The King in Yellow / William Bloat opens and is a wonderful song and perfect to open the album.  Sounds like it’s going to be an instrumental before William Bloat’s story comes into play a little ways in.  Someone posted all the songs on Youtube, so you can go look for them if you’d like a sample listen – I’m not going to link them here.  Immediately, the listener is given a sense that this is a Dead Milkmen record, especially when Rodney’s voice is introduced, but it’s also a contuation of The Dead Milkmen sound.  It probably would’ve been easy to just write “new” material that just sounded like the old.  Hell, it’s been 15+ years since the last record.  Change the chord progression a little, and you have yourself 17 new songs.  Nope.  This sounds like The Dead Milkmen would’ve sounded if they had continued to play.

Standouts also include Meaningless Upbeat Happy Song, where you are warned not to trust the happy because the happy are insane.  Perfect Rodney material, showcasing how sad and dispicable the world is that we live in.  “If someone says ‘Jesus loves you,’ run away.”  Can’t Relax is a movin’ Joe number that makes me want to sing along.  Commodify Your Dissent is another beautiful Rodney song, which calls out both Rap and Country music perfectly (Jam Master Jay and Johnny Cash died for them…).  Solvents (For Home and Industry) is a song I really equate with The Dead Milkmen.  It’s a Joe song that ends the record and pretty much deals with environmental issues (in the vein of “Watching Scotty Die”), where the song praises all that Solvents can do, while throwing in some jabs at the dangers of using them.  I could actually list the whole record as standout songs.  If you liked the Milkmen at all, pick this up.  You can order on iTunes or pick up the CD from their website.  Definitely one of their best records.  Read a review of a recent show in Chicago where they said it was just electric and great – been 7 years maybe since I last saw them – it was their first reunion show, so it was amazing.  Glad to hear they are keeping that energy going.

This is the name I’m kicking around for the book I’m currently writing.  It’s one of the first books where I kind of know what I want to happen from start to finish, although I keep getting surprised where the story is taking me.  I’ve decided the book will be broken out into three parts.  The first draft of part one is complete.  Into the second chapter of part two.  It just keeps moving along.  It’s also one of the first books I’ve been able to put down for a few weeks to a month and just pick it right back up again.  Usually, I have to start re-writing the book to get into the groove and then fizzle out where I did before.  This one has lots of promise, I think.  Will anyone actually read or publish it?  That’s a different story, and I guess I’ll worry about that after it’s written.

How To Kill a Vampire

I continue to blog the story of a vampire hunter who is telling his tale to a hapless pizza delivery guy/ghost writer.  Haven’t been writing this one as often as I would’ve liked but keep trying to put out a post once per week (or every other week).

Books

I had somewhat recently found my copy of Joe R. Lansdale’s Mucho Mojo.  I was about halfway through the book when it mysteriously disappeared.  Now, I just bought a parking pass downtown (in the Flats, actually – only costs $20/month instead of the $80 – $90 I was spending when I’d park at the Q lot or ride the rapid).  But, the time I spent riding the rapid gave me a chance to read.  Now, I’m going to have to be looking for some reading time, since I don’t think this is a book I’ll want to read as “story time” to the kids. 

When I’m watching the kids, I watch the kids – trying to be as interactive as possible: playmate, teacher, protector, mechanical horse.  I want to be with them and involved, so that’s what I do.  When Christine is home, I’d feel bad if I tried to run off and read for a half hour, so I’m not sure how I’m going to fit this in.  Luckily, for me, one of Ethan’s favorite games right now is called “Exercise” so we put in an exercise DVD and have at it.  I’ve been consistently exercising now.  Today is Sunday, and my body needs a rest, so it’s going to get one today.  At least, I’ve been able to work in some exercising now…

Music

Also, I have a few Pudding & Fruit songs that I’ve written and want to record demos of.  May just be acoustic guitar and vocals.  May try to hammer on the bongos for a beat.  Once something is recorded, I am hoping to put it up on the Facebook page.  The kids love music and usually are great about me playing my guitar (sometimes, they encourage it), so I think this is something I can actually do.  I do need a good pair of headphones and then I think I’ll be set.  I think I have 12 – 13 songs (some are just titles, as well as having some music written without a title) that I’m going to try to get down, as I really want to do another album – and by album, I mean I want to put something out on vinyl.  Once that happens, it would be one of life’s goals checked off.

