what's a boy to do

I'm alive.

2010-10-09T13:42:00.000-06:00

Just not, ya know... Blogging.

Tomorrow is 10/10/10. I turn 23. Awesome.

Today marks the event known as Scott Pilgrim vs. My Birthday.

AWESOME +7

To be continued.

BOB DYLAN ADVENTURES: Part Three

2010-09-04T12:55:00.011-06:00

Blowin' In The Wind ~ Mad Dash and Aftermath

"Don't run! Walk! Do not run!"

This was being yelled repeatedly by the older woman in the head-set. Not too many people listened, but I can honestly say I was speed-walking at a brisk pace.

As previously discussed, the plan was to send me ahead to lay down our blanket and claim our spot, with Sousa, Chase, and Brittany following behind. If we had a little more time to plan, I probably would have sent Sousa ahead to knock people down, kick them in the knees, punch them in the head, etc. You know, working the offense; clearing the way.

Regardless, the plan still payed off, because this is where we ended up:

If you can't tell, that's the security gate we're leaning against. Front row.

Here's another shot, for the single, female readers:

Anyway.

We still had to wait another hour or so for the opening act, The Dough Rollers, to come on stage, but our proverbial flag had been placed in the ground.

Po' Boy ~ The Swag Wagon

In the meantime, we headed to the merchandise booth and loaded up.

I walked away with a sweet Bob Dylan logo patch and one of the limited edition prints of of the concert-specific tour poster.

It will soon be framed. And guarded by lasers, sort of like in that movie Entrapment.

Blood In My Eyes ~ It Begins

First of all, The Dough Rollers, whose lead singer Malcom Ford (Son of Harrison-- Yes, that Harrison) had a crackly Tom Waits-like voice, were awesome. They really set the mood, with Jack Byrne (Son of Gabriel. Seriously) tearing it up on blues guitar.

The experience was only slightly marred by the people yelling at the massive crowd gathered in front of the stage to sit down.

Yes, people wanted us to sit down. At a concert.

Some idiot threw a chunk of ice at Collin and he got pretty pissed, and a sixty year old man got into a shoving match with a fifteen-year old kid down the line. Fortunately, everyone put aside their petty differences when the lights dimmed.

At this moment, everyone was on their feet.

The announcer came over the loud speaker, giving a rousing and hilarious introduction to a man that needs none; highlights of his career included a "drunken and drug induced haze that lasted most of the late sixties" (Seriously, that's what he said). The audience was going wild, and then one by one, his band marched on stage, followed by the man himself:

Bob Dylan.

Wide-brimmed hat, black boots, black suit; red stripes running up the legs. Bob Dylan.

HOLY CRAP.

It's hard to describe the feeling, but I just kept thinking over and over: "That's Bob Dylan. That's Bob Dylan. That. Is. Actually. Bob. Dylan..."

It Aint Me, Babe ~ The Man

Now, before I get into the show itself, It's important to note one thing: Bob didn't say a word the whole night, other than introducing his band during the encore.

I've heard from many a fair weather Dylan fan that walked away from his recent live shows (Recent meaning the last 20 years) somewhat disappointed due to this-- Too many of them show up at a Bob Dylan show and expect him to play The Time's Are A-Changin' and other familiar songs on an acoustic guitar and harmonica, with a lot of between-song banter.

That's just not his style nowadays.

Depending on who it is, live shows can have an entirely different feel, and real stage presence can be projected to the audience in different ways. Ingrid Michaelson gave hilarious amounts of detail regarding the origins of her lyrics and joked around the whole night. Joshua James, on the other hand, while equally powerful in his ability to command the audience's attention, prefers a more mysterious and intense approach to his live shows.

And anyone who was fortunate enough to see Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings this summer in Salt Lake knows what a radically different (but again, equally awesome) style they have.

But this is Bob Dylan we're talking about-- Honestly, what can he say about his songs that we don't already know? He's already vague enough about where his songs come from. To this day, nobody really knows if Blood on the Tracks was really all about the end of his marriage, or if Visions of Johanna was actually written about Joan Baez.

The man is in his mid-seventies now-- everything he's written is legendary and at this point, his music pretty much speaks for itself.

Thunder On The Mountain ~ The Music

Furthermore, Dylan has remained, despite his age, a creative, ever-changing, potent musical force.

On their list of the top 100 albums of the past decade, Rolling Stone magazine listed his albums Modern Times and Love and Theft at #8 and #11 respectively; the only artist to rank twice in the top 20 (Listed alongside other masterpieces like Arcade Fire's Funeral, Sufjan Steven's Illinoise, Radiohead's Kid A, Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot...).

Now honestly, when was the last time Paul McCartney recorded anything anyone cared about? Or The Rolling Stones? What about The Who, or Elton John?

Don't get me wrong, those are some of my favorite artists, but I think it's pretty obvious that their glory days are far behind them; the expectation to hear pretty much nothing but "Greatest Hits" at their live shows is sort of a give-in. Anything else and I'd feel a little jipped.

But Dylan?

He's putting out some of his best work in a career of nearly 50 years.

His set lists constantly shift, mixing it up with songs ranging from his protest-singing days in the early sixties, to his rock-and-roll stuff in the late sixties, to his born-again Christian phase, to the bluesy-rockabilly style he has now.

Much of the magic from seeing Dylan live was the sense of spontaneity-- Bob would let his band know what the next song was mere seconds before they'd start playing, you could see them watching his hands on the keyboard to see when he'd change chords to extend a solo section; there wasn't a single stale moment from beginning to end.

All night long, Bob was laughing, smiling, grooving to the music. Being so close, and seeing the subtle communication, the winks, the jokes, the small moments between this group of guys that just loved to play music...

It was incredible, and the sort of thing that can't be fully described, only experienced.

Oh, and also-- it was FREAKING LOUD.

I have never been to a show that rocked this much, and more than that, the sound mixing was absolutely perfect, and every piece-- three guitars, keyboards, bass, drums, vocals, and harmonica-- were crystal clear, even though we were just a few feet from a speaker that was taller than me.

Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You ~ The Set List

One of the things I discussed with Sousa later was how incredibly satisfied we were with the set list.

It would have been really easy to say "I wish he had played _________," (I've said that at a number of other lives shows I've been to) but I couldn't bring myself to do it this time. Each song was so well performed, each moment so memorable, I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Note: There are no Photoshop effects in this picture.

So here's what we got to hear:

1. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat

I don't remember the last time I smiled as much as during this song.

It was the perfect opening number, and even though I already dug the studio version, the live rendition was just incredible. Collin and his wife looked over at me and Brittany several times and just had the biggest grins on their faces to see how excited we were. We were actually watching Bob Dylan!

One of my favorites of the night.

2. This Wheel's on Fire

Bob made his first venture to center stage, harmonica in hand for this one.

The feeling of watching Bob Dylan play a harmonica solo live is hard to put into words. It was simply powerful. This was also our first glimpse of some of the greatest subtle body language exhibited by the man-- His confident swagger, thumb hanging from his belt, a subtle nod here and there for emphasis.

3. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight

Bob rarely plays guitar nowadays, preferring to hold to the side on the keyboards, but we went pretty nuts when he removed his wide-brimmed hat to strap on a black electric beauty. His solos were awesome; he's still got it.

4. Just Like A Woman

This is one of the few songs Dylan played that could be considered one of his "hits," and it did not disappoint. The opening drums and guitar were unmistakable, and the audience went nuts as soon as we recognized it.

There were some wonderfully clever alterations to the arrangement: Dylan would sing the first part of the line in the chorus ("She takes...") and then the band would suddenly drop out, leaving this amazing silence hanging over the stage, then filled by the entire audience singing the dreamy chorus ("Just like a woman..."), before the band would suddenly hit a powerful chord and Bob would finish the phrase.

Just beautiful.

5. Things Have Changed

Bob picked up the guitar again for this one, and I was floored when he uttered that first, unmistakable phrase that stands as one of my favorite opening lyrics of all time:

"A worried man with a worried mind; no one in front of me and nothing behind..."

In part one, I discussed my love of Like a Rolling Stone, but it was Things Have Changed that stands as the first Dylan song that I discovered and came to love all on my own. It was in the sixth grade, the same year Dylan won an Oscar for the song (Which he composed for the film Wonder Boys), and it has been one of my favorite songs ever since then.

Hearing it live was the greatest surprise of the night (He rarely plays it live-- In 80+ shows in 2010, he's played it a total of six times), and it made a perfect night feel like things had really come full circle.

As a side note of awesomeness, I later realized that the small golden statue that was sitting next to Bob's box of harmonicas was his Oscar that tours with him.

6. Under The Red Sky

Another song rarely performed (This was the first time it's been performed in the US in the last few years), it featured one of my favorite opening keyboard solos. The lyrics are also really catchy and easy to sing-along with, and it was amazing seeing everyone dancing along.

7. Honest With Me

Another blues-heavy rocker with a relentless and infectious beat. It wasn't until after the show was over that Brittany and I realized we were digging holes in the ground from jumping up and down so much.

We couldn't help it.

8. Tangled Up In Blue

The second major "hit" Bob played during the evening, this was one with a unique arrangement that only became recognizable when the lyrics began. The quick and stilted delivery Dylan sings with nowadays just helped to emphasize the awesome sing along moments, when at the end of each verse everyone would echo that iconic, final line.

9. Cold Irons Bound

Another awesome tune from Time Out of Mind, it features one of the coolest bass lines I've heard in a long while.

By the way, it was around this point that we had to deal with a barrage of drunk chicks trying to invade our front row space, but we held our ground.

10. Masters of War

An amazing performance of this classic political anthem, made especially poignant for two reasons: 1) It was performed, of course, with the full rock band, as opposed to the single acoustic guitar on the original from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, giving it an entirely different feel, and 2) it is now seen through the perspective of the war we're currently fighting.

And I will admit, The lyrics have not lost their impact (or bitter sting, if you prefer).

Just to drive it all home, as the song began, the main lights shut off and the whole stage was lit only by some incredibly eerie black lights.

11. Highway 61 Revisited

Oh man, did they rock this one.

