I'm Like One of Those Ridiculous Parents Who Has Nothing Better To Talk About.

Bose headphones should not break.
I own these. After I tell you that, my argument gains and loses momentum with each statement, but try to empathize:

Those are some expensive headphones.
I did not pay $350 for them, though. They were a gift. A used gift. A gift that not cost the giver $350, thank god. I hope no one ever wastes $350 on headphones-- especially not headphones for me. But if someone does choose to waste that kind of money on a pair of headphones, I feel as if the headphones should be able to withstand some pretty serious damage. No parts should need to replaced. Not ever.
Because those are some expensive headphones.

That said, when I got them, there were some signs of previous ownership. They were definitely of the "new... to me" category. But they were amazing headphones. Music has never been so beautiful and clear. It's how recorded music is meant to be heard. I mean that.
Months later, one of the cords shorted out. Gave up on life.
Bullshit.
My "new... to me" $350 headphones (that weren't really $350) stopped working.
The replacement cord was really some phone attachment shit and would cost me $40.
No no no.

A few months later, bose.com decided to offer the cord I needed for just $15.
Fine.
I bought it and received my replacement. My headphones work again!
I'm happy once more, even if only begrudgingly.
I love Bose, even if I really hate them.

Being poor and yet still having nice things aside, I am making the official move to Portland in the coming weeks. I am moving my whole life to pursue my music journalism website. It's gotten too big to just fly here and there to do my interviews. That shit gets expensive once you have to do it more than once every few months.

People have asked about when I get paid because of what I do.
Honestly? I have no idea. I'd like to sell ad space eventually, but not before I know what I'm doing. Once money begins being exchanged, you have to know a lot more laws about copyrights, and paying taxes, and being a business owner.
Um, I signed up to be a writer, never a marketing major, or a financial adviser, or The Man. My knowledge of tax information begins and ends at the 1040EZ. When I make friends with someone in a three-piece suit or learn some vital information regarding how to avoid prison, I will deal with moneymaking.

So since I can't measure the website's legitimacy on its income, I will measure it in its awesomeness:



We beat out MySpace, AltPress.com, Vimeo, and Weezer.com for the opportunity to premiere some new Rivers stuff on the website.
That's intense. I've seen Weezer live more times than any other musician or band in existence.
Second place has never felt like a bigger win.

One Week Of Sun.

This week.
I don't think it's rained at all this week, which is a nice change. I don't mind the rain. I was raised in the Pacific Northwest. We're built for it. But like rain, sunshine has a certain needed quality, too. I'm a fan of both. Too much of either leaves me gloomy.

I'm one step away from being elated with the website: I hate the banner.
No... I don't hate it. I'm thankful for it. It's neat and it was a gift. Someone made it for me and if he hadn't, I simply wouldn't have a banner. But it was made for the first version of the site and it doesn't fit the newer version the way I'd like it to.
It's like being 30 and still using your Mickey Mouse sheets on your twin bed: better than nothing but probably not ideal.

I [redacted for your sake] the coding of the site and things are now running much faster.
I'm a geek.

We have new writers. I went over that. I'm still excited.

I got new books. One I expect to enjoy very much.

I finally transcribed one of the interviews that has been taunting me over the past few weeks. It's long and I was afraid it would be boring.
It's not.
It's very good.
In terms of editing and arrangement, I think it's my best yet. People never know how boring an interview can be if it's not edited well. (Go read some of my earlier interviews if you're curious.) So it's exciting and gratifying to see myself growing as a writer and as a journalist. I'm not "there" yet, but being even half a step closer is a big deal.

I booked a flight to Nashville for next month. I'm waiting for Bobby Long's American publicist to confirm the interview that his English manager confirmed this morning.
Thus, the run-around.
I can't wait. I've been listening to him a lot lately. I began writing questions for this interview before I ever knew that I'd be interviewing him. Because he's attached to the Twilight mania, I'm really looking forward to giving him an opportunity to answer questions that don't pertain to vampires or what his ideal first date would be.
I like Nashville because of its blatant music vibe. It'll be nice to go back.

