A friend on facebook posted a song by Sublime and it caused me to revisit some of the more obscure Sublime albums that I have. There is one in particular that I really like and it was the Sublime Asocustic Bradley Nowell and Friends album. Although it wasn't much song length wise, consisted of various sound qualities, and even featured some song previously released, it managed to capture some great intimate moments in the gone too soon singers career. There is a song on the album that is an amalgamation of bits of original songs and a cover by the Orange County "cowpunksurfabilly" band called The Ziggens. I decided to check them out and they are a pretty good band. They remind me of a mix of 90's college rock, barn burner country, and a little Weird Al style zaniness (in both vocal styling and comedic lyricism). I'm pretty glad I decided to look them up.
Brad Nowell - Mary/Big Salty Tears (Ziggens Cover)
The Ziggens - Big Salty Tears
The Ziggens - Really Bad Sunburn
I am a big podcast dork and about a year ago I stumbled on a collection of old radio broadcasts of a show called Coast to Coast AM: With Art Bell. If you're not familiar with the show or who Art Bell is you are in for a treat. The radio show is a late night call in talk show and the format is focused on the bizarre, creepy, and interesting things in life. The topics range from callers ghost stories, to talking with guests about FBI profiling, to speaking with people who claim to be time travelers, to storm chasers. The show runs pretty much all through the night, starting at 12AM to around 4AM. As you can guess the show gets a bevy for strange and interesting callers. The show is still around, however the thing that really makes the show pop, for me at least, is the host Art Bell. Mr. Bell sadly ended his talk show career in the mid 2000's, but began hosting the show in the early 90's, leaving quite a collection of broadcasts behind. His inquisitive nature, and cool smoky low voice set a perfect compliment to the shows format. He also has a led a very interesting life due to the show. To give you an example of one of his most memorable episodes, he had a caller that claimed to have a bottomless hole in his back yard. Art, being the host he is, ran with it and interviewed him, and then took callers reactions to the story afterward. The man was pretty convincing, would not give his location unless provided with some form of compensation. That's really the essence of the show. Piquing the listeners interest and then bringing you to the edge of belief and disbelief. It makes for some really fun listening. You can find a lot of his episodes on YouTube. I really recommend checking out this list that has some classic episodes.
The Chapin Sisters - Digging A Hole
Tom Waits - Way Down In The Hole
I am a very undisciplined person. I don't have a good diet, I don't exercise like I should, I often forget to do important things. I have tried so many different things to get my life in order, from setting scheduled reminders to do chores, to programming sound notifications on my phone, to having my computer nag me to do things. It just isn't working. However, I have not given up. In the last few years smart wearable technology has become a popular thing. Mostly in the fitness world. I have always wanted to try out one of these gadgets and now that the price of them has become decently affordable I took the plunge and purchased myself a Pebble Time smart watch. My thinking is this, in order to me to learn some discipline and get into a routine I need more drastic measures than reminders on a screen. I need something probably short of shock therapy, to get me ass in line. It just so happens that the Pebble does this in a not so shocking, but vibration sort of way. I am pretty tech savvy and have a bit of programming knowledge so I am going to set up the watch to vibrate on my scheduled reminders. I really believe that this might be the approach that helps me get my shit together fitness/diet wise. I have the want (boy, do I have the want!) but I need a harder way to not avoid the things I need to do. Maybe I should just hire someone to scream "YOU NEED TO DO THE DISHES!" or "PUT THAT TACO BELL DOWN"...maybe I need a naggy significant other. NOTE: Brad in no way is disrespecting any gender with this comment. It is only posted for comedic effect. He thinks that all genders can be equally naggy, and knows that in most cases it's for the benefit of the other person.
Shock Treatment Movie Soundtrack - Shock Treatment
I know I posted a different version of this song previously and I feel like that's cheating a bit so here is another one.
Weezer - The Good Life
The Wonder Years - Came Out Swinging
