"I love you" "I know"

I don't think I really knew what I wanted out of life until I fell in love with Leah. I'd been "in love" before but when she and I got together, there was no denying that this was something I had never experienced. We've been married for 3 years today and I can, without a doubt, say that they've been the best 3 years of my life.

In Vonnegut's Mother Night, the protagonist is a playwright who writes a play called "A Nation Of Two" for his wife. The idea is that the two of them form their own nation that has no room and no need for politics, religion, greed, or other people. I love that book so much because that's how I feel about Leah and I, though now we're a nation of three. Which is not to say that we don't love all our friends and family but suffice to say that I'd rather spend eternity in hell with Leah than in heaven without her, if I believed in such places.

Last night we played at Emo's in Austin, and it was OK. All the bands were really good, I just wish we'd had a little more solid of a show. My voice went totally out on the last song which was really frustrating, but thankfully, the Rocketboys were there to sing with us, which is always great.



Coincidentally, on the Emo's outdoor stage, mewithoutYou was playing last night and their set started right after ours so I was happy. However, I'm sad to say that this band, while having made some of my favorite records in the past few years, has gotten lazy as a live band. The first time I saw them they were clearly out to make a name for themselves. They covered the stage in rose pedals and accented their crescendos by throwing them up in explosive displays. Their energy was undeniable. Now, I just don't feel like they try as hard. I was also really curious to see how their new material translated to a live setting. The answer is "not well." After a few songs, I realized that they'd probably never top that first time I saw them and went home to help my wife put our daughter to bed.

I've added an Amazon.com widget to the side of my blog so I can recommend things to people who happen by here and maybe earn some credit for myself at Amazon. So, bad show review aside, mewithoutYou's new record is on there and you really should pick it up, as well as all that other crap I've decided to push on you.

My daughter apparently hates it when I sleep.

I'm really tired. Leah and I take shifts at night with Harper and it seems that on my shift she hates sleep and loves crying but then the next morning Leah insists that she was really good for her. That's some bullshit, there! I guess she's cute enough that I'll let it slide, though.

Quiet Company had our first practice in over a month last night and it went well. It felt good to play again and see my musical brothers, though it felt bad to leave my wife and child after I'd already been away at work all day. These are the lives we've chosen. Tonight after work isn't much better. I've got to go downtown to record an in studio performance for NPR that will play in Austin next Thursday I believe. I sound ungrateful, and I certainly don't mean to. I shouldn't say I've "got" to do that, I should say I "get" to do that. I'm very, very thankful for all the attention the record and band have gotten.

Kurt Vonnegut used to say that whenever you find yourself in pleasing circumstances its important to recognize it and say out loud, "If this isn't nice, I don't know what is," so as not to take it for granted and whatnot. I find myself saying that all the time.

The new mewithoutYou album, It's all crazy! It's all false! It's all a dream! It's alright, came out yesterday and I went and snagged it on my lunch break. Just as I'd heard, the era of Aaron's talk-yelling is over and the era of singing has been ushered in. And just as I predicted, they've made a terrific record. The record sounds more like Neutral Milk Hotel than previous mewithoutYou, but the brilliant poetry and smart understanding of musical arrangement remain. I'm giving it a thumbs up.

Also, I was looking through Entertainment Weekly today and I found something I think is funny.

As someone who used to smoke, I feel like I understand what appeals to people in a cigarette ad. People start smoking because it looks cool. Anyone who tells you different is deluding themselves. To me, and I believe most people, smoking is one of the most effortless ways to look cool and it takes tremendous effort to make it look uncool, but congratulations, Newport, you did it. How does this even advertise anything other than looking like a dweeb who's clearly having trouble blowing out 3 candles. Maybe he has Emphysema? If anything this is an effective anti-smoking ad.

I'm not advocating smoking, just to be clear, I'm just saying that if you want to be cool and look cool the best thing to do is to smoke cigarettes.

A celebration of mewithoutYou

Yesterday, as I was driving home from work I was listening to one of my favorite bands, mewithoutYou, and I had an idea for what I want this blog to be. That idea is, "a celebration of life and all the things that make it worthwhile." So periodically, I'd like to take one thing that I love and try to communicate why I love it as I did with Philip Seymour Hoffman in my last post.

Me Without You has a new record coming out and its produced by the unlikely Daniel Smith of Danielson Family fame. I read a little of the press for the record and it seems that singer Aaron Weiss has given up his normal M.O. of talk-yelling for full time singing on this one. Honestly, that kind of scares me because that's one of the things that I think sets MWY apart. However, I want to say that I have nothing but high hopes for this record, and I believe in this band. And by that I mean that I think that they are genuine, and honest artists, and genuine, honest artists tend to consistently make genuine, honest art. (I know that I don't actually know them and there is an inherent level of BS when you try to judge a person by their art alone.)

I don't want to belittle their music because its fantastic and epic in all the right places, but I don't think its any secret that their most notable strength is in Aaron's "stream of consciousness" lyrics. While said lyrics are unabashedly Christian, and I am not, the truth is that great lyrics are great lyrics. He's introspective as hell and never overly preachy. Here are some of my favorite pieces:

"My exit, unobserved, my homesickness, absurd,I said 'Water,' expecting the word would satisfy my thirst!Talking all about the second and third when I haven't understood the first." - from My Exit, Unfair

"Why pluck one string?

What good is just one note?

Oh, one string sounds fine I guess, and we were once 'one notes'.

We were lonely wheat, quietly ground into grain (What light and momentary pain!)

So why this safe distance, this curious look?

Why tear out single pages when you can throw away the book?

Why pluck one string when you can strum the guitar?" - from Torches Together

"You were a song I couldn't sing, caught like a bear by the bees with its hand in the hive

who complains of the pain of the sting when I'm lucky I got out alive!

A life at best left half behind, the taste of the honey still sweet on my tongue, and I'd run (Lord knows I've tried) but there's no place on Earth I can hide from the wrong I've done." - from Nice & Blue pt. 2

"She was grace and green as a stem,

but I walk heavy on delicate ground

(...There I go showing off again, self impressed by how well I can put myself down!!

and there I go again, to the next further removed level of that same exact feigned humility!!!)

[this for me goes on and on to the point of nausea]

Shadow am I!

Like suspicion that's never confirmed but it's never denied.

Wolf am I!

(No, "shadow" I think is better,as I'm not something, more like the absence of something)" - from Wolf Am I

"I half-heartedly explained but gave up peacefully ashamed as a glass can only spill what it contains.

We went to Portugal and Spain and in her mind the entire time it rained!

A glass can only spill what it contains.

What new mystery is this?

In overflowing emptiness, the Invisible is seen among the shadows and the mist.

Before my doubting eyes the Infinite appears in time-the Unquestionable is questioned but makes no reply!" - from A Glass Can Only Spill What It Contains

And lets not forget that the first time I saw them live, they blew my effing head off.