With people who make terrible, terrible music continuing to breed without regard for their offspring bringing us closer to the End Of All Music Forever (see Stefani/Rossdale, and Wentz/Simpson), the only tool we have to legally combat this unfortunate tampering of the genepool is to make sure awesome people are brought about to cancel them out. 

So, with that being said, congratulations are in order to our very good friend, audio guru, negative kudos-giver, and zombie hunter Hugh Wyman on the birth of his first kiddo last night. With Wyman's hot guitar lixxxxx and the missus being somewhat (allegedly) related to the (a?) drummer of AxCx, we think Music may have a fighting chance in the next 20-30 years. Plus, I'm confident he will teach her how to beat the living crap out of people with a giant leg of lamb (a useful skill for when the undead will inevitably rise).

However, this will not stop us from praying that anyone from the Killers refrains from reproducing. I mean, seriously... "Are we human, or are we dancer?" What is that? Are you fucking kidding me? How does saying it was taken from a Hunter S. Thompson quote (which used the plural to begin with) even justify this plain-sight murder of the English language? 

Honestly, guys, put down the Meatloaf and Pet Shop Boys for a sec and pick this up.

Anyhooo.....

Everyone here at the Aloud camp hopes you have an excellent Thanksgiving tomorrow. Unless you're not in the US, in which case we hope you have a great, lazy, and festive Thursday. 

Be well,
Henry

PS: If you're in the Worcester area tonight, pop by Ralph's.  Ross and I will be there, enjoying the burgers, beer, and...

Jen, myself, Annie, and Chris met up last night to go the kick-off event for Ross' organization last night— "kick-off" a loose term, since it's been around for the last two years. (What organization, you ask? Well, you know how Ross keeps disappearing to Africa every so often? It's all for this organization he started a few years ago, the Newton-Tanzania Collaborative.) It was a pretty impressive deal at the Newton library.

Ross has done a lot of work on this over the years all while submitting himself to the punishing Aloud schedule. I guess when your role in the band historically has more jokes that begin with "What do you call a drummer with no girlfriend?", it's pretty amazing to see someone as un-lazy as Ross. We're proud of you, guy.

If you're interested in helping out or are just curious to see some videos on what life in Kwala is like, head over to www.newtontanzania.org. It's a simple concept that's surprisingly effective.

Last thing, to fans of Radio America and/or Aloud: if you're into Thanksgiving surprises make it out to Ralph's Diner in Worcester tomorrow.

Cheers,
Henry

PS: This is still in the very early planning stages, but we're probably hitting the road again in February. Miami, you are on notice.

Yea yea, the big show is tomorrow.

But this blog isn't about that.

It's about your friend and mine:

Sully.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMkXY6MN96E

Cheers,
Henry

Had to head to rehearsal for Witness last night straight from work. Traversing Boston's public transportation carrying gear can wear on a man's soul, as well as his back. Rest assured I am rocking the Advil right now.

Now that I've moved out of the city, I've really grown to appreciate the T. But not the B line. The Green Line is bad enough as it is. The B line is The Worst. In a world where scientists can map the human genome and send robots to Mars, why can't we run one line on one transit system efficiently?

This should be posited during the next Harvard commencement speech. "Graduates, be the change you wish to see in the world: FIX THE GODDAMN B LINE."

Anyway, did a dry run through the entire show tonight. It was tighter than I had expected, but this can only mean good things (give that the show is less that a week away). It really hit me yesterday that we've been working on this thing for months and planning it for even longer. It's almost been like working on an album, except there are more people involved and I haven't wanted to pull my hair out (yet). Really snuck up on us, that did.

I need a night off. We're probably going to see JCVD tonight. I only found out about it yesterday after Jen told me about it. After all the drugs, marriages, re-marriages, and terrible two-word movies (Hard Target, Time Cop, Double Team, Street Fighter, Sudden Death, The Quest, Knock Off, Universal Soldier 1 & 2), it's nice to see the man getting work. It even looks pretty good. Who knows, maybe this could be the start of a new thing where Van Damme is in movies that may actually be pretty good.

Hmm.. Looks like Universal Soldier III is in pre-production for 2009...

Hmm...

Cheers,
Henry

I spent half of yesterday doing the tango with my internet, which for the last few months has been turning on and off sporadically. Seriously, if anyone out there is looking for internet, Comcast is anything but Comcastic. DON'T DO IT.

Spent the rest of the morning watching some concert DVDs (U2 at Slane Castle, and McCartney's 2002 US tour) while I was getting all arts & crafts on some stuff for Witness.

Afternoon was spent fighting the forces of the B line (thank ye gods I'm not required to ride it on a daily basis) and practicing some more for the show. Mike sent over a couple of rough cuts he's been working on (and really, like look more "final" than "rough".. damn good stuff!).

As for the rest of the weekend, Friday we hung out with Annie and Chris around Kendall (though I retired early because I'd been up since the asscrack of dawn and was tired... and I'm lame). Saturday, Jen and I went with Beca and Martin to a BBQ at our friend Dave's house. I went into a total food coma, and may still be digesting this meal right now.

