I suppose what they want to say is that AirTran is ready to take you to a fun a place, but what I and probably most people will take away from this ad is that flying on an AirTran plane is like being on a rollercoaster. With planes getting more expensive, crowded, run-down, and more likely to have spontaneous holes blown out of the sides, wouldn't you want to steer clear of any images that would project a sense of danger to flying? What dumb ass thought showing an airplane seat on a rollercoaster would be effective marketing? The only logic could be that they're taking a brutally honest approach to their advertising. Everyone knows AirTran Airlines are crap and bounce around and make you want to puke, but let's remind people how fun and exciting that can be!

It's like the movie Crazy People with Dudley Moore and Daryl Hannah. If you haven't seen it (and I can't imagine a whole lot of people have), it's about a guy who works in advertising and kind of snaps due to constantly lying to consumers and a bunch of his rejected "honest ads" get run accidentally. ("Forget France; The French can be annoying. Come to Greece, We're Nicer.") He gets sent to a mental hospital and starts an ad company comprised of all the crazy people who have a knack for honest advertising and the tactic is a huge public success. ("Buy Volvos. They're boxy but they're good.") I can envision this tagline replacing AirTran's current one on the above poster: "United, most of our passengers get there alive." I wish I could find the artwork that goes with the copy. Sadly, the tv spot for "AT&T: We're tired of taking your crap." isn't anywhere to be found on these interwebs, but fortunately, youtube comes through with the last clip from the movie, a brilliant Sony ad.

jump ahead to last night - my sister called me to ask me some i-pod related questions because she was going to buy her husband an i-pod for father's day. and wow. i really need to get married so i too can get really rad gifts in the middle of june. anyway, she thanked me for all the new music and mentioned life without buidings specifically and how much they liked that record in particular. and wanted to know more about the band. tears of joy.

because the truth is over the past few months i have started having conversations with myself centering around the argument that this record should really be put into consideration for the indisputable greatest albums of my lifetime list. a list that i hope to compose on my deathbed to ensure that nothing is overlooked. and then when friends and family gather to celebrate the spectacular waste that was my life they will remember me fondly as these records play in the background. so yes. this is kind of a big deal. i already had a loosely defined list floating around in my head for the last couple of years and hadn't really planned on any other contenders dropping their hats into the ring. and then i heard this strange and wonderful little record and - admittedly the first couple of times through i wasn't sure exactly what i was hearing but by my third listen i was convinced that this record was special and as such i started insisting that others get their hands on it. by any means possible.

that's the great thing about music though isn't it? you never know what you will find around the next corner. most of the time it's just alot of heartache and disposable disappointment but then you hear something life altering - which makes the whole thing worthwhile. this particular record grabbed my attention because it sounded so great. especially for a first (and last) album. these four college kids got together in 2002 captured magic in a bottle the first time out and then called it quits shortly thereafter. which is for the best i suppose. because that is the stuff that legends are made of. and instead of having to suffer through a shaky sophomore effort you can sit around with friends lamenting what might have been. imagining how spectacular it would be if these kids pulled a portishead and dropped another stellar album out of nowhere just because they could.

i guess i should say the thing i love about this album is how seemless it is. the songs are so fully realized. the musical arrangements are very compact. it's just bass, drums, and one guitar and then the singer, sue tompkins scattershot vocals float in and out filling in all of the spaces - sounding something like sugarcubes era bjork sitting down over a long weekend and singing along with a stripped down broken social scene. the standout tracks for me are the leanover and sorrow a perfect little lost love song set to a sweet jane esque chord progression. a gleaming gem custom made to round out any wistfully rendered break-up mix. in case you were wondering those songs have always been right up my alley. so that track is definitely a shoe-in if i ever get around to cobbling together tickle me st. elmo vol. 4.

you might have some difficulty finding any other city in your local record shoppe. but it can be found on the internets if you know where to look. there is also an album - live at the annandale hotel - that was released in 2007. it is available through i-tunes. and it features all of the songs from the album as well as a couple of other songs. plus you get all the brogue-y banter. which is never a bad thing. even thouse self-serving elitist bastards over at pitchfork raved about life without buildings. which is saying something these days...somtimes i think those kids don't even like music. i love music.

it's been nearly six months now since i severed my relationship with coca-cola. which was a very difficult decision because the two of us together...well the only other pairing in the history of humanity that could possibly compare would be the captain and tenille. which is to say we had a really good thing going. from day one the chemistry was electric. we got each other. we shared the same tastes. we both had an eye for aesthetically pleasing ad design and under the cap twist off games where everyone was a loveable loser. just like us. i guess all good things must come to an end - or at the verly least take an extended - possibly indefinite break. but still how do you tell the love of your life that you've talked it over and have come to the conclusion that it is time to send them packing. well i'm always a big fan of depriving myself of things that i would really rather not deprive myself. so i decided that it should be me that ultimately did the breaking up.

