Strange Pulse

I love looking at old cars.

Here’s a picture of me:

Cat’s in the background (in pink) of this one:

This was her favorite thing there:

I had fun with hubcaps:

I was too tired to get any really interesting shots. But I loved this green:

That’s basically the color our kitchen was painted when I was a kid.

More reflection fun:

And a really…interesting…paint job:

And my favorite car there, our Toyota:

Elijah made this list on our whiteboard:

I’ll translate. His writing can be hard to read.

Band

Name: Apocalypse Theory
Members: Me!, Austin, Marcus, Tom
Positions:
A: guitar
E: bass (temp)
M: Drums
T: singer

Where we need help
A: 20 minute solos
E: Parts of “Shout”
M: 20 min. ending
T: Needs to get singing down.

So, as you can see, Elijah is only the bassist temporarily. (He wants to be a guitarist.) Austin needs help with his 20 minute guitar solos. Marcus needs help with his 20 minute song endings. (He just keeps playing after the song is done.) And Tom needs to learn how to sing.

Elijah has been teaching himself guitar. He has a friend that’s been in guitar lessons for three years. His friend is really good. Elijah’s pretty good considering he’s teaching himself, but he’s not great yet. He has another friend who plays drums, and has band equipment (amps, bass guitar, etc) in his garage.

They’ve formed a band. Elijah’s playing bass. He’s not that good on guitar yet. They were going to enter a battle of the bands next month, through the guitar player’s music school, but decided to put it off until October so they can get things dialed.

So far, they’re learning two songs: Motley Crue’s “Shout at the Devil,” and G’n'R’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” (Which is actually a Bob Dylan song.)

Elijah’s friend Tom is going to do vocals.

At first they were going to call themselves Defiance. But then they found out it’s already been used as a band name. Then they were thinking about Warhead, but again, already taken. I think they’ve settled on Apocalypse Theory. I’m pretty sure Elijah came up with all three.

He’s also working on writing a song called Clash of the Titans.

I originally got two tickets so our boys could go, but Nathaniel ended up forgetting the concert was last night and made plans he couldn’t get out of. Daniel was too tired to take Elijah, so I took him. Not that I minded–I love Megadeth. But not as much as Daniel does.

They were opening for Heaven and Hell, which is basically Black Sabbath with the Dio on vocals rather than Ozzy. It was awesome.

Some facts I didn’t know previously about Dave Mustaine:

He lived in Huntington Beach as a teenager. I knew he attended college at Goldenwest, which is literally walking distance from our door, but not that he was here when he was younger. Or maybe teenager means college? I wonder if he went to the same high school my kids go to?

He’s a born again Christian and has declined playing on the same bill as satanic black metal band, Rotting Christ.

He has a son named Justis and a daughter named Electra.

Especially in his Agents of Oblivion material. Two favorite songs right now:

Endsmouth
The Hangman’s Daughter

One of the best opening lines ever in “Endsmouth:”

It’s only the end of the world again.

His current band, Deadboy and the Elephantmen, are also a big fave. I’m sure I’ve posted about them before—and I’ve probably posted about Agents too—but I can’t help it. I’m a sucker for melodrama.

Deadboy and the Elephantmen songs:

Barefoot in the Dark
Stop, I’m Already Dead

All four songs posted to the radio.blog.

Cat, our friend Wendell, and I went to the Bolsa Chica Wetlands yesterday, one of my favorite places to go in Huntington Beach. They’ve finished a lot of the construction they had going on (building fences and benches, etc for the hiking path).

Not sure what made this pattern in the mud during low tide, but it made for an interesting pic:

Cat near the new fence:

I love the light on the water—don’t remember what the little sign said:

The wind was chilly. Cat wearing her Ted Leo hoodie:

Muscles on a piling:

There’s always several pro photographers at the wetlands whenever I go, usually taking pictures of birds like this one:

It’s an egret, and it almost seemed to be posing for us:

I like green.

In going through some misc mp3s I have, I came across this song by Spooky Tooth. The refrain of “evil woman” reminded me a bit of Wolfmother’s song, “Woman.” Spooky Tooth is what Wolfmother wish they were.

Don’t get me wrong, I think Wolfmother are really good, I just wish the singer didn’t sound quite so much like Jack White. And I’ll admit I do get annoyed with how all the indie kids love them, when this sort of thing has been around for years and years now.

Both songs are posted to the radio.blog.

That I have seen:

• A men’s dress shoe
• Cardboard boxes
• A construction helmet
• A broken down armoured truck (the kind that transports cash to banks and ATMs)
• Clothes
• A dead cat
• A dead dog

It’s one thing to see a dead pet on a surface road, because you’re close to houses and it’s unfortunately pretty easy for a cat or a dog to wander out into the street and get hit. But on the freeway? It is really upsetting and disorienting. How on earth did they get on the freeway?

I just discovered this band thanks to a music-trading buddy. They’re called Danko Jones. Really fun, good-time rock and roll. Their lyrics are just sooooo bad. But their music is so fun. It makes the bad lyrics just so awesome.

I’ll post a couple songs to the radio.blog. Listen for these gems:

“I used to want you, now I don’t want to”

–

“Made out with your sister, the one I think is pretty
I think you’re cool but you’re acting kinda silly
Don’t want your girl man she’s too damn ugly”

–

“This is what you do
Look ‘em in the eye
open your mouth And Say…

You get you get you get you get you get the finger!”

I saw the Frames and Isis two weekends ago, and then Ted Leo last weekend. Been a whirlwind of amazing shows!

I wasn’t able to take my camera to Isis. Actually, it turns out I could’ve gotten it in, but we were planning on sitting in the balcony and taking it easy. I took Nathaniel and he loved it.

I took Catherine to Ted Leo. She had a friend that was going, so they hung out together before the show. We spotted another kid she knows from church there, right up against the stage. We were off to the side on a riser, so we had a good view. Ted Leo is just so fun. The Frames and Isis both have very different sounds, but their songs have a lot in common—they all build to amazing crescendos. Ted’s different—he sings so fast and packs so much into his songs. Just really fun.

It’s hard to do so many amazing shows so close together. I didn’t have time to bask in the Frames afterward, I was on to Isis. And I didn’t have much time to bask in Isis after their show, now it’s Ted Leo!