best compliment ever

so, yesterday, we’re playing at creation east festival 2008 and my wife, toni, is hidden away somewhere down amongst the various machinery that causes video images to appear on the enormous jumbo-tron. see, we typically have lyrics to the songs projected on the screen so the good people can sing along and she is the one who pushes the buttons that cause the lyrics to be the ones we’re actually singing rather than ones we are not singing. and she is good at this, since she knows the songs and all. in fact, if there is a mistake made and you hear me singing words that do not coincide with the ones projected forth from the screen you can count on it being me who is at fault as my mind is feeble and lends itself to forgetfulness occasionally. so, she is sitting there, pushing the buttons to make the words go forth and instructing the video director as to what is about to happen on stage so he can make sure a camera is pointing at the appropriate person, like, say, if a violin part is coming up, she would announce, “ok, there is a violin thing coming up,” so that when the violin thing is happening the screen is showing the violin, instead of, say, mike d looking for the guitar pick he just dropped or something. and this is useful, we think, the image of the action coinciding with the aural material. and, so, toni is punching buttons and giving cues when we arrive at the part of the song “you are my joy” where jack appropriates a guitar solo, as in a shredder, you know, finger tapping and such. so, toni announces, “guitar stage left” which means, “you should now show the guy playing the guitar solo.” instead, the image projected forth from the jumbo-tron is one mark waldrop who is, in fact, playing guitar, but is not “shredding” per say, and who is located stage right. and, so, toni reiterates, “guitar stage left”. the video director again speaks into his head-set-microphone-thing that is connected to one of the camera man’s headset-mic-thing, assumedly the camera man who is still steadily shooting one mark waldrop, who is still not shredding, per say, and the video director says, “guitar, stage left, he’s got the solo.” to which the camera man, still shooting non-shredding m.w., responds, “well, all of the guitar parts are in the programming anyway, they’re not even playing them, i mean, you can’t even tell who’s supposed to be doing what.”
toni, my wife, hears this, the statement made by the camera man who is still shooting m.w., the band member not lit up by the huge spot light shining from 100 yds away, while arguing his case, that he is not at fault, that in fact it is us, the band, who apparently don’t even play our guitars, that has made his job infinitely more difficult, you know, to locate the guy shredding with a spotlight shining on him. and, so, she, toni, responds. she turns to the director and says, “actually, none of the guitar parts are in the programming, in fact there isn’t even programming or click or anything on this song, they’re just, you know, playing.” the director feels awkward, since, obviously, he knows the camera guy has no idea that the guy-who-is-singing’s wife is overhearing him say such blasphemous things, all in the name of diversion and blame displacement. the video director meekly pushes his com button and says, “uh, they say that there aren’t any guitars in the programmed material and that actually there’s no programmed material at all in this song, it’s just them playing.” the blasphemous camera guy, who is now shooting the band member who used to be shredding and who used to have a spotlight on him, because of the shredding i’m guessing, but now does not, since the shredding part has come and gone, retorts, “they’re lying.”
this is awesome; the, “they’re lying,” part. it, surely, ranks as one of the most amazing compliments we, as a band, have ever received. it denotes that our musicianship is so mind-bogglingly fantastic that it endows us with the capacity to dupe camera men of average intelligence into concluding that what they are hearing can in no way be originating from live sources. and, so, camera man, we receive your words with open hearts. thank you, sir, whoever you are, and wherever you may be. may you live long, to shoot ever more incongruous imagery and shout ever more blatant ignorance through clear com channels near and far, to bring joy and laughter and small amounts of embarrassment to those in your proximity, to have stories of your reign passed down from generation to generation, forever and ever, amen.
all of this now causes me to recount the happy news that soon, yes very soon, we shall have our live dvd available, which, in fact, has a 3 hr bonus feature section full of captivating video instruction and detailed information from each band member as to how exactly we pull off our songs in a live setting and showing exactly how to play each guitar part and what effects we’re using on them and what exactly is in the programmed material. if only august were upon us, i could send it to this guy, our champion, that is if i were wanting to ruin the magic. but yeah, aug 19th. mark the calendar. i’ll let you know soon what the deal is with it and i will state now that i haven’t been this excited about a release of ours, ever. there is seriously so much music on it and the plan for the release is just ridiculous. i hope i can give you the news soon! until then, hopefully we’ll see you at one of these festivals or summer stops and you can try to figure out who’s playing what.

favorite comment: from endoftheroadj “that was like the scene from a christmas story, where they are giving ralphie the code so that he could decode it via his decoder pin. it then turned out to be an advertisement for “crummy ole” ovaltine.”

coldplay has nothing on these guys. seriously.

