I'm in the waste management business. Everybody immediately assumes you're mobbed up. It's a stereotype. And it's offensive.

i accidentally erased this post, which had a really funny joke about nascar and the sopranos. don't you hate when that happens. is there a way for me to salvage my post? anyone?

The Olympics have been interesting to watch. I always think it's pretty funny watching sports on TV that you would never even know exist, and 6-8 hours after it happened, to boot. I've enjoyed watching the luge and skeleton teams, which you have to admit, going down a mountain at 80 mph on a sled seems like it could be a lot of fun. Skiing, boring, unless someone wipes out. Hockey, no fun as they can't fight. Men's Ice Skating, come on, really! But Ice Dancing. Interesting to watch because of the pretty... um... I mean the incredibly talented skaters, fun! I'm no longer allowed to watch this, just like Dancing With The Stars, for obvious reasons, though really, I was pulling for Jerry Rice. Honest.

Listening Pile
Baltimore's Metal Hearts have really impressed me with their debut album on Suicide Squeeze. Teenagers, Anar Badalov and Flora Wolpert-Checknoff, 18 and 19 respectively, began making music together in early 2004. On Socialize, the duo (along with drummer/recording engineer Sam Leiber) put together a fantastic melange, of mopey bedroom rock. Anar's baritone trades melodies with Flora's airy registers, through blended layers of sparse drum loops and bleeps, synthesizers, gentle plucked guitar licks, and some strings. A really good debut from these youngsters.

I Just Can't Quit You...

As I type this, I'm watching the first Baseball Tonight of the year. Man, do I love me some Peter Gammons and Harold Reynolds. Anyhow, I totally forgot about this picture someone sent me a few weeks ago. It makes even more sense now.

I'm an FBI Agent.

OK, I know, it's been a while since I've posted (two weeks!). But come on, who reads this thing besides, Mike, Dave and maybe Erika anyhow. So here goes and I promise, I'm gonna try to blogerize more often.

Seven Things I Think I Think

1. So, the Superbowl was a let down. About the only good thing that came out of it was Chuck Klosterman's blog on ESPN's Page2. I really hope he steps it up and gives us a blog for next year's Ms. America, especially after reading his face off with Bill Simmons, AKA the Sportsguy. I would die to hear his thoughts on taping your bathing suit and the giving yourself a face lift for one night. As for the ads, the Fed Ex one with the cave men, and the Ameriquest ones were great!

2. Valentines Day, came and went. And yeah, the Romance is great. Wonderful. You gotta love how simple things like, flowers, chocolate, wine and candles are impossible to find on February 14th, say, 5:30 pm. My favorite part is the candy. Which is now at discounted cost. Yeah! I love how this dude dives into where the holiday came from and what to do with all the candy, check it out. here. I especially love when he says this" Where does this holiday come from? Well, it comes from screwing, and the Catholic Church." Priceless!

3. I went to see Mission of Burma and the Battles at Bowery Ballroom last week. Both bands were great. Battles opened up and really kicked it out with their mix of mathy electronic rock action, nicely warming up the crowd for Burma. MOB really rocked hard, playing a healthy mix of songs from their Vs. album, ONOFFON and their upcoming new album, Obliterati. Though their set got a little long, evident by people gazing at the stars during new songs, I was really surprised at how many hardcore fans were still there til the end. A great show. The line of the week was heard that night, in the woman's bathroom. I mean, I didn't hear it, but my girlfriend did. "Man, you're bound to find a guy here, it's like 90:1." Girls, you heard it here first, go to math rock or post punk shows to find eligible men.

4. When I was at the Sigur Ros concert at The Theater at MSG last week. I was thinking the same thing as this guy. I just didn't say anything, or try to stare as much, since I'd get a quick elbow from the old lady. But anyhow, the set that Sigur Ros played was amazing. Nothing short of brilliant. Playing a very heavy, Takk set, they killed. The visuals were great from what I could see, we sat pretty far off on the right, up front. And I finally got the sweatshirt I'd been wanting for ages. The Vegan has nice pics up, including a pic of the Billy Joel merch booth(he played upstairs at MSG). And yes, that's how much his t-shirts cost. The lovely ladies of Amina opened up, and accompanied Sigur Ros, adding strings to their songs. Their songs are really beautiful and innovative. They use an array of instruments, both conventional and unique, such as strings, keyboards, wine glasses and more. I meant to pick up the album, but that sweatshirt set me back 45 beans.

5. I cannot wait to head over to Galapagos in Williamsburg to check this out. Point Break Live. Point Break LIVE! Yes, that Point Break. Starring Keanu and Swayze in the original, this is stage adaptation of the 1991 Keanu Reeves blockbuster. They head over to Galapagos, which has a kick-ass burlesque night, for an exclusive one-month engagement. The show, which garnered a “Seattle P-I Best of Seattle 2004” award, as well as rave reviews across the nation, tells the story of former College football star Johnny Utah—Keanu Reeves in the film—in pursuit of the bankrobbing, skydiving, bare-hand-fighting adrenaline-junkie-cum-Zenmaster Bodhi Sattva (Patrick Swayze—here played by Gearick Matthies), and features armed robbery, big-wave surfing, car chases, explosions, and no less than two extended skydiving sequences. Best of all, the starring role of Keanu will be selected at random from the audience each night, and will read their entire script off of cue-cards! Isn't that how Keanu acts? I am so there this weekend!

6. This is my favorite week of the year. Sadly, it's not because of Valentines day, nor Presidents day, though you gotta love the benefits of both days. But anyhow, Pitchers and Catchers report today! For most men, these few weeks between the Super Bowl and Reporting Day is like Thanksgiving til Christmas. I can now look forward to hearing Joe Torre talk about how he thinks that having seven starting pitchers in camp poses interesting dilemmas and who tweaked their hamstring running in the outfield. I love hearing the Mets talk with so much optimism how they finally think they are going to knock out the Braves and win the NL East. That's like trying to squeeze the fat guy out of Denny's. It's possible, but unless you got enough grease to maneuver his fat ass out the door, you're just left staring at him make a joke out of all you can eat and the South Beach diet. And this World Baseball Classic, well, it's starting to look like the Dominicans are gonna run wild on everybody, except for maybe the Cubans. Somewhere in Cuba, Fidel is lighting up another cigar for everytime some scared American backs out of the tournament, like Brittny Gastineau out of careers.

7. So, um, Dick Cheney. What more can we say about that guy. He shot his own friend. "Whoops, sorry, I didn't see you standing there. " That what he said to the guy. To top it off, the White House at first was trying to spin it onto the poor schlep who got shot, saying it was hit fault. Now, I'm not to up on my firearm knowledge, but I'm thinking it's got to be pretty hard to just accidently get shot. Guns don't kill people, Dick Cheney kills people.

Listening Pile
The Arctic Monkeys of Sheffield, England's have done what not other band before them could accomplish, the UK record for fastest-selling debut album of all time. The scanned 360,000 copies of "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not," which easily exceeded the 306,000 by Hear'Say with its 2001 debut album, "Popstars." So what's so great about the most-hyped band of early 2006 led by 19-year-old Alex Turner. What have they managed to accomplish that the likes of Oasis, Blur, Radiohead, or newcomers, Franz Ferdinand and The Libertines couldn't do before them? I have no clue. The record is catchy, at it's brightest momments, with snarly tales of small town bohemia and pretty ladies. At it's weakest moments, the album just sputters like a car out of gas. To the disenchanted youth of the UK, these are tales of their lives, their being, and their existence, to many others, the albums is just catchy songs, awkward moments, but just that, an album, not a statement of us, or our lives. To me, it just seems like one of those situations, where if enough people say its great, well, more people just start believing it. Good, not life changing.

Inside Your Company. Good Things Are Coming Our Way. I know They Always Have.

1. Went to the Plug Awards at Webster Hall last night. Man, did they do a fantastic job of promoting the show! When headliner, The National finally took the stage, the crowd was so thin, that you could hear individual conversations. Sad. The National, put together a wonderful show, despite having a fill in guitar player. Played mostly uptempo numbers and really capped off the night. Celebration and the Perceptionists both put on impressive sets as well. The awards were anti-climactic, then filled with shitty music by James "Boring" Friedman. The videos making fun of ad agents and the Other Music crew, were actually pretty funny. Sadly, the one word that comes to mind when describing the overall night, was Awkward.

2. The war on drugs starts at home huh? Well, did anyone see that former Full House star Jodie Sweetin has joined the lengthy list of child stars gone wrong. On Good Morning America this Wednesday, Sweetin, who played the loveable middle sister Stephanie Tanner on the sitcom, revealed that she is a recovering meth addict and once battled a daily drug habit. Worse part about it is she married a cop. Yeah, this guy gets the police officer of the year award. Dude, your wife is a meth head. Are you fucking blind! Sad sad day. I saw her on tv a few months ago and I just remember thinking to myself, damn, she's really got her shit together. Maybe she needs Candace Cameron to help her out a little and find out if she's a good person.

3.Anna Benson, the sexy wife of former Met and now Baltimore Oriole, Kris, has said she's planning on jumping on the poker tournament bandwagon. She's already sealed some sponsorship deals. And no lie, these words came out of her mouth, " I'm going to get schooled on how to play by some of these big-time pros," Benson said. "I want to play well. I'm not trying to do this as a joke, I'm dead serious about playing. I'm not like some bimbo sitting down at a table." You know, in fairness, she is right, she's a DUMB bimbo sitting down at a table. Anyhow, you can read the rest of his article here I especially love the part when she says she plans on winning money and giving it to the poor, because it changes lives.

4. There is a Boehner in D.C. No, for real. Earlier this week, the House Republicans elected Rep. John Boehner of Ohio as their new majority leader to replace indicted Rep. Tom DeLay. I don't know if I can make that any funnier. So, I'll just leave it at that.

5. So has anyone seen the US baseball uniforms for the World Baseball Classic. Jeez, just horrible. What the hell is up with the stupid wavey flag making an S. Just horrible. They all basically have the same design, but some colors and fonts are just way better than the US team's. For example, the black and orange of the Netherlands looks great. So does the Gold and Green of Australia. Mexico's looks like the University of Miami. And don't even get me started on the retarded hats. You can check them all out here.

6. Heather Locklear and Richie Sambora have announced they are getting a divorce. Man, it gets crazy. Sambora didn't even know. Nuts huh! Just the other night, he said the rumors weren't true. Newsflash man, you just got served! With divorce papers. Wow, that's just rough. The worst part is, Sambora, who's now 46, and whose band, Bon Jovi, just put out another god awful album, well, there is no worst part. That just sucks. But who knows, maybe there are some nice looking MILFS from New Jersey he can toil with. As for Heather, ever since Dynasty when she rescued that baby, she could do no wrong in my eyes and I've always had a crush on her and thought she should be with someone way cooler than Richie Sambora. She seems like she should be with a Clooney or something.

7. Ok, so the Super Bowl is two days away. Super Bowl Sunday is the day where the most pizza is delivered, and the Monday after, is the day most often called in sick. By this time Sunday night, we'll have consumed a good amount of alcohol, eaten more wings than should be allowed, seen many ridiculous commercials(mostly for beer or soft drinks) and finally find some time to be productive on Sunday afternoons. So, on that note, I just want Seattle to win so I don't have to keep seeing that retarded Fathead commercial with Big Ben anymore. Any more of Ben might make me flip out. 12 days until pitchers and catchers report. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

Listening Pile
K, I'm gonna give a shout out to my friend Walter today. Mostly inspired by checking out United By Walter. Which is a fantastic fan site created, to bring light to his many projects and spectacular songs. I was listening to the Rival Schools album, United By Fate today. Man, this is easily one of my favorite records of all time. Each song, uniquely crafted and wonderful. Rival Schools, was led by the man himself, Walter Schreifels, who fronted the late great Quicksand as well. Drummer Sammy Siegler (who I've debated could be the greatest hardcore drummer of all time) played with CIV as well as many other N.Y. hardcore ensembles occasionally teaming up with Schreifels. The man on the other guitar with many a hot licks was Ian Love. Ian spent some time in the band Burn. Cache "Utah Slim" Tolman is in charge of the low end. He had formerly played in CIV w/ Sammy and the Iceburn Collective, when he was like 15.

Anyhow, the album saw a more melodic attack, then the post hardcore of Quicksand. From the opening "Travel by Telephone" to the Who inspired noise breakdowns of the instrumental closer, "Hooligans for Life," and "So Down On", Rival Schools rarely let up, and when they do occasionally slow the tempo down, the success of their experimentation leaves stunning results. "Undercovers On", was at that time, the most mature song Walter had ever written. The surfrock inspired guitar parst in "My Echo" were fantastic. The guitar melodies on this album are amazing, like on "Everything Has It's Point". And the use of a My Bloody Valentine drum loop in a song. Man, they hit on almost every single song on this album. And Walter hit some new territory with his vocals, also finding a bit more melody. Good Things, which was the 2nd single, was a fantastic song, with the most catchy chorus. Man, I could go on about this record for days. But I won't.

One album, all we got out of Rival Schools. But, if you check out United By Walter, you'll see a chat, where Walter mentions finally releasing the lost 2nd album, that never came out, and also more of his other projects, unreleased goodies. And, I know for sure, there are some more Walking Concert songs that are amazing, and need to come out. Ian Love, just put out a great record too. Totally solo stuff, not Cardia, which was good stuff too. And Sammy's been playing in Nightmare of You, who's record, I really need to listen to a bit more. Cache has been playing with Gavin Rossdale in Institute. I've not heard anything more than a song or two, which sadly was uninspiring.