Dear ghost of brendan's past...

Please read the link posted before reading this post...

http://theoldshug.blogspot.com/2009/01/beginning-of-beginning-of-end-of.html

 

To my past-self: This is your Future-Self talking. Congratulations on not dieing in the 109 days from when you/I posted that. Not much has happened in the last 3 and a half months. The new semester is pretty good. I got my drivers license, and got a few haircuts and have learned a lot about myself. Here are some tips from the future that may help you out: 

• Don't eat the chip-dip in the fridge. It has expired.
• Don't slack off in Math and Bio class. This is very important.
• Try and get tickets to the April Neil Young concert. (you will regret not going)
• Don't kiss any pigs from Mexico.
• Two of your favourite T.V shows are now off the air so enjoy them while they last.
• Sign Up for Twitter now so you can say to everyone "I had Twitter before it was cool to have Twitter"
• If you are going to make sports bets than bet on the Pittsburgh Steelers to win the super bowl.

Yeah, the last 3 months have been pretty darn good. I can't complain. It's funny how so little can change in a long period of time and then in an instant your world can be turned upside-down. This may have been a weird post and hard to follow. But it has given me a chance to reflect on my own life.

Song recommendation: "The Past" - Matt Mays

"May the dreams of your past be the reality of your future"

-Brendan

What a Day.

Over the last few days there have been 2 or 3 school riots in the area which all occurred after the fire alarm had been pulled. So today everyone was kinda on edge thinking it might happen at my school. And it almost did.
This morning started off just like any other except there was an announcement made during first class that said "there have been riots at such and such a school. Don't pull the fire alarm its a crime blah blah blah" so I lean over to my friend sitting next to me and say "he's only giving them ideas" and as I had predicted about half an hour into class the fire alarm goes off so we all walk outside into the cold damp parking lot. Everyone is standing around talking about how someone probably just wanted a riot at our school or thought it would be funny and whatever. After standing outside for about 45 minutes we realized something was up and it wasn't just some dumb kid. At this point it's raining and there's a firetruck and five or more police cars. We are then informed that half the people have to go to the junior high down the street and the other half go to the elementary school. so off we went approx. 1400 kids walking down a single sidewalk to the nearest schools. my half finally arrives at the junior high where after waiting another while longer we need to let the school know where we're going because from 9 to 4 we are the schools responsibility so we line up do a attendance thing and sign a sheet of loose leaf letting them know that we are going home. Me, my brother, my sister, and my girlfriend decide to go to my home since it's the closest so we head back to the school where we realize we can't get in my brothers car cause the whole school is sealed off so we walk all the way to my home in the poring rain.
I've now been informed that a 19 year old student walked into the office and said he was going to blow the place up which is what led to the fire alarm being pulled. This guy has been arrested and is under investigation.
Moral of the story: Don't do stupid things like that because if anyone finds out who you are there are 1400 kids ready to kick your ass for making us stand in the cold rain for that long

Think
-Grant Hawkins

Wishful Thinking

• I wish I could play the guitar. Not even very well... just good enough. Good enough to pick it up and strum a few chords that friends can sing-a-long to at a bonfire.
  
• I wish I was rich. Not for reasons you might think. I wish I was rich so I could focus on more important things in life than making money. I would not buy expensive material things, I would just have it so i would not have to make it. Does that make any sense?
  
• I wish everyone in the world listened to the words of Gandhi, and listened to the songs of Bob Dylan.
• I wish I made movies. Clever ones, with good soundtracks and meaningful messages.
• I wish I had a sweet tree-house. Like the Swiss Family Robinson one.
• I wish Hitchhiking was not frowned upon.
• I wish I lived at Big Pink, up in the mountains of Woodstock in 1968. That would be the life.
• I wish Winter was shorter.
• I wish I had better social skills.
• I wish I had better grades without putting any effort in.
• I wish for World Peace. But then what would we complain about?
• I wish I had some more things to type.

Iced Caps taste good. I had one the other day. My first of the new year. I drank them all last summer. and in that first sip all of the good memories from last summer came rushing back, as if they had been frozen in time and forgotten about all winter long until I unlocked them with a sip of my frozen caffeine beverage. 

Song recommendation; "Jolene" Ray LaMontagne

 'May your mushrooms always be sauteed and your onions always be grilled'

 -Brendan

Rainy Day Women 12 & 35

Hello, Hello, Hello

Today as many of you probably know is April 20th. Now this may be a seemingly meaningless day to some but there are many people who see it as some sort of international marijuana day. I am not one who partakes in such activities but I know a lot of people that do. 4/20 has always made me curious because I have no idea what the connection is with today and Mary J. Most of my inebriated amigo's tell me it's cause of things like "it's Hitlers birthday" or "just cause maan.." so I dug deep into the vast articles of the Wikipedia to find events that take/took place on today April 20th

1534- Jacques Cartier begins his voyage on which he discovers Canada
1972- Apollo 12 lands on the moon
1999- Columbine massacre occurs in Colorado
2001- China removes homosexuality from it's mental illness list.

that's really all the notable events that have happened on this day. in terms of births there are:

1889- Adolf Hitler
1937- George Takei (Mr. Sulu in the Original Star Trek)
1967- Mike Portnoy (Drummer for Dream Theater)
1972- Stephen Marley (Bob Marley's son [I think this is the real origin of 4/20])

that's all the names I recognise... So I learned something new today. It is actually Hitlers birthday and thats not just some myth circulating around my stoner friends. So anyhow happy 4/20 to all that celebrate it and to the rest of us... Have a nice regular day.

EDIT:!! Thanks to the genious of my co-blogger we have found the most plausable reason the date of this day is 4/20. It is on this fine April day because of the California senate bill that is trying to legalize Marijuana which is obviously California Senate Bill 420.

- Relax

Grant Hawkins.

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day

One thing on my mind lately has been the concept of time. It is one of the few things that we cannot control, so instead we try and beat it. Everyone is in a rush. We now live in a 'high-speed' patientless world. When really, everyone has to take a step back and really think about it. What's the hurry? If we rush through life, we miss the most important things. As I drive down the road I see many people in a rush, speeding, not giving a hoot about the rules of the road. C'mon people, that's just putting yourself and others in danger. If you want to be somewhere for 2:00, leave at 1:00 instead of Quarter to. Hell, less than 100 years ago it would have taken us weeks to cross the country when now we can just hop on a plane and be in Vancouver in about the same time it takes to watch the LOTR trilogy.

So next time you are behind a slow driver, or in a long line, don't be impatient, just take a deep breath and take it slow bro.

Song recommendation : "To Beat The Devil" - Kris Kristofferson

- Brendan"Time to Kill"Morley

And the Sun is Shinning!

Hello One and all!

hopefully we got some new members from the facebook group following The Crazy Chester. If there's someone here who doesn't know; I'm running for Co-Prez of student council at my school there's a group on facebook which can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=68627832171

So now that I'm done with that self-endorsing on to the usually bloggy stuff. Lately I've become a Twitterer which is pretty cool if you ask me. I've made it into a sort of condensed more frequently updated Crazy Chester by throwing all my thoughts and ideas in there for example:

GrantHawkinsM: Isn't it enough to see a garden is beautiful without having to beleive that there are fairies under it too?

GrantHawkinsM: Allah at cha boi

GrantHawkinsM: Eatin' tacos

On a completely unrelated note it was very sunny out today in Fall River, Nova Scotia which of course makes me very happy and excited for the summer time. The summer time is exciting because it opens up opportunities for adventure all around the place without having to bundle up and freeze.

That's about all for now I think. I haven't really been listening to anything new.. Just lots of MF Doom.

How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?

-Grant Hawkins

Good Things Come In Three

Dartmouth's own Joel Plaskett has just released his latest album entitled "Three". This is no ordinary album though, it is a Three disc album! Very few artists have attempted a three disc album, and even fewer have been a success. The theme of this album is obviously "Three" (three discs, third solo album, and many of the track titles are just three of the same word repeated ex: "Deny, Deny, Deny".) I purchased this album two days ago and have just now listened to it all the way through one or two times. I love it, Joel covers so many genres he is influenced by. Like most albums, there are those few songs that jump out as "singles" but overall it is a solid group of songs. Great driving tunes. I would definitely recommend this album to anyone with ears.

Keep on thinking wishful thoughts,
-Brendan

I Quit My job

I bought a CD this weekend by Old Man Luedecke called Hinterland, and first I have to say that its a great album and it is so different from everything else i listen to (which can be a nice change). The first song on the album is entitled "I Quit My Job" and it talks about this materialistic world we live in. And how when it really comes down to it, we're on this earth for such a short time why waste it making as much money as you can instead of living and appreciating life for what it is. One key line in this song is "Don't Let them take, the joy that you make. On your own." For some reason that line stands out to me especially. Since first hearing this song last summer with Grant at a concert featuring Old Man Luedecke, I have lived by that line. Another great verse is "Don't kill yourself about making it. Just be takin it easy but be takin it. There's enough out there who are fakin it." This verse just emphasises his message even more. In conclusion, I hope you can "take you hearts candle and relight it", "Discard your store bought realities"... and finally

"Don't Let 'em take, the joy that you make"
- Old Man Brendan

The Freewheelin' Thick Food

Hello everyone. Let me explain to you the significance of those three seemingly unrelated pictures. The one on the left is The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, the one in the center is MM..Food by MF Doom and the one on the right is Thickfreakness by the Black Keys. What do these three albums have in common?? Not a lot I can tell you that much but they all share the fact that I found them at my local record store, Taz Records in Halifax. For all you followers of the blog Brendan mentioned in an earlier post that he started getting interested in records and vinyl and such and as you can guess I have too. Any of you who know my musical tastes might know I've been looking for more MF Doom for a long time and you can imagine how excited I was when I found one of his records in Taz. I've listened to it about three times now and I love it. It's got all these old samples from old superhero cartoons that featured Dr. Doom (The character MF Doom based his persona on) from the fantastic four. It's also a double disk so it's a bit of a pain to me being an amateur to turn tables and having to deal with a four sided record but it's well worth it because I can see it becoming one of my favorite Hip Hop records. Now on to the other two. Thickfreakness is already beginning to steal the title of my favorite Black Keys album from Magic Potion and I've only heard it maybe two times through. To tell you the truth I haven't even listened to the Freewheelin' Bob Dylan yet it was more of a "I don't have any Dylan in my collection so I'm just gonna get one to say I have it." I will defiantly listen to it eventually but I am in love with the other two right now so when that dies down I will defiantly give it a good listen.

