improvement

Construction sign on entry drive to the Champaign airport terminal, as I took Dave to his flight:

Inconvenience is temporary.
Improvement is permanent.

I won't go so far as to say that this is the nutshell summary of having Dave here... let's just stick with it being by far the best construction sign I've ever seen. : ]

Thanks for the good time, Dave! Come back and see us again soon!

tha 'belly

Played the Potbelly again tonight, and this time Dave came along for the ride. As did Deb and the kids, and a buncha people that I don't know.

It was not at all the best performance of my life.. started off a little rough for me, I thought.. but it came around! I hate that I get rusty and then it doesn't quite roll, but I guess I'll keep whackin' around at it, and eventually I'll get well-seasoned enough that I can pull it out without a ton of preparation. And also, I'm gonna start being a little more intense about practicing.

Wait.. does that mean that in order to be able to pull it out without preparation I'll be doing.. more preparation..?

I'll have to think about that one. : -/

Also, I met some guy named Jessie (Jessy?) who also played, and seemed to be really good.

That's all. Time to go watch "The Office" with Deb. Tomorrow's another week!

What it is that is going on.. Yo..

Biggest news in my life right now is that Dave is in town! (Hurray, Dave!)

I don't know if that being the biggest news in my life should make me feel sad or Dave feel awesome. I'm thinking some of both.

We (Me, Deb, Amy & Kenny, Dave, and Dave & Vicky Theil) went out last night for a lovely dinner at Dos Reales. Within the first 5 minutes, Dave loudly announced to all of us that, as a legal male resident of the state of Massachusetts, he has been required to have his marriage to Becky annulled, and that he is now married to a gay illegal immigrant assigned to him by the government.

We were shocked. In the back, gay waiters spat busily.

In other news.. (I know, everyone is begging for other news. Any other news.) ..I'm playing the open mic at the Potbelly again this weekend. Partially because Dave requested it, and partially because it's been weeks and weeks since I've played, and I'm getting dangerously close to falling off the edge of the musical map that exists only in my mind. ("there be monsters") So if anyone's in C/U at 6 tomorrow night and wants to see me ascend into the ductwork, that's where I'll be.

Mmm.. other other news... I read Andrew Osenga's bio, and was so struck by some of the points of similarity that I sent him a little email. He did not respond. I can only assume this is because he's one of those self-absorbed musical wannabes who thinks he's too good for everyone else. (the spooky parallels just keep on comin'...)

Deb is nearing the end of her current batch of classes (one will be done later this week). Yay! (and yes, my prediction that she would do great is being proven correct)

Oh! After our dinner at Dos, Deb & I got to go hang out with Henrys, who were nice enough to watch our kids for an hour or so. We stayed entirely too late (sorry Henrys), but really enjoyed the time. It is good to have friends and talk. Friends, good. Talking. Good. Coffee. mmm...

Josh and I were actually planning a weekend hunting trip, but it looks like that's gonna fall through. Very sad. I will still be going to hang with Dad and hunt some ducks on Veterans' Day weekend, though. (it's what the veterans would've wanted) (the ducks, not so much) For any of you who are feeling sorry for the ducks, don't. For starters, I'm not all that dangerous (Dad is a whole different story). Beyond that, any game that I am so privileged to harvest will be treated (and eaten) with the utmost respect. Also.. it's possible that those ducks have got it comin'. You don't know! You don't know what they're up to when we're not around! "Integrity" is who the ducks are when nobody's looking..

Brant afforded me the opportunity to say, "Accordianing is the rugby sport of rock and roll."

Markus quote of the day, "I don't need to clear my mind.. I've got nothing to clear it from!"

I'm sure there are other things... I know there are... but if you've hung with me through this much of the tedium, you deserve the reward of being set free now. Thanks to all of you who are involved in our lives. You who we are praying for and with, you who give us chances to minister, and who minister to us (you probably do, even if you don't know it). Thanks, friends, for giving us someone to share life with, and thanks, enemies, for giving us and our friends someone to complain about when you're not around. Hope you all enjoyed being updated. I, at least, feel better that the blog isn't a week old. Now I've gotta go spray paint a lightsaber.

Takin' care of business

The great thing about creative people in business is that we don't know what we can't do.

The bad thing is that we don't know, and we can't do.

For those about to rock... (rock rock)

Thank all of you for your input on my earlier "myspace is french" rant.

Succumbing, no doubt, to the huge amount of pressure my swelling internet campaign was putting on them, myspace has backed out of their deal with the CIA to keep me from logging on. This allows me to get back to the serious problem of how to label myself, genre-wise, within the Evil Empire.

Not being willing to be identified, as Bill suggested, as a "folk rock" musician (mostly it was the growing of the requisite goofy mustache that put me off of the idea), I was forced to come up with another plan. So, my profile now reads:

Caparoon
Rock/Indie/Rock

That's right. I added a second "Rock". It's too much "rock" for just one "rock," folks!

This is so cool, I think, that I may ditch the "Indie" altogether, and add a third "rock"...

Caparoon
Rock/Rock/Rock

'Cause hey... that's what it's all about, baby. You know what I'm sayin'?

Word.

Hurray for myspace, gmail, yahoo mail, and mediacom!

Hurray for myspace, gmail, yahoo mail, and mediacom!

Finally, after days and days of not being able to log into things from home, the problem.. she is sol'ved!! Woot!

I don't know what happened. I tried everything I could think of, and nothing worked. Then I stopped trying an.. HEY!!! This is how everything works for me! I try and try, it all stinks, then I give up and whammo! Success!

You gotta let your mind go loose. That's the key. Let it go...

Well, anyway, now I can get back to life as normal, where I log in to my myspace account and.. I..
hmm. ..Er.. hm. Ookay... anybody got any good stories.. or.. something?

Letting my mind go loose now.

stupid myspace (and maybe gmail)

Anybody else having trouble logging on to myspace? Not just getting on to a myspace page, but actually logging in.. like.. to your own space? (Hansen, I'm lookin' at you..) How about gmail?

For days, it has been almost impossible for the Caparoons to load myspace or gmail. It has become completely impossible for me to log into my myspace account at all. Gmail, strangely, is now just fine--better than normal, even. But that's just right now. I'm sure, as soon as I'm done posting this, I'll once again lose the chat feature. ("your network administrator has blocked the use of gmail chat".. I am my network administrator!!) And then, shortly after, I won't be able to get past the login page.

Anybody..?

The myspace people probably saw my last blog about "americana," and this is my punishment. I am a victim of the invisible system!

If anybody needs me, I'll be here, putting this tinfoil up over my windows..

Last of a dying breed

Hey! Does anybody out there know the definition of "americana" music?

Well I do. Because (at least part of the time) I'm it.

Americana is a genre described by the Americana Music Association ("oh that 'AMA'...") as, "...American roots music based on the traditions of country. While the musical model can be traced back to the Elvis Presley marriage of hillbilly and R&B that birthed rock 'n' roll, Americana as a radio format developed during the 1990s as a reaction to the highly polished sound that defined the mainstream music of that decade. By also including influences ranging from folk to bluegrass to blues and beyond, Americana handily bridges the gap between Triple A radio and mainstream country."

On MySpace, as a MySpace artist, I am allowed to choose up to 3 genres with which to desribe my music. I chose Rock, Indie, and Americana. Any of you who have known me and my music for any length of time would agree, I think, that this is a pretty good description of what I do. (well.. okay.. it's a good discription of the sonic territory that my songs cover, at least. "What I do" is probably a little too broad.)

A couple weeks ago, I noticed that my profile wasn't showing the "americana" tag anymore. Just "rock/indie/_____." So, I checked my profile details. All 3 of my original choices were still there.

"No biggie" I think, "MySpace is just having one of their many 'issues', and they'll get over it and return us to our regularly scheduled programming."

Then last night I logged on, and, noticing that it still wasn't displaying, checked my profile details again.

Now there is nothing in my 3rd genre box. At all. So... I think, "Well, that's weird, but I'll just update it and then it will be fine!"

Go to the dropdown menu for the musical categories. No "americana." None. Not there. I can't be "americana" anymore, apparently, because MySpace no longer considers it a genre! What gives, MySpace!? What is up with that!? It's not bad enough that I have to put up with your ridiculous frat boy antics and constantly being invited to join the "come watch me and my uninhibitted friends" webcam group.. now I'm too americana-y for you, too??

Soo.. I briefly considered launching a "PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS BECAUSE MYSPACE IS NOT BEING AMERICAN ENOUGH AND IF THEY ARE NOT PROUD OF OUR FREEDOM THEN I AM NOT PROUD OF THEM I HEARD THEY ARE OWNED BY FRANCE SO WHY DON'T THEY JUST MOVE THERE!!!" email campaign... (and believe me.. I've got the capital on hand to drop about a 350,000 email downpayment on that kinda real estate)... but ultimately I decided against it.

No, instead, I decided that am going to ask you guys.. my faithful readers.. the people I hold dear.. the.. guys..? Guys!? Anybody... ?

Well, anyway.. here's the list I've got to choose from. If I'm already Indie and Rock.. what else am I? If you go listen to the 4 songs I've got up, you get a pretty good feel for the spectrum of what I do. (Plus you get to play "adjust the wildly varying volume levels" as you listen along! woo!)

2-step
a'cappella
acoustic
afro-beat
alternatie
ambient
big beat
black metal
bluegrass
blues
breakbeat
christian
christian rap
classic rock
classical
club
comedy
country
death metal
disco house
down-temp
drum & bass
dub
electro
electronica
emo
experimental
folk
folk rock
funk
garage
glam
gothic
grindcore
grunge
happy hardcore
hard house
hardcore
hip hop
house
IDM
indie
industrial
jam band
jazz
jungle
latin
lounge
metal
new wave
nu-jazz
other
pop
pop punk
powerpop
progressive
progressive house
psychedelic
psychobilly
punk
R&B
rap
reggae
rock
rockabilly
screamo
shoegaze
ska
soul
southern rock
surf
techno
thrash
trance
trip hop

Buddy Miller is gonna be so disappointed when he finds out...

weekend update

No, not the funny one. But I just realized that the last time I updated was last Sunday, and last Sunday's post makes reference to "this weekend".. except that it doesn't mean to say this this weekend.. so .. I'm updating, so that no one will be confused.

Is it working..?

Just as I feared.

In the spirit of updating in general, here's what's been going on this week/weekend:

~ Helping Deb w/ homework. (she doesn't really need help. shhh.. don't tell. she thinks i'm awesome!)

~ Not working on music. ( :-/ This is completely my own fault. I'm experiencing a post-Robinson dysphoria, i guess.)

~ Really nice hangout with the small group. Everybody came over and then we realized we didn't really have any snacks. So me and Tim and John ran to the store and bought a bunch of stuff like eggrolls and ice cream bars, and then we just cooked food and sat around and laughed. "And It Was Good" (we aren't currently doing any kind of specific study or series--and I think we're better for it.)

~ Cleaned (most of) the garage. (frost's a'comin'! gotta get that car in! (i will try not to drive this one out with the door open.))

~ Went boyscout camping with Matthew and Markus. In a tent. In the woods. Overnight low of 39! wooo! (Deb & Emma had "girlie night" and made "frooty smoothies")

~ Tanweer's coming over! Yay Tanweer! (his dad has not been well so any prayers in that area are appreciated)

~ Worked my tail off. Very busy week(s) at work right now. I think things are going well w/ the new department--though I would really like it if we had a name. :-/ Apparently anything with "marketing" in the title is sort of off-limits. Which is problematic, since that's what we do.

Think that's all! Catch you cats later!

'AVE YOU BEEN SHOPPING!!??

Deb and I got to go shopping this weekend.

We were supposed to be going out on a date and getting some alone time. But then it turned out that neither of us had a decent pair of pants, and the shirt-pool was also getting a little shallow. We were going to try to combine the dating and the shopping.. and we kind of did (in that it was very enjoyable to just go and shop and never once say, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING GET THAT OUT OF YOUR MOUTH!!!" or anything like it even once).. but what we found out was that 3hrs isn't long enough for both of us to shop for clothes and also have a nice relaxed dinner where we talk about where we see ourselves 5 years from now or something. So.. we came away with our sanity, takeout chinese, and pants. Which really still isn't a bad day in anybody's book, I think.

I would also like to note here that, finally.. looking like crap has come back into fashion. It has been a long time coming.. and I have dutifully worn this style for the last 20-ish years, waiting for this day. Now my dilligence is rewarded. Once again, people are paying $70 for a perfectly good pair of jeans that someone has torn the knee out of with a rusty chunk of angle iron. What bliss.. : ]

Of course, I'm not paying $70! No way! I customize my jeans the old fashioned way. I go rabbit hunting in them. Ten acres of waist-high multiflora rose may not be much in the way of pasture ground, but it'll "distress" your jeans for you (as well as your thighs)--and how!