My head was spinning after it was over-- jumping up and down, and hearing thousands of people scream "HIGHWAY SIXTY-ONE!" at the top of their lungs once each verse reached it's climax was exhausting, but oh so worth it. This one also ranks as one of my favorites of the evening, marred only by the weird girl trying to push past us to take photographs to sell them illegally.

Fortunately, her lameness was utterly destroyed by the awesomeness of this song.

12. Nettie Moore

This was the only song I wasn't familiar with during the whole night, but it marked a much-needed breather after the overwhelming experience of Highway 61. This was the only slower-tempo song of the night, mainly keyboard driven, but it was gorgeous and powerful and was the perfect segueway into...

13. Thunder on the Mountain

This is one of my absolute favorite Dylan tunes, largely in part due to the explosion of awesomness that occurs in the first 18 seconds before the drum kick launches us into the bluesy groove of the main section of the song.

Just when I figured this night couldn't be more incredible, the band blasts those opening notes of the song, and extends the incredible intro by like ten times-- It was like being hit by freight train of rock and roll. Which, research says, is the best kind of train to get hit by.

It also featured some of Charlie Sexton's most awesome guitar solos (In a night full of many, many great ones).

"Thunder on the mountain, rollin' like a drum; gonna sleep over there, that's where the music's comin' from..."

14. Ballad of a Thin Man

I'm always interested to see which songs certain artist choose for their set lists-- Especially which song they open with, which song they close with, and what their encore is-- and then discussing the reasons why.

Going back to what I had said earlier, before this night if given the chance, I probably would have chosen something like Desolation Row, Visions of Johanna, or Shelter from the Storm as the final song of the set.

But, after the night was over, I couldn't imagine a more amazing song to cap things off-- Ballad of a Thin Man, featuring another dramatic shift in lighting, had Dylan center stage at the mic, and he and the band topped themselves once again.

One of the most incredible moments of the evening came when, at the end of the chorus line (Which, once again, we all sang along with: "Do you, Mr. Jones?"), Bob raised his hands up slightly from his side, palms up, and raised his head slightly upward toward the night sky, eyes closed, just as the band blasted that memorable riff (Normally played on piano, now on electric guitar)-- It was as if he was summoning the power of rock and roll and all of us could all feel it wash over us.

The atmosphere was heavy, the guitars wailed, Dylan smiled right at us at one point, and they hit that final chord.

Lights out, folks.

Not Dark Yet ~ The Encore

During the four or five minutes waiting for the band to return, I have never screamed so loud in my entire life.

15. Like A Rolling Stone

What more can I say about this song? The experience of singing that chorus-- "How does it feel?"-- with Bob Dylan himself, standing only feet away from him was indescribable.

Before the final chorus, Bob introduced his band and each got to play an improvised solo, which was pretty awesome.

16. Jolene

I had done my pre-show research, and knew that if Jolene was the follow-up tune to Like A Rolling Stone, then that meant we'd be getting the coveted three-song encore, with a surprise final number. This blues-rocker is a modern-Dylan staple, and is insanely catchy.

Awesome as it was, nothing could prepare us for the grand finale; a rock-and-roll atomic bomb of truly epic proportions (Which, research says, is the best kind of atomic bomb to get hit with):

17. All Along the Watchtower

Just when I thought this show couldn't get any louder, they pulled a Spinal Tap and cranked it up to 11.

It was like opening-credits-sequence-with-the-giant-amp-in-Back-to-the-Future loud.

It was break-the-sound-barrier loud.

It was Pom-freakin'-pei loud.

Seriously, this freaker was LOUD.

The song itself has been analyzed, discussed, and pulled apart endlessly by poets and scholars alike since it was written. In the recent Sci-Fi series "Battlestar Galactica," in fascinating, almost fourth-wall breaking fashion, All Along the Watchtower is used as a mythical, ever-present representation of humanities behavioral and religious cycles that only become apparent over eons.

Pretty lofty, I know.

But that's what was so amazing about this performance-- it was so much more than Dylan simply closing the night with one of his popular songs. It meant so much more; he even repeated the first verse, closing with the line "None of them along the line, know what any of it is worth..."

Humanity, music, poetry, life, death, art... it all goes in cycles. Dylan wasn't the beginning, and he's not the end; future generations will produce writers and artists of their own, and perhaps Dylan will someday be forgotten. All Along the Watchtower as an individual song may fade, but human creativity always endures...

Basically what I'm saying, is that it was sort of awesome.

You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go ~ Curtain Call

The absolute, supreme, most amazing, greatest, most perfect moment of the night came right at the end.

Watchtower ended, our ears were ringing, the lights went out.

The band shuffled to the front of the stage, stood in a line, and the lights came back up. The crowd noise was so loud, the air felt thick. We were going nuts.

The band said nothing. They just nodded cooly, Bob standing center.

And then suddenly--

Dylan took a slight step forward, legs bent slightly; held his arms out, palms up, and struck this powerful yet gentle pose, eyebrow cocked, that essentially said "Well folks... This is who I am."

Bob Dylan, filtered into one perfect moment.

Then they all walked off stage, leaving us to sit and stare (Only being being able to mutter "wow" every so often) for the next twenty minutes.

Wow.

Expecations. Exceeded. Shattered.

It's All Over Now, Baby Blue ~ Creativity, Life, and Beyond

As it so often goes, certain periods of one's life can be defined by the soundtrack that accompanies them.

No words.

This past year, returning home from an LDS mission and discovering who I am as an artist, a brother, a son, an actor, a child of God, a student, a director, a boyfriend, a person-- it has all been underscored primarily by Dylan's music.

I've experienced a sort of creative renaissance in this last year in regards to what I've learned and experienced in theater, music, writing, and visual art, and have had some serious contemplation about what I hope to accomplish within each of those fields...

Bob Dylan was once a twenty-two year old man that felt like he had something important to say to the world.

I can relate.

Now, little boy lost,

He takes himself so seriously
He brags of his misery,

He likes to live dangerously
And when bringing her name up
He speaks of a farewell kiss to me
He's sure got a lotta gall,

To be so useless and all
Muttering small talk at the wall

While I'm in the hall
Oh, how can I explain?
It's so hard to get on
And these visions of Johanna,

They kept me up past the dawn....

~

And what'll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
And what'll you do now, my darling young one?
I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin'...

~

You're invisible now,
You got no secrets to conceal
How does it feel?

BOB DYLAN ADVENTURES: Part Two

2010-08-22T18:59:00.005-06:00

You Aint Goin' Nowhere ~ Waiting Game

Live music is an incredibly unique, wonderful, and often emotional experience.

One of the things I love about going to concerts is the buildup to the actual event-- the anticipation, waiting in line, talking with other fans, listening to music by the artist you're about to see, guessing what songs you might hear, etc.

And on Tuesday, we had plenty of time to do just that.

Lilly, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts ~ The Gang

We were able to meet some pretty awesome people during the 11-hour wait, including Jay, an old-school rocker who had seen Bob Dylan in concert (As well as the Stones, Van Morrison, and probably a hundred others) upwards of 50 times.

Think if Jerry Garcia and Santa Claus had a love-child.

Then there was this fellow, who had also seen Dylan live countless times, including one summer in which he followed his tour across the country all summer and saw every show:

Standing "Under the Red Sky," so to speak.

Once we got in the amphitheater, before the show started, I overheard him talking with an acquaintance.

"This is my wife," he said, introducing her. "These are my friends," he said, motioning to the rest of his group.

"And this," he said, indicating the stage, "is our home."

While waiting in line, we were also to spend a lot of time chatting with other folks like Gary, Larry, Collin, Dani, Elvia, and Snoop.

Larry, over the years, had tried compiling a list for his kids of the twenty albums he feels would be most important for them to own and appreciate. That's a pretty monumental task, no doubt (And probably one I'll discuss here on what's a boy to do in the future), and Larry, unable to narrow it down, finally just said "Screw it-- Bob Dylan. That's all you need."

Oh, and there was also this guy:

Wow.

I was never formally introduced, so I just called him Short-Shorts-Shifty-Eyes.

It seemed to fit.

Mr. Tambourine Man ~ The Ballad of Kevin and Tiger

Kevin was awesome.

After singing some tunes on the guitar, I passed it over to him who proceeded to serenade the group with an incredible Dylan-like voice and some absolutely stellar guitar playing.

He was absolutely fantastic, and it was like getting an acoustic twenty song set prior to the beginning of the actual show.

He was like a mini-Dylan that took requests.

He played Simple Twist of Fate, I Want You, Mr. Tambourine Man, and Ballad of a Thin Man, among many others. I accompanied him on harmonica during a slowed rendition of Hazel, which later got a reprise once Chase and Brittany showed up.

And then, there was Tiger, also known as "The Kid" in his glory days playing harmonica with Janis Joplin.

Yes, that Janis Joplin.

We jammed for awhile, playing a rousing rendition of Like a Rolling Stone, with a lot hooping, hollering, boot-stomping, harmonica-soloing, sing-along fun.

Someday, perhaps.

By the way, Tiger was freakin' crazy.

Okay, that might be going a bit far, but he was quite the character. It was like he walked right off the set of Easy Rider. He talked our ears off for about 45 minutes, and his stories were both amazing and hysterical. Tiger was a drug-runner, smuggling marijuana across the Mexican border; he hunted for sunken treasure in the Florida Keys; he killed a snake that was trying to eat his cat and made it's skin into a hat...

Yep, you read that right. One more time:

We met a man who killed a snake that was trying to eat his cat and made it's skin into a hat.

And yes, that totally rhymes.

And the best part? He warned the snake to stop eating his cat before he attacked it. Needless to say, the snake didn't listen. Now it's wrapped around his straw hat.

Tiger was awesome.

Forever Young ~ The Fab Four

This is Chase:

"Bob's not gonna play 'Must Be Santa?'

My life is over."

Chase has just begun his Dylan Conversion, having recently purchased The Essential Bob Dylan, which certainly helped in the process. Oh, and also, Bob Dylan is pretty much the only thing me and Sousa have really talked about for about the last month.

That might have had an effect as well.

Brittany has red hair.

Now, Brittany is quite the Dylanologist (It was her DVD copy of I'm Not There that nearly moved me to tears), but couldn't bring herself to actually buy a ticket to the show.

