December 16, 2003 - 12:20 AM

Happy Birthday Matt

Mojito. A Cuban drink made with Rum and mint leaves and other things, whose main attribute is that it is "refreshing."

Margaritas. Non-blended. Oddly tastes a bit like Gatorade. Looks like it too.

Sierra Nevada. The old stand-by beer. Bitter with a flowery aftertaste.

Matt had a birthday party this weekend at his and Sharon's house, and a dozen or so college and work friends of theirs were there to celebrate. We had chinese take out (there was so much that I got a heaping plate of leftovers at the end of the night), we talked arts and crafts, we did karaoke. Oh, yeah, and we drank. Nobody drank too much, though. Disappointing. It felt strange to be nearly 10 years younger than EVERYONE there. However, since I'm a boring fuddy-duddy, I fit right in. (zing!)

The Karaoke was interesting (although most of the participants were reluctant). The microphone wasn't handheld; it was a heaset mic, like the kind the popstars of today use in concert. And it wasn't straight up Karaoke, but a Playstation version that was made into a competition/game. The music was well done, though; not the typical muzak versions you normally hear, but souped up instrumentals and vocals (including a guiding lead vocal) that sounded very close to the originals. There were some gems, including New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle," REM's "It's the End of the World As We Know," Cyndi Lauper's "Girls' Just Wanna Have Fun," and the Barenaked Ladies' "One Week."

Earlier that day, Nick, LDBL, Mer, and I saw the movie Bad Santa which was definitely snortle-worthy. Inappropriately so, maybe, but we all laughed our asses off anyways.

Sunday and Monday I spent at the studio, working on my own stuff. Producer/engineer Andy Wallace has been working all December in one of our rooms on Velvet Revolver, which is Guns n Roses-Axl Rose+Scott Weiland. While I'm not a fan of GnR or Stone Temple Pilots, I still got giddy when I recognized Slash, and when I had to get Duff McKagen to move his car so that one of the guys in my session could get out of the parking lot.

Not much else going on over here. I've been having some brief bursts of inspiration for songs, but I'm really not a songwriter, so the results are pretty shabby. Half formed lyrics, aimless chord progressions. And I can't come up with a good melody to save my life. It's a good thing I'm working on the technical side of things in the music business.

Now Listening To : Holly Cole-Treasure
Random Thought : I keep forgetting what I'm supposed to be doing. I need a new memory chip or battery in my head or something.

What I Just Wrote Before - What I'm About to Write

The Five Most Recent Entries

Here's a hand-picked playlist of 40-plus songs for you to listen to: