campfire anthems

in my second installment of the questions answered series justin whatley asked me a great question dealing with who i thought was the worst (popular) band. in the process of answering his question i began to discuss one of my favorite bands, thrice, who i feel is really doing things right. the more i thought about it, the more i wanted to elaborate on why i feel this way.

thrice began their musical career in the thrash metal/punk genre of music. in 2001, thrice released their debut album, identity crisis, and echoed through the sound waves. i’ll be honest. at first i didn’t really care for this album. even to this day i still don’t listen to it very much. they were young and it shows in their musical maturity that they had never done anything like this before. the songs that were on the album were definitely punk, even though it was over driven and dustin kensrue (lead singer/rhythm guitarist) screamed a lot. their follow up record, the illusion of safety, was released a year later. in comparison to their first, this album far exceeded the talent that had not yet broken through in identity crisis. teppei teranishi (lead guitarist) broke though the body of the music, showing his virtuosity and harmonic details.

as the band grew and the years passed, thrice released the artist and the ambulance in 2003. this was my first experience with the band. i was a freshman in college and started getting into heavier rock, and that’s exactly what thrice produced with this record. in my opinion, this album could be one of the few flawless musical creations that any band has produced. i saw them tour in orlando for this album. it was an amazing show. i think its important to point out now that many bands can get caught in a rut after multiple successful albums. instead of continuing ahead on their musical walks, they just kind of hover where they are. at this point everything they do starts to just sound the same.

vheissu was released in 2005. this is where things began to change subtly but significantly in the music and maturity of thrice. they began to experiment with keyboards, loops and digital effects. the music was still very hard and in your face, but there were underlying traces of a fresh direction of travel.

2007 brought with it the alchemy index vol. 1 & 2. this was a bold move for the band. the concept was that they would release a 2 part, 2 disc (per series) album based upon the 4 elements - earth, air, water and fire. volumes 1 and 2 were water and fire. on fire, thrice went back to their roots and unleashed a fury of heavy, cutting guitar riffs and pounding double bass. water, however, opened a door into a completely new nebula for thrice to play around in. the songs are heavily driven by loops and effects, its border line techno-rock. its amazing. in may, they released volumes 3 and 4, earth and air. air is a sof, contemporary rock disc, but in my opinion earth is where the magic is at. earth features the band playing acoustically driven melodies. teranishi even dabbles on the piano, backing up kensrue’s dark acoustic guitar rhythm. a few of the songs even dive deep into the spiritual realm (kensrue released a solo folk album very similar to this a couple of years ago).

below are a few videos if you have time to watch them. they should help you better grasp where thrice was and where they are today as musicians. personally, i can’t wait to see what direction they head on their next attempt. i’m sure it will be nothing less than genius.

“under a killing moon” from the artist in the ambulance (this is actually the live performance from when i saw them in orlando)

“digital sea” from the alchemy index - water

Thrice - Come All You Weary

“come all you weary” from the alchemy index - earth

i’m back from vacation.  sorry about my disappearance the past week.  its been a crazy ride moving into and setting up our new house.  i just want to say that i love it there.  i love the house, the neighborhood, the location, my neighbors - i love everything about it.  we stayed their for the first time on friday night.  we moved our bed over and some dirty laundry so that we could wash them over night and have clean clothes for the next day.  yes, that’s right.  we have our own laundry machines now.  no more laundromats!  tim and tabitha came over and slept on an air mattress so they would be there in the morning to help with the move.  saturday  morning i went to get the uhaul truck and start the process.  after nearly escaping death at the uhaul store (it was actually a gas station that was in the middle of the ghetto.  if there is a hell on earth i’m pretty sure it was that street corner.  tim can vouch for me.) i hopped in the 28 foot behemoth and drove to lakeland.  it was pretty fun driving such a large vehicle.

once in lakeland, our friends started trickling in to help load up.  it took us a couple of hours to load the truck with all of our stuff.  my legs were killing me after carrying sofas and other furniture and boxes down the stairs.  i’m glad its over.  when we go to the new house it took us maybe 15 minutes to unload everything.  the fathers came over and fixed the garage door opener.  it involved some rewiring work in the attic.  i helped and got to go up there for the first time and hang out a bit.  our garage door now opens, which is a huge win.  the rest of that day was mainly spent situating furniture and unpacking some boxes.

