transistor blast

not that I write enough here for anyone to care, but I'm switching back to blogger.

http://radiohidebound.blogspot.com/

got some new discs in the mail yesterday.  I know I'll officially be old when I don't jump up and down and giggle when I see a box of CDs waiting for me when I get home (they jump up and down too and lick my face silly . . . good boy).

Alex Chilton / Top 30
Bodeans / Black And White
Boomtown Rats / In The Long Grass
Boomtown Rats / Mondo Bongo
Boomtown Rats / V Deep
Flamin' Groovies / Shake Some Action
Jacobites / Jacobites
Jacobites / Robespierre's Velvet Basement
Jill Sobule / Jill Sobule
Jill Sobule / Pink Pearl
John Foxx / Golden Section...Plus
New Model Army / Carnival
New Model Army / Eight
Plimsouls / One Night In America (Rmst)
Robyn Hitchcock / Ole! Tarantula
Robyn Hitchcock / This Is The BBC
Sparks / Whomp That Sucker (Reis)
Stan Ridgway / Black Diamond
Stan Ridgway / Holiday In Dirt
Tommy Keene / Merry-Go-Round Broke Down
UB40 / Labour of Love
Various Artists / Untamed: Next Generation Celtic

Someone chided me a long time ago about not having any Big Star and/or Alex Chilton.  The Big Star additions to radio hidebound are happening bit by bit, and now I'll be able to add some Chilton as well.

More BoDeans.  My ex G turned me on to the BoDeans. Still love both.

Not sure about these Boomtown Rats discs.  They are remastered with bonus tracks, but the reviews I've read are less than inspiring. Doubt I'll replace the other Rats discs I have with remasters.

The Flamin' Groovies - Shake Some Action is what we all need.  I'm so happy to have finally found this disc.  Woo-Hoo!!

Jacobites - I vaguely remember these guys from the college radio days. Glad to see their stuff made available. Should be a fine addition to the mess of radio hidebound.

Jill Sobule - I first heard Ms. Sobule on the Warren Zevon tribute CD and have liked the one disc of hers I have.  Hopefully these are as good.

John Foxx - It's probably heresy or something, but I actually prefer the post-Foxx Ultravox a little bit better . . . at least I did up until "Lament", but Foxx was an important staple from the college radio scene of the 1980's.

New Model Army - I love these guys.  Was shocked, shocked and stunned to see them on the schedule of a D.C. venue a few years ago.  So glad I went to their show, these guys rock!

Plimsouls - a live recording, that's about all that left of the legacy of the Plimsouls. There's suppose to be another live recording released sometime next year.

Robyn Hitchcock - I saw this really nice documentary on Hitchcock touring with the musicians on Ole Tarantula, one of whom is Peter Buck, some guitarist from Athens, GA.

Sparks - radio hidebound listener Deathlok asked me to add a song from this disc to the station's playlist. Always like to please "the fans".

Stan Ridgway - last week I realized I had not added Ridgway's contribution to the Kurt Weill "Lost in the Stars" record.  Chagrined I ordered a couple of his discs I didn't have.

Tommy Keene - Keene, from Bethesda, MD, was associated with the Piedmont NC crowd in the early 80's.  Not much of his stuff is available these days, but I'm very happy to have found this one.

UB40 - don't know why it's taken me this long to get some UB40 for the radio station.

Next Generation Celtic - hey, it's got a song from Peatbog Faeries on it.  That's enough for me!

okay, not the real name of the film.  And it wasn't really a Netflix Find, I stumbled upon it on HBO or Showtime or something.  I also stumbled upon it about five minutes into the film, which turns out is a neat way to watch it for the first time.

The film is called Stay. Ewen McGregor (who is always delicious), Naomi Watts (who is always far more than merely delicious), Ryan Gosling (also delicious), Bob Hoskins, B.D. Wong and several other fine actors.

Stay has a topic I'm particulary drawn to, and reminds me so much of . . . . no, no, I won't spoil it for you.  Let's just say it reminds me of a film in my top five. Now, I'm not the brightest bulb in the box so sometimes I mistake pretentiousness for genius, but Stay could be a great film.  Citizen Kane ground breaking great. There are some transitions, lighting and camera angles in this thing that blow me away. Particularly some of the transitions. Some actually give me brief bouts of vertigo (which is in keeping with the story of the film, so they don't seem quite so affected as if they were to show up in a Kevin Smith . . . um . . . film).

btw, I did get An Evening with Kevin Smith from Netflix a couple of days ago.  Amazing.  Totally amazing. Loved that shit.

There are also some "telling the story backwards" bits that are quite intriguing in Stay. It's fairly usual for films that deal with the topic Stay does to get poo-poo'd.  While I don't necessarily agree with the idea of Stay, I do find it fascinating, and who knows, maybe they got it right. It's at least a satisfying film.

Here's a cute meme I found last night, a series of questions to be answered by putting one's iPod (or whatever) on shuffle.  Naturally, my shuffle of choice is radio hidebound, so here we go.

How does the world see me?
Song: Femme Fatale
Artist: The Velvet Underground & Nico
Comment: I knew I was a lesbian trapped in a man's body

Will I have a happy life?
Song: Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part Two
Artist: King Crimson
Comment: I'm the king of the world!

