Syd Barretts Solo work

The brilliance of Syd Barretts solo work is that it seems largely like sketches, musical sketches.  You have to almost hear some of it for the potential in it, not for what is there.  As the seed for Pink Floyd he was crucial yet if he had stayed with the band, it wouldn't have become what it did as that was largely Roger Waters energy.  So much untapped brilliance existed in Syd Barrett, perhaps he was meant to burn brightly for a short period of time, that was just his run. 
        His work conjures up images of castles and kings of medieval times, fairy tales, like in the song "golden hair" as well as just an alternate reality where "clowns and jugglers" exist in this renaissance fair sort of mystical land, that is haunting, beautiful and surreal at the least.

freecreditreport.com messed up my credit

my credit was shot, so I took the advice of the guy that looks like me in the commercial and signed up for freecreditreport.com.  It was auto-billed ten bucks a month.  All was well for a while, and they kept good track on my credit score and if anything changed, they sent me an email.  Eventually my credit card expired and I had forgotten to cancel the freecreditreport.com.  They kept charging me, but I didn't know it, eventually it went to collections, so I had my credit score negatively effected by the company that claimed to help improve credit scores.  Buyer beware!

Television, the fall, the cramps, the misfits, black sabbath, fugazi, 13th floor elevators, and many more

Pandora is one of the best things to come out of the interweb in a very long time.  I have found numerous bands that I would have never known about had I not heard them through Pandora, as well as revisited many that I had forgotten about.  Truly going to be a revolutionary step in the future of music, one of the best things as well for these smaller artists, many indie bands are going to get much more airplay, a great way to connect the artists with their fans, fans that might not have known they were even fans until Pandora.

My Valentines Day Ransom Letter

I hadn't been sleeping well, this girl was driving me crazy.  We would go out have a great time and then she wouldn't talk to me for two weeks, a slow, steady torture.  My confidence was shot.  I couldn't get her out of my mind.  Someone suggested to me, I write an old fashioned letter to her explaining my feelings, hand written, in this day and age of technology, things like that are romantic and different, also she could keep it and read it over and over, maybe send a rose with it as well.    Of course, I thought this was a brilliant idea, I'd pour my heart out to her, explaining how I felt, but the only problem was my handwriting looked like a five year olds, it was terrible, I considered writing it in block letters, but that didn't really seem the same, my cursive was illegible, so for some reason, I thought it would be quite clever to write it in ransom format with the letters cut out of magazines.  I figured she would find this clever as she was an artist and would appreciate the creativity.  Now mind you I hadn't been sleeping much and my mind wasn't all there, so I figured I would include a black rose and sign it in my blood.  I worked all night feverishly putting together this ransom note Valentines day letter.  It came out great in my mind, some of the lines in mishapen words included "I will never hurt you" which I found quite ironic being written in ransom type, and also "I don't want you to feel pressure" another great irony in my mind.
       Well, I sent her the letter, and the only reason I know she got it was because she blocked me on her twitter and her facebook. Oh well, live and learn, perhaps another girl would have found it romantic, perhaps Elvira, or Wednesday Adams.  Live and learn.

riots in Egypt

Does America really have a place in commenting on what happens in Egypt?

My visit from Albert Einstien

     I had been deep in the throes of depression, after chasing away another nice girl during a night of getting completely drunk and blacking out, I decided not to leave my apartment for an entire week, the lights were left off as well and I kept Dominos pizza on speed dial.  The days and nights blended together, it was late November 1999 just after Thanksgiving.  I had been unemployed for months, my last fifteen dollars was in my bank account. 
     my apartment had deteriorated into a den of discarded pizza boxes, used tissues and various random nick nacks, totally unpresentable to anyone with a shred of decency.  I had been drifting in and out of sleep for a while when I woke up and saw Albert Einstien standing at the foot of my bed.  He was solemn wearing a dark overcoat and holding his hat.
     "What the fuck are you doing here?"  I asked as I tried to figure out if I was dreaming or not "I'll call the cops!' I exclaimed
      Professor Einstien, calmly yet assertively began to speak "I have it figured out, the grand unifying theory, I need you to give me a pen so I can write this down, this is extremely urgent"
      "dude, I just woke up, come on, you really want me to dig around here and find a pen?"
   Einstien began to get a bit agitated, his upper lip began to quiver "do you realize how long I have been working on this?"
  "Okay, Okay, Cheesitz" I said, as i rolled out of bed in my boxers and stained white shirt, ushaven for three weeks.  I got out of bed and started turning over pizza boxes, I found one half pencil nub, barely with a point, and handed it to him.
     "I need paper!" he exlaimed, getting more annoyed with me.
     "Shit, paper too?, let me see here...." I ripped the top off a cardboard pizza box and handed it to Einstien.
      "Man, what a slob" he muttered under his breath.
      "what was that?" I asked, moderately threatening
      "umm, nothing, thanks for the pen.
I rolled back into bed and closed my eyes while Einstein feverishly scribbled his theory on my discarded pizza box.  I closed my eyes and dreamt of a beach in Hawaii, with some exotic beauty feeding me grapes,  was I escaping reality? your god damned right I was.












      

Illinois Governor Quinn to reinstate Russian Beard tax

the state of illinois facing another fiscal year of budget chrisis has decided to institute a beard tax.  The idea sprang from governor quinns recent trip to st petersberg russia.  on his flight there he listened to an audiobook on peter the great.  "this isnt my first choice to increase revenue, but we are running out of options, its time to think outside the normal income generating revenue streams" said the clean shaven quinn.  the tax is set to begin feb 1st, in the heart of the winter.  While many in the state will remain unaffected those in wicker park, logan square and ukranian village feel specifically targeted.  men who choose to wear beards must pay a monthly tax of $500. Failure to pay could result in further fines and ultimately jail time to those who are non compliant.  "this is total b.s man, if I don't pay some beard tax ill wind up in the gulag? are we really going back to 18th century Russia man?" said local bearded man humberto quintanna.  Pub  owners have expressed outrage in logan square as well "my customers bitch about a $2 pbr, they cant afford this, once again the poor and downtrodden are targets of some barbaric tax" said joe greco, owner of barcade on California ave. some in the gold coast and Lincoln park expressed support. "i think its a great idea, the state needs money and it will make those ratty hipsters more presentable" said tom kutnick a marketing manager. Mayor Dailey has refused to comment.  Local historian Langdon Algar claims "the beard tax was instituted by Peter the Great to bring Russia into modern times, this seems to be bringing us back to the time of Tsarist Russia" ZZ top has expressed interest in playing a benefit concert to raise awareness of the issue.