Life Comes At You Fast

It certainly does. In the course of two weeks I sent off a resume, had 2 interviews, and was offered a job. I didn't think things worked that quickly in the real world. And then today I find out that the one and only KFed (whose CD I actually I dig) is going to appear in a commercial for the company that I begin working for on Monday. How great is that?

Jonjii

About 2 years ago, when she was 2.5, Abbey had a bit of a split personality. She would comb her bangs down over her eyes, shake her head, and run after her older sister saying "My name in Jonjii" (pronounced Jon - gee). We all got a kick out of it and we'd egg her on until she's transform into this crazy beast that liked to chase people and jump on them. (I think I have a photo somewhere of Abbey in her "Jonjii" mode ... I'll have to find it).

We haven't seen Jonjii in a while, ever since we moved to the new house in June. The other morning Abbey woke up early and asked me to come downstairs and watch TV with her. As we flipped through the stations, when we hit the Cartoon Network, she asked me to stop so she could watch "Legend of the Dragon". Half asleep on the couch, I wasn't paying a lot of attention but something did jump out at me. I heard one of the characters address another one as "Xuan Chi" which sounded suspiciously like "Jonjii". Now, I'm sure that Abbey didn't watch this show 2 years ago, I think it was just a coincidence but, wow, what a coincidence it was. When the name was repeated, I asked Abbey, "Did you hear that? That sounds like Jonjii." Abbey gave me a very serious look and said "Don't talk about Jonjii anymore. I'm not Jonjii."

Good things a' happening

Earlier this week I read about Bourbon Crow, a band that is led by ex-Murderdolls singer Wednesday13. He apparently plays under a fake name (Buck Bourbon) and while his typical musical style can be described as Alice Cooper meets Marilyn Manson, Bourbon Crow has been described as "outlaw country" and comparisons have been made to folks like Johnny Cash, David Allen Coe and Waylon Jennings.

I was on a mission to find Bourbon Crow's Highway to Hangovers which was put out by Horror High Records but was coming up empty. On Thursday evening I was in Cleveland and stopped by my favorite Half-Price Books in Rocky River and, lo and behold, what CD did I find under the "B" tab? Bourbon Crow. $4.98.

So last night I picked up a few last minute gifts at Meijer and on my way out I thought I'd buy a couple "Holiday Cash" lottery tickets. The payout isn't huge (the biggest payout is $500) but the tickets were only $1 and I had $2 in my pocket. I shoved the tickets in my pocket as I was walking out and forgot about them until this morning. The ticket I scratched off was a $25 winner!

I kind of feel like I'm on a roll this week. Hmm ... I wonder if there is anything else in store coming up?

Buckcherry Interview

Just saw that the new issue of MELT is out featuring my Buckcherry interview. It's my second cover story in a row (last month's was The Who though I didn't get to interview them). Sweet. I *might* be going for a hat trick, you'll have to wait and see.

Kevy Kev hit me up two weeks ago to see if I'd be interested in interviewing Josh Todd of Buckcherry but the catch was it was a really quick turnaround time. He asked me on a Friday, I had to set the interview up on Monday, did the actually interview on Tuesday, transcribed the tape and turned in the story Wednesday night just in time to meet my Thursday deadline.

As usual, Kevin (or whoever designed the page) did such a great job of making my words look good. That's why I LOVE writing for MELT and will do so for as long as they'll have me.

Whoa! Guster? For real?

I thought Guster was one of those pseudo hippie bands. You know, the kind that frat boys in their A&F wear eat up while drinking keg beer and hitting on sorority chicks. And, I think Guster WAS one of those bands a few years ago. Hell, maybe they still are, but the other day I was driving to work when I heard this song on the radio. I had never heard it before so I played the game of, "Come on Chip, figure out who it is before the DJ tells you." I'm usually pretty good at this game because I read so many magazines and websites that I think that I know what a band sounds like before I even hear them.

Anyway, my first thought when I heard this song "Satellite" was that it was Death Cab for Cutie ... but it didn't sound like Ben singing. Then I thought, "Oh, it must be Band of Horses" cuz all the blogger kids are putting that CD in their top 5 of 2006 and this song certainly had that "sound" to it (at least to me). Somebody on the Donewaiting.com message board said that Band of Horses is nothing more than Air Supply of 2006 and when I heard the mild mannered vocals in "Satellite" I could see how somebody might say that this song was a modern version of an Air Supply song.

So when the DJ said "That was Guster" I was shocked. Were all my ideas about this band dead wrong? I did a quick search for an MP3 of this song when I got to work and I found a live version of it somewhere. The blogger who posted it said something like "These guys have always sounded like Rusted Root and Ben Folds Five to me" and ... bam ... there is was. I wasn't crazy. These guys DO have that "sound" that drives me crazy and makes me think that some people have no taste in music. And yet I couldn't get "Satellite" out of my head. I really, really like it so I'm conflicted. What exactly does the 2006 version of Guster sound like? Are they a faux hippie/frat band or have they gone off in a different direction? I'm inclined to believe that they've graduated from the college rock sound because I noticed that in the last year they've had people like Rogue Wave and Mason Jennings open for them - two very respected artists that I'm not ashamed to admit liking.

I'm planning on checking out the latest Guster CD in it's entirety and I'm hoping that the rest of the songs follow the lead of "Satellite".

Anybody have any thoughts about Guster? Leave me a comment.

Jill Cunniff

I'll be honest, I didn't shed any tears upon learning of Luscious Jackson's breakup earlier this decade. I thought they had a good thing going for a while but towards the end I felt like they were trying too hard to write radio-friendly disco hits. But I was very intrigued to learn that the Militia Group - home to post-emo bands like The Appleseed Cast and Brandtson - had worked out a deal to put out Jill Cunniff's solo album, City Beach, in early 2007.

My advance copy of the CD arrived in the mail today and I really had high hopes for it. I just know that Jill is capable of writing really good music and I was thinking that as long as she doesn't try to get too '70s retro, there would be a good chance that her solo CD might be nothing short of fantastic.

Now, granted, I've only given it one full spin but it's every bit as delicious as I was hoping it would be. I kind of hate when I hear new music so early in the year (or, in this case, 2 months before it comes out) because I know that at this point next year, there is a good chance I won't even remember City Beach when compiling my Best of 2007 list even though I think that it's deserving of at least consideration. And, hey, it doesn't hurt that Jill and I both have a daughter named Piper.

I'm not going to rip MP3s at this point and post them here but I will point you to Jill's MySpace site where you can listen to 3 songs ("Happy Warriors", "Lazy Girls", and "NYC Boy") from the album due in stores on February 6, 2007.