Take That Business Man

and now it's time to say goodbye

2007-04-20T10:26:00.000-04:00

This blog has been fun and I appreciate everyone who has come by and read what I have to tell.
But now it's over.
No explanations.
Goodbye.

Tax Time

2007-02-09T14:33:00.000-05:00

Went to see my accountant the other day to work out all the details for the 2006 tax season. Took a big hit last year and we're working on ways to keep it a little less this year. I've got faith in my guy though...he's smart.

This is his degree from Yale. See I told you smart.

Here is is telling me that the man (see US Treasury) is going to bend me over again. Not if I have anything to do with it. I wonder why he's smiling.

Branding...and everything you want to know about the companies that do.

2007-01-30T18:36:00.000-05:00

Karen sent this to me today.
Great stuff about the biggest/well know logos of all time.
Didn't see the Studio 5 logo on there...must be a mistake.

It blue, I know, but hey who cares.

Busy Bee

2007-01-28T11:49:00.000-05:00

Haven't been posting here very often lately. Been doing a lot of writing on Pistolero's blog and that has kept me from being here. Quick recap

-Back's been hurting. Had to go to chiropractor. feeling a little better.

-Working on some test animations for Dirt Cheep Music. Owner wants to see if "it's worth his while"

-Everyone I know is getting married this year. Or it just seems that way...5 weddings on the schedule for the year so far.

-2006 taxes are coming up. I learned a lot from being audited this year (for 2004) so I've been doing some more prep work. The tax man is a monster and we all need to have our defenses up against it.

-I've got a wooly beard now to keep my face warm.

-Karen and I are going to Morrocco in March for this years vacation. Very excited, no work for about 15 days.

-More transmissions later

We is on the TV Box

2007-01-18T12:01:00.000-05:00

Pistolero will be featured on MAV TV here in the next few weeks. We did an interview for their Mav Music show in October and it's finally done and ready to go up on the air.
Here is it is for those of you with out satalite.

Delta Plumbing

2007-01-17T11:19:00.000-05:00

Well, here it is . After 3 months of script changes and re edits the Delta Plumbing spot is finished.
Hope you enjoy because I'm just glad it's done.

Ohh...Athens

2007-01-15T20:34:00.000-05:00

Pistolero played in Athens this weekend and lo and behold the cops get called.
Thought I'd get my self a pic with the car...they won't let you do that when you're being arrested. Sieze the moment is what I say.

2007-01-15T12:38:00.000-05:00

Just thougt this was too funny not to post up here.
Pistolero live at the 10 High Tuesday the 16th.

Show Time

2007-01-12T11:01:00.000-05:00

Come one, Come all
Pistolero like you've never seen them before.
With Cellos and Acoustics
Pistolero
No Dissasemble
ISP
$7 door includes all the beer you can drink before it runs out.
Door is 9pm and we'll be starting promptly at 10 pm.

Alive and Kicking

2007-01-02T10:38:00.000-05:00

Dave and his brain want you to have a Happy New Year!

Years Best

2006-12-29T17:12:00.000-05:00

Every year all of us recieve christmas/new years/holiday/whatever cards. It happens this time of year because that's what the people like to do. It seems to me that I've been getting more and more as I get older. Maybe it's that I know more people than I used to or that friends have more money to spend on things like this or maybe we're all just getting to be those kind of people.

Regardles of why they come, I'm glad they do. I can remember getting the'christmas letter' from a family called the Riddells. They were mormons and lived down the street from me from age 4 to about 7. I can barely remember them living there. But I looked forward to getting the Riddell letter every year like I did the Sears wishbook (maybe not as much , but I did). The letter always came with a picture of the whole Riddell family together. Even when a member of the family was on a 'mission' (mormons, remeber) they would include a pic of whoever was missing. The other day I was at my folks house and I saw the latest incarnation of their family and I am happy to say that it's true, the mormons are breeding an army.

All that aside I decided to share with you my favorite holiday card that was recieved here at Worker Bee INC. Thanks you to James and Josie for the laugh.

The ISP Gang

2006-12-20T13:28:00.000-05:00

This is the ISP collective.
ISP is a group of like minded artists who've decided to stop waiting for a scene to happen and make one happen. There's a small space in East Atlanta that we all get together at to put up shows supporting locals and touring acts. It's cool.
We (all the bands involved) got together the other week to take a picture. It reminded me of this picture...
This is a famous picture of 50 or so of the greatest jazz musicians alive at the time. It was taken in Harlem. Oh to have someone in 50 years look at our photo...dreams.

Working in a coal mine....

2006-12-20T12:40:00.000-05:00

Been busy here at the shop lately. Had two 'big' shoots.
The first was with Delta Plumbing. We're doing an animated truck as their spokes...thing. Here is a pic from the shoot.

That's Mike M holding the boom , he's also doing the animations for us, and Evan Mc running the camera. Leisa Davis plays the woman washing dishes. It was quite a stretch for her. I'll post the finished spot here...'cuase it's going to be awesome!!

Two days later I did a shoot for Butler Brothers MX Team. They are an up and coming team in the motorcycle racing world. They race on dirt...as you can tell.

Evan was DP on this shoot as well...the difference... it was an HD shoot. There's really not much different in the way you go about things when shooting in HD, it just costs more. That's Stosh holding the reflector on the side and if you look closely you can see that the names on the jerseys they are wearing all say Butler...hence the name.
This will be the first national spot that Studio 5 has ever done completly on it's own. We are very happy about this.

Another thing we're (or should I say I) am very happy about...

...I've finally paid off the business loan that I took out to buy Studio 5. Three years of about 22% of my monthly spending is over. I sent this picture in with the final payment. Yea for me!

Anatomy #2

2006-12-15T11:12:00.000-05:00

Here follows the tale of how to make you very own super cool CD for your band.

First get some spray paint and a stencil. Stencils are easy to make, here is a great site
on the how to part of stencil making.
Our materials.---------------------------->

Buy yourself some plain 'ole cardboard CD sleeves. Slap your stencil on it and get to spraying. The stamp was made by Southern Stamp and Stencil company..Fairly cheap too.
Make sure you get some spray on the other sleeves that are waiting to be painted and presto.

Our Finished Product.------------------------->

Thanks to Brian Slusher of WeatherProof Records for recording and mixing the songs that you will be able to hear on this. Also thanks to ISP for having us that night. This disc will be available at shows only for a few months.

Growing Pains

2006-12-14T10:51:00.001-05:00

I have a problem working in groups. Not that I hate other people's ideas, it's just that they never seem to just say what they mean. I'm not sure if it's a product of a generation growing up being told not to hurt other people feelings or that a majority of humans don't like to make a cut and dry decisions.
That being said I know that I'm a bit of a control freak. This stems, not from my wanting to be in charge and tell everyone else what to do, but more from the fact that I HAVE to know what's going on in any given situation. What better way to know what's happening than to seize control and strangle the life out of it.
This dislike/distrust of 'committee' work can be illustrated in my day to day life. What I do for a living...I create TV spots that for the most part I complete on my own (and in cases where I do have to work with other people, it stresses me out and I am very demanding of them). I enjoy reading more than any other hobby I have...Alone, me and the story, that I read, at MY pace.
All this is just prologue though.
The real crux of this commentary is that I have, unknowing to me at the time, gotten 4 extra girlfriends. Mind you, I have a very nice relationship with a woman that I love and I am working very hard not to be too demanding of or confrontational with. She is smarter than me so she can handle my faults... And she lets me hold the remote control. It is a normal relationship one that fits into a definable category. I digress.
It started innocently enough, I just wanted to play some music. BOOM, next thing I know I have a date nights and there are talks about 'where we're going with this thing' or 'let's talk about the future'. We fight like wounded bitches if our faults are criticized and are as protective of our ideas as any mother bear is of her young. This is not like any relationship that most have ever had. Normally you fight with just one person and at he end of the day that is the only person to deal with. Not this fucked up poly/monogamous relationship. You get shot down and you think it's passed into the night only to realize that 3 of your 'girlfriends' have been talking about for 5 days afterwards. It is a dynamic that is utterly new to me.
I am not entirely ignorant of work place dynamics, I know that they exist, but I am no good at working inside of them. I was fired from my last 'real' job, because in the final analysis, I was unaware that people were talking about my work/me behind closed doors and therefore I did nothing to defend myself.
What does this all amount to? A head clearing rant...Yes. A cry for help...I don't think so?
I mean, I just finally, after more than half a lifetime of work at it, got a handle on having a relationship with a woman, and here I go getting into an even more confusing mess. A situation where there can be no control, only discussion and compromise. Strange place for a control freak to be.
I guess I'm growing.

