None More Black

Nigelmusic.com moves to MySpace

2006-02-28T01:47:00.000-07:00

I shut down our official Nigel Music website yesterday and pointed www.nigelmusic.com to our MySpace page. MySpace is awesome. I totally hated it at first, but I love it now. And the price is right for a struggling young band from Los Angeles. (Ok, so we all actually have corporate jobs, are closer to 30 than 20, and we live in Scottsdale, Phoenix, Cave Creek, and the West side, what's it to ya?)

I am mostly planning to blog over at the Nigel new Nigelmusic MySpace blog as well since again, it's just easier to keep our Nigel universe in the same place. So NONE MORE BLACK may just end up fading away and becoming a relic of days gone by. Sorry Google. No soup for you.

So if you're reading this and you want the latest on Nigel, you should probably check here instead.

Thx for the memories.
Patrick from Nigel

Nigel Show on March 4

2006-02-28T01:45:00.000-07:00

Don't forget Nigel-ians, Nigel is playing at the BrotherLush CD release party Saturday, March 4. Nigel goes on at 10.

(Click on the tshirt for more show details.)

=bw=

2006-02-12T17:59:00.000-07:00

Well, Budweezer rocked the house on Friday. The sound was great. Huge crowd. And I even took a phone call from my mom during the middle of "Holiday." (Yes, it was a bit awkward. "Ma!! Meatloaf!!!")

Lindsay took a bunch of great pics and has a recap of the night here.

Teenagers Chips

2006-02-08T15:01:00.000-07:00

I saw this package of chips at a vendor stand about 100 yards away from the leaning tower of Pisa. Yes, of the 600 pictures taken of our trip to Italy, this was the best one. ;-)

Online Birthday Cards

2006-02-08T10:18:00.000-07:00

This is one of the funniest online cards I've ever received. You think there were any illicit substances used in the making of this card? I'd say yeah, dude.

Thanks Colleen and Erik!

BUDWEEZER THIS FRIDAY

2006-02-07T17:09:00.000-07:00

Guess what, Jonas is ready to rock!

Nigel on Radiofearless Podcast

2006-02-06T12:57:00.000-07:00

Mike Fearless has an almost weekly podcast called "Radio Fearless" featuring, among other things, local AZ bands. Mike was kind enough to include a few Nigel songs on his latest podcast.

You can podcatch it with iTunes with this link.

Or if you ain't into that whole podcatching thing, use this link to download show #7. (Here's the track listing for show #7, including a HILARIOUS cover of Creed's "Arms Wide Open" by Dave Grohl and Yellow Camaro by Weezer.)

Thanks Mike!! See you this Friday at the Budweezer show.

Pete's 30th Birthday

2006-02-01T12:16:00.000-07:00

Pete's 30th birthday is this weekend. Come out to The Border in Old Town Scottsdale. I'll be there!

Hi all,
As usual this Thursday I will be playing at Cruiser's.

It is open mic night, so come on out and jam.

I will also be turning 30 this Sunday, but rather compete with the Super Bowl, I decided to celebrate Saturday night at The Border. I hope you all can make it. I will be playing there, but there will be plenty of time to celebrate. I will be there Friday and Saturday night. Come by and bring your friends.

Re-cap:
Who: Pete De Souza
What: Thursday Night Open Mic Night
When: Thursday, February 2nd from 8:00-12:00pm
Where: Cruiser's North East corner of Shea and Scottsdale in the Safeway plaza
Why: Red Rice!

Who: Pete De Souza
What: Pete's Birthday
When: Friday & Saturday, February 3rd and 4th from 8:00-12:00pm
Where: Old Town Border Restaurant on Brown Ave between 1st and 2nd street in Old Town Scottsdale
Why: Great Cheeseburgers!

http://maps.google.com/

Thanks,
Pete

PS - We'll be celebrating my 29th birthday next Saturday (Feb 10) at Last Exit with the Budweezer crew. Don't miss it!

My Music for the week.

2006-01-24T09:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm happy to report that things are progressing pretty well on the music front right now.

Nigel has practice with Brad, our new drummer, tonight.

Then Lindsay and I are going to The Real Bar to watch Daphne Loves Derby.

I have BUDWEEZER practice Wednesday. (Speaking of which, go an Add BUDWEEZER as a MySpace friend!) And check out my lame attempt at a logo. Don't worry, I've called in professional help! :)

Then check out our weekend:

Friday at 4pm: Mute Math and Veda at Real Bar

Friday at 9pm: Let Go, Black Moods, Reign Kings at Andersons

Saturday at 7pm: Let Go, Lakota @ Last Exit

Saturday at 1pm: Strong Beer Fest at Mesa

That's a busy week of music my friends!!

UPDATE: Pics here and here. What a weekend. Check out MuteMath, now!

Batter The Drag -- The Big Sleep

2006-01-19T09:17:00.000-07:00

I sent this email this moring to Batter The Drag about their new album, The Big Sleep.

I just finished listening to the whole album and in a word, it is disturbing. And I mean that positively.

I was disturbed by the lyrics. "My Father, the Hunter." Yeah, that one. But I also loved the creativity in the lyrics. Never any of the "help me feel, make it real" 3rd grade type of lyrics that I must admit, I sometimes get trapped into with my own writing. The way you sparingly used harmonies was also very nice.

Musically, I almost never anticipated where you were going next inside of each song. The first listen was so fun because nothing was predictable. Now I have to listen several (hundred?) more times to understand all the notes and messed up chordings you employed. Oh yeah, and your drummer...keep him around!

In short, this is one of the most unique albums I've heard in a long time. Excellent job.

- Patrick from Nigel (and Budweezer)

This album isn't available at Amazon.com yet, and it is clearly not something that everyone will like. (ie. This is not a pop record.) But if you like Mars Volta with a bit more edge and a little less self-indulgent, arrogant "look how good of musicians we are," you should email Jeff and he'll FAX a copy to you (or something like that). I highly suggest you add this CD to your collection. Now.

Nigel's New Drummer

2006-01-18T08:55:00.000-07:00

Good news Nigelians, we found a new drummer! We just had our second audition with the new guy last night. Candidly, I was ready to give him the job after the first song...he rocked out on Best. But I figured it would be better to string him along until the end of practice. ;-)

His name is Brad Mahoney. Hopefully you'll all be seeing a lot more of him (and Nigel) this year. (Matter of fact, BrotherLush asked to play at their CD release party, Saturday March 4 at Last Exit. Mark your calendars now.)

Welcome aboard Brad!

BUDWEEZER on Feb 10

2006-01-16T14:16:00.000-07:00

WHEN: Friday, Feb 10

WHO: Patrick from Nigel, Bryan and Rich from BrotherLush, Chris from Let Go form the latest version of Phoenix' best (only?) Weezer tribute band, BUDWEEZER featuring songs from Weezer's Blue album and Pinkerton. (See pics from Weezer tribute band 1.0.)

WITH: He Means Well (no website available) and another band TBA.

WHERE: Last Exit in Tempe. (Corner of Priest and Southern. Map here.)

COST: $5

OTHER: Doors open at 9, music starts at 10. BUDWEEZER goes on at midnight.

OTHER OTHER: My birthday is Feb 8, so come by and wish be a Happy Bday!

UPDATE 1/19/06: The original title of this post was WEEEEEEEEEEEZER on Feb 10 because that was what we were calling the tribute band at the time. Chris came up with BUDWEEZER and it stuck, so I changed it up. Logo, website, tshirts, water bottles, and fanny packs to come.

Pandora

2006-01-16T13:42:00.000-07:00

The aptly named Pandora is a pretty cool new music recommendation service. I typed in one of my personal favorites, The Pale Pacific, on the first screen and it created a new station based on the tags this song had.

That said, after listening to very similar sounding songs for the last 20 minutes, it's better to have someone like Elise of SomaFM's Indie Pop Rocks! giving me a variety of songs.

(HT: DoCopenhagen)

Rivers Cuomo is Rodney Dangerfield?

2006-01-05T17:12:00.000-07:00

Is it just me, or is taking River's a long time to graduate from Harvard? Apparently, he's going back to school, again, to get his English degree. Story.

My hope is that he meets another cello playing half-Japanese girl, gets tired of sex, and goes outside to catch a butterfly.

(I'm sorry Rivers, but your anguish, or rather, the songs that result from said anguish, are the delight of many of your fans. Pinkerton Volume Deux is long overdue my friend. And you've punished yourself far too much for it's lack of commercial success.)

Vote for The Pale Pacific...

2006-01-04T16:18:00.000-07:00

...to get more airtime on Indie Access Radio. Vote here. Vote often!

Michelle Branch lashes out...good for her!

2005-12-28T08:52:00.000-07:00

So you want to be a famous rock star? It ain't all it's cracked up to be according to Michelle Branch:

What I am most frustrated at, I suppose is...I pay money to keep this website up so all of you "fans" can talk about our music. Why would I want to spend the money so the majority of you can sit around and b1tch about us?

For myself, I like being in a band. I love creating music. I love playing live. But stories like this reinforce why I don't ever want to be a rockstar. That, and I've watched way too many episodes of VH1's Behind The Music to think it's all glamour and fun.

(HT: Music Business Marketing)

Where has Nigel been?

2005-12-27T18:08:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while since I've blogged anything new and/or meaningful. Sorry about that, but I've basically been avoiding this blog to avoid some bad news.

About a month ago, Steve informed the rest of the band that he was no longer going to the be the drummer of Nigel. Details aside, it was an amicable break-up and we're all still friends.

So for the last month I've been in searching far and wide for a new drummer. The demand for drummers in Phoenix area versus drummers seeking bands is about 10 to 1. So it's stiff competition for very few qualified applicants. Hopefully we'll find a new drummer soon and be back in the game!

If you know a good drummer who's interested in being on the Nigel team, please tell them to email Patrick.

Rogue Wave and Mazarin at Modified Arts, Phoenix

2005-12-16T11:41:00.000-07:00

Lindsay and I went with my sister Karin to see Rogue Wave and Mazarin. (We met up with Erik there too.)

I was really impressed by the live arrangements/performance by Rogue Wave. Very impressive use of quiets and louds. Vocals sounded great in the mix.

I'm jealous. ;)

the ryPod reminds you who The Beattles were in the beginning

2005-12-16T11:23:00.000-07:00

From the ryPod:

Truth is, The Beatles were badass in the beginning. All-black, leather jacket-wearing, cigarette chain-smoking, savage rock & roll street punks. Okay, Paul was still a pussy. But John's early songs are pure pain. He's so jealous & bitter & angry at women for leaving and his mum for dying, it makes me want to cry. John doesn't want to hold your hand. John doesn't believe in yesterday. If you ever touch another man, John will hunt you down and kill you, bitch.

HILARIOUS!

The Pale Pacific interviewed on Indie Pop Rocks

2005-12-14T14:18:00.000-07:00

Elise, the awesome DJ from SomaFM's greatest show -- Indie Pop Rocks! -- will be airing her interview with The Pale Pacific on Thursday at 2pm Arizona time. Set your alarms and then go listen to IPR!

Fall Out Boy on VH1 Big in 05

2005-12-05T17:23:00.000-07:00

Did anyone see Fall Out Boy perform on VH1's Big in 05? The bass player, Peter Wentz, is freaking crazy! He jumped off of what had to be a 30 foot ledge during the last part of "Sugar We're Going Down" and sugar, I thought this boy was going down.

Here's the play by play...

Running up the stairs in the background. My point? That's a lot of steps.

Standing on the 30ft prop, rocking out with the fans.

Yeah, that's Peter. The guy with the red circle around him. At this point, I know he's gotta be thinking, "Ok, this looks a little taller from up here than I thought it would be. However, it would be highly un-rock for me to walk back down the stairs. I'm gonna have to jump!"

"Yeah, even though this thing is 30 feet high, I'm still going to jump up into the air as I jump off it."

"Oh damn, this is gonna leave a mark!" (Me, as I watched from the comfort and relative safety of my own bed, "Oh geez, that's gonna leave a mark!!")

"Landed it perfectly! Just like a rock star!"

That was the most amazing jump I've ever seen that was not using a safety harness. You can watch the video of this on VH1.com.

The Black Moods

2005-12-01T17:32:00.000-07:00

Now this is an interview with a real rock band.

(Blackmoods on MySpace)

Lindsay has a hot college girl blog

2005-11-30T13:11:00.000-07:00

Seriously, check out who ranks #2 on MSN for hot college girl blogs.

That's hot. (And hilarious!)

UPDATE: Apparently MS "corrected" their algorithm since Lindsay is no longer #2 for that search phrase. But she's still unintentionally getting first page rankings on other combinations of not-so-appropriate-for-children-phrases, none of which I will mention here lest my blog starts getting ranked for them.

Pete's Gigs

2005-11-30T10:55:00.000-07:00

Pete's back at it again on that darn acoustic guitar! American, go see him play.

Thanks, Management

Well, as usual I will he at Cruiser's on Thursday night for open mic night. Come by and bring a friend.

Saturday night I will be at The Border in Old Town Scottsdale. Come have a cheeseburger and Washington Apple with me and the Coach House Wrecking Crew.

Re-cap:
Who: Pete De Souza
What: Thursday Night Open Mic Night
When: Thursday, December 1st from 8:00-12:00pm
Where: Cruiser's North East corner of Shea and Scottsdale in the Safeway plaza
Why: It is December

Who: Pete De Souza
What: Saturday Night Acoustic Jam
When: Saturday, December 3rd from 8:00-12:00pm
Where: Old Town Border Restaurant South East corner of 1st street and Brown Ave in Old Town Scottsdale
Why: Washington Apple

Lindsay's Birthday

2005-11-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

That's right, it's Lindsay's 28th birthday. Go tell her Happy Birthday.

Thanksgiving Disco

2005-11-17T10:27:00.000-07:00

I got this from two people already today, so there's a good chance you've seen it as well. If not, it's worth 30 seconds of your time.

Put this in the time capsule...

2005-11-17T09:17:00.000-07:00

Lindsay recently came across this old page. Apparently, we've been married for 1138 days now. And at least 1132 of those days have been really, really good.

Tempe show...rocked!!

2005-11-14T18:18:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who came out to Last Exit on Saturday. There were about 150 of you. Personally, I had a really good time! It had been 6+ months since Nigel last played and I had some pent up energy to expend. (It only took 3 songs for me to throw down the guitar.)

I hope that we get invited to play Last Exit again as it sounded great and attendence was quite good.

The Weezer cover band "In the Garage" that closed the night out went so well that we'll likely have to consider putting it in regular rotation.

Lindsay has a nice blog entry (with pics) written about the show, so rather than duplicate her efforts, I'll let you read more about it there.

Death Cab for Cutie -- Tonight in Tempe, AZ

2005-11-08T14:55:00.000-07:00

The guys from glisten told me to checkout Death Cab a few years ago, and I'm glad I did! Lindsay saw them on the Transatlantacism tour 2 years ago at Nita's Hideway. They've since progressed to the Marquee Theater size hall and will be playing tonight. Going to be a good show!

Nigel on MySpace, Part II

2005-11-08T14:35:00.000-07:00

I uploaded 3 more songs this morning to Nigel's MySpace.

Our first and only album, Songs About Things, came out in May 2004. Since then, we've had 4 songs from the album posted on NigelMusic.com. But now, you can finally get the rest of the songs from Songs About Things at Nigel's MySpace. So go get em!

Super-Weezer

2005-11-07T09:20:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, I sang Weezer songs for 4 hours. Do you think I had fun? You know it!

Me, Pete, Steve (from Nigel) and Bryan and Rich (from BrotherLush) jammed on just about every song from the Blue album and Pinkerton, as well as a few tracks from Green for good measure, in preparation for our Super-Weezer set coming up this Saturday at the end of the show. Super-Weezer will probably be going on around 12:30ish. Don't miss it!

"Oo-wee-oo I look just like Buddy Holly..."

The Format, Let Go, and Peachcake at Mesa Amphitheater

2005-11-07T09:04:00.000-07:00

Lindsay and I went to a music and cooking festival over the weekend at the Mesa Amphitheater. We rushed out of the house to catch one of Lindsay's favorite new bands, Let Go. They played the side stage with a short 25 minute set, but they sounded really good. I really like "Spotlights" (the closer) and "Louise".

We talked to Jamie (lead singer and guitarist) for awhile after the show. Very nice guy and has loads of producing experience. I asked him about potentially doing a few songs for Nigel. It'd be fun to get back into a proper studio again.

The next notable band on the list was Peachcake. A Depeche Mode (techno) meets The Flaming Lips (props on stage and humor) band. They put on a really jaw-dropping show!

The big draw for us (and it seemed the rest of the crowd) was Sam and Nate -- The Format -- performing acoustic. They sounded really good and the crowd sang along to every word. The non-surprise, surprise was when Sam asked if someone could bring him a drink and Jim Adkins (of Jimmy Eat World) came walking out with a bottle of Maker's Mark, a bottle of Wild Turkey, and an acoustic guitar. Sam and Jim's harmonies on the next few songs were so good it made me hate them both. Jealousy is such a bad thing! ;-)

Technorati Tags: Music

Nigel on MySpace

2005-11-04T15:57:00.000-07:00

Nigel is finally up and running on MySpace. I only had a few minutes to get some stuff up there. I'll add a bunch more stuff this weekend or next week when I have more time.

Back from Italy

2005-11-04T10:59:00.000-07:00

Hey all, this is the quick version of the "I'm back" blog post. Pictures and details to follow, but 2 weeks of work to catch up on today.