sunday morning was church, as usual, but we only live about 2 minutes away now.  its very nice to be so close when sunday morning begin so early.  timm talked about anger.  i usually don’t struggle with the long lasting anger issues and the building up of anger to become bitter.  i struggle more with rage - not like hitting people or putting my fist through a wall, more like verbal release upon people.  he did a really good job with describing how this affects our lives, mainly our relationships.  i can’t wait to see what he talks about this sunday.  after church i went to lakeland to get a haircut and swing by the old apartment to get some things out of the freezer.  during my hair cut bright house called to let me know they were 5 to 10 minutes away.  perfect.  i am 15 minutes away.  i finished the haircut and rushed home in hopes of catching the technician.  i didn’t.  with some careful wording, i called them back and got them to swing back by the house.  we now have proper working hd television and high speed internet.  very exciting.  sunday night we had a family group bbq for memorial day.  it was really fun hanging out and getting to know everybody better.  as part of our weekly routine, we finished up the night with some cards with travis and kfj.

monday morning travis, my dad, and i started painting the living room.  emily and tabitha arrived a little later and helped.  it took a few hours but we finally got it done.  it really looked great.  the rest of the day we just continued to work on the house and unpack more stuff.  tuesday may dad came back over and the two of us painted the kitchen and dining room.  it also looked really good.  i like the color a lot.  that night we got to babysit for gary and deanna while they attended family group.  the two of us, plus a 2 year old packed up in the car and went to orlando to go to ikea.  we walked out with a new coffee table, light fixture, to floor lamps, throw pillows, pillow covers, some sort of mountable rod for the kitchen that you can hang hooks off of, and 3 bar stools for only $160.  we dominated ikea.  when we got back home we assembled all of our new furniture and called it a night.  i don’t know if i have been sleeping so good lately because of the new environment or because of all the hard work i’ve been doing around the house.  probably the latter.

i woke up yesterday to a displeased look on my wife’s face.  when questioned about it she informed me that she no longer liked the color of our living room and we would be repainting it soon.  hooray!  not only does that suck, it also put a damper on my plans to mount the flat screen tv on the wall.  no sense in doing it until after we repaint the room.  i met the guys for lunch at outback for wingsday, you should be able to read my full review next week.  after lunch i headed to lowes to buy a grill. after picking out the one i wanted, i made the purchase and rolled the fully assembled cooking device out to my car.

it. would. not. fit.

i had to roll it back into the store and make them check to see if there was one still in the box.  after i loaded the box in my car, drove back home and set up in the garage i began to build my new charcoal grill.  it took 2 hours.  it wasn’t the hardest thing i’ve ever done, but it wasn’t exactly simple either.  i can’t wait to cook something.  that night i relaxed with a little halo and ufc ultimate fighter.  once again i slept like a rock.

this morning i woke up and got ready to go back to work.  i left the house around 8 because i didn’t know just how long, or what traffic would be like, to get the work.  it only took 10 minutes.  with the extra time i had i stopped and got some bagels for breakfast.  once at my desk, bagel in hand, i checked my email and caught up from my time off.  found out that i’m going to tennessee next month for 3 days.

its been a long and busy week since i last talked to you guys.  i’m glad the mayhem is beginning to die down.  see you tomorrow.

that’s how old i am today.  i don’t feel much different.  i got a house for my birthday this year.  that’s pretty neat.  we are moving on saturday - let me know if you can help.

we signed the papers.  we got the keys.  we are home owners.

this will be the last installment of my question series.  it has been really fun and i think i’ll probably pull this out again later and see if you guys have anything new for me.  so let’s get right to it.

jenna asks:

what is “quobbity assurance?”  alright.  now we are getting somewhere.  quobbity assurance is only the most sought after position at dunder mifflin scranton.  quobbity assurance is the position that one holds after many years of drug use and promiscuous sex and can no longer remember just what it is they do at work.  a quobbity assurance technician has the responsibility of wandering around the office and making crude comments to the ladies, selling random office supplies for quick cash, and eating peach cobbler on your birthday.  i wonder if it is closely related to the position of quality assurance?  probably not.  that doesn’t sound as much fun.

jamison asks:

what made you want to become a musician?   this question is something that i never really thought of before you asked james.  it all started when i was a young boy, maybe around the age of 8.  my mom bought this really old upright piano and thought it would be neat if i learned how to play it.  it seemed like a good idea at the time.  i took a  couple of years worth of piano lessons and actually got pretty good at it.  i did all the typical things that kids and pianos do.  you know, recitals, being made play when company came over, just the typical stuff.  after a while though i just really started hating it.  i must have been about 10 when my dad got me a starter guitar and amp.  it wasn’t much, but at the time it was the coolest thing ever.  that guitar was sweet.  the first song i learned how to play was stairway to heaven, how trite huh?  i never really looked back.  i have been playing ever since and couldn’t ever imagine myself not playing. 

thank you everyone for participating and making this series possible.  i hope you had as much fun as i did.

you ready to go at this thing again? i am. lets start.

justin whatley asks:

who is the worst (popular) musicians/band? i don’t even know where to being on this question. there are so many categories of music and even more sub-categories within to make sucky things happen. for instanc, one might argue that nickelback is the worst - based solely upon the fact that every song they write could actually be the exact same song they wrote last time, just change the lyrics and guitar solo around a bit. others may say that blink 182 did a great job on capturing teenage angst in the punk/pop world, while i say they were whiny little girls. i think the important thing to remember is that music has changed so much over the last 20 years. today, all “rock” bands sound the same. they all write about the same stuff. i think a band like thrice, for example, is exactly what more bands need to do. they have just released their 6th album. now i have been a fan of them since their first album, where they were in their punk/thrash stage. if you listen to them with each new record you can really hear their progression and maturity grow as a band. i hate it when i buy a cd of a band i like and then they release their sophomore attempt and it is basically the same as the first. ok. i know i haven’t answered the question yet but i’m getting there. i think it is important to state that all the bands i have mentioned i have once liked. the same goes for the band that has made the number one spot in my mind as the worst (popular) band ever. creed. when they came onto the music scene back in the 90’s they were something really fresh. they had a great sound. there really wasn’t anything like them at the time and i commended them for being what they were. as time passed, scott stapp really showed what a tool he was. their 3rd cd sucked. stapp becamse a breathy, whiny, singer of a man. the best thing that happened to mark tremonti is alter bridge. now they are a good band. its funny to see basically the same exact band, only with a new singer, and see what these musicians are really capable of. i think creed could have been really good for a long time, and when you think about it now they are. only they aren’t creed anymore. oh well. justin, thanks for the great question.

mike d. asks:

why do birds suddenly appear? [hey] every time you are near. well mike, the birds don’t actually “suddenly appear.” in fact, they are there all the time. my awesomeness merely brings them to a level in which other people can see them. i’m basically a tibetan monk. sometimes, birds and squirrels even come and land on my shoulder and scamper across the lawn just to be closer to me. i bring peace to their existence. but don’t get me wrong. when i move into my new house and begin to grow my tomatoes and green peppers, and squirrels eat them, there will be no more peace. i will embody the wrath of “old testament god” and rain down pain on their little bodies. don’t mess with my garden.

tabbybottoms asks:

why is it that no matter what color bubble bath you use the bubbles are always white? tabby, based on my minutes of scientific research i have determined that the reason for this is because bubbles are satan’s minions. fact: bubbles pop. fact: bubble keep kids entertained for hours. fact: satan likes popping things (like hope and dreams). fact: satan likes taking the innocent youth and entering their lives during idle times. i know you think that your bubble bath makes you feel all clean and relaxed, but heed my warning child. don’t let yourself get sucked into the sin that is a bubble. plus, nothing that is iridescent can be completely wholesome. why are dandelions considered weeds when daisies are considered flowers? simple. dandelions are from the devil and daisies are from god. bet you didn’t know that spiritual warfare ventured into the realm of botany did you? what made you fall in love with emily? she is a musician. she is very loving (some may say she cares too much sometimes). she is a challenge. she is good for me. what are the top 5 things you’d like to accomplish in the near future? 1) successfully move in/paint/landscape/clean our new house 2) get my small business license and produce clientèle as a free lance graphic designer 3) become a popular enough website to start selling advertising space 4) consistently talk to 5 new people each week at church (i’m pretty bad about not talking to anyone. i need to be more intentional in the relationships i build) 5) go to europe