A Christmas Show

2006-12-12T15:52:00.000-05:00

Should be great fun...We're up for Best Album Art.

Anatomy of a release

2006-12-08T15:24:00.000-05:00

My band is poor. Because of this we have to come up with new and inventive ways to put out our music. We're on the web...Along with everyone else. You can even download Pistolero songs from I Tunes now. This is all fine and well but in an age where you can use GarageBand to record your album at home and get a thousand discs pressed for about $1000 we were looking for something to set us apart from the rest of the heard. We wanted to have a product that people could identify with. Something that took time and effort to make and you could feel the love behind it. A little mushy I know, but we really wanted to the Y back in DIY (y=yourself).
Here follows the way we decided to do that.

We're poor, I think I said that, so we had to go with materials/skills that we that we can get for free or do ourselves. So I made up the cover from an old picture of some friends playing around.
I then sent the file down to our friend Rod. Rod works at Sign a Rama. They make things out of vinyl. He and co worker Jamie rasterized/posterized the file to make the detail...Well a little less detail-y. Then cut the picture out of long sheets of scrap vinyl. This is what that looks like.

While all this vinyl work was being done I went up to see the folks at Tape Warehouse (a god send for people that need blank media a lot). There I bought 250 of these little white cardboard sleeves and 250 white inkjet printable CD-Rs.

The band got together to do what is known as 'weeding'. You have to pull all of the little pieces of vinyl that are not going to be in the final product out. Before 'weeding' the pieces look like black pieces of vinyl with lines drawn in them. After weeding was finished, Rod got busy cutting out the sheets into individual pieces. These then have to be laid upon our little cardboard sleeves and the backing paper pulled off.

Remember while I was at Tape warehouse that I bought CD-Rs. Well, I happen to own a disc duplicator. So I threw the discs in the Bravo and proceeded to write 250 copies. Then I designed the disc label and had it printed on the disc once they were authored.

Back down to the sign shop where Rod was waiting with the finished packaging...

and Presto we have 250 new EPs to sell the kids, give to magazines and radio stations and possibly...Just maybe a label or two. All told we invested Just over $100 (and a little help from our friends) and we have and EP that is unlike any other that you'll see out today.
And the music is not bad either.

The Kissing Bandit EP will only be available at shows for the time being, so come out and support you local Pistolero. Each disc is numbered, just like ART.
I hope you enjoyed the lesson.

My Job

2006-12-04T12:53:00.000-05:00

My work takes me all over the place and this is a big reason that I got into camera work. I get to see things that many of my friends don't even know exsist (and neither do I until I get sent to film them). This weekend I went to a race in North Texas called The Last Man Standing. The were not joking in the name of the race. Out of the 147 guys who started 2 finished. That's right TWO!
The track was 44 miles long thru creeks and up hills and over walls. The finish line was right after a 8 foot high shear wall. Meaning the rider had to get his bike up and over a flat wall that was taller than he was staning up on his bike. The guy, David Knight, who won made everything look easy, breezing up walls and over rocks. He finished over and hour and a half ahead of the 2nd place guy. Here is some video I shot to let yo see what it was like.

This what I look like when shooting races like this..It's all hurry up and wait.

Mom and Dad in the Eighties

2006-12-04T12:40:00.000-05:00

The story that goes along with this photo goes like this....

My grandmother Perkins was down visiting the family and went to church with the family. She was perturbed to see that my dad did not wear a suit to church (My father wore blue Dickies work pants and a blue work shirt my entire childhood and teenage years, everyday!!). She and my mother went that week to buy him a suit. This photo was taken after a wedding so my grandmother would have a picture of my father in a suit to put up on the wall.

Check out Mom's hair and dad's lack of belly.

As a side note...
Did you know that I'm related to Steve Wozniak.
I didn't.

(My Uncle Ken)

At the Races

2006-12-04T12:12:00.000-05:00

This Thanksgiving Karen and I took a drive up to see my family in Virginia. While there we went to South Boston Speedway in...you guesses it South Boston, Va.
It was fun and we saw lots of guys destroy weeks worth of work and thousands upon thousands of dollars of car equipment.
This is my Uncle(s) Ken and Tim at the track.

As you can see, at this race track you can bring in your own chairs and cooler...a plus for any one. I made Karen try the famous Balogna Burger...she did not throw it up at me. Big fun in a small town.

2006-11-14T17:38:00.000-05:00

BYE BYE RUMMY!

2006-11-08T14:39:00.000-05:00

Now you're free to go head up a multi national and fuck America
from a board room instead of the Pentagon.

Foreshadowing???

2006-11-07T19:12:00.000-05:00

“It may be that Clinton is spending so heavily in New York to try to accomplish the kind of landslide that President Bush enjoyed in 1998,” said Mr. Toner, referring to the Texas governor’s race eight years ago. “The president’s 1998 race unquestionably helped lay the groundwork for a successful presidential campaign in 2000. History may be repeating itself.”

$29.5 Million against a guy who was not even considered a contender, though when you read about the guy, you can understand why (i.e. Douchbag).
To her credit, she has not promised the people of New York that she will serve out her full term. The next few years will be interesting.

Hope that everyone had fun voting.
Good luck to CS.
And away we go.

We Got Reviewed

2006-11-02T11:32:00.000-05:00

Performer Magazine reviewed The Last Fiore.
(Scroll down you'll find it)
I think they like us.
And you will to...After you come see us play tonight at ISP in East Atlanta.
Four doors down from The Earl...And it's free.
Kisses and Hugs

Typed in RANDOM at Google Images and this is what I came up with. Pretty, ain't it.

The beginning of the End

2006-10-31T10:07:00.000-05:00

My Space has issued a decree...
MySpace, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., said it will review all music files uploaded by community members to their online profiles. The files will be run through a music database from Gracenote Inc.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press

People are already leaving the site because of slow load times and enormous amounts of spam. It's being challenged by new 'secure' sites like Facebook and others. Now that they're going to start policing the site for copyright material, and it's all pretty much copyright material, all the kids in webland are going to bail. Looks like Tom got out at the right time.

All this space are belong to US

2006-10-18T12:05:00.000-04:00

The new United States National Space Policy.

The official also said the administration has briefed members of Congress as well as a number of governments, including Russia, on the new policy. The public, however, has not learned much about it: The policy was released at 5 p.m. on the Friday before Columbus Day, with no public announcement.
Bush's top goals are to "strengthen the nation's space leadership and ensure that space capabilities are available in time to further U.S. national security, homeland security, and foreign policy objectives" and to "enable unhindered U.S. operations in and through space to defend our interests there."
By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 18, 2006;

Making no claims to be an expert...This says to me "Don't fuck around in OUR Space".

2006-10-16T14:17:00.000-04:00

2006-10-13T11:10:00.000-04:00

That's A Big Tree!

2006-10-13T11:06:00.000-04:00

James infront of the worlds largest stump...yes a stump.