Lindsay and I had an awesome time in Italy!! Twenty cities in 14 days. And I've never eaten so good in my life. The bira (beer) and vino (wine) were also delicious. And when I woke up today, I found myself craving capucino and chocolate croissant. Weird.

Don't forget, Nigel concert in 1 week! Saturday Nov 12.

Air Guitar Instruction Video

2005-11-04T10:11:00.000-07:00

Mitch Ferrents: Master of Air Guitar. "Nothing is more overrated than the ability to play and master a musical instrument. According to science, air is the most abundant gas...rock it."

Maximized Air Guitar...funny.

(PS - That is good advertising for the Dell Dj Ditty.)

Patrick and Lindsay go to Italy

2005-10-19T19:36:00.000-07:00

Twelve hours from now, Lindsay and I will be on a plane that will eventually end up in Venice, Italy. We'll be backpacking for 2 weeks. Spending time with Colleen and Erik. Drinking Italian wine. Eating good food. We'll do our best to blog as much of it as we can. (We'll even wear our new "I'm blogging this." T-shirts....thanks Chris! ;-)

See ya when we get back Novemberish. And don't forget to put on your calendar: Nigel show on Saturday Nov 12 in Tempe!!

Thanks, Management

Nigel gig in Tempe on Saturday Nov 12

2005-10-16T16:53:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to announce Nigel's fist gig since April 30. (What can we say, it's been a lazy summer and our drummer Steve had a lot of weddings this summer.)

Good news though, we'll be playing with Brother Lush and Blue Fur on Saturday, November 12 at Last Exit in Tempe. (Corner of Priest and Southern. Map here.)

~~I think Pete may play an acoustic set to open the show at like 9. Then Nigel will go on around 9:45. Then Brother Lush and then Blue Fur.~~

UPDATE: Blaine from Jones Fracture opens with an acoustic set (9ish to 9:30ish), Nigel from 9:45 to 10:40, Blue Fur from 10:50 to 11:40, BrotherLush from 12:00 to 12:50. And for those of you without curfews, don't miss "In The Garage" (a Weezer cover band, including members of Nigel and BrotherLush) from 1am to 2am.

COST: $5 at the door, please tell them that you are there to see Nigel.

Hope to see you there. Keep an eye on the blog for updates.

UPDATE 11/14: The show absolutely rocked! Thanks for coming to see us!

Football

2005-10-16T16:44:00.000-07:00

Notre Dame fan, meet ASU fan...

The comeback by SC yesterday made for one of the greatest endings I've ever seen. Unbelievable! The SC team just refuses to lose.

In other news, there's 3:24 left in the 4th quarter of Denver v. New England and Jake's beard is still looking like a winner.

More Payola

2005-10-13T09:13:00.000-07:00

Yep, there's more payola at Clear Channel.

And don't forget Payola.

Why do I like the word payola so much?

Technorati Tags: Payola

Angry in Anaheim

2005-10-12T20:08:00.000-07:00

Can you say controvery? I've never seen a play like what happened during the White Sox and Angels game tonight. WOW!!

MillionDollarHomePage.com - What an idea! / I'm an idiot!

2005-10-12T18:31:00.000-07:00

I just heard of the Million Dollar Home Page this afternoon and I'm totally enthralled with it. Like a dog with a new bone I guess. What a brilliant idea! I'm an idiot for not thinking of it first.

PS - By "1 pixel for $1", he does actually mean a literal pixel. Each square is 10x10 block, or 100 pixels. So minimum orders are $100. Still, it's a sweet idea!

Technorati Tags: Internet, Damn Good Ideas

Google comes to Phoenix Arizona

2005-10-11T15:42:00.000-07:00

Dear Google,

Welcome to the valley of the sun -- Phoenix, Arizona. (Or Scottsdale or Tempe, but probably not Mesa.)

This just popped into my inbox.

Dear Friend of the Business Journal:

Search engine giant Google Inc. will be locating major operations in the Phoenix area, The Business Journal has learned, and the announcement will be made Wednesday by state and local leaders.

Sources say that Google will likely place operations relating to online auctions and expanded Internet and technology services in the Valley as the company looks to expand and compete with the likes of eBay and Yahoo.

For more details, read this.

Sincerely,
Don Henninger Publisher, Phoenix Business Journal

Technorati Tags: Google, Phoenix

Nigel Band Practice

2005-10-11T15:27:00.000-07:00

Guess what -- Nigel is actually having a band practice for the first time in I can't remember how many weeks.

Plus, stay tuned for exciting news about our first gig since April 30th. (It's been a lazy summer.) Mark down Saturday November 12. More details to follow.

Pete's Gigs

2005-10-11T15:23:00.000-07:00

Gigs with Pete this week:

Hi all,
Well thanks to a friend of mine I have a new gig starting this Wednesday. It is in Old Town Scottsdale and it is a place called Old Town Border Restaurant.

They have been open for a year and to celebrate their one year anniversary, I will be playing there. If things go well, I will be playing there every Wednesday. It is on 1st street and Brown Ave.

I will also be at Cruiser's this Thursday for Open Mic night. Come by, hang out and jam!

Re-cap:
Who: Pete De Souza
What: New Wednesday Gig
When: Wednesday, October 12th from 7:00-11:00pm
Where: Old Town Border Restaurant South East corner of 1st street and Brown Ave in Old Town Scottsdale
Why: They have awesome cheeseburgers

Who: Pete De Souza
What: Thursday Night Open Mic Night
When: Thursday, October 13th from 8:00-12:00pm
Where: Cruiser's North East corner of Shea and Scottsdale in the Safeway plaza
Why: ...for the love of Pete

Thanks,
Pete

Philadelphia

2005-10-08T06:31:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! I'm stuck at the Philly airport. It's 9:30am (EST) and I'm standby for the 10:10...I need a big care-bear-stair from everyone out there for me to be able to get on this flight!!

That, or a gummy bear tunnel...NICK?

UPDATE 1:16pm EST: Some care-bear-stair that was guys. I didn't even come close to getting on the 10:10. (Actually, I was in the final four...it felt like being on a reality TV show actually. ;-)

Good thing I didn't technically check out of my hotel -- I left the airport, jumped back on the hotel shuttle, and took an hour and a half nap. It was nice! Now I'm down in the lobby watching Wisconsin and Northwestern.

Zachary Lee Jones

2005-10-05T13:49:00.000-07:00

The little guy has finally arrived!

Congrats Ted and Jody!

A Fun Weekend

2005-10-03T17:06:00.000-07:00

One bottle of magic anti-hangover pills...$14.95

One Chevy Tahoe with a backseat big enough for 47, Jeremy, and the Dog-father...$40,000.

Getting to be Sparky...Priceless.

Viva la Cardinals!

2005-10-03T14:43:00.000-07:00

Can you believe the Arizona Cardinals won yesterday on Sunday Night Football? In front of a national audience? In Mexico City?

Can you believe that they scored not 1, but 2 touchdowns? (I'll bet Neal Rackers was pissed...btw, that guy is freaking good!)

Here's to moving the red birds permanently to Mexico!

Technorati Tags: NFL, Arizona Cardinals, Irony

Lost chapter in Genesis...blame Adam

2005-09-27T12:32:00.000-07:00

Adam was walking around the garden of Eden feeling very lonely, so God asked him, "What is wrong with you?"

Adam said he didn't have anyone to talk to.

God said that He was going to make Adam a companion and that it would be a woman.

He said, "This person will gather food for you, cook for you, and when you discover clothing she'll wash it for you. She will always agree with every decision you make. She will bear your children and never ask you to get up in the middle of the night to take care of them. She will not nag you and will always be the first to admit she was wrong when you've had a disagreement. She will never have a headache and will freely give you love and passion whenever you need it."

Adam asked God, "What will a woman like this cost?"

God replied, "An arm and a leg."

Then Adam asked, "What can I get for a rib?"

The rest is history.

Technorati Tag: Humor

Prettyfile.com

2005-09-27T11:39:00.000-07:00

Someone likes JigsawHealth.com -- any idea what they are saying?

Shaun O'Hara of the New York Giants

2005-09-25T18:10:00.000-07:00

I'm watching the New York Football Giants play the San Diego Superchargers on ESPN's Sunday night football. The guy getting groped by Eli Manning is the center, Shaun O'Hara. His parents and my parents were good friends 30 years ago when they both lived in Chicago.

Shaun and I haven't seen eachother since we were really young. It's probably been 25 years. He's now 6'3, 308. ("Ding!") I'm 5'10(ish), 168(ish). I'll bet he can bench more than me.

Hope all is well Shaun! And I hope they make you an eligible receiver like that one game with the Browns. ;-)

Technorati Tags: New York Giants, Shaun O'Hara

AZ Cardinals Football - Field goal kicking at it's finest

2005-09-25T16:02:00.000-07:00

Neal Rackers (field goal kicker for the 0-3 Arizona Cardinals) is so-o-o-o-o good. He is 100% for the season. The guy had 12 points today!! That's awesome! (Never mind that Seattle scored 37.)

I'm certain that one of these NFL Sundays, the Cards will win a game by a score that is divisible by 3.

Technorati Tags: Irony, Arizona Cardinals Suck, Neal Rackers

TargetScope is Netscape.com's Cool website of the day!

2005-09-23T08:55:00.000-07:00

This is really cool! (Wonder if Netscape stole the TargetScope.com description from my review?)

Technorati Tags: TargetScope, Netscape, Cool Websites

Leibowitz leaving 620 AM KTAR

2005-09-22T15:34:00.000-07:00

I know Pete is going to be upset about this one. Sorry Mr. Blato, I know you are a big Leibo fan.

But you'll probably like Tony Snow. He's plays the flute.

Technorati Tags: Tony Snow, David Leibowitz, 620 KTAR

New Orleans Toxic Flood Waters

2005-09-22T15:09:00.000-07:00

Remember all the TV talking heads saying that the floodwaters in New Orleans was toxic? If they are pumping toxic water out of the city, where are they pumping it to?

Is it being treated?

Is it going back into Lake Ponchatrain?

Is Karl Rove personally putting it into canteens to give to minorities stuck on I-45 in Houston?

I'm no environmentalist, but I do actually care about the environment because we all eat the environment eventually.

Technorati Tags: New Orleans Floods, Katrina Flooding , Karl Rove , Houston I-45 , Canteen

ACT! in the Stairwell?

2005-09-21T18:44:00.000-07:00

ACT! 2006 is shipping. Congrats to my friends at SalesLogix/Interact/Best/Sage who got this out the door. Shipping software is tough. I oughta know. ;-)

Anyways, I got an email this afternoon announcing the news. One of the graphical elements in the email was the following picture. Is it just me, or does it look like this transaction is happening in a stairwell?? Very strange says I.

Walmart turning the tide?

2005-09-21T10:37:00.000-07:00

"Always low prices. Always." What a good, focused positioning statement that doubles as a slogan/tag line.

Obviously, there are lots of people that hate Walmart for discounting everyone else out of business. But the same person that complains about losing their $22/hour manufacturing job, negotiated by their union, is the same person that is going to Walmart to buy cheap shampoo, electronics, cookware, motor oil, etc.

However, Hurricane Katrina shows that this souless evil corporation may in fact, also have some decency. In fact, it appears to have a LOT of decency when you read all the stories about them giving the farm away. This story from a soldier is very telling.

Technorati Tags: Walmart, Katrina

Rockstar INXS, JD Fortune...I called it

2005-09-20T21:35:00.000-07:00

Lindsay got me hooked on Rockstar INXS about 5 weeks ago. I liked the covers, most of the singers were really quite good, INXS is a pretty cool band (especially when Deke Woods covers it) and the house band was phenomenal!

Well, I've said it all along, JD Fortune will be the next singer of INXS. And after watching MiG, Marty, and JD's final performance, I'm here to tell you, as of 9:36pm PST, I'm still right: JD will be your winner...let's see what happens in the next 24 minutes.

Prediction 2 (made at 9:51pm), JD Fortune will cry. (Not that there's anything wrong with that!)

9:53...JD Fortune takes the gold, and cries. Being right is fun.

Lindsay will be posting more on this Wednesday, of that I am sure.

P'Diddy, where you at?

2005-09-18T22:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the no post week. That's a first for this blog to get that stale, but I'm sure you all enjoyed the break. I've been super busy with work. This week promises to be a lot more of the same. (I hate when work gets in the way of blogging!)

Weekend Update (with the original P Diddy): Good times with Pete at Schmedley's on Friday night. I whistled a killer version of Slash's guitar solo on "Patience."

Saturday, Patrick meet couch and college football. Couch, Patrick. ASU beat up on Northwestern.

Sunday, watched NFL football at the Sinykin's. Good times. Frank D Tank had a 10 hour layover on his way from Portland to San Antonio and was in rare form as his usual self. (Does that make sense?) Jake Plummer's Broncos were stellar, as usual. ;-) Cardinals lost to the Rams and they are surprised to be 0-2.

Ted and Jody Jones are close to baby blast off. Could be right now for all we know. My favorite baby name suggestion: Frankenstein Jones (boy or a girl). Second place: Red Jones (boy or girl).

Ringtones: $3.5 Billion in revenue

2005-09-12T15:44:00.000-07:00

Someone bought $3.5 billion dollars worth of ringtones last year. No joke.

Nigel, could you make me a ring-tone for Best please?

New Orleans Pictures

2005-09-09T09:45:00.000-07:00

This is a really interesting photo slide-show from a New Orleans survivor.

Caption Contest

2005-09-06T20:56:00.000-07:00

Post entries in comments.

PS - It's ASU football season again...

A Mr. Big Cover Band?

2005-09-06T20:32:00.000-07:00

That's what Jason, Roger, me, and Johnny were during our Danville Pub Crawl last Saturday night as we sang "I'm the one who wants to be with you. Deep inside I hope you feel it to..." LOL!

Read the rest at Lasully22.

Les Paul

2005-09-06T09:26:00.000-07:00

Things I didn't know about Les Paul. What a cool guy.

PS - Just got back on Monday from a great trip to Danville, IL. I'm sure Lindsay will be blogging about it sometime soon.

Navy Seals

2005-09-01T15:01:00.000-07:00

I thought about forwarding this email I rcvd, but then I realized that would be so-o-o-o 2001. Nowadays we let the RSS feeds do the work for us. ;-)

Two things Navy Seals are always taught:

1. Keep your priorities in order.
2. Know when to act without hesitation.

A college professor, an avowed atheist and active in the ACLU, was teaching his class. He shocked several of his students when he flatly stated that for once and for all he was going to prove there was no God.

Addressing the ceiling he shouted: "GOD, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform. I'll give you exactly 15 minutes!!!"

The lecture room fell silent. You could hear a pin drop. Ten minutes went by. "I'm waiting God, if you're real, knock me off this platform!!!"

Again, after 5 minutes, the professor taunted God saying, "Here I am, God!!! I'm still waiting!!"
His count down got down to the last couple of seconds when a SEAL , just released from the Navy after serving in Afghanistan and Iraq, newly registered in the class, walked up to the Professor.

The SEAL hit him full force in the face and sent the Professor tumbling from his lofty platform.
The Professor was out cold. The students were stunned and shocked. They began to babble in confusion. The SEAL nonchalantly took his seat in the front row and sat quietly.

The class looked at him and fell silent....waiting. Eventually, the Professor came to and was noticeably shaken. He looked at the SEAL in the front row.

When the Professor regained his senses and could speak he asked: "What the hell is the matter with you? Why did you do that?"

"God was busy protecting America's soldiers, who are busy protecting your right to say stupid shit and act like an asshole!!

So he sent me."

TargetScope, Flash animation, the exponentiality of the Internet, and Seth Godin

2005-09-01T13:11:00.000-07:00

As regular NONE MORE BLACK readers will recall, TargetScope is design and web development firm for Jigsaw Health. I love the guys at TargetScope because they "get it."

First and foremost, they are just an AWESOME team to work with. (Here's a picture of the crew along with their wives from when Lindsay and I went to visit them.)

Second, they just do phenomenal work.

I lit-ra-ly could NOT count the number of positive comments that we've received from customers about JigsawHealth.com since we launched on April 19, 2005. (Ok, I could actually go back and count them from all the emails I've saved, but I'm not going to do it because it would probably be like 32 or something, and that doesn't sound near as good as me not lit-ra-ly being able to count them!)

I blogged about TargetScope's new WWII-themed flash website when they launched it back on June 16.

For those in the know, going "all flash" these days is just plain stupid because search engines can't read and rank you. And everyone knows you do what the search engines gods tell you.

But for every rule, there must be some exceptions.

TargetScope does not NEED traffic from search engines. They need a few customers a year willing to spend $250K plus with them.

So they said "screw it!" and executed brilliantly on a brilliant idea -- make web site for a creative web firm NOT look like a web site for a creative web firm. Build a purple cow!

And now, with the amazing exponential power that is the internet, people around the world are taking notice, regardless of their Google Page Rank...

First sign of awesomeness: TargetScope, an 8 person shop in Plano, TX is currently listed (bottom left) as one of the 8 MOST POPULAR HOMEPAGES FOR ALL CATEGORIES at CoolHomePages.com

...Right alongside Apple Computers, Adobe, IBM, etc.

(You can go directly to that page, but in the off chance they drop off, here's a screen scrape to capture it in our memory forever.)