When Sousa and I mentioned several weeks earlier that we were going to see Dylan live, her response was "Aren't you just a little afraid that you'll be left disappointed. I mean, it's Bob Dylan! Can the actual man live up to the legend?"

The answer? Yes. Yes he can.

Having driven up to Park City to bring us some lunch, Brittany soon saw the light and decided to stick around for the show.

At the end of the night, she had seen the error of her ways.

The Sousinator.

And then there's Sousa, my best bud of 12 years.

Most of our recent conversations have started with some variation of "You know what Dylan song I'm really loving right now?"

Yeah, we're fans.

"These visions of Johanna kept me up past the dawn..."

Gates of Eden ~ The Moment Arrives

Eleven hours after arrival, the staff stood in place to accept our tickets. The massive crowd that had gathered was divided into four lines. We had already packed all of our stuff back into the car, with only a single blanket in hand to save our places on the grass.

An older woman wearing a radio head-set nodded to the staff.

"Go ahead," she says.

And it begins.

To be concluded...

NEXT: Dressed and ready for the show-- The carnival tonight on Desolation Row! That's right, it's BOB DYLAN LIVE!

BOB DYLAN ADVENTURES: Part One

2010-08-19T18:19:00.004-06:00

The Man in Me ~ An Introduction

The other night, I was at a goodbye party for a friend who's moving away.

My friend Chris, who I haven't seen in a while, took notice of some personal stylistic changes that have slowly been phased into my mode of dress over the last few months: some wild bed-head-esque hair, faded denim jacket, dark horn-rimmed sunglasses...

Ya know, sorta like this:

I'm not taking up smoking any time soon, though.

Knowing I had just seen The Man in concert the day before, Chris smiled, and sort of nodded knowingly. "Looks like you're going through your Bob Dylan phase," he says, "Everyone does eventually."

I hope that's true; it'd be a shame for someone to never experience a "Bob Dylan phase," although, I'd like to think of it as more than that.

Smash Mouth was a phase.

Kid Rock was a phase.

Heck, I recently stumbled upon a freaking Nickelback song on an old mix CD from the 6th grade-- Heaven knows that was a phase.

Instead, I consider this past year, and specifically, the closing days of this summer, as the culmination of a life-long search and discovery of Dylan's musical and poetic brilliance.

Sure, it doesn't quite roll off the tongue. But you get the idea.

A brief history:

Like a Rolling Stone ~ In The Beginning

When I was about 10 years old, my older brother made a CD simply titled "Classic Rock" which is still sitting in our house.

It's pretty scratched up nowadays, and most of the tracks (Hotel California by the Eagles, November Rain by Guns N' Roses...) will skip or stall, but as a kid, this CD was a road-trip vacation staple for my family. Many an excursion to Vegas or Disneyland involved at least one listen-through of this CD, and there was always one song that stood out among the rest-- Like A Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan.

It wouldn't be until quite a few years later that I'd actually start to fully appreciate the historical and musical impact and influence of that song (It's widely considered the greatest rock and roll song ever written. Ever.), but it still left an effect on me even at a young age.

That opening drum kick, the rollicking guitar, the honky-tonk piano, and those simple, perfect first words-- Once upon a time-- have never ceased to amaze me.

And the chorus, good grief; that glorious chorus: How does it feel?

And then, over a decade later, I'd be standing not even 10 yards from Bob Dylan himself, and singing it right there with him: How does it feel?

It feels awesome, that's how.

Meet Me in the Morning ~ Dylan Day Arrives

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010. Sousa and I headed out of Orem at 6:00 am.

Running on a few hours of sleep, a bit of caffeine, and

a whole lot of rock-and-roll-fueled adrenaline.

Among the things packed into the back of his white truck were several camp chairs, my guitar with capo and picks, two harmonicas with neck holder, a binder full of Dylan lyrics and chords, two backpacks with sketchbooks and writing pads to pass the time, two cameras with extra memory cards, a stack of comic books, directions to Park City, and some battery powered speakers.

Plus, the three most important items of all:

A triefecta of awesome.

We kicked off the trip with Thunder on the Mountain, the powerful, bombastic opening track from Modern Times.

Don't Think Twice, It's Alright, full of perfect imagery for an early morning drive ("When your rooster crows at the break of dawn, look out your window and I'll be gone," "It aint no use in turnin' on your light babe, I'm on the dark side of the road...") was next, and after pausing to snap a picture as the sun appeared over the horizon we listened to Dylan's version of the classic American folk tune House of the Rising Sun.

"The only pleasure he gets out of life, is ramblin' from town to town..."

And no road trip is complete without the requisite picture-taken-of-yourself-in-sunglasses-staring-thoughtfully-out-the-window. Not for me, at least.


In a remarkable moment of serendipity, the lens flare caused by the sun looked exactly like a bunch of flowers from a retro wallpaper design. Wow!

Shelter from the Storm ~ Claiming Ground

When we arrived in Park City, we met the first few folks in line; devoted fans who had showed up about an hour earlier. All together, there were five of us.

After unloading our stuff, I did a bit of exploration. Having arrived long before the amphitheater staff even showed up for work, I was able to wander around wherever I wanted. Heading through a back hallway, I stepped through some black curtains and suddenly found myself standing here:

Yep. That's the stage.

Despite having no aspirations to be ever be a real rock star, I still had to take the opportunity to say that I performed on the same stage as Bob Dylan. I grabbed my guitar, sat down, and played Like a Rolling Stone, during which a nice, elderly couple who were also waiting for the show, walked past and stopped to listen.

I may have played for an audience of two, as opposed to an audience of 3,000, but it was still a memorable moment.

Standing where thousands of screaming old people will soon be.

Sousa and I snapped a few more pictures while we still could-- within hours, the crew would arrive and begin setting up for that night's show.

Sousa, enjoying the crisp, mountain air. And a bag of goldfish crackers.

Then we prepared for the 11-hour wait that lay ahead.

To be continued...

NEXT: The 11-hour wait, featuring the whacked-out, drug-dealing, rattlesnake-killin' exploits of the mysterious man called Tiger!

I saw Bob Dylan in concert.

2010-08-18T15:49:00.000-06:00

All the amazing details coming soon.

Dylan Eve

2010-08-16T00:48:00.011-06:00

One more day.

It's like Christmas only better, because there's never been a Christmas where I got to watch Bob Dylan play live.

For the last month, I've listened to virtually nothing but Dylan tunes (Aside from the XM station at work, that plays nothing but "Hey, Soul Sister" and "Already Gone" in a loop for hours on end), and posted some of my favorite lyrics as my facebook status updates. In case you weren't paying attention, here they are in glorious succession:

May God bless and keep you always, may your wishes all come true; may you always do for others, and may others do for you… @Forever Young

You got lot of nerve to say you've got a helping hand to lend, you just want to be on the side that's winning... @Positively 4th Street

If you're travelin' in the north country fair, where the winds get heavy on the borderline; Remember me to one who lives there, for she once was a true love of mine... @Girl From The North Country

And I will try to harmonize with songs, the lonesome sparrow sings; there are no kings inside the Gates of Eden... @Gates Of Eden

Well, I struggled through barbed wire, felt the hail fall from above; Well, you know I even out run the hound dogs, honey you know I've earned your love... @Meet Me In The Morning

The vagabond who's rapping at your door is standing in the clothes that you once wore... @It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

Now there's spiritual warfare, flesh and blood breaking down; you either got faith or you got unbelief, and there aint no neutral ground... @Precious Angel

A worried man with a worried mind; no one in front of me and nothing behind... @Things Have Changed

I was thinkin' about Alicia Keys, couldn't keep from crying 'cuz she was born in Hell's Kitchen when I was living down the line; I'm wonderin' where in the world Alicia Keys could be... @Thunder On The Mountain

God said to Abraham 'Kill me a son;' Abe said 'Man, you must be puttin' me on!'... @Highway 61 Revisited

I aint sayin' you treated me unkind, you could have done better but I don't mind; You just kinda wasted my precious time... @Don't Think Twice, It's Alright

And if my thought-dreams could be seen, they'd probably put my head in a guillotine; but it's alright ma, it's life and life only... @It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

Well Shakespeare he's in the alley, with his pointed shoes and bells; Speaking to some French girl, who says she knows me well... @Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again

But something is happening here and you don't know what it is; do you, Mr. Jones?... @Ballad Of A Thin Man

To her death is quite romantic, she wears an iron vest; Her profession is her religion, her sin is her lifelessness... @Desolation Row

They say I shot a man named Gray and took his wife to Italy; She inherited a million bucks and when she died it came to me; I can't help it if I'm lucky... @Idiot Wind

Go lightly from the ledge babe, go lightly from the ground; I'm not the one you want babe, I will only let you down... @It Aint Me Babe

How can the life of such a man be in the palm of some fool's hand? To see him obviously framed, couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land where justice is a game... @Hurricane

Come mothers and fathers throughout the land, and don't criticize what you can't understand... @The Times They Are A-Changin'

His clothes are dirty but his hands are clean, and you're the best thing that he's ever seen... @Lay Lady Lay

Suddenly I turned around and she was standing there, with silver bracelets on her wrists and flowers in her hair; she walked up to me so gracefully and took my crown of thorns; 'Come in,' she said, 'I'll give ya shelter from the storm'... @Shelter from the Storm

But you and I have been through that, and this is not our fate; So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late... @All Along the Watchtower

Ah, that was nice.

Next up, in honor of Dylan Eve, I'm providing videos of a few covers of Dylan songs that actually live up to (and often exceed) the original version by Bob himself.

First up is "Lay Lady Lay" as covered by Magnet (featuring the lovely Gemma Hayes), which thanks to Chris Clark and a truly memorable Viewpoints exercise during rehearsals for PTC's Much Ado About Nothing, became the first Bob Dylan song I really fell in love with.

Here it is:

Next up is this beautiful, haunting, powerful cover of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" that was done by Antony and the Johnson's for the 2008 Dylan biopic/mindblowing-masterpiece "I'm Not There."

Check it out here:

Finally, we have "Make You Feel My Love" by the lovely Adele. She knocks the vocals out of the park, and delivers a gorgeous and heartfelt rendition of another favorite Dylan song of mine. Here's a live version:

Next up is a rapid succession of pictures of Bob Dylan looking cool as he always does. Old, young, facial hair, hats, black, white, with guitar, with harmonica, with cigarette, cowboy boots, leather, denim, whatever-- he totally rocks them all.

