than about the actual comments themselves and that makes sense for her. I am just curious about the comments themselves to be honest. Feel free to not comment or comment to heart’s desire.
So I have given up caffeine for Lent. For the first week of Lent. After that, week by week, it will be processed sugar, alcohol, nicotine, and eventually I will fast for the last few days. I do not say this to brag at all. In fact I am hesitant to post the list which I intend to give up for God but it relates to the topic of the post. You see I have been drinking juice and water a lot already since I have had the symptoms of a kidney infection. I haven’t had a drink all week (not that I drink much to being with) and I have been eating better in order to prepare myself for the fast at the end of Lent.
I say all that to say this. I feel completely miserable right now. I should feel better than I have in a while. I don’t mean my kidneys hurt from the apparent infection. I mean I feel worn out, worn down, and all over beat up. I feel a sore throat coming on, along with joint aches, back aches not due to the kidneys, hot and cold flashes not due to fever, random coughing fits, and an all over feeling of just being tired. Now if I were a heavy drinker I would think I was having DTs but since I drink once a week at the most and it hasn’t even been a week since my last drink we can eliminate that possibility. I am getting enough sleep so it’s not exhaustion. The current flu is a stomach flu and doesn’t have the symptoms I possess so that can be ruled out as well. The lack of fever eliminates a lot of options. My only other guess is environmental so I will be wiping down my desk with bleach wipes every day for a while and using the hand lotion that kills germs.
It is maddening, to be honest, to start eating better, drinking better, cutting down on smokes, and everything I am doing only to become miserable. I don’t know how to handle it mentally to be honest. I am quite surly right now and not getting much done at work. Of course “not much” for me still impresses the boss. I am on the verge of depression over this. It doesn’t follow. I am still feeding my one addiction so it’s not withdrawal from nicotine. I weened the caffeine monster slow and haven’t had even one headache so I know it’s not that either. I think I will go curl up under the covers and wait for the wife to come to bed and rub my back.
She may not be pretty, and she may be a little rusty. She may need a tune up and a ball joint or four. But she’s all mine.
I finally have, through the amazing reality of church people being church people, a truck. Our friends, the Queens, gave it to us outright.
I will be posting pictures soon since I love The Beast (yeah I named her) and want to show her off. I also have a song or two in mind to go with the post.
I just wanted to post and brag on our friends a little bit. They rock.
So we abused bottle of Jaeger last night until it was gone. And a bottle of Jack. Those were the ones I took part in killing. It was Mikey’s wife’s birthday party and it was a fun time. Dave and Brandy were there and seeing Mikey after ten years was really amazing. No real stories but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Stacy’s party! It was a great party. I was there about eight hours and partying the whole time. Not one fight, disagreement, stupid guy trick, or any other reason someone would go to the hospital. I know that usually I wouldn’t post about a party that was uneventful on that level but bear with me.
I got to see Emmy whom I haven’t seen in 9 years, Mikey whom I haven’t seen in 10, Stacy whom I haven’t seen in 10 and didn’t actualy remember. I got to hang out with Dave and Brandy. I got to give advice to some of them as well. Advice I like giving. It was a very good party. Everyone wanted to hear Texas Country or hardcore so the music was mixed up but the random playlist seemed to fit the mood all night. Even the surfers were pretty cool even if a bit prude. There wasn’t sex on the floor or anything but they were a little freaked out at the frankness with which we discussed sex and sexuality. But they were fun.
Anyway Mikey and I promised that we wouldn’t make it another ten years and that he and Stacy would come for Michelle’s birthday party and crawfish boil. Yes this the official announcement. I don’t have a date set at this time but keep checking back. It’s an open invitation kind of event.
Yeah you should listen to the song while reading. It will make more sense.
Jason Boland - The Bourbon Legend
I you think about it you know what sort of mark you will leave. And that is even if you won’t leave any mark at all. I got thinkin’ about this because of a song. Yeah I know it’s hard to imagine but bear with me. I was digging on The Bouron Legend today and started thinkin’ about how we each have our own legends. Mine is kind of fun to be honest. I know how my friends see me by what they call me to do with them and for what they think they can count on me for.
I get called to go drinkin’ or go to shows. I get relied on to have people’s back in a fight. I get called for parties and to go to karaoke. I get called very rarely for relationship problems.
I guess I can relate to the bourbon legend idea a whole lot. I have friends that tell stories about me that never went down, stories that went down a whole lot different, and stories that are true. The thing that seems odd to me about this is that people tell stories about me. It’s not just one or two people it’s a bunch of my friends. I tell stories about myself but that is because I like to tell stories. I tell stories about other people as well. My friends all tell stories about me and frequently to people I have never met. These people meet me and relate the stories back to me. I am not a legend of any great proportion but there is an aspect of legend to my life through these stories. I don’t correct the wrong ones and I guess I maybe should but to be frank I enjoy seeing where they go with this me that is not me.
According to my friends, and most of this may or may not be true, and I ain’t bragging just relatin’, I am someone you want on your side in a fight, someone you don’t want to be in hand of poker with, someone who can drink superhuman amounts of beer, jaeger, and or whiskey, someone who knows everyone, someone who is there when you need them, someone who puts his family first and still makes time to party, someone who is crazy, someone who is able to fix your computer over the phone. I don’t mind this reputation. I also have a bad reputation amongst some crowds and that’s fine as well. Our reputations are usually self made and the good Lord knows I am no saint.