MORE SIGNS OF AWESOMENESS: The Russians and the Danes are "mad crazy" about TargetScope.com. At least that's how babblefish translated those pages for me.

So now it's time to go and check out www.TargetScope.com for yourself.

(But do not attempt to hire these guys because I have them contracted out for one huge project and several medium sized ones. Sorry Drakester. ;-)

So how this apply to Seth Godin? Well, he finally pounded it into my head with his last book that the only way to do marketing these days is:

1) make a great product worthy of actually being talked about (a purple cow)
2) frame it around a "story" that people can believe (all marketers are liars), and...
3) your customers will like the experience so much, they won't be able to stop themselves from "sneezing." (spread the ideavirus)
4) Gimmicks don't work because people don't care what companies have to say about themself! (permission marketing)

It's poetry in motion!

And in only 4 months, I've already seen it starting to work at Jigsaw Health as well. A company that NO ONE has heard of...YET!

UPDATE 9/12/05: One more sign of awesomeness, TargetScope.com is now part of the curriculm at Purdue. Go figure!

Friends don't let friends use AOL email

2005-09-01T04:47:00.000-07:00

I know this is a shocker, but there are still people, real people -- not just spammers -- that use AOL email. I hate that AOL cuts out the entire chain of the previous conversation.

Microsoft, can't you figure out how to be a stronger, more aggressive monopoly and put Outlook on everyone's desktop?

Thanks, Management.

The Pale Pacific: Dreams do come true

2005-09-01T01:54:00.000-07:00

I just heard The Pale Pacific's "Sucker Punch" on SomaFM!! :)

On Sunday, after recovering from a bender with The Pale Pacific, I decided it was time to try and get the word out for them. So I sent this:

-----Original Message-----
From: Patrick Sullivan
Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2005 5:58 PM
To: 'elise@somafm.com'
Subject: Request: New from The Pale Pacific, "Sucker Punch"

Elise,

Could you play "Sucker Punch" from The Pale Pacific's new CD, "Urgency", which came out last Tuesday on Sidecho Record on Indie Pop Rocks!? The Pale Pacific is Death Cab for Cutie like, but with a bit more spunk IMO.
http://www.purevolume.com/ThePalePacific

They are great guys who really deserve to make it. I had the chance to meet and hang out with them Friday night (until noon on Saturday!) after their show in Phoenix. I think my wife and I just finally recovered...
http://nigelmusic.blogspot.com/2005/08/pale-pacific-shook-me-all-night.html

Patrick

Shameless self-promotion for Nigel's lil ol blog? Well yeah! It is a radio station and I'm in a band after all. ;-)

Although, I did feel the need to add a bit more, so I sent a follow-up email.

-----Original Message-----
From: Patrick Sullivan
Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2005 6:14 PM
To: 'elise@somafm.com'
Subject: RE: Request: New from The Pale Pacific, "Sucker Punch"

Btw, I'm listening to "Fortune Folds" from the same CD and it's a good candidate for Indie Pop Rocks! as well. Plus, it was mixed by Chris Walla, so that might help give them more street credibility if you haven't heard of them before this email.

Patrick

So there I am at my desk, 1:38 AM, just working away like a fool (lit-ra-ly). I'm on my fifth hour straight of SomaFM Indie Pop Rocks!

AND THERE IT WAS.......

I quickly sent Elise this email to thank her.

-----Original Message-----
From: Patrick Sullivan
Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 1:39 AM
To: 'elise@somafm.com'
Subject: RE: Request: New from The Pale Pacific, "Sucker Punch"

OH YEAH!!!! :) Elise, you rock! I just heard first few keyboard notes of Sucker Punch on Indie Pop Rocks!

Thanks for making my night/morning!!

Patrick

The simple things in life. :)

UPDATE 9/1/05 10:11am -- I just exchanged this "Letter to Elise" (Sorry for The Cure reference.)

-----Original Message-----
From: Elise / Indie Pop Rocks! [mailto:elise@somafm.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 9:20 AM
To: Patrick Sullivan
Subject: RE: Request: New from The Pale Pacific, "Sucker Punch"

thanks for the suggestion, i really like 'em.
:)
e

-----Original Message-----
From: Patrick Sullivan
Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 9:24 AM
To: 'Elise / Indie Pop Rocks!'
Subject: RE: Request: New from The Pale Pacific, "Sucker Punch"

Nice! Out of curiousity, was I the first to tell you about them?
Patrick

-----Original Message-----
From: Elise / Indie Pop Rocks! [mailto:elise@somafm.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 9:33 AM
To: Patrick Sullivan
Subject: RE: Request: New from The Pale Pacific, "Sucker Punch"

hrm, i think they were already on my Incredibly Ridiculously Long List of 'bands to check out', but you pled such a nice case for them, it made me *want* to check them out sooner than later. so thanks!
:)
elise

-----Original Message-----
From: Patrick Sullivan
Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 9:42 AM
To: 'Elise / Indie Pop Rocks!'
Subject: RE: Request: New from The Pale Pacific, "Sucker Punch"

LOL...I have one of those lists to, but it's only like 10 bands long. (Though I add to it almost exclusively from your playlist. Thanks for pre-screening out the junk! ;)

Thanks for checking out The Pale Pacific and giving them a shot. I know they will really be happy about it.

Btw, since I already excitedly blogged the first 3 emails I sent to you, do you mind if I update that post with the rest of our conversation?
http://nigelmusic.blogspot.com/2005/09/pale-pacific-dreams-do-come-true.html

Thx, Patrick

-----Original Message-----
From: Elise / Indie Pop Rocks! [mailto:elise@somafm.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 9:56 AM
To: Patrick Sullivan
Subject: RE: Request: New from The Pale Pacific, "Sucker Punch"

haha. sure, go ahead.
:)
-e

-----Original Message-----
From: Patrick Sullivan
Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 10:50 AM
To: 'Elise / Indie Pop Rocks!'
Subject: RE: Request: New from The Pale Pacific, "Sucker Punch"

Thx Elise, you've been blogged. Watch out, I sometimes get 20 people a day on this thing! ;)

http://nigelmusic.blogspot.com

Patrick

Elise is now a HUGE FAN of this here blog. She's probably reading it right now. ;-)

10mph on FOXnews and CNN

2005-08-31T11:20:00.000-07:00

Josh and Hunter are making the airwaves big time. Good job guys!

Annual Stella Awards

2005-08-31T00:55:00.000-07:00

A co-worker emailed me these and they are really pretty funny. However, there is just NO WAY that these things are actually true! Juries can NOT be this stupid or this deceived!

Don't believe everything you read on the internet kids.

It's once again time to review the winners of the annual Stella Awards. The Stella's are named after 81 year old Stella Liebeck who spilled coffee on herself and Successfully sued McDonald's. That case inspired the 'Stella Awards' for the most frivolous successful lawsuits in the United States.

THIS YEAR'S AWARDS GO TO:

5th Place(Tied)
Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas was awarded $780,000 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside a furniture store. The owners of the store were understandably surprised at the verdict, considering the misbehaving toddler was Ms. Robertson's son.

5th Place (Tied)
19-year old Carl Truman of Los Angeles won $74,000 and medical expenses when his neighbour ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Mr. Truman apparently did not notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he was trying to steal the hubcaps.

5th Place(Tied)
Terrence Dickson of Bristol, Pennsylvania was leaving a house he had just finished robbing by way of the garage. He was not able to get the garage door to go up since the automatic door opener was malfunctioning. He could not re-enter the house because the door connecting the house and garage locked when he pulled it shut. The family was on vacation and Mr. Dickson found himself locked in the garage for 8 days. He subsisted on a case of Pepsi he found and a large bag of dry dog food. He sued the homeowner's insurance claiming the situation caused him undue mental anguish. The Jury agreed to the tune of $500,000.

4th Place
Jerry Williams of Little Rock, Arkansas was awarded $14,500 and Medical expenses after being bitten on the buttocks by his next door neighbour's Beagle dog. The Beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced yard. The award was less than sought because the jury felt the dog might have been a little provoked at the time as Mr. Williams, who had climbed over the fence into the yard, was shooting it repeatedly with a pellet gun.

3rd Place
A Philadelphia restaurant was ordered to pay Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania $113,500 after she slipped on a soft drink and broke her coccyx (tailbone). The beverage was on the floor because Ms. Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier, during an argument.

2nd Place
Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware sued the owner of a Night Club in a neighbouring city when she fell from the bathroom window to the floor and knocked out two of her front teeth. This occurred whilst Ms. Walton was trying to sneak in the window of the Ladies Room to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge. She was awarded $12,000 and dental expenses.

1st Place!!!!!
This year's runaway winner was Mr. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Mr. Grazinski purchased a brand new Winnebago Motor home. On his trip home from an OU football game, having driven onto the freeway, he set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver's seat to go into the back and make himself a cup of coffee. Not surprisingly the RV left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Mr. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising him in the owner's manual that he could not actually do this. The jury awarded him $1,750,000 plus a new Winnebago Motor home. The company actually changed their manuals on the basis of this suit just in case there were any other COMPLETE MORONS buying their recreational vehicles.

Live Journal

2005-08-28T17:16:00.000-07:00

I hate signing up for things I don't really need. But somebody's got to spread the word!

UPDATE: Trying to sign up for MySpace.com, I add myself to the MSN Member directory. Maybe I'm just slow, but I thought this would give me one of those MySpace Places that I hate so much? No??

UPDATE: I've got MySpace.

The Pale Pacific shook me all night long.......lit-ra-ly!

2005-08-28T02:42:00.000-07:00

Here is an extremely longish account of our adventures with the guys from The Pale Pacific, starting from 6pm Friday night going through 12 noon Saturday.

Lindsay, Karin, Kristi, & Aaron went to go see The Pale Pacific at Neckbeard's in Tempe.

Left to Right: Kristi, Lindsay, Karin

Patrick and Lindsay

Aaron and Kristi

Patrick and Aaron

We had no idea when The Pale was going to go on, but we knew the doors opened at 6:30 and music started at 7:30. We pulled up around 7 and the parking lot was dead! (Honestly, I was sort of excited about the small show atmosphere after seeing Coldplay the night before at Cricket Pavillion with 18,000 people.) We were early, the show hadn't started so we picked up five 24oz. Bud Lights, complete with matching "booze bags" and grabbed a quick sandwich at Dilly's Deli.

We got back around 7:40 and Small Towns Burn a Little Slower had just started. They sounded really cool and we were all ready to go in and watch. BUT, then we disappointingly learned that Neckbeard's was a DRY facility (ie. NO BEER!) and The Pale was CLOSING THE SHOW! Talk about your all time dilemmas...

The guys at the door were cool and were going to let us break their re-entry policy. So as we were paying the cover charge, Gabe Archer (The Pale lead singer, Rhodes, Tele) walked out the front door. I was like, "Dude! What up?" and he was like, "Hey, Patrick and Lindsay!" since we hung out with Gabe the last time they were in town.

We invited him to go hang out with us at The Real Bar at the other end of the parking lot. With nothing better to do, and since I offered to buy his drinks, there wasn't much arm twisting involved.

When we got there, it was like 7:50 and it was TOTALLY empty. Turns out they open at 8pm but since we were six of us who were very parched, they opened it up the bar and gave us pink bracelets, sans cover charge.

(Btw, the bar tender at Tempe's The Real Bar was Jason Wehner from reality show Forever Eden. And he was actually a darn good bartender.)

Karin playing pool. Gabe was on her team. Me and Aaron were on the opposing team. I can't remember who won, but I remember not being very good.

Me playing Kristi in air hockey.

(Sorry, no pics of Gabe yet. I think Lindsay might have still been feeling a little shy about hanging out with a rockstar. Not that that would last by any means! ;-)

Gabe went back to Neckbeards around 9:15 to find out when their set was starting. While I was a bit disappointed about not seeing the other bands (Kaddisfly would have been really cool I think), I got over it. Gabe called and told us to be back by 9:45.

We got back and I got to play roadie for a bit.

The Pale Pacific played great! Everything sounded really good, except Gabe's stage right mic wasn't loud enough. Unfortunately, the sound guy left after sound check so they just dealt with it.

Honestly, I think the guys might have been a little upset since the venue was pretty empty. I mean, there were like 15 people there by the time they went on! But they sure played like they didn't give a crap. I think the 5 of us singing along gave them at least some crowd energy to draw from.

From the best of my memory, here's what they played:
1) Gravity Gets Things Done
2) Sucker Punch
3) Tied to a Million Things
4) Identity Theft
5) Fortune Folds
6) Your Parent's House (maybe?)
7) Fall to Place (an epic of a closer, but my favorite closer of there's is Stop/Start)

Greg (drums) and Gabe (Rhodes)

I think this is a really cool pic of Cameron. Sweat rolling off his nose. Btw, Neckbeards had NO AC! You're welcome Cameron. ;-)

Justin playing bass keyboard, can't remember which song.

Watch out for the pirate behind you Gabe!

And of course, for all the geek musicians out there...

Gabe's guitar pedal board.

Cam's pedal board.

Ridiculously, they were the "headliner" / closer of the show and they only got to play 7 songs! I've never heard of such a thing and that's a lot of setup and tear down (not to mention gas money!) to play only 7 songs. But we certainly appreciated them coming to town.

So we took them back to The Real Bar for drinks!

From Left to Right: Greg, Justin, Kristi

Greg and I were talking about their new album, Urgency. (The link to Best Buy is to honor the fact that their record is in all the Best Buys all over the country...which is sweet!)

A little after midnight, we invited the band to come over and spend the night at Casa de Sullivan. Their other option was a moonlight drive to San Diego, but once again I enticed them with free beer and the opportunity to do their laundry. (As Tommy from one of the other bands on the tour reports, it's the small things like this that matter.)

Pete came over and hung out as well. He's at the kitchen table with Cam.

There was a lot of biting between the members of The Pale, especially when they were on stage. (Watch out Sean!)

Gabe and Merchandise Guy. Can't remember his name, sorry Merch guy! Btw, Mecrh guy is an excellent musician in his own right. (UPDATE 8/28 6:09pm: Lindsay informs me that Merch guy's name was Greg, but I like "Merch Guy" better, so I kept it throughout the rest of the post.)

Justin and Karin

Justin, Lindsay, Gabe

Gabe and Lindsay

After downing some Taco Bell and Bud Lights, I "forced" the band to jam with me in Nigel's practice room. It was LOUD and we played from about 1:45 until 3ish. SURPRISINGLY, no cops. I love my neighbors! :)

Our list of "musicians" included
- Me on guitar and vocals
- Pete/Blato on guitar, bass, and vocals
- Justin on bass, guitar, and vocals
- Merch dude on vocals, drums, and guitar
- Gabe on vocals
- Greg on vocals and tambourine
- Cameron on drums
- Karin on vocals

Left to Right: Gabe on vocals, Greg on tambourine, me on guitar, Pete on guitar. (I'm pretty sure this was taken during Weezer's "Say It Ain't So.")

While it looks like I'm yelling into Justin's face, I'm actually singing into a mic that is not pictured. Also taken during SIAS I think.

From what I can remember, our "set" included
- *Opening* with The Pale's "Gravity Gets Things Done"...with both vocals and guitar butchered by me, but Merch guy on drums and Justin on bass carried the day. Pete did his best to follow along as well.

- Weezer's "Say It Ain't So"...sung by everyone really. For me, this was probably the best song of the night.

- Weezer's "Tired of Sex", sung by me, Merch guy, and Justin (who played bass on most songs.)

- AC/DC's "Back in Black"...where Greg did an awesome vocal scream! :)

- Pearl Jam's "Yellow Ledbedder"...sung by I can't remember who? I think Cameron started playing drums on this song and he played for the rest of the night.

- Pearl Jam's "Black"...sung by Karin, me, and Justin.

- Pearl Jam's "Corduroy"...sung me, Justin, and Karin

- Weezer's "My Name is Jonas"...sung by me, of course! ;-)

- Radiohead's "Airbag"...Merch guy took over guitar from Pete and led the Radiohead songs and we pretty much butchered them, but it was fun.

- Radiohead's "Paranoid Android"...This one was freaking fun to play as well. Wish I really knew how to play it though. I mostly just made noise.

- Fred Green's "Slow Man"...I only know the chorus lyrics so I made up rastafari lyrics for the verses while we jammed on the reggae Am - Am - Am - G thing. Pete played bass and Justin soloed with a major scale to minor chord progression. Sounded a lot like Lur from Primus. ;-)

- Hendrix' "All Along the Watchtower"...I don't know how Merch guy got so loud on Sean's amp with my Strat, but my ears want to grow arms and beat the crap out of me by the end of this song! So that was our closer.

After that, we all went on the back porch and Pete broke out the acoustic. It was so fun! We were singing songs until about 5 in the morning. Some of the most notables: Pete playing Coldplay's "Speed of Sound" with like a 4 part harmony on the chorus. Merch guy playing The Shins, and some Dave Matthews. Gabe playing "1." and "Good Enough" from Another Innovative Idea for the People. Me playing Nigel's "And so it goes" and "Oh Is Love" with harmonies by Pete.

As it got later and later...er, earlier and earlier, people started to bail and find beds and couches.

Greg sleeping on the greatest couch ever made.

Cameron and Karin, sleeping on what was previously the best napping couches ever.

Justin, Pete, Lindsay, and I just stayed outside talking, watching it get lighter and lighter. Around 6am, I went back inside and started cleaning up our mess.

By 7am, the three of them came back inside and Lindsay poured Pete his final Capn and Coke. (Pete was cracking me up with "coffee", "henway", "gimme some knuckle", etc.) We were being too loud inside, threatening to wake up the couch sleepers, so I made everyone go back outside. By 8, I could barely keep my eyes open, so I decided to call it a night.

I woke up at 10:30-ish and walked outside. Everyone was still asleep, including Lindsay who was asleep on the living room floor. I guess she finally went to bed around 9ish. She hates to leave a good party. ;-) I kicked her a few times to try and wake her up, but there was no chance. So I went back to bed for about another hour.

At 11:30, I woke up and everyone was packing up, ready to make the drive to San Diego. To mourn their leaving, we went back inside and Lindsay made me, Aaron, Kristi, and Karin some grilled cheese sandwiches and we watched Napolean Dynamite. There was talk of flying out to San Diego to see the band play Saturday night, but I think that was the shampoo effect taking over.

Instead, Aaron, Kristi, and Karin took off and Lindsay and I slept most of the afternoon.

So how to close this brutally long post? Well, here's what Greg texted me this afternoon while I was sleeping:

For the first time ever we can't wait to come back to Phoenix! See you soon!

You're welcome back any time!!!

Coldplay - Fix You video

2005-08-26T01:51:00.000-07:00

Go watch the Fix You video at Yahoo!

PS - Lindsay thinks the black top and black jeans with WHITE shoes is cute. You're in Ross! ;-)

Coldplay in Phoenix

2005-08-26T00:45:00.000-07:00

Just got back from the show. Quite frankly, I'm a bit ticked off because they were so good that I'm jealous now! If I had a Brittish accent, I think Nigel might just take off! ;-)

Here is the set list they played, along with my notes/thoughts throughout the show.

1) Square One - I knew they'd open with this. It was tight.

2) Politik - This surprised me a bit. Didn't think they go to this one that early, but it was really good!

3) Yellow - Again, another surprise that they went to this one on song 3. Honestly, it was a bit boring. My guess is that they don't really actually like playing this song very much but they know they have to. (I'm guessing that b/c Nigel has covered it a few times and honestly, it's not that fun of a song to play.) So Erik and I ran and got a free refill on our beers because we paid $8 for the first one. When we got back to our seats, the stench reminded me of the smell that eminates from a 2 hour Nigel band practice. Not pleasant, but you get used to it.

There was a funny moment at the end of the song. They dropped about 15 big yellow balloons that the crowd was hitting around. Well, Chris tried to hold the last not of the song until the balloons were popped. It was futile and he was like, "And everything that youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.....Come on, 3 left...youuuuuuuuuuu.......Oh F*** it." ;-)

4) God Put A Smile Upon Your Face - They rocked out this end of this one. Chris Martin pretty much dances the entire set, but all 4 members really got into the finale of this song.

5) Speed of Sound - The live version sort of looked like the video. At this point, I realized that the bass player, Guy Berryman, sings a lot more than I ever realized.

6) Low - This song has an awesome "half speed" ending! Chris Martin plays his electric like a geek with a really tight strap. That doesn't matter though since 96.2% of the women there would have still made out with him in a heart beat. (And probably 42.3% of the guys...)

7) Rush of Blood to the Head - On this song, I swear I heard a shaker, but I didn't see anyone actually shaking a shaker. It half bothers and half doesn't bother me that they have someone playing background keyboards and percussion behind the amps. It mostly doesn't bother me because they just sound that good!

(At this point, Lindsay ran to the bathroom and came back talking about a T-Shirt she like that was $45. Make trade fair my arse... She didn't buy it.)

8) Everything's Not Lost - Nicely done. Chris also came up with a story for the people on the lawn about how Women's Monthly did a poll and Coldplay ("...or was it Aerosmith?...") was the best band to see from far away. So 300 meters is the optimal viewing distance.

9) Talk - "When I was a young boy..." It was good.

10) The Scientist - Very well done! "Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry, you don't know how lovely, you are..." (Btw, if you've never seen the video for this song, go watch it at sill motion. It's filmed backwards.)

After The Scientist, they crowded around the front of the stage with Will Champion on the keyboard and Guy Berryman on the harmonica. Chris Martin said something like, "A lot of band introduce the members of the band but it always seems a little arrogant to me. We're just 4 guys that met and became a soft rock phenomenon. I don't know, the new Extreme maybe. Anyways, it occured to me that Will Champion, who's going to play some piano right now, has written some of the best drum beats and is I think the best drummer in the world. So I won't tell you about the lady killer Johnny Buckland or the sex machine Guy Berryman." It was pretty darn funny actually.

11) Till Kingdom come - Sounded great, but what was cool is that they went straight into........................

............12) Ring of Fire - Covering Johnny Cash. Unexpected but came off really well.

13) Don't Panic - Then Chris gave his acoustic to Guy and they played a stripped down version of Don't Panic. ("We live in beautiful world. Yeah we do, yeah we do...") Maybe the best part of the show was when we switched the last line of the song from "Cause Yeah, everybody here's, got somebody to lean on" to "Cause Yeah, everybody here has a good friend that lives in Tucson." LOL!

14) Clocks - You just can't beat this one.

15) Talk - "Oh brother I can't, I can't get through...Let's talk"

They walked off stage...fans were bangin on chairs for an encore.

16) Swallowed in the Sea - Chris came out and started this excellent track. "I could write a song, a hundred miles long, well that's where I belong, and you belong to me, not swallowed in the sea..."

17) In my place - You think when they wrote this song they just *KNEW* it was going to be a massive hit? I do. Anyways, the last part of the song, Chris ran off the front side of the stage, up the aisle, then cut across into the middle. (Don't worry Gweneth, there were two huge body guards chasing behind him and about 12 "regular" security guys.) He stood up I think right where the sound board was for the last part of this song. It was unlike anything I had ever seen!

18) Fix You - Is there a better closer than this? What a powerful song!!

All in all, a really fantastic show. The Pale Pacific is going to have to really step up on Friday night! ;-)

PS - The surprise of the night was running into Mr. Timothy P. O'Shea (and his wife Leslie) as we were leaving the show. Apparently, he's a big fan of NONE MORE BLACK, lasully22, and Pat Sullivan Blog. Great to see you Tim! Let's do lunch. ;-)

Coldplay Live

2005-08-25T21:02:00.000-07:00

We are at the show. Black Mountain finished a really cool set. (But the 70s called and they want their jam band back. Actually, they were really pretty cool... I'll have to blog more about them in the future.)

The highlight of the evening though has been watching the video by OK GO, "1 million ways." 4 guys with hilarious choreography in 1 cut. Impressive and very funny. You owe it to yourself to go watch this!

Coldplay should be going on in the next few minutes.

The Pale Pacific in Tempe on Friday

2005-08-25T15:42:00.000-07:00

As Lindsay points out, the BIG show of the week -- yes, bigger than Coldplay -- will be going to see The Pale Pacific in Tempe. We are both very excited about this show.

Their new album "Urgency" just came out this week. Here's what Matthew Cooke of Amazon.com's editorial staff had to say...

Aging has a way of focusing the mind, especially when long-held expectations go unmet. After 10+ years of laboring in the Seattle music scene and producing a few small-scale releases (2003's Gravity Gets Things Done the best among them), cousins Gabe Archer and Cameron Nicklaus went simple. They underwent a legally-enforced name change (previously, they were just "The Pale"), took their rhythm section and holed up in an island-bound cabin with an eight-track, hoping the physical and technological isolation would result in an epiphany. Despite its lo-fi origins, Urgency is certainly the best they've ever sounded on record, no doubt in part to the mixing talents of Death Cab For Cutie's Chris Walla. That Pale Pacific sound more than a little like Walla's band is thus perhaps not surprising, but that's too easy a comparison. The record is haunted by a similar intuition, a familiar, bitter sweetness, but it's also guided by larger-than-life melodies (see "If Only She'd Leave Town") that spring more readily, like Matthew Sweet or even Big Star. Archer and Nicklaus linger long in those melodies, whether drowning in reverb (on "The Strangest Second Chance") or melancholy (on the Damien Rice-like closer "Fall To Place"). It's not quite an epiphany, but Urgency is at least hard-won progress. Often that's the best one can hope for. –Matthew Cooke

I'll write my own review soon after a few more listen-throughs, but I highly recommended it.

Coldplay tonight

2005-08-25T15:39:00.000-07:00

Going to see Coldplay tonight...pretty excited!

Sun Devil Fans: Get ready to TXT

2005-08-24T18:13:00.000-07:00

This is a really cool story about new TXT-2-Screen technology coming to Sun Devil Stadium this fall.

My prediction for the most common post: "U of A Sucks!"

