Steven Q's Blues

11:23PM - on the topic of good music....

Sure, he sings about smokin and drinkin way too much, but for rockin country music Hank Williams III is as good as it gets. He actually holds up his own despite the obvious comparisons.

Another son of a famous country singer that I've been listening to is Shooter Jennings. Son of Waylon. Not as good as III, but pretty damn good. Big loud rock, quiet acoustic tunes, and a ballad-y song about hiding his tears behind a pair of aviators.

And they both hate (with good reason) Nashville pop country.

And I continue to advise everyone to listen to the gourds and the drive by truckers. And tift merritt.

For those slightly closer to the mainstream, old steve earle and all dwight yoakam kicks ass. I'm especially surprised that I love yoakam because he has actually been a big country star, but his music doesn't suck.

Anyway that's my last year or so of music that I've been listening. And just because I listen to some country music doesn't make me a republican (thankfully).

-Steve-

10:20PM - The Aftermath:

At the moment I don't plan on saying much on here about the trip, other than despite getting lost approximately 24 of the 26 days of the trip, we had a lot of fun. My only real expectations about it were to have fun, and I think we accomplished that.

I ended up taking 14 rolls of film (yes no digital here!)--as of print time, still yet to be developed--these will soon enough be on a website (all except the incriminating ones...mwhahaha), along with some of the stories and such.....

A few more tips for travel--
1) When you're driving with me, and I think we should go left, take a right. If we had done this, we would never have gotten lost. That said, ultimately, getting lost is fun.

2) Always hit up the duty-free shop when going from one country to the other. Good times.

3) Keep an extra pair of clean undies....just in case.

That's it. Road trips are fun. Go on one some time if you haven't.

-Steve-

10:35AM

Which Bob Dylan era are you?

http://www.otaking.org/~isis/dylanquiz.html

I'm Late 60's Bob....

Take the Which Bob Dylan Era Are You? Quiz ~ This quiz created by idiotwind

6:25PM - Dear Soccer Fans,

Get a fucking grip....I'm glad baseball does not have a fan base that goes to the lengths that soccer fans go to. In Italy I think it was they practically lit the field on fire, not to mention the goalie that got hit with a freakin FLARE!!! Why the hell are they carrying these things around for? Freaking insanity. Plus supposedly two teams in Europe just played each other for the first time in 20 years--the last time they played, 39 people died as a result of the game (and apparently the riots). I thought we took sports seriously, but apparently not.

Imagine if Yankee-Red Sox games were played in Europe, with European fans....there would be no more fans of either team cuz they'd probably have killed each other over the past 5 years or so.

At least hockey has nothing to worry about in this regard (hehe).

Born in the U.S.A.,
-steve-

11:18PM - my return to livejournal....

is an auspicious one.


You are Kip Dynamite and you love technology.


Which Napoleon Dynamite character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla</fon I'm watching Duke's of Hazzard. Good times. --Steve--

Current mood: chillin like bob dylan

Current music: Ryan Adams--"Let It Ride"; and DBT--Southern Rock Opera

12:08AM - Sox win it all

Anything is possible now. Who thought this was possible, after 86 years of bad news, a near-disaster in this year's ALCS, damn. Damn.

I'm tired, but wired at the same time.

I am so happy for this sox team, they are perhaps the coolest baseball team ever. Also one of the best postseason teams ever. Who wouldn't want to be a part of this team??? I'd just like to hang out with them for one night.

The characters will live forever.....johnny damon, papi, manny, millar, pedro, schilling, even their GM is a character(always with a bottle of liquor in his hand), man it is great to see a team that does not take itself too seriously(yankees) and just have fun. Cuz besides the glory and the fact that this team will live forever, the point of playing baseball is to have fun, and it was damn fun watching these guys play.

Congrats 2004 Red Sox. See you opening day(I'm going, dammit).

-Steve-

12:08AM - Sox win it all

Anything is possible now. Who thought this was possible, after 86 years of bad news, a near-disaster in this year's ALCS, damn. Damn.

I'm tired, but wired at the same time.

I am so happy for this sox team, they are perhaps the coolest baseball team ever. Also one of the best postseason teams ever. Who wouldn't want to be a part of this team??? I'd just like to hang out with them for one night.

The characters will live forever.....johnny damon, papi, manny, millar, pedro, schilling, even their GM is a character(always with a bottle of liquor in his hand), man it is great to see a team that does not take itself too seriously(yankees) and just have fun. Cuz besides the glory and the fact that this team will live forever, the point of playing baseball is to have fun, and it was damn fun watching these guys play.