this penchant of mine for self depracation probably has something to do with all that protestant guilt you hear people talking about. and because of said guilt i have this unending need to feel as though i'm challenging myself to grow as a person and improve upon my character. which is a silly notion because i think most people that know me would agree that i'm a fairly solid citizen with few character deficiencies that cannot be chalked up to being a child of divorce. and none of that is really my fault anyway. is it?

i know i wrote something awhile back about cutting back on the me and coca-cola thing - but it didn't take. probably because cutting back (ahem!) never works and also i was reducing my intake of alcohol while simultaneously trying to pry myself from the loving embrace of coca-cola and something had to give. suddenly i'm terrified that i might have an undiagnosed addictive personality and as much as i might want to deprive myself of one particular thing in order to be successful i have to find a suitable replacement vice. which would exlpain the sudden influx of collectible porcelain livestock that occupy every available countertop/mantlepiece here at 4808. hey - at least it's not a cat.

but the good news is that i have not had a single encounter with coca-cola. not even in a mixed drink. i will confess that i had a sprite on my flight home from vegas because the burrito i ate for lunch didn't really agree with my stomach. a stomach that was already unduly panicky that what happened in vegas might not actually stay there. needless to say. i'm not counting the sprite because it was medicinal and i really didn't enjoy it anyway.

and really the thing that we are depriving ourselves of is coca cola specifically. and i must say - i've been pretty surprised by how little i have missed it. at least on a conscious level. not that i don't stare at it longingly from time to time - as i pass by the soft glow of a vending machine - late at night and see that coca cola's light is still on. and then i start thinking that maybe coca cola would be okay with it if i just dropped in to say hello. and of course there would just be talking and nothing else. i definitely wouldn't stay over because then we would be right back in the same fantastic mess all over again. and really who needs that kind of heartache. no to mention the calories.

because this is the tree of trust i will confess here and now that i have on occasion been afflicted by som pretty lurid coca cola related dreams. and there is much frollicking and rejoindering just like the good old days. and then i wake up in a cold sweat with that distinctive taste in my mouth and i feel guilty for breaking my fast. but of course it was all just a fantastic if slightly dirty dream. i assure you i remain as pure as the driven snow. and i plan on remaining so at least until the year 2009 sees fit to visit himself or herself upon us. and then we'll see. we can sit down and have a nice chat - maybe with some old friends jack daniels and/or captain morgan in tow just to help with what will certainly be some awkard tension. i know that i'm still pretty crazy about coca-cola. we'll just have to see how coca-cola feels about returning to me since i was the one who did the letting go.

and in a completely unrelated note. i don't know how you feel about the music of the band weezer. they've done a pretty good job of disappointing me over the years but the new album is actually okay and i will readily admit that when it comes to ingenius music videos no one does it better.

no the show i want to talk about is friday night lights. i've been hearing whispers around the internets for awhile now that it is the best show no one watches or the best written drama based around teenagers portrayed by actors who aren't even close to being teenagers in the history of television - or what have you. and so i caught an episode here and there whenever i could find it on my television. which came to be sort of a challenge because nbc moved it around alot. which is what they tend to do with shows they keep threatening to cancel...but because the interactions were so sporadic i couldn't bring myself to commit to any kind of long term relationship.

but then over the holiday weekend i was wandering around target looking for some sort of visual or aural distraction as i've been sort of laid up with a tragic knee injury - a knee injury sustained by trying to slip 'n slide down the incline. backwards - and so i decided to pick up season one. it was $20.00 (a full $6 cheaper than best buy) for 22 episodes so i figured that made good fiscal sense. even if i wound up hating it i would have a hard time convincing myself that i had been ripped off.

in the interest of full disclosure it's only fair that i confess here and now that i famously hated dawson's creek and felicity and gilmore girls and that ilk during their respective heydeys. felicity had its moments but gilmore girls was just ridiculously overwritten like what juno must be like on steriods. and dawson's creek - well none of those kids were particularly easy to look at and that dawson guy was such a...i don't know...milquetoast maybe? is there a modern day colloquealism for milquetoast that is not completely profane? also am i spelling colloquealism correctly? because it doesn't look quite right to me. i guess it doesn't matter. i was worried that i would be dissappointed. that best case scenario friday night lights would be too much like those other shows i listed above. at worst it would be too much like varsity blues. and aside from being good for a few laughs the less said about that picture the better off we all will be.

