Bands and Songs

Bother Me

Here are some things that annoy me.

I went running down Kelly Drive yesterday and the amount of people who wear the Philadelphia distance run shirts amazes me. I do not believe in free shirts. What do I mean by this? I’ll wear free shirts from time to time if I don’t mind promoting the company (beer, athletics, work related, etc) but I refuse to let myself be a walking advertisement for some company I could give two shits about. I only wear the free shirt if I like the cause and not because a shirts a shirt. Anyway, people who wear the distance run shirt when they run are screaming one thing. “I’m in terrible shape because I’m fat and lazy but if I wear last year’s shirt saying I completed the run, then people will think higher of me.” This really shouldn’t bother me but let me explain. The distance run shirt is just a regular cotton shirt. People go out of their way to pick this particular shirt. There is a thought process behind the act of picking this shirt which bothers me. So to sum it up, you lose all credibility to me when you wear this shirt and your thoughts mean nothing to me.

I don’t like when companies make bottles where the hole is too big. An example is I bought a some body wash at CVS. It was 2 dollars and even thought I usually only buy old spice I go for a deal if it’s too good to pass up. I would use other body washes but I used Ax one time and it made me break out in hives which kind of freaked me out. Back to the topic, every time I try to use this 2 dollar bottle of off brand shit it comes pouring out. I give this bottle a tiny squeeze and I get enough body wash to last a month. I get it to. The fucking manufacturers are sitting behind their giant mahogany desks figuring out ways to bend over the customers and they come up with this brilliant idea to make the substance fly out of the bottle so it gets used quicker and the person has to buy more faster. Same logic applies behind the rinse, wash, repeat. Are those steps really necessary? No Fucking Way.

This one doesn’t bother me so much as it’s an observance. My dad reads a lot of books on improving oneself. So whatever he’s reading he preaches while he’s reading the book. His latest book is called Excuses Begone. I haven’t read the book but I assume it says that an individual can accomplish anything as long as they are persistent and want to succeed. So now at work whenever any problem or situation comes up there aren’t any excuses for if it doesn’t get done. He actually hasn’t finished the book but there will be more to come.

I started reading Tucker Max and all I can say that it’s refreshing to have people get as drunk as I like to get. “If you were drunk and you don’t remember doing it, it didn’t happen.” I haven’t finished it yet but it’s a quick read and I’ll give a better review when I’m done over the weekend. The 5-roper is something I’ll be adding to my vernacular. Is that word used right? What if I was like my dad and I practiced what I read in my book… I’ll keep this updated.

By |2010-01-25T23:20:12-05:00September 3rd, 2009|Music|0 Comments

Recap

I had a tamer weekend this weekend and actually enjoyed it. I saw a Phil’s game on Saturday which got poured on in the 8th. I woke up on Sunday feeling fine. I time trialed a mile and did it in 5:02. I probably could break 5 fairly easily with better shoes and a pacer. I played Limekiln on Sunday as well. Shot 97 which wasn’t very good but I thought I hit the ball well enough to be in the mid 80’s. I know it’s a stretch but the amount of putts I missed and better damage control. could get me there. I was 2 over after 6 and then went +5 on hole 7 and triple on 8 to fuck the round. The season is almost over but I’m hitting the ball really well, just not putting for shit.

Entourage should quit. Let me explain why this show isn’t good anymore breaking down this last shitty episode. The security part was just wasting time. Nothing happens and it’s forced comic relief. E sucks and is breaking it off with the best character in the show. Nothing personal to the Kevin Connolly, I thought he was find on Unhappily Ever After, but I think they made his character grow up too fast and he doesn’t play the part. Plus watching him and the tiny girl is like watching the smallest couple on the planet. The part with Vince and the stalker is so lame, I could honestly care less. Finally, that was entertaining to watch Andrew Kline crash his car in his house but I just don’t care about his character. He’s not entertaining and Gary Cole is just not Entourage material, he’s Office Space material, stick with what you know.