Congrats 2004 Red Sox. See you opening day(I'm going, dammit).

-Steve-

8:38PM - Where everybody knows your name......

Pine Bush, NY has validated its existence. Read that one again.

Last night, while with the Farbmans on an improvised "Sketchy Bar Night", we went to the much-vaunted but ultimately overrated Hoot Owl and had a beer. No hot chicks there, only old drunk dudes. Then, in a moment of legendary inspiration, Mr. Farbman suggests we see if the former AJ's was now open. He had heard it had new owners, so we drive over and see what the deal was.

Expecting the worst, we could not have been more wrong. Inside it is freakin sweet, 6 televisions all tuned to a different channel. A bar stocked with at least 10 beers on tap, along with a wonderful selection of liquor. It looks very very nice too.

So we order drinks(a manhattan, southern comfort manhattan, and cranberry/vodka). It was the best manhattan I've ever had. Great freakin prices. In addition, the nachos and rum and coke I had later on were great. We had a freakin great time.

To quote Big Gary Farbman, 'this place is our Cheers'. To quote Family Guy(sort of), 'This bar is freakin' sweeeeeeeeeet!'

See ya next happy hour....

-Steve-

8:23PM - power outrage

So early this evening we lost power at our house, and panic set in thanks to last year's blackout which affected 50 trillion people. We hoped the mall would be open cuz my sis wanted to get a ring fixed and i wanted to buy a ps2 and grand theft auto. Anyhow, as we get closer to them mall all the traffic lights were out, so we turned around. In addition, none of the radio stations were saying anything about this outage, but regardless we were worried it would be a bad one. So what does one do when there is no power? Go outside, sit down, and watch time go by.

And that's when the fun began.

What occurred over the next hour or so was perhaps the funniest thing I've been involved in since I don't know when.

We heard this little dog barking and we saw a little Jack Russell terrier barking at my neighbor as he took his garbage out. At first we assumed it was his, but it wasn't. So I started walking over to it cuz I didn't want it to run in the road, but this thing was like an energizer dog. This dog was freakin' crazy. After five minutes or so, my neighbor 4 houses down realizes the dog got out of the house--"I didn't even know she could get out!". And he comes over to our front yard to try and subdue the aforementioned puppy. No such luck. The dog is clearly enjoying this, and she keeps running round and round. Hilarity ensued at this point. Round and round. Round and round. Around the yard. Back towards his house. Around the back of my house. And back again. My neighbor's brother comes out to try and help. No luck. More running. My dad tried to get the dog. My sister. Me. My mom. Nothing. Mind you this dog is yay high and yay heavy. Can't be more than 10 pounds. My neighbor's father comes out and tries to get him. No luck. The dog wasn't even tempted by dog treats. Just more running. Then my dad lets out Fred, super dog, to try and get to chase him back home. Fred does indeed chase him, but after 2 seconds the other dog was literally running circles around Fred. The circles got smaller and smaller as Fred got more tired out. Poor Fred was definitely showing his age. The dog was even toying with Fred, laying down and appearing to have stopped, only to start running circles around him again. This was transcendent comedy, I wish I had gotten it on tape. Finally Fred gave up. However, Fred seemed to realize that he was dealing with a female dog--needless to say we got Fred inside at that point. A few more minutes of running around and the dog somehow got subdued. My neighbor had him in his arms. Game over. Almost. The dog made a last ditch attempt to get out of his arms and run for it, but he had the power grip on him at that point. Now it's over. That little dog ran around for about 45 minutes, and didn't even break a sweat(oh wait, dogs don't sweat). But you get the picture.

20 minutes later the power came on, and I went back inside and checked my email.

-Steve-

Current mood: amused

Current music: Smashing Pumpkins

4:53PM - Sittin' on top of the world

The best thing about this whole job thing is that for the first time in god-knows-how-long I feel like a million dollars, king of the world, and master of the universe. It feels soooooo good to have gotten the job.

Of course, that doesn't mean that I can't still dream. I'm already openly thinking about getting a new car(wouldn't that be sweet), even though that's a while away. Whatever.

The funny thing is that about a day or two before I got the call to interview, I went to Waldenbooks to look for a part-time job. And later last week I interviewed, but they were asking ridiculous questions, and were being way too serious about a part-time job. They even called me to make sure I had my references correct. And then they actually called the people I put down as references. However, at this point I decided that regardless of anything I didn't want this job because of their over-seriousness. So I told one of my references to say mean things about me, but nay, it was too late. They had already called her. It would have been hilarious because she would have. And so yesterday, while Mr. Jay Victory Altilio was over here buying O's tickets with me, I got a call from them, offering the position. I politely turned them down.

Also, more good news. As if I wasn't feeling great enough about this week's proceedings, I woke up on Thursday to the local classic rock station to hear that my hero, Bob Dylan, was playing the Chance on Thursday!!! Could things get any better for me??? I think not. So I bought tix today even though they were fairly expensive--who cares. I also plan on being front row or damn close. This is in addition to the Bob-Willie show a week after that.

Additionally, next weekend I will be heading to Beantown to celebrate a little more. Good times are sure to be in abundance(hello apple martinis!!!)

Yay me!

-Steve-

PS--don't touch feces and then put your hands in your mouth. You may get Coxsackie virus. Not good times.

12:02AM - Still Smokin'

Just switching channels(I found the remote!!), and saw Tommy Chong from Cheech and Chong fame on Leno, and I hear the following.

"The cops came in and asked 'do you have any marijuana in the house?' And I said 'Of course, I'm Tommy Chong.'"

I just thought that was hilarious. Just imagine hearing it with Tommy Chong's voice. Funny stuff.

-Steve-

11:24PM - My sweet Annette got left standing at the altar....

Hello readers,

Nothing is worse when you are watching TV and you can't find the remote. It happens to the best of us, even me.

Nothing is worse than watching a bad comic on TV. It happens to the best of us, even me. It happened, and I kept watching to see how bad it could get. It got bad. Only funny moment--when he did an impression of JFK as a Saigon whore.

I was gonna write a little story about what I heard while listening to Rush Limbaugh today. But I won't, cuz I got pissed off as soon as I started thinking about it. He's a bastard.

Anyway I'll end on a familiar note, which would be talking about music: last year I got this cd, Decoration Day, by the Drive-By Truckers. I got it for free when I bought some other CD from BMG. I listened to it once and kinda just lost interest. Well I listened to it yesterday, and it's really freakin good. These guys have some issues, but it all works cuz they got good lyrics and some rockin music. I am quite excited about it. And supposedly they have a new album coming out in August--guess I'll have to check that out.

Go see Fahrenheit 9/11 if you haven't already. Dammit.

-Steve-

11:10PM

I got nothing to say

10:18PM - screw'd

Got screwed today, and not in the good way, over the summer school thing. Actually I got screwed a while ago, and only found out today. The exact details don't matter too much, except that I should have expected this to happen. And it sucks, because I should have gotten it, and now I don't have it to put on my resume or to use as valuable experience. I'm pissed, and I'm gonna drink my sorrow away this weekend at Farby's. If you wanna know details, just ask.

It didn't help my bad mood that I stood in lines at the mall for ridiculous amounts of time and was also ignored by people at Sears, and nearly cut in line by an old man. I slapped him down, even though he was an old man. And I felt no remorse. Seriously, when I become king, people who work in crap stores will learn how to do their jobs or pay the consequences. And I WILL become king one day. To quote Stewie G--"For every sprinkle I find, I shall KILL you!"

Only good thing today: Mets are beating up on the Stankees. Always a good time(until they blow the lead)....

Other good things from this week: found a used DVD of the Blues Brothers for fairly cheap, especially considering it's out of print. And I got a Black Crowes album brand new for really cheap. They freakin rock.

Til next time....

Happy Birthday America,

-King Steven III-

Current mood: listless

Current music: "Wiser Time", Black Crowes

2:05PM - fire is fun....

find your element
at mutedfaith.com.

10:30PM

Since we are all speaking of great deals on books lately, I'd like to tell you all of my tale. I bought Theodore Rex, the great history of Teddy Roosevelt's presidency by Edmund Morris, as a used copy for $3 from amazon.com. I was expecting to receive a paperback copy, and was more than surprised when I received a hardcover book that was in new condition. Mind you that this book has a $35 list price. Quite a steal, though not on the magnitude of Jared and Rachel's fleecing of some unfortunate establishment.