anyway so i sat down on saturday evening and starting watching the first season of friday night lights and i must say it was ridiculously enjoyable. i finished it up in two days. with a box of tissues and a tub of ice cream by my side. the writing was good. the acting was good. the story arcs were fairly realistic - i can remember high school being alot like that. with the possible exception of the fact that no one looked like that in my high school. the "kids" at this particular high school are ridiculously and obscenely attractive. oh, and the music they use to punctuate meaningful moments - it's not that grey's anatomy carmel macchiatto crap. i own alot of those albums. i've used alot of those songs on cd mixes. a fact which i find is very life affirming. and any show that uses muzzle of bees and in a future age is okay in my book. i watched the entire first season over the weekend and i plan on picking up season two next time i happen by a target.

so if you aren't already watching you should give it a chance. put it in the netflix queue or drop by 4808 and watch it with me. because like all really great shows it's on the verge of being cancelled. i personally gaurantee that by episode three you'll be hooked. and you'll also be questioning your sexual orientation courtesy of one tim riggins.

_

Last Sunday night Jeff and I attended one of Plants and Animals' little shows in a wee Cambridge venue called TT The Bears Place. I had been stoked about this Sunday for a week. We had new members class at church after which we hopped right on the Red Line to Harvard Square in order to grab Mexican food and margaritas at Border Cafe. Jeff and I constantly crave greasy Mexican food because there is no good place for it in Boston (Cambridge is not Boston as its snooty alt-residents will tell you), so this meal alone was enough to make me giddy with anticipation. The margaritas are always good and strong and we had two each (the better to drink away the sadness at being unable to get a doggy bag for soggy midnight leftovers) and left feeling full and happy.

Dinner - fantastic. We bounced to Central Square to check out the line up and figure out how much time we should kill before the bands we cared about came on. Rock Plaza Central was playing before Plants and Animals and two bands played before them, so we grabbed some drinks at a nearby bar and learned that the Celtics won game seven. The night was going perfectly. We managed to arrive at the end of the first set (it must have gone way over) and the guy who sang next was fine enough, but one random guy and his guitar gets a little long. Finally Rock Plaza Central played and they were glorious. Sadly, their drummer was not there as well as another guy so the songs were stripped down a bit, but still a lot of fun. They finished with "Excellent Steel Horse," and all 30 of us in the audience went crazy.

When Plants and Animals came on, the mood was a little dampened when (totally hot) singer Warren Spicer revealed that he lost his voice in New York the night before (screw you NY!), but will give us all he's got. What he had was pretty much nothing. The mics on the instruments eventually got so cranked you could hardly hear any vocals, which Jeff and I decided was a deliberate move. As the show went on, it got frustrating rather than mildly disappointing. Don't get me wrong, the instrumentals were incredible, but I wanted vocals, dammit! He shouldn't have been singing. He should have canceled instead of risking his voice like that. How did he shred his voice so badly, anyway? It's not like Parc Avenue is some intense death metal scream fest. In fact Spicer's voice has a pretty soft, sexy thing going on most of the time, so...wha happen? My money's on hard partying. Regardless, Jeff and I had a blast together and it made me all the more excited for our next show.

Anyway, here's "Good Friend" - the second song they played. You can imagine how crapped out his voice got a few more songs in:

from the opening strains of if i get murdered in the city to the closing coda of if it's the beaches it was a phenomenal show. and i was glad i had worn my lucky concert shirt. punches were thrown - babies were born - tears were shed and micah snagged an interview with a kid from spin magazine wherein he expressed regret because he thought that he had paid money to see the allman brothers. which explains why he was yelling out jessica at random intervals. it was a perfect ending to the now infamous ultimate - what do you mean neko's not with the band tonight - concert weekend. now if we could just convince okkervil river and the avett brothers to do a tour together. that would be something to behold.

one day one of the girls starting singing this song about miners dying from toxic fumes in a gold mine. and we all laughed and laughed. not because she couldn't sing, because she could and it was really an appropriate song for the task at hand. and a really pretty song to boot. naturally i wanted to know who sang the song but i didn't want to sound like an idiot so i did the whole "who sings that song again"? she still looked at me like i was kind of an idiot and said the song was by the cowboy junkies. and i said oh yeah, i saw them on austin city limits a couple of weeks ago. which was actually true. so when i got back to the states i went to the sam goody at the mall across the street from st. andy's pca and picked up a copy of the trinity sessions on cassette. at first i just listened to mining for gold on endless repeat because at that point in my life i thought it would be a fantastic opener for whatever heart wrenching mixtape i happened to be working on. and i also firmly believed it was the most beautiful song i had ever heard.

and it was - until the day i mistakenly let the cassette deck spool over to track 2 and heard misguided angel for the first time. it was such a stunning song about falling in love with the wrong person. and i remember thinking to myself at the time: if i ever get to that point in my life where falling in love becomes necessary i hope it happens with the wrong person. and you know what? it totally has happened - countless times. thank you cowboy junkies! i would be remiss if i did not confess that misguided angel is easily on the short list of my favourite songs of all time. so much so that one night back in college i insisted that heidi learn the song so that we could perform it at a folk festival the school was putting on. as i recall she was unfamiliar with the song so i loaned her the cassette and honestly - i think she stole it from me. because i never saw it again and also heidi was very fond of stealing. and of telling anyone and everyone she met that she herself some was a misguided angle.

but enough about that - back to the (hot)topic at hand. the whole record was recorded straight to tape at the church of the holy trinity in toronto in 1988 and it consists of a few originals and a handful of covers. the most prominent being sweet jane which pops up on film soundtracks from time to time. i believe walking after midnight was featured in that christian slater/marisa tomei vehicle about the guy who had the baboon heart and wow - talk about tear jerking cinema. the first time ever that a movie moved me to tears like that all the while making me feel inadequate because i was just so...human.

which reminds me - the reason i've decided to talk about this record now is because the cowboy junkies have recently released trinity revisited in celebration/memoriam of the twentieth anniversary of the original album. wherein they returned to the same church and recorded each song again with ryan adams, natalie merchant, and jeff lynne in tow. the revisit is pretty uneven at times (see angel, misguided - anything involving jeff lynne) but it definitely has its moments thanks in no small part to ryan adams. he sort of saves the day. now if only someone could step in and help him save his own albums.

anyway - as a whole the trinity sessions album is one of those time and place pieces of magic. cowboy junkies have made countless records since then but none have come close to matching the quiet urgency of that record. which is why i don't own or enjoy any of them. some folks that i've recommended this album to in the past have complained that they cannot get into the album because it's so mellow. i no longer consider those people friends and have since refused to recommend any new music to them ever. because if you reject a peice of music that i love....well, you might as well be rejecting me.

as i recall there were several. and truth be told this april is shaping up to be a pretty daunting month for our dear friend almost old christopher. what with the recent developments at work and...and now i'm wondering if i should delve into that particular topic at this juncture. no - it's still a bit blurry so i shall refrain. for now let's just say it might have been a good idea to hang on to that apartment at 416 stones river cove in nashville.

but let's not get distracted by all of that because as you may or may not know(care) the ultimate concert weekend is nearly upon us. and boy have i gotten myself into the proverbial pickle here. i fly to borelando on the 14th returning home on the 16th. then it's up to nashville on the 18th for okkervil river and new pornographers then i turn around and head to atlanta on the 19th to see the avett brothers live and in concert. i know i've mentioned this all before but the newish wrinkle is that i have to somehow get myself to an airport for a weeklong work trip in las vegas on the 20th.

i'm still trying to decide how i feel about this upcoming stint in las vegas. i mean it will be pretty rad to go to vegas for a week, but i'll be going by myself. that's the downside of my job. i get to go on these all inclusive trips to various and sundry locales but it's just me. and pretty much any city can be a tad anticlimactic when you don't have a sidekick. unless said city has a water theme park in or near the hotel. i'll confess i've gotten to the point where i don't feel awkward going out to eat at restaurants by myself anymore but i don't love it. because it can be difficult to fake talk/text on a cell phone with a mouth full of food. at least in vegas i can purchase a dinner companion or two if i so choose.

and then of course there's the gambling. but unlike kenny rogers i'm not really a gambler (nor am i big fan of rotisserie chicken). i never really mastered any card games in part due to my rigid southern baptist upbringing and also because i'm deathly afraid of papercuts. so i guess that means i'll have to brave the sea of senior citizens at the slot machines. i'm saving up lucky coins as we speak. if i'm fortunate i'll clear enough cash to take in the wonder and the mystery of celine de soleil . does anyone know if such a show exists? if not it really, really should. i'm sure all of the casinos have comment boxes so i'll be sure to recommend it. after all who wouldn't fork over a cache of cash to see celine sing my heart will go on as she twists and twirls acrobatically 42 feet above the stage.

which reminds me - if anyone out there has any free time and/or feels that they are on the cusp of a lucky streak feel free to join me in vegas. i'll have a second key card ready and waiting for you at the front desk. and if for some reason i am not in the room when you and your party arrive - i will most likely be in the hot tub. and as always bathing suits are optional.

usually i'll listen to morning edition on npr during my morning drives until i lose reception or until i can no longer contain my seething rage at steve inskeep and his imdiscriminately smug interviewing style. but this morning i decided that i would break from that routine and give the new i-pod a whirl. and as i skidded and lurched my way toward interstate 24 i couldn't help that said i-pod - the i-pod that i have so aptly named the best of the 70's, 80's, and today was cranking out amazing song after amazing song. and i thought it was remarkable that after barely 48 hours together this little machine knew me so very well. the first five songs right out of the gate were as follows:

1. magazine called sunset ~ wilco
2. september gurls ~ big star
3. your ex-lover is dead ~ stars
4. come pick me up ~ ryan adams
5. cause = time ~ broken social scene....

needless to say my heart was filled with joy at the way these songs seemed so flawlessly sequenced and i sort of wished that i had a pen handy so i could write them down thinking that each of these songs could be part of a fantastic mix. it was around this time that i realized that i was in fact listening to one of my own mixes. brian austin green presents vol. 1 - i made it several months back as a birthday gift of sorts for some random chick and then completely forgotten about it.

which reminds me - i'm still trying to wrap my brain around the concept that i actually broke down and bought an i-pod. like most big events in my life it just sort of happened. there wasn't a whole lot of pre-meditation involved. and i have to spend that bonus somehow don't i? true there are plenty of sweaty projects around the house that could use my attention - but what would i listen to while performing said sweaty projects? i guess a big part of the reason that i boke down is because i have so much music on my computer (all obtained completely legally of course) that i seldom listen to if at all because making a playlist and burning an album or a mix became pretty cumbersome. especially since i have this really bad habit of not labelling things right away and then they suddenly disappear forever.

anyway, because i am a classy guy i went for the i-pod classic. 80gig. black. which has approximately 2.5 times the memory of the hard drive on the dusty old (dude you're getting a) dell. so now i have no excuse not to get back into the gym and trim back down to my 125 lb high school wrestling weight. because i have all those fashionable unitards hanging in the closet and they are completely going to waste. i'd love to re-introduce them to my adoring public during my stay in las vegas next month.

we tried a few things but the one song we kept coming back to was wilco's what's the world got in store - track 8 on disc one of being there. it took some convincing to sell our backing band on the idea. but i can be decidedly difficult when it comes to music i will and will not perform in public and it wasn't long before everyone was on board. and i must say of all of the musical performances that i participated in during my time at that silly little school that first bowery show was probably my favourite. and not just because we rocked it. even though you know we totally did.

i was thinking about all of this as nels cline strapped on his banjo last nite, 3 songs in to my first ever concert at the ryman auditorium in nashville. and i thought, wow - wouldn't it be cool if they played that song? but as the first notes began to ruminate it became clear that it was not going to be what's the world got in store it was going to be something even more spectacular. i was instantly first date nervous - my knees went a little weak - i spilled a beverage on myself - and suddenly became very handsy. all because i realized what they were playing. judas priest! it was pieholden suite and it was glorious. they even had a little brass section that played the horn parts at the end. i half expected to be raptured at any moment and my heart became filled with mild regret that i had not gotten a seat in the balcony so that i could be among the first enter into the pearly gates. ulitmately there was no rapture. but hearing that song was imminently satisfying. if i were the sort of person to be moved to tears by a piece of music - or by anything really - that would have been a perfect moment for weeping publicly.

last nite was easily the best wilco show i've seen. better than the first one at uptown mix when i shook mr. tweedy's hand. it even topped tweedy's solo tabernacle show i saw with micah last year. speaking of - jeff tweedy was adorned in his gram parsons era nudie suit, and he made the point of saying - on multiple occasions - that the ryman was the greatest place in the world to play. and it would be hard to argue. it's a handsome old building what with all the stained glass windows and the beautiful woodwork - and of course all the years of grand ole opry history - (before they moved the grand ole opry over by the outlet mall). the band have been taking requests via their website for songs that people want to hear on this tour. and apparently nothing was off limits because they played some really old stuff. including the greatest rendition of misunderstood i will probably ever hear in my lifetime. i've included the set list for those that care about that sort of thing. up next the ultimate concert weekend okkervil river/new pornographers/avett brothers. i love music.

