On Sunday I got to fly to a neighboring state to play in a band with some friends. The drummer owns and flies his own plane, and instead of driving for 10 hours, we flew for 3 hours (round trip). I never have been a fan of flying, and going in a small 4-seater wasn’t sounding like much fun. After going, I have to say it really wasn’t that bad. It was a little bumpy on the way back, but other than that it was very smooth and enjoyable. I had this urge to play Sim City the whole time I was up at 4500 feet. I wanted to re-zone some of the farms, and move the roads around, and make the lakes bigger. I have a whole new outlook on flying, now. I guess it just takes a few trips to get over the fact that the plane isn’t going to fall out of the sky or break apart into a million pieces. It is probably safer than driving; fewer idiots in the vicinity, at least.

My friend Amanda bet/dared me to not buy anything but necessities (food, gas, electricity, etc) for a month. No CDs, no DVDs, no monitors, no electronics, nothing fun. It will be difficult, but it will happen. I can do it. I will do it. With all of the money saved, I will pay lots on my credit card.

I think my biggest problem is, I see sales [CDs for 7.99, $4+shipping, etc] and figure ‘Eh, good deal. Better get it while it’s that cheap.’ Unfortunately, there are a ton of good deals and they add up. I guess I should’ve seen something like this coming. I used to download album, after album, after album. I vowed to buy all my music. Now I buy album, after album, after album. The problem being free vs. not free.

I can do it. I will do it.

Oh, everybody who submitted something for the Gmail thing got an invite. Thanks for submitting the new bands for everybody to check out.

I only touched on this band in about two sentences a few months ago, so I’m revisiting the topic. It is worth the revisitation. The Rocket Summer. So good. Oh, so good. The lead singer, Bryce, describes their shows as “Each night’s set will feature songs of joy, heartbreak, victory, failure, love, and Saturdays.”. The CD is great, and is exactly like the shows he described. Bryce (at only 20 years old) wrote every song, and performed nearly every instrument on the recording. I am really digging the songwriting on this album, and of course the hand claps, as talked about in the previous post. I listened to the album three or four times today, and I’m in the best mood I’ve been in in weeks. Is it because of the music? Possibly. I’m sure there are other factors, but the music has had some effect as well. Hooray for happy, uplifting music. I wonder if the next time I’m angry I listened to something like this, rather than my ‘anger is a gift’ playlist, I would get over whatever (usually insignificant) thing is bothering me. Maybe I’ll give it a try tomorrow. (ha)

I like songs with clapping in them. Why? I have no idea. I just can’t get enough of the songs that have clapping parts in them. Some recent songs I’ve heard such clapping are The Rocket Summer - This Is Me, Brandtson - Mercy Medical, Brandston - Escapist. The clapping in Mercy Medical is the song that made me realize how much I liked not only the song, but Brandtson as a whole.

Hey — wondering where the MP3 player went? I didn’t like how it worked, so once I find time & motivation to rewrite it (hah), or figure out a better way to do it, the thing may return.

That is all. Clap away. Remember to look at the entry below this, and try to get a Gmail account if you want one.

So, everybody and their mother wants a gmail account. I just happen to have 1 extra invite. I will give it away, but not without a little fun.

Here’s what you do: Leave a comment with a band you think I’d like. If you don’t know what I listen to, check out previous entries. I always write about what music I’m listening to. I’d point you to my Listen-To profile, but that’s not going to be back for a while. I guess you could check out my AudioScrobbler profile; it’s beginning to be an accurate representation of what I listen to.

Either way, I’ll let this go until Thursday evening. Leave me the name of the band, along with a PureVolume link or website link with some free audio I can legally stream or download, and listen to. It has to be a band I haven’t heard of, and it has to be good. This could be any band .. your friends, random band, some big name band ..

Make sure you enter your e-mail in the comment, too, so I can send the invite to the winner.