17th
(via jonathanmarcus)
Just set up my flavors.me account—it’s great, a super smooth data aggregation service that’s easy to manage and customize. Only took a couple of minutes to get fully set up, I’m very impressed. I prefer looking at a lot of the content on flavors.me rather than the sites it’s pulling the info from (Especially Flickr). CHECK IT OUT, you can be like me!
A forgotten video I made with Will on our trip to D.C. in the Spring.
As much fun as it was to stand around and watch a guy put on like 120 t-shirts, one after another, this might have been the highlight of the trip.
Today is my birthday, which brings to an end one of the most tumultuous years of my life so far. In the past year, I gained a stepmother but lost my father. I traveled to Costa Rica, Yellowstone National Park, Miami, Atlanta, New Hampshire. I fell in love and moved in with him. I wrote for a television show and starred on that same television show. I made lots of funny things for the internet. I tried new things, like beef tongue (yum!) and sweetbreads (barf). I laughed so hard over a plate of cheese I thought I was going to throw up. I made my own Halloween costume from scratch. My laptop crashed and I paid too much to get a few priceless items back. I was voted Webutante Queen (!). I lost touch with some friends and became close to new ones. I saw Third Eye Blind twice. A good friend moved to LA, and one just as good moved back. I wrote a lot. I watched an obscene amount of improv but didn’t take 401. I had a really great new experience. Someone stole my bank account and went on a Home Depot shopping spree. I loved Milk, was disappointed by Benjamin Button, and hated Revolutionary Road. I cooled it with the hoodies. I saw David Byrne in concert. I made some mistakes. I got to watch a taping of Saturday Night Live from the writer’s room. I went on a private tour of the White House. I read a lot of books and plan to keep it up. I got an iPhone. I hosted two CH Live shows and met some incredible fans. I got really, really into Battlestar. The candidate I voted for got elected as I watched in a bar with my brother. I cried a lot and smiled even more.
So I guess all that’s left to say is thanks. Here’s to the start of another one!
Happy Birthday Sis! All that’s left to do in 2k9 is… tattoos?
Wes Montgomery :: Impressions (Coltrane)
During his entire career Wes Montgomery played almost exclusively on a Gibson L5 (cutaway electric spanish) from 1963. He wasn’t really interested in equipment. In his own words: “I got a standard box. I don’t never want nothing special. Then if I drop my box, I can borrow somebody else’s…”
He also played with his thumb rather than with a guitar pick, and this is a major characteristic in his guitar sound. He had a corn on his thumb, one sound he got from the soft parts of his thumb, another more edgy one from that corn…
Beautiful day, great afternoon for a ride. Just logged 25 miles (wearing a backpack, can you tell?). I almost forgot what a Saturday afternoon feels like—this summer has been so busy with weddings, visiting Emily, Phish shows, birthdays.. this is my first weekend responsibility free in about 2 months, and i’m loving it. Gonna go do some weeding and cleaning up in the back yard. Let’s have a nice, long, slow transition into a beautiful Autumn, plz.



WIN WIN WIN
1.This past weekend, one of my best friends, Brad Frost married his long time girfriend Melissa Bostian in Richmond, VA. Despite it being August and Richmond, they decided to have the wedding outside. It was worth the roasting sun, the whole scene was beautiful—they held the ceremony in the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens against a backdrop of picture perfect trees, plants and flowers. I’ve known them both for a long time, and they’re as amazing individually as they are for each other. Congrats, guys! WIN!
2. They asked me to provide the music for the ceremony, and since they don’t allow amplified instruments in the garden (and you can’t really roll a piano out onto the green), I teamed up with another longtime friend and an amazingly talented multi-instrumentalist i’ve had the priveledge of playing in groups with over the years, Aaron Spring. I bought a classical guitar for the occasion, knowing that it would both sound more appropriate in this setting and carry better outdoors than a steel string. We played the traditional pieces, Pachelbel’s Canon in D, and the Wedding March (here comes the bride) for the ceremony, and we also surprised everyone with a classical guitar and flute arrangement of an original song i wrote and performed while in a band with the Groom in college. Everything went off without a hitch. WIN!
3. I loved playing that classical guitar, but honestly, I really didn’t need it. I went back up to Sam Ash this afternoon and returned it for store credit, and picked up a really nice set of speakers for my record player instead. My roommate Fraser works there and helped me out, and even got the price knocked down like 100 bucks. After all was said and done, i owed 20 dollars on top of the credit for the guitar, and i’ve been bathing in a rich and wonderful aural soundscape for the past few hours. WIN!