True Blood was finally meh. I usually don’t use faggot internet buzz words but this one fits with a just average episode. Tara and her mom bug the shit out of me. Hoyt and Jessica is whatever. Jason and Andy are funny together I’m actually curious to see how they fuck up whatever is in the season finale. I like that Sam and the vamps are going to work together, they are decent character. Maryann is like WTF? She was summoned by Tara? Now she has to sacrifice an supernatural for some crazy reason. It got kind of far out with some of that reasoning. I think the people with the bug eyes may have taken it a bit too far for me. I’m still entertained but for some strange reason that turned me off a little. Nevertheless I will certainly be tuning in the for end.

By |2010-01-27T19:20:33-05:00August 31st, 2009|Music, Sports|0 Comments

Dedication and Self Appreciation

If my future were financially secure there are things that I could be a lot better at with just a little practice. Give me 60 days, 8 hours a day of practice on the golf course and I believe I could shoot in the 70’s. I hit the ball far enough and with some short game practice this is doable. I certainly don’t think I could make the tour but if I had nothing else to do but play golf, it’s a sport that you can get increasingly better with practice because natural ability isn’t as much of a factor.

If I lost my job I think I could dedicate my time to playing poker for a living. I’d join Cardrunners, study the game a few hours a day and then play the whenever I felt like it. I know for a fact I could beat this game to a profit. I’ve already proven I can do it as a pastime. With discipline and nothing else to do I could beat the game for more money then I’m making currently. However, this would wear you out and your social skills would diminish. But this would be an option if I had absolutely nothing else to do with my time.

Bowling is another one of these skill games. Give me a coach and plenty of time and I think I could throw up some numbers. Pool the same way. The point is that people don’t get a chance to do what they want because there is the pressure of finding a real job and creating a “real” life. These professionals who are great at these skill games aren’t the best because of natural ability (well some obviously are). They spent hours and hours practicing and honing their skills. I intend to take off a month of my life and try to do something that I’d like to spend all my time doing and see how good I can get at it. I will keep you informed.

The second part of this post is self appreciation. I was walking down the street today to pick up my lunch and some traffic cop was sitting down eating sunflower seeds. She was eating the Lays brand and not David so I knew she was a noob. Anyway, I get my lunch and walk back and I see the bag on the ground. I eye the bag, then I eye her, then the bag again, and give a nice scoff. Littering is something that bothers me. It shows that you have no consideration for anyone else and that basically you are a slob who can’t pick up after yourself. It’s such a simple thing but it speaks volumes about the personality. I bet if you looked inside the cops house it wouldn’t be spotless.

The 2nd thing is cigarettes. I love people who say, “we’re going to die anyway, what’s the problem.” You are only given one life and you might as well make it count. Why kill yourself in the process. Not to mention it kills your endurance, yellows your teeth, and makes you smell bad. Anytime I see a girl fire up a cig it immediately drops her 3 points. If she’s a 10, she bombs to a 7. The only people benefiting from the cigarette is corporate greed and the gov’t. You could make the case that alcohol kills you to so why do people do that. My response would be, JC and his dad had livers like a champ and I’ll have more fun getting bombed then coughing up a lung. I just don’t get it.

On a side note:
I was like WTF is up with this song at first but now it’s really grown on me.

I’d embed it but embedding is disabled. It’s been out for about a month but it’s worth a listen if you haven’t heard.

By |2010-01-27T19:25:15-05:00August 4th, 2009|Music, My Brain|0 Comments

Couple of Tidbits

Read all 4 pages, won’t take long and pretty much explains why everyone thinks MJ was sick. I like how he was a total freak when he was alive but now that he’s dead the press turns him into a hero. I respect his music, not him.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0625091jackson1.html

New song that is playing on Alt Nation, I think it’s pretty good.

And 1901 by Phoenix is another good track out.