Keep on keepin' on
-Grant

Didn't WATCH WATCHmen

It's been a while since I've posted something, so i felt i should... the only problem being I don't know what to talk about.
The other day some friends and I drove down to the ol' moving picture show to catch the new Watchmen flick. We were early, so we bought our tickets and then walked over to a near by book store. At the book store I saw some very interesting books, some on music, some on philosophy, starwars, joint rolling, movies, religion, biography's, and comic books. All of which I would read given the time, We got so caught up in literature that we almost forgot that we were there to see a movie. When we got back over to the theater, we walked towards the young man working at the booth. We must have looked pretty stupid, all of us trying to act old enough to get into the 18+ movie. Our friend Ian went first (because we all thought he looked the oldest), he handed the man his ticket. The man looked at the ticket, then looked at Ian, then at the ticket, then looked at Ian. "I.D please?" and that was it.. no movie for us. I felt so young and helpless at that moment. However, whenever you are in a situation like that, you always look back and think to yourself 'oh i should have said that' or 'If only I did this' but when you are in an awkward situation your main goal is to leave that awkward situation.. so that's what we did. Disappointed and hungry we made the walk of shame/victory through the doors of Wendy's. Nothing says I dont need your stupid movie theater like eating a messy and delicious burger. Even though we did not accomplish our goal of the trip, we had a good time, and maybe we just were not meant to see Watchmen at that place and that time.
Anyway, that's all I've got to say.
Stay Golden,
-Brendan

we raise the bar and fly over it

Haldo one and all. It's me Grant back for another round.

As many of you probably know I'm a gymnast... well was a gymnast that's right I have retired. It's almost been ten years of gym and 9 of competitive gymnastics. Now in this blog I'm not going to go over the reasons why I quit or anything like that instead I will be enlightening you about the sport of gymnastics. The reason I'm doing this? Well over the last nine or more years I've been asked a lot of really dumb questions. So today I will help you not look like a complete retard if you have an encounter with a gymnast.
Ok first off is the basics. There are six mens events that the men do they are as follows; floor (the floor everyone flips on) Pommel Horse (the one the guys swing their legs around most only call it pommels) Rings (the two rings the event the iron cross is preformed on) Vault (the big table people run at and flip over) Parallel Bars (commonly referred to as P-Bars it's two bars that are parallel to each other about shoulder width apart and the same height as each other) and High Bar. (the high metal bar guys swing around)
For Women it's almost a differant sport. Women only have four events Floor (same as guys only with music guys don't have floor music) Vault (same as mens) Uneven Bars (almost like P bars but further apart and one is higher then the other) Beam (like floor on a little skinny elevated srip of floor only girls do beam and theres a good reason for that.)
So now that we've covered the basics I'll answer some of the most frequently and the dumbest questions I've ever been asked as a gymnast

1. Can you do a back flip? Yes. I can and chances are if you're asking a competetive gymnast they can too.

2. Can you show me? Now unless you asked a gymnast who just learned it and are excited about it theres a strong chance we won't show you. Why? Cause we get asked that question at least once a day and when you're doing it at the gym almost every day it loses it's novelty fast

3. What's your specialty? Don't ask that question. Just don't. Gymnasts compete every single event untill you get to an olympic level and even then you still compete every event

4. Can you do an Iron Cross? 1st of all even though thats technically it's name no one calls it that. Everyone calls it cross. Most guys learn this skill around 13 or 14 at least at my gym mostly cause of muscle development at that time but not everyone can do it. (Girls don't compete rings so the never do cross)

5. Will I see you at the olympics? I don't know why people think that gymnastics is a shoo into the olympics. It's just as hard as any other sport if not harder to get to the olypics with. Statistically you'd have a better chance with a sport that has a bigger team like soccer or hockey.

Gymnastics is weird in the sence that you have to always be at the gym. At my peak I was at the gym 20 hours a week thats four hours on Monday Tuesday Thursday Friday and Saturday. This is because gym relies on muscle memory so if you stop for like a month or so you're not going to be as good as you were back then so you have to be in the gym as much as possible.

Thats all I can think of for now if you have any questions about the sport go a head and comment I'll do my best to answer it for you.

Yours truely
-Grant Hawkins

P.S. Hate is contagious... but so is love. You decide which one to catch

Happiness is a Clean T-shirt

I have come up with a list of some of my favourite things in life at the moment;