What do my friends really think of me?
Song: Count to Ten and Run for Cover
Artist: The Teardrop Explodes
Comment: That's just cruel

Do people secretly lust after me?
Song: The Charlatan's Lament
Artist: The Waterboys
Comment: Dang, I don't even lust after me

How can I make myself happy?
Song: The Ballad of Lucy Jordan
Artist: Marianne Faithfull
Comment: I must ride through Paris in a sports car with the warm wind in my hair

What should I do with my life?
Song: Four Flights Up
Artist: Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
Comment: I should move and have Grace Kelly in that car in Paris

Why must life be so full of pain?
Song: Sweet Virginia
Artist: The Rembrandts
Comment: There's a joke in here about Catholic priests, I just know it

Will I ever have children?
Song: 10,000 Angels
Artist: Godley and Creme
Comment: No, but I will father a religion and have people make jokes about my priests

Will I die happy?
Song: Girl in the Moon
Artist: Icehouse
Comment: So that's what heaven is, and where the angels will come from

What is some good advice for me?
Song: Nausea
Artist: X
Comment: Y'all know "sick" is the new "cool", right?

What is happiness?
Song: Is That You Mo-Dean?
Artist: The B-52's
Comment: Becoming an interdimensional, extraterrestial Jonah.  That figures.

What is my favourite fetish?
Song: The Card Cheat
Artist: The Clash
Comment: Just win baby!

How will I be remembered?
Song: Welcome to the spot on your dial for the relentless and impenetrable sound of . . .
Artist: me
Comment: no joke, my "homage to Laurie Anderson" station ID came up at this point.

Well, that was fun.  Hope you enjoyed it half as much as I did.

One of my recent orders of CDs came in today.  It's been awhile since I've ordered anything, so it was particularly fun to get this shipment.  It would have been even better if  both orders came today (they were ordered on the same day), but then again that means there is something still to look forward to (and something to blog about next week).

Today's mail brought:

The The - 45 RPM (The Singles)
The Undertones - The Undertones
The Undertones - Positive Touch
The Slickee Boys - Fashionably Late & Live at Last
Red Rockers - Good As Gold

While I tend not to buy singles collection, although I've softened my stand on that since there are really quite a few good multiple disc compilations out there, a new radio hidebound listener specifically asked for the 12" remix of "Uncertain Smile", and how could I not go this extra difference for someone who went to the trouble to ask for something that fits in with the idea of what radio hidebound is about.

The Undertones I don't really remember from the spinning days in college at WXYC.  The dates of their records make me think I should remember them, so I'm hoping this isn't a bad sign.

The "Uncertain Smile" request was one of two from this new listener, the other was a DC band I had never heard of, but this did get me thinking about DC bands I did play in college and I could remember two of them, 4 out of 5 Doctors and The Slickee Boys.  Couldn't find any 4 out of 5 Doctors, but I was able to find a double Slickee Boys CD with one live recording disc and a re-issue of their third record.

Finally in this set of discs is one more of the vaunted 1983 discs I had yet to find.  Pretty sure I played at least one tune from the Red Rockers "Good As Gold" on my marathon six hour best of 1983 Featured Artsit Program oh these many years ago.

Look for some tunes from these records being added to radio hidebound, possibly as early as tonight.

Also saw the good news today that all four Translator records are going to be released on shiny plastic in February.  Looking forward to that.

Next week:  The new record from The Shins.  Hoo-boy

Not the horrible, horrible, horrible version with Christopher Lambert called simply Beowulf - my goodness, what an awful pile of poopy that thing is.

No, the Sturla Gunnarsson directed film with a lovely performance from Gerard Butler as Beowulf and pretty Sarah Polley somewhat miscast, but still enjoyable.  Also features Stellan Skarsgaard.

The film was shot entirely on location in Iceland and it's an impressive, sometimes breathtaking, series of landscapes including shots of glaciers.  While the setting of the poem is in Denmark, shooting in Iceland gives the film a sense of history, as if this might have been what Denmark looked like in 500 AD.

There is ABSOLUTELY NO CG work in this film, which is both refreshing and also adds to the feeling of oldness.

But the kicker is that this film doesn't try to be a retelling of the poem, but tries to show what might have been the reality (mostly) which the poem hyperbolized.  Grendel is not really a monster, but, with reason, performs a few monstrous acts,  is doomed for it and ends up being a most sympathetic character. On one level, this could be the telling of the ethnic cleansing of homo neanderthalensis by homo sapiens (not that that actually happened, or did it . . . ?)

There are a few radical liberties taken with the story, but they are consistent within the film as a whole.  I really enjoyed this version of the epic Anglo-Saxon poem.  I wouldn't think knowing the poem is required to enjoy the film, but it does allow watching it in a most interesting way.

Thoroughly enjoyable.

deathlok posted his top five concerts (plus honorable mentions) a couple of days ago.  My expanded retort:

First off, I can't do five.  Maybe because I'm just not good at picking these kinds of things, but there is relatively small handful of shows that I think of as the best I've been too.

11.  Adrian Belew with the Bears as his "backing band", probably around 1990.  While it was an Adrian show, there were several Bears songs played including "Superboy" and "Honey Bee".  While I marvel at Adrian's ability to get unbelievable sounds out of his stratocaster (those days) or his parker (these days), it's always been his mayhem within the structure of Pop that gets me wet.

10. Pat DiNizio solo at this little itty bitty club in Arlington called Iota.  For a more detailed account of this show, hit the Starbelly "press page" and scroll down to the radio hidebound bit.

9. Marty Willson-Piper solo at this itty bitty pub just outside of Sydney.  Okay, if this show hadn't been in Sydney, it wouldn't make the list, but it was so it does.

8. X-Static, a really, really good XTC cover band playing at a cool club in Swindon, England.  Even had this show been in another place it would still make the list. These guys were great and two hours of live XTC songs was incredible.  Did I mention the show was in their hometown?

7. Jorma Kaukonen at the Birchmere in Alexandria in 2003.  Jorma played with Barry Mitterhoff on mandolin and those two played so well with each other and were so obviously enjoying themselves it was a great, great show.  I saw them a week later in Asheville, NC, but Jorma had caught a cold or something and it just wasn't the same kind of show.  Poor things.