By |2010-01-26T22:23:51-05:00June 29th, 2009|Music|0 Comments

Radio 104.5 Response

tom im glad you are so into gaslight anthem! (just heard they have two shows in philly coming up this fall!) the reason you hear all those songs broadcast on satellite radio is they are not regulated by the same rules terrestrial radio is. thats why they can play songs we cant and say things we cant.
so again this isnt about us “spending money” to play songs. (that would be completely illegal) we are are not allowed BY LAW to play some songs. record labels can, and will, sue radio stations for playing music they dont want on the radio. for example, johnny got a copy of one of green day’s new songs months ago and played it on the air. that day we received a call from green day’s management warning us not to play it again. had we played it again we would have received a cease and desist legal notice. if we pushed it further they would have sued. so perhaps your problem is not with radio but with record labels.
as of right now ‘great expectations’ ’59 sound’ and ‘old white lincoln’ are the only singles from gaslight anthem. we’ll try to play them.

Whoever writes this has no education. If Gaslight Anthem takes off on Radio104.5, you can thank me.

By |2010-01-26T22:26:56-05:00June 5th, 2009|Music|0 Comments

Dear Radio 104.5 Part 2

I sent an email a couple of weeks ago requesting that you play some Gaslight Anthem. You responded by saying something about licenses yada yada. Alt Nation on XM has been playing Old White Lincoln by them for months now. I’m looking at your list of top 10 songs and they are all pretty much overplayed. Grapevine Fires is ready to go, Kids has had it’s run, Ain’t no rest for the Wicked was never good, and Heartless by the Fray makes me want to turn off the radio because Kayne’s version was bad so this is just worse. (Feel Good Drag, Zero, and Wishing Well Own) I don’t care what it takes but if you start playing Gaslight Anthem’s music during primetime I assure 100% that it will get a good response. Play Great Expectations, We Came to Dance, or Patient Ferris Wheel. Spend the money to get these songs on your station

Plus, I have another request. Why do you guys play songs like In your Eyes by Peter Gabriel or Beds are Burning by Midnight Oil? These are songs that should be played on 95.7 Ben FM. I totally dig Depeche Mode and New Order but those two songs seem out of place for what it’s worth.

More Franz Ferdinand, more Modest Mouse, more Live, more Jimmy Eat World.
Less Police, Less DMB, Less Coldplay, Less Cranberries.

With the utmost respect,
Tom Stortz

By |2010-01-25T23:12:08-05:00June 4th, 2009|Music|1 Comment

Kelly Drive Bound, Down and Out

Clever title.  If you’ve seen Eastbound Down and Out you’ll appreciate it.  It’s not 100% accurate because the run I’m referring to was an out and back, not a down and out but it’s close enough.  The out part is clever because that’s what happened to me.  What you don’t do on an out and back is die on the way out.  Dying is a runners term for hitting the wall.  Hitting the wall is a runners term for being too tired to function properly.  Anyway, I was doing this 12 mile run, 6 each way and I did the first 6 perfectly fine.  Probably at a 6:30 pace or so.  Problem was the going back didn’t go to plan.  I did about 1 mile of the last 6 and it was all over.  I think my fastest time doing this particular run was 1:23 and change.  I ran the first 6 in 39:30.  Finished in 1:25 and that isn’t even including the 2 water breaks I took on the way back.  I was like the Jackson Browne song Running on Empty which I’ve actually grown to really like.  Nevertheless, I finished it without injury and will do better next time.

I was bored yesterday and went to Hulu.com to watch an old family guy or something but I’d seen them all and came across a show called Glee.  I had no idea what I was about to watch but I thought I read something saying it was decent.  It was set in a high school and there’s a teacher who becomes the head of the Glee Club.  By the way, his wife is really hot but she’s a complete bitch but does some good acting.  I can tell its not going to be a really funny series but it has some potential because the characters seem pretty well developed.  For being about something stupid like the Glee club I thought the show was above average.  I watched only the Pilot and the series is coming out fall of 09 but it’s worth a watch if you have 45 minutes to kill.  New good TV is coming out too with Weeds, True Blood, and hopefully Californication but I haven’t seen any ads for it yet.