2006-10-11T18:04:00.000-04:00

Risk Anyone?

2006-10-10T16:30:00.000-04:00

In light of recent events and the fact that I've had several conversations about this...
I'm sending out feelers about a nice game of WORLD DOMINATION!!!
Hit me with a comment as to a good night/day to do this if you would please sirs/mams.

"We need a picture of him and a goat"

2006-10-03T11:03:00.000-04:00

The October surprise.
This one is out of control.
Rep. Mark Foley (Rep.) (FIRED) apparently liked the teenage boys.
Sick Fuck.

It is a phrase oft repeated amongst political circles that "The only way we're going beat that guy (i.e. the political opponent) is to catch him fucking a goat/little boy".
usually it implies that the incumbent is unbeatable. And now it has happened for real.
How did this guy get where he is today without anyone noticing. I find it hard to believe that Mr. Foley's proclivity for young men has just 'happened' upon him or that it is due to a drinking problem. And to add insult to injury, this guy was the former Co Chair of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children.
Only in America would this story have sat on the shelf at some of the major networks, waiting for the perfect time.
Meanwhile, Florida newspapers Â who were leaked copies of the e-mail with the Louisiana boy last year Â defended their decision not to run stories. Both The St. Petersburg Times and The Miami Herald were given copies of the e-mail, as were other news organizations, including Fox News.

"Our decision at the time was ..Thatat because the language was not sexually explicit and was subject to interpretation, from innocuous to 'sick,' as the page characterized it, to be cautious," said Tom Fiedler, executive editor of the Herald. "Given the potentially devastating impact that a false suggestion of pedophilia could have on anyone, not to mention a congressman known to be gay, and lacking any corroborating information, we chose not to do a story." -International Herald Times

Our leaders need to be held to a higher standard, if the messages were untrue then Foley should have had no problem coming out vehemently against them.
We'll see how this unfolds.

I want to cruise in that ride

2006-09-28T13:08:00.000-04:00

The interior of Spaceship Two, Virgin Galatic's commercial space flight vehicle. Up you go into the atmosphere to 68 miles (at least acording to the press release) for a few minutes of weightlessness. Then you have about 40 seconds to get back to your seat before reentry.
All this and eco friendly to boot.
“If you’re going to build a spaceship, you’ve got to build a green spaceship,” Branson said, adding that the carbon dioxide output from a single spaceflight is on par with those of a business class seat aboard commercial aircraft.

Virgin's web site is pretty cool as well. You should go there.
via Space.com

2 down a species to go.

2006-09-15T12:58:00.000-04:00

Just got back in from my west coast adventure.
This is me with 2 coho salmon, yes that's Seattle in the background. I'm waiting to get all of the pics from the aforementioned adventure till I put up a thorough post.
Needless to say i had a great time and didn't sleep much.

Fighting Jihad with Jihad

2006-09-04T12:35:00.000-04:00

Jesus Camp..
Documentary...
Film Fest Winner...
A sign of things to come?
Can't wait to see this one.

To where no man has gone before...Wait , scratch that.

2006-09-01T10:10:00.000-04:00

This is the ship that NASA has chosen to replace the space shuttle.
This is the article that gives you the skinny.
I am blown away by the thought that a child being born today might one day be private astronaut. He/she will work for the Tyrell Corporation, of course.

Cut and Paster Democrazy

2006-08-26T08:55:00.000-04:00

Save the $2 PBR
Let Shirly Girl know you love your dive bars.
mayorfranklin@atlantaga.gov

Dear Mayor Franklin,

I know you are very busy; I appreciate all you have done for our city. I am a friend of the small music venue called Lennys Bar. Right now, they are unable to open until you sign their liquor license. Lenny's hosts many new and upcoming bands, and many bands have been affected by the closing of the bar. Please sign the Liquor License for Lenny's Bar at 486 Decatur St., Atlanta, GA.
Thanks

Whoa...Damn...That's messed up!!

2006-08-25T18:53:00.000-04:00

Wal-Mart...helping America one asshole at a time.

Liberty you say?

2006-08-22T12:31:00.000-04:00

THE FREE STATE PROJECT

Low taxes, few laws limiting personal freedom, and a port for trade.
Just need to figure out that snow thing.

Passengers in row 14-18...Prepare your stool samples for collection.

2006-08-14T10:22:00.000-04:00

"We can recognize patterns for people with hostile agendas based on research with Palestinians, Israelis, Americans and other nationalities in Israel," Mr. Shoval says. "We haven't tried it with Chinese or Iraqis yet."
This is just down right scary. Makes me want to fly the 'friendly' skies.
A a side note, I met the CEO of Delta last Friday. He was a pretty nice guy and even laughed at the joke I made. Wonder what he thinks about this.

So now she's Gone?

2006-08-10T11:14:00.000-04:00

...And what do I have to do now?
For the longest time I have been in the anti Cynthia camp. I have mocked her on signs, in this blog and to strangers on the street. I even had a nice conversation with a DNC organizer who happened to get assigned my neighborhood. But now she's out of office. And do you think Hank Johnson will be nearly as fun to criticize? A big fat NO. It doesn't even seem like she's going to dispute the election, I figured this for a given if she lost. Nope, it's all gone Pete Tong.
In case any of you missed her singing election night...here it is.
And as she goes out the door Cynthia has left us with a warning, akin to Eisenhower's farewell speech when he left office. That electronic voting machines are bad for America, people can have their votes just spirited away with the click of a button. At least when we had paper ballots they were harder to get rid of and more chance that you'd get caught trying to do it. I don't care who the candidate is, if they get the most votes they should win. See where ignoreing this has gotten us so far.
More info on Georgia voting machines HERE

As a side note, this girl took pictures of herself everyday for 3 years and made them into a video montage.

The Rise and Fall of HOOFY

2006-08-09T13:50:00.000-04:00

Finally got some of the pics back from the lamb roast. This is what Hoofy looked like before we cooked him.

It was tiring work keeping the fires going and basteing the lamb but grill team was on the job.
And after all day of slowly cooking, Hoofy was ready to be enjoyed by all.

Sing forth for thou God's Love

2006-08-07T11:03:00.000-04:00

This Thursday the Gunfighters are back at The Earl in East Atlanta. We're going to have a film crew there. See, we are going to be featured on a music video show on MAV TV. That's why we need all the litle children to come out and have a grand ole time. So if you missed the CD release, you know who you are, then you should be there. We will kill the cat.
10:30 PM Thursday the 10th The Earl

A Day at the Beach

2006-08-04T14:09:00.000-04:00

you go in the cage, cage go in the water, sharks in the water...

Allow him to retort

2006-08-02T10:29:00.000-04:00

Good Buddy RP had a nice retort to my latest McKinny rant
Here it is...
It's funny how those candidates kept misspelling all those words, even though they were just saying them, not writing them.

All jokes aside, is the problem with Cynthia McKinney that she's outspoken and African-American? I mean, is she even in your district? I look at it this way: If she can punch a cop in the face and still make her opponent force her into a runoff, well then, she's doing something right.

I also look at it this way: She was the very first politician to come out after 9/11 and start calling bullshit, not only on the Bush administration, but on everybody who blindly followed the party line. Personally, I want my politicians to be trouble-makers. But if you want some boring-ass sewer-manager or whatever who took money from Republicans, then I guess that's your prerogative.

His comments made me look into what I really want out of a politician. And that is nothing. I've always said that I want a person who will go to congress and pass no new laws, vote no on everything save tax cuts and push for the elimination of government programs. To basically put the brakes on the runaway train that is our federal government.
So by this rational...I should love Cynthia.
But I think he missed my point. She has no platform, no direction or plan that she has touted to improve her district. She's running her campaign based solely on Hank Johnson's negatives. The same can be said for Mr Johnson, his campaign slogan has basically been..
"Hank Johnson, not Cynthia McKinny".
I guess that I need to clarify what I meant in the last post.
They are both concentrating on the politics of personal destruction. Shame on both of them. It's just that I expect more out of an incumbent candidate who has served 10+ years in congress.
I am not endorsing either candidate, neither is a viable option.
It is a sad time in America when our politicians can't say what good they want to do for our country, only what a bad person their opponent is.

As a reminder everyone needs to remember to register to vote. You need to do it now so that you can vote in the upcoming fall election. This link will get you the form to fill out and the address to send it to.

(As for why McKinny never gets and E, she stole my sign, I steal her E)

For the 4th Ward

2006-08-01T10:01:00.000-04:00

For those of you in the 4th district...I hope you watched the Democrat Primary Runoff Debate last night on GPTV. If not here is a link and a brief Synopsis

Cynthia McKinny - My oponent took money from republicans!!!
Hank Johnson - I have accepted money from any one of my constituents, even if their ideals don't match exactly with mine. I'm trying to build consensus thru openly engaging with both sides of the aisle.
CM - My oponent took money from republicans!!!
HJ - I will work hard to see that the No Child Left behind strict standards are adjusted so that schools and whole school systems aren't left behind.
CM -My oponent took money from republicans!!!
HJ - Congresswoman McKinny has introduce over 85 bill into legislation and only one has been passed in her 12 years in office, one to rename a post office
CM - My oponent took money from republicans!!!
HJ - Her own party will not return her seniority to her after being reelected.
CM - I'm giving you the voter a voice in Washington and he took money from republicans!!!!
and there on for the duration of the 30 minutes.

Whereas I don't particularly like the robot now know as Hank Johnson, he in no way can do as sorry a job as McKinnysaurus has done. Here is an update from Jason on the McKinny Claim that she was voted the highest ranking Dem from Georgia.

McKinney claims that she has the highest rated legislative success record of any Democrat in the Georgia delegation on Congress.org. I can't find the particular article that she is referring to.

However, according to the power rankings for the Georgia delegation by the same website she is ranked next to last, above Congressman John Barrow. Her ranking puts her at 408 out of 435 members of Congress.

From Jasonpye.com

red rocks

2006-07-31T14:39:00.000-04:00

I was in Colorado this past weekend working.
We had some time off so we went a tourin'.
Did the Coors Brewery tour.
Did you know that they brew 1.3 million gallons of beer a day?
and we went out to Red Rocks.
It was pretty there.

New favorite show.

2006-07-31T14:14:00.000-04:00

I was a comic book kid.
I spent most of the money that I made cutting grass as a youth (bid'ness man even then) on what I considered to be the most solid investment known to an 11 year old, comic books.
Plus I like too read.
I was convinced that by the time I was 16 I'd be able to sell my stacks of Punisher and Wolverine and buy a car. Sadly everyone else thought this as well.
So the publishers printed more copies...more copies = less scarcity... less scarcity = less value...
Hence I was unable to buy a car with my 'investment'. I did still get to read them though, match that T-Bonds.
This is all preamble though.

Whilst flipping channels on my tele the other day I stumbled on a show called
Who wants to be a super hero
I was intrigued (see above paragraph) so I settled in to watch.
It's your typical reality slop, save Stan Lee and people dressed in tights.
1st challenge...Change from your everyday persona (i.e.Clark Kent) to your super hero identity without anyone seeing you and run to a designated spot. The fastest there wins. Sounds easy.
Well, Stan Lee planted a little girl crying along the route to the finish to see which 'super hero' would stop and help. That's what they're supposed to do you know, being super heroes and all.
Not many did and from there they went on to fire/vote off/eliminate one super hero to be.
Yada yada yada....
I thought that this twist was quite clever and have now designated the aforementioned show my new favorite waste of time. I have also picked my horse for this competition....

MAJOR VICTORY
This guy deserves to win...He prances...He poses...He even told the little crying girl "jump up in my arm's little one" before he carried her to safety.

So I've picked my new show...You think that TNT will stop asking me to watch The Closer?

Fat and Happy

2006-07-27T13:30:00.000-04:00

Exxon Mobile has done it again.
Big Numbers, Big Profits, Big CEO.
In this age of image driven corporate responsibility, you'd think that Exxon Mobile would choose a friendlier looking front man.

Like this guys here...Their motto is "Taking on the world's toughest energy challenges"
I'll submit my own and see what they think...
"Exxon Mobile, who you gonna run to?"

The boom is back

2006-07-19T18:04:00.000-04:00

Great Interview with David Cronenburg.
Warhol...filmaking...the future of media.

Subterfuge

2006-07-17T13:48:00.000-04:00

Well...It's gone.
It took a total of 38 hours for someone (i.e. CYNTHIA) to steal my sign (shown below).
I know that she's still sore at me for my unflinching campaign against her in the last election, but to resort to common thievery, come now girlfriend, that ain't right.
Election is Tuesday. Be there or be square.

Mr. Perkins' Neighborhood

2006-07-15T21:54:00.000-04:00

Win Ben Stein's Morals

2006-07-12T12:22:00.000-04:00

Read this on a blog that I go to fairly regularly, JasonPye.com. While I myself am not what you would consider to be a God fearing man, I do consider myself a moral person. I believe that debate and conversation is one of the greatest things about being a sentient creature. The ability to engage in constructive discussion with a person that holds different beliefs than you is very important.

...And because of this I have posted the following.

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary, Sunday, 12/18/05.

"Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart: I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important?

I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife.

Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are.

If this is what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.

Next confession:
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a crhche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution, and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?

I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.

But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this Happen?" (regarding Katrina)

Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.

And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?"

In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.

Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school . The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell.

Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.

Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.

Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing?

And for another view (via kraftblog) Keep your Jesus off my Penis

Take these two together and you get but one conclusion....I'll let Frank tell you.

"Do what you want and do what you will..just don't mess up you neighbor's thrill..

And when you've paid the bill, kindly leave a little tip..

for the next poor sucker on his one way trip."

Thank you Cynthia

2006-07-11T11:57:00.000-04:00

I watched this debate last night.
Our duely elected representative did not show.
"A Slap in the Face"
That's What oppenent Hank Johnson had to say about her.
Look at what these people think.

Talked to a friend....my sign will be in this week.
I like to support my local politicians.

Busy Week for the Bidness Man

2006-07-11T10:04:00.000-04:00

Totally Skipped Monday.
Cpmpleatly blew it off.

Tuesday...We're expecting the CDs to be shipped in today. I 'll post a pic with all 1,000 lined up in a neat little row for you guys. Tuesday night I have band practice and I have to show the rest of the band the finished product. Also the Atlanta Press Club is showing local candidates debating each other.

Wednesday...Today I think I'll cut the grass today. Then I need to have about 2 hours set aside so I can go thru each of the websites that soon to be elected officials have set up. It is time to pick my horse.

Thursday...Pistolero plays live on WRAS 88.5.
We have to play acoustically because their tiny little station cannot handle the rock.
Big thanks to the kids over at the Georgia Music Show for letting us on. We'll be on from 6 - 8 pm.

Friday...CD Release Party at Lenny's on Memorial. Big fun for all. Andrew Carter - 9 pm, Avaitor - 9:45 pm, Attractive 80's Women - 10:30 pm, Pistolero - 11:15 pm.
$5 door, $3 for a 24oz PBR.
There is a rumor that This Bike is a Pipebomb will be playing. If this is true they will come on after us, around midnight.

Saturday...Zoroaster has their WORLDWIDE release of an EP. Don't know if it's self titled or what. They're playing an instore over at Criminal Records. They play at 2 or 3 pm which doesn't matter because Will is such a sexy beast. Saturday night sea faring James and I will be starting the lamb roast in my backyard. We'll be there most of the night, feel free to drop by.

Sunday... Lamb Roast comes to it's completion and we eat. Stop by anytime after 1 pm and share in the spoils of shopping.

It's a big week and hopefully I can find some time to actually conduct some bid'ness.
This lifestyle ain't cheap turkeys.

What's wrong with the world? Ask these 2 guys

2006-07-08T19:58:00.000-04:00

THIS
is absolutes grand.
Take the 3 minutes to watch all of this...
You won't be sorry.

Typed in 'you' to google images and looky what I found -------------->
He seems like a nice guy, but do you want him to date your sister.
Our friend peter has a page...I suggest you check it out.

The Rock Show

2006-06-27T17:19:00.000-04:00

For James

2006-06-27T17:11:00.000-04:00

My friend James works off shore on boats in the North Atlantic about half of the year. While he's not working he spends his time fishing, barbecuing and drinking.
Right now he's sitting on a boat in the ocean...Thought I'd send this pic to him to ease his suffering and let him know that things are still running smooth here in Georgia.
I have smoke in my eyes.

Rock Music with the Video

2006-06-23T13:56:00.000-04:00

It's all done...Pete Tong

2006-06-16T12:36:00.000-04:00

Well...
That's it.
Did the final mastering on the album last night and we'll spend this weekend listening for any mistakes or blips that we missed.
But it's done.
We go to the printer on Tuesday of next week and in 8 to 12 business days we'll have 1,ooo copies for all the good children.

As a side note I have to mail a disc to Isreal today. Wonder how long it will take to get there.
God Bless Media Mail.

The World is His

2006-06-13T15:34:00.000-04:00

Physicist, author, and all around pimp Stephen Hawking has come out publicly and said that WE (humans) are to get off his planet.
"I'm gonna roll on this rock with just me and my bitches" - Hawking

So he really didn't say THAT. But he has come out and stressed the need for humans to establish permanent settlement s on other planetary bodies. What with all the problems that we like to create on our own and the threat of a ELE it seems to be a good idea.
I myself campaigned for this idea in my failed run for the District 4 congressional seat.
Alas, McKinney was too tough in the Dek...Or maybe it was my campaign slogan.
"Fuck this planet, let's get a new one."
I'll work on that.

Studio Tan

2006-06-02T12:04:00.000-04:00

So We/I've been in the studio, not mine someone else's, for the past 2 weeks mixing all the songs for Pistolero's debut album. Let me tell you, that whereas I once loved these songs I have now grown to loath them. For anyone who has not gone thru this process allow me to explain.
First you listen to the song, then you listen to just the drums, make adjustments, listen to the song, listen to the drums, listen to just the acoustic guitar, then the whole song again.
And on to infinity or until all tracks have been listened to.
This is an exhausting process and it has to be done for all 10 songs on the album.
Ever hear of ear fatigue.
Well I got it.
That said I have posted 2 of the new songs on to our My Space site.
Catch Me across the Wind
This means War.
We've decided to put out the album under a creative commons copyright that allows other folks to use, alter or enhance the songs without commercial gain and suffiecient credit given. The share music copyright. Let the kids download to their hearts content.
You can always go buy the EP , 'There goes the Neighborhood', if you just must have some Pistolero for your home right now. Or you can pull it off the net...we're out there somewhere.

Also an early reminder of our CD release show, July 14th at Lenny's (the new Lenny's).
Be there or my ears will hunt you down.

Too COOL

2006-05-24T15:49:00.000-04:00

A REAL TRANSFORMER

He's my dog sir... I'll do it.

2006-05-24T15:13:00.000-04:00

Can't remember where I got this pic.
Don't know why I downloaded it.
Just stumbled upon it this morning while cleaning.
Thought you should see it.

This makes me laugh....
Am I going to Hell.

Mr Smith goed to Cyberspace.

2006-05-19T09:32:00.001-04:00

I met Smith a few years ago. We worked at the same company for almost a year and didn't really get to know one another. I was on the road busy killing animals for televison content (it was a good experience but I would not like to do it again) while he was in a seperate part of the company. Then we drove to Troy, Ohio. Up Saurday morning, drive to Ohio, shoot all day Sunday, drive home that night. A lot of exposure to one another, for you see it was just me and him. We hit it off and had a great time and found that although we didn't have in commmon (Smith was salutadorian {sp?} and finished college in 3 years where as I dropped out of high school {hence the spelling} ) we were bound to be good friends.That's Smith on the left interviewing a professional motorcycle rider. In a kitchen. Those were the days.
He has now started his own blog/photo essay with his lady Martha.
Show Me the Rule Book.
That's what this is all about.
Read his about his public transit experiement. HERE!
Check back on Mr. Smith from time to time and see what's happening in his life.
That's what blogs are about anyway, voyerism.
Right.

Sneak a Peek pt 2

2006-05-10T15:22:00.000-04:00

This lovely pic will adorn the back of the cover booklet.
Word MO FO

As a side note did anyone else watch "The Elegant Universe" on Nova last night.
Awesome is all I can say.
String theory and Einstein and Quantum physics.
The host, Brian Greene, was pretty good too, kept everything in laymen's terms.
Beyond just the science, the show looked really good, specifically the backgrounds on the interviews. Worth a watch if you see it coming on.

Sneak a Peek

2006-05-09T13:52:00.000-04:00

This is the final lineup, songwise, for the Pistolero full length album.
We just finished the art last night and we have 1 or 2 days of mixing left.
Trying to line up a CD release party here in the city.
The pic is of the back of the CD case.
Other than the UPC code that's what it'll look like.
Comments are welcome and I hope you like it.
I'll slowly be putting up all the elements over the next few weeks in hope of building your anticipation.

For No Other Reason.....

2006-05-06T15:37:00.000-04:00

This was the #1 reason under the top 10 Reasons not to drink...too much.
Find the other 9 here

Do you Recognize this Man

2006-05-02T17:44:00.000-04:00

Got some pictures developed today at my local CVS.
Yes I still do that.
Get pictures the OLD way.
Somthing I started years ago. Buy the disposable camera and snap away.
On every roll I snap at least 1 picture by holding out my arm and shooting back at myself.
One day I'll put them all in order and watch myself age.
But that's another project all together.

The roll in question, the one I had developed today, had pics from Halloween and around that time. This is one of the pics that I recieved from Becky at the CVS.
Here is a closeup of the same pic.
Note, you fucker. You have to wait till she's of at least working age (4) before you feed her beer.

This photo was especially funny because just the other day I was at Note's new joint in Kirkwood and I snapped a photo of him and Birdy. Upon the winding of the camera I looked back at my subjects and noticed that the good father had a beer in his hand. I made a comment and we had a good laugh at the fact that his child will see the photo one day and feel completely justified in feeling that her father 'totally screwed her up'.

So think back to photos of your childhood, ones where Mom held a shooter up to your face or grandad made you pose next ot his 'shine' still and remember that they were just having some laughs.

Strange seeing you here.

2006-04-26T20:13:00.000-04:00

As some of you may or may not know...
I was once in a punk rock band called (aptly enough) Fashion Disaster.
We had lots of fun and drank loads of SoCo.
We used to put on these shows at the community center in Stockbridge.
(We lived there, they had to let us.)
We played with lots of diferent bands during that time.
We even help raise money for a dying kid whose photo we found in the center.
They had apparently had a fundraiser the week before for him and we thought it would be a nice thing to do for the guy.
One of the bands that we shared shows with there was called Style Over Substance.
They were nice boys. Meaning that they did not get drunk and try to start fights with anyone.
As it turns one of the guys from the band, Jason Pye, was just elected to chairman of the Georgia Libertarian Party.
Turns out he's being heavily involved for some years now and has finally accended to the top.
His blog is great if you want to know what's up in state government with an emphasis on Henry County. JasonPye.com
Heres a pic
Jason, I ripped this off your site, hope you don't mind.