6. T-Bone Burnett last year at the 9:30 club.  How long had it been since I'd seen T-Bone?  22 years ago or something in Chapel Hill?  I don't know who was happier he was on stage, him or me.

5. Warren Zevon's final DC appearance at the State Theatre.  At least I got to see Warren perform live once.  An overlooked aspect of Zevon is his history as a child prodigy on piano.  It showed this night, even if was an electric piano.  I can only imagine what a grand piano forte would have sounded like.  And, oh yeah, George and I laughing the beer right out of our nose during "My Shit's Fucked Up".

4. Midnight Oil at the 9:30 club, 2001 maybe?  Third time I had seen the Oils and about year before the band called it quits.  They were so ON this night.

3. any one of multiple Don Dixon/Marti Jones, featuring Jamie Hoover on guitar, shows.  There have been so many . . .  I love Dixon and I adore watching him adore watching Marti play.  It's so damn cute

2. WOMAD - World of Music and Dance 1993 or so. Among the many acts that day: the Levellers, Geoffrey Oryema, Arrested Development, Midnight Oil, Live, and, of course, Peter Gabriel.  A day-long festival at Merriweather Post.  A couple of stages, some great food, I was in love and the music was non-stop.  The Live-Midnight Oil-Peter Gabriel trifecta was . . . well, words fall short and all that.

1. Julian Cope, also sometime around 1990 I think, a couple of weeks before or after the Belew/Bears show at the old 9:30 club. Boy, that was a good month.  With all of Julian's hysterics I still can't believe I caught one his shows.  While it's common to hear the Jim Morrison comparison made to former bandmate Ian McCulloch, Julian seemed to somehow unconciously channel Morrison this night.  nothing obvious, no Doors covers, just an electricity that told one this dude ain't quite roight, and I absolutely loved it.

Starry starry night
Paint your palette blue and grey
Look out on a summer's day
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul

Relatively new blogosphere mate General Catz writes today about Don McLean's American Pie.  The song for me from this record is Starry Starry Night.  Even without knowing anything about what this song is about I fell in love with it.  A few years later I had to read Lust For Life the summer before my junior year in high school.  Of course I had known of Van Gogh before I read the book, but probably nothing more than that he was a painter and the ear thing.  At some point while reading the book I connected the dots and realized who McLean's song was about.

I'm not a huge fan of paintings.  I just don't really get them, but how could one not identify with the life of Van Gogh?

If only everything I had to study in school had a great song to serve as an introduction.

Now I think I know what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity,
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they're not listening still.
Perhaps they never will...

radio hidebound listener and blogosphere compatriot deathlok tagged me, and some others, a few days ago with this Six Weird Things About Me meme.  So here goes (with a little help from my friends)

1. It's gotta be the socks! 

My feet are claustrophobic.  Well, the rest of me is too, but my feet are REALLY claustrophobic.  I hardly ever (pretty much never) wear socks and almost always wear either sandals or clogs.  The only times I wear socks are a) when there are several inches of snow on the ground and I'm wearing my snow shoes or I'm playing volleyball in a gym, and even then I wear those little girlie socks that are barely higher than my kicks are. Unless I don't wear socks playing volleyball . . . it's been awhile.

Now, I wasn't always claustrophobic.  When I was a kid growing up on the banks of the Tennessee River, I was quite the amateur spelunker.  And when I was 19, while rafting the Chattooga River, I swam through an underwater tunnel.  Granted it was only about 20 meters long, but it was also only about a meter wide and had a 90 degree turn in it so that as one entered, light from the sun was cut off and one was in total darkness, while still feeling the rock on all sides, until one made the turn, which was cut in the rock so that one had to turn on one's side in order to make the turn.  Freaky man.  OTOH, if I wasn't at least a bit claustrophobic back then I guess this memory wouldn't have stayed with me the way it has.

2. I spent several years as a non-animal flesh vegetarian.  I ate eggs and cheese, but no animal flesh - including fish and poultry.  Now I consume vast quantities of highly undercooked animal flesh, including obscenely undercooked poached eggs, center cut filets which are disgustingly bloody (actually, they are cold in the center) and of course shashimi.  Not too crazy about sushi though, not a big fan of white rice. The more exotic the meat the better.  I love venison, buffalo, rattlesnake and kangaroo.  Not too crazy about tripe.

3. I live with a feral cat.  She was a rescue as a kitten and is the strangest little cat I've ever been around.  She's not quite as feral as she once was, but she'll still only let me touch her in the bathroom, and only while she is on the bathmat, or on the rare occasion she decides to perch next to my face when I'm in bed.

4. I'm an incredible beer snob.  I'm a snob in general, but an incredible beer snob, so much so that I'm actually an ale snob.  A few years ago I found my "holy grail" of ales.  Two of them actually, both from the brewery of Anderson Valley, their IPA (for the morning) and their ESB (for the afternoon and evening).  Since my great AVBC finds, my palette has shifted and what once were perfectly acceptable ales (such as a Sierra Nevada Pale) are now quite disappointing.

5. I'm a capitalistic counter-culture refugee, as one friend says, "indie band counter culture anti-establishment dude . . . owns 2 cars and his own house?????!(how did THAT happen?)"

6. I hear things "too well".  Not unlike an untrained telepath who can't keep all the thoughts from invading his personal space, when there is a lot of background noise I find it difficult to focus on any one sound. At parties I hear every single conversation going on, and of course I actually hear none of them, even the one six inches away from my face.  Especially if there is a strong accent, like someone from Minnesota, involved . . . fuggedaboudit!!  As a result, I can rarely look at someone in the eyes when they are talking as I have to carefully watch their lips to make out what they are saying.  The better I know someone the easier it is for me to hear what they are saying as I can usually anticipate what they are going to say, or at least I'm familiar with their particular rhythm of speech.

