Real Love

I don't smoke, but I know a lot of people who do. At shows, it's really hard to look cool without a cigarette. So, I have come up with an invention that remedies this situation. I call it the Ciggy Pop. You can make one yourself if you wish. All you need is:

One (1) lollipop (I recommend the blue Tootsie pops.)

One (1) cigarette (they don't sell them in singles so you'll either have to borrow one from a friend or wait til they die. It won't be long.)

One (1) toothpick or something.

Instructions:
1. Using the toothpick, remove the filter and some of the tobacco
2. Insert sucker
3. Look Cool

Enjoy. Also, here's a song. It's called "Real Love." It was never released, but it's quite good.

Your Mother Should Know

The Accordion is harder than sin to play. Mine (a child's size) weighs a good 35 pounds, and my muscles ache after playing for anything more than ten minutes. But how did this mixture of piano and bellows come into being? Who was the mastermind that put that that whole shebang together? I bring you: the story of the accordion. 

Some say that the accordion was invented by a certain  Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann (Wallenstein Goethe Smith) in Berlin, Germany. The first accordions were  diatonic, which means that they could only play in one key, which means that you'd have to have multiple accordions if you wanted to play songs in different keys, sort of like with harmonicas. Shortly afterward, the accordion gained popularity in many countries. It became an integral part of folk music in many countries especially in Eastern Europe.  As time went on, music and the use of the accordion evolved. This is a direct quote from wikipedia (aka the Fountain of Absolute Truth):

Accordionists in heavy metal make their most extensive appearances in the folk metal sub-genre, and are otherwise generally rare. Full-time accordionists in folk metal seem even rarer, but they are still utilized for studio work, as flexible keyboardists are usually more accessible for live performances.

Who the eff knew there was a folk metal genre? Where was I? I would be all over that. While neither genre, standing alone, appeals to me entirely, the two together make for quite the shindig. I'm picturing Kirk Hammet playing accordion on a supercharged metallic version of Blowing in the Wind. Quite the spectacle. 
I recently attended the arizona accordion club and let me tell you, those cats can blow. Here is my mediocre accordion playing on the Beatles' "Your Mother Should Know."

A Hard Day's Night

I did a quick count last night of how many Beatles songs I know. I went down the list and if I was familiar enough with it to sing a few lines, i counted it. I figured that my pretty extensive knowledge of the White Album and Abbey Road would boost my score; I listened to those two pretty consistently growing up. But the rest I had only passing familiarity with. Of the 207 I recognized 117. In a glass-half-empty way, that's sort of pitiful. I couldn't even recall a melody to almost half of the Beatles' songs. But in a glass-half-full sort of way, though, the Beatles wrote songs memorable enough that I could recall more than a hundred of them by name alone. I have recreated the list here for your enjoyment. Try it out. Proclaim your score to the world, unless your score is higher than mine, in which case kindly keep it to yourself. Whoever gets the highest score wins the right (nay, the privilege) to cut his or her own hair.

Here's A Hard Day's Night, performed on the Phoenix light rail. I left my bag on the train, so check back tomorrow to see what shakes out in that department. Will society prove itself worthy to survive the flood, or is the world we live in just one giant ball of selfish poop? Pins and needles.

It's All Too Much

"It's All Too Much" is by George Harrison. It was written and recorded during the Sgt. Pepper's sessions and was scheduled to appear on "Magical Mystery Tour," but was bumped off. It finally appeared on the "Yellow Submarine" Soundtrack. The song pretty much consists of two chords and loads of acid.

I shot this video in the park by my house. Stay tuned after the feature presentation for some footage of the stately Canada Goose in its natural habitat.

Two of Us

Today I visited my brother Simon in Flagstaff. He has a ukelele and is way cooler than me, which may have something to do with the fact that he has recently met Ke$ha. We played "Two of Us."


Then we played Four of Us, with the help of some special guests.


"Two of Us" was written by Paul McCartney about his soon-to-be wife, Linda.

Come Together

Today I enlisted the help of friend and bandmate Trevor Denton

Good sound is coming. Don't you fret yourself.

I think it's time I delineated my goals with this whole project. As you can see in this video, I am barely passable at any sort of guitar playing that isn't chords. But over the course of these next 200-some days I hope to change that. My goal throughout this whole thing is to be a better, more spontaneous musician. I do most videos in one or two takes, accepting any little mistakes. My goal isn't perfection for each given video, but that each time I'll improve, add a little something new to the mix.

Taxman

The Beatles' "Taxman," a biting indictment of 1960's British fiscal policy, gives voice to the bitterness of the middle- and working-class families. The song was written by George Harrison, when he found out that the British government had imposed a 95% super tax on the highest tax bracket. At the time, there was a general distrust of taxes, which manifested itself not only in song, but it political uprisings as well. This lack of support for taxes was fomented by rumors of great excess in the aristocratic class. For example, Sir Lord Very Reverend Henry Wallaceford Dogrumple's appropriation of taxes to fund his cheese-sculpting habit. The British government responded saying that the seal fur used to make beefeaters' hats had grown very expensive, and needed to be imported from Luxembourg at £10,000 a barrel. The cost was so great because Luxembourg has only seven seals, all of which are in zoos around the country. If one has any degree of familiarity with the Luxembourgish, one knows that they are very fond of their seals.