Just when I thought you couldn't get any dumber, you go and do something like this...

and totally redeem yourself! ...well almost...

Got this e-mail yesterday...

Dear Nicholas,

Thank you for flying with JetBlue Airways on from AUS on March 10, 2006. We regret that we did not operate your flight as scheduled and sincerely apologize for the inconvenience that the maintenance delay may have caused you. As always, our foremost consideration in these cases is the safety of our customers.

As a gesture of apology and goodwill, we have issued each customer on your flight a round-trip JetBlue electronic voucher. The voucher is for you and is non-transferable. JetBlue vouchers are valid for one year, can be applied towards airfare on JetBlue Airways reservations only and are not redeemable online or towards JetBlue Getaways vacation packages.

We thank you for your understanding, and look forward to a future opportunity to welcome you aboard JetBlue Airways.

Sincerely,

JetBlue Airways

So that's pretty sweet. I guess I'll be flying JetBlue at least one more time. The one thing is that my options are a bit limited. I can go to: NYC, Boston, Bermuda, Buffalo, Burlington, Pittsburgh, Portland (Maine), Richmond, Syracuse, or beautiful Rochester, New York...

I'll almost definitely use it to go to NYC, but a little more of a selection would've been nice. It also doesn't make up for the time lost getting to hang out with everyone in New York.

But hey, FREE TRIP TO NEW YORK! Just gotta figure out when to do it.

(they better not pull some shit where I can only fly in an on month, on an even Tuesday, after 5pm, when it's over 75 degrees...cause then I'll go nuts)

Songs of December/January/February....ish

I need to get back to making my cds of the month on a regular basis. I did it from last April through August, and then just stopped cause I'm a lazy bastard. Well, to get back in the swing of things I decided to make a CD that comprised the last few months. I guess it could be called "The Songs of Winter 2005/2006". Some new stuff, some older stuff. It was quite hard to whittle down to an 80 minute cd, but I think I came out with a damn good collection of songs.

Apollo Sunshine - Today is the Day
Arctic Monkeys - A Certain Romance
Coheed and Cambria - The Suffering
Death Cab for Cutie - We Looked Like Giants
Decemberists, The - 16 Military Wives
Dilated Peoples - Proper Propaganda
Fall Out Boy - Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner
Franz Ferdinand - The Fallen
Matisyahu - King Without a Crown
Music, The - Freedom Fighters
Pepper - Give it Up
Snow Patrol - Run
Sparta - Lines in Sand
Straylight Run - Your Name Here (Sunrise Highway)
Sublime - Caress Me Down
Thirsty Merc - Wasting Time
We Are Scientists - Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt (Wolf's Hour EP version)
Weezer - Perfect Situation
What Made Milwaukee Famous - Hellodrama

NYC Shenanigans (or: Eight Dudes in the City)