Yeah, he's the man.

Next, I'll give you a quick Pop 7 list:

Seven reasons why Bob Dylan is awesome.

7. He was friends with Johnny Cash, George Harrison, and Tom Petty. He has to be awesome if they approve-- you don't see Cash hangin' out with Justin Bieber do you? Sure, ol' Johnny is dead... But still.

6. Three of my favorite actors-- Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, and Heath frikkin' Ledger-- all played him in "I'm Not There." Refer to my Perfect Storm joke about three posts down.

5. He can wear an outfit like THIS and make it look cool.

4. He digs Alicia Keys, one of the best singer-songwriters in recent years. She even got a shout-out in Thunder on the Mountain (See the lyrics above).

3. He recorded one of the funnest, funniest, most festive and enjoyable Christmas albums I've heard in ages (Last years Christmas in the Heart), and donated all of the proceeds to charity.

2. He wrote "Visions of Johanna." Duh.

1. He's Bob Dylan.

In conclusion, here's a video of Dylan singing one of my all-time favorite songs, the above mentioned, "Visions of Johanna." This live performance is inter cut with behind-the-scenes footage, and it's pretty fantastic. Check out the song that famous Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion regards as having the greatest lyrics ever written. Here it is:

Tomorrow is Dylan Day...

Lessons in Awesome: Joss Whedon Edition

2010-08-10T13:39:00.001-06:00

The New Look

2010-08-07T15:30:00.000-06:00

New Colors. New Logo. New Layout.

New Readers?

My awesomeness cannot just be enjoyed by a few close friends.

It would be selfish to hoard my vast sea of brilliance and humility, so if you're reading this, click the "Follow" button on the right side of your screen, and then invite your friends to do the same.

If we all work together, we might be able to purge the world of skinny jeans, Nickelback music, and the word "hecka."

Someday...

In the meantime, share some awesomeness from the first 6 months of What's a Boy To Do:

ACTF Adventures: Part One

ACTF Adventures: Part Two

Lessons in Awesome

POP 5: Music Artists You Should Be Listening To

The 623 Most Important Songs in My Life

Read my blog or I'll send crazy

white-face-paint Bob Dylan after you.

Dylan vs. Stupid Journalists

2010-08-07T12:27:00.001-06:00

Dylan wins, of course.

... Because Dylan always wins.

August is DYLAN DAYS

2010-08-02T14:58:00.004-06:00

I'm giddy as a school boy, because I currently have this:

Which means that in 15 days, I'll be seeing this:

Although nowadays, he looks more like this:

But regardless of his age, the thought of seeing him perform live makes me act like this:

Okay, that last one is just plain terrifying. Still, I'm pretty freaking excited.

August is officially dubbed Dylan Days in tribute to the greatest songwriter of all time...

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam,
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone,
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'

Awesome Moments in History: The Avengers Cast Assembled

2010-07-27T12:44:00.009-06:00

The building of the pyramids, the moon landing, the splitting of the atom... all moments that pale in comparison to the sheer awesomeness that is the San Diego Comic-Con presentation of the cast of Marvel's 2012 Epic: The Avengers.

From left to right: Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark/Iron Man), Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson), Scarlett Johansen (Black Widow), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton/Hawkeye), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/The Hulk), Joss Whedon (Director), Kevin Feige (Producer)

In the words of the mighty director himself: "All my life I've had a dream... and it was not this good."

So Marvel assembles a cast as awesome as this, and then hands the reins to Joss Frikkin' Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and Serenity. I don't mean to sound like a broken record, but:

If you couldn't tell already, I'm pretty freaking excited for this movie.

The 623 Most Important Songs of My Life

2010-07-26T14:52:00.022-06:00

If anyone needed any more proof that I have way too much time on my hands, here it is.

A few weeks back, I started compiling a list of the songs that have most influenced my life. I was aiming for 100, but by the time I was done rattling off the ones that were just on the top of my head, I was already up to about 275. That quickly ballooned to 500, then finally, I finally stopped just after topping 600.

So for anyone who has ever asked me, "So Trevor, what sort of music do you listen to?" Well, here's your answer, and then some.

All of these songs have made an impact on me in one way or another*-- some recall fond memories of family roadtrips as a kid (Bat out of Hell by Meatloaf, Hold On by Wilson Phillips, Against the Wind by Bob Seger), others were songs that altered the way I viewed music (Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd, A Day in the Life by the Beatles, Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan), while some remind me of specific people (Alex Sousa is of course The Man in Black, as sung by Johnny Cash, Collin Barkdull's anthem is Don't Stop Me Now by Queen) or events (Listening to I Won't Back Down by Mat Kearney on the last day of my mission, hearing Fastball's Out of my Head on the radio after Syd Rigg's funeral), and still others are songs that simply evoke emotion (Such as Adele's gorgeous rendition of the Bob Dylan tune Make You Feel My Love, or the hymn I Believe in Christ).

I suppose the whole list was really made for my own benefit after finding myself in a particularly nostalgic mood. Still, if you read over the list, you might find yourself reminded of memories and emotions from your own life that have been inspired or stirred by the music that makes up the soundtrack of our lives.

Here's my list:

The 623 Most Important Songs of My Life

Not surprisingly, Sufjan Stevens dominates the list with a whopping 38 entries. The Beatles clock in at 2nd place with 30 songs. Elton John has 20, while Coldplay have 18 on the list. Both Davie Bowie and Bob Dylan have 14 entries (Although 4 Dylan songs covered by other artists also appear on the list), and The Rolling Stones have 13. U2 has 12, and Ben Folds Five have 11 (Not counting Ben Folds solo work, who has an additional 7).

Other notable artists on the list are Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (8), Collective Soul (8), Ingrid Michaelson (7), Johnny Cash (7), Wilco (6), Joshua James (6), Spoon (6), Jet (6), Led Zeppelin (6), Mat Kearney (6), Queen (6), Pink Floyd (5), Josh Ritter (5), Harry Nilsson (5), Gavin DeGraw (5), and The White Stripes (5).

Also of note is the three entries for songs entitled Forever Young, by Bob Dylan, Rod Stewart, and Alphaville, respectively. All three are completely different songs that all happen to share the same title.

These should be confused with the Jay-Z song, Young Forever, which does not appear on the list.

*Note: the Macarena does not appear on the list, despite the undeniably permanent stamp it left on my life. Screw you, Los del Rio.

A double dose of awesome

2010-07-22T08:35:00.011-06:00

New concept art posters released for Marvel's Thor and The First Avenger: Captain America, both hitting theaters next summer (click to enlarge):

Let's all just take a moment to bask in the warm glow of their action-packed, awesomey goodness.

"INCEPTION is my totem," or, "Why Nolan's latest is freaking awesome in every way."

2010-07-17T13:25:00.022-06:00

Was anyone surprised? Inception freaking rocked. (Very light spoilers to follow)

And Lord of Bad Photoshop, apparently.

Borrowing a term from the film, it's like a totem of it's own; a movie I can keep in my back pocket to remind myself why I fell in love with movies in the first place. It's assurance that no, I'm not trapped in a horrible dream world where mopey teen dramas and direct-to-DVD sequels of American Pie reign supreme.

Watching Nolan's latest masterpiece (Another in a rapidly growing list), I experienced the same sort of thrill that came when I first watched the shark crash onto the Orca at the end of Jaws, or when Andy made his great confession in the circle of The Breakfast Club, when Vito Corleone exacted his revenge in The Godfather Part II, or when the cast sang "Tiny Dancer" on the bus in Almost Famous.

Inception is a cinematic experience that is fresh, exciting, funny, surprising, shocking. It's everything you could ever want in a movie.

First of all, putting Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Leavitt, and Cillian Murphy in a film together is sort of like handing me a bag of peanut butter m&m's, a big bowl of tropical skittles, and a bottle of Jone's blue bubblegum soda all at the same time-- I'm gonna have to assume that you are attempting a to create a perfect storm of junk food.

In Inception's case, by throwing in Ken Watanabe, Ellen Page, and small but memorable appearances by the always wonderful Michael Caine and Pete Postlethwaite, Nolan has accomplished exactly that. Without the junk food, that is.

Two "Perfect Storm" jokes in one blog post?
Yup, I went there.

Now, let me say this: the shifting gravity hotel sequence is one of the most incredible action scenes of the last ten years.

Not only did its sheer brutality reminded me of the stellar stairwell brawl from Casino Royale, but most importantly, it stands as proof that a breathtaking fight can be done without the use of CGI (And without being shot and edited like it's in the middle of an earthquake. I'm looking at you, Mr. Bourne). Heck, most of the Inception's most stunning visuals of the film are of the non computer-generated variety ("Paradox," anyone?).

Or in the words of Neo himself: Woa.

Most importantly, the visuals have meaning, impact, and emotional resonance.

Unlike the comparable dreamy weirdness of Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones, the instances of reality-bending visuals (Such as the infamous "folding city" seen oft in the trailers and one-sheets) follow the internal logic of the world of the story.

There isn't any "Look! Giant ships crashing into the shore! And Mark Wahlberg is smashing up his model ships! IT'S LIKE SYMMETRY! DERRRRRR!"

Man, I hated Lovely Bones.

Anyway, I imagine what will stay with audiences for the longest time is the ending.

Oh, sweet-merciful-Batman, the ending.

Not since Bryan Singer's The Usual Suspects have the final moments of a film given me the same feeling of jaw-dropping satisfaction. It was a truly priceless experience, sitting in a full theater and hearing the audible collective gasp (myself included), followed by the excited and stunned chatter and laughter afterward-- A mass of rabble-rabble that equates to something like NO FREAKING WAY DID THAT JUST HAPPEN HOLY CRAP THAT WAS SO AWESOME I WANT CHRISTOPHER NOLAN TO HAVE MY CHILDREN.

I'm paraphrasing, of course.

So whatever you do, if you haven't seen the movie yet, do NOT spoil yourself. You'll be much better off.