Just goes to show not everyone in the political arena is a compleate douch

Bugger to you Havens

2006-04-25T18:21:00.000-04:00

This is the title to the next big summer hit this summer. Meaning that the theaters will overflow with people this summer for the latest summer blockbuster this coming summer. Summer 2006. Soon that is to say.

Return of the GAS MONSTER

2006-04-24T14:10:00.000-04:00

Did this campaign last year when gas prices got real high (see-$2.66).
Since oil has gone up so dramiticly here as of late it was time to bring back the Gas Monster.
Met with the client on this past Wednesday, he wanted delivery by Friday.
Explained that the sky was blue in my world, delayed delivery till today.
Now I'm just waiting for approval....and waiting...and waiting.

Mike Mikalski did the original drawing and animation.
Thanks Mike.

File under Tuesday

2006-04-18T19:34:00.000-04:00

Let's see...
Paid the tax man on Monday...
Singer went to jail on Friday...
Banker won't return calls pertaining to the home loan...
Lady friend wants to get her eyes cut on...
Record company that won't pay their bill...
Bussiness mortgage is overdue...
No clean underware...
Mac is making strange/LOUD noises...
Too cold for AC...Too hot for heater...
Gas coming up on $3 a gallon...
Non Profit is on hold...
And the cat has taken to random vomiting around the house...

Ladies and Gentleman, I thank god for everyday that I'm alive.

Mike Perkins, Damn glad to meet you.

2006-04-14T12:33:00.000-04:00

2006-03-28T11:59:00.000-05:00

Oopps

2006-02-16T18:39:00.000-05:00

I had a client come in to the office today. He is an evangelical Christian who has made his living for the past 30 odd years teaching kids about the life of Jesus with a dummy. A Howdy Doody dummy not the marriage of Jesus and a dummy. He wanted some video converted to DVD for sale or giveaway at his sermons. I'll pause here to let you know this is not a Christian bashing post, the man was quite nice and made no attempt to convert me.
He had three video/sermons that he wanted converted, each bearing a specific title.
Now the name of his dummy is Homer. And the name of the first video that I started on was "Homer Sez...Come to Jesus".
Now it is a common thing to shorten the names of DVDs so that when you load them into you computer the title doesn't take up 6 lines underneath the icon. My choice for this abbreviation was "Homer Sez".
Stop.
Look down at your keyboard and see what letter is right next to Z. That's right it's an X. So being busy and absentminded as I am prone to be, I mistyped the name. The whole process goes thru and I'm about to start dubbing 100 of the aforementioned DVD, when I decide to check the DVD for quality assurance.

The icon pops up....
and yes...
...It says "Homer Sex DVD".
The ideas began to billow around my mind of a family of good, wholesome christains settling down to watch a night of the good word (via a dummy's mouth)...
The icon pops up on the laptop (they have no TV: aka Satan's Box)
Little Timmy crying...
Mommy rushing to cover the baby's eyes , lest she be now with sin
Daddy yelling about the decline of morals in the church then leaving to be alone in his study.
I saw all of this then pulled the DVD out of the computer and broke it over my knee.

It's just business.

Why did I decide to check the DVD though. I don't normally do that.
Providence or just dumb luck.
Truthfully, I don't care.

Vanity Vanity all this Vanity

2006-02-16T18:06:00.000-05:00

So...
Rp sent me a note the other day mentioning that he'd found a guy that we both went to jr. high with on My Space.
Billy Rackley.
Big and scary and way into metal. He had a goatee in 7th grade (I think he'd been left behind a few years). So this got me to looking for other long lost freaks and friends. After a while this became tiresome and I resorted to what every other web weary searcher does in this instance.
I googled myself.
I had done this before and there is a man named Michael Perkins who provides free moving tips
I found this very humorous and exciting that there is a Michael Perkins who is an expert at moving. Good on you Mike.

However this time I was more inclined to find myself. I have a few things with my name on it out there, so I figured one of them might pop up. To no avail.
The closest I got was Michael J Perkins Elementary School.
*our actor does a double take in disbelief*
Holy Shit, they named a school after me already.
This school is located in South Boston, Mass.
It has to be located somewhere, right?
My father grew up in South Boston , VA.
Freaky HUH!?!
At the right you can see what the school looks like.
Wheels and All that BOOOYYEEE.

As a side note there is also a Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston. Anne Sullivan, she taught Helen Keller, was trained there.

The Rod can Take Pic-Tures

2006-02-14T14:07:00.000-05:00

I wantd to put these pics in a seperate post because they are so good. Rod Fiore is a friend, roadie and the band photog.

And he dresses up for the shows.

It's amazing that he can even hold a camera with that mangled hand.

2 shows 2 nights 2 little

2006-02-14T13:44:00.000-05:00

We played Lenny's Bar on Memorial this past wednesday.
Good fun save the fact that we were pulled after 4 songs.
Apparently their was a band (a boy and girl) that had driven a long way to play and they deserved more time than us.
So we got puled halfway thru the set.
Here is some visual evidence

We also played this past Saturday at 569 Gresham...a house party.
This show was great. We played in the basement on the same level as the crowd. It takes me back to my punk rock days.
The crowd enjoyed the show and we even had girls dancing, a first for this band. We were allowed to play our full set plus a few more and the beer was free (and Pabst). We ended up giving away all of our t shirts and most of the EPs that we had brought with us. Here is more visual evidence.
As you can see in the crowd photo the ductwork hung so low that you had to duck to keep from hitting your head. The floor was made of plywood over a dirt floor. If you jumped around the amps would fall. Alas we had to refrain ffrom our normal stage antics, but the beer was free,
For anyone who didn't make it to this show, and that's most of you, a pox on your house until you witness the old fi sounds that are Pistolero.

We're playing the Earl March 9th (hint hint).

As for work, I'm about to start a spot for an air charter service and flight school.
I'll be flying iin a little bitty paln to get the arial shot ...exciting.

Paige this is the world

2006-02-03T10:56:00.000-05:00

World this is Paige...
and her mom, Shelly

These 2 are forigners and are not to be trusted with things like baseball, apple pie, or mothers.

I am a Lazy Bastard

2006-02-01T12:26:00.000-05:00

It's True.
I can't seem to get my ass out of bed.
For the past two months it seems that I have to hit the snooze button for 2-3 hours.
Today, for example, I needed to go to a chamber meeting at 10 am. 10 AM...and I couldn't seem to make it out of the bed. Now, I was awake at 8 but the pull of the soft covers and the warm bed makes me do irrational things. Or better yet I rationalize staying in bed. This is becoming a problem.
I can always get up if I have made a n appointment that has to be kept. But barring the loss of money (not potential money mind you) I can't get up.
Any tricks or helpful hints are appreciated.
And Needed.

Also:
Pistolero has 2 shows coming up in the next week or so.Lenny's Wed Feb the 8th.
2: We are playing a house party at 569 Gresham Sat Feb 11th.
$10 all you can drink art party,
this thing draws a ton of people everytime
and is mucho funo

Rivers and Tides and Holes in the Earth

2006-01-26T11:37:00.000-05:00

Last night Karen and I watched a wonderful movie called Rivers and Tides.
It is about the art of Andy Goldsworthy.
He is Scottish.
The movie runs about 90 min and is truly amazing.
His art is made of natural substances (i.e. leaves rock, ice) and is made to be destroyed.
Not destroyed, but taken back into it's former elements.
I'll quote - "The piece is not meant to be destroyed by the ocean but to be taken over by the ocean."
There are some wonderful time lapse scenes and there are times when the piece just doesn't work out. Theses scenes are heart breaking to watch: all the time put in just to see it crumble before his eyes by a slight gust of wind.
He remains very calm abut this due to his view of his work. You'll have to watch to see what I mean.
The movie also shows his home life. Family, his home, the normal everyday stuff that connects us all.
I highly recommend that you put this on your must see list, just don't have anything to do afterward...It's a draining experience.

20,000 Copies in Japan

2006-01-18T16:10:00.000-05:00

We are GODS in Japan, FOOL.
Lamont Tittykiss and Bootney Funkstein are loved by our little yellow brethren.
Tourin' tha nation under a red sun.
Blazezup

What, you may ask, is this about.
Pistolero sold it's 1st CD to a stranger.
And he lives in Tokyo.
His name will be withheld to protect the satisfied, but don't hesitate to follow his lead.
Y'erd.

Also, I saw my first episode of The Trailer Park Boys last night via Netflix.
It follws the exploits of Julian, Ricky and Bubbles in their trailer park in Northeast Canada.
It's low budget, shallow, toilet humor and I FUCKING love it.
They curse almost non stop.
I grew up one neighborhood over from a trailer park so I have a certain amount of experience with the inhabitants of trailer parks. RP and I used to make movies that could be called the 'retarded cousin' of this show......... or the 'genius brother'. I'm going to have to dig up some old footage and see. But I digress.
The show is way over the top but it works well.
If it were true to life it would be too depressing to watch, but because it is so stereotypical it's way funny.
They have a movie in production now and season 5 just hit the airways up in Canada.
If you get a chance, watch this show....without your mom.

On the Person of Tom Gilson

2006-01-12T17:19:00.000-05:00

My Cousin Tom Gilson died last night.
He is survived by his wife Carlene and his 3 children.
Tom was a great guy and he was my confirmation sponsor when I was 12.
I saw him this summer for the 1st time in around 8 years. He was still fun, life and all of it's daily hassels had not dragged him down.
There will be no mass mournings for Tom, no news stories nor any large funural processions.
Tom was a normal guy, he had a normal job and a normal family.
In death he wil continue that tradition.
But I will remember him as the teenager who taught me how to swing a baseball bat
as a man who helped guide a boy in matters of the spirit
and as a father who showed me life is just getting started at 30.

My hopes that he was in Heaven an hour before the Devil knew him dead.

2006: Year of the corporation

2006-01-12T16:47:00.000-05:00

Right Now;
Karen is 're-doing' our kitchen
Someone is building a house 2 doors down from us
People are arriving home from work
and I'm writing this post.
You see I should be working; on something other than this blog.
For 2006 is the Year of the corporation.
That's right folks, all, see all, of my business thus far this year has been from corporate clients. Hooray. I've been trying for the past 2 years to get the ball rolling with some Fortune 1000 companies (it exists, I swear).
It seems to have finally happened.
I have a rather important gig tomorrow shooting a training film for a new (and potentially huge) client. Exciting, yes; scary, yes; I am as prepared to handle these types of clients as I'll ever be so why the fuck should I worry.
IF I SHIT THE BED THIS TIME IT"LL BE ANOTHER 2 YEARS TILL I GET ANOTHER CHANCE.
Well, maybe that's not so true.
I'm in the process of working up proposal for another large company to do their training film. Huge job, months of work and planning. I mean the proposal has taken/will take 6 days to put together. All in all I think I have about a 25% chance of getting this gig, but if I did....
FADE IN ON BEACH SCENE
We see a couple sitting in beach chairs with a table in between them. On the table are BLAH BLAH BLAH
I should have said insert generic Corona commercial here.

good days to you and all

Henry #2

2005-12-27T16:02:00.000-05:00

New Hobby

2005-12-26T19:11:00.000-05:00

Scooter redux

2005-12-26T15:54:00.000-05:00

Just recovered some of the pics from the pig roast thouoght I'd share some here with you folks. This on is me about 6 am on the morning of Scooters cooking.

This one here is of me and Rob cutting the back legs off the pig to ensure that the hams got fully cooked. NO riki-trickinosis at my house.

Our cat thought that the whole event was a little strange, this is where he was most of the day.

My Movie

2005-12-23T13:44:00.000-05:00

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Everyone else is doing it, why shouldn't I?

Roundup

2005-12-19T16:15:00.002-05:00

It's been quite a month for me here at the office.
December
Normally a quiet month
A time for reflection and gathering up receipts for Uncle Sam's cut.
Not to be this year.
Project after project has come and and people keep calling.
I even had a guy that I pitched over 2 years ago call me and say he was ready to do his spot.
I am not complaining...no... no complaining here.
Just Busy!
So I've decided to sum up the month to date here in one big splash.

So far this month I have had done some exciting things :
1) I met Des I, he's a Jamaican rapper that apparently is quite the star in his home country of...You guessed it Jamaica. He told me that anytime I was in JAI maca to give him a call and he'd show me the real JAI MAAAACAA. I did a re-edit of his video for his record label (they're based in Lithonia?!?) It was strange, I know that where he comes from he is famous, but no one here even knows he exists. He was a very nice man though and seemed not at all caught up in his fame.
2) We (Pistolero) got our EP on the web finally. It's at CD Baby. Please feel free to go have a listen, quit your job, sell your house, 'donate' all of your cash to us and then follow us around as a devoted fan.
3) My brother, Chris, after years of working for free and sweating about every election he's worked on, finally got a job in politics. He will be the legislative aid to Steve Davis, a rep from Henry County. Many of you who know Chris know that there is no one more suited for politics, although his ideas are a little scary. It's good news none the less.
4) Very Special Episode. GO see it. I did. You will not regret it. Dad's Garage on Thursdays
5) I'm still alive and that's enough for me ...Today anyway.

So that's the roundup for the month of December
Happy Days to all and to all a cold beer.

Studio Time

2005-11-28T10:40:00.000-05:00

This Saturday Pistolero went in to the studio. Corey said he'd hooked up with a guy who had a studio in his basement and would record us for cheap. I have been to these type of 'studios' before and it usually means an unfinished basement with a few mics and a busted ass analog 8 track. I was wrong wrong wrong.
We pulled into the driveway of the spot and the house looks very normal, typical 3/2 ranch in the burbs. But then we enter. Andy, the owner, has his entire house wired. Music plays in every room of the house from a central entertainment unit. In addition to electrical outlets in the wall there are XLR plugs so you can run a guitar/mic from any room. Then there is the basement. He's set up a living room next to the control room so you can layabout while your not recording (this is very important because 'recording' translates to waiting more often than not). Paintings on the wall, subdued lighting, comfy chairs, and Andy hasn't even opened for business yet.
We lucked up in meeting this guy. He plans to launch this spring or summer but wants to have a finished product or 2 when he does . Hence our luck. We're getting a $250 an hour studio for whatever we can scrape together for his time. He just wants to make a finished product to have as an example.
We did 5 songs this weekend (live tracks that need vox and some dubs) and 2 more rhythm tracks. All and all we'll spend close to a week at EVOKE Studio to put together a full length release.
Here's a pic of Todd looking most gay...

Pretty Things

2005-11-28T10:27:00.000-05:00

The band I play in is notorious for having shitty equipment. It has always been this way and I was coming to believe that I would always play through a second hand movie theatre speaker whilst my band mates bang away on Peavy combos with one broken channel.
It was not to be.....

This is one of the speaker cabinets that Tom and I built. It's stain grade. That's what they call really nice wood. I should say that I was mainly a helper on this project and that Tom did most of the work. I just wanted a new cabinet that would be loud...very loud: I got a beautiful piece of furniture that doesn't belong in our filthy practice space. One day it will be in my house with a doily and a houseplant on top of it.