In other news, here are my music recommendations of the week:
1) James Brown, "Love Power Peace, Live at the Olympia, Paris, 1971". The only live recording with the original JB's. A funky good time.
2) Black Eyed Peas, "Elephunk". Yes it has the overplayed "Let's Get Retarded" from the NBA playoff commercial, but it is a fun song. And many of the other songs are quite funky and fun. A good departure from my usual listening experience.

Current mood: quixotic

Current music: JB, "Georgia on my Mind"

12:45AM - Thoughts on Ronald Reagan

Clearly, those of us who are reading this entry were too young to understand the world during Reagan's presidency. Looking back, I probably would have hated him. He stood for just about everything I don't--cutting gov't spending, but increasing military funding; his big idea was to end the New Deal era ideas of the government helping average people. Iran-Contra. He was a traditional conservative, and his way of doing government is the way George Bush and the (neo)conservatives modeled their ideas on.

But I don't dislike Ronald Reagan, and never have. He rose from middle America to become President. He did good things as President. The speech after the Challenger explosion, putting the final nail in the Cold War's coffin, the fact that he was an amazing speaker--definitely the Great Communicator. He had a bunch of great one-liners--saying he didn't duck fast enough when he was shot is the best of the bunch.

He's sort of a modern folk hero as well--as a teenager, he was a lifeguard and supposedly saved the lives of 77 people--a tall tale if I've ever heard one. An actor who's famous moment was the 'win one for the Gipper' line.

Anyway, when you think of the great statesmen of American history, Ronald Reagan is right there. Especially from the 20th century, you've got the Roosevelts, and then Reagan.

History will look kindly on Reagan's presidency and life, and we have certainly lost a great American today.

--Steve--

9:28PM - Everybody Knows This is Nowhere

Well well well. I thought I had a summer school job, but I do not. Has much to do with seniority.

I could sub for summer school. I'm told that I would work nearly every day, and summer school subs are paid the same rate as regular summer school teachers. But godalmighty, that would be tedious, like working at a daycare or something(hehe).

So it goes. And now I'm stuck without a job. But I have calculated the minimum amount of money it would cost me to live at home this summer, and with insurance, cell phone and gas it's like $500-600. That's about my last 2 paychecks for school, so the moral of the story is this: while I'm mad bout the school thing, I'm not too worried. I'll find something.

In other news, I got my Kerry Gear. Hehe, I got a Elect Kerry pin, a Kerry for Pres bumper sticker, and a Kerry yard sign. All well and good, cept the yard sign came without something to hang it on, so I gotta figure that out. Just doin my part to piss off about 75% of the Pine Bush area.....

In more other news, someone please come home for a weekend and go out drinking with me. I would be very grateful.

-Steve-

11:21AM - finally, something good happens

So I finally got around to selling the CDs with which I no longer have any connection to, and what happens? I get $135 for about 40 CDs(20 of which are complete crap). I'm at the store and a bit bummed out that I was not getting what I think I should have got back. Fast forward about 2 hours. My sister and I had just finished eating lunch at the Scotchtown Deli(which is no Real Deli(RIP)), and I am just putting my dollar bills into order(from highest to lowest), when I realize that I have 3 50 dollar bills. So I say to my sister--"Didn't the guy give me $135?'. She replies 'yep'. And so it soon becomes clear that he gave me $135, and an extra $50 that apparently got stuck to one of the other 50s.

And NO, I have no intention of bringing it back.

I get screwed enough as it is. I don't deserve half the crap that I put up with. So screw you and your morality, I'm keeping the gift $50.
-------------------------------------------------------

By the way, I have the greatest taste in music ever. I should be King of the Music. Then all would be good. Bye.

-Steve-

Current mood: pissed off

Current music: Stones--Let it Bleed

8:41PM - Tonight, tonight the strip's just right....for going racing in the street

More proof that I'm a freak: I bought a not-on-sale computer game(Civilization III) for $40, and an on-sale Richard Jefferson Nets jersey for $20. Spending $60+ of stuff I don't need with money I don't have. You gotta love credit cards.

Anyhow, playing this new game just confirms that I am the worst video game/computer game player of all time. I suck at this game--I got destroyed at the easiest level....argh despite this I am addicted to the game.

by the way, Mr. Delrosso--I could have(and probably did) tell you that Darkness on the Edge of Town is a great album, and that Streets of Fire is a cool song. However, I think the title song is much better than Streets of Fire. Incidentally, before you made this mention of this particular album, I had been listening to it the past several days.

There's a darkness on the eeeeedge of town....

-Steve-

Current mood: hot

Current music: Bruce, of course