I came across this brief article today about Ryan Adams having a meltdown on stage, but what grabbed me wasn’t Adams’ being a world-class douche, it was the quote from his guitarist, Neal Casal: “I don’t know what the story was, I just play guitar.”

That is a classic quote in my opinion. All I can picture is a dude brushing a strand of unwashed hair out of his face and muttering, “I don’t know, man. I just like, play guitar, dude…” in a stoned haze, then maybe following that with “let’s just go get some barbeque.” To be honest, I’ve never even heard a Ryan Adams song that I know of, so I don’t really care about his prima donna tantrums… That quote just made me grin.

So the last time I remember being particularly impressed with a music video was with the OK Go treadmill production, and it was more from the amazement that they mastered such a routine than for the video itself. For years I’ve been pretty jaded to music videos in general and rarely have paid attention to them. Usually the few that were actually cool were for songs that I wasn’t into (although I do enjoy the OK Go song). But every once in a while I come across a really great one, including this one for a song called “Typical” by the band Mute Math. I had never heard of them before, but this video has become one of my favorites that I’ve ever seen. Take a gander:

The best part about it is that I really dig the song as well. This video really blows me away. It looks like there are 2 parts that could have been camera cuts, but if they did stop tape anywhere you can barely tell. I can watch it over and over again, which is a task that can be made unbearable if the song is bad. But in this case, I want to hear more from this band.

But what’s with the name? Mute Math? Really? It only reinforces my theory that almost every good band name is taken already. Naming a band can be a daunting task. It’s hard enough to come up with something cool, let alone something original. Then again, so many bands with names of questionable coolness have so firmly established themselves in the music scene that we rarely take a moment to wonder what they were thinking. Radiohead? Alice in Chains? Stone Temple Pilots? Pink Floyd? Jack Johnson? Ok, just kidding on the last one. But these are all bands that I like to varying degrees, yet I’d consider their names to be on least some level of lameness. It’s much easier to make fun of the names of bands you hate. Take Limp Bizkit or Nickelback, for example. The suck on both a naming and musical level.

But what’s in a name, really? As long as it’s sorta catchy or sounds semi-cool, you should be ok. It’s not like Shaimus is the best band name ever, after all.

Life is a fickle thing. What I think is important one day seems insignificant the next. My entire perspective can change in the blink of an eye. About a month ago I was back home in PA for a friend’s wedding. While catching up with someone I hadn’t seen in a while, I found out that a person I went to high school with got paralyzed in a freak accident over the summer. Now he’s 24 and can’t move anything from his neck down. Last I heard, they’re hoping that he’ll eventually get some feeling back in his upper body.

This has been messing with my head on and off ever since I heard about it, much more than some other odd things that have happened to me recently. I wasn’t close friends with the person, but I knew him. He is a cool guy. And when it comes down to it, it doesn’t matter who you are; nobody deserves something like that. All I can wonder is what is next after an event like that? What would I do if that happened to me?

It’s a completely cliche thing to say, but it really does make you think. I know about 2 people my age from high school who have died in drug-related incidents (one OD and one freak accident), and this has messed with me much more than them. Of course it makes you think about the obvious things like what’s really important in life, your friends and your family, etc. But the main thing that has emerged in my mind is one word: fear.

There’s plenty to be afraid of in the world, especially at those times when life seems like nothing but a series of misfortunes. But letting it get in the way of your goals and your dreams is like giving up before you’ve begun. If I am lucky enough to live a full life, then I have a long stretch of time ahead of me. But already that time seems to be passing faster, and I feel like if I don’t grab life by the balls now I may miss my chance. The fear of failure is a very real one for me. Trying to be a professional musician is no small task. I’ve been surrounded by people who have tried and failed, who are trying in vain, or who have already given up. (I’m also thankfully surrounded by a lot of supportive people, too, and I’d like to acknowledge that.) Every step of progress I make, there are new things to be afraid of. What if we got signed to a label and they don’t even release our album? What if our next album gets released and fails, firmly entrenching us in the path of a dead-end band? Countless questions like these are enough to scare anyone away from such an unsure future.

But not me. I have no choice. I have to do this. It’s the one thing I want more than anything else. It’s more than an obsession. It truly is my life. It’s the only thing I think about. Ok, maybe once in a while I think about girls, food, sports or smart-ass remarks, but that’s about it. If you took music away from me, I might as well be paralyzed. And so it comes full circle.

Sorry for the overly-serious post, but I needed to get some of this off my chest, and I figured what the hell else is a blog for? I don’t know what will happen with my friend from high school. I wish him the best, and I really hope he finds what he needs. Everyone’s looking for something, they just don’t always know what it is. I’m lucky enough to know exactly what I’m looking for. I’m going to use my time to put my all into accomplishing everything I know I’m capable of. Youth is an opportunity, not a disability. You can’t let anything petty get in your way when you never know when it will all be taken away. And if down the road I have crashed, burned, and failed, at least I’ll be able to say that I did it without hesitating or half-assing it, and I’ll probably have piled up a life’s worth of experiences along the way. Like they say at the end of Dazed and Confused, all I want to do is be able to say I did the best I could while I was stuck in this place. In this case, “this place” is earth, life, whatever. All I know is this: there is no room for fear.

Every once in a while I like to go to the “women seeking men” section of Craigslist and read some of the posts. It’s not because I’m looking for love on Craigslist so much as the fact that I’ve decided the site is pretty much the lowest of the low when it comes to online personals and it never disappoints when I’m looking to be entertained. When I come across a good one, I will share it on my blog. Take this gem, for example:

“I am oppositional for a living.
I’m sexy, so I get away with it.
I put cucumbers in my tap water.
I like riding on the back of motorcycles.
I enjoy equations, Oscar Wilde, and other
condensed perfections.
Your jewish mother will love me.
My hair cut is both high fashion and that of a
retarded 5 year old.
I am neither.

I am on craigslist because I am busy, picky, hate bars, and antsy.
Why are you on craigslist?”

Honestly, this personal ad needs no witty commentary on my part. It makes so little sense I can’t even make a coherent joke out of it, anyway. It’s on par with asking a grad student to develop a dissertation based on the movie Roadhouse. Although on second thought, that’s not so bad - it was a totally awesome movie, and philosophy majors could undoubtedly dig into the depths of “pain don’t hurt.” Pain is nothing compared to Craigslist personals, anyway.