-Got to New York at 2am eastern time
-Was supposed to land at 10pm eastern time
-My JetBlue flight was scheduled to take off from Austin at 530, but we spent an hour on the plane at the gate waiting for a technician to fix a problem with the bathroom
-Said problem was not fixed
-It was decided that we fly to New York with one functioning lavatory
-45 minutes into the flight, a flight attendant comes over the PA and announces that the other bathroom is now broken
-Flew back to Austin
-I manage to watch The Ringer (with Johnny Knoxville) in its entirety by the time we get back
-It was not a good movie
-It had some surprising heart, though
-To appease the customers, JetBlue ordered everyone pizza while they fixed the problem on the plane
-They ordered Gatti's
-I was not appeased
-The problem was finally fixed and we reboarded
-By the time we're airborn, I should have already been in New York for an hour
-Took a cab into Manhattan
-Cost me 50 bucks
-Everyone was at a bar on the lower east side
-When I showed up, the bouncer wouldn't let me in
-I could've taken him, but I figured I'd be civil and not cause a scene
-Soon Josh came down, and after much coaxing, I was finally let in...luggage and all
-The bouncer was lucky
-Finally saw everyone and they were all sufficiently drunk
-Freakin JetBlue
-Apparently Matt jacked a bottle of champagne and bribed "the bouncer" with 10 bucks
-It turns out it was just some random dude who was now 10 bucks richer
-Was only there for about 20 minutes
-Took a cab to Brooklyn
-Josh and I played cell phone roulette while Ted and Joe slept
-Was rather short-lived, as we kept waking people up
-Watched Ted and Josh play Puzzle Fighter on ps2
-Watched Ted and Joe play Puzzle Fighter on ps2
-Watched Joe and Josh play Puzzle Fighter on ps2
-I did not play Puzzle Fighter on ps2
-One time Ted beat me in Puzzle Fighter on ps2 with one hand on the controller, and one hand holding a beer
-That was not fun
-Ate a falafel for the first time
-Not too shabby
-Though learning it was a vegetarian meal made it slightly not as good
-I like meat
-Rode the subway
-Went to a bar in Manhattan
-Saw my professor from my freshman seminar "Critiquing the Critics"
-He somehow remembered my name
-Drank a Brooklyn Lager
-Interesting taste, but not my thing
-Walked along Broadway
-Went to a Virgin MegaStore
-They had a 2 cds for $15 sale going on for specially designated cds
-The selection was rather expansive, though
-I took advantage, of course, and got:
-The Clash - London Calling (how did I not own this)
-The Fugees - The Score (seeing them reuinte in Dave Chappelle's Block Party got me all nostalgic)
-Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet (I think my cd collection is now complete)
-Fall Out Boy - Take This to Your Grave (eh, why not?)
-Was sorta mad because Death Cab's first 2 albums were included, and I had just paid full price for them less than a month ago
-Saw a street performer in Union Square
-Was pretty entertaining
-He then went on a 5 minute spiel about why we should give him money
-I didn't give him money
-Freakin JetBlue
-Played Tiger Woods 2005 against Josh
-That's more my kind of game
-My character looked amazingly like Joe
-He did funny dances
-Josh took a big lead to start, but I came back and tied it up at the 9th hole
-We had to leave and were unable to finish
-Prolly for the better, cause I would've destroyed him on the back 9
-Went to the Brooklyn Bridge
-The cab driver was baffled when we told him to take us there
-He couldn't grasp the concept that we wanted to be dropped off in front of the bridge
-He took us to the Manhattan Bridge
-Finally made our way to the Brooklyn Bridge
-Walked across
-Pretty neat thing to do in New York at night
-Ate dinner in Little Italy
-Was a big family style dinner
-Quite tasty
-When the waiter brought out our plates, he placed 4 enormous bottles of wine on the table, as well.
-He said they were "on the house"
-We drank lots and lots of wine
-I'm not much of a wine drinker, but I did some damage to the bottle of white wine.
-Halfway through the meal we had a new waiter
-When we got the bill, there was a charge for 3 bottles of wine at 26 bucks apiece
-Apparently, "on the house" means you still have to pay for it
-We argued with the waiter about it, but he wouldn't budge
-We argued with the manager about it, but he wouldn't budge
-He said there was no way our original waiter said the wine was "on the house"
-We asked if he was calling us liars
-He said he was doing no such thing
-What a liar
-The NYPD was almost called
-I was ready to let it get to that
-We ended up paying and leaving a 1% tip...if that
-Freakin JetBlue
-Went with Josh to see Hot Chip
-A publicist had been begging him to come to the show
-We show up to find Josh was in fact not on the list
-The bastards
-We leave and meet up with everyone at The Old Wagon in the Village
-There was a beer pong table in the bar
-What a genus idea
-I never saw said beer pong table, though
-It was too crowded and would have taken hours to get on
-Such a shame, cause I would've wrecked shop on those New Yorkers
-Went to some bar with karaoke in the back
-You had to pay a cover to get to the karaoke section
-We just walked back there, cause we're cool like that
-They actually had Regulate
-Didn't do it, though, cause the queue was too long
-I also did not have enough alcohol in my belly
-Would've been the best karaoke performance in the history of karaoke performances
-Went to a bar called Slane
-Well, I think it was called Slane
-Met lots of cool people
-Ordered a beer
-The bartender left, and never took my money
-Free beer!
-Did a shot called 99 bananas
-The 99 apparently stands for 99 proof
-That's what you drink when Matt asks the bartender for the "strongest thing" they've got
-It tasted like banana runts
-Took a jaeger bomb
-Was only 8 bucks
-Not bad for NYC, I guess...I was expecting to pay much more
-A girl tried to pop the top of my beer (to make it foam), and knocked it to the floor
-I made her buy me another beer
-John disappeared relatively early
-Sang a whole bunch to whatever was playing
-I'm sure the people in the bar thought I was awesome
-They played Journey's 'Don't Stop Believing' 3 times!
-I sang at the top of my lungs each time
-At some point, we did an awesome rendition of 'Build Me Up Buttercup'
-I love that song
-I'm listening to it right now
-Did a jello shot
-Took a whole mess of pictures
-When we got back to Brooklyn, I told Ted and Joe that if they wanted to play Puzzle Fighter on ps2, they'd have to sit on the ground so I could sleep on the fouton
-I don't remember this
-However, I laughed hysterically the next morning when Ted told me I said that
-I don't know why it's funny
-But it is
-You had to be there
-Freakin JetBlue
-Walked 30 blocks to White Castle
-Ate my first ever White Castle slider
-Then ate 4 more
-Was delicious!
-We need a freakin White Castle in Austin
-Would be perfect for post 6th street dining
-I'm salivating just thinking about the possibilities
-Ate on the curb outside the White Castle cause there was no inside dining area
-We looked hella cool
-Watched people play Puzzle Fighter on the ps2 some more
-Josh gave me his extra copy Dr. Dre's The Chronic
-I had that cd back in the day, but then I went through my anti-everything rap phase, and gave it away
-Took a cab to JFK
-Cost me 52 bucks
-It also took a freakin hour
-Was suposed to depart from NYC at 840
-We departed around 1130
-The JetBlue customer service representatives said it had something to do with strange wind patterns and the incoming flight couldn't land
-I think they were full of it
-Got to Austin just before 3 in the morning
-Went to bed at 4 in the morning
-Despite my combined 7 hours of flight delays, it was a great weekend
-Far too short, though
-Was so awesome to have so many of us together in the same city
-I need to go back when I have a few more days to spend
-I'm sure there's a few details I'm forgetting, but I'll add them as I remember them
-Freakin JetBlue

