the realization

dear readers,
however few you are, thank you for your unceasing patience. in penance for seven months of neglect I offer up my sincerest apologies as well as a commitment to more regular updates... honestly, if only for my own sake, in a feeble attempt to make since of all the craziness that has been this last six months, writing for me has a way of clearing up the clutter in my head. so here it goes. currently, i have two jobs, two major musical projects, two major other undertakings, and everything else (the cullmination of "everything else" i.e. family, friends, fellowship and so on, are probably more important as the first six things) but first things first. as we speak i first work at T-West or Tortilla West located in West Ghent on Orapax St. its my second year at the job and over the last few months i have finally reached my stride working two to three shifts a week including a closing shift on tues infamous for its 75 cent tacos and cheep beer. more recently i have begun to work the lunch's tues through friday at 37th and zen 10 am- 4pm... and you ask "don't you work t-west some of those nights" and the answer is yes i do, tues and fridays for me lately have been 18 hours days, crazy i know but the money makes it worth it...at least for now. thats about 50 hours a week. next in line are the musical projects: first there is Long Division, an instrumental/ alternative/ post-rock band. we just finished our album, and are in the post-production faze, however due to scheduling issues the CD release party will not be until tenitively may 1st. as previously mentioned long divison's callender is filling up with a half dozen shows and events in april alone. super excited to play with unwed sailor and american dollar and at campus chaos and possibly MacRock that month. the second musical project is essentially a revamping of my acoustic/ singer songwriter material. under the new banner of: andylion i feel energized and enthusiastic. in addition, andylion will be releasing its debut album in the spring of 2010 with arms race records (but more about that later) last but not least, the two major undertakings that i am dealing with currently are starting and admistrating Arms Race Records and Innerloupe. Arms Race Records, is the brain child of myself and old friend Jamie Cheek geared to give deserving local artist opportunities for networking, production, and other resources that are extremely difficult to pool on your own. fingers are crossed but i am excited for many reasons... more about that to come. Second, there is Innerloupe... spawning for similar discusions with friends innerloupe hopes to help develop music locally through promotions, booking, networking, admistration, art, graphic, and web design. the particular focus of innerloupe currently is to help 37th and Zen develop into a nationally recognized venue. once again we will see....anyway thats a snap shot of my life currently...and still there is everything else...ahah... which might haft to wait for next time because

the forward

So what if this is my Everest. If it is, I would probably try to climb it blind. Unfortunately, in true Sisyphus style I feel like I approach the summit daily only to find that I am right back at the bottom once again baggage and all. When I was young I always hated travelling with my parents because somehow on vacations I was always elected bell hop, the tips were terrible, and my parents travel with everything they own but their bed frames. Yet, now I also equip my travels with cripplingly heavy luggage. Now where was I, oh yes Everest, unlike the snow covered peak of the Himalayan peak that ever rises into the mist dominate and foreboding. I find that my personal metaphorical Everest is elusive and seemingly intangible. For what should I strive? I know the answer and yet I feel that its revelation makes my Everest even more distant like a mirage shimmering in the distance that seemingly retreats with each of my approaching steps. So what is this monument that scrapes the sky its self the answer is both simple and yet infinitely complex: LOVE. Yes, love, my God, my neighbor, without fear, without selfishness, without pride, to accomplish is would require perfection, a characteristic of which I am out of stock.

more to come...

the prologue

I have heard it said that life is like a book and when you haven’t traveled it’s like you have only read one page. Well if my life’s a book it would be a long one, so I hope they make a movie soon so I don’t have to read it… staring Ryan Reynolds (as me) of coarse whose romantic interest is…lets see…

Wait, why am I doing this? Why am I subjugating myself to the burden of believing that you actually give a damn? The answer is simple. I believe that technology and style are cyclical and that blogs not unlike beepers are on the way back in: see cut off jean shorts and riding a bike for transportation… and this time I am ahead of the curve. Actually, I am just providing good company for “the artist formally know as Kdawg’s” blog. alliteration alert. (in the editing stage I realized Kdawg’s blog…is not an alliteration just slant rhyme…thanks NPS…sigh) Which incidentally is freaking amazing. OR maybe I am just creating a rival blog like the movie Warriors minus mimes with baseball bats but plus really bad grammar…no actually that’s parts the same.

“Its three in the morning” and though I am not sleeping… yet…(I am a ticking time bomb of sleep and I just cut colored wires at random for kicks) I do still have clothes on, which ironically is fundamentally against the no shirt policy at the waffle house. If you are already really lost than you are probably reading the wrong blog. It’s funny what seemingly inconsequential things we are “remember”ed by. More often then not they are not what we want, but I will say this if one of you plays that song at my funeral when I see you in heaven…I will f*&K your new perfect body up… or just haunt you forever (choose terrible fate dependent upon beliefs system). Actually, today I found the original accapella version of that song. = More embarrassing than the version you know and love if that’s possible. Speaking of pop.

The king is dead long live the king. We ask how soon is too soon to start making jokes. I am not sure, but hear is the one I heard the day after MJ died. What was the first question Michael asked when he got to heaven? …Do you have an amusement park? I kid I kid, we all know Michael isn’t in heaven. On a seriously note if your Catholic start praying for because he is def in purgatory, well actually maybe not I have heard that Catholics don’t really mind the touching little boys. Stop screaming McCauley…just let the robber in.

For those of you who know us, automatically know the 3 golden questions, the most important of which being: Do you like waffles? I think its due time that I suggest a fourth. If you were bread, what type of bread would you be? We have decided that Nate would be Rye, because rye bread is a bit of an enigma and when given the choice white wheat or rye I have never heard someone pick rye. I Andrew am friendship bread, because everyone loves me but CJ, and sometimes I am forgotten and burned hard as a brick. Last but not least, CJ of course is sour dough, to know why (hang with CJ for a day).

So I guess that was a good enough start, despite that fact that it came in mid-thought. The beginning is not always “a very good place to start” Julie Andrew’s even if you do immortalize ideas like that and the repression of fear in the format of catchy songs. I refuse to take this too seriously yet this is not going to be a series or crafty punch lines either… anyone who has heard my standup would know that if it was like that it would be boring. Honestly, I am nursing myself back to health from a pretty bad case of whistle foot and an embarrassingly short drinking binge that has left me reeling. I have never felt less sure of myself than when staring at the bottom of a bottle, so I have put it down for a while and started blogging, which I have heard is remotely like group therapy. Let me here your resounding: Hello, Andrew.