I often wear this brown corduroy jacket. A couple of people have called it my “out-of-work actor” jacket. My question is this: Why does the actor have to be “out of work”? Wouldn’t you think that if I was an actor I would be gainfully employed in said profession?

I just ate a small Krackel Candy bar. It was part of a mix of mini candy bars from Hershey’s. It was delicious. Krackels kind of taste like Nestle Crunch. But you never hear of someone going down to the 7-Eleven to buy a Krackel. Snickers, sure. Kit Kat, fine. Reese’s, right on. Hershey’s bar, yep. Milky Way, okay. 3 Musketeers, sure. Nestle Crunch, indeed.

But Krackle? I’ve only eaten them in those from those mix bags. Never bought a standalone Krackle bar or a bag of Krackle bars.

I declare Krackle the Red-Headed Step-Child of Candy Bars.

Mary’s brother Jim and family have been in Singapore the past couple of years and this year, they made an awesome Christmas album to send back to the states. The elder Jim plays most instruments, younger Jim plays trumpet and the whole family shares vocal duties.

The entire albums is great. The standout track is definitely “Go Tell It On The Mountain”. Each family member takes a verse except the youngest, John Edward, who steals the show with the choruses.

Click the play button below to listen:

Or download it here:

Go Tell It On The Mountain.mp3 (right click and select “Save As …”)

If you want to check out the whole album, download all the MP3s here:

Christmas-Singapura-2009.zip

Merry Christmas!

I had a dream. I was in high school and wanted to go to an away basketball game. My car was broke down and couldn’t find another ride. I borrowed someones electric wheel chair and rode it to the game. 40 miles away. In the snow. My dog came with me in a basket on the back. Getting to the game was easy. Getting home was another story. The snow got worse and some hills got steeper. I got stuck and stayed at some people’s farm. They were nice. There was a king there. And sheep. We watched some movie, the dude from Napoleon Dynamite was in it. He did a dance at the end like of ND. I thought that was lame. Eventually I got home. I think that the king came with me, as well as the some nice lady from the farm. I think I had to manually push the wheel chair, which at this point had become more of a riding lawnmower. It had a crank to propel it. I was the cranker. Once we got home, the king and the lady, who was a freelance designer, moved to my town (Herscher, IL) and got married. The end.

This weekend, right after I made the Zabada video, I also made video for another song from Zabada the Album … “Price I Pay”. Maybe next time I make a video I’ll shoot some actual original footage instead of just stitching together a bunch of found photos in iMovie.

Anyway, the deep song is about a guy who takes the nine volt batteries out of his smoke detectors to power his guitar pedals and effects. His house burns down. The fire would’ve probably been prevented, had the smoke detectors had batteries in them. But our humble hero does not have a concern over losing his abode, as soon he thinks he’ll be a huge rock star and will be able to buy many many fancy houses to replace his current home.

Here are the profoundly awesome lyrics for those that want to sing along:

Need juice for my pedals and effects.
Took the 9 volt from the smoke detects.
My house burnt down and I couldn’t care less.
’cause soon I’ll be a rock star like T-Rex.

My house burnt down,
and that’s okay.
I guess that’s the price I pay.
’cause I am going to be a rock star,
Someday.

And yes, that I Mary playing the deeply moving gratuitous piano at the end. Rock.

Instead of being productive during the Sunday rain today, I made a whack video for my old standby song “Zabada“. Rock.

Original Zabada posting is here: Zabada “The Song”
Check out more silly songs here: Rob Lambert’s Virb

Mary did a little extra job last year on a movie called Baby on Board starring Heather Graham and Jerry O’Connell. This movie is so good, they decided to mostly skip the theatres and get it directly to the people by releasing it at Blockbuster!

Here are the exciting scenes:

Feel free to click into YouTube and watch it big!

I tend to keep a lot of notebooks for mostly business/computer stuff, sometimes song ideas and other random thoughts. I need to get more organized with this and develop a better system for capturing ideas and then stick with it.

Anyway, I stumbled upon two quotes in a notebook that I wrote down a while back and they are striking a chord for me about now …

“In your twenties, you want to learn as much as you can, and in your thirties, you want to take as many risks as you can” – Michael Murdoch, CEO AppRiver

“Don’t apologize for a mistake. Apologize if you don’t play. Knowing that effort is what matters gives people the courage to always try their hardest” – Wynton Marsalis

So if you’re my age, hopefully you learned a ton in your twenties, and now it’s time get out there, take a ton of risks, and play like crazy.

I made the song “Jeff Tweedy Turd” for the 2007 album “Zabada – the Album!”. I always had a video in my head for this one and last night I finally made it.

Jeff has played several solo shows at Marytr’s in Chicago over the years, making my fictional purloinment of said fecal matter a little more believable.

Okay, get ready for some human waste … is there anything more universally humorous than poo?

Lyrics

Do you wanna see my most prized possession?
I got it last fall backstage at Marytr’s.
Do you wanna see my most prized possession?
Do you wanna see my chemically preserved, trophy-mounted Jeff Tweedy turd?

Do you want to see my … Jeff Tweedy turd?
I’d eat it if I thought I could get another Jeff Tweedy turd.
Do you want to see my Jeff Tweedy turd?
Do you wanna see my … chemically preserved, trophy-mounted Jeff Tweedy turd?

Song Details

Written on: 22 July 2004
Instruments: Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Piano, Organ
+ royalty-free drum loops from some magazine

I made this video nine years ago. You still see this going on today. Love the opening letter:

LISTEN YOU MOTHER F*CKING *SSHOLE. WE DIDN’T CLEAR OUR PARKING SPOT FOR FOUR DAYS FOR YOUR ROYAL ASSES BUT FOR ARES OURS

Lawn chairs and other junk in the snow-filled streets in Chicago – “Mine All Mine” from wax.fm on Vimeo.

In Chicago, folks tend to think that they “own” parking spots in the street if they dig their car out of the snow. This is communicated by blocking the spot with lawn furniture, boxes, saw horses, you name it. I am not sure when the “owning” expires. I guess you own it until the snow melts. Silly people. I recorded/edited this January 2000