Post-Nashville is a post-birthday visit with my better half in the city of my birth, Atlanta.
Looking forward to: quality time with Nick.
Not looking forward to: Atlanta.
Of all of the major American cities I've visited, Atlanta is easily my least favorite. It takes all of the things I don't like about St. Louis and amplifies them.
The time with Nick will trump my disdain for the city, though.
I have a half brother who I barely know in Atlanta, but his mother is crazy. I'd rather just maybe avoid that madness all together.

This week has been so positive that I've even made the (probably bad) decision to reconnect with someone who... kinda left me in a lame position a few years back.
But. We live. We learn.
And if some of us don't, you can always delete them from your friends list and make your profile private.

Because I Owe This Thing An Update.

This sucks.
The only part of music journalism that I cannot stand is transcribing interviews. I listen to music very nearly 24 hours a day. Things like... work tend to get in the way but in the car: music. While I'm writing: music. In the shower: music. Cooking: music. Sleeping: music.
You get the idea.
It's tough to spend hours sitting slack-jawed in front of my computer monitor hitting play-stop-rewind-play for hours on end and listening to my stupid voice ask questions while a musician doesn't sing but... answers my questions.
It redefines tedium.

I'm caffeinating for motivation.

For the sake of the website, I've been trying to love more female vocalists. I'm not anti-feminism or anything. In fact, if you saw the music I do own by women, you'd think I was a hardcore, militant man-hater. I like Tori Amos. I love Beth Hart. Tracy Chapman. Brandi Carlile. Diane Birch. Janis and Joni, duh. Heart. Nina Simone.
I just don't like women to sound like little girls.
That's actually what we had drilled into our heads in choir. The director would yell, "Sing like women, not little girls!" If the vocalist doesn't sound like she has a spine, I want no part of her music.
I want tough. The music industry is totally a man's game, and only the strongest female vocalists have lasted long enough to become iconic. Even in pop, people like masculinity. Madonna, Janet, and Britney are all kind of masculine when you see them on the stage-- even if their shows are built around female sexuality.


Anyway. Two things before I actually plunge into the transcription process:

One. The website (per usual):
As of today, we have TWO NEW WRITERS FOR THE SITE. I'm so excited. They're really good.
(Let me get cheesy for a moment because the website is my kid.)

It's been really hard to find people to write for the site. Of the people who express interest, they're... not really what I'm looking for. And of the people I've wanted in the past, well, they're paid professionals who write for actual publications that will pay them with more than things like hi-fives and eternal gratitude.
So Nick and I kept up with the site by ourselves because I'd rather not compromise the tone of the website just to have a little extra help-- though I thought about it at times because this shit owns my life some days.

Our first new writer is Sara, who is super talented. She thinks about music and can also translate emotion into text really well, which can be tough to do without sounding too self-serious or pretentious. As I told Nick, I feel like she's an asset to the site and not just a filler or one more person to contribute content.

Our second writer is someone I've been reading for over a year. He does the new music updates for The Hub on MySpace. He's very aware of new music and what's worth hearing. He also seems to bear an impressive amount of knowledge regarding band history as well as music structure, two areas I'm admittedly weak in.
I'm really excited to have him with us, too, because when I first decided to (finally) set all of this music journalism stuff in motion, I kind of looked up to The Hub as a reference point for how I wanted to interact with artists. I even went to one of The Hub's house shows in Huntington Beach. (They'd put together live concerts with some of the more well-known independent singer-songwriters and invite strangers to their backyard/living room for the low, low price of $15 to watch like, 5 artists perform. Now they do a cruise thing. The living room is now a yacht and $15 is closer to $50. Still rad, and I'm still looking up to them because I want to do that, too. Eventually.)

I'm going on an intern hunt next week. I really have no idea what I'm doing so anything would be a step up, even if it just means getting some paperwork on what I need to get a damn intern. (I'm not kidding. Kids need college credit and I need an intern. Everybody wins.)
I'll be stalking college campuses circa mid-week...


Two. Butch Walker (go figure):
These people are really reserved. Though it's just a cover, I would've lost my shit if I saw Butch Walker cover this song:



The West Coast is waiting patiently, Butch...