Edit:  OH, and yeah, it’s a micro$oft commmercial and they’re using a macbook from crApple.

So, you’re asking yourself, “Self, what’s Josh thinking here?” To which I say, “THE CHICKEN DANCE!”

Yup, the Chicken Dance. Not only is that song annoying when you hear it but it sticks in your head for hours and sometimes days afterwards. I say, to each and everyone of you out there, put a bullhorn on the front and back of your car and when one of those overcompensating idiots with a loud engine comes roaring past you, don’t flip’em the bird, GIVE THEM THE CHICKEN! Get that song stuck in their head until they see some sense or are just so scared to go out on the road on their motorcycle for fear that they’re going to be chicken dancing their way through the rest of the week that they silence their vehicles and stop their noise pollution. And if you have one of those people that just keeps doing it, follow them to their house and drive past once an hour at 2 in the morning with the Chicken Dance blaring.

And when they tell you it’s rude to make so much noise with your Chicken Dance Mobile(TM) tell them that it’s a proven fact that blaring the Chicken Dance while you’re driving makes you more noticeable to others on the road!

And that’s not all! Use it for boats! Use it for bars, Use it for that annoying neighbor who laughs too loud! It’s time for a revolution in noise pollution! It’s time to Chicken Dance for Peace (and quiet)!

On another note, SWG has a new bass player and we’re working on new music so hopefully we’ll be playing out shortly.

And another other note, the Choral Arts Society is singing this weekend and I’ll be singing with them (provided my clothes have arrived by then, have to call the Tux shop and make sure they’re there…)  It’s a pretty cool program so check it out if you’re free saturday night or sunday afternoon.

And finally, something for the creative in you, Nike’s new ad campaign is pretty sweet. http://www.youtube.com/nikefootball 

Got back and it all started to go downhill. Stacie’s grandfather died on that sunday. It was a very sad day for her and definitely tough. The funeral was friday and was very nice. An interesting anecdote from the funeral, a close friend of ours brought her grandfather to the funeral, he’d never met Stacie’s grandfather Robert, but at the end of the ceremony walked up to the casket and saluted him. Both are WW2 vets. You just don’t see camraderie like that anymore and the mutual respect. It really hit me pretty hard and I teared up a little. It’s just amazing how such a small gesture can have such an emotional impact.

Ever since the last gig w/ Sweetwood Groove, i’ve had this nagging feeling that something weird was going on with the bass player. Wouldn’t send me an e-mail more than 2 words long, wouldn’t return phone calls etc… Turns out that he wants to go back to being a 3 piece jazz fusion thing and we were getting too rock oriented. Which is really too bad, we were making some damned fine music and had written a bunch of new songs in a couple of months. I’m sure that there’s a whole lot more to it than they want to go back to a 3 piece. It’s more along the lines of I push hard and have very strong opinions. I always try and be as magnanimus as possible, but sometimes it doesn’t happen. I think a lot of it has to do with power as well. I have a tendency to take things over when I’m involved with them (as singer, guitarist, songwriter, experienced performer and experienced recording artist, i also have a lot more experience). So when I see someone making a mistake that I’ve made I usually try and let them make it so they’ll learn from it the way I did. However, I refuse to make the same mistakes twice, so if someone’s trying to get me to do something that I know won’t work because I’ve tried it before, I’ll say no. Which if you’re as strong willed as I am can be annoying. So, now I have to find a new band to play with. Which sucks. I’m hoping that this will all turn out for the best and by them kicking me out, i’ll go on to find something better, but over the last 4 years, I’ve built or helped build 3 bands from the ground up and none of them have done anything. It’s getting a little frustrating. It’s a shame that the same respect that the WW2 vets show each other has become so non-existent in a lot of todays day to day life.

Ok, enough bitching sorry to rant this long. How ’bout them Giants! As an Eagles fan, it was tough to cheer for them, but I just am a little sick of the Pats winning.

Ok, maybe i’m just a little delirious from lack of sleep.  I’m hoping this will all get better as the week moves on and I/we get used to waking up so frickin’ early.  When you’re used to going to bed at 12 or 1 and getting up around 8 or 9, waking up at 6 is quite the shock to the system…  Somehow i get the feeling i’m going to be going to bed a whole lot earlier.

In other news, please enjoy this wonderful new product courtesy of Jason…

And in MORE other news.  Keep an  eye out on standingstonemedia.com for some pretty exciting news coming up in the next few weeks.  More work, more challenges, more stress, more of everything a growing boy (or in this case company) needs!

Cut to 6 weeks later. Everything’s coming a long fairly well, but MAN am I a fish out of water. The people that I’m working with are all really professional and very cool and that’s awesome. I picked a country song to record and got a few curve balls thrown my way which has made me re-think a fair amount of how the song will end up going. I’m sure that we’re going to end up with a song that I’m proud to say that I’ve worked on, but let me tell you about the organizational skills and the ear for music that it takes to do a lot of this. There are guys on my team that picked stuff out 2 weeks ago that I’m just realizing now. Granted I’m doing this as a learning experience, but no one likes to feel stupid. Thankfully the other people on this team are gracious enough to not call me an A-hole…

So if you’re wondering where I’ve been. I’ve been working on this tune. Not to mention being in North Carolina for a couple of days meeting all of the very cool people that we work with down there. And working on new music w/ Sweetwood groove (got 3.5 new songs put together over the last 2 weeks and I’m REALLY psyched about them). Of course there’s always work/holiday/other crap that always goes along with… Anyway, I just had to put this out there. The next time you’re maligning producers as gasbag knowitalls whodon’tknowshit. Give it a second thought. They might not be making music you like, but it’s likely that they know their shit…

On another note. I’ve got some great photos from Thanksgiving, should be posting them in the next couple of days, i think i’ve explained why I might be a little late…

Oh, and update your RSS if you’ve got it, this one’s different…