I’ll leave 3 songs that aren’t necessarily new but good.

Black Heart Inertia – Incubus

Zero – Yeah Yeah Yeah’s

This Town – OAR (how old is this?)

By |2011-05-18T22:56:32-04:00May 28th, 2009|Music, Sports|0 Comments

Radio 104.5 Response

A couple of posts down you can find my first letter to Radio104.5 and a couple of days ago they responded with this.  I’d bet a million dollars it was  girl who responded to the email due to the lack of caps and multiple same letters in words.

hi tom! thanks for all the thoughts! we are glad you like weezer. it seems sooo many of our listeners do. i am a bit confused as to why you think ‘pork and beans’ is “ancient”…that was on their last album. you are right though, they have a huge library and we try to cover  what we can. just last week we played 11 different songs from them!
however you must know that radio stations cannot, by law, play everything that an artist releases. thats why they have “radio singles” if we were to play a song that wasnt released some artist will go so far as to issue a cease and desist letter stating that if we continue to play the song they will sue. that restricts us a lot to say the least.
we actually have spun the gaslight anthem a bit here and there but when we ask for thoughts/reactions we never get much of a positive response for them. eh, it doesnt mean we will give up on them yet!
oh, and finally the pause you heard during the cranberries was not meant to be comical. we DO NOT take liberties like that. we were have some technical difficulties that day. sorry!

I think it’s good to see them respond to my letter showing that they might actually take what their listeners think seriously.

By |2010-01-25T23:12:28-05:00May 18th, 2009|Music, My Brain|0 Comments

Dear Radio104.5

I wrote this email to them and I’ll keep the correspondence updated.

Dear Radio104.5,

I think that your station plays the best music in the Philadelphia area however I have a few complaints / suggestions.  First off, anytime you are considering playing Pork and Beans, Buddy Holly or Beverly Hills by Weezer, please don’t.  These songs are ancient and there are plenty of other good Weezer song’s that you guys hardly ever play including Surf Wax America, My name is Jonas, Say it ain’t so, Island in the Sun, and Hash Pipe.  Other songs to never play is Viva La Vida, Paralyzer (still, I mean cmon), Gives you Hell, or the Pretender.  When you get the urge to play one of these songs play something by the Gaslight Anthem.  Channel 47 on XM has already started to play Old White Lincoln and you guys are completely missing the boat, although you did play a new Modest Mouse song today which was a wise move.  Here is a good song to play (2:08 to 2:30 is awesome) (I’ll embed it below).  Listen to me, ( I’m writing this like John Travolta says “look at me” in Get shorty) this band will make your listeners keep coming back to your station.  Also, I don’t know who the comedian is at your station but I was listening today and you were playing Zombie by The Cranberries.  At the one point in the song where it goes “your violence causes silence…”, someone turned the sound off when they were about to sing word silence.  I mean it’s really hysterical but probably unnecessary.   I really think your station is the best around, especially the one minute commercials, so keep up the good work and listen to my good advice.

By |2010-01-25T23:00:59-05:00May 14th, 2009|Music|0 Comments

Ida Maria

Apparently this song has been out for almost a year now but they just started playing it on the radio as far as I know.  This is a song that is definitely a radio only song.  I saw the girl’s name was Ida Maria and while I’m listening to the song I’m visualizing this leggy Spanish hottie singing about being naked.  Then I find the music video, (the real one wouldn’t let me embed it) and the girl looks like a grown up version of the daughter from Californication.  Check out this video and then you can go to youtube and look at the real version.  If you haven’t heard of this song I figured it was worth a share because it is kindof catchy.  For what it’s worth I like Rise Against by Audience of One, Dirt Room by Blue October, and Wrong by Depeche Mode out right now.

By |2011-05-18T21:55:16-04:00April 22nd, 2009|Music|0 Comments

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