I've been thinking about blogging from time to time about noteworthy films/movies I get from NetFlix. These are likely to be a bit off the beaten track, as why would I need to say anything about something you've already likely seen, although it's likely you might have seen this one, La Belle et La Bête.

I've long loved the myth of The Beauty and the Beast.  I suppose every insecure, romantic teenager-type feels drawn to this tale.  But I had never seen Jean Cocteau's film before this weekend past.  Goodness, what a lovely, lovely film.

Yes, yes, it's in French so one will likely need the subtitles, but it's all worthwhile.  I'm guessing knowledge and appreciation of Vermeer and Gustave Dore will add to the experience, but if one is, like me, mostly (Vermeer) or entirely (Dore) ignorant of these men, it is still a beautiful flim.  And, in my case, I have been introduced to the work of Dore, so that's rather a bonus.

Yes, yes, it's a black and white film, but there is, IMO, something truly beautiful about a beautifully filmed black and white film.  This one is definitely a beautiful work of art and I cannot imagine it cluttered by colour.  There are plenty of scenes which one will be immediately familiar with, as one will likely have seen copycat versions of them in later films. Several times I found myself thinking, "Ah, so THAT'S where that idea came from." 

If you haven't seen La Belle et La Bête, I highly recommend it, and if you have seen it, I'm guessing this little reminder just might make you want to see it again.

Sitting here watching, um . . . what is this thing called . . . Studio 60 On Sunset something or other. Not as good as Aaron Sorkin's other work, IMO, but compared to most of network television . . .

During the show, there was a trailer for some movie with Will Smith rated something but I noticed that in the little box where there are descriptions of what parents (I guess) should know about a movie, you know, usually something like "violence" or "brief nudity" were the words "some language". At first I just chuckled. Go figure, a movie with "some language", but then I thought about the truncation of the English language. I hate that this not so very beautiful language seems to becoming more and more . . . um, optional, as in people just use words without much thought of how those words might be construed by listeners and then just say something like, "well, that's what the word means to me." Like it's okay for everyone to write their own damn dictionary, screw the "generally accepted definitions" that lead to true, or at least the most one can hope for, understanding between people.

Then I thought about how football, and other sports, announcers now truncate injuries, "he's got a knee" or "he's got an ankle" or "he's got a hamstring" and how I don't think I've ever heard any announcer say, "he's got a groin". Heh heh heh.

Back to Sorkin's new show, another lovely Christmas show from Sorkin. Some musicians from N'awlins playing "Oh Holy Night" (my favourite christmas piece) and a few others and then back into Holy Night. The only problem for me was seeing two trumpets, a 'bone, a sousaphone, a sax and either a clarinet or a soprano sax on the stage and hearing a lovely French Horn counter melody in the mix. It sounded great, but felt really wrong.

Can be forgiven I guess.

Okay, okay . . . two trumpet players, a trombone player, a . . .

And why was Monday Night Football playing the Violent Femmes "Gone Daddy Gone" for a game in Philadelphia against the Carolina Panthers?

Lastly, some nice Serendipity as I finish writing this. Radio hidebound is playing Bruce Cockburn's "Cry Of A Tiny Babe". For those who don't know this song, the Tiny Babe in this song is the Christ child.

So what's next with the music? I took a few days off from playing anything, and when I picked up the strat today it was fun. Nothing serious today, just some fun experimentation with an instrumental I started a few months ago. I have a very bad habit of spending a couple of hours playing around with new stuff and never writing anything down about what I was playing. Fortunately, I know so little it's not too difficult to figure out what I was doing while listening to the recording and playing around with stuff. Recently I've found it's been useful to add keyboard parts since I have to write keyboard parts out and this can serve as a good reminder of what I was doing.

Didn't really come up with any serious plans for the future today. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to look for other people to play with for awhile. It's fun (and educational) to play with other people, but there is something very liberating about recording a little rhythm pattern and then adding some keyboards and then adding a little lead guitar thingie, and so on, and so on.

A few things I've learned about my musical tendencies after a few years of playing. I love layering sounds on top of each other. I still need to learn how to record them so I don't create a cacophonous mess, so I suppose that's one thing on the list of goals. While I'm pretty damn ignorant about classical music, there are a lot of things I love about classical music. I love how a pattern establishes itself, then morphs into a different pattern, morphs a little more, comes back to a somewhat altered version of the original pattern, and so on, and so on. I love how things sound with one bit of music staying the same and another pattern shifting a little bit allowing the harmonies to make things seem like they are changing more than they are.

I know, it's sound a bit like 70's Prog Rock stuff. There is some truth in that, I suppose. I grew up with Prog Rock and I quite liked it. The good news is that I'm not very accomplished on any one instrument, so for a few years at least it'll be a little more like punk prog.

Of course, tomorrow I'll decide that I really want to create a series of three and a half minute pop songs. So it goes . . .

A little bit on the historical life cycle of what became called Blue Gene Therapy.

June 2004 - I started playing with another guitarist for the very first time.

Aug 2004 - Aissa, the other guitarist, worked with a guy who played drums. J plays with us for a couple of weeks. It was enough to whet our appetite to play with more people, maybe another drummer and a bass player. A nice little four piece.

Jan 2005 - M joins us to play bass. Some dude drops by one week to play keyboards, but that was a disaster.

Feb 2005 - D joins us on drums. The band War Weary World is born.

May 2005 - M leaves War Weary World.

June 2005 - D leaves War Weary World. Steve joins Aissa and me to play bass.

