Birthday *Rap Up

I'm finally 32 years old! Hooray (horns sound!) Is 32 a big year? My friend David says it's "the year of reflection"? I think I have too much work in my life to spend any time being reflective... Not in a bad way. It's good I'm doing so much, but I should remember to not stretch myself too thin.
Birthday week started with a great show of Grizzly Bear on Sunday night. They are an incredible band that you need to check out at your earliest chance.
Stacey set that up for me, boy is she great.
Monday night was a night of seeing St. Vincent play. Stacey and I saw her open for John Vanderslice on our first long weekend in Portland before we moved here. She was great and crazy, just like I remember her. Stacey set that up for me, boy is she great.
Tuesday night, my actual birthday was quite a day. We started off with a show for our elderly neighbors at LOAVES & FISHES - a place that does Meals on Wheels for the elderly. They came in and asked us to be entertainment for a lunch of seniors. Yikes. It was rough, but Me, Stacey, Bri and Kathryn did our best. Stacey set that up, boy is she still great.
Lunch was at Vita Cafe in NorthEast Portland. Delicious. Stacey, Kathryn, Jeffrey and myself. Lovely.
Tuesday night the Curious Comedy Theater had a buyout for a senior class trip of a high school from Hawaii. It was great. Stacey set that up, too.
Followed by a party at the theater with all my Portland friends... at least all of them who could attend a party late on a Tuesday night.
This girl set it all up for me. She's pretty unbelievable. Thank you, Stacey - for making my 32nd birthday the best it could possibly be. I should thank you more often.

*I started a joke I didn't finish and felt foolish. On Tuesday night, at the party - After Gabe (with 5 minutes to prepare) did his best to roast me, Manuel did a strip tease for me. I think he just wanted to show off his lovely purple velour boxer shorts, but he was dressed very nice and proceeded to slowly undress, tie my hands behind my back (with his tie) and spray silly string all over. It was quite a sight.

Birthday Mixtape 2

Sorry I'm a little behind, if anyone cares. Here is the second installation of my 'this is my birthday and these are my favorite songs' compilation(s)
32 years old and these are my favorite songs
We Ragazzi - i want you to love me so much i can't stand up
fIREHOSE - brave captain
the Who - odorono
Andrew Bird - fake palindromes
Rainer Maria - breakfast of champions
Cursive - driftwood
the Decemberists - a cautionary song
the Extraordinaires - a proud salute
the Most Secret Method - hesitation
Frank Sinatra - bim bam baby
TV on the Radio - ambulance
Les Savy Fav - hide me from next february
Spoon - lines in the suit
Q and not U - we heart our hive
Scene Creamers - better all the time
the Smiths - handsome devil
Nat King Cole - walking my baby back home
the Teeth - ball of the dead rat
J Church - yellow, blue and green
Bon Iver - woods

also

I watched this movie a while ago and thought it was pretty good, not the best - but fun. The dialogue here is perfect. A great opening scene to a ridiculous movie.

My Birthday

This Tuesday is my 32nd birthday. I guess I never would have thought at 32 I'd be living in Portland Oregon, working at a coffee shop and helping to run a comedy theater with a great lady and the best dog on earth. It's weird. Guess I have never been much of a goal setter, so who knows? Maybe I would have set this goal ten years ago..? I tried to make 2009 the year I make 100 thousand dollars. I set that goal after I looked at my taxes and my income history (sheesh). I thought I should step it up a notch, but this economy is not allowing me to do so. I still have a few ideas and the year isn't yet half over, so there's time. I'm going to set a goal of getting this TV pilot formatted correctly and submitted somewhere (good luck, seeing as how I have no idea where to begin on that road). I feel it's a strong sitcom format that could be successful and should be made.

So - here's the first (of two) birthday mixtapes I've created for myself. It's a collection of 40 of my most favorite songs, most of which I've been putting on all my mixtapes over the years - so don't be surprised if you already have these songs.
download the:I'm 32 and I can re-compile as many songs as I damn well please mix.
Birthday Mix number 1:
Ramones - do you remember rock 'n roll radio
Bright Eyes - the calendar hung itself
Modest Mouse - doin' the cockroach
John Vanderslice - keep the dream alive
Elliott Smith - baby britain
Holly Golightly - black night
the Magnetic Fields - strange powers
the Pixies - dig for fire
Pedro the Lion - bad diary days
the Make*Up - don't step on the children
Beauty Pill - the cigarette girl from the future
Dirty Projectors - rise above
the Kinks - wicked anabella
the Walkmen - we've been had
Grizzly Bear - blackcurrant jam
Tom Waits - green grass
the National - guest room
the Promise Ring - best looking boys
David Bowie - queen bitch
Wolf Parade - I'll believe in anything

I could listen to these songs over and over forever. Different reasons all around, but overall - they're just great songs. Plus - it's my birthday so I can do what I want.

Grizzly Bear

Got an early birthday present from my lady today. She took me to see Grizzly Bear play at the Aladdin Theater. They kicked off their tour here in this fine city. When they come to your town, you should catch them. They are amazing.
Such great instrumentation and harmonizing by all four of them. Chris Bear (on the drums) is incredible. They are are wonderful, but his playing is a sight. Veckatimest is a beautiful album. Check all these things out.

Tuesday Mixtape: Frrriends 1

SEAN KELLEY this mixtape is for you. It's hard putting my friends mixtapes together... at least is was for Sean. While the two of us played in the Washington Generals and Our Feature Presentation together, I don't think we ever had a discussion about music - so I just used the information about Sean that I know and put together a compilation. My Sean information - He's from Boston. He's Irish. He's very intelligent. He likes the Dropkick Murphys. He gets told he looks like Topher Grace and Harry Potter more times than he likes. He's a great improviser. So with that, here's what I came up with for you (link: Sean Kelley Mixtape)
Rosebuds - back to boston
Ramones - psycho therapy
the Anomolies - employee of the month
the Dismemberment Plan - the ice of boston
Public Enemy - burn hollywood burn
the Pixies - dig for fire
David Bowie - the man who sold the world
Arcade Fire - brazil
Amanda Palmer (& Annie Clark) - what's the use of wond'rin'
Morrissey - irish blood, english heart
R Crumb & his Cheap Suit Serenaders - little rascals medley
Frightened Rabbits - my backwards walk
Pegboy - superstar
Radiohead - bangers & mash
the Pixies - caribou
My Little Pony - MacGyver blues
Modest Mouse - talkin shit about a pretty sunset
Of Montreal - springtime is the season

happy birthday, Joey Ramone

Teenage Lobotomy - The Ramones Joey Ramone died eight years ago. Today would have been his 58th birthday.

morning

It's pretty great to wake up in the morning and see this li'l face staring right back at you. Arlo really is the cutest and best dog in the world. He makes me very happy.

goodbye dave & carissa

The lovely Carissa Diest and her man-friend Dave Colan came to town this week. Dave and I did a weird two-person show (1000% Guapos) - then we hung out last night. He came and coached one of our house teams last night... followed by the four of us (me, stacey, dave and carissa) talking improv for a few hours. It was nice. Picture to be uploaded soon.
Have a great wedding Dave and Carissa - and please come back to Portland as soon as you can.

family photo time

Look at these two cuties. I like living with these two.

Tuesday Mixtape 8: drrrrty

I know I'm not the best, most consistent blog updater - so thanks to you who read this. I also know that not everyone wants to download a mixtape every week, but it's something I enjoy putting together - so know that they're here if you ever need them. My friends that answered the questions will be getting their own mixes in the next few weeks. Thank you, friends.
This week's mixtape is drrrty. Songs I think are dirty, not always in a sexual way, but all across the dirty board of dirty, mainly in a garage-rock way. Enjoy here: drrrrty mixtape
Pleasure Forever - czarina
Scene Creamers - better all the time
the Kills - black balloon
McLusky - the world loves us and is our bitch
We Ragazzi - bels
Misfits - horror business
the White Stripes - in the cold, cold night
the Sonics - witch
Wolf & Cub - the loosest of gooses
Liars - we live NE of compton
Sunset Rubdown - swimming
Rick James - give it to me baby
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - man
the Monks - boys are boys and girls are choice
King Khan & BBQ Show - pig pig
Wolf Parade - it's a curse (demo)
Holly Golightly - in your head
R Crumb & his Cheap Suit Serenaders - see you in my dreams
Serge Gainsbourg - un poison violent, c'est ca l'amour
the Rapture - infatuation
the Pixies - ain't that pretty at all

Does anyone read this blog?

I'm just taking a poll.
Does anyone read this? If you do, please answer these test questions in the comments section.
1) Who is this?
2) Who is this with question number one?
3) What would YOU rather be doing?

Thanks.
The winner gets their one mixtape to post soon.
and by 'winner' I mean anyone/everyone who replies.

Tuesday Mixtape Roadtrip!

Two friends of mine are taking a road trip from Portland to Utah in a couple weeks.
One of them will fly back to Portland from Salt Lake City, the other will be moving all the way to Brooklyn, NY and will be missed here in Portland. Because of that, I am compiling a couple roadtrip mixtapes for the ladies and thought I would post one of them here today.
download here: Roadtrip Mixtape
Beauty Pill - the cigarette girl from the future
Arcade Fire - neighborhood 2 (laika)
Grizzly Bear - knife
Menomena - weird
the Smiths - handsome devil
Frank Sinatra - bim bam baby
Modern Lovers - I'm straight
Spoon - lines in the suit
Magnetic Fields - strange powers
Eagle*Seagull - your beauty is a knife I turn on my throat
Elliott Smith - rose parade
Modest Mouse - a life of arctic sounds
Jens Lekman - pocketful of money
the Teeth - ball of the dead rat
Holly Golightly - serial girlfriend
We Ragazzi - forever surrender 2 U
Malakai - moonsurfin'
the Pixies - bone machine
Wild Beasts - the devil's crayon
Wolf Parade - I'll believe in anything

March 26, 2009

Stacey's surprise birthday.

Remember This Guy?

He's still cute as ever. I think he's finally used to living in a smaller apartment. I do my best to take him out as much as I can. It's weird going from having two floors and a lot of rooms to a tiny space with three rooms. I love this little guy way too much.