an open letter to the cool kids

dear cool kids,

i couldn't help but notice that myspace has been dead the last few months. no one's leaving comments or posting bulletins. the thrill is gone.

so i go to facebook, and all i can find are old friends from jr. high who are now married with kids.

where did you guys go?

why didn't you take me with you?

please get back to me on this. i'm concerned.

lost on the internet,

phil

dj weekend!

so as most of you know, i have been an amateur wedding DJ for a few years now. it's basically just me, a laptop, a bunch of mp3s, and a pretty good feel for what songs to pick to help a) start a dance party and b) keep it going. i love a good dance party and i've always been interested in doing some ACTUAL DJing.. but never really took the initiative.

fortunately, living with kenny has sparked that interest in DJing again. he invited me to join him as a guest DJ for 240 Minutes, his 90s alternative rock night at cous cous. weeks later, kenny invited me to join him again and now it's looking like a regular thing, which i'm pretty damn excited about.

last week kenny took a definite step towards making 240 Minutes even more legit by buying his own DJ gear (we had been borrowing stuff before) and i've been spending nights at home during the week getting familiar with the mixer/turntables and playing around with it. it's surprisingly easy to use and i'm way stoked to use real gear instead of my old school laptop ways.



i'm never going to be a legit technical DJ. i don't have the slightest clue how to match beats or scratch and i don't really care to find out. i do, however, like to pick out awesome songs and hopefully get people dancing/singing/whatever.

this upcoming weekend, we have two events - one in DC and one in RVA. friday night is 240 Minutes DC, where we'll be playing 90s alt rock at sticky rice DC. saturday night we're back at cous cous for a slightly different night. it's called "slanted & enchanted" and it's our take on an indie pop dance night. i don't know if it will be a regular thing or a one-time thing, but it promises to be a lot of fun. i love dancing to that kind of music more than anything else, so hopefully i can get everyone else dancing as well.

for my DC friends, it would be awesome to see you out at sticky rice! it's been a few months since i've made an appearance and i've been missing a lot of you. for my RVA friends, there's been NOTHING going on in this town for weeks, so come out and have a good time before everyone disappears for the holidays and finals.

240 minutes dc:


slanted & enchanted rva:

jimmy eat world continued..

i feel like i've been binging on clarity by jimmy eat world lately. blogging about it, talking to people about it, listening to it. if i keep doing this, i am going to be sick of this record just in time for the show.

i'm officially putting a moratorium on jimmy eat world here on the blog until the actual show in february.

as a formal send-off to jimmy eat world, i am posting the lyrics to the hands down best jimmy eat world song ever. if you argue with me on this, you are dead to me.

"for me this is heaven"

the first star i see
may not be a star
we can't do a thing but wait
so let's wait for one more

the time, such clumsy time
in deciding if it's time
i'm careful but not sure how it goes
you could lose yourself in your courage

when the time we have now ends
and when the big hand goes round again
can you still feel the butterflies?
can you still hear the last goodnight?

the mindless comfort grows
when i'm alone with my 'great' plans
this is what she said gets her through it
"if i don't let myself be happy now, then when?"
if not now, when?

when the time we have now ends
and when the big hand goes round again
can you still feel the butterfles?
can you still hear the last goodnight?

i close my eyes and believe
that wherever you are
an angel for me



jimmy eat world, you fucking kill me, dudes.

working from home = not working

today i am working from home.

i usually do not like working from home.. i can't focus here and i like being at my actual desk in my actual office. i know that might sound weird. a lot of people who work office jobs would kill for the chance to work at home. i guess i like having the OPTION to work at home, but given the choice, i usually prefer to be in my office - collaborating with co-workers in person and just having a separate space for work.

of course, ALL of this changes on days when, for whatever reason, there's no work to do. that day is today. my boss is out of town and the project that was supposed to start wednesday is on hold, so i am literally without work to do. i've reached out to let people know and there's still nothing.

so this is when being at home is AWESOME.



i'm blasting music, cleaning my room, catching up on all your blogs, etc. it's great. i just got back from a leisurely lunch at tarrants with the lovely tess dixon and kenny. it was a celebratory lunch of sorts.. kenny just got a new job that he's really excited about and tess just quit her much-hated job and is thrilled to be out from under that raincloud. i had nothing in particular to celebrate, but i am always down for a celebration.

it was at lunch that tess told me that one of her friends mentioned that she is a semi-regular reader of my blog. someone i don't know! i was so taken aback by this, as i have been the past few times that someone has randomly come up to me and said they enjoy my blog. i don't know.. i mean, it's really weird. i'm just here writing about my normal somewhat boring everyday life and it seems like some people find that entertaining, which is totally fucking awesome. sometimes i feel like i'm writing into a void. i still enjoy doing it because it's a great outlet for me, but it's pure bonus icing on my blog cake to know that people out there are digging what i'm doing.

so to you, anonymous reader, thank you for clicking your way over here and reading my various rantings. feel free to leave some comments or chime in. it makes the blog more fun for me and you'll feel better knowing you're not an anonymous lurker but a valuable contributor to the "phil has a blog" universe.

or keep on lurking, because that's cool too. just know i appreciate you doing so.

legitimate.

today is kicking ass so far. i'm entirely prepared for the day to take a sharp nosedive, but in the meantime i am way stoked.

first awesome thing of the day: i managed to score tickets to the jimmy eat world show despite some technical difficulties. i was so worried about it selling out, i set an alarm for the pre-sale and everything. at 10:01, i was the proud owner of four tickets. so tight.

second awesome thing of the day: this morning i was surprised with... my very own NEW BUSINESS CARDS. not just regular old boring business cards. these ones are classy - with rounded edges, full color - totally awesome. i'd show one on here, but in the past month i've learned some very valuable lessons about revealing personal information and acquiring stalkers (long story). needless to say, these business cards are going to get me so many girls, i'm probably gonna need to order some more. plus, think of all the free lunches i can get by dropping my business card in the fishbowl at the mexican restaurant!! the possibilities are ENDLESS.

third awesome thing of the day: i have no work to do. we have spent all week anticipating this crushing amount of work that is coming in. this new huge project has been holding for weeks and we thought we were going to get the go-ahead late last night. well, it never came. then we found out it's not coming till late today. or possibly late tomorrow. i've spent all this week getting everything done and organizing all my shit and basically readying myself for this big workload - and now that it's not here, i have done everything else. downtime central! i guess it's my fault for being so productive earlier this week, but what can ya do?

i guess i'm going to quietly put the word out that i'm not busy, and see if anyone needs help. gotta be careful with that though - if word gets out, you could be on the receiving end of a pile of bullshit work.

anyway, it's almost the weekend. what's going on? come find me! i'll be at the bar, surrounded by stunningly beautiful, giving them my business cards.

clarity.

let's talk for a moment about something i am super excited about:



early next year, jimmy eat world will be commemorating the ten-year anniversary of the release of "clarity" by playing 15 shows across the country where they will play the album in order in its entirety.

HO-LEE-SHIT.

did i mention there's a DC date? did i mention tickets go on sale tomorrow?

let's just say i'm definitely going to this.

many years ago, this album changed my life. i can't tell you how many long drives on tour i've played this album front to back. i can't tell you how many mix cds i've made with songs from this album on it. i can't tell you how many times i've been drunk with good friends singing the lyrics at the top of our lungs. for this genre and for this type of music, it is truly a masterpiece and without a doubt their finest moment as a band. and it came along at the perfect time in my life for it to have the most impact.

over the years when people ask me about my top 5 desert island discs, a lot have come and go, but "clarity" hasn't budged from this exclusive list. i'm not saying it's an incredibly innovative record... it's just amazing songs that came along at the right time in my life. and that impact hasn't faded away, whereas so many other records get forgotten.

anyway, i can't wait for this. i never got to see jimmy eat world when they toured to support clarity, so this will be a really amazing experience.

now i just have to get tickets before they sell out!

spiders.

paramore.

things that are embarrassing to admit:

1) you are listening to paramore loudly in your room.
2) you are listening to paramore B-SIDES loudly in your room.
3) you have paramore b-sides.

ridiculous.

music. vinyl. awesome.

today's been one of those days where i listen exclusively to music i enjoyed from 2000-2001, a formative time in my musical life. prior to that point, my musical tastes were... well, shitty. i don't know, the whole thing makes me reflective about the past and different times. it's a good feeling.

i've had some mixed feelings about new music lately. my three most recent cd purchases didn't end up so hot. i hadn't heard any of my purchases, but they were all new cds from bands i loved. two out of three were disappointing and the third cd that i liked was a 5-song EP. not so good!

however, the last few records i've DOWNLOADED for free i've enjoyed thoroughly. go figure, i try to help out the music industry and i get it backwards.

one new development in my music buying world is the introduction of VINYL to my musical universe. i've never really been a collector of vinyl. i can certainly appreciate the benefits of it - the amazing sound and the beautiful artwork.

i have about 10-15 albums i've accumulated on vinyl over the years, but i've never actually paid for any of it. i acquired them during my years working at universal music. i have some vinyl from ryan adams, thursday, rival schools, johnny cash. mostly over the years i've put them in those cool album artwork picture frames and that's been the end of it.

i knew eventually someday i'd spend the money to get a solid record player and a solid sound system and it would be cool to have some vinyl.

well, very recently, polyvinyl records announced the re-release of three of ida's first albums - "i know about you", "tales of brave ida", and "ten small paces" - which are all albums that i love. the re-release was vinyl only and i don't even have these albums on CD, so i thought.. why not now? the price was very reasonable, so i placed a pre-order.

ida is one of my all-time favorite bands. the kind of band that i've listened to for years and will continue to listen to for years to come.

so coming relatively soon, i will now officially be entering a new realm as a music consumer. we have a nice record player downstairs that the roommates have been playing old LPs on. i'm excited to join them with my new ida records.

my next vinyl purchase is already on the horizon. aereogramme (another of my all-time favorite bands) is releasing their entire discography in a vinyl boxset with crazy new artwork and liner notes and plenty of other goodies. it's too cool to pass up, so i'll probably be getting that as well. i just hope it's reasonably priced so i don't break the bank.

the hope is that someday far into the future, i will pull an old record player out of a hidden away box and play the music for my children or grandchildren while they try and wrap their heads around something as confusing as music that isn't in downloadable digital form.

post-election hangover

man oh man.

what a week.

i've been avoiding any extensive blogging since tuesday because there's just too much to say and too much to talk about. the events of tuesday night will be something i will remember for the rest of my life. watching the results come in, seeing VA go blue for the first time in my life, witnessing obama's historic acceptance speech. not to mention the impromptu parade we took part in during the early hours of wednesday.

it was truly amazing to see so many people so positive and optimistic about the future of our country and our government.

even in the days since, once the smoke has cleared, and the reality that work is annoying and all the excitement of the election doesn't take hold until january anyway, i still catch myself thinking about the excitement of a new president and a new direction. i've been checking out change.gov and all the information about the transition. it seems so refreshing.. the bush administration was so secretive and protective. within 24 hours of getting elected, obama has a website detailing his transition plans and communicating openly about things. it's a whole different world.

in other news, it's nearing the end of the year and my team's numbers are just shy of where we projected for the year. this means that we're trying to squeeze every last dollar out of the client and getting really uptight about our accounting and where things are financially. that means that i'm getting bombarded with annoying financial work... the least exciting part of my job, which means that the past week or two have not been that much fun for me.

the good news is that i found out we get the week between xmas and new years off completely, so that will be a much needed recharge. i just have to survive long enough to make it there.

there's plenty of things going on between here and the holidays. we've got courtney visiting next weekend, a jens lekman concert this weekend, two DJ events later in november, thanksgiving, and a 10 year high school reunion. and that doesn't even cover december at all.

intense.

it's friday. and i don't give a fuck about work today. you might see more blogging later, i think.

history in the making

i have so much to say about tonight, but i'll save that for later.

for now, just know that this is what is going on right out in front of my apartment as we speak:

one can only hope.

sitting down to watch the election coverage and order some pizzas with my dudes.

C'MON OBAMA!

OBAMA PIZZA PARTY!

what's that?! you voted for OBAMA?! oh man, you're totally invited to an OBAMA PIZZA PARTY!

look how many pizzas obama bought you..



DELICIOUS!





SAVE SOME FOR OBAMA, THAT DUDE IS ABOUT TO BE YOUR PRESIDENT!





NOM NOM NOM NOM

thanks kelsey for the obama pizza photos!

democracy in action!

i got up bright and early at 6:30 this morning. (well, six technically but i rolled around in bed for a while)

i made it to the polling place shortly after 7:00 to find a nice long line. bummertown.

i had secret hopes of getting in and out quickly and then walking over to perly's for a delicious post-voting breakfast, but it wasn't in the cards. i stood in line for about an hour and when my turn came i placed my vote.

i voted for obama (of course) and mark warner (also of course).

the mayor's race was something i didn't really take the time to educate myself on fully. i did some initial research and hopefully i picked the right guy. when it came to choosing a city council member or a school board member, i was totally uninformed. since i didn't want to pick the WRONG person, i figured i would leave it in the hands of the more informed voters to make a choice for those positions.

so i wrote in myself for the school board and billy for city council.

if we win, we're going to make big changes in richmond.

just you wait and see.

three stages of jagerbombs

first stage: denial
are we really about to do jagerbombs?



second stage: acceptance
yes, i suppose we are doing jagerbombs.



third stage: immediate regret
i will never be doing a jagerbomb again.




repeat months later.

edit: for some reason blogger isn't properly sizing photos lately. probably a bug. hopefully it will be back to normal shortly. in the meantime, sorry!