I could probably go on for another 10 pages on a number of things that this movie totally nailed (The wonderful non-linear storytelling form, the clever use of details such as the picture of Fischer with his father and Cobb's totem, the haunting performance of Marion Cottilard, the brilliant hilarity of Tom Hardy, the beautiful emotional journey of Dicaprio's character, the jaw dropping cinematography, the amazing soundtrack, etc.), but I'll cap it off here.

GO SEE IT NOW.

Some pictures of me acting like a dork

2010-07-12T12:46:00.005-06:00

What a life I lead, huh?

Thanks for an awesome experience, Grassrooteers.

Photos taken from Grassroots Shakespeare Company's Summer
Touring show of "Romeo & Juliet." If you didn't get to see it-- You missed out.

Pop 7: Songs for Summer

2010-07-02T19:34:00.019-06:00

We're kicking off July, so I figured it's time for another injection of pop culture awesomeness into the veins of all you lemmings wandering the sun-bathed streets.

Clearly, it's no secret that I have a pretty high opinion of my own tastes.

Now, there's something about summer that requires a certain type of music-- I guess being out of school stirs up feelings of freedom, adventure, exploration; the open road, the life unknown. So here's a sampling of songs that have been running on the soundtrack of the first summer of the decade.

And in case you're wondering, LFO's "Summer Girls" is not on the list. If it was, that would be your first clue that the Body-snatchers have already arrived.

Here we go:

1. Visions of Johanna - Bob Dylan

Here's one of those songs that sort of requires to be listened to with the windows rolled down while driving through the desert on a two-lane highway. Few songs ever written invoke the kind of dramatic imagery that appear in this seven and a half minute masterpiece.

And for anyone thinking the song would be better if Bob Dylan had a "better" voice? As long as you don't tell me you feel that way, then maybe we can stay friends.

Oh, Bob. Stop being so modest.

Also, some random trivia for Lost fans-- when asked what song best summarized the mood and themes of the final season of the show, Damon Lindelof named this one.

Perfect Summertime Lyric:
Inside the museums, Infinity goes up on trial
Voices echo, this is what salvation must be like after a while
But Mona Lisa must have had the highway blues
You can tell by the way she smiles

2. Think - Aretha Franklin

Sure, I may have a vendetta against the Spice Girls for attempting to kill my inner child by recording "Wannabe," but I still think girl-power is a great thing.

Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Buffy the Vampire Slayer-- All amazing female figures who have profoundly affected my respect and adoration of womankind.

But they got nothing on Aretha.

Sure, her song Respect gets all of the... well, respect (It's ranked #5 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time), but my favorite song of hers has always been this one. I'm sure that's partly inspired by my undying love of The Blues Brothers, but bottom line, this tune features some of the most dynamite vocals ever recorded.

Perfect Summertime Lyric:
Oh Freedom! Freedom! Freedom! Yeah, freedom!

3. Passing Afternoon - Iron & Wine

Now, I'm not much of a musician, but I can pluck out a few tunes on the guitar, and I've written a few songs over the years.

It's been a fun hobby, and without any desire to have a career in music, I've never felt the need to aspire to the heights of rock legends like Dylan, Lennon, Bowie, Waters, Plant-- and likewise, was never threatened by their extraordinary talent. I mean, these guys are more like superheroes than regular people.

But then, every once in a while, I'll stumble upon a young, modern songwriter that will actually discourage me from ever wanting to pick up a guitar again because I know I could never write anything as good as them.

Samuel Beam (aka. Iron & Wine) is one of those people.

Screw you, Beam-- Screw you and your musical brilliance!

Not only will I never match his musical skills, but
I'll only dream of having a beard like that.

Perfect Summertime Lyric:
There are times that walk from you
Like some passing afternoon
Summer warmed the open window of her honeymoon

4. Come On Eileen - Dexy's Midnight Runners

If ever there was a song that has nearly inspired me to dress up in overalls and get a bunch of friends together and teach them how to play the banjo and the violin and the accordion and sit on a street corner and do a crazy dance together and sing all day until it turns dark-- this is it.

Perfect Summertime Lyric:
These people round here wear beaten down eyes
Sunk in smoke dried faces they're so resigned to what their fate is,
But not us, no not us; we are far too young and clever

5. All Apologies - Nirvana

I'm on a Nirvana kick right now.

Okay, so maybe it wouldn't exactly fit on a mix that included Ben Folds Five's "Where's Summer B." and "California Girls," but I'm including it anyway.

See, they're outdoors! It looks like summer! There's pine trees,
and blue skies, and-- ah screw it.

This is my blog. Sue me.

Perfect Summertime Lyric:
What else should I be?
All apologies
In the sun,
In the sun I feel as one

6. Please Don't Leave Me - Pink

Gah! Put your stones away, people! Let me explain!

Spending two years as an LDS missionary can do a number on a self-proclaimed pop culture guru. Whether it's a related to music ("Why is her dress made of a bunch of Kermits?") or the world of feature films ("Wait, he survives a nuke by hiding inside of a fridge? Seriously?"), it takes a while to readjust.

So, as luck would have it, listening to the radio a few months ago, I stumble upon this infectious little tune for the first time (even though it was released nearly a year and a half ago)-- without any idea who was singing it.

As long as I envision this instead of the person-Pink when
I listen to the song, I do just fine.

I still have a hard time accepting anyone who's name is a color (Although I suppose that's better than your name being a symbol.), but man is this song catchy.

Perfect Summertime Lyric:
Da da da da, da da da da
Da da da, da da

(Everyone knows this is the best part of the song)

7. Street Fighting Man - The Rolling Stones

You didn't think I'd finish off a list like this with a pansy artist like Pink, did you?

Cuss that!

Right here is just about the most fist-pumpin', head-bobbin', boot-stompin', gum-chewin', dusty-road drivin', hand-clappin', cliff-divin', sun-soakin'-- and yes, street-fightin'-- song ever recorded.

Half-crazy, senile, drug-addled, sex-craved old men? Perhaps.
Totally awesome? Abso-frikkin'-loutely.

Perfect Summertime Lyric:
Everywhere I hear the sound of marching, charging feet, boy
'Cause summer's here and the time is right fighting in the street, boy
for

More Songs on my Summertime Soundtrack:

American Girl - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
The Weight - The Band
Red Light - Jonny Lang
Waterloo Sunset - The Kinks
Sparrow - Basia Bulat
(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay - Otis Redding
Shambala - Three Dog Night
Good Man - Josh Ritter
Natural Disaster - Andrew Bird
Better in Time - Leona Lewis
Something There To Remind Me - Naked Eyes
A Crack in Time - Ferraby Lionheart
Highway to Hell - AC/DC
Long May You Run - Neil Young
Bad Romance - Lady Gaga
London Calling - The Clash
For What It's Worth - Buffalo Springfield
Make You Feel My Love - Adele
Since You've Been Gone - Head East
Freebird - Lynard Skynard

Keep on rockin', summer-lovers!

Alright, no more messin' around...

2010-05-25T12:55:00.005-06:00

I'm back.

... and a return from 6 weeks of no-blogging can only be celebrated by an image of Superman punching himself in the face.

I'm alive... these gang members sure aint, though.

2010-04-10T16:28:00.006-06:00

I haven't been around much these last few weeks. But I'm alive, and getting ready to finish another semester of school.

Life has been crazy, but rest assured, I'm still blogging. Just, ya know, not currently.

I'll have another big article up soon, but in the meantime, here's a dose of street-scum-killin' awesomeness for you:

Thank you, John Carpenter.

Two links to visit before you die

2010-03-23T00:49:00.004-06:00

I recently stumbled upon two links that seem to be designed based on my own personal taste-- Which means you must click on them, or risk the welfare of your own awesomeness.

For Lost fans:

LOST 365

One piece of Lost-inspired artwork per day for an entire year by the brilliant Jared Stumpenhorst. This is some fine design work, folks.

For awesome people (Which would include Lost fans):

A to Z of Awesomeness

Artist Neill Cameron's compilation of all things awesome, organized by letter.

Caution: Your head may explode from sheer amazement.

It's things like this for which my blog exists.

Where's a boy been?

2010-03-12T11:23:00.010-07:00

So it's been another long stretch since my last update, and I promise you, it's not because I've been watching Lost non-stop, as I indicated in my most recent post. I would never let myself get so caught up in Lost to allow myself to not update my blog for nearly 2 weeks! That's ridiculous! So no, I have not been watching Lost.

I've been watching Battlestar Galactica.

Now, for those of you currently scoffing at your computer, adjusting your monocles, puffing on your pipes, and crying out in pretentious British accents "Preposterous!"-- I ask that you at least give me a moment to explain.

I'll admit, when most people hear Battlestar Galactica, they generally think of this:

Or perhaps thi-- Holy crap, what is that thing?

It's eyes are filled with darkness.

Anyway, thanks to David Eick and Ron Moore, that relatively obscure, 70's cult Sci-Fi cheese-fest got completely re-imagined into one of the finest TV shows from the last decade.

Named the best TV show of 2005 by Time Magazine, and then continually ranked in their top ten list over it's four seasons (Listed amongst others, such as The Sopranos, The Shield, Friday Night Lights, Mad Men, and The Wire), Battlestar Galactica has been a critical darling that sadly doesn't get the attention it deserves based on the stigma that is science-fiction. Heck, even Lost had to wait a few seasons to slowly ween their audience onto it's sci-fi elements, because ABC was afraid it would scare people off.

It's sad actually, and it's this same, strange bias that leaves films like The Dark Knight and Wall-E out of the Best Picture race at the Oscars. Fools.

But I digress.

This show deals with some heavy subjects-- a high-minded war that turns into a brutal entanglement. Terrorist sleeper agents turn the public paranoid. Victims of an attack find themselves sacrificing freedom for safety. Sound familiar? It may be in a world of robotic Cylons, FTL Drives, and Viper Pilots, but Battlestar Galactica is one of the most intelligently written, well-crafted commentaries on a post-9/11 world you're bound to find.

Oh, plus they use the word "frak" alot, and it's awesome. Scratch that-- frakking awesome.

In conclusion: you'll be hard pressed to find a show with writing, acting, and directing as consistently excellent as Battlestar Galactica. Check it out.