What Made Milwaukee Famous - 3/3/06 - Emo's

There's something about liking a band that very few people know about that makes you feel really cool. You almost feel like you're better than everyone else, because you've discovered something "that everyone else is too stupid to appreciate". It drives your superiority complex. You purposefully listen to the band's album in your car when others are in it, hoping that they'll ask who it is, so you can brag about your keen music intellect.
Then after some time said band starts to gain a little recognition and popularity. You cherish it because you get to say "I knew about those guys before everyone else". (remember Cake's 'Rock n Roll Lifestyle': "And how much did you pay for your rock'n'roll t-shirt/That proves you were there/That you heard of them first?") You enjoy the songs that are gaining them recognition, but you're hesitant to truly embrace. You still proclaim that their "early stuff" remains their best work.
But then something happens. The underground band you've been loving and singing the praises of for months/years starts getting heavy rotation on the radio. They begin touring at large venues instead of the claustrophobic dive bars you used to see them in. You see suburban teeny boppers in their Civics and Jettas cranking the band's music at full volume while singing along to every word. Panic sets in and you almost immediately begin to denounce the band. You call them "sell-outs" and claim that their "new stuff" sucks. You still go to their shows, but you only cheer when they play songs from their first album and you scoff at all the losers who go wild when the hit single is played to close the show.
Then the band releases another album and it debuts at #1 on the Billboard charts. You don't even bother to buy it. They get heavy play from most radio formats including the Mix station. You just shake your head in disgust. Anytime you hear the band's song played, you are forced to comment on how much they now suck. You can't even bring yourself to listen to their early work that you used to love so dearly. It's all over. You give your old band shirts to Goodwill, and wash your hands of the band forever. Then you discover a new band...that sounds amazingly like the old band. You even say "man, these guys are like so-and-so when they used to be good". And the cycle starts all over again.


Ummm....so I don't know what I just wrote or its purpose. This was supposed to be a recap of the What Made Milwaukee Famous show I went to last Friday, but I got off on some crazy random tangent. I'd just delete it, but I spent like 30 minutes writing, and I can't just go around throwing away 30 minutes of writing time. It's hard enough to get myself to sit down and write something for 10 minutes.
So....What Made Milwaukee Famous then....
Well, it was a great show. I missed the first band AUX, but caught the 2nd: Deathray Davies. They were alright. Had a few nice tunes, though you couldn't make out anything they were singing. The best thing about them was that they had a dude with a nice curly fro in the middle of the stage that just played the tambourine and a tiny xylephone. He'd just rock out and seemed like he was having a great time.
Then, came What Made Milwaukee Famous (or "woommf" as I like to call them...I'm cool like that). They started off with something new that they'd never played live, and then broke into 'Hellodrama', my absolute favorite song of theirs. From then on, they basically followed this pattern of intertwining tracks off their album Trying to Never Catch Up and new songs that I imagine they were practicing for SxSW. You could tell they were still trying to get their bearings on some of the new stuff, but it still mostly sounded pretty great. There was one song that the bassist sang that was just awesome. He just belted in the microphone Sparta 'Cut Your Ribbon' style and didn't let up one bit throughout the song. I'm really curious to hear how it sounds in a studio. But from their album they also played 'Idecide', 'Selling Yourself Short' (which I was surprised to learn wasn't sung by the lead singer Michael Kingcaid), 'Short on Shields', and closed with 'Building a Boat from the Boards in Your Eyes' which was a really fun to finish with. It was only about 1:35 at this point, and they could've/should've played longer, but it gave us time to run to Logan's and chug a big beer.

Their songs really held up well live, and Michael Kingcaid is one cool dude. He barely said a word on stage, but he had a lovable energy to him (I don't know what that means). So all in all a great time was had by all. I just wish they played more of their "older stuff".

Top 15 Albums of 2005

I originally put this together sometime in mid January, and was just going back through it. I've made a few changes from what I wrote back then, changing the order a little, and adding a few more albums to the "Other" section, but the commentary is 90% the same. It still seems like a draft, and is rather poorly written (though everything I write is), but here goes...

updated 1045pm 3.7.06

15. Kaiser Chiefs – Employment
A damn sweet record. This is some extremely infectious stuff that will stay in your head for quite a long time. I like that.
Favorite Tracks: Na Na Na Na Naa, Oh My God


14. Feeder - Pushing the Senses
The fifth LP from Feeder (my official second favorite band) isn’t the album I was expecting or hoping for, but it’s still got some rock solid stuff. It’s only 10 songs, and two of them are somewhat mediocre, but the few scattered moments of greatness make up for it. They’ve dramatically softened their sound over their past two records, and while I like a lot of it, I really wish they’d start picking it up again (if only for a few more tracks per album).
Favorite Tracks: Tender, Feeling a Moment


13. Better than Ezra - Before the Robots
You seriously can’t go wrong with anything BTE puts out. This album feels more like an extension of Closer than a brand new original album, so it lost some points there, but I find Closer to be absolutely fantastic, so it gained some points there. It was kind of lame they put ‘A Lifetime’ on here after it was already on Closer, but apparently it was the label’s doing. Despite my complaints, it’s still an album I can listen to quite frequently…it’s just not as memorable as a lot of their previous work.
Favorite Tracks: Breathless, Hollow


12. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
The British invasion continues. I got this last January and can't remember if it was really a 2004 album, but I don't care. I originally said that it ran out of gas around track 9 (ironically with the song 'Price of Gas'), but I was just listening to it again, and I would like to rescind that statement. I don't know what I was talking about.
Favorite Tracks: Pioneers, Helicopter


11. Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better
I never bothered to check out their self-titled album because ‘Take me Out’ and ‘This Fire’ really didn’t really do anything for me, but ‘Do You Want To’ made me a fan and the album is has some really good stuff on it. It’s definitely made me reevaluate my opinion of their earlier stuff.
Favorite Tracks: The Fallen, You Could Have It So Much Better


10. Fall Out Boy - From Under the Cork Tree
The song titles alone are worth the price of admission. It’s nothing original, it’s nothing unique, and it’s nothing you should feel overly cool about listening to. It’s just the best executed and most distinguishable 2005 album (that I’ve heard) in a genre that has basically gone into the toilet with a massive influx of amateurish bands that all sound exactly the same. I really dig it.
Favorite Tracks: Sugar, We’re Goin Down, Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner


9. OK Go - Oh No
These guys are so freakin fun. I really don’t understand how people can not like this album, or anything by OK Go for that matter. While their debut album is better as a whole, this one has much more energy, and it feels like the guys had a better time making it.
Favorite Tracks: Here it Goes Again, Invincible


8. Hot Hot Heat - Elevator
Just continues where Make Up the Breakdown left off, and that’s really all that needs to be said. I can listen to this over and over again.
Favorite Tracks: Jingle, Jangle, Middle of Nowhere