Just finished reading some really interesting work from Newsweek on the presidential campaigns (thanks to Jersey Todd for sending that my way). Newsweek had some reporters embedded in the campaigns early on, with the promise they wouldn't report it till after the election. It's a bit long (I used this mostly as "commute reading"), but it's fascinating as hell if you're into the inner workings of political campaigns (which I am). If you've got a good amount of time to put into it, check it out: http://www.newsweek.com/id/167581 (It's split into 7 chapters.)

On that note, I'd like to state that my grandma gets 5,000 post-election cool points. Talked to my sister yesterday, too. She was at the Coldplay concert in Ft. Lauderdale.

(We still didn't open for them.)

Cheers,
Henry

We had something of a loose and bare-bones, yet productive, rehearsal yesterday for Witness....  

It was mainly to work out timing between songs and stuff like that.  Johnathan showed us a version of the video he'd been working on for You Got Me Wrong, and it looks so awesome (I may have gone into epileptic seizure at times though... haha...).  And just this morning, Mike Pecci (referred to henceforth as "Mike") sent a few stills of the videos he's working on and it looks great.

It's been months of planning and work, but despite the inevitable obstacles that get in the way of this sort of thing, it's really coming together better than I expected. I think this is going to be a really good show. And a really fun show.

Something else that's fun is plugging friends. Like anyone else who listened to the Scamper podcast, I'm still waiting around for a Season 2 to show up. However, while we're waiting around for that to happen, Brendan's given us the first episode of The Boogie Cast, a Frasier to Scamper's Cheers. I gave it a listen yesterday. It's teh funneh.

Listen to the first episode here: boogiecast.blogspot.com

I know this is a couple years old, but it's never not funny. I was watching these last night and laughing my ass off (I was wearing headphones, though... so Jen and Ross may have thought I was a bit.. touched in the head).



YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAH!!!,
Henry

Bart: Wow, my father an astronaut. I feel so full of...what's the opposite of shame?

Marge: Pride?

Bart: No, not that far from shame.

Homer: [quavering] Less shame?

Bart: [happy] Yeah...

All I have to say is thank you, USA.

Last night was a great moment for everyone. You couldn't wipe the smile off my face, and it was more than just "the guy I was voting for won" (hmm.. a new feeling). It's something so special that you can't ignore what a big deal this is for a lot of reasons. Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is a golden opportunity for all of us. For the world. Look, Bush just about totaled the country over the last eight years. All I know is that this politician has made a damn good case for me to give him a chance.

McCain folks, I'm very proud of most of you, too. You've been incredibly gracious about the loss, and it served to remind me that somewhere beyond the noise of his campaign, there was still a guy somewhere who, not too long ago, the Democrats were hoping to make John Kerry's running mate.

To the few of you who sent rude messages, I'll give you a few more days to mourn. After that, I suggest you start removing the braces from your brains, wash your mouths out with a bar of soap, and get out a little more. A lot more.

Anyway, I think we can all agree that with the way things have been going, there's a hell of a lot of work to be done.. no time to act like a bunch of crybabies now.

Our friend Carlos deserves congratulations. Not only does he have impeccable taste in music, but he should be commended for his prescience. he's been working his ass off on the Obama campaign from the very beginning. Kudos to you, guy.

Sen. McCain, good speech last night. You're a good man. You lost the plot, yes, but with your speech last night you reminded me that when you go back to the Senate you may do some good yet. The "Reverse Maverick" doesn't suit you.

And Barack... congratulations. This is great news, and I can't wait till you're sworn in. If there's anything else I can say to you, here are some words of wisdom Hugh "The Body" Wyman imparted to me during the recording of Leave Your Light On that have helped me in life:

DON'T FUCK THIS UP OR I'LL BAZOOKA FUCKKILL YOUR PUPPIES. TWICE.

(Something like that.)

Cheers,
Henry

You knew this was coming. It's election year, and I know all your friends on the Facebooks, the MySpaces, adultfriendfinders.. they're all reminding us citizens of the US to GO AND VOTE TODAY.

So here's a little to-do list for you:

1) Figure out what the hell you're voting on! There's more going on at the local level than just the Republican vs. Democrat Celebrity Deathmatch Spectacular. Google "What's on my ballot" or something. Learn to love the Google. Love it..... This is an important election (aren't they all?)... so don't fuck it up!.

2) Figure out where you're supposed to vote! Google has a handy little thing here: http://maps.google.com/vote. (Keep loving it...).

3) DON'T FORGET TO VOTE TODAY.  And once you're there, don't get tricked into not voting. It's rare, but it happens.  Make a scene if you gotta.  Once you're in line, they can't prevent you from voting, even if the polls technically close.

3b) Obviously, we'd all love it if you voted for Obama today. If you're still supporting McCain, all I ask is that you read this short column A Letter for McCain Supporters' Eyes Only, and I'll leave you alone after that. 

In the end, it's your decision. All I can do is try to talk you out of it.

Okay kids. Good luck today. Bring your iPod and some Chewys.

Vote early, vote often!

Cheers,
Henry