Monthly Archive for May, 2008

Music Byte of the Week: The Morning Benders

Published
by
mamba
on May 28, 2008
in Music Bytes
. 0 Comments

DISCLAIMER:  I’ve never been good at critiquing music that I listen to.  When I listen to music, it’s more about the feelings I get or how the lyrics speak to me or relate to a part of my life, rather than the technical aspect of it.  Basically, I either like it or I don’t.  That being said, I am a lover of music and an even bigger lover of listening to new music (translation: New to Mamba).  While my taste in music may or may not be the same as yours, I want to share it with you in the hopes that maybe you’ll find some new music that can touch you too.  (Get those dirty thoughts out of your head, now come on!  This is serious stuff!)  Therefore, I feel I must tell you that I have no musical background or talent of any kind, and am basically just writing what I think about a band I heard this week.  What follows is my own opinion, not to be confused with anyone’s (or anything’s) opinion.  Now, on with the show!

I happened upon this group by clicking on the “Myspace Music” tab, something I very rarely do.  It was a particularly slow day at work.  They were on the home page, under “More Featured Artists”, under the genre of “Pop.”  Here’s where I admit that I do, on occasion, indulge in the pop music.  I mean, seriously, who doesn’t blast some catchy tune before heading out that they know they’ll hear later when they’re three sheets to the wind?  I thought it might be refreshing to hear something other than what’s featured on the Top 20 Video Countdown.  So I clicked on their picture and I found:

The Morning Benders.

Spin Magazine writes:   

“The indie-pop act’s debut full-length, Talking Through Tin Cans, was released this past Tuesday (May 6), and inside its packaging resides eleven jaunty, melodic tunes ideal for summer days and rainy afternoons.”

“The youthful quartet, who’ve been successfully campaigning for the title of [San Francisco's] new indie rock darlings, charmed their way through their early Beatles-y repertoire for their first big Noise Pop show so winningly we could almost hear the Wonder Years voiceover as they left the stage.”

They also have a pretty cool (rumored) story about how they came together:

“According to Morning Benders lore, the four boys all met while working on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride at Disney Land. Once the ride was shut down, the quartet ditched the theme park career path and formed a band.”

For me, it certainly made me listen to more than one or two songs, more than one or two times.  I’m interested in seeing what more comes from these guys.  I might even go check them out live, in which case I’ll let you all know how it goes!

So take a listen to The Morning Benders, with “Waiting For A War” and let me know what you think:

I think you’d be hard-pressed to find someone that doesn’t relate to that, and if you are one or you find one, send them my way because I want to hear about it.  

The Music Byte of the Week will be a regular here at Mambabyte, so don’t forget to come back! 

Wanna hear more The Morning Benders?  Go here.  They are touring with The Kooks, to find out when and where go here.

 

I Don’t Regret a Thing.

Published
by
mamba
on May 26, 2008
in Blogging
. 2 Comments

This Memorial Day Weekend will not be remembered for its barbecues and picnics. It will not be remembered for its walks in the park or its trips down the shore.

No, sir.

This holiday weekend will be remembered as the weekend I spent entirely in front of the computer screen, cursing at myself for ever trying to design my own website. I learned that I really don’t know jack about CSS and RSS and color codes and margins and pixels.  I painstakingly sifted through Adobe CS literature for hours just to learn how to resize an image and change the color of the font.  It was frustrating and difficult and stressful, and there were times I thought I might give in and pay someone to sit in front of THEIR computer screen, and write all of this wonderful code for me.  As the rest of the country was out celebrating their extended weekends, I was in at my kitchen table trying to make this blog look halfway-decent.

(drumroll, please…)

I have to admit, I’m delighted with the results.  More importantly, however, I’m PROUD of myself for getting through it and finally feel like I can now concentrate on WRITING.  While I may feel a little guilty for staying in and not enjoying the beautiful weather outside, I’m glad that I was finally able to finish something I started.  I am not always good at such things, which makes this even more of a milestone in my book.  

I hope you like the fruits of my labor as much as I do, or at least enough to make you come back for more. I certainly wouldn’t want this weekend to be remembered as “The Memorial Day Weekend That Never Was.”  I am now going outside to enjoy what’s left of it.

David vs. David: The Climax of American Idol

Published
by
mamba
on May 21, 2008
in Reality TV and Rumor Has It
. 0 Comments

Whether you’ve been watching or not, the inevitable is happening this evening.  Tonight our nation learns who has earned the highest number of votes and the title of “American Idol.”  

Once you stop laughing about the absurdity of it all, read on.  

Rumor has it that  David Archuleta (the little one) is going to take this year’s crown.  While I’ll agree that the youngster may have the best singing voice, does he encompass what we think of as an “American Idol”? I think not. 

First of all, he’s too young.  He’s 17!  Has he ever been in a fight?  Has he done the dirty yet? Has he had his heart broken?  Has he broken his curfew or snuck out of his house?  Gotten drunk?  I doubt it.  He is constantly under the very watchful eye of his father, aka the Stage Dad From Hell, and can barely make his own decisions. This is going to be our American Idol?