• Flight of the Conchords; I've been a fan of the show since the beginning, but the latest season is so funny, and it makes my Monday mornings a little bit nicer.
• Free Period; With a new semester comes new courses, and my favourite has to be Free. Whether I'm kickin' it in the council room with Grant, or digging through LP's at Ian's house. Free is short for freedom, which is what I get out of it. No work, no stress, I don't know how i survived without it.
• NBA Live 2003; I haven't touched this game in years, but since I got a Wii I've been playing more of my old G-Cube games. And I've forgotten how awesome it is. Not only is it the last basketball video game to feature Michael Jordan but it also has much better game-play than any of those new games. So if I haven't blogged in a while you'll know that its because I'm off gaming 03' style.
• Vinyl Records; Lately I have been very interested in vinyl records. Collecting, listening and viewing other's collections. There is a very distinct sound that they have that is incomparable to any other for of music. Grant and I are thinking about starting up a collection/trading 'club' you could call it.
• My new t-shirt; A couple of weeks ago i stumbled across a sweet t-shirt from my favourite movie The Big Lebowski on the Internet. I ordered it and it came shortly after. It is very sweet how while wearing it people i don't even know will see my shirt and say things like 'Hey sweet movie' or 'The Dude abides man'. So i thought that was pretty cool.
• Coffee; I've only started drinking it a few months ago but I love it, and not because it is a 'mature' drink, or the satisfying thought that it was made my little African children for pennies a day. I like it because for me it is a patient drink. I drink it slow, and i like the time i spend drinking it. I could spend hours in a coffee shop observing the people around me and having discussions with friends.
• Philosophical Conversations; One of my new courses is 'Comparative World Religions' which has got me thinking about 'the bigger picture' and pressing human questions. I could talk about it for days, Why are we here? Are we alone in the universe? Is there life after death? ....the list of questions goes on. I've had discussion with friends about these questions and they all seem to ponder the same things as me.

So now you know what has brought my life enjoyment and peace of mind. Thanks for reading, - Brendan

Dear Visitors,

Good Afternoon,

Grant and myself started this blog as a way to express ourselves and as a place to store all of our thoughts. But what I want to know is 'Has anybody read it?' It is not the point of our blog to see how many subscribers we get, but it would be nice to know if anybody has stumbled across our little blog and has taken the time to read some of our posts. If anybody is reading this, it would be nice if you could you post a comment. It's be pretty cool for us to find out that someone has shared a thought or taken an interest in anything we say.

Thanks for reading,

Brendan

Random Thoughts of Neat Disorder

Ok so this time I don't really have a single topic so I'm gonna give you a run down of some random things

first is a list of my favorite days of the year

1. Christmas
2. My Birthday
3. The first day of the year where I can comfortably walk to school in a T-Shirt

Second: over the weekend me and my awesome girlfriend rented two things; Nick and Norah's Infinite Play List and a game for the wii called De Blob

Nick and Norah I thought was pretty good it's got some good jokes and a great story about two people who fall in love over Indie Rock

De Blob is incredible. I've had a wii for some time now and even though I haven't played a lot of games for it this is one of, if not the best one. You play as this blob of colour in a town that had all it's colour stolen. you're part of a radical rebellion that is trying to bring colour back to the world. It mixes cool art with a great interactive soundtrack I recommend it for all Wii owners.

That's all for now commrades

The dude abides
-Grant

Quick Thought

Good Evening,
Today I was sitting in class thinking about life when I came upon something pretty deep. Here it is;
If time is money, and money is the root of all evil, than is TIME the root of all evil?
If anyone reading this can clarify this or comment on it, it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for reading,
-Brendan

It's Been a Long Time Since I Rock and Rolled

Well ladies and gents it's been a while since I posted. I'd like to say it was because of exam week and I was studying but that would be a straight up lie. I had my final exam (Comparative World Religions) at the worst possible time which was Thursday at 1:15 which is the latest possible time for an exam. This sucked cause I wanted it to just be over and done with, but no there had to be a snow day so I had too wait all the way 'till Friday afternoon to get it done. Things aren't all bad though since there was a snow day that means there's no school on Monday which means I get to go back to double free on Tuesday.

So now that I'm done with all that examination rigmarole I have more time to do what I do best, sitting around and listening to music. I finally got to spend all my HMV gift cards that I got for Christmas and I got: A Ghost is Born -Wilco, Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan, Uplift Mofo Party Plan -Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Oracular Spectacular -MGMT. A Ghost is Born is really good it sounds a lot like Yankee Hotel Foxtrot to me which is a good thing. Highway 61 Revisited is also an awesome album that opens with Like a Rolling Stone which is one of the greatest songs ever. The Uplift Mofo Party Plan is some old school funky monkey Red Hot Chili Peppers with a funky cover of Subterranean Homesick Blues and other such hits as Party on Your Pussy, and Fight Like a Brave. Finally Oracular Spectacular. It's alright I didn't get to listen to it a whole lot but from what I've heard it sounds like a crazy heroin trip in a room with a synthesizer and a drum set and maybe a guitar and bass every once in a while.

So yeah that's what I've been up to lately. I'm excited for the new semester to start with Chemistry, Free, History, and Math it should be good times. I will do my best to post more often from now on.

Farewell until next time comrades

-Grant

The beginning of the beginning of the end of the beginning.

Hi all,

Exams start in a week, so I will probably not have any time to blog until they are over. Exams also mean the beginning of semester 2. So here is a re-cap of first semester;

Overall, the work load wasn't so bad. I had some pretty interesting teachers, met some interesting people, heck... i even learned a thing or two. I would not say it went by fast, however it did not go by slow either, it went by normal. Some days feel longer than others, that always amazes me, how one day its Monday than in what seems like seconds its Friday already.

It'll be interesting to see how this new semester fairs out, its strange how a few months can change a person. I wonder what i will be like in May? So I'll just ask myself...

To my future self: Hi future self, how are things? am i still alive? anything interesting happen in the past few months? reply back when you read this.

- yours truly Present/Past Brendan

(ps: stare at the picture from far away)

My mind is filled with radio cures

Hi.
There is a lot that people don't know about me, so I've decided to post some interesting facts about myself. Who knows, it might make a great conversation starter some time. for example "Hey did you know that Brendan has flat feet... nice to meet you my name is _________"
Okay, here we go
Brendan narrates his own life, like in the show Scrubs.
Brendan likes to imagine himself in different situations like.... while drumming Brendan almost always imagines himself playing in front of thousands of people. or when Brendan is shooting some hoops in the backyard he likes to pretend he is in the championship game and hits the shot ftw.
Brendan sometimes gives human characteristics to objects, whether its positioning his toothbrush so it has a view out the window, or matching socks up so they won't be lonely.
Brendan always has a song stuck in his head.
Brendan once killed a man (OK so this one isn't completely true, but it makes me sound like a bamf)
Brendan uses his ipod as an excuse not to talk to people.
Brendan loves mornings.
Brendan tries to not hate people.
Brendan has no life, and is completely fine with that.
Brendan has nothing left to write.

Music roundup

This roundup is a rough round up of what I've listened to this year. now it's not necessarily music that came out this year just what I've been listening to in a rough order of how bomb I think it is.

So here we go a rough top 15 (with a runner up!) albums I got into in 2008

Runner Up!. The Basement Tapes. By Bob Dylan and The Band
amazing unreleased material by the most amazing artists I've ever heard

15.Discovery. By Daft Punk
I hated techno until this. it contains Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger for those of you who only know a bands most popular song but it also has so much more. It reminds me of Tokyo at night time.

14.Moment of Truth. By Gang Starr
This year was defiantly a year that got me out of my usual rock and roll and into some serious Hip Hop. Gang Starr's got that old school flavor that I have come to love in Hip Hop.

13.LaDeDa. By Joel Plaskett Emergency
an album I got a while ago that I never really paid attention to until I saw Joel Live and I realized how many amazing tracks this album contains

12. The Cool. By Lupe Fiasco
amazing hip hop by my favorite rapper. Very original in a world of cut and paste hip hop great concept album.

11.Feed the Animals. By Girl Talk
very unique album that's free to download. it's made up completely of samples from other artists and is very fun to listen to. It also takes a stand on copyright in music and all that jazz.

10.Sky Blue Sky. By Wilco
Amazing easy listening album. I really got into it after seeing Wilco live at NY. great album I recommend it to everyone.

9.Alive 2007. By Daft Punk
Daft Punk live. amazing mixes of my favorite Daft Punk songs. really gets you in the mood for serious party/dancing.

8.Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. By Wilco
crazy noises and sounds all coming together to make beautiful music just the way I like it.

7.Magic Potion. By the Black Keys
Amazing album I really got into it it's got some quality blues-rock and maybe the most air-guitarable album ever

6. Food and Liquor. By Lupe Fiasco,
This album is easily one of my favorite Hip Hop albums ever to be released it's not something you'd expect to hear in today's hip hop (it even criticizes modern rap videos) great album I'd recommend it to anyone even people who don't like rap/ Hip Hop

5.Stage Fright and The Last Waltz. By The Band,
A tie between these two incredible Band Albums Stage Fright has some incredible band songs. Now keep in mind The Last Waltz would easily be #1 if it weren't for me reading Levon helm's book and learning what a rip off it was but it's still amazing and still one of the best thing's I've ever heard

4.Enter the Wu, (36 Chambers). By The Wu-Tang Clan
Enter the Wu is the first and best (in my opinion) Wu Tang album. It has such a genuine sound to it and it really opened me up to some heavier Rap.

3. The Mouse and The Mask by DANGERDOOM.
The mouse and the mask is a great collabaration between MF Doom who has become one of my favorite rappers and Dangermouse who is and incredible producer/beat maker. Doom is a lyrical genius and Mouse knows how to make some sick beats together they make an incredible Hip Hop duo

2. Real Emotional Trash. By Steve Malkmus and the Jicks
one of the few albums that where I love every single track. Steve and his crew of Jicks have a unique indie rock sound that I've never really heard but I've fallen in love with. It sweet simple and amazing.

1. Things Fall Apart By. The Roots
This is my favorite Roots album. It is not number one because it is nessicarily the best album on the list it's number one because it introduced me to Rap and Hip hop. Before the Roots I was your every day rock and roller with a narrow vision in music and little respect for the rap world let alone any other genera of music but because of the roots I've been introduced to so many rap albums that I've fallen in love with and some that I thought were bomb. So thank you The Roots for opening my musical doors and introducing me to new artists and new music.

So there you have it a list of albums that I got into heavily in 2008 I recommend every single one of these albums for anyone reading this blog.

Happy new years everyone
-Grant Hawkins

PS: here's a quick list of my favorite albums released in 2008

5. Feed The Animals. By Girl Talk
4. Flight of the Conchords. By Flight of the Conchords
3. Rising Down. By The Roots
2. Attack and Release. By The Black Keys
1. Real Emotional Trash. By Steve Malkmus and the Jicks

Wilco

Just before I get to say what i have to say, I would just like to comment about my last post. It was really hard to pick 10 albums that were released in 2008, there were MANY that I discovered this year but where older. So my list isn't perfect, its just a rough outline of what i listened to. Okay... back to the topic;

One of the great bands I was introduced to this year was a band by the name of Wilco. It was my friend Ian that let me borrow their CD Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. He had told me how great it was and so i was eager to give it a listen. At first I didn't really get it, a lot of random noises, and affects that seemed to take away from the primary instruments. I put it on the back burner and moved on to other albums. It wasn't until the countless nights driving around with Ian with YHF playing through the car speakers that I started to understand it. The album is to complex to understand after hearing it just once. But once it becomes clear, you can truly understand the extraordinary musical harmony that Wilco creates. The album evenly covers all of the bases of tempo from soft folk, to upbeat rock and everything in between. Not to mention their lates album Sky Blue Sky (but that's a post for another time)

It was simply fate that they happened to be opening for Neil Young at the concert I attended in Halifax. In the film about Wilco "I am trying to break your heart" Rolling Stone's David Fricke is quoted by saying 'I truly believe that later on down the road Wilco will finally get the credit they deserve.'

That's all I have to say, I don't know if any of it made sense... because I can't really explain what I want to say, but what is important is that in my opinion Wilco is one of the best bands of it's time.

Thank you

-Brendan

Top 10 Cd's of 2008

Good afternoon avid readers,

As you all know 2008 is coming to a close so I thought I would give my top 10 favourite albums of the year. This is not necessarily an order of the best albums, just which albums I listened to and affected me the most.

10.Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

9. Attack & Release - The Black Keys

8. Love at the End of the World - Sam Roberts

7. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

6. The True Love Rules - Dave Marsh

5. Oracular Spectacular - MGMT

4. The Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs - Bob Dylan

3. Gloryhound & the Skyhawks - Gloryhound & the Skyhawks

2. Terminal Romance - Matt Mays & El Torpedo

1. Real Emotional Trash - Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks

Thanks and Have a happy New-Year!

- Brendan

Happy Birthday Santa!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Spin-off / Common Courtesy

Hello, I just read my comrade Grant's post and decided to add to it, like a sequel... or a spin-off. But not a cheesy, bad spin-off that gets canceled after 4 episodes, a good spin off like Fraser, or Joey... actually just Fraser. Any way, this story takes place not with I, but a friend of mine by the name of Colin. Colin woke up this morning at 8:30 to the site of his buss driving passed his house. Instead of explaining to his mother that he had slept-in and missed the bus and having to endure a huge lecture, he decided to just walk to school. This would not be that big of a deal, but Colin lives a good 40 minute drive from the school. So Colin sets off into the cold. After walking for about and hour he is stopped by a young couple in a car who were quite lost and need directions. They were very grateful and just before driving off they asked him if he needed a ride. He was very cold and accepted their offer. When they came to a fork in the road and Colin was headed one way, and the young couple were headed the other way, he got out of the car thanked them, they thanked him, and he was on his way again. After walking for about another half of an hour another car stops along the side of the road, this time it is an elderly lady and a baby. She asks Colin where he is headed and he replies 'Lockview'. Her only reply was "hop in". Again, These random acts of kindness helped my friend Colin arrive at school.
*INTERMISSION*
Lunchtime... The snow is coming down really hard and for some reason Colin and I decide it would be fun to walk down to Monster Pizza. So we set off, Colin, Matt, Tyler, and myself. We arrived frozen to the bone. I sadly realized that i had no money and so I could not buy anything, however, my friend Matt treated me to a slice. We get a hold of our friend Mike, who had his car with him, but he only had enough seats for three of us. Instead of just one of us walking back in the snow storm, Colin and I both decided to walk back. We were both in a good mood, talking about common courtesy and random acts of kindness when we had an idea. We decided to shovel this elderly lady's drive way. This driveway is on a corner of two streets and is often used as a shortcut by hungry teenagers. The old lady who lives there is very nice and so Colin and I thought it would be nice to shovel it for her. There were two shovels on her front porch that we grabbed and went to work. The entire thing took about an hour, in which we got a lot of funny looks from people passing by. In the end we were very proud of what we did. I'm assuming the lady was not home because she did not come outside. Its a great feeling knowing you've done something nice for someone. In this story I just told you their are at least five acts of kindness, you would be surprised how giving someone a drive or paying for someones meal will affect others around you. So that's my post, and that's how it connects to Grants through "common courtesy" So I hoped you enjoyed reading about our Day.

Peace peacemakers!
- Brendan

A New Years Reslution

New Years is coming which means resolutions that will more then likely be broken. This year I decided that I'm gonna give myself a bit of a resolution. I don't normally give my self New Years resolutions cause I figure whats the difference between any other day of the year to start changing yourself? But since I coincidentally came up with this idea around this time of year I figured I'd slap it with the title of "New Years Resolution."
Pretty much what I plan to do is be more calm and more peaceful. I consider my self a very peaceful/calm guy already but even more peace and calm couldn't hurt I figure (It would be pretty ironic if it did hurt). I recommend everyone put this on their list of resolutions because I think if everyone followed it, it would make everyone a little happier and a little more nice . So next time you're stuck in traffic cause someone is being a bad driver or waiting in line cause someone can't make up their mind of what they want at McDonald's instead of yelling at the person or making a scene consider what it would be like if you were trying to make up your mind and someone started yelling at you. You probably wouldn't like it very much. So next time a random stranger is doing something that annoys you don't think "uggghh that son of a bleep-bleep-bleep-mcbleepidy bleepery bleeperson is being an idiot and I hate them and I'm gonna tell them" just try and focus on something else, think about how much you'd like it if that person freaked out at you or just keep your mouth shut cause yelling at random people makes you look like an idiot.
I'm saying all this because of something that happened to me a while ago that I remembered earlier today. It all started one day when I was talking to Brendan trying to convince him to let me on the loft at our school (this was back when B-ren was on students council) and some random chick who I've never seen before was like "hey are you in grade 9?" and I was like "...yeah" and she said and I quote "I can tell... Grow the fuck up" I just kinda looked at her and thought "...oooookaaaayyyy.........youcrazybitch" and walked away. But it was at that moment that I thought we all need to be a little more polite and even though I never took it very seriously from my parents "if you don't have something good to say don't say it at all" seriously it's a good idea.

Sending messages of peace and love,
Grant (The aspiring peacemaker) Hawkins

Boring Saturday afternoon.

Good Afternoon,
I am bored, so decided to pass the time by blogging. Lately I have been feeling more and more compelled to make music. It is really bothering me because I miss being in a band a lot. It is hard to form a band, you need many assets, first; you need to find people who are cooperative, are good at their instrument, and most importantly enjoy the same music styles as you. Its pretty damn near impossible if you ask me.
I've been bored lately so i have filled in my spare time with good music. Sometimes I forget how awesome "The Band" is. Which reminds me, there is a "The Band Tribute" concert at the end of the month at the Seahorse Tavern and I would really really love to go. However, I am not +19, so I can't go. It really sucks, all of these great musicians come to Halifax and I can't go because i wasn't born in 1989. It sucks.
Well. thats all I have to say for now, have a good one.

- Brendan

Dear Santa

Good morrow,

As you may know Christmas is just around the corner and today I have been getting in the festive spirit. I woke up to find out school was canceled due to a snow storm, I spent the morning decorating my Christmas tree and drinking hot chocolate and listening to Vince Guaraldi 's 'A Charlie Brown Christmas'. Christmas is a great time of year, that people begin to forget because they get caught up in the materiel things or the 'every thing has to be perfect' state of mind. I find to make the best out of the holidays is to go with the flow, spend time with your loved ones, listen to Christmas music watch Christmas movies and reflect on past Christmases. One thing that really grinds my gears is when church and state get mixed in with Christmas. For example: Every year of my elementary school life we would have an annual "CHRISTMAS Concert" and we would sing "CHRISTMAS songs". My younger sister came home from school the other day and invited me to her "HOLIDAY Concert". Turns out the school took out everything with the word Christmas and replaced it with holidays. Now that's just silly, i don't care what religion you are you can still celebrate Christmas. It has become more than the celebration of the birth of our lord and savior Jesus Christ, it is a time to spend with family and friends. eat cookies, and exchange gifts. Call me Ol' fashioned but I believe Christmas has kind of gotten carried away, i mean some of the gifts that i hear people getting these days cost more than my house. And these spoiled children make lists longer than themselves with useless electric gadgets that they play with twice and than put on a shelf to gather dust. Maybe that is what is expected nowadays, maybe that is where this "Holiday" is headed. I sure hope not. What i love about Christmas is the traditions, the opening of one present on Christmas Eve, and the Advent calender leading up to that special day. And watching the best X-mas movies of all time; A Muppet's Christmas carol, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and Rudolph the red nose Reindeer.

I hope you have a Merry Christmas, and in the words of Michael Scott "Happy birthday Jesus, sorry your party's so lame"

-Brendan (Santa's little ginger) Morley

NYC

I also went to the Neil Young concert so let me give you my perspective on the whole thing. You're probably thinking "won't this be like the exact same as Brendan's post?" No because my post is from the perspective of someone sitting about a foot to Brendan's right. so The night opens up with Everest who were pretty good and kinda reminded me of a Matt Mays/Sam Roberts type band but all I can remember was when the lead singer got everyone to clap and it was like *clap clap clap clapclap clapclap clap clap* and Brendan had a slight struggle catching on. Then Wilco came on. At the time of the show I was a complete Wilco amature save a couple songs (the only one I recognized was Walken) but before the concert Brendan showed me a bunch of Wilco songs which happened to be almost the exact set list so when ever a new song would start I'd hear a "this is the song I just showed you!" coming from about a foot to my left. That live preformance lead me to get Sky Blue Sky and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot from Brendan which are amazing albums. now on to the real deal, the man himself, the shark among fish, the god among men, the god among fish.....? Niel Young! who burst onto the scene and rocked the house down! Ignoring the fight behind me the first song got everyone "rocking in the free world" if you catch my drift. he then went into Hey Hey My My which was conveniently written on the shirt I had just got from the roadies running the T-Shirt booth. Then after that he broke out like a tiger breaking out of a cage into "Everybody knows this is nowhere" followed by a personal fav. "Cinnamon Girl" After that he played Powderfinger and an amazing version of Cortez the Killer which was the cats pajamas if I do say so myself. Then Neil did a little Harvest section with such songs like "Needle and the Damage Done", "Old Man" and "Heart of Gold" (On Old Man Neil had a banjo player who had quite the stache) Then during a little break Neil started to strum his guitar and talk to his drummer for a second and Brendan goes "cowgirl in the sand" and whadda know? he started playing it! and let me tell you it was the best version I've ever heard of it. (sometime in there Neil played 3 new songs which were pretty damn good) at the end of it all Neil closed off with my personal anthem "Keep on Rocking in the Free World" I was rocking in out and all around the free world when he started to play that it was just spectacular! After that the big NY left the stage and the whole place started to yell his name until he came back on and put the cherry on top of the awesome sundae and played "A Day in the Life" by the Beatles which I think was a surprise to everyone.

