Nothing on TV

I use television as background noise. I'm not a big TV person. And though I don't really pay much attention to what I'm watching, I don't want it to be something terrible. Sadly, there is nothing on worth having on as I type. The awful movie with Patrick Swayze that's on is making me want to bash my head against the wall. I could change it, but I'm lazy. Ugh!

Ok, moving on... I went to the Gallery 4222 Friday night to see a film with Magdalene. Her friend Pedro runs the gallery and they screen movies occasionally. Last night's film was a mockumentary, called Man Bites Dog, about a serial killer. It was in French with English subtitles. Despite being humorous at first, it lost its charm early becoming awfully boring. It wasn't a horrible film. Pedro put it best when he said, "it would be better if it were 45 minutes shorter." All-in-all it was a fun time. And afterwards we went up the road to Tara's for a drink and some food. Mmmmm... Smithwick's. So tasty!

Today was a pretty normal Sunday at work. The day moved quickly which was nice, and I'm finally getting over this horrible illness that has tortured me for the past several days. And I'm off tomorrow, so I'm pretty excited about that.

Ok, I should be getting to sleep. Goodnight.

- Sergei xo

Song of the Day:
Cursive - Big Bang

p.s. - RIP Lenny. You were a good fish.

*cough... Ugh!

Sick? What the... ? I'm not a fan of being sick. The whole "mind over matter" approach failed me this time. Sometimes it works. Not this time. Worst part is that Sean and i were supposed to play an acoustic show tonight at Katy Mc's. I tried to fight off the sickness, but it didn't work. My throat is too raw to sing, especially in a smokey bar. So we bowed out. My apologies to anyone who planned to come.

I haven't shaved since last Sunday morning. I'm getting rather bearded. I may shave tomorrow. Maybe. We'll see what happens.

Ok, that's all for now. Later on.

-Sergei xo

Song of the Day:
Cursive - Opening the Hymnal/Babies

p.s. - Quick note about my last blog: I meant to say that I picked up my brother and his fiance, not his wife. They are not married yet. Apparently I don't pay attention when I blog sometimes. hahaha.

Why am I such a slacker?

Has a week really passed since my last blog? More than a week actually. I need to start updating more frequently. Well, let's see if I can recap on the past week+'s events, shall we?

I've been more active on my weekly day off lately. I slept late last week, which is surprising, since I never sleep. Then after accompanying Magdalene on some errands she had to run for her dad, we drove east looking for some farm that is supposed to have great muffins. But we chose the wrong side of the split in the rode, so we never found the farm, but we did find a nice restaurant in Mattituck, where I tried a delicious Austrian beer. Mmmm. Wednesday we went to Toast and I finally tried one of their cheese fondues. I forgot what kind it was, but it was really good.

I switched my opening and closing shifts for Friday & Saturday this week, so after getting out of work on Friday night, I went by Joy's for a haircut and to shoot the crap about Nicole's wedding and share photos. Seeing some of Joy's photos made me remember more of the trip. Oh boy! I was really drunk. She actually has video footage of me doing mid-air splits outside of the hotel bar at 2am or so, while being cheered on by 15 or so friends. Yeah, I was a mess. Hahaha. Then on Saturday I worked until 4:30pm, then had to pick my brother and his wife up from the airport. Thanks to baseball game related traffic, it took me 2 hours to get to Laguardia airport. Ugh! It only took me an hour to get home though. Then I went to Steve's parent's house for the tail end of his graduation party. I got to see a bunch of friends and shoot the crap for a while. Always a good time.

Sunday I went to a wedding reception in NJ for Magdalene's former roommate. It was a lot of fun. I didn't get intoxicated like at Nicole's wedding, so I didn't do a lot of dancing. Yeah, that's right, I danced again. hahaha. I'm definitely more confident dancing when I have alcohol-filled bloodstream. Anywho, the reception was nice and I met some equally nice people. After getting back from NJ yesterday, we stopped in Oyster Bay and went to Chelsea Manor in Muttontown and strolled around for a while, then ran through the sprinkler because it was kind of hot out. Next we stopped in Oyster Bay, walked around the town, then grabbed a drink at a local ale house. They had a beer selection on par with the place in Mattituck, so we tried a couple of different kinds. One Belgian, the other Scottish, both delicious. Later last night we went to see Nacho Libre which was hilarious. If you like Jack Black, you'll love it. So funny. I'd see it again.

Sean and I practiced tonight for Friday's acoustic show. I'm going to have to call Lou tomorrow to get some details, since he set it up and I have no information yet. I have some rumored info, but that isn't enough to go by.