Via Chicago
Blood of the Lamb
Pieholden Suite
California Stars
Company in my Back
You Are My Face
Side with the Seeds
Pot Kettle Black
Shot in the Arm
She's a Jar
Handshake Drugs
Impossible Germany
It's Just That Simple (featuring Joh Stirrat)
Pick Up the Change
Too Far Apart
Nothingsevergonnastandinmywayagain
Jesus etc.
Hate It Here
Walken
I'm the Man Who Loves You
--------encore 1--------
Someone Else's Song (Tweedy w/o amplification)
Misunderstood
The Thanks I Get
Red Eyed and Blue -> I Got You
Monday
--------encore 2---------
The Late Greats

The the subject title, for example, is a direct quote from a student who even flourished his cigarette as he dramatically (and maybe with a little fake accent) completed his statement. This student had longish brown hair pulled back in an annoying little ponytail, round wire-rim glasses, and a long black trench coat - reminding me greatly of a certain Covenant College crazypants that I won't name, but you totally know who I'm talking about.

My favorite class for social observation purposes, Language of Form, is the scene for some of the best exchanges I've witnessed. Last week, as we cut out shapes for various contrasting collages (uuuuuugggghhhh), two guys to my left suddenly began discussing music:

"Yeah, I really like that band Audioslave"

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, you know with Chris Cornell? He used to be in uh...that band Soundgarden."

"Yeah, I think I've heard them. They're pretty cool."

"Have you heard the new Smashing Pumpkins album?"

"It's awesome!"

"Totally. You know it's not even all the original members, but Billy Corgan's the only one that matters. I think there used to be some chick in the band."

*then something about Rage Against the Machine...being awesome*

"I know, like, a ridiculous amount about music. It's crazy."

Me: You are such an idiot.

And yesterday as my fellow classmates discussed the various dramas of their lives, the mandatory English class came up as topic and was generally reviled by everyone enrolled. My teacher, Ryan, asked if everyone was taking English and hated it, and I must have made some kind of look because he pointedly asked me about it to which I replied "I have a degree in English." I'm such a mutant in this place. Anyway, Ryan asked them what they were currently reading and the brilliant response was "I don't know, like, some poem or something."

"God, I hate reading."

Ryan: "Don't you read websites or anything?"

"I read, like, magazines, but not for the writing."

"Reading sucks."

"Totally.

I laughed. Out loud.

I'm not sure how my co-author ever made friends with any of us because these people are plumb idiots. Whenever I speak in class, I sound so elegant and refined, I can hardly believe it. I used to think I said "like" too much, but...I really don't. Like, at all comparatively.

i cannot be sure but i decide it's probably not safe to undress in front of them. so i gather my things and stagger toward the bathroom - turn on the shower and commence brushing my teeth. and as i do i think more about the dolls and wonder if the walls that suddenly appear to be closing in on me might not be adorned with hand painted wallpaper. the pattern is certainly vivid enough...the mirror slowly glazes over with steam. shower's ready. i step in and immediately succumb to the cleaning process. well - not immediatly, because it's a rare occurence that one encounters a shower with just the perfect amount of water pressure. when it happens it's important to take a moment to let it all soak in. stepping out of the shower i feel the sun's admiring rays spill wanly across my taut and tawny frame and as i look out yon window my eyes take in the perfect cerulean blue sky scattered intermittently with wisps of nimbus clouds here and there looking like a grandfather - a vicitim of a not quite perfect shave. so this is california....

the preceding morsels of pure poetry are in the process of becoming the opening paragraphs of my newest novel about a recent trip i took to california. i am as always - open to any and all criticisms. i have some reservations that the prose may get a wee bit florid at times but hey, we're talking about a glorius weekend in california people! there's nothing quite like rolling out of bed to incandescent rays of sunshine and the faint smell of the ocean and/or saltwater taffey in the air as you pluck and summarily eat your own body weight in fresh avacodoes. i'll be honest. part 1: i didn't know avacodoes grew on trees. and neither did you so don't give me that look! part 2: i could really get used to that lifestyle. in fact...wait, i'm getting ahead of myself.

word came down just before christmas that the company would be sending me back to new mexico to do some more relief work. and as fate would have it a girl we will call janna called me on christmas eve and in the course of exchanging holiday greetings and impossibly witty banter - i mentioned the aforementioned business trip and that maybe after i had fulfilled my work obligations i could re-visit denver for another glorious fun-filled concert extravaganza and requisite brewery tour. and then janna was all you can visit denver if you want but i'm going to be in san diego. so you might want to go there instead. and i was all okay. because these are the kind of sacrifices you make for people that are one allegedly unmemorable wedding weekend introduction away from being a full-on internet friend.

so yeah, i flew into los angeles and pretty much from the moment my plane touched down it was a perfect little weekend. there was a nice little dinner in l.a. - i of course had the fish and chips because from what i hear it is california's most famous dish. and it definitely did hit the spot. but just between you and me it might be a good idea to steer clear of the ketchup. after dinner with janna and yeardley smith we drove up the coast to santa barbara (saint barbara for all the gringos) while listening to the soothing sounds of the soon to be award winning tickle me st. elmo mix series. and.....

i should probably start summarizing at this point otherwise this might go on forever. and some of us have pot pies in the oven. santa barbara is a lovely little town. some people say it's reminiscent of far off places that i've never visited. then they relentlessly mock me for not seeing enough far off places. be that as it may, santa barbara certainly is not a city that is lacking in spectacular views. and don't even get me started on the topography. or the easy on the eyes erstwhile tour guide janna barbara (good one micah). or the shopping. the local old navy is the tops! also if you are in the area and you are looking for a fine dining experience i will heartily recommend opal. not only it is obscenely romantique - the salmon curry is...i already said the tops didn't i....? well, it's one or two levels above that. ultimately we failed in our quest to participate in the ongoing film festival (sorry cate blanchette) but i do recall a rainy saturday nite movie marathon involving once and the brothers solomon. the latter clearly being better than anything they were showing at that stupid festival anyway.

and besides there will be plenty more festivals to come. because i've decided that i'm going to do it. i'm going to sell the house, move some money around, drain the engagement ring fund, sell everything that i own and move to california. true - i'll likely be completely destitute exactly 14 minutes after i arrive but i have confidence that my new business venture (more on this later?) will tide me over until i figure out a way to get into the movie soundtrack making business. because let's face it. not only was i born to be your baby (and baby i was made to be your man) i was also born to be paid obscene amounts of money to comb the archives of the universe for totally rad songs to round out movie and television soundtracks. and as such, i have come to the conclusion that if this is not in fact my life's calling i probably don't need to be here anymore.

p.s. speaking of the cinema - i slipped out to the bijou yesterday to see the diving bell and the butterfly and wow. suddenly i wish i could speack french. what an amazing little film.

My response has rarely changed for the last few years: "I've already started cutting back." It's not too major of a change for me to "cut back." Though I smoke every day, I've never exceeded half a pack a day on average. Those pesky southern weekend nights used to get me into trouble in college, but in Boston...no chance.

Anyway, this discussion between me and dad led eventually to an agreement. If he could lose 25 lbs and achieve his official doctor-recommended weight, then I would have to call it quits. We were kind of joking, but lately it's been feeling like more of an actual deal. He was sure to inform me this week that he's lost 8 pounds since the purchase of a new treadmill. Now, this only served to increase my smoker panic. I realized as 2008 rolled around that next year will be my 10 year smokers mark. My first cig was a clove. I was 17 and heading back to campus preview weekend from Little 5 Points in Atlanta. Oops. Two years later smoking Camels was an every day activity. It's a slippery slope, my friends.

I want to quit - no. I want to be healthy - but I love smoking. I feel like I've always smoked. People I met in college never knew me before I smoked. Maybe my dad is more manipulative than I ever realized because that little "deal" nonsense has settled its way into my psyche and now there seems no other option but to make the effort. Dad is fulfilling his part of the bargain and therefore I must as well - with or without official documentation of said agreement. Very clever, dad. Pity I just started art school. Everybody smokes. I think I'll start with a little "cutting back."

over the holiday(celebrate) i was driving to north carolina to visit family members i hadn't seen in quite some time and it was a dreary rainy day and the smoky mountains were reminding everyone why they are in fact called the smoky mountains. i was driving comfortably - making good time and totally listening to some sweet tunes on the hi-fi. and even as i was rocking out i was intermittently checking my mirrors for safety. and as i did this i noticed a large tractor trailer roughly a quarter mile behind me in the left lane - which was sort of odd because there were giant words painted on the asphalt that stated pretty emphatically no trucks left lane. and if there's anything worse than a left lane driver it's a left lane truck driver because they invariably cause traffic to back up where'er they go. but since this particualr offender was safely in my rear view i settled for being mildly annoyed instead of completely outraged.

jump ahead approximately 5 minutes and i'm in the right lane and the vehicle in front of me suddenly decides he'd be much happier going 70 mph than the 78 mph he had previously been traveling. i checked my mirror and the left lane was pretty packed and wouldn't you know that damned left lane driving truck was coming right up on my bumper and in his wake at least 15 miserable cars hoping against hope that this heartless bastard would change lanes sometime before 2008. well, i knew that if i let him pass me i'd be stuck in the right lane for quite some time so i made the move. and dude was none too happy that i made said move. he accelerated when he saw my signal and pulled so close to my bumper i could smell the fatback grease on his breath. and then he laid on his horn which was odd because i hadn't given him the patented horn blowing signal.