Aug 2005 - T joins War Weary World on drums.

Nov 2005 - A friend of Steve's plays guitar/drums with us for a few weeks while T is out of town, but nothing takes.

Feb 2006 - T leaves WWW.

March 2006 - Tom joins WWW on drums. Shortly thereafter WWW becomes Blue Gene Therapy.

July 2006 - Tom is off to Afghanistan for work. We were "this close" to taking that big step from out of my living room to the real world. Oh well.

From July to Nov 2006 we play with a couple of drummers, but there isn't the magic we had with Tom. During this time I'm beginning to think that the differences in musical direction between Aissa, Steve and me is slowly turning from a strength to a problem.

14 November 2006 - Our most recent drummer leaves the band. There is some frustration in BGT over this, but I've become accustomed to drummers exploding and initially think "Okay, who's next?" But a little time goes by, and as I think about going through the process of getting yet another drummer up to speed on BGT material, material which I think is starting to buckle, at least for me, from our collective differences, I bow out. Most of the logistical support for BGT is in my living room, so it's not too surprising that Aissa and Steve also decide to go their own ways.

While this is all very sad, and I feel like there is a huge hole in my chest, it really feels like the best thing to do.

Au revoir Blue Gene Therapy. Sigh.

ganked from wombat_socho

You Are an Espresso

At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping Your caffeine addiction level: high

at least I'm not decaf.

It's that kind of a rivalry. A disappointing season can be saved by beating Alabama. A successful season can be ruined by a loss to Alabama.

Coming into the game, I really thought Tennessee would win this one pretty easily. Alabama just hasn't looked very impressive this year and I thought (or maybe was merely hopeful) that Tennessee had "found something" during the second half of the Georgia game.

Oops. My bad. But's let's start with the positive. The Tennessee defense. It was stellar, again, today. Alabama was supposed to have a pretty good running game. Not today. 68 yards rushing. Alabama returned an interception to the Tennessee ten and had to settle for a field goal. Nice job defense!

The offense, on the other hand, just couldn't get very much going. Thanks in large part to the defense, the offense got into Alabama territory something like ten or eleven times and came away with only three scores. Several times the game announcers mentioned something like, "I don't think this is the kind of defense Tennessee was expecting to see from Alabama". I don't know, maybe. What I do know is that the Tennessee quaterback looked uncomfortable and at times confused and did not have one of his better games.

He, Eric Ainge, did make a touchdown saving tackle after one of the interceptions he threw. I'm not one to say that was THE difference in the game because it happened in the first half. The complexion of the game would have been very different had he not made that tackle, but it's too simplistic to say it was THE difference in the game.

He also led the game winning, 70 yard drive in the fourth quarter. So he might not have had a good game, but it was good enough.

And really, that's all that matters. It was Tennessee-Alabama. Just win baby!

Michael Jordan plays ball.

Charles Manson kills people.

I talk.

Tennessee versus Georgia

To quote one of my favourite characters in all of literature, "Oh my stars and garters!"

Tennessee got off to a horribly slow start. They looked a little like Cal did when they played Tennessee earlier this year. Prior to the last Tennessee drive of the first half, Georgia was up 24 - 7. At the start of the drive I was thinking, "okay, score a touchdown before half, cut it to 10, go into halftime, get your shit together and come out fighting in the second half."

They did.

Then a great tip-pass turned interception to start the second half and all of a sudden it's 24 - 21.

Georgia makes a field goal to make it 27 - 21, Tennessee answers and it's 27 - 24, then all hell breaks loose. Tennessee puts together a nice touchdown drive. Then blocks a punt and recovers for a touchdown. Georgia returns the ensuing kickoff for a 99-yard touchdown return. Then another nice Tennessee touchdown drive after a nice little kickoff return by Tennessee and it's 44 - 33 Tennessee with eight minutes to go.

I'm actually short of breath. Oh my stars and garters!!

Tennessee is playing so much better and faster, and I mean F-A-S-T!!!! I'm thinking this is the kind of game that can really set the tempo for the rest of the season, regardless of how this game ends.

Final score, Tennessee 51 Georgia 33. WOW. What an amazing college football (the 2nd best sport in the world) game.

Five minutes to kickoff.  I've "predicted" a HUGE 34 - 17 Tennessee victory.  Yeah, I'm a homer.  Gotta problem with dat?

tick . . . tick . . . tick. . . . tick . . . .

"The kick is up and . . . . . No . . . Sir . . . Ree!!!!"  (thanks Uncle John, and thanks CBS for using that clip)

The Pride of the Southland Band splits the T, and HERE COME THE VOLS!!!!!

Wish I was back home on Rocky Top
Up in the Tennessee Hills
Ain't no smoggy smoke on Rocky Top
Ain't no telephone bills

Rocky Top, you'll always be
Home Sweet Home to me
Good ole Rocky Top
Rocky Top Tennessee
Rocky Top Tennessee

1st possession: Tennessee at their 21

and the first play is a deep, deep pass, wide open receiver, ball hangs up and . . . . D'oh!  Florida interception.  Good play, bad execution on the pass.  Crikey.

2nd possession: Florida at their 40

Three and out for Florida.  Here's the punt . . . fair catch at the five?????  Crikey.  That ball would easily have gone into the endzone for a touchback. 

Fiine, let's just settle down and play some TENNESSEE FOOTBALL.  POUND THAT ROCK BABY!!!!

FIRST DOWN!! at the 19.  Hmmm. . . . Florida's getting good pressure, little swing pass, not much on third and long.  And a punt, pretty nice one with excellent coverage and a good, good open field tackle. That's promising.