Melissa transferred me the new Cursive album, Happy Hollow. It's so weird, but I really like it. I can't wait to hear it in my car. I do my best album listening while driving. I get to really experience the music.

Ok, I guess that's all I have to report tonight. I'll try not to wait so long between blogs again. But I say that a lot lately, so don't hold me to it. But I will try. Honestly.

Goodnight.

-Sergei xo

Song of the Day:
Cursive - Dorothy Dreams of Tornados

Geetars, day 8.

Tonight was very productive in the studio. Aside from the one song that we are reworking, all of my guitar tracks are complete. Once we actually make the changes to the final song, I'll record the guitar tracks and be completely finished. Sean even tracked his first guitar track tonight. So, here's the list of tonight's accomplishments:

The Color Courses Red - choruses and bridge (layered Nashville and Fender)
A Game of Lines Crossed - choruses, layered bridge, and single, clean, sliding note at beginning of verses (Fender)
Fixtures - choruses & bridge (Fender)

Sean found such a huge sound for the Fender that we were able to use the same tone for all the Fender tracks tonight. Some of the Fender parts that weren't layered tonight were layered with other distortion tracks.

Also, Sean recorded his main chorus and bridge tracks for Fixtures using his Brian Moore. Our tracks sound huge together. I can't wait to finish this album.

Ok, I guess that's it. I'm off to sleep, so I can get up and go running in a few hours. Goodnight.

-Sergei xo

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

I started a blog last night, but could not find the right tone. It started well, but I didn't want it to come across the wrong way. It's easy to have one's words taken the wrong way, which is something I wanted to avoid. Perhaps I will get it right in this attempt. Basically, the point of this part of the blog is that I am, for the first time in a long time, happy. For longer than I admitted to myself, I was not feeling alive. I had forgotten who I was and what made me happy. I spent more time feeling guilty about what I wanted in life and less time actually being happy. If anyone is bothered by this, I'm sorry, but I don't see anything wrong with wanting to feel alive and excited about life again. It has been so long since I have felt this way.

Ok, so Gracer's second record release show was amazingly fun. Of course, it's always fun to hang out with a large collection of friends. And it's even more fun when there are great bands involved. God's Gift to Women played their first show, and despite the low guitar volume they sounded awesome. I just hope this first show means that there will be several more to come. Gracer, as always, sounded huge. I couldn't be more happy for them. The new album sounds incredible. There all good people. I hope the record does really well, so go buy it if you don't have it already. As for us, it was one of the best shows we have played in a long time. We even played a song off the last record in its original format. It was great to see so many faces I haven't seen in a long time. Huge thanks to anyone who came out. xo

Sean and I are supposed to record later tonight, so I may have some new updates in a few hours. Keep your fingers crossed.

That's it for now. Later on!

-Sergei xo

Song of the Day:
Elliott Smith - Bled White

Bouncing Souls video premiere

So, today is 06/06/06. I find it amusing how everyone is calling it 666. It's not fair to completely overlook the 0's. I mean, what the hell did the 0's ever do to you. Ok, I admit, I'm just annoyed that they remade The Omen. Must every film be remade? Is there a shortage of original ideas in Hollywood these days? C'mon, film industry, give me something new and original.

The new Bouncing Souls video for "The Pizza Song" airs tonight on Steven's Untitled Rock Show on Fuse. There will also be an appearance by the Bouncing Souls, and if you look carefully you just might spot me standing online in the pizza place.

We have a show coming up this Friday. Gracer's second record release show. Along with Gracer, we'll be playing with God's Gift to Women, which is Lou & Austin's flamenco indie rock band. It is their first show ever, so we're all really excited. We'll also be playing some new songs, two of which we haven't played at the past few shows, and two songs from the last record. Though only one will be in its original form.

Speaking of Gracer, they sounded amazing at their first record release show on Friday. And Walter Eakman was incredible, as was Con Amore. It was one of those shows I would have gone to even if I didn't know people in these bands. Plus, I had some fantastic Thai food before the show, so the night was great from beginning to end. Oh, and if you haven't heard Walter Eakman, go search them out on Myspace. Walter Eakman is actually only one person, Brian Ward, but several of our friends play with him during live performances, and the songs are unbelievably good. I've had the demo now for two days and I'm quite addicted.

I don't have the details yet, but Sean & I may be playing an acoustic set at Katie Mc's on Friday, June 23rd. Once Lou gets us the info, I'll post it.

Ok, well, today is my one day off, so I should be productive. Later on!

-Sergei xo

Song of the Day: