Going to California

This blog may really become inactive soon. More so than ever before. Life is getting busier, days are getting warmer, and I am reading more. All three of those events contribute to less time on the Internets.

I did see the Weakerthans this past week though. It was a great show, one of the best in quite some time, and was made better by having John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats join John K. Sampson on stage for a song.

The reason I won't be updating again until possibly August is this: I'll be in California for the entire Summer. I recently took a job outside San Francisco teaching organic farming and social justice to kids. It starts in June and runs until classes start back on the East Coast.

Here is how my plans are looking. If you plan on being at any of these events or places, let me know so I can say hi.

May 9 - Radiohead & Liars in Charlotte
May 16-18 - Mattstock 2008
May 20-22 - Mets vs. Braves in Atlanta
First week of June through August 17 - San Francisco

Take care.

MP

Sorry for the Absence

I've been busy. With what? Figuring out my future, planning for the Summer, and watching far too much basketball.

I'll be spending most of the Summer working in the San Francisco area. This blog will likely go catatonic again during that period. I won't be able to shower for three weeks at a time, so the idea of Internet access is laughable.

Classes next semester include Stylistics in Poetry with Alan Shapiro, who just put out a phenomenal book called Old War. Other classes will include two for my music minor - Intro to Rock Music, and Sounds of War.

I like things on the internet that save time. I've been in love with Google Reader for a while now. The new love? An add on for Firefox that gives a pop up message whenever a new piece of mail reaches your Gmail inbox. Being someone who is compulsive about checking the mail and keeping it orderly (no unread messages), this saves me large swaths of time that I can better to put use by reading Stuff White People Like.

More on Cellar Door

Some more exciting news about the poem I have in the upcoming Cellar Door.

My poem, "Owls", will be one of many in there, with some great friends contributing too. Caroline Fisher, Julie Daugherty, Travis Smith, Amy Olsen, Jonah Garson, and more will have poems in the Spring issue of Cellar Door.

Besides the CD, there have been many exciting happenings lately - Carolina beats Duke, Hansbrough gets the SN POY, and Spring Break, but I just haven't been able to shake the cloud of the Eve Carson story. The past week has been heartbreaking and mind numbing. Closure looks a far way off, no matter what arrests and convictions happen.

Dry Spell

I received an acceptance letter for a poem of mine last night. Cellar Door will be including a prose poem of mine in the Spring Semester publication.

Dis Is Just Ta Say

I made this today. I think William Carlos Williams would have approved.

The Lolpoet. A new meme? I hope so.

Finally Going to Mecca

Or at least a Radiohead concert.

I bought my seats this morning, two in section 6 of Charlotte's Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre. Row Q. I cannot say how excited I am for this. Now I just need someone to go with me.

Something that dulls my excitement is having to deal with these large ticket distribution sites. I used LiveNation today, but Ticketmaster is just as guilty of price gouging. Why complain about scalpers when companies are doing the same thing? I'm not quite sure why it takes nearly 25 dollars to process two tickets, but it does. At this rate, I'll have to get a job soon. It reminds me of a comic I saw once.

Happy Trails, Bobby

Last year I had the pleasure of working with the press for the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament in Winston-Salem. Without a doubt, my favorite part of this was watching the Tar Heels play from my courtside seat. The next best part of this job (besides getting paid very well) was sitting in on two Bob Knight press conferences. Coach Knight was his larger than life self in the pregame conference before the Texas Tech team matched up with Boston College. I had the thrill of hearing him comment on strange Jim Crow-esque laws, Albert Pujols, and his saying that, "Adolph Rupp was a son of a bitch."

What I'm saying is that I have a soft spot for Bobby Knight. I would probably hate him if he won more after I was born, since I was a couple months late for his 1987 championship. But still, I really enjoy the fellow. From a distance. We all knew he was getting old - he took a fall while going up the steps to the interview room when I was working, and it wasn't "my buddy just fell flat on his face, haha," but "oh no, Grandma fell and hurt her hip!" that everyone thought. The man is getting up there in years, and he looked rather frail last March.

I'll miss Bobby Knight. Now if only ESPN would take him on as an analyst. Maybe he would punch Mike Roberts in the face.

Note: the picture above is one I took after Knight's Texas Tech team lost. It was his last NCAA tournament game.

Podcast Delivered

Here is the first bit of the podcast I promised on "Trapped in the Closet." At the moment it is set to be expanded with at least one more person speaking who is well equipped when it comes to the hip-hopera. Make sure to take some time and browse around the site. I've been very impressed with what you can incorporate into an English class.

Trapped in the Podcast

"It has all the trappings of a Shakespearean Comedy"

I was interviewed yesterday for a podcast produced by Erin Stoneking. The podcast was supposed to be about the literary qualities of a piece of music. So what did she want me to answer questions about?

R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet."

It isn't often that being an English major, Music and Poetry Writing double-minor, and having a love for both high-brow concepts and low-brow culture intertwine. This was one of them.

I promise to link to the podcast site when it goes up.

"Really, it's doggerel, but I love it still."

UNC vs. Boston College

I would give a run down of yesterday's game since I was in attendance, but I won't for one particular reason - my seat was very far away. How far? I was in row Q of the upper level at the Dean E. Smith Center. The large video screens were at eye-level for me. I will say this though - the game was oddly enjoyable from such a distance. It reminded me of watching game film when I played ball. You can get a better feel for just how an offense works from up there because it looks like little guys on a diagram. Being used to having seats close to the action, where standing is mandatory, watching from the upper deck was oddly relaxing. It was much more like watching a baseball game. I like that.

A Poison Tree

I've done five pages of writing tonight on William Blake's "A Poison Tree" from Songs of Experience. Almost all of those five pages have focused on meter. Never again will I forget what a trochee is.

I find it scary just how much a great writer can fit into a handful of lines. The images and metrical devices in "A Poison Tree" are not too terribly packed in. Yet, I've had no problem throwing down five solid pages about one aspect of the poem's 16 lines. Nothing is so deceptively simple as a well-written poem. I shudder to think how much one could pull out of sixteen lines of Milton, an author who really condensed a lot into each line. I'm sure whole books have been written about four quatrains of Milton. The more and more I read, the more I realize why Milton is considered the best ever. I was skeptical at first, but now I don't doubt it. I think it is so funny to read through everything that happened for the two or three centuries to follow John Milton, and find where all the great writers cherry-picked ideas from him. Except for A.E. Houseman. He wrote some great poems, but Houseman was a strange bird if there ever was one. Sad one too.

Highly Refined Pride

First off - the first video for the new Mountain Goats album, Heretic Pride, was posted today. Looks like "Sax Rohmer #1" is the first single. The video is similar to the Bob Dylan video for "Subterranean Homesick Blues" but I definitely got more of a kick out of this one. The Mountain Goats' vid is much more "wow" than the "haha" that goes along with Dylan's. Watch it:

Next on the docket - I've been ordering vinyl to frame and put on the walls of my apartment. I've been getting records that really meant a lot to me growing up. The flat will feel more like home that way. A packaged arrived for me today with Minus the Bear's Highly Refined Pirates in it. Even better, the vinyl is clear and orange, which I am told is special. So of the albums I plan on mounting, here is what I have in:


A new one should come in soon too.

Guabi Guabi

I've been listening to an African folk song called "Guabi Guabi" all day. The version I've been working is Ramblin' Jack Elliott's version, but the only full one I can find online is this video of Arlo Guthrie from a 1978 live show. It is good, but I recommend dropping a dollar somewhere online and buying the Ramblin' Jack version. Or go get the Essential Ramblin' Jack Elliott. Well worth it.

Guabi Guabi kuzwan le toum diome
Ize les gambi shooey entana
Guabi Guabi kuzwan le toum diome
Ize les gambi shooey entana

Ni izome tingy la ma bonza
Ize widgy le ba na na
Ni izome tingy la ma bonza
Ize widgy le ba na na

Arlo and his band playing Guabi Guabi

Baseball Lying and Skybus Flying

For fans of baseball, the middle of January is a lonely time of year. It's been months since the World Series, there still a couple months till opening day, and most of the trading's happened. Spring Training, that time of false optimism for about 90% of teams is still a month or so away. You know it is the low times for baseball when the writers over at MLB.com have their top story about how a player who wasn't named in the Mitchell Report just got around to addressing false statements that he was named in the Mitchell Report. MLB.com has never had the greatest writers in the world, and when a story doesn't fly over a fence for the 756th time, they have trouble stringing together words worth reading. So please, baseball writers, quit writing meaningless articles about Jeff Francoeur's film choices and brush up on your Sabermetrics. You're going to have to learn what OPS+ means some day.

Somewhat baseball related: I was looking at what Spring Training and trying to see if I could fly down to Lake Buena Vista, FL to see the Braves play on the world's cheapest airline, Skybus. Unfortunately, Skybus does not fly anywhere nearby, but it does fly to the city where the Orioles play their warm up games. No thanks. Skybus interests me to no end. I am amazed at the fact you can fly on the East coast for somewhere around 40 dollars usually, with some tickets going as cheap as $25. The catch upfront is that the plane has no actual service for passengers, and the hidden catch is that they don't actually fly you to the cities they list. Want to fly to New York? Well, they fly you to New York - Newburgh, NY to be exact, about 75 miles outside of New York City. New Orleans, right? You land somewhere in the middle of nowhere Mississippi and are expected to have a way to the Big Easy. That makes me shudder. LA is a bit easier - you land just fifteen miles outside in Burbank. I think this Spring I'll still try to fly Skybus, maybe to New Orleans in March. Maybe to Florida, where their destinations are a little closer to recognizable civilization. Backwoods Mississippi scares me.

UNC vs. Maryland

After Georgetown beat UConn last week on a last second three-pointer from 7'2" Roy Hibbert, many people talked about how great a win it was. However, there was a minority who thought that it signified what kind of trouble Georgetown might be in - getting a last second three from a big guy who does not shoot three pointers comes in right behind the full court baseball heave that somehow goes in on the scale of luck. And before anyone says, "Hibbert has gone two for two on 3's this year," I will direct you towards his free-throw percentage: .571 on 70 attempts. I say this because if a team has to have the big guy make the desperation three, they are in trouble. Yesterday, Carolina confirmed they didn't deserve their number one ranking. Tyler Hansbrough is a god among gods here on Without Music, but he shouldn't have been the one to take that last second three. Maryland defended the inbounds well all game yesterday. Except for a couple of short runs, UM just outplayed the Tar Heels on their own floor. It was the first UNC loss I've seen in person, and hopefully it will be the last. The Dean E. Smith Center was as loud as I've ever heard it, which was exciting, but in the end most of us left with a bad taste in our mouths. Unlike Clemson and Georgia Tech, Maryland actually hit their free throws. I felt that the most impressive player on the floor yesterday afternoon was James Gist. The guy scored in every way imaginable, against almost anyone Carolina paired him with. Gist's performance was not one of domination - he wasn't making shots while falling down or dribbling through the entire team for a dunk - but he did hit all different types of shots. The best compliment I can give James Gist is that he looked completely efficient while shooting. Textbook.

At least we had a nice helping of snow here in Chapel Hill last night. I know the novelty of snow in a place that doesn't usually get Winter weather helped take my mind off the loss.

Party's Over For Nodatta

I hate writing these posts.

In the past hour, nodatta.blogspot.com shut down for good. In the past few years, there hasn't been another blog that could rival the services provided by nodatta. I doubt anyone upped as many albums in the past few years as the guys who ran the site. Just about anything you couldn't find anywhere else could be found at nodatta. It is quite a shame. What's worse, I heard that the reason they shut down might be because they upped the new Mars Volta album that had leaked. Not sure if that is true, but if it is, Mars Volta is a bad reason to have to shut down.

No more OiNK.
No more Albumbase.
No more nodatta.

The big guys are falling hard.

Bear v. Yak

That's Bear Grylls. Apparently, Bear had an encounter with a yak in Siberia. No one knows any more of this, and won't until the show airs. Is that his blood? Or the beast's? Can't say for sure. Can we be sure that Bear is just really badass though? Yes.

Also badass and British? William Blake. Songs of Experience must have been like the 1790's version of Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden. If Iron Maiden had mirrored Milton's Paradise Lost. That is the first and last Maiden reference you will ever see from me. Enjoy it.

Reunion Tour

The Weakerthans are coming to Carrboro on the 9th of April. Am I pumped? Considering how much I liked their release from the Fall of 2007, yes!

However, before the Canadians get down to the Southern Part of Heaven, I plan on seeing Jose Gonzalez on campus at UNC on March 3rd, and then the everybodyfields and Chatham County Line in Carrboro on March 7th. Good times.

See you there.

Loch Ness Kotsay

The Braves recently announced the acquisition of Mark Kotsay from the Oakland A's to fill Andruw Jones' space in centerfield for 2008. Kotsay is about as mediocre as it gets, his OPS+ is at 100 exactly for his career. I'm not exactly sure what Kotsay's wife Jamie's OPS+ is, but is she mediocre? Not so much.

In Search of the Elusive Jamie Kotsay
Kotsay Going to Atlanta. Husband Going With Her.

Both articles come from Ump Bump.

Western Digital

Western Digital can die a horrible death. They make money by building seemingly-sturdy external hard drives, offering a joke of a warranty, and then when the device quits working altogether after five months of light use, Western Digital's support staff gives you the run around.

If I am ever faced with an anarchic situation where I have to loot and pillage to stay alive, I will make sure to stop by Best Buy and take a shelf full of WD products. Then, I will punt them like footballs into the burning buildings and flooded streets.