I guess I am amused by the dichotomy. The more I think about it the more I realize I am really a love him or hate him kind of guy. I don’t know a single person who is ambiguous about me. It’s kind of fun. It’s also kind of hard to live up to the reputation that proceeds me at times. I almost cringe when I hear “Oh you’re the Rodeo Clown! I have heard so much about, let me buy you a drink”. And that’s no hyperbole. The nickname changes depending on the crowd but someone is always buying me a drink and wanting to hear a story. I guess I am happy to be entertaining for the most part.
The only regret I have about the Jaeger Legend thing that seems to be going on is the sad fact I haven’t been able to put my stories to music. I can tell them like they are campfire stories and do so with a bard’s tongue at times but I can’t seem to make lyrics out of them. So I have to use other people’s music as my soundtrack. Such is the life of a Jaeger Legend.
One communist convinces another couple of communists to do something.
Not that I am not glad to see Linux have more adoption but it’s not really news that one communist can convince another that something free from capitalism is a good idea! Stallman’s a greasy zealot who does more damage to the Linux movement than any other single person with his all or nothing histrionics. Am I glad Cuba is getting a good OS? TO be honest I am not. I am glad that Linux is in the news and more people will be using it but the last thing I want is for the communist regime to have a stable OS. Violations of human rights all over the place and Stallman cares more about getting them to use Linux than change their evil ways. It just shows where his loyalties really lie. People are second to making sure software is free! Not the kind of stance I can respect. If it was possible, and it is not, my respect for RMS would have just dropped but since I couldn’t respect the bastard any less without surgery I guess nothing much has changed.
Here’s a little song about operating systems and the like. Enjoy.
Ray Wylie Hubbard is one of the elder statesmen of the Texas Music Revolution. From his success with Up Against The Wall Redneck Mother to his general failure from the mod 70’s to the 90’s he has remained true to his music. In the 90’s when the TMR was coming up his albums Lost Train Of Thought and Loco Gringo’s Lament have been on the shelves of every true fan of Texas Country. Cited as an influence by the likes of Pat Green and Robert Earl Keen he plays a slow driving groove with all the Texas flavor you can imagine. With a groove like SRV and lyrics like no-one else he has released 9 albums since ‘92 and 13 in all. With a Greatest Hits nowhere in site he continues to have tracks on every Texas Music complilation that comes out.
The gritty images painted in Choctaw Bingo and Dallas After Midnight will stay with you for days after a few times on the old turntable. And if you can manage to not sing along with Screw You, We’re From Texas then, well, you must not be from Texas. There is not a bad song in the discography although some stand out more than others. Missippi Flush, Bones, and Dust Of The Chase belong on any poker player’s collection. Without mainstream recognition, likely due to the full on Texas attitude in his music, Wylie continues to play to full houses all of the state of Texas and has a large following in Europe as well.
Snake farm has been out less than a full year. It his, of course, his latest offering. Snake Farm, the opening track, has a dirty groove and lyrics that will leave you with ears open and wanting more. Heartaches and Grease should be the theme song for just about every scumbag I know.
Young pups ask me what makes my kind
Shameless women and pork rinds
Desirable lips keep telling me lies
Biscuits and bacon and fried pies
And it’s heartaches and grease
That’s what it takes
Heartaches and grease
That’s my mistakes
Heartaches and grease
Whoa a little disgrace
It’s heartaches and grease boys
That’s what it takes
The whole album is journey through the winding backroads of Texas with the windows down at dusk. As far as guilty pleasures go this album musically takes the cake for me right now. It’s been in heavy rotation on the MP3 player and won’t be leaving the playlist anytime soon. I have to reccomend this with the highest of honors. Ray Wylie Hubbard has once again, and not suprisingly, done Texas Music Proud.
Here’s an old one and a new one for ya, just a taste, go out and pay for this album. Support Texas Music.
Ray Wylie Hubbard - Screw You We’re From Texas
Ray Wylie Hubbard - Heartaches and Grease
From a famous tattered sleeve
He pulls the ace of innocence
Kills another fifth of whiskey
Swears it’s self defense
So tomorrow is officially the day. I am going cold turkey off of the smokes. I tried today but Sinead’s birthday party was today and I couldn’t be in that mood with most of my family around. It wasn’t pretty. I made it eleven hours without a smoke and was ready to kill anyone who looked at me funny. It’s been a messed up week. I spent the week dealing with slow webservers to which I had made no changes only to prove after days that it wasn’t our group at fault. Of course the devs found no problems in their code so it’s back on us when, again, no changes have been made and no matter the server configuration, hardware, version, etc the same slowness happens when the production code is added. I also totalled my car which sucks the green ones. It was my fault and I have to pay for the damage to the guy’s car since Michelle’s insurance doesn’t cover me. Physically I am fine but it sucked. I even lost at the monthly poker game by getting called by a moron. So life has sucked but I made it through and Freddy is in town so all is well with the world.
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