-Roland 180 watt keyboard amp

-Flip cam mino with tripod and case

-Official Chelsea longsleeve jersey

-Guiness beer polo

-Chef Gordon Ramsay's book

-Dubliners movie

-Dubliners live DVD

-Sparklehorse poster

-Dark Knight DVD

-Old Navy 50 dollar gift card

-Barnes and Noble gift card

-more







nice.



merry christmas happy chanukah and happy new year.


cant wait to record and use the new amp.



listen to the song "what are you doing new years eve" by ella fitzgerald and try not to swoon.

4:45 AM.....Blogging?

I truly believe that there are a few pieces of music, of any genre, that are perfect. I'm not joking. There are a few pieces of art, whether it be music, film, a painting, or even television, that are so great, so mind-blowingly fantastic, that they are hard to even comprehend. A few examples.


-"Don't Take My Sunshine Away," by Sparklehorse. This is one of the greatest songs ever written in my opinion. It is a track off of an album called "Dreamt for Lightyears in the Belly of a Mountain." First of all, how beautiful is that? Mark Linkous (Sparklehorse) has a way of putting together words in such a way that evoke such strange feelings. Feelings of confusion as they are often full of metaphors and almost nonsensical verse, but also of...I can't describe it. I have so many emotional ties to each of his songs, they each bring me back to a certain point in the last few years. This particlar song was the first song I heard from this remarkable artist. The track was produced by the near prodigal Dangermouse (of solo and recent Gnarls Barkley fame) and as such it opens with electronic blips and static that could be mistaken for random frequencies and tones.

After stating "your face is like the sun sinking into the ocean, your face is like watching flowers growing in fast motion..." it happens.

There is a simple drum fill and the compressor effect is taken off.

3 notes.

D A C# D A C# A A C# A A C#

Perfect.

I can't describe the euphoria that this basic arpeggio gives me. A rush of emotion floods my
body. Listen to it for youself and decide. I dont't know if it will do it for anyone else, maybe it's just me. Out of context, the notes are pretty, but in the song they are heavenly. They remind me of my two best friends, Dan and Kevin. They remind me of the HOURS and HOURS spent in Kevins basement. Fondue Nation. Shawdank. Steak Frites. Playing music for hours on end. Making ridiculous movies. These things probably don't mean anything to many other people, but to me, they mean everything. Sara and Melissa and Kallie. All of it. It was all such a good time and I love those people so dearly. Dan, I know you are reading this and you will probably call me a faggot or something...AND I LOVE YOU FOR THAT!

They notes remind me of driving Kevin home everyday from school in the freezing winters, coming into his house for awhile, making a horrible electronica track, thinking we were inventing new genres (folk-tronica?) and in the meantime, writing material for our project Day to Day.

More on that another time.

I'm getting off track.

It's 4:45 in the morning on tuesday and I need to get in the shower and get ready for work. I hate work.

NEWS: I'm quitting my job this week. This is my last week. I'm not going to be at Macy's all day while ALL my friends are home. Fuck them and their corrupt management. More on that later.

To sum up, just listen to the song. Tell me what it means. It will be different for everyone, but for me, it means everything good in my life.

Like Christmas bulbs that I swallowed...
Clay

First post: awesome weekend.

This is my first post on my new blog. I'll start off by telling a little bit about myself, even though the only people reading this probably already know all of this. My name is Clay and here are the things i like: music, comedy, film, travel/culture, politics, and fun.



Now about this weekend...



I went down to Madison with Dombrock, his girlfriend Meredith, and his parents. It was so great to see him again, as he goes to school in Colorado. I really do love him and he is such a great friend. Also, it was so strange to be back in Madison, because I was in school there for about a month before i dropped out and came home. It really wasn't working out and I had a nervous breakdown. However, I don't think it was the right thing for me at the time anyways. My plan now is to go down to Chicago in the fall to either:



-attend school at Columbia College Chicago for film (screenwriting, comedy writing.)

or

-move to Chicago and attend classes, workshops, seminars, etc. at the Second City. For all non-comedy nerds, the Second City is the premier center for improv/sketch comedy in the nation, producing some of the best comedians of all time. So yeah pretty much do that and hope something comes of it or make a bunch of demos and hope something comes of those.



I hope something comes of something.