Secondly, he’s no diva, not in the way that we Americans have come to know and love “divas.”  If you simply take a look at the celebrity guests and mentors that have appeared on the show (Gwen Stefani, Mariah Carey, etc), can you ever really (REALLY) picture Little David in the same category as these artists?  At best he’ll become the next Clay Aiken, which is something I think we’d all agree we don’t need a duplicate of. 

Lastly, what kind of album will cute Little David grace us with? Certainly no gut-wrenching ballads of love and loss, no pop-style diddies of girls and booze and bling, not anything believable anyway.  Isn’t this what we, as faithful American Idols fans, are supposed to listen to these days? Little David will give us the male version of Miley Cyrus, if he’s lucky enough to taste fame as she has.  Who will buy his album?  Moms will buy his album for their 14-year-old daughters.  That’s it.  

Does he deserve it? Maybe. Does David Cook deserve it more? That’s a judgment call. All I know is that I’d be more proud of American audiences for picking the more mature, more musically inclined, autonomous, charismatic David over the David whose entire life up to this point has been dictated by his father, who so desperately wants his son to achieve what he himself could not.  How does that constitute the label of “idol?”  I want my Idol with a side of individuality, thank you very much.

Unfortunately, American Idol has become more of a popularity contest than a talent contest in its truest sense, which is why Little David will most likely come out tonight’s victor.  All the tweenage girls across the country will cheer, and I will sit back and wait a couple of years until Little David checks into rehab. Because you know that’s where this is headed.

UPDATE:  Good job America!!!  Nice choice!

Caution: Meeting Dooce May Light Ass On Fire

Published
by
mamba
on May 15, 2008
in Blogging
. 2 Comments

 

Dooce, Mamba, Blurb

I’ve been trolling the blogosphere for about eight months now, ever since I stumbled upon Dooce.com.  I’ve been itching for my own blog.  My own voice.  My own website.  I’ve spent countless hours reading blogs, learning different blog platforms, playing with design, basically doing anything I can do not to actually start writing and publishing on the internet for the world to see.  I would like to blame my procrastination on the fact that I wanted to become an “expert” on blogging before actually starting to blog, but the reality of it is that I’ve just been plain chicken.  Last Wednesday, though, that all changed.

I had read that Dooce would be setting up a book signing at a bar nearby.  I decided that I wanted to go.  And then I didn’t want to go.  And then I did.  I’m terrible at making decisions.  On the one hand, I could decide not to go and then I would get to stay home, as usual, and spend the evening making up reasons why I have not yet posted anything.  On the other hand, I could go and meet this woman who has made me laugh out loud at work on more than one occasion, and maybe something about meeting her would light a fire under my ass to go home and get to it already.  This internal debate lasted most of the day.  In the end, I decided to suck it up and go.  

We walked into the Soda Bar, a bar that looked more like an Antiques Roadshow Reject Auction than anything, complete with hundred-year-old wallpaper reminiscent of The Shining.  There were a few locals lurking near the bar for their $3 pints.  If you don’t know, a $3 pint is a really good price in this area of the U S and A.  No sign of Dooce.  I had already warned DB that I would need a little liquid courage before actually saying hello, so we got our own $3 pints and headed to the back where I was hoping the butterflies in my stomach would at least try to stop making me so nauseous.   

As soon as we entered there she was, in a small circle of people, all with their pints and their books, looking like they were having a grand old time.  DB kept telling me to get over there, that it was probably going to get crowded, and each time he mentioned it I took a bigger gulp of Stella.  I watched the line start to get longer and longer, and finally stood up to get in line.   It seemed like 10 years in that line.  I asked for a new pint before I had finished the first (need to be prepared!), made small talk with the woman behind me, and then it was my turn.

As she stood up to shake my hand, I was amazed at how tall she was!  More importantly though, I was amazed at how calm she was, and how genuinely flattered she looked that people had come to introduce themselves.  She really looked like she was having a good time, as did her husband, Jon.  I did notice that they had opted for bourbon rather than the pints, so that may have had something to do with it.  I wanted to tell her that I admired her for having the courage to be herself.  I wanted to say that she has inspired and motivated me to stop talking and start doing.  I didn’t say any of that.  I choked.  I mustered up enough courage to ask for a photo (see above - there is another but I don’t think she would appreciate me posting that one) and was able to get out some warbled combination of “Thank you for making me laugh, and I think what you’re doing is great.  Oh, and your daughter is absolutely stunning.”  I’m hoping I didn’t sound like too much of a douche.  

I’m glad I decided to go.  Not just because I met Dooce, not just because her and a few featured authors signed my copy of her book, not for the $3 pints, and not for the night out.  I’m glad I went because I realized that the only way to get this blog rolling, is to ACTUALLY GET IT ROLLING.  So thanks, Dooce, for lighting a fire under my ass to sit down and start blogging.  Oh, and the addition of “lovely” in your signature seemed extra special, even if you probably wrote the same in everyone’s.

Dooce Signed My Book