well gang. thanks again for the great questions. it looks like i’m all out of things to respond to, so unless you guys ask some more the series will be over, and then i’ll have to go back to actually thinking of things to write about. its been fun.

alright gang. here’s a further look into the void that is my mind. you asked questions. i provide answers. this is as real as it gets.  questions are in white, answers are in some shade of faded red.

kfj asks:

how does it feel to lose at rook to a couple of girls? alright kfj. we have to lose every now and then. if we dominated you every game then you would lose your spirits about it and never want to play again. just remember, though, when you beat your husband you end up going to bed with the loser. i hope you can live with that.

emily asks:

why do you always copy me? its merely a matter of you having a good idea and me wanting to make it a great idea. why recreate the wheel when you can just improve its design? what’s your fascination with interior decorating? emily, there is no fascination. i just don’t want to live in a house for 4-6 years in which i feel the walls are a hideous color. i have to look at them too. where do babies come from? good question. you know that thing we do late at night after puma goes to sleep? that’s where babies come from. why do you love me? i love you because you balance me out and you are wicked hot. there is much much more to this answer but i don’t want to waste space on my page. how do you feel about our dog? puma is pretty much the best dog ever. she needs a hair cut. her breath smells like her butt (i can only assume this since i have not stuck my nose in that area). how do you feel about sextuplets? i think if that were to ever happen to us i’d become very wealthy. keep one and sell the other five on the baby black market. are you super excited about moving to a new city? no. not really. i am glad to have a new house though. i will have to learn where everything is in this new town. when is the last time you did something for yourself? i went fishing last friday. it was nice. what’s your favorite thing that i cook? i’m a pretty big fan of the beef burgundy. you can eat and get drunk all in one meal! when are you going to shave your beard? my beard is awesome. i went clean shaven for a while upon your request. i think its time to let the mountain man back out. can we sell the bowflex? i will answer this question by asking one in return. can we sell puma? do you have any secret talents? i only know about the talents that aren’t a secret. if i do, these talents sure know how to keep their mouths shut. can you tell what show i was watching when i asked you these questions? john and kate plus 8.

jenna asks:

how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop? 8,319. on a good day. am i making that number up or did i really count? you tell me. when are we going to see some little monts de ocas? whenever god decides to unleash his sense of humor upon us. have you ever had hemorrhoids? first of all, jenna, i fixed the spelling for you. secondly, no…no i haven’t. i try to let things come out naturally without straining. thus far it has kept me hemorrhoid free. in 6th grade you did you really like better - matt or ryan? ok jenna. that question doesn’t even make grammatical sense. there are too many pronouns in there. i don’t like boys. whatever happened to ivy? assuming you mean ivy the dog, she still lives at the whatley residence. no offence whatleys - ivy is old and will probably die soon. have you been to dairy queen lately? no but i have been to burger king. do they still make pogs? unfortunately pogs are no longer being manufactured. their timely demise has become a gold mine for collectors and hobbyists alike. there are a number of collectible stores, as well as internet merchandisers that can help you onto the fast tract to pog world.

well guys, thanks for you awesome questions. as of now there will be a part two coming tomorrow. hopefully i’ll have some more questions and we can extend it to a longer series. this is fun.

once again i’m going to do some blog sniping.  emily had a good idea yesterday on her website.  she asked her readers to ask her questions and she would respond to them.  i think i want to do the same.  so ask away.  anything you want.  i’ll let you know what i think. do it.

when i walked out of my bank this afternoon i found this car parked next to me.  if you watch the office then you will know why i found this very amusing.

