Angels & Airwaves

Lately I have been thinking a lot about one of my favorite bands, Angels & Airwaves. Wednesday, March 4th marked the one year anniversary of my first time seeing them in concert. I also saw them in October with Weezer, which was great, but the show they did in March where they were the headlining band was nothing short of mind-blowingly awesome.
For those of you who may not know anything about AVA, it was formed by Tom DeLonge shortly after his band Blink-182 announced their hiatus. Other members of the band are guitarist David Kennedy (who was a part of DeLonge's side project Box Car Racer), drummer Atom Willard (formerly of Rocket From the Crypt and The Offspring), and bassist Matt Wachter (formerly of 30 Seconds to Mars). They have released two albums: "We Don't Need to Whisper" and "I-Empire."
When Blink-182 announced that they were getting back together I was super happy, but I was also a little worried about what would happen with AVA. My fears were soon quieted though. DeLonge announced that nothing would happen to Angels & Airwaves and they're working on a new album right now.
If you haven't ever listened to AVA, I would highly recommend it. The best way to listen to them is to listen to one or both of the CDs all the way through without doing anything else at the same time. I love to listen to them when I'm driving by myself at night. Their lyrics are really cool to listen to and their sound is kind of outer-spacey, without sounding weird or like techno.
Their new album should be coming out this year as well as a feature film which is sounding pretty awesome. However, I've heard that they won't be touring this year because of DeLonge's commitment to tour with Blink-182 this summer.
Anyway, I hope this gave you a little insight into one of my favorite bands, maybe even my most favorite. I would highly recommend listening to them, I mean really listening to them, preferably in the way I described earlier. So go do it, and tell me what you think.

Day After Day After Day

Disclaimer:  This post is basically a big whining session so you may not want to waste your time reading it.  

After reading a blog by my good friend Winters, I realized that I am not alone in my feelings of hatred for school.  I have been told that one's college years are the best years of one's life.  This is a flat out lie.  Gone are the days of happily playing with friends every day and feeling carefree.  The only thing college does for me is put a huge load of stress on my shoulders.  I never get to play with my friends and every moment that I'm not busily involved in something school-related, I feel a huge wave of guilt spread over me because I know I should be working on something.  At the start of the semester, I was actually excited about school and I was really into trying hard and doing well.  Now it is only halfway through the semester and I am just about ready to throw in the towel.  After spending 5 1/2 hours in the library yesterday studying for my physiology class, it hit me: this drudgery is not going to end for at least 5 more years.  Holy fudge.  Hopefully this hopelessness is just a stage that will pass quickly.    

A-Rod

  You have all probably heard more than you could ever possibly want to hear about Alex Rodriguez and his testing positive for steroids in 2003.  It is all over ESPN and every sports website on the web.  In no way do I think steroid use is right or acceptable, but come on, give the guy a break.  

   A-Rod's name was apparently leaked from a list of 104 names of players who tested positive for steroids in the early years of this decade.  Bud Selig (being the genius that he is...not) didn't ban steroid use from major league baseball until 2004.  Therefore, even though using steroids is obviously cheating, these players weren't breaking any rules by testing positive before the 2004 season.  Now people are talking about criminally charging A-Rod and other players for their steroid use.  My question is, how will that help anything?  It is widely known that a huge amount of players used steroids before they were banned from the game.  If you're going to charge A-Rod, then you better release the rest of the names on that list and charge those players too.  In my opinion, that won't help anything though.  The whole "steroid era" of baseball is an embarrassment to the game, but going back and calling out every player who ever used steroids is not only impossible, it is unnecessary.  There's nothing we can do about the past, we can only make sure that baseball is clean from now on.  So, let's quit worrying about the idiot cheaters that got away with their dishonesty because of Bud Selig's incompetence.  Let's make sure there are no more cheaters in the future and enjoy America's favorite Pastime this year. 

Blink 182

  For those of you who watched the Grammy Awards tonight, you know that the band blink 182 is back together!  I wasn't even watching the awards but my sister who was watching, yelled and told me to come and see what was going on.  When I saw all three of the members, Tom DeLonge, Travis Barker, and Mark Hoppus, on stage together, I couldn't believe my eyes.  Then came the announcement that they are back together, making a new album, and planning on a world tour.  This is the best news I've heard in a while.  I can't wait to see what these guys come up with next.  Just like so many kids who grew up in the '90s, they were the first real band I ever really loved.  

  However, I do have a few questions.  Angels & Airwaves (the band DeLonge put together during blink's hiatus) is another one of my favorite bands.  What will happen to them?  Are they finished, or is DeLonge going to take on both projects at the same time?  Also, the band +44 (formed by Barker and Hoppus).  Are they finished also?  It will be interesting to see what happens.  

Car Show

So I made the cover of this magazine. I guess I've made it in life.

Inauguration Day!

  I hope everyone got the chance to see the Inauguration of President Barack Obama today.  Personally, I can't remember the last time I felt this patriotic.  Even though our country has a lot of things that need fixing right now, today was a good time to be able to set those worries aside and feel patriotic and hopeful. Our country has truly come a long, long way.  It was merely 60 years ago when people couldn't eat in the same restaurants as other people just because of the color of their skin and now, we have a man of color in our nation's highest office.

   Sadly though, there was a sour note to today for me.  When my little sister came home from school, she told me about the attitudes of some of her fellow high schoolers on the subject of Barack Obama.  She told me that the majority of kids at her school were saying how upset they were about the situation and how much they hate Barack Obama.  These kids, no doubt, have been listening to their parents views on the subject.  I think it is sad that so many parents here in central Utah choose not to educate their kids and teach them to think for themselves.  It is also sad that these kids won't have any fond memories of today's historic events.  These high school kids didn't know anything about Obama's policies or stances on any issues.  They have no idea why they hate Barack Obama so much.  They simply hate him because their parents do.  I am very thankful that my parents have taught me to think for myself.  They have never tried to sway my political views.  They trust that I am smart enough and educated enough to form my own opinions.   

  Even if you didn't vote for President Obama and even if you don't agree with most of his policies, I hope that you will still support him as our president.  I, for one, am excited to see what the next few years will bring and I hope that when the next four years are up, President Obama will have given us all a reason to make us want to re-elect him. 

Dark Side of the Moon

I've been listening to some music for my History of Rock & Roll class and I have rediscovered one of my favorite albums of all time.  You guessed it, Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon".  I know a lot of people think this album is weird and creepy but that is the beauty of it.  Have you ever really listened to the lyrics?  They're actually really insightful.  They're a heck of a lot better than most of the garbage that's being thrown around today.  One of my favorite songs from the album is called "Time".  It starts out with the sound of a bunch of clocks ticking and then chiming and alarms going off.  It is an awesome song.  Here are the lyrics.  

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an off hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but its sinking
And racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in the relative way, but youre older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death

Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the english way
The time is gone, the song is over, thought Id something more to say

Home, home again
I like to be here when I can
And when I come home cold and tired
Its good to warm my bones beside the fire
Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells.

Don't these lyrics just make you want to kick yourself for all of the perfectly good time you've wasted doing nothing?  I know that's how I feel.  Now go and do yourselves a favor and do something worthwhile, like listen to this album.  You're welcome.