First down Florida at their 38.  Nice litle run for five yards.  Offside Tennessee.Ooooooooh, smack you very much by Justin "I don't need no stinkin' biceps" Harrell. But on third down, a short run for a first. Big 13 yard run by that pesky Freshman Harvin.  And a nice 8 yard run.  C'mon Defense!!!  Dang, another nice little run.  1st and 10 at the Tennessee 21.  Chris Leak buying time in the pocket, pass completed to the four and a dive into the endzone for a Florida touchdown. PAT good.  Florida 7-0.

Okay offense, let's see a little life now . . .

1st and ten at the Tennessee 35  after an up man, a linebacker, gets in a nice little return.  Nice little run on first down  for four yards and then . . . .OH MY!! tipped pass.  Whew, that could've been picked off. Pass batted back on third down and another punt.  Plus a dead ball personal foul on senior Brent Smith.  NOT GOOD, NOT GOOD AT ALL.  Huge booming punt, but maybe too booming, missed tackle, missed tackle and brought down by the punter.  By a trip which isn't called. Gator fans are going to howl about that one.  But Florida is in UT territory.  Looks like Florida is a little quicker than I thought.

HORRIBLE pass by Chris Leak.  Omigod, that was HORRIBLE.  Interception by Tennessee returned to the Florida 49.  Montario Hardesty picks up a good tough four yards.  Ainge to Meachem to the Florida 22.  Again to Meachem to the 14.  Oops, Ainge tripped by a lineman.  3rd down & 7.  This is HUGE.  Ainge in trouble.  Ainge in more trouble.  Trouble, trouble, trouble, gets outside of the tackle box and throws the ball away legally.  34 yard field goal is GOOD!  Florida 7 Tennessee 3.

Okay, maybe 37-14 was a litle overally ambitious.

Florida first and ten at the 20.  Short run, good work defense.  Yuck, nice seam route for a first down at the 33.  Swing pass for 7. Run for NOTHING.  Good sign, the defense might be getting into the game a little.

End of first quarter.  Kinda sloppy, hard to tell much really, but Florida got the touch and Tennessee had to settle for three.  Not good.  LET"S GO VOLS!!!!!!

Big third down, Leak back, he's got too much time, not enough pressure from Tennessee, and a first down.  Misdirection run for 14 yards.  Ugly play for a loss of one for Florida. Swing pass, missed tackle (AGAIN!!!!) and a gain of 8. Another ugly play, but good effort by the Florida runner for a first down.  Should've had him stopped on that one.  Basic off tackle play, stuffed by Tennessee.  Offside Tennessee, too much . . . no . . . they called false start on Florida.  Bad call #2 in Tennessee's favour (the refs did miss a defensive holding call on Florida a little earlier though).  Dropped pass at the two, but pretty good defense.  3rd and 15.  Big Big play.  And FINALLY Tennessee gets a sack.  Takes Florida out of field goal range . . . well, Florida is going to try a 50+ yard field goal which falls short and left.

Tennessee first and ten at their 36.  Wide receiver screen for a couple, run up the middle, 3rd and five.  FIRST DOWN pass to Florida 48. Gadget play . . . .wide reciever reverse flee flicker, receiver is wide open . . . He's at the 15 . . . the 10 . . . the five, dives toward the endzone . . . GIVE . . . HIM . . . . SIX . . . TOUCHDOWN TENNESSEE!!!  PAT is GOOD!  Tennessee 10 Florida 7.

On the touchdown play there was a roughing the passer call so Tennessee kicks off from the 50.  Florida tries a return from the endzone, not a good idea, down at the 7.

End around, Florida forgot to block three Volunteers!  Down at the 2!!!!  Now's the time to take this game over!

Bad pass from Leak, no damage, but Florida looks a little rattled. 3rd and 16 from the 2.  Can I tell you how HUGE this play is?  False start Florida.  3rd and 17 from the 1.  Neyland Stadium is going nuts!!!  Florida eeks it out to the 8.  A wee bit of a momentum lift for Florida.  But still, EXCELLENT defensive stand by Tennessee's D.  Punt is shanked, Tennessee takes over at the Florida 40.

Okay guys, let's get another touch here.  Anything else is a small win for Florida.  Time to POUND THE ROCK!!!!!!! 

But . . . pass to the endzone, Meachem is open but the pass is way too late, almost picked off.  Ainge sacked at the 50.  This is not what I was talking about guys.  More pressure from Florida, ball thrown away.  Well, that was pathetic.  Good job Florida D. 

This series could come back to haunt Tennessee.

Tennessee punt, missed tackle, missed tackle, missed tackle, what the . . . wait, there's a flag (whew),  a bunch more missed tackles and the Florida returner finds the endzone.  Now, Florida fans are going to hate this call, but the replays were focusing on the wrong block.  There was an obvious block in the back, just not really shown on the replay (one of the replay angles showed it for a split second).

Leak intercepted at the 22, returned for a touchdown!!!!  Except . . . there's a flag for roughing the passer.  Oh my goodness!  You've got to be kidding me!  The Tennessee defender's arm barely grazes the top of the quarterbacks head?  And a case could be made that the player was blocked into the quarterback.  OH MY GOD!!!!  HORRIBLE call on a touchdown play.  Maybe a make up call for the punt return.  But really . . . that was just HORRIBLE!

Back to the action.  Good run by Florida for a first down at their 47.  2nd down . . . nothing, nothing via a great run blitz.  2nd and ten at the Florida 47.  Pass completed for 13, 1st and ten at Tenn 40.  Option for four, pretty good D on that play.  Run for 4.  Another big 3rd down.  Backup quarterback Tebow again for three (Florida might be setting something up with these plays).  And Justin Harrell looks done for at least the half.  Pass thrown, tipped by Tennessee and dropped out of bounds by Florida.  Nice tip.  Same pass play, good D from Tennessee.  Another big 3rd down.  Ugly, ugly play from Florida, incomplete.  Now THAT was roughing the passer on Tennessee.  Maybe a make up noncall for the lousy make up call on at worst a questionable call.  And Florida misses another field goal.

This game should be in hand by now.  If this ends in a Gator win, these were the series that did it.

1st and 10 Tennessee at the 34.  Not much time on the clock and a couple of nothing running plays.

So the half ends Tennessee 10 Florida 7.  Florida looks a little more solid overall, but Tennessee has a knack for big plays this year.  Unfortunately, the officiating hasn't been up to snuff.  Both teams have been hurt by the officiating.  I'd say Tennessee is +1 on the bad call scene, but given where and when the calls came, it's likely a 17-14 Tennessee lead, maybe, possibly a 17-17 tie or a 21-17 Florida lead.

almost definite +7 for Florida on the non-called trip during the punt return.
absolutely definite +7 for Tennessee on the not-so-roughing the passer call.
maybe +3/+7 Florida on the "okay, THAT was roughing the passer" nocall.
I still think the block in the back call on the punt was a good call, one just has to really look for the call.

Regardless, let's hope the zebras have a better 2nd half.

Hey, a nice litle shout out to Uncle John from the CBS broadcasting crew during halftime.  SWEET!

As we get ready for the second half, HERE WE GO DEFENSE HERE WE GO!!!

Kickoff and . . . I wasn't paying attention . . . nothing remarkable . . .

Not eough pressure on Leak.  Not enough pressure on Leak.  Pass for a first down.
Better pressure on Leak, incomplete pass.  Good D on a second down run.  3rd down . . . need I say more?
THAT"S WHAT I'M TALKING Xavier Mitchell!!  Great sack!  Florida punts . . . and Tennessee takes over at their 39 .

Toss sweep. That's not gonna workd againgst this defense.  Pass for 15 to Jason Swain.  Nice play.  Run in the middle for a couple.  Little fight after the play, Florida gets called for unsportsmenlike conduct.  A little iffy . . . well, no, not iffy after seeing the replay.  Sucker punch to the kidneys.  No place for that crap.  I'd kick that clown out of the game. I have zero tolerance for that kind of crap.

Incomplete pass, good pressure from Florida.  Quick hitch pass to Swain in the middle to beat the blitz . . . TOUCHDOWN TENNESSEE!!!!  Beautiful play. Okay, maybe he was half a yard short . . . maybe. Awfully close call.  Yep, ball placed at the one.  That's a good call.  1st and goal at the one. Off tackle, half way there.  Let's go with a QB sneak, nope, Hardesty into the middle, a little closer. I'm telling ya, QB sneak . . . Hardesty over the top . . . TOUCHDOWN TENNESSEE!!!!  Whew . . . .PAT is GOOD!  Tennessee 17 Florida 7.

Kickoff. Touchback.  Florida 1st and 10 at their 20.  LET"S GO D!!!!!

Dangit, run for 8. pass complete to the 48, almost got to Leak on that one.  Wide receiver screen, great swarming D.  Decent pressure on Leak, pass incomplete.  Great pressure on Leak, incomplete pass.  GOOD JOB DEFENSE!!  Fair catch at the 10, probably a good decision.  Okay, nothing like a nice, time consuming, get the Florida defense tired, 90 yard drive for a touchdown.  Let's Go Vols!!

Run in the middle for . . . not much.  2nd and 10.  Same play . . . 2 whole yards.  Florida's front four and the linebackers are playing awfully well. Corner blitz from Florida, looks like a safety . . . lazy pass, could've been called intentional grounding . . . .  Punt.  Good punt, Florida called for an illegal block in the back.

1st and ten Florida at their 27.

A lot of running for maybe a yard.  Good D on that play.  Good option run by Leak, first down.  Nice pass from Leak (not enough pressure, not enough pressure) to Tennessee 37.  Good pressure good pressure, now THAT is DEFINITELY intentional grounding.  2nd and 22 at the 49, nice little pass, oh no, more missed tackles and ANOTHER missed tackle.  Oh . . . those missed tackles.  John Chavis, you may be a brilliant defensive coordinator, but can't you teach these guys to freakin' tackle????? First and 10 at Tennessee 11.  Tebow runs for four.  They're setting it up . . . .  Tebow to the four.  3rd and a long 2.  Alright, let's go D!!!  Dang, nice play Chris Leak and the Gators.  PAT is GOOD.  Tennessee 17 Florida 14.

It's a barn burner!  Thanks to Tennessee's tackle-itis.

Kickof returned to the 22. Arian Foster for three, that was looking a little better. Then Foster for nothing.  3rd and longish.  End of the 3rd quarter.

Now, some of the younger Vol fans might be cussing about the last two play calls.  I liked them.  Tennessee NEEDS to get a little running game going, but the execution on the second play left a little to be desired.  Let's see, do we have a tight end this year?  Nice, pass complete to Smith.  Whew, that was big.   Hardesty for a couple.  Ainge to Swain, first down to the 46 of Florida. Hardesty for a couple. Oooh.  Huge pass from Ainge under tons of pressure.  Complete to Swain for a first down.  WOW!  That was impressive!  Hardesty for no gain. Damn, a draw for nothing.  Damn, this Florida front line is IMPRESSIVE!  Yuck, that one was ugly. Another attempt to Chris Brown who doesn't seem to be reading the defense very well.

A 51 yard field goal attempt is . . . . GOOD!  HOLY COW!!  Tennessee 20 Florida 14.  WOW!!!!!!!