the second the right lane came he open he whipped over and pulled even with my front bumper and put on his left turn signal and started to drift ever so slightly into my lane in an effort to freak me out i guess. no dice. no doubt he probably thought i was some hapless holiday traveler ignorant to the rules of the road but i too am a seasoned veteran behind the wheel and would gladly have collected the $1 million in insurance money had he run me over. anyway, when he saw that i wasn't going to be rattled he pulled back in behind me and proceeded to ride my bumper. again. so i got back in the right lane and invited him to pass me but he didn't take the opportunity - and so we continued our little dance for a couple of miles until he had to exit at the weigh station.

and i thought it was over. but 30 minutes later he popped up again in my rearview mirror like a spectre from a poorly written horror novel. and at that moment i thought there was a pretty good chance i was going to have to fight for my life and regretted the fact that i had not packed my brass knuckles on that particular journey. and to make matters worse i was running low on fuel so i waited until he was just ahead of me before negotiating a last second exit.

the whole encounter was a great adrenaline rush but it was also monumentally frustrating. because at no point did i see this person's face. i'm not even sure it was a man. whomever it may have been i'm certain that they had the face of pure evil. the company car is so sleek and low to the ground there is often no recourse for vindication when a trucker offends you so eggregiously. sure you can honk your horn but he can honk louder - you can't really angrily ride his bumper to prove a point...well, you can but it's a pretty stupid move because not only can he not see you - there's a pretty good chance you'll lose dramatically should a collision ensue. bird flipping opportunites can also prove difficult - unless you have a sunroof.

which reminds me, i totally need to request a company car with a sunroof or better yet, a convertible. because if you take the time to lower the top down on your car just to let an offender know that you are not happy. well, it makes a pretty dramatic statement. you just have to be sure to keep one hand on that toupee.

and that's how i first stumbled upon matthew sweet. the video for his song girlfriend was played fairly frequently probably because it was mostly anime and - therefore - it was considered groundbreaking at the time. it didn't hurt that it was a catchy little number. i know i liked it quite a bit. at the time i was basically an 18 year old shut-in because i had no job and no transportation so i wasn't buying a lot of music. i spent most of my days learning journey songs on the piano....until 3:30 would roll around - when my 8 year old brother kevin would come home from school. then we played basketball until the sun went down. that being said - if you don't think i could totally rock don't stop believing you would be sadly mistaken. because i totally did. brices creek road was never the same. and somewhere in the midst of my journey obsession i forgot all about girlfriend.

a couple of years later after i moved back to florida and started cleaning windows professionally - probably around '93 - i scratched together some cash and bought my first compact disc player. it was a little sony boombox i purchased at the target at the mall across the street from st. andrews presbyterian church p.c.a. - you know, the mall where adam walsh was kidnapped back in 1980...? anyway, it was pretty sweet - but at the time i didn't own any cd's so i went up to this little used cd place near the house in north miami beach and it was there that i found a used copy of matthew sweet's girlfriend album (it should be noted that i was still listening to alot of bad latter day def leppard at the time - adrenalize was not their finest hour)

and it changed my life. and what i mean by that is it changed the way i thought about music. i often tell people that this was the singular (cingular?) album that made me want to play guitar. i had no idea at the time who richard lloyd and robert quine were but i knew they were rocking my face off. and matthew sweet - wow. i don't know if there has been a better power pop song writer in the history of humankind. although now that i think about it a.c. newman is pretty rad as well.

not only is girlfriend a great powerpop record - it might also be the greatest breakup record of all-time. and the photo of tuesday weld on the cover...yikes!!! i was/am in love. i learned later on that our friend matthew was going through a divorce at the time the record was written and recorded and what this meant for me was that every song - especially songs like day for night - thought i knew you - and you don't love me - were right in my lori pinder obsessed wheelhouse. which reminds me - that good will hunting kid was full of shit. just because you completely alter the course of your life to go see about a girl - it doesn't mean she'll want to see you.

but i digress - i'm proud to say i still own the same copy of girlfriend that i bought back in the day - and even though i'm much less angsty than i used to be i'll still take it on road trips and crank it up. and when i do it takes me back to the salad days of young christopher - tawny and tan in his floridian paradise...playing beach volleyball in his spare time - which was pretty much all the time and life was good...and...where was i? oh yes, i would definitely say this was the first album that set me on a course to explore new music that was sort of off the beaten path. mr. sweet's follow up album altered beast is equally fantastic and it contains one of the greatest/darkest love songs ever recorded - someone to pull the trigger . it's certainly the best song matthew sweet has ever written. so - if someday you find yourself in a record store with some spare coin in your pocket pick up a copy of girlfriend. i'd love to know what you think. i know that i could easily burn a copy of it for you - but this is called album's you should own - not albums i'd like to burn for you.