Miscellaneous

• Got to go to a Yelp event with my good friend, Pete.  It was at a restaurant in Tremont called Bac.  Very good food (we are going to try it out as regular diners).  Very good company.  Christine was able to be the photographer for the event.  Sounds like a fun thing to do, so I might give food reviews a stab… 
• Next week, I should be finding out about a job I interviewed for.  At this point, sounds like I’d be a dark horse candidate, but here’s hoping for the best.
• I was never one too interested in History, but The History Channel can suck me in for hours on end.  Between Pawn Stars, American Restoration, and American Pickers, I could sit glued to the set without blinking.
• The “Five” key on my laptop no longer works.
• Finally saw the Sam Raimi film Drag Me To Hell.  Very Evil Dead-like.  Pretty effective and good, especially for a PG-13 film.  I was impressed.  I think if you put a creepy old woman in a film, you are already halfway to making a freaky film.
• Performance of the Blog

First, I have to mention again that the first Dead Milkmen album in sixteen years has been released digitally.  It should be available on iTunes and CD in the coming months.  The link above takes you to the Milkmen website, which will give you the “how” to buy this new album.  It’s your usual Milkmen greatness.  It’s so great to hear them again over 17 songs of pure genius.  The majority of songs featuring Rodney on vocals, while Jack handles the chores on a few as well.  It’s a continuation of the Milkmen sound.  It’s not a recreation of Big Lizard, Beelzebubba, or anything.  It’s just the next evolution in the songwriting, which offers up such nuggets to live by like “Don’t trust the happy – the happy are insane.”  Only $9.99 for download, which is more than worth it.  Hopefully, they may try to promote this with a little tour (fingers crossed). 

R.E.M. has a new album out.  I have not heard the whole thing – just heard snippets of a couple songs on NPR the other day.  Sounds like a really good album and one that I think I’m going to add to the collection.  Reminded me of why I liked R.E.M. back in the day.  Last songs I remember really liking was “Bad Day” from the Greatest Hits album.  Looking forward to listening to the album in its entirety.

Dead Milkmen – The King in Yellow

The best news of the year.  Not only were The Dead Milkmen working on a new album, but it has been recorded (17 songs recorded) and is going to be mastered sometime soon (if not already).  Details on the album’s release should be coming shortly.  In the digital age, it is possible that the album will be available pretty soon (they’re not sure which formats it will be available on yet – it would be awesome if they were able to put it on vinyl).  I heard a couple songs live from You Tube performances, and I think this album is going to possibly be the best they’ve ever done (and they’ve done some unbelievable albums).

 90s British Invasion

All right – I don’t think there was a 90s British Invasion, but I’m putting songs into iTunes, and I just came across three CDs that I love.  All were out of England and released in 1990.  I believe I heard of all three bands within a very short time of each other.  I still love the discs, so I thought I’d write about them – don’t know if any of them really hit with audiences.  Maybe they did…I don’t know.

Life:  Inspiral Carpets

I saw the video for Inspiral Carpets “This Is How It Feels” (the video linked here is a different version from the one I originally saw) and fell in love immediately.  Loved the keyboard, the backing vocals, everything.  I had the CD-single, which I thought was great.  Finally, I bought the album, which is great from start to finish.  Some of it is kinda noisy guitars, keyboards, drums.  Some is very melodic.  Maybe it’s just cuz I’m old, but I think they stand the test of time as well – sounds as relevant now as it did then.

Somewhere Soon:  The High

“Up & Down” is the video I saw from this band.  Pretty mellow band.  Singer had a “whispery” kind of delivery.  This band has been consistent for me.  Nothing groundbreaking.  Sounds like it could pretty much fit in at any point in time in music.  I thought this album was solid.  If you like the linked song, you’d like the album.  Since I’m not a good singer, I thought about adopting this style at one point but never did.  Closest I came was on a song called “Prosthetic Man.”

Pills n’ Thrills and Bellyaches:  The Happy Mondays

A video comes on for the song “Kinky Afro” (again, not the video I remember seeing), which just blows me away at the time.  This was a psychedelic drug band.  I guess it would be a precursor to a band like The Dandy Warhols, who would have more success and last longer.  I think The Happy Mondays may have a hit with the song “Step On” if I remember correctly, but it was over 20 years ago, so who knows.  I remember they had a guy called Bez – all he did was dance around on the stage.  Don’t think he added any vocals or instrumentation – kind of like that guy on The Mighty Mighty Bosstones who doesn’t seem to actually do anything.

Eye:  Robyn Hitchcock

Okay – I was already a fan of Robyn’s, and he wasn’t new to the scene in 1990.  But, this was released in ’90, and he is from England, so there you go.  Robyn is one of the greatest things to ever happen to music, and he’s still great in 2011 (usually playing with the Venus 3 these days, which includes R.E.M.’s Peter Buck – see how this whole post just went full circle).  If you’ve never checked him out – do it.

Okay, so I’ve always known I was not an immortal.  I’m a realist.  But, mortality seems so far away that I guess it’s not something I typically think about.  Then, you go to the doctor, have a low platelet count, and are not told anything about it, except that you need to see a specialist and you need to do so right away.

I figured everything would be all right.  Either, something weird happened with the test or I’d be back to normal on a future test.  That’s really what I was expecting because I feel fine and my blood seems to clot normally (low platelets will prevent clotting in a normal timeframe).  Instead, I am told that I do have a low count, but it’s nothing to be concerned about right now (no need for meds or anything).  I just need to follow up with a specialist each year to make sure that my platelets do not take a sudden dive into a range that would cause concern.

Although I was expecting everything to be all right, you never know, and I was starting to entertain the thoughts…what if this is the warning sign of something serious that’s about to happen?  What if I’m told that I can expect my health to start deteriorating in the coming years?  How would I react to that?

I figure I would need to continue working my current job.  We need the money and benefits.  It’s not like I could just quit to spend as much time with the family as possible or work fulltime trying to finish off my book.  Would having that knowledge change life at all?  I might want it to, but I don’t think it would be possible. 

We wouldn’t be able to pay the bills if I wasn’t working my full-time job.  Would that change my outlook at work?  Would I grow bitter, upset of the time not being spent with my family?  Should allowing those thoughts to creep in right now change my outlook on life?  This is something I think about from time to time anyway.

If I had to come to terms with the end of my life coming, am I happy with how things are going?  If not, if I would want to change things, should I look into changing them anyway?  Should I look to find a way to start something I’d really love to do, as opposed to merely “liking” my job and enjoying the benefits?

It’s the first time I really thought…”Oh, Shit!  Maybe something is wrong with me.  I’m not going to be around forever.”  Should I use this to try to turn my life into something else?  Does it matter?  Is it even possible?  Do I continue to work as I’m doing now until we are able to get out of debt and then look into my options then?

I think things will just stay as they are….just more of an awareness that I continue to grow older with each passing second.

Food

• Fleur by Hubert Keller - Lunch on Friday was at Hubert Keller’s restaurant in Mandalay Bay.  This was the food highlight of the trip.  The one meal we had planned out a month in advance (aside from the places my dad had booked).  It’s a tapas kind of place with tasting portions.  Christine ordered the mussels and gnocci.  I ordered pan con tomate and risotto.  The food was really really good.  We also had a cherry limeade drink that was frozen with liquid nitrogen table side.  Great presentation.  Had high hopes here, and we were not disappointed.
• Egg & I – Received a message while in Vegas that we should check out the Egg & I, which we did for breakfast on Friday.  Thanks, Dilly.  Very good breakfast food – the potatoes are amazing.  Omelet was huge and priced very well.
• BLT Burger – Saturday lunch was at BLT Burger in the Mirage.  Sweet Potato Fries were wonderful.  The burgers were only 7oz., which was the perfect size.  Did not have the milkshake, but we saw plenty of them in passing, and they looked really good. 
• Serendipity 3 – Connected to Caesar’s Palace is Serendipity 3, where we got some goodies to go a little after the BLT Burger lunch.  Christine had the frozen hot chocolate (which is their special dessert) and a pretzel, while I had a Mint Chocolate ice cream cone.  Cute place and good treats.  Sat outside and watched Caesar and some others pose for pictures.  Wanted to eat there in New York but could not get in, so this was a long-standing desire to get in.
• Range Steakhouse – Thursday night dinner to celebrate my mom’s birthday, which is located in Harrah’s.  Scallops with Cous Cous.  Sashimi.  Crab Cake.  Filet Mignon.  Grilled Asparagus (didn’t care much for the steamed aparagus).  Mac & Cheese.  It was really good and a nice first meal in the city.
• Batista’s Hole-in-the-Wall - Family-style Italian restaurant.  More family along for Birthday dinner #2 Friday night.  Had Eggplant Parmesan.  I had been here before.  Like the decor.  Love Gordy (the accordion player).  My food was just okay, though.  Probably should have gone with a meat choice.
• Hotel Stuff – had breakfast Saturday and Sunday in “The Cafe” at Harrah’s.  Standard food.  Really good potatoes.  Saturday night was a buffet at the Rio.  At this point, the cigarette smoke in the casinos was getting to me, and I wasn’t feeling well, so I didn’t eat much (had a tofu stir fry and a couple baby ears of corn).  Both were good. 

Other

• We took a trip to the World Famous Gold and Silver Pawn Shop, which is featured in the History Channel show Pawn Stars.  It’s a cute shop, with a lot of cool stuff in it, especially the restored Coca Cola coolers in the back.  We were able to walk right in.  When we left, there was a line.  Perfect timing.  Peaches was the only person from the tv show that we recognized.  Thanks to the doorman who gave up his stool for my grandfather.
• Went into the Coca Cola Store , which had lots of cool things.  Picked up a few souvenirs in there.  I ended up with a Mr. Pibb hat.  Probably my favorite hat right now.  Question then arose – if we won a big jackpot, would we get some new product from the Coke store or something refurbished from the Pawn Shop?  We decided it would probably be from the Pawn Shop.
• Went to a show at Harrah’s called Legends, which is a celebrity impersonator show.  Our celebrities were Liberace, Rod Stewart, Michael Jackson (complete with zombie dancers), Marilyn Monroe, and Elvis.  Better than expected.  If the show wasn’t a comp…not sure what my opinion would be.
• Saturday night we went to the Fremont Experience, but Christine and I were pretty much done at this time.  It was okay.  We ended up just sitting down, waiting for the rest of the family. 