My new friend Scooter

2005-11-18T13:06:00.000-05:00

I went and Picked up the pig this morning.
For the Pig Roast.
I bought him from a man named Howard. This is Howard and Scooter.
Howard struck me as the kind of man who has a pig farm. Granted I was buying a pig from him, but if I had met him in a bar I would have guessed that he raised pigs. I wanted to kill the pig myself but Howard had already dispatched the swine when we got there. He offered me the lungs and liver, I let him keep those pieces for himself.
It should take about 8-10 hours to cook Scooter tonight. I'll post more pics of what he looks like in the process.

A Very Special After Effects Program

2005-11-02T15:48:00.000-05:00

30 day Later

2005-10-27T16:19:00.000-04:00

Well the diet has run its 30 day course.....
Drum roll please.
I now officially weigh in at 178lbs.
that's right folks I lost 2 lbs in 30 days.
I personally feel that this venture has been a success. I mean it motivated me to go out to the gym and start working out, I am now more aware of what I eat and can almost stomach breakfast now, and it curbed my drinking ( just a little bit). I don't mind that I missed my goal of 15 lbs in fact it has just reinforced what I have been thinking....
JESUS LOVES ME JUST THE WAY I AM!
There, with that said, let's get back to pizza at midnight and Pabst at 10 am. Praise the Lord.

Also, I designed this cover for Pistolero.

This cover will be created by cutting out the white spaces on a black vinyl sticker and placing them on a white cardboard sleeve. Negative space, or so I'm told. Will from Zoroaster is making the stickers for us. We are going to have a 4 song live EP here in the next few weeks as well as the website up and running. We decided to take a break, well actually Tom and his wife had a baby 4 days ago so that helped us to take a break, and work on a new full length as well as some other merchandise.
Stickers, T shirts, 2 Eps and a full length by December 25th, wish us luck.

under every rock can be a surprise

2005-10-25T18:42:00.000-04:00

In the course of trying to promote my band PISTOLERO i wade thru endless "music" pages. These type sites are a great way for small bands with low or no budget to get their stuff out there to people who aren't their friends. and ...Their friends as well. Clap your hands... And The Arcade Fire are prime examples of a band getting out the message via this relatively new (to me anyway) resource. Wired has a large article in the newest issue about just this fact. It's a split article about the guys who created My Space and a band that has done very well there.
My Space and Garage Band are very good places to find music well as good all around sites, and they have helped my band reach people that have never, will never, don't ever care to see Pistolero live, hear the music we make.

All of that was precursor ...
PORTABLE FOLK BAND

This band is fantastic. A wide variety of sounds. Fugazi like shifts in timing and mood. They have captured the best of their influences (and there have to be quite a wide range of them) and boiled it down to a great album.

100 Greatest Robberies in History
Hinge, Door, et cetera

Are 2 that jump right out at you.
There is a high level of quality to the production on these songs, amazing since they were recorded in the bands basement. They sell their CD on the site for $5.75. Best thing about it is, after manufacture and shipping of these discs they probably still make more than if they were signed to a major.
BULLY FOR THEM.

Happy Birfday

2005-10-12T12:36:00.000-04:00

It's Been busy Busy BUSY here at the office.
I did 4 commercials for a car dealer (same one how I created the gas monster for) and I am in the middle of doing 2 market research studies for Deep Blue Insight.
This is what my note sheet looks like
(notice the wine stain, I was working late).

I am helping some friends with a video piece for an improvised sitcom. I will be creating the open that gives their names and shows their pictures. This will most definitely make the site upon completion. I have also nearly completed my fist political commercial. It is for a man named Harold Thibodeaux. He is running for city council in Stockbridge (That's where I grew up and my brother and parents still live). I am not getting paid for the spot, my brother Chris is the campaign manager and I wanted to help him out. Harold is a nice guy and the only black man I have ever heard say that "Jesse Jackson ain't nothing but a pimp with a reverend's suit". That's some funny shit.

Also, October 1st was my 2 year anniversary of owning Studio 5.
HOORAAY!!
It's was like my business' birthday.
I have tried to be like a parent to it. I care about it and want to make it grow (although children do this on their own). I worry when it goes to the store alone.

The business is making more money than last year, if you don't count the last 3 months. I won't say that I'm satisfied, but really busy weeks make you think that you're always this busy.
I have 14 more payments left on the biz loan and then I'm free.
I actually sat and thought about what I would do with the extra $1500 each month the other day.
No idea.
Have to worry about that when it happens.

Bleah!

2005-10-06T14:07:00.000-04:00

So I've been on a diet for a week now...
and I have gained 5 lbs.
What the Shit is that?
Gym time...CHECK
Eating Right...CHECK
No Beer...ONLY WHEN ALLOWED
and I gained 5 lbs.
I am begining to think that dieting is stupid and that I am stupid as well.
I feel just fine with the way I look. I know that I need to be more active and I must admit that the working out is fun for me but I am depriving myself of the things in life that I enjoy the most.
FRIED FOOD AND BEER
I really don't love these things more than anything else, not by a long shot, but the idea remains. Is it really worth the aggravation and money (eating right and liquor drinks cost a lot) to make other people happy/keep them from fucking with me?
I don't know.
I did set out to do this for a month and I will follow thru. So we'll just see what happens.

Dekalb County is giving away money for artists. It has to be an expo/showing to get the money and you have to live in DeKalb. Christie at the Dept. of Arts, culture and Entertainment was very helpful. You should call her ---404.270.9314

That's it and I designed this sticker.

Home Invasion

2005-09-28T10:49:00.000-04:00

On My last post I got 5 Comments.
"My god someone is reading this...well I guess that is the point."
It turns out that they were from advertisers/spammers

Example:
Your blog is great If you own a home, I'm sure you'd be interested in Landscape Lighting Stop by and visit Landscape Lighting
Example #2:
You have a great blog here. I don't maintain a good blog, but I do run a home furnishings site. It highlights quality home furnishings, apparel and gift sites. Stop by when you have a chance.

What the fuck is that shit. Does anyone know any way to get sneaky and destroy these jerks lives.
Any suggestions are appreciated.

Be Gone Old Friend

2005-09-26T10:15:00.000-04:00

I have to end a friendship. I have been nurturing this relationship for about 6 years and the time has come to make a break.
It is with my gut.

Today I weigh 180lbs.

I am endeavoring to lose 15 pounds in a month.

I believe that this is possible.

Step #1: Gym Membership:
I have this already because my girlfriend bought me one, a not so subtle hint.

Step #2: Three meals a day:
I'm really bad at this because most days I won't eat when I first wake up. Then I forget about eating and won't eat till 4 pm, causing me to be very hungry again at midnight at which time I order Pizza or Chinese food and fall fast asleep. (DAMN YOU CHOPSTIX)

Step #3: Beer:
As many of you know Beer is one of my oldest and dearest friends (notice that I capitalized the name) and will be the most difficult challenge of this project. I have to eliminate beer from my diet and will do so by not drinking beer during the work week. Beer is okay on Saturday and Sunday and for Falcons Games. I wanted to have all the beer out of my house by today but at last count I had around 36 12 oz cans in the fridge. Any help?

Step #4: Healthy Eating:
No more fried foods, No more bowls of mac and cheese for a meal, No more eating like a Roman noble (gluttony).
Light breakfast (can't do more because eating in the morning makes me ill) most any thing I want for lunch and a sensible dinner. I feel like Tommy Lasorda.

I think that my goal is a reasonable one and I like a challenge. I am going to post shots of my gut throughout the process, if I ever get the camera working. If any one has any good recipes that they want to contribute please feel free.

I just read over what I have written and I miss beer already.

Speaking of which, I read DRY over the weekend. It's by Augusten Burrouhgs. His second book, all about rehab and the 'drying' out process. I read it in about 6 hours. Good Book.