But it was weird to be back in Madison after leaving on such weird terms. It was strange seeing all the buildings and landmarks and streets I was so familiar with then, now seeming so distant and far away. Whereas I was a resident before, now I was only a visitor.



After getting over all of that, the Dombrock's had tickets to the football game. I hate football and went to Sinclair's apartment instead. He has a really nice place and lives with a really cool group of guys. We had fun and it was cool to meet his roomates. Then we left, splitting up only to meet up again at Frida's. Dombrock, his parents, Meredith, Kevin (new Kevin), Julie(?), Sinclair, Sinclair's mom, Emily Rossmeissl and her mom, and Ellie Krueger and her mom (The Honourable Judge Krueger), and I all sat in a corner and ate horrible food. I hate Mexican food and my plate was disgusting.



Then we all went to the main event...the UW Madhatters fall concert at the Overture Center. I should note that Sinclair is in this so that's why we were there. All I can say is wow. It was an amazing show, opened by Grace and Julian. They are a band from New York that consists of a badass drummer, a fucking sweet bass player, a beautiful, talented, 20 year old sent from heaven on keys, and a shrieking, overpowering white bitch who tries to steal the show. They have great songs and a really great vibe and would be so awesome if it weren't for that idiot Grace. Julian, however is gorgeous and great and wonderful. Also, I shook his hand after the show and melted when he winked at me.




cool bass player, stupid bitch singer, beautiful virtuoso julian, awesome drummer.

Then it was the Madhatters who did awesome. The harmonies were tight and the voices in the group are beautiful. Dan had a solo which was meltworthy as well. He sang "Dreaming with a Broken Heart" by John Mayer. It was awesome and the whole audience was totally in love with him. Then they did "Swallowed in the Sea" by Coldplay...which is one of my favorite songs and I didn;t know they were doing it so it was a nice surprise, as they did that great too.

After hanging around for a bit after the show we all went to the after party at a sweet club called the Crave. It was about 30 min. before the Hatters actually showed up, during which time i danced like a fool to make Emily laugh. Then they got there and the party really started. The rest of the night was seriously so much fun and such a great time with friends that I feel if I tried to explain it, it wouldn't do it proper justice. Therefore, I will use a list of words to sum it up...representing a passage of time. Basically time travel.

fun club, no carding to get in, dan's rockstar all access pass, loud dance music, NO CARDING FOR DRINKS AT ALL, dancing, meeting cool people, NO CARDING FOR DRINKS, finally being together in the same room with my 2 best friends again, NO CARDING FOR DRINKS, dan and kevin getting drinks for us, blue moon and spotted cow beers all around, shots, more fun, fun, fun, fun, drunk, fun, fun.

Then Dan got a headache because he had like 8 beers (weird that it would affect him like that, standing at like 5'2, 110 lbs.) Kevin and I were worried about him getting home and then in a blur of 20 min. he was on his way home and we were pretty sure he wasn't going to make it home. After leaving him a few drunken, worried, confused (never a good combination) voicemails, we all parted ways for the night. I spent the night at my cousin Clinton's house and we smoked a bowl and laughed hysterically for a good 20 minutes. We cooked eggs and laughed more as the effects of our seperate yet similar parties wore off. We fell asleep at around 5 AM and I got up at like 8:30 to go to breakfast with the Dombrocks. After eating, we headed home, staying up for about 30 min. singing in the car and then we all crashed in the backseat. Dombrock's feet smelled so bad i felt like I had to shower when i got home. However, I didn't and took a nap, woke up to eat dinner, went back to sleep for the night, and went to work. (Macy's). Then I had a soccer game which I will write about tomorrow. And here I am at 3 AM writing this after talking to Sinclair for 30 min. on Skype and I'm so tired I'm not even going to proofread this, which is really weird for me.

I will close with saying that the show was awesome, I'm in love with Julian, Dan was great, the party was the most fun I've had in a long time, and I love everyone I was with this weekend.

I can't believe how long this was. I'm so tired it's not even funny. This is longer than anyone should ever have to read on a blog. I will post often here so...read it. I'm so excited for Thanksgiving and to see all my friends again, and it also means we're so close to winter break, which I will post about how much I love it tomorrow.

Goodnight everyone (Dan).

Also, i will end every post with a song I'm into at the moment. tonight's is:

The Hush Sound- "Like Vines"

Good Night!