Now that I'm done plugging one of my favorite TV shows, I'll plug the stage show I'm in-- Salome, playing March 13, 15, and 16 at 7:30 pm in the ExBox Theater at UVU. Just be warned-- Among other things (including a decapitated head of me), there are drunk vampire hookers.

In case you didn't get that: drunk vampire hookers.

So I'll try and be as clear as possible, and I cannot overstate this: This show is incredibly frakking weird. Having said that, you'll be seeing some excellent performances from my friends Chase Brown (as King Herod) and Jyllian Petrie (as the titular princess), and a fascinatingly bizarre interpretation of a familiar story (The closing days of the life of John the Baptist).

Come check it out-- it's free, and will probably give you nightmares. What more could you ask for?

"Dude."

2010-02-27T14:58:00.006-07:00

So I've been a little lax in my updates this last week or so, but I assure you that there's a very, very important reason for that.

I've begun re-watching every episode of Lost.

So if you don't hear from me for several days, it's probably because I'm busy plotting a Shepherd family tree, cross-referencing The List, or mapping the Island coast and the location of the Lighthouse.

Most likely it's all of the above.

Now, you may be worried that watching several hundred hours of such a densely plotted show before the airing of the series finale could drive a person insane. Worry not, dear readers-- if there's one thing Lost has taught us, it's that such things can be avoided if you have something to keep yourself grounded:

Brilliant idea, Daniel.

I Heart Superman

2010-02-24T13:35:00.002-07:00

(From Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's Eisner award-winning masterpiece, All Star Superman; the greatest superhero comic of the last decade.)

Lessons in awesome (2.20.10)

2010-02-20T21:21:00.008-07:00

Seriously, kudos if you can actually identify which of those band members are male and which are female.

ACTF Adventures: Part Two

2010-02-16T17:19:00.036-07:00

Here we are with the rollicking conclusion to ACTF Adventures.

Chris wasn't actually laughing at anything. They call this acting.

Now, read this, and tell me if it sounds boring:

Anton's Uncles is an adaption of Chechov's Uncle Vanya, originally written in 1896. The new work is a deconstruction of the original, where only the men remain from the cast of 9 characters. The text is a distillation of the original with new material added. The movement score emphasizes the blah, blah, blah, boring blah, blah, blah, whatever.

That's the description lifted straight from the ACTF program guide (Although I sort of trailed off on the end there), and seriously, it's a pretty bland description of such an awesome show.

It should have read more like this:

Anton's Uncles features Russian dancing, drinking songs, characters spinning on rugs, card castles, hip-hop dancing, folk music, rock music, characters popping out from underneath a pile of coats and making the audience say 'woa,' romance, interpretive dance, audience participation, live guitar playing, ballroom dance, fake mustaches, a dude that sounds exactly like Samuel L. Jackson, synchronized tea-cup dancing, and a finale featuring percussive use of office supplies. See it, or you will die from a lack of awesomeness.

That doesn't even begin to do the show justice, but at least it scratches the surface without using a term like "deconstruction" that makes me fall asleep halfway through the word. Anton's Uncles was a little piece of theater gold, and I applaud everyone involved. There was not a single false moment in the entire show, and the four-man ensemble was one of the tightest, most confident group of actors I've ever seen. Plus we got to hear an awesome rendition of this song.

Just brilliant, every bit of it.

Derrick Oshanna as The Professor during the teacup dance. Seriously, how many shows have a teacup dance?

Now, let's talk a little bit about Zero To Infinity. I'll try and do so without bashing my face against the keyboard.

The play began with the lights rising on two characters-- a man in a fat suit inflating a plastic sex doll, and a woman with fake breasts the size of beach balls.

"Ah," I thought, "So they're going the subtle route."

The actor playing the lead character, Zero. See also: the spawn of Satan.

Whatever it was that I was watching was a complete mess-- nonsensical, terribly acted, and downright unfunny. Now, I only stayed for about five minutes before bolting to go see Anton's Uncles again, so I suppose I'm not the best person to criticize.

So instead, I present the following evidence:

WITNESS A: Heather Housley

Me: Hey Heather, did you stay for the rest of "Zero To Infinity?"
Heather: (Somberly) ... Yes.
Me: How was it?
Heather: I'm stuffing my face with nothing but carbs and soda. How do you think it was?

WITNESS B: Katie Farmer

Me: So what did you think of "Zero To Infinity?"
Katie: (Excited, ranting) Oh, what a horrible, horrible, horrible, awful show! Just horrible. Oh, it was terrible! Just an awful, awful show. I hated it! Horrible.

WITNESS C: Scott Stringham

Scott: Now, I'm not a swearing man... But that show was complete ****.

I rest my case.

On Saturday, a few of us went up to a bunch of rock formations above St. George, including one ominously referred to as The Narrows. You know that it lives up to it's name when even someone my size gets nervous squeezing through.

In the narrows with what appears to be one of those floaty things from "Avatar."

Considering the insanely busy schedule during the majority of the week, this was a nice break from the stress of rehearsal.

But that night, it all came rushing back as we prepared ourselves for the big event that evening. I had the great pleasure of being the scene partner to Wes Tolman and Jyllian Petrie in the competition, the latter of which made it to the top 16 (Out of about 350 nominated students). Yes, dear readers, it was time for the Irene Ryan Finals.

The woman of the hour (Irene Ryan, not Jyllian).

That, my friends, is Ms. Ryan herself-- best known as Granny on The Beverly Hillbillies. A veteran actor of stage and screen, all of the preparation, memorization, performances, rehearsals, and responses are all because of her.

And honestly, how can you not be nervous with those eyes staring at you, judging you, piercing into your very soul?

Haunting.

Fortunately, our final performance went great, we had a ton of fun, and we walked away satisfied with the work we had done.

Now in conclusion, I present the following awards to those involved in the various adventures of the past week at ACTF:

Biggest Dork
The dude that tried hitting on Jyllian by using the line "How much does a polar bear weigh? Enough to break the ice." Sir, you win a roll of the eyes and a punch to the kidney for your idiocy! Congrats!

Best Living Stereotype
At the final ceremony, several awards were presented by a tiny Asian woman in which only the top of her head could be seen over the podium. I was laughing too hard to hear anything she was saying.

Worst Irene Ryan Intro
Anytime someone introduced their partner as being "wonderful" with a vague wave of the hand like they're about to perform a magic trick. You all suck.

Best Sing-Along
Blasting Lady Gaga's Poker Face in the van. I like the part about the muffin.

Best Foreign Accent
Jyllian's Asian/Italian dialect that was apparently some strange attempt at bridging two cultures.

Biggest Ick-Factor Moment
The Man in the Moon giving bedroom eyes and a naughty grin to a twelve-year-old boy in Deja Vu.

Best Expression of Frustration
"Pooh on Mr. Mook!" from Silent Spring. That is just baby-squatting brilliant.

Most Awkward Moment
Levi's wall-shaking laugh during The Full Monty that caught the attention of the first three rows.

Best Moment of Unintentional Racism
Chris Clark: "There's nothing greasier than a Jersey accent."

Stupidest Irene Ryan Scene
The one that made everyone's jaw drop and laugh out loud at how ridiculous it was-- Yep, the scene which started with about 10 seconds of simulated sex. Classy!

Freaking Weirdest Character
The effeminate, chubby, hiked-up pants wearing kid with the mushroom shaped haircut in Sleepy Hollow. Seriously, what was that thing?

So that's the week in review. Congrats to finalists Jyllian and Jake, semi-finalists Scott and Collin, as well as all of the amazing nominees and their scene partners, our incredible teaching staff, and everyone else who made ACTF such a fantastic experience.

Backstage after the finals with the infamous painting of-- two kids on a beach? Seriously?

"Man is endowed with creativity in order to multiply that which has been given him." - Anton Chekhov, Uncle Vanya

ACTF Adventures: Part One

2010-02-15T16:57:00.018-07:00

I'm back.

I'm sure my loyal readers (All eight of you) have missed me, so here I am with an extensive update on the events of the past week.

Carrie Joslin, Jake Suazo, Jyllian Petrie and myself backstage in the Cox Auditorium. I'm not really sure what Jake was doing.

Last Monday, the UVU theater department packed up and headed to St. George for the annual Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival for a week of shows, acting and design competitions, fat suits, bad pick-up lines, awesome fake mustaches, good sushi, and male strippers.

Some highlights from the week:

The preliminary rounds of the Irene Ryan acting competition consist of about 350 nominated actors that are given three minutes to show off their best stuff. These scenes tend to range from totally brilliant, to jaw-droppingly awful, and everything in between.

And let me tell you-- I saw some seriously cussed-up scenes.

Sitting through about a dozen 45-minute sessions of preliminaries, I drew the following conclusion based on the majority of the scenes. In order to prove your worth as an actor, you must be able to
do the following:

1. Use a good amount of colorful profanity.

2. Slap, hit, choke, or stab your scene partner, or be slapped, hit, choked, or stabbed by your scene partner.

3. Discuss controversial subjects (Racism, homosexuality, racist-homosexuals, etc.)

4. Stare dramatically into the distance. Also, a vague wave of your hand, or reaching slowly outwards, as if to represent grasping at an uncertain future, also helps.

And most importantly:

5. Yell and scream. A lot.

In addition to these great lessons, being able to participate in the competition with Jyllian and Wes was an amazing experience-- but before I get all sentimental and serious, I have to make fun of some more stuff.

Because, ya know, that's what I do.

An actor's carefully balanced diet.

One of the other things we were involved in was the staged reading of a new play entitled Silent Spring, a children's play about author and environmentalist Rachel Carson. An inspiring one-act by a teacher and first-time playwright, it was directed by UVU professor John Graham and performed by myself and a cast of friends from the department.

The play is quite good, but the one thing that I am simply compelled to talk about-- my conscience will not allow otherwise-- is the occurrence of perhaps the greatest stage direction ever written.

During the play, we are given glimpses into the animal world that is being affected by the pesticide DDT (The subject of Rachel Carson's real-life book, Silent Spring). So, we get characters such as flies with french accents, literal love-birds, and best of all, a family of talking crabs. When Daddy Crab, played by Jason Sullivan, instructs Baby Crab, played by Jyllian Petrie, how to move across the ocean rocks, we are blessed with this little nugget of brilliance:

"Baby squats like Daddy."