all in all it was probably the best thing I've ever seen. if he ever comes back I'll be there front row to watch one of the few true rockers left today.

-Grant

This Note's For You

On November 29th Neil Young played a show in Halifax. Opening for him were the bands Everest and Wilco. This was an incredible concert, the best i have ever seen...EVER!
The night started out with Everest, who were pretty good for a no-name band, they played for half of an hour. Than Wilco came out, those of you who know me know that i am a HUGE Wilco fan. They did not disappoint, they were absolutely fantastic. They played all of my favourite songs from opening with "You are my Face" from their latest album "Sky Blue Sky" to finishing with "I'm the Man who Loves You" from one of my favourite albums of all time "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" At this moment in the night i could not imagine it could get any better... oh but it did.
At around 8:30 the man himself Neil freakin' Young, dressed in blue jeans a white t-shirt and a jacket with a pin saying "Hippies for Obama" walked out on stage, the packed crowed went insane! Just then, a fight broke out behind where Grant and I were sitting, i had to make a decision whether to watch the fight or Neil, I chose Neil. He opened with "Love And Only Love" followed by an energetic "Hey, Hey, My, My". I was surprised to see an ageing man like Neil Young rock out the way he did. He rocked Old Black until i was sure the 45 year old guitar was gonna break. Neil went on to play a lot of great rock tunes from the Crazy horse days "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" "Cinnamon Girl" and one of my personal favourites "Powderfinger". Then came the most epic version of "Cortez the Killer" i have ever heard, it was simply magical. As the night continued Neil switched it up a little and played some acoustic 'crowd pleasers' such as "Heart of Gold" and "Old Man". He also played some new material which was very good.
As Neil was getting ready to play the next song and lightly strumming some strings he was talking to his drummer, just then it hit me "Cowgirl in the Sand!" I shouted, and sure enough just after i yelled that the epic snare and ride intro to Cowgirl in the Sand broke out, great song. Neil's closer was the epic rock balled "Keep on Rocking in the Free World" awesome!
As Mr. Young walked off the stage the crowed began chanting "Neil! Neil! Neil! Neil!" Before i knew it he was back out for the encore which was the classic Beatles song "A Day In The Life". What a great ending to a great concert. I must have gave him at least 10 standing ovations.
All in all it was a great night that I will never soon forget, and it has revived my faith in good music. In the words of the great man himself; "Hey, Hey, My, My, Rock n' Roll can NEVER die!"

Keep on Rocking in the free world.
-Brendan

Keep on Truckin'

Good evening avid readers....

So today i was watching the classic Simpson's episode entitled "Homerpaloza" and it came to the scene where Homer was doing this funny walk where his legs were stuck out far in front of him. This captivated me because for some reason it was very familiar and because it is the Simpsons i figured it must be a cultural reference. So I did some research and found out that it is from the 1960's Robert Crumb one page comic "Keep On Truckin". The strip's drawings became iconic images of optimism during the hippie era. Like most underground comics "Keep on Truckin'" was not copyrighted, and images of it have been widely reproduced on T-shirts, posters, and other items.

So in conclusion...

Old Simspons episodes are great.

Underground comics are great.

And i hope to purchase a "Keep on Truckin'" t-shirt in the distant future

- Brendan

Things I don't Understand

hello one and all

it's Saturday afternoon and my house is covered in a thick blanket of snow so I figured I'd post in the ol' blag-o-blog.

today I will be sharing with you a list of stuff. On this list are things that I can't understand how they became popular or why anyone on earth would like them.

1. Black Licorice: Gross just soo gross

2. Country Music: it's the twang on everything from the guitar to the vocals it just irritates me to no end

3. Auto-tune: This is really popular today for no real reason. The only time I can stand it is in the occasional Daft Punk song but even that's pushing it.

4. Bad Rap Names: Hurricane Chris? Lil (insert name or strange adjective)? what happened to the creative names like; inspectah deck, Black Thought, Ludacris, or even Will.I.Am thats freaking clever.

If you like any of this stuff thats alright but personally I just don't see the appeal of annoying high pitched voices or the taste of black licorice. I dunno maybe I'm just nuts

-Grant