General

• Weather was between 60s and 70s and mostly sunny – couldn’t ask for anything better.
• The service at just about every place we went to was amazingly friendly and helpful.
• Got some good walking in – you have to watch out for others because no one is going to watch out for you.
• Lots of people dressed as celebrities/characters roaming the street – my favs, of course, being Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger.

Great time, but it’s nice to be back in Cleveland.  Came home sick, though.  Ended up calling off work today sick, which I really didn’t want to do.  A new supervisor was starting today.  Calling off the day after you get back from vacation is definitely suspicious.  But, I really couldn’t get going this morning.  The Zyrtec is finally helping me out, though, and I think I’ll be fine for tomorrow.

• The book has kicked into overdrive, and I really wish I could take a couple months off work to spend time writing full-time. 
• It has taken off in directions I didn’t expect.  Some comedy, some drama, some horror.  I think I may have found a way to make it all work without it seeming like a hodgepodge of a mess.
• It’s a book I’m really enjoying being a part of.  Not feeling like it’s a chore to try to get the story written.  Each day, I’m liking what I’m writing.  In years past, I had days/weeks when I was writing what I felt like I “had to” in order to move the story along.  Not happening this time.

Other Book

• Moving right along reading Let Me In.  Around 350 pages into the book.  Very good vampire story (and I’m not huge into vampires).  I highly suggest picking up the book if you want a good read.  Not as good as John Dies @ the End but definitely worthy of your time.

• Christine continues to do better, which is good.
• Back to work next week – the nice thing about work is that I didn’t think about it during this past week (except once when I got a phone call from a co-worker).  It’s the mental break that I haven’t had in a very long time. 
• Felt like I made some progress in some areas, though.  Moved the almost two year-old into upstairs into the same bedroom as the four and a half year-old.  Almost have the room completely set up for the two of them – still going through some of their clothes.
• Also removing gates because Drew is proving to be a-ok on the stairs, and there’s no reason to keep him from them anymore.  It’s nice seeing the gates down (still have one more gate to go).

Creativity

• Haven’t written much this week (maybe will be able to do so tonight).  We’ll see if I have the next bit of story in me.
• To be honest, talking about not thinking about my real job this week, I haven’t really thought about the book much this week either, aside from knowing I want to write, but I haven’t looked at the prose or thought where it’s going next.
• As a reminder, I am trying to continue on with this project as well… http://howtokillavampire.wordpress.com

Health

• One worry was that, being home, I would just be snacking all day long, but I’m proud of myself that it isn’t happening.
• Have continued to eat healthy this week.  My one “treat” was a Root Beer Float (had fat-free yogurt instead of ice cream) from Mitchell’s – which is the best frozen treat place in the world.
• I still need to bring exercise into the equation.  I’m excited to do so because I have been losing weight, and I think if I can continue to eat like I am with the inclusion of exercise then I should continue to lose weight and get myself healthy (hoping to start flattening out the stomach).

Thomas

• I’ve seen a lot of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends this week……A LOT!

Today, how about a courtesy flush.

• I’ve begun reading Let Me In.  Read about 100 pages during the week.  It’s a good read so far.  Saw the original Swedish film based on this book, which was good.  However, I was writing at the time, so I missed some of the subtitles.  Either, this is going to be a quick read, or the train had been delayed a lot last week (think it was delayed a lot).
• My book continues to progress nicely.  Just over 21 hand-written pages (probably just over 30 typed pages).  So far, I don’t think there’s a boring piece, which is usually my issue by this point in a book.

Movies

• I saw The Last Exorcism a week or so ago.  The movie was actually pretty good, although I didn’t care much for the ending.  The film had some good humorous moments.  Overall, I’d say it was a mix of Rosemary’s Baby, Blair Witch Project, and The Exorcist.  It follows a preacher (who pretty much knows the game he’s playing), who preaches such things as his mom’s apple pie recipe and exorcises demons (setting up illusions, knowing when he “exorcises” the demon that it’s all just psychological).  Finished with the game, he decides to allow a film crew to videotape his final exorcism to expose the fraud.  Has some good creepy moment.
• Not sure if there are any newer movies available that I really want to see yet.  Saw a couple of horror films on HBO’s On Demand – including the two Tales from the Crypt movies (never seen them).  Maybe I’ll get a couple free films under my belt.

General

• Not much else going on.
• Started a new project – check it out at http://howtokillavampire.wordpress.com