Kickoff . . out of bounds.  Trying to be a little too cute on that kick.  Florida 1st and ten at their 35. A pass for two . . . okay . . .nothing big . . . make them make play after play after play.  Goodness, a big run for 27.  Goodness.  Good play Florida. 1st and 10 at the Tenn 37.  Run for a couple.  Tebow for three maybe.  Leak back to pass, turns to run up the middle and SLIDES TOO SOON!!!  Oh My!!!  Fourth and half a yard.

Nice commercial from Liberty Mutual . . . people being polite to each other . . . oh, what a wonderful world it could be.

Now then, HIT SOMEBODY!!!!!!!

Dangit, Tebow for two.  First down Florida at the Tennessee 26.  Off tackle for six.  HERE WE GO DEFENSE HERE WE GO!!!!  Too much time for Leak, too much time, receiver wide open, touchdown for Florida. PAT is good.  Florida 21 Tennessee 20.

6 minutes 30 seconds to go.

Gerbil Heart has officially started.

Wish I was back home on Rocky Top
Up in the Tennessee Hills
Ain't no smoggy smoke on Rocky Top
Ain't no telephone bills

Rocky Top, you'll always be
Home Sweet Home to me
Good ole Rocky Top
Rocky Top Tennessee
Rocky Top Tennessee

Kickoff returned to the 23.  Pass complete for three.  NO MISSED TACKLE for Florida.  Hint, hint . . . .  First down to Meachem at the 36.  Screen to Hardesty for 16 and a first down at the Florida 48.  Pass complete for 4.  Ainge under pressure . . . ball thrown away.  Kinda big third down here.  6 for a first.  Florida offside, makes it third and <1 .  C'mon guys.  QB sneak . . . and what can I tell you?  FIRST DOWN!

HERE WE GO VOLUNTEERS!!!!!

Yummmm . . . she was cute . . . .

Huge pressure on Ainge, linebacker blitz totally missed by SOMEBODY . . . intentional grounding.  HUGE, HUGE play for Florida.  2nd and forever.  8 yard pass play.  3rd and 16, 2:57 left.    Not good, not good.

LET"S GO VOLS!!!!!!!!

Ainge back, throws into triple coverage on the sidelines. Incomplete.  Maybe tried to get too much on one play?  4th and 16. Ainge back and  . . . . game over.  Interception.

Congratulations Florida Gators.  Y'all were the better team tonight.

Damn it!!!

I haven't purchased any new musical toys in awhile.






She's a Fender electric.  Now, I have never touched a violin and aside from some girls I knew in the fourth grade (eewww, girl kooties*) I have never even known anyone who has played a violin.  At least not any I know of.  So, I'm pretty ignorant about violins.  Like tuning them.  Yes, violins have tuning pegs, but one just uses them to get sorta close to being in tune.  Look at where the strings attach to the violin near the bridge (opposite end from the tuning pegs).  See those little gold knobbies?  These are the "fine tuning" thingies.  Once one gets relatively close to being in tune via the big tuning pegs, one fiddles with the fine tuners to actually get the strings in tune.  To make matters worse, when one is tightening strings with the big tuning pegs, one has to push the pegs into the violin or else they slip back more or less where they were to begin with.  Crikey.

So I get this lovely lady relatively in tune, plug her into my mixer and drag the bow across the strings.

Nothing.

Hmmmm.  Okay, so there's this stuff called rosin.  Let's "rosin up our bow" and see what happens.  I have no idea how much rosin to apply to the bow.  So I run the bow over the rosin a dozen or so times.

Nothing.  Another dozen or so times.  Slightly more than nothing, but really . . . Nothing.

The next day I Google and read that I should prime a new rosin brick by cutting a few little scrapes into it and to prime the bow for about 10 minutes.  After doing so there was a noticeable difference in the sound from the violin using the bow, but still not what I was expecting.  Another 10 minutes.  A little better.  Another ten minutes.  Significantly better.  Another 10 minutes and that was more like it!  Cool.

I mean, my playing sounds like crap, but at least it sounds.

Aissa's new housemate used to play violin in a goth band . . .  I'm just saying . . .

Let's see, have I pimped my band here lately?  One can listen to songs from Blue Gene Therapy from either Garage Band or MySpace.  Links can be found on our band's website (I know, it needs a bit of work . . . )

* okay, okay, full disclosure - I did actually have a little thing for the viola player

Being from Knoxville and the nephew of the former "Voice of the Vols" John Ward, it was impossible for me not to grow up and be a HUGE fan of Tennessee football.  Yes, I'm a fan of the other Tennessee teams, and a fan of my alma mater North Carolina in all sports.  But just as Carolina basketball is a little "more equal" among Carolina sports, so is Tennessee football.

Last week's game against Cal made me think that maybe the old Tennessee swagger is back, and maybe even a little more as some of the traditional bugaboos of Tennessee football teams of past years weren't as apparent, particulary the pathetic arm tackling that has hurt Tennessee football in the past.  The defense looked AWFULLY good last week, and the offense showed some good things too.  But I got the feeling that the game last week wasn't Tennessee playing so well as it was Cal playing pretty poorly.

Today's game against Air Force wasn't televised in my area, so I can only go by the results of the play-by-play.  The good news today was the offense.  Zero punts.  Except for the last drive of the game when Tennessee was running out the clock, UT scored on every posession minus an interception at the Air Force 12.  All of the scores were a touchdown except for the field goal on the first drive of the game.

The bad news was the defense I was hoping  to be so good.  Air Force had only two punts in the game, one in each half.  Now, I've seen Air Force play before, and their triple option offense can be incredibly difficult to defend, so this might be something of a reasonable anomaly, but one still worries a bit. 

Next Saturday the hated Gators from Florida visit Knoxville. I can't wait.  Is it Saturday yet?  Only one thing to say . . .