from the basement....

Here is a new post which will be reoccuring and is basically me stealing from eric and alex's picture archive.....enjoy - TS

Never been as good....

So the music which defined my adolesence was truly amazing. Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Metallica, Soul Asylum, Temple of the Dog, Candlebox, Sublime, Meat Puppets, Aerosmith, Cracker, Blind Melon and many many more defined me and everyone I knew in the 80's and 90's. My favorite bands of all time are Rage Against the Machine, Tool and Dave Matthews Band.

I don't think music has a chance of being this good again but as to not paint a bleak perspective of a future without soul defining angst anthems allow me to talk about three bands who I am in love with these days.

First and foremost is My Chemical Romance. They are glam-ish lighter metal/rock and their most recent album the "Black Parade" has been in constant rotation in my car, ipod and head for the better part of 4 months.

Some of my favorite songs from this album are Disenchanted, Teenagers, Dead, This is How I Disappear and the Sharpest Lives.

They have 2 other albums to my knowledge and my favorite songs from those are Helena, Thank you for the Venom, The Jet-Set Life if gonna kill you, Ghost of You and Desert Song.

If you don't know much about them, check them out and download some of these songs.

My next new favorite band is Fallout Boy. They are punk, pop, rock and write the catchiest hooks I've ever heard. The chorus of their songs drill their way into your psyche and as teenager friendly as they might be I'm in love with their new CD. If you don't know them check them out. I won't tell anyone. My suggestions for songs are thriller, me and you and thanks for the memories.

My last favorite band is my newest favorite band....the Fratellis. I'm having a tough time explaining their sound. They are kinda like a british invasion revival band. The energy in their new CD is amazing. Their debut album is Costello Music and you need to check it out. My fav's are whistle for the choir, chelsea dagger, flathead, for the girl and vince the loveable stoner.

Again music to me is in a pretty sad state these days with the majority of successful bands/artists churning out pop-hit after pop-hit for teenagers with very short attention spans.

I like these three bands for various reasons and I think each has a better chance of longevity than most artists on the radio.

Go forth and download and don't forget who put you on......-TS

dope kicks....

Everyone knows I love the summertime and the beach, BBQ's and chillin with friends. Let me introduce you to the new kicks I will unleash on the world when it gets nicer.




Eric you'll have to travel about 2000 miles to buy these if you cannot find them online so I win.

-ts

i throw a mean crap.....

So the stage is set, I have a plane ticket and a hotel room and from May 24th - 27th I will be in Sin City celebrating turning 29 years old. I intend to throw myself a proper birthday party on June 2nd in Baltimore but for now this is the plan. Me and some friends are going to party for 72 hours full of craps...and I throw a mean crap.

For now.....

City of Angels?

So I just got back from 2 weeks in Manhattan Beach, CA which is a suburb of Los Angeles and am just getting settled so I figured I'd blog. Let me premise this by saying what I write will not accuratley illustrate my time spent so this post is fleeting. But at the very least I have included some neat pictures I took......come to think of it, I don't take pictures, I take post cards...

One thing you might not be aware of is that LA is not your typical city centering around a central area of culture and commerce. LA is very spread out and contributes to the locals non-stop complaning about the traffic being horrible and worse that anywhere in america. I still don't think it has anything on DC beltway traffic but maybe I'm biased. Needless to say I drove a lot.

On Saturday my travels took me from Hermosa Beach to Santa Monica to Hollywood to West Hollywood where I met up with Parul for dinner and drinks. We had reservations at Geisha House (which came highly recommended - mindy) and I had some excellent sushi (refer to picture).

Yummy and good for you. But sushi being trendy there seemed to be a resturant on every corner dealing in raw fish and rice wrapped goodness....

It was awesome seeing Parul and my long time friend Chiara came to meet us for dinner.

After dinner me Parul and a coworker of mine hit up a lounge called The Standard on the Sunset Strip and then continued on to the House of Blues where a band called Killswitch Engage was playing. I'm not familiar with them but I might have to check them out.

On Sunday I did more sight seeing driving to downtown LA and all I really wanted to see here was the Walt Disney Concert Hall which is a gem of modern architecture designed by Frank Ghery (look him up) and see picture below.

A picture says a thousand words so enough rambling, enjoy the pictures. My summary of LA is there are nice parts and nice people but the rep in hollywood is fake and hip and people who try to hard. Where I stayed in Manhattan Beach was pretty much like Ocean City but the girls where much hotter and the beach was much cleaner........Word. I still love the OC.

Here are some pictures I took of the houses on the boardwalk in Venice Beach. Venice Beach as you all know is the home of Muscle Beach where bodybuilders work out in a very public open air setting and was where Gov. Terminator once trained. A couple of words about Venice Beach....Freaks and Skateboards........go there and let me know if I'm right.

babies and pacifiers......

So with my next trip down to Richmond looming in about 2 hours and as I'm wrapping but laundry I felt I should share last nights festivities with yawl (you all).

I'd say I've know Alie for about 13 or 14 years now and we met were everyone meets anyone....the franks house. If you don't know what that is don't even bother asking because to properly communicate what the franks, their basement or "bitty" contributed to my adolecence would take a lot more space than this "internet" can provide.

Nevertheless me and Alie have been friends forever it seems. Last night Steve her boyfriend threw her a birthday party in Pikesville (suburb of Baltimore) which turned out amazing. Salmon crab cakes, pulled pork, fruit to dip into chocolate etc.... Oh and there were beverages...but there are always beverages. I helped supply the music via bose speaker and back-up ipod with 75 song "alie specific" playlist. I know everyone had fun and major respect to Steve for the amount of effort he put in.

Now everyone knows I like to throw parties and for my next gala I am contracting Steve for beverage logistics and possible food preparation.

Here are some pictures from the party.