People Who Can Eat People Are The Luckiest People In The World

Goddamn Folk! I don't know what's going on, but i find myself listening to a little bit more folk everyday. This band i've been listening to a lot lately called Andrew Jackson Jihad is a folk band that is really good and really cool. The lead singer Sean Bennett is the main lyricist and has an eloquent way with words and his lyrics have a way of describing the mundane with a touch of human life. The music can be catchy and make you want to move around and other times, they just make you think about life and its many miseries. Like, the song "People" is about Sean's trust in the people of the world and how we are all people regardless of the way we look and dress and our skin and how we look at life.

The music is kind of like a teleporter. One moment, you're on the street corner of New York listening to a street band play for money with an acoustic guitar and an empty bottle of whiskey. The next you could be in the middle of a Southern forest on the porch of an old run down house from the 19th century listening to the music in the distance, strumming a banjo as you just sit back and enjoy the life that was given to you. Some of the songs are fast and kind of upbeat like "Survival". But a lot of the songs are a little slower and more on the depressed/revenge side, like "Little Brother", a song about the protagonist's little brother with fetal alcohol syndrome and his experience with using and selling crack-cocaine to his classmates which eventually led to revenge upon the kids that ridiculed his brother for being born different.

Instead of the usual guitar/bass/drums affair in all the other bands these days, AJJ has only two members Sean Bonette and Ben Gallant. Bonette is the lead singer...ok, maybe singer is a bit of an overstatement. His vocals are powerful and hit you hard, but not in the way you might think. His voice sounds almost like a thirteen year old kid who's still growing up. Wales and cracks in his voice are what make his voice so discernable from other singers. He adds to the music with his acoustic guitar and makes it sound different from other bands. He strums the guitar like crazy and puts his heart into each song. Gallant contributes with the beat with the upright bass and backing vocals. Although he's not the center of attention, he is still an important part of the sound of the band.

I saw them live with Bomb the Music Industry! and that was the first time a saw them. When they played, it was with this huge intensity that was like a wave that went over all of the people in the crowd and i couldn't help but sing a long, only i didn't know the words. That's how intense the band was. They wanted me to yell gibberish at them along with the song. And i think that's pretty special

So, until next time...

Yo Bones!!!

Rule of the Bone is a coming of age story about young boy named Chappie that leaves his home and gets into all kinds of horrifying and life changing experiences. At this point in the novel, Chappie, now referred to as Bone, has travelled to Jamaica with his new best friend and mentor, I-man.

In the story, Bone looks up to I-man as not just a friend but a father and a teacher. I-man starts teaching young Bone about rastafarianism. He teaches him about Jah and how only one person can know himself. He describes it to him as more than just a religion or following, but a whole other way of life. Bone really has no father as of yet that he looks up to, so he needs to go to I-man for some kind of guidance because even if he doesn't want to admit it, he's scared. He is terrified because he's a 14 year old kid living his life as a squatter. He wants someone to help him and tell him that he's gonna be ok. He's helpless and doesn't fully know how things work in the society around him.

Bone needs a father figure in his life because his biological father was forced to leave by his mom after trying to get back into the family and his step father Ken is a complete asshole and douche bag that would make Chappie touch his penis and jerk off when he was in the bed with him. But Bone wouldn't take that. At one point, Bone goes back home to find Ken alone in the remains of what used to be his house and Ken tries to fuck him. Bone doesn't just run away from him, though, as most of us would. He takes a gun he had kept in his backpack from an earlier adventure and points it directly at Ken. But Bone knows he can't just shoot him, Ken would have to egg him on one last time, he wanted him to call him "faggot" or "asshole" one last time so he could make him suffer for what happened to his childhood.

During his misadventures in Jamaica, Bone runs into his biological father. Now i know it sounds very convenient that his father just happens to be in the same area that Bone now resides and that even I-man knows him. It's a Deus Ex Machina type of situation, but he meets his father and starts to really like him, until he realizes that he's just another drug abusing asshole after one night of significant events. I won't spoil the ending, but by the end, Bone starts to come to his self-realization, like he finally found Jah. He discovered I-and-I.

Side Projects Are Never Successful

What's better than the zombie apocalypse? It's a hard thing to top, i know, but just think about it. How about living through the zombie apocalypse with 3 of your friends! That's the basis of Left 4 Dead. Four survivors taking on the zombies that have taken over your city of inhabitance.
The game is the epitome of badass.
There's not much else that can top fucking with your friends as a horde of zombies attacks them outside the safe house while you sit inside safe and sound.
This wasn't meant to be a long post...just filler in between my posts of other unimportant stuff i like. cool shit.

So, until next time...

Two Cups of Tea

Recently, i have come across one of the greatest folk musician guys i have ever heard (but, to be fair, i don't hear a whole lot of folk musicians). His name is Jason Webley. His music is contagious and really enjoyable. Now I'm not the kind to listen to a whole lot of music that is comprised of his style, but i really enjoyed the music that infested my eardrums.

His style is very different from most of the stuff I've heard in recent years. His music incorporates the acoustic guitar as well as maybe his main weapon, the accordion. When he plays the accordion, you can't help but feel like dance around in joy and ecstasy. Normally, he plays with a full band with drums and various brass instruments, but on this occasion, Jason showed up to the show with just his guitar, accordion, and will to sing. Many of his songs were the singalong type that included the audience. He liked to joke around with the crowd, too, when he didn't think we were giving him 100% on the vocals.
He likes to play with a lot of emotion in his music, and really showed it in his performance. By far, the high point of his performance for me was his last song he played called "Drinking Song". It was one of those singalong songs with lyrics that get stuck in your head. In the middle of the song, he stopped everyone's singing and said, Ok, it's not sounding right. You guys aren't drunk enough yet. After the many cheers of the crowd, Jason continued with his solution. Now, i have the perfect way to get really drunk without putting a hole in your wallet, he said. Point your finger to the sky and hold it up proud and firm. Ok, we all started to look very confused as we all raised our hands up with pointer fingers straight up, proud and firm. Now, on my count, you're all going to start spinning in circles for 12 seconds while you stare at your finger and nowhere else, he said. We all looked skeptical, but we joined in on the fun. We didn't doubt it would be a drunk simulator, but in such a cramped area, it seemed a little difficult to do. But we went with it. And just before we started, he prepared us with the emotional battle cry of: Now, ARE YOU READY TO GET FUCKED UP! Of course we all started yelling like drunken savages already. It had to be one of the most fun live experiences I've ever had the pleasure of joining in on.

So until next time...