My own first post would be: "Bring back Jake! #16 foreva"

America West (US Airways) planes with new paint jobs

2005-08-23T15:21:00.000-07:00

I must be really special, because America West wrote me a personalized email to talk about their new planes. Personally, I'm not a fan of the name change to US Airways -- and acquisitions are REALLY tough things to pull off in general -- but I'm sure the new name and paint jobs made a whole lot of sense to someone.

I'm sure you are wondering, how much does it cost to paint a plane?

The After Midnight Project

2005-08-23T08:28:00.000-07:00

The After Midnight Project sounds pretty decent. Give a listen to "Take Me Home DeMo".

Foo Fighters and Weezer come to AWA

2005-08-22T07:38:00.000-07:00

Imagine this concert with Foo Fighters and Weezer circa 2001. That would be an incredible show sans every album these two bands have done since then. Now, however, I don't think I could stand to hear three hours of these bands. And I used to be a HUGE fan!

How fickle we are, myself included...

LOL

2005-08-18T17:45:00.000-07:00

10mph Trailer

2005-08-18T17:29:00.000-07:00

Oh man, this movie is going to rock! I'm so physced for Josh and Hunter!! Go watch the 2 minute trailer for 10mph. Go to their blog and tell 'em hi.

Radiohead cover artist Stanely Donwood

2005-08-17T00:59:00.000-07:00

Interesting read about Stanely Donwood, artist for most of the Radiohead album covers over at BoingBoing.net.

"Bassist turned comic mocks the stars he backed"

2005-08-15T00:34:00.000-07:00

This is a sort of funny article.

"Bono's words of advice to the Stereophonics when they were starting out are a classic. He told them 'Next time you go out for dinner, have a look around the table and if everyone is on your payroll, the chances are you have become a pr**k."

The members of Nigel are still lugging our own equipment to gigs, so pretty sure we're all safe. (Btw, when is our next gig? Wish I could tell ya, but it's been a lazy summer for us.)

Rebecca's Thumb

2005-08-14T14:31:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of this post, take a look at Rebecca's (Rbtheo) thumb action...OUCH!

Nigel, where art tho?

2005-08-12T00:43:00.000-07:00

Hey Nigel, thanks for stealing the domain name and posting absolutely nothing for the past three years!

Search Engine Strategies 2005 (mini-review)

2005-08-11T23:37:00.000-07:00

Even though I have a crackberry and I read my email throughout the 4 day conference, I still have 113 unread messages in my inbox from the last day and a half. That said, I'm wearing my "Procrastinate Now!" T-shirt and blogging seemed logical.

Seriously though, the Search Engine Strategies 2005 was a big time eye-opener for me. I took LOTS of notes. But without peeking at them, here are a few random thoughts (and the many things we have to do with the site.)

The name of the conference is somewhat misleading IMO. It's much more about your site than the search engine -- which makes perfect sense!!
"Add to Cart"...just don't mess with that language.
SSL certificate is very important.
Measure, measure, measure. (This wasn't new, but Greg picked up a few new tricks.)
We talked to a cool guy from PriceGrabber.com that was dressed in near hobo clothes. But that means you knew he knew what he was talking about. (Time to get JigsawHealth.com up on some shopping sites...)
We are a retailer. The holiday season is important for retailers. Start planning now. (The stats surrounding shopping on the web during this season are massive!)
PRweb.com and Seo-PR.com contain untapped potential for Jigsaw.

If I think of more that is relevant to the band, then I'll....wait as sec, none of this is relevant to Nigel. Ok sorry. Here, go watch this instead.

Blogtelevision.net

2005-08-11T22:55:00.000-07:00

I noticed an inbound link from this page on BlogTelevision.net. Now, I certainly don't mind the inbound links to NONE MORE BLACK, but how weird is that? Can they just take my content verbatim?

Weird, but cool.

(And good thing I gave such an excellent review about Muse's video. Geez... Why couldn't they have ripped off my awesome Billy Corgan review. I put WAY more time into that. ;-)

In the Googleplex

2005-08-10T00:13:00.000-07:00

"Is this heaven?"

"No it's Iowa...er, Google."

Google hosted what they call the "Google Dance 2005" at it's world headquarters -- the Googleplex -- tonight. My radom thoughts:

This is the company all entrepreneurs would love to build. They sell words. Billions of them. And people try to outbid eachother to get more of these words. It is an ABSOLUTELY amazing business model that has obviously been unbelievably successful! And the proof is in the campus.
Their facility/campus/compound is just amazing. All windows, lots of open space. Awesome commons/quad area. Words can't do it justice. Pics here (courtesy of Google Images...of course!)
Every desktop has dual-monitors. "You're welcome Google."
Every employee at Google seems to be younger than 23 years old, but they all probably graduated high school at age 12. I seriously felt "not geek enough" to be in the presence of anyone wearing a Google employee t-shirt. (More on Google's corporate culture.)
The band they hired was freaking awesome. It was a marching band on steriods. I can't remember the name, but it was 7 brass horns and two drummers from Narlins (New Orleans). Amazing sound! My Dad would have loved them!

More photo's are likely to appear at Bdub's blog, so keep checking in. (Imagine the bandwidth I could consume if me trusty 7100t crackberry had a camera...)

Trish, you might like this version. ;-)

Time for bed. Nighty-night friends.

Biz from Blogger

2005-08-09T23:45:00.000-07:00

At Google's big thing tonight, I met Biz from Blogger's Blog tonight. (Is that redundant?) I tried to pry information out of him ("when will blogger have trackbacks?") but he kept everything close to the vest. Basically, he said, "We know what everyone wants and we're going a thousand miles per hour to try and get it done...and we're going to make it better than what anyone else has."

Having been a software product manager for this product, I know that feeling very well. You can't win because at all times, your users hate you for not getting features done quickly enough and your developers hate you for you stuffing so many features in one release. No thanks!

Nice to meet you Biz! You're not talking about me here, are you?

David Sifry of Technorati

2005-08-09T23:29:00.000-07:00

I ate lunch at a table with David Sifry today. David is the founder and CEO of Technorati which is basically THE blog search engine.

He is a pretty interesting guy. "Narcisism" was actually his reason for starting Technorati in 2003 -- he wanted to see what others are saying about him. David's blog is here.

Now, the interesting thing that he claims is that on average, Technorati indexes a new blog post (from places like blogger/blogspot, typepad, etc.) within about 5 minutes of it being posted. They are rebuilding thousands of indexes thousands of times per minutes. It's mad scalable.

San Jose

2005-08-08T15:03:00.000-07:00

I'm in San Jose this week at the Search Engine Strategies conference for work. It's pretty interesting so far. Search engine optimization / internet marketing is a strong mix of art and science. There's a lot of "make sure you do this" and "definitely don't do that", but it's all relatively vague advice...b/c it pretty much has to be! That said, if you can get good at it, you really can excel with a web-based store.

I hear it's raining in Scottsdale. It is typical, wonderful NorCal weather in San Jose today.

PS - Yahoo! is hosting an event tonight at Great America. Roller coasters rule! (But don't tell Lindsay that I'm going. She'll be mad that she's missing out!)

Dear Ross...

2005-08-05T09:30:00.000-07:00

Per our previous agreement, made herein on June 24, 2005, this letter is to inform you that I am wearing the striped shirt today. Please refrain from wearing it as well since I have given you written notice before 10am, per our agreement.

It's 3:33 am...

2005-08-05T03:33:00.000-07:00

...why am I awake? Well, I just finished up my round of edits for the next printing of this monster.

And then I "had" to reply to someone who replied to my comments about the autism-mercury/thimerosal debate over at Craig Westover's Blog.

I'm going to see Jack Johnson tomorrow...err, tonight. Should be fun as long as I stay awake!! I'll just listen, in between dreams. ;-)

Sorry, that's the kind of stuff I dish out at 3:33 in the morning. Don't expect me in the office before 9:30!

Don and Jess in Italy & Greece

2005-08-04T09:53:00.000-07:00

Wow!! These pictures of Don and Jess in Italy and Greece make you want to move there. Lindsay and I are going to a lot of these places for 10 days at the end of October. Colleen and Erik live in Naples. Jerks!

Sam Prekop on SomaFM

2005-08-03T23:54:00.000-07:00

As I work to edit the never-ending story (don't ever write, or work, on a book!) www.SomaFM.com is streaming my favorite part of Sam Prekop's "Dot Eye" -- that groovy bass line with the sweet guitar solo. DANG! I love that section of the song.

Prison Wine

2005-08-03T20:30:00.000-07:00

Lindsay's blog alerted me to one of the funniest things I have ever read. Go read "Prison Wine" at The Sneeze. LMAO!!

You can read all "Steve, Don't Eat It"'s here.

Ninjas Killed My Family...

2005-08-03T12:58:00.000-07:00

Saw this on Seth's Blog...too funny not to steal and post here. More about these Ninjas here.

Google Moon

2005-08-03T11:34:00.000-07:00

I wonder if there is a Wal-Mart going in here?