I mean, honestly. That is why I love theater.

The greatest testament to how much we love that line is the fact that entire cast was actually campaigning to have it be the title of the play. Seriously, who wouldn't go see that? Alas.

The cast of "Silent Spring." This picture would be ten times more awesome if we were wearing giant crab suits.

Now, I'd like to conclude part one of this post with a series of reviews of the various shows that I saw while in St. George. To keep things interesting, they will be written in the highly-disciplined form of Japanese poetry: haiku.

Almost, Maine
Some awesome acting
Scene changes made me bitter
Pretty lights and set

The Full Monty
Loved Malcolm and Horse
The cast needs singing lessons
Ew, naked buttocks

Sleepy Hollow
This story is dull
Wow, why are you still singing?
Please stop, please stop, please

Deja Vu
I am so confused
Moon Man is a pedophile
What the hell was that?

Anton's Uncles
Every moment
Perfect, powerful, funny
My favorite show

(Seriously, this was probably the best show I've ever seen. More later.)

And finally:

Zero To Infinity
Left five minutes in
Wanted to gouge out my eyes
So, so, so, awful

To be continued...

Recycled material

2010-02-06T16:43:00.005-07:00

I finally got around to seeing Fantastic Mr. Fox last night, and I'm so cussing impressed by how cussing awesome it was, my motivation for posting any new cuss up on my blog is cussing gone. Instead, I figured I'd toss up some cuss I had posted on my facebook page a whole cussing month ago. Even though it's February, for cuss' sake, I present my 2009 Year In Review.

Enjoy, you crazy cussers.

THE EVENTS OF 2009

Rang in the new year in Stockton California sitting in a room adjacent from a car-battered Elder straight from the hospital, made a resolution to write in my journal every day which lasted all of a week, spent the next little while getting regular updates on Ponder's girlfriend from Arizona, lived with my favorite people in the world for three months in Elk Grove, laughed my butt off every day listening to stories from a dude named Tilf, taught a guy named Parakshith, cried my eyes dry on my last day as a missionary, stayed up till 3:00 talking with my MTC companion two years after the day we met, flew home, was freaked out that my room was completely unchanged since I left and spent the next few days changing everything, finally made it back to good terms with some old friends that really deserved it, made grilled pineapple with nutella (Well, I ate grilled pineapple with nutella-- Kristin made it), saw The Fray in concert, saw Iron & Wine in concert, saw Mat Kearney in concert, saw Joshua James in concert (three times), played Cranium Pop 5 in a few weeks more than most people play in a year, picked up my jaw off of the floor repeatedly while watching the two seasons of "Lost" I had missed, lamented Heath Ledger's death some more ("Evening... Commissioner."), pulled an all-nighter on July 4th... in the rain, performed baptisms for the dead for the first time, became a Trekkie (Thank you, J.J. Abrams), returned to Sacramento with my family in tow, read all seven Harry Potter books for the first time (It took me about two weeks), was pulled away kicking and screaming from Jack's Urban Eats knowing full well it would be quite awhile before I'd get to eat there again, discovered this book in a gift shop, put together Whitney's fake engagement photos with three different guys (Matt, Jake, and Felipe), rekindled my love of Robert Downey Jr. (Thank you, "Iron Man"), had the most incredible experience doing sealings in the Salt Lake Temple, channeled a lot of personal life experience into my first full-length play and spent the next month debating with my friends whether or not Dan and Evie should end up together or not, tried my best to console my dearest friend when her engagement ended, spent the entire hike up to the Y listening to Bryce's theories on life and the universe (Some things never change), discovered that Sociology is way more awesome/hilarious when your instructor has a thick Asian accent, dressed up like an undead horse and spent Halloween growling and hissing and stomping and roaring at people, returned to the Thrillionaires stage as a Shakespearean king with a love for pancakes, woke up at 4:00 am to attend my first session of Conference (Totally worth it), got all twitterpated over a girl nicknamed Titty (Nope, I'm not kidding), got killed in the first round of Werewolf every frikkin' time I played, finally got to play Romeo at Bard Night, had the Casey/Julie/Davey reunion that was three years in the making, had the best/worst night seeing Ingrid Michaelson in concert knowing I'll always wonder "what if," wrote and directed a ten minute-play with Tyler Harris playing a quirky and quick-witted teenager and Chase Brown playing a bitter and sardonic old man (Typecasting at it's finest), did some of the weirdest things ever in my Voice and Diction class, watched Chris Clark not only trying to seduce Julie Garbutt but screaming in my face and attempting to drive Alex Ungerman insane (In his defense, it was a play), realized I'd missed my chance to ask out the girl I'd had a crush on all summer, realized I'd missed my chance to ask out the (different) girl I'd had a crush on in my Theater class, realized that dating sucks, said goodbye to "Scrubs," got sick over Thanksgiving break, recorded a Christmas CD (and was reminded what an insane genius Collin aka Elf-Boy is), played in the snow for the first time in years (and loved it), drove in the snow for the first time in years (and despised it), watched a documentary about the type-face Helvetica (It's far more interesting than it sounds), ran a 5k in the freezing cold, daydreamed about being Spider-Man (This is not 2009 exclusive), had the most wonderfully lazy Christmas break hanging with the family, heard the most beautiful arrangement of "O Holy Night" in Sacrament meeting, rang in the new year with friends terrified and excited for what comes next.

MY QUOTE OF 2009

"I guess it's because we all want to believe that what we do is very important, that people hang on our every word, that they care what we think. The truth is, you should consider yourself lucky if you even occasionally get to make someone - anyone - feel a little better. After that, it's all about the people that you've let into your life."

- JD (Zach Braff), "Scrubs"

MY SOUNDTRACK OF 2009

"Meet Me in the Middle" - Joshua James
"Doctor" - Joshua James
"Feels Like Letting Go" - Matthew Perryman Jones
"The Trapeze Swinger" - Iron & Wine
"Jezebel" - Iron & Wine
"Don't You Evah" - Spoon
"Boston" - Augustana
"Strawberry Swing" - Coldplay
"Look After You" - The Fray
"Angel" - Jack Johnson
"Bleeding Love" - Jamie Scott and The Town
"Someone Saved My Life Tonight" - Elton John
"Love Story" - Taylor Swift
"The Temptation of Adam" - Josh Ritter
"California" - Josh Ritter
"Good Man" - Josh Ritter
"Little Victories" - Matt Nathanson
"The Book of Love" - Peter Gabriel
"Hey Ya" - Obidiah Parker
"Deathbed" - Relient K
"Opposite Way" - Leeland
"Moon River" - Audrey Hepburn
"Better In Time" - Leona Lewis
"All I Have" - Mat Kearney
"Won't Back Down" - Mat Kearney
"Halo" - Beyonce
"I'm Not Who I Was" - Brandon Heath
"Man In The Mirror" - Michael Jackson
"Too Much Love" - Sufjan Stevens
"The Show" - Lenka
"Giving Up" - Ingrid Michaelson
"You And I" - Ingrid Michaleson
"Sort Of" - Ingrid Michaelson
"Jealous Kind" - Jars of Clay
"Wake Up" - The Arcade Fire
"Song For a Winter's Night" - Sarah McLachlan
"Winter Song" - Sara Bereilles & Ingrid Michaelson

And then there was that time that Wolverine got in an arguement with a talking Panda...

2010-02-04T20:14:00.005-07:00

God bless you, Damon Lindelof.

(From Ultimate Wolverine Vs. Hulk, written by Mr. Lost himself)

Welcome back

2010-02-03T22:43:00.008-07:00

How I've missed you.

Pop 6: Artists you should be listening to

2010-02-01T10:57:00.027-07:00

Pop 6 is my handy guide to pop culture; a regular dose of information that will help you see why my opinion is right.

"But Trevor, an opinion can't be right or wrong!"

Oh, silly, silly person.

Nickelback was nominated for a Grammy. That is wrong.

So let's talk about good music, shall we? Let's discuss six music artists that you should be listening to right now, but unfortunately, probably aren't:

1. Spoon

Spoon is one of those brilliant little rock bands that tends to get shoehorned into that "indie" category with the likes of Death Cab For Cutie and Sufjan Stevens, even thought their music is nothing alike. Call it indie, call it alternative, whatever-- Spoon rocks.

As you'll see with the rest of the list, and with a lot of my music tastes, I love singers with unique sounding vocals, and Spoon's Britt Daniel is no exception. Spoon also has an uncanny ability to take even the simplest of chord progressions and turn them into something special. From acoustic driven gold like "I Summon You," to the dance-inducing groove-fest "Don't You Evah," Spoon rocks it.

So put down your Yellowcard, Simple Plan, Fall Out Boy, and Green Day CD's (I'd prefer if you'd just burn them), and go listen to some real modern rock & roll.

iTunes recommendations:

I Turn My Camera On
They Never Got You
Stay Don't Go
The Underdog

2. Basia Bulat

Here's a wonderful artist mixing some of the best qualities of great modern female singer-songwriters like Ingrid Michaelson, Colbie Callait, Regina Spektor, and Sarah Bereilles. You've probably heard some of her songs that, for whatever reason, seem to be really popular with car commercials.

She's got one of those sickly sweet voices that sounds like it's sad all the time, even when she's singing about happy stuff. Bouncing between folk, pop, and occasionally slipping into something a little bit like honky tonk piano-driven country at times, Basia Bulat is an offbeat artist that deserves a bigger audience.

And you can't deny that "Before I Knew" is incredibly catchy. Suburu seems to think so.

iTunes recommendations:

Before I Knew
Birds of Paradise
Run
If Only You

3. David Bowie

"But Trevor, David Bowie is one of the most popular, influential, best-selling artists in the history of modern music!"

I know, but this is Utah, so when I say David Bowie, most people think of this:

Granted, "Labyrinth" is all kinds of awesome (Bowie, Jennifer Connelly, and muppets? Sold.).

Bowie also gave a fantastic performance in the mindbender "The Prestige"-- A film that I heard described as starring "Wolverine, Batman, Gollum, and David Bowie," which just shows how cool he really is when his name can be included on a list of fictional characters and he totally fits.

But let's ignore his acting career and his status as a pop culture icon, and talk about his music, because the man is a genius, and stands as one of my three favorite vocalists of all time (behind Elton John and Freddy Mercury from Queen).

Now, "Under Pressure" is a great song that everybody knows, and his work on the "Labyrinth" soundtrack is passable, although far from his best work. The guy has gone through so many phases and styles (psychedelic folk, glam rock, soul/R&B, electronica) over a four-decade career, it's hard to know where to start, but I feel his best stuff came from the early to mid 70's. You really can't go wrong with anything from that era.

Give him a listen, and try to bury the childhood memories of those skin-tight leggings and that massive blonde mullet.

iTunes recommendations:

Oh! You Pretty Things
Changes
Ziggy Stardust
Rock & Roll Suicide
Heroes

4. Iron & Wine

Some of you are saying "Hey, I love Iron & Wine!"

Let me guess-- You have "Such Great Heights" from the Garden State soundtrack on your ipod. Perhaps "Flightless Bird, American Mouth" from the Twilight soundtrack, too.

Anything else? Didn't think so.

Both great songs, but his music (Yes, it's just one guy, not a band) goes much, much deeper.

There's not a whole lot I want to say about the music of Samuel Beam/Iron & Wine. It really speaks for itself. Despite nearly every song being driven by acoustic guitar alone, each one is simple yet unique. His vocals are sublime. His lyrics are incredibly powerful. All in all, this is some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard.

And if you ever get the chance, do yourself a favor and see him play live.

iTunes recommendations:

Jezebel
Naked As We Came
The Trapeze Swinger
Sodom, South Georgia

5. Josh Ritter

Jason Mraz, Joshua Radin, John Mayer, Jack Johnson... It's a J-name thing, I guess, and I enjoy these guys as much as anyone, but you need to turn them off for a minute and experience the greatest acoustic folk singer of this generation.

I mean seriously, listen to these lyrics. Amazing.

iTunes recommendations:

The Temptation of Adam
Good Man
You Don't Make It Easy, Babe
Come And Find Me

6. Mat Kearney

Most people know who Mat Kearney is, because he gets quite a bit of radio airplay. You might recognize his catchy roadtrip anthem "Nothing Left To Lose," or "Breathe In, Breathe Out" that was used on Grey's Anatomy, or his current pop hit, "Closer To Love."

What you may not know? He raps.

"But Trevor, you hate rap music!"

I know, I know-- let me finish. Mat Kearney is also a devout Christian, and--

"But Trevor, you think Christian Rock is ridiculous!"

Good grief, let me finish!

Admittedly, a Christian-pop-folk-rock-rap artist should be the most horrifying thing on earth, but somehow Mat Kearney makes it work.

His most recent release, "City of Black and White" is full of tracks that deal with falling in and out of love, and although entertaining and well done, feels subdued and sugar-coated compared to his first, brilliant album, "Nothing Left To Lose," which tackles some pretty heavy subjects, like drug addiction, death of loved ones, and of course, religion.

And he raps! Holy crap, does he rap. That rhymed. Now put aside your skepticism and check it out:

His lyrics are incredibly personal, unique, and inspiring. Go listen.

iTunes recommendations:

Where We Gonna Go From Here
Can't Break Her Fall
Won't Back Down
Renaissance
What's A Boy To Do

The definition of class

2010-01-23T13:27:00.003-07:00

To the cast of "Urinetown"

2010-01-21T22:25:00.001-07:00

In theater news

2010-01-20T18:15:00.003-07:00

I've just been informed that I will be playing Iokanaan (aka. John the Baptist) in UVU's production of Oscar Wilde's "Salome."

And that means that at the end of the play, my friend Jyllian gets to kiss my decapitated head.

And that, dear readers, is one of the most hilarious things I think I will ever type.

Bard-related musings

2010-01-19T22:06:00.012-07:00

So lately, I've been thinking a lot about this guy:

Handsome devil, eh?

I've been something of a Shakesepeare-buff since high school (I feel like I can safely use the term "buff" because I've actually read "Cymbeline." Nobody has read "Cymbeline."), but I guess it's only been recently that It has truly hit me how good of a writer he really is. I know, I know-- discovering that Shakespeare is a good writer in 2010 is sort of like discovering that the internet is a good way to find information, that the sun is a good source of energy, or that Superman is good at hitting things (Ah, who am I kidding? He's great at hitting things.)

I was recently re-reading Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale"-- because that's just the way I roll-- and was simply in awe of how ridiculously clever so much of the writing is. I also spent a good portion of last semester mulling over the script of "Romeo and Juliet," (and performing it twice) and was impressed at how great it was; something that's often forgotten because of the story being so well engrained in our popular culture. The balcony scene-- arguably the most well-known, most parodied scene in all of fiction-- has become such a cliche, it's nice to take a step back and appreciate the fact that as originally written, it's really, really funny, and pretty sexy too.

William, you rascal.

Last Saturday, I was in The Thrillionaires Shakespeare-themed show in which I discovered that it is impossible not to laugh at Jake Van Wagoner doing anything in a vaguely-Mexican looking poncho. It's like trying to keep your eyes open when you sneeze.

At the same time, the fantastic Grassroots Shakespeare Company were busy with their winter workshop of "Twelfth Night." These one-night-only performances consist of large rotating casts who put the entire show together in about three hours, and they're always a lot of fun. I heard that the workshop had a great turnout, but the most mind-blowing news was that-- and I'm not kidding about this-- the show included a fifteen minute interpretative dance sequence set to a live cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing."

I'll admit, that my first reaction to hearing this was, shall we say, less than enthusiastic. In fact, I think I said something along the lines of "If possible, I think Shakespeare just died a little more."

Perhaps I was a tad harsh.

I've now had a few days to think it over, and I reached the point where this idea can no longer be classified as "A horrifying defilement of classic literature," and can now be considered "a stroke of brilliance." What sparked the shift? Well, I found this:

That is a t-shirt logo I created for Mountain View High School about five years ago, which was lovingly dubbed Rockspeare by their drama department.

And no, your eyes do not deceive you, he is indeed jamming on a mandolin.

Long story short, I hate a hypocrite, and I can't deny how truly awesome the combination of Elizabethan theater with rock n' roll truly is. So will I accept Viola and Olivia's inexplicable love of 70's power ballads? Absolutely-- Because it's what William would have wanted.

Don't stop believing, poor Yorick.

Spider-Man + Kicking

2010-01-18T20:44:00.004-07:00

One of the great joys of life.

An attempt at a serious explanation (with zombies)

2010-01-16T11:30:00.009-07:00

I should explain.

I'm seriously considering changing my major from Theater Education to English, or perhaps English education, or English with an emphasis in creative writing, or English with a theater minor, or I really have no idea. Still, sitting in my first college English class and listening to my teacher ramble on, I realized two things:

1) The majority of the reading I've done involves superheroes kicking things in the head. This actually doesn't bother me much, because when the zombie apocalypse comes, who will be more important to my survival: Wolverine (Who has fought zombie ninjas on more than one occasion. Zombie ninjas.) or Pip from Great Expectations? I think the answer is obvious.

On the other hand, I do feel like I should be doing more reading, so as hard as it was to check out the "edited" version of Pride and Predjudice and Zombies (Apparently this Jane Austen lady can't come up with her own ideas, so she had to turn it into some sort of romantic novel), I figured I should give it a whirl.

Three cheers for dreamy Mr. Darcy.

2) I haven't been writing enough. I used to write a ridiculous amount of material when I was a kid-- I have two full-length screenplays written before I was finished with my junior year of high school, along with a 75 page short-novel written in the 9th grade, and a drawer full of short stories from elementary school that feature the adventurous exploits of (what else?) superheroes, cowboys, zombies, monsters, aliens, zombie monsters, zombie cowboys, and perhaps a few zombie-cowboy-alien-super-monster-heroes.

I had an interesting childhood.

So gearing up for a new semester, I figured I needed a place to dump all of the thoughts that tend to run through my head during the day.

This includes, but is not limited to, helping you understand why your favorite band probably sucks, a study of how the word "hecka" actually reduces ones intelligence, a listing of the best movies you've probably never seen, theories regarding Lost and an explanation as to why it's about twelve kinds of awesome, quotes gleaned from history's most ingenious minds (No, not Socrates or Einstein-- Dr. Cox from Scrubs and Nick Fury from The Ultimates), pictures of Spider-Man and Wolverine doing cool things (*see: zombie fights, making things explode), lessons in graphic design that will begin why comic-sans should never be used under any circumstances, and of course, the chronicles of my experiences in the UVU theater program.

For the last show I was in, I dressed up like a zombie-horse for crying out loud. That's a childhood fantasy come to life (I imagine you're noticing a trend, here). I'd be doing a disservice to myself to not write about stuff like that.

I don't know if it will be entertaining or interesting to anyone else but me (except for Casey, apparently; my first "follower"-- a term which makes this whole thing sound like a weird cult), but that's okay.

But, if you don't enjoy what you read, you'll have to answer to this gal:

And in case you still haven't figured it out based on the multiple zombie references in this post, yes, that is indeed awesome.

5 Things you will never see on my blog

2010-01-15T21:06:00.015-07:00

Pay attention. These are important things to understand before you start reading my blog.

1. A yellow sad face, happy face, sarcastic face, bored face, excited face, lazy face, dumb face, or really any sort of cartoon image that someone might use to represent one's mood.

2. The phrase "Nickelback totally rocks." It actually makes my head hurt just to type that.

3. Pictures of myself posing like this:

Googling "emo kid" in order to include that picture represents fifteen seconds of my life that I'll never get back. But it had to be done.

4. A recap of whatever I did during the day. It was boring for me the first time; I have no desire to relive making a turkey sandwich or taking a nap or driving to the grocery store by typing up a report here.

5. Things that aren't awesome. A brief lesson:

Another example:

And just so we are clear:

So now that we are all on the same page concerning what not to expect in this blog, I don't have to worry about offending anyone. Just remember, it's not my fault if you think "The Rise of Cobra" has "flippin' sweet action sequences," or that Chad Kroeger really "knows how to sing," or that Jay Leno is "funny"-- I'm just bringing the truth to the people. Don't shoot the messenger.

Enjoy.