i’m alive. that is the most important sentence of this whole post. now to the story. i had a pretty fun adventure with travis and jack on friday night down in the englewood area. we left my apartment at 6:00 pm, right after work. travis said that we had to go some bass ackwards way through brandon to get to i-75, apparently there is only one bait shop to purchase live shrimp between home and our destination. i don’t buy it. after some shuffled tunes from the ipod, a quick bite from chic-fil-a, and a stop in gibsonton to get our live bait, we headed toward port charlotte and our sporting adventure.

jack and i told travis that we wouldn’t be on the water by sun down. travis informed us that we would be on the water by 8:30 pm, just as the sun tucked behind the horizon. * note: remember 8:30 * we got off one exit too early. not a big deal, we could still get to the public boat ramp from here. we made a detour and finally hit river road, where we initially wanted to be. take a left on indiana and a right by the checkers and we can almost smell the fish we were going to catch. the boat is finally in the water and we set off at 9:30 pm.

we maneuvered between the markers, under the bridge, and to the old, worn down, deteriorating bridge. while holding the boat in place, the current was very strong, travis lit the propane lantern and hung it from a rope. it was then jack’s job to jump from the boat onto a submerged platform, protruding roughly 5 feet above the water’s surface. he navigated the top of the broken bridge until he finally lowered the lantern and tied it off just above the water. once we had jack secured back in the boat, we pulled back around and dropped anchor. time to fish.

honestly, the whole night was pretty slow. we were on the hunt for snook and red fish. i was mainly looking for reds, because snook are out of season and i really wanted to fire up my grill. my grill will stay unlit. after about half an hour, i pulled in the first fish of the night. it was a pretty small snook, maybe 20 inches. after the release, i put another shrimp on my hook and cast again. almost immediately i hooked another snook. this one ended up being closer to the mid 20 inch range. jack also caught 2 snook here, while travis caught 4. not only did travis catch 4 snook in this spot, he caught the off consecutive casts. how impressive.

when we decided to move on, jack had to climb back up and get the lantern. it was my job to hold onto the platform and keep the boat in place while travis did whatever it was he was doing. once again with jack on board, we set off to fish the bridge. there was another boat there when we arrived and it seemed as though they were catching catfish. passing under the bridge we saw our spot. we idled and cut the engine. the snook were popping all over the place. travis got a hold of the trolling motor, only to find it didn’t work…turns out neither did anything else on the boat. it wouldn’t restart, and we we drifting. once again i held on, this time to a concrete wall we almost slammed into at the base of the bridge. somehow, 10 minutes later we were motoring along again. we decided to check out some of the residential docks since we missed our chance with the snook at the bridge. we debated for quite some time whether or not to actually stop at the docks and fish, since we had no way of knowing if the boat would start again or not and then we saw it.

there it was. this glorious light on the tip of one of the docks. in the light you could see fish swarming at the shrimp fluttering at the surface. there was maybe 50 snook in all. we cut the motor. i swear, no matter what we did or tried, or where we cast, these snook were not interested one bit. we spent roughly an hour here and didn’t catch one snook between us. jack caught 2 trout, as did myself, and travis had lost his previous luck. it was time to head home.

after we packed up the boat we got back on the highway. we went the back way so we could hit hwy 17 through arcadia and head back in through bartow. it would be an understated if i said we hit some fog on the way home. it was about 2:30 am, pitch black, and only about 10 feet of visibility ahead of the truck. it was bad. the windshied wipers and defrost in no way made the situation better. the wipers merely spread the water to the edge of the windshield on their first pass and right back into its original spot on the return pass. brilliant. at this point i feared for my life - travis slammed on his breaks at nearly every intersecting road, i don’t know why. things cleared up in arcadia, and when we hit wachula jack took over driving duties so travis (not a hanger-outer) could sleep in the back seat.

i got back to my place at 4:30 am and hit the shower. it felt nice to have the hot water pour over me. i had a great adventure with 2 pretty awesome guys friday night. i can’t wait until i can risk my life again in search for snook and red fish. maybe next time we will have more luck.