7. Common – Be
I looked into this CD because I heard Kanye West produced it, and I’m glad I did, because it’s probably the best hip hop album (outside of Kanye himself) I’ve heard in a long time. There’s some really killer beats on here (yeah, I said ‘killer beats’…what you gonna do about it?), and Common really has a way with words that is pretty fascinating.
Favorite Tracks: The Corner, Testify


6. Jack's Mannequin - Everything in Transit
It initially comes off as just a more serious Something Corporate with less crunchy guitars, and while there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, it’s something quite different. I’ve only recently started listening to the album a lot, but it quickly made its way into one of my favorites of the year.
Favorite Tracks: La La Lie, Dark Blue


5. Hard-Fi - Stars of CCTV
The final Brits in the countdown. I’m not sure I could categorize them or compare them to anyone in any way that would do them justice, so I’ll refrain from that. This is just an excellent album from front to back with nary a bad tune. Sometimes it makes you wanna dance, sometimes it makes you wanna sing at the top of your longs, and sometimes it makes you just wanna sit back and chill. I almost feel like this CD could be a soundtrack to a movie.
Favorite Tracks: Hard to Beat, Better do Better


4. Kanye West - Late Registration
I’m not sure anything he ever does from here on out can hit the highs of The College Dropout (I hope I’m wrong), but this album is fantastic.
Favorite Tracks: Diamonds From Sierra Leone, We Major


3. What Made Milwaukee Famous - Trying to Never Catch Up
A badass Austin band that I came across sort of by accident. I’m so glad I did though, because they freakin rock. Hellodrama is quite possibly my favorite song of 2005, and everything else is pretty damn great. Check them out. Seriously. Now, dammit!
Favorite Tracks: Hellodrama, Around the Gills


2. Foo Fighters - In Your Honor
It’s the Foo Fighters. It’s their new album. I love it.
Favorite Tracks: DOA, No Way Back



1. The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
My favorite new discovery of the year. I’d heard the name of the band a few times in passing over the years, but never made the effort to actually listen to any of their songs. From the first time I heard ‘Twin Cinema’, though, I was completely hooked. Every song on here is entirely unique. It’s extremely catchy, but not at all in a derivative mainstream way, and I have tremendous respect for that. I wish there were more I could say, but I’m not very good at praising the things I love without sounding like an idiot, so I’ll just leave it at that. Amazing album.
Favorite Tracks: Twin Cinema, The Jessica Numbers, The Bleeding Heart Show



Other Albums I Enjoyed:

All-American Rejects, The - Move Along (don't judge me)
Ash – Meltdown (2005 US release, but came out in the UK in 04; would probably be in the top 15 otherwise)
Augustana - All The Stars and Boulevards (didn't live up to the promise of the 3-song sampler I got over the summer, but those songs alone make the album worthy of a mention)
Ben Folds - Songs for Silverman
British Sea Power – Open Season (gets mentioned solely for the kickass song ‘Please Stand Up’)
Death Cab for Cutie – Plans (only finally started listening recently, mightve been ranked given more time; not as good as Trans or Photo Album, though)
Decemberists, The – Picaresque
Engineers - S/T (great album to just throw on in the background)
Go! Team, The - Thunger, Lightning, Strike
Jimmy Eat World – Stay on my Side Tonight (EP)
Home Town Hero - Bitch City (I have no idea when this is supposed to come out or if it ever will, but I dug it a good amount)
Koufax – Hard Times are in Fashion (picked it up after already making the list)
Magic Numbers - S/T
Mando Diao – Hurricane Bar
Nine Black Alps - Everything Is (grunge is back!)
Oasis – Don’t Believe the Truth
Our Lady Peace - Healthy in Paranoid Times (might have liked it more if I didn't know what they were capable of)
Reel Big Fish – We’re Not Happy Till You’re Not Happy
Spoon – Gimme Fiction (I like it, but i can't seem to get into Spoon like I feel like I should)
Stereophonics - Language. Sex. Violence. Other. (better than You Gotta Go There to Come Back, but still short of the greatness of Performance and Cocktails, and Just Enough Education to Perform)
We Are Scientists – With Love and Squalor (came out in 06 here, but 05 in the UK)
White Stripes, The - Get Behind Me Satan

I'm sure there's a few I'm forgetting, and there's tons more I would have liked to listen to, but just haven't gotten around to yet. I may list some of those at some point.