favorite comment: “Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahaha!” from: Is4ac

this has been fun, the posting of the plane-flight music compositions (for those who asked, i used reason and midikeys software for the programming) along with accompanying pictures. if you enjoyed the sounds and pics i might give it another go when we pick back up the world tour stuff in august. we have been on the first leg of the passion – world tour which took us to sao paulo, paris, and london. we then played frenzy festival in scotland, which was the rowdiest bunch yet. we’ll head for south africa the middle of august. right now we’re back home for a couple of days before getting on the bus and heading out on the summer festival circuit. (oh! our bus for the summer has a flaming guitar painted on the side of it. seriously. i kid you not. you see, we lease buses when it makes sense, like when we’ll be on a string of dates that you can drive from one to the next, and we usually ask for pictures before signing the contract and such, you know, to prevent things like flaming guitars and so on, and we neglected to request the pictures this time. awesome. this is how we roll.) hopefully we’ll catch some of you out there in the happy summer sunshine!

welcome

union jack

at the station

a clock

a church

“look, kids!”

remember

change

a bridge

a crosswalk

a robot

passion – london

apollo entrance

whilst

hookah

pun-y

closed captioning

spamalot

that is the a friend of mr jet

“post-ironically stating the obvious” or “a beverage”

the circus

the jam

the original

under-ground

buy local

a guy

scotland

THE castle

self explanatory

local music scene

ducktape and a hacksaw

screen grab

“off you go”

i’ve got to get me some incapacitating spray

an-other plane ride. an-other city. an-other song. some more pictures…

louvre

venus

some water lilies

headless angel

mona lisa is popular

large spider

a grass covered car

apartment

green-1

favorite parisian shop

chalk sign

mcsweeney’s rag

melville books

self portrait

green-2

foam robot

corridor o food

green-3

notre dame

quasimodo vantage point

eroded wings

green-4

eiffel

from the tower

from the tower’s other side

home

green-5

federer is a wizard

triumph

inspire

flying to brazil takes a long time. there are a number of things to busy yourself with so the time passes perceptually faster on such long plane flights; read, listen to music, watch movies, etc…. my favorite way to pass time on a plane is to program music. i thought it might be fun to include some of this plane flight music as background for some pictures. keep in mind, this was never to be heard in this form as there is no form, it was simply killing time, so be kind. who knows, some of it might pop up again down the road…

the guys headed back to texas after sao paulo. toni and i went to rio. it was amazing.

copacabana beach

copacabana hotel

yellow door

graffiti

helipad

jesus mist

jesus clear

sugarloaf

city sprawl

castle thing

wooden door

english as a second language

mike d: “i feel jittery.”

mark: “what do you mean, ‘jittery’?”

mike d: “like i’ve got the jitters. i feel like i drank too much coffee or something. yeah, i probably drank too much coffee.”

mark: “but you drink, like, 8 cups a day.”

mike d: “yeah, it’s probably not the coffee.”

me: “what’s that beverage you’ve been drinking, like, nonstop since we got here, like, every time i look you are drinking it, the one in the green can?”

mike d: “guarana antartica.”

me: “i think i’d start there.”

mike d: “my hand’s sorta shaking. look.”

me: “it’s the guarana man.”

mark: “ha! it’s totally the guarana! i just looked it up and it actually says it right here, ‘guarana-containing beverages may cause jitters associated with drinking coffee.’ [source] hmm, you might consider moderation.”

mike d: “no. i can’t. it’s too tasty. i honor brazil. [as foreshadowed in the title, we currently are in brazil; sao paulo to be exact.] i drink for honor. it is for the brazilian peoples everywhere that i drink.”

mark: “your eye is twitching. and you’re not making much sense.”

mike d: “give me back my can.”

mark: “have you seen that show intervention?”

mike d: “i’m serious. give my can back. please.”

mark: “stop winking at me and i’ll give you your can back.”

favorite comment: “oh my gosh!! i’m number 4…now lemme go read the post…” from sweettartmayra

also, there was this comment that could be of interest from emprise34 in response to daneeyul‘s question, “did you make this?”: “dear @daneeyul – no. i did not make this. it’s origins are mysterious. lore has it that a wunderkind director by the name of jon davis is at fault, but this is unconfirmed. i’m certain more will be revealed. it will all make sense in the future.”

video response to favorite comment regarding previous entry, the entry immediately below this one, where i suggested the use of several formulas and including them in conversation, which sort of insinuated that people might like you more if you too were to use them in conversation, which is absolutely evil, the suggestion of pursuing affection or approval based on performance, since this would be an adoption of the system that we call culture and that loves based on our utilitarian potentials rather than simply because we are. but yeah, i liked this one comment, and so:

here is something a good friend of mine passed on to me. it is pleasing in any setting. in fact i used both formulas to great advantage in conversation yesterday.

restaurant review: the n was x but lacked y. where n = a menu item, x = a non-committal yet positive adjective, and y = a hyperbolic adjective not generally used to describe food. i.e., “the fettuccini was flavorful but lacked gravitas”

or, for the more advanced reviewer:
what the a lacked in x, the b made up for in y. where a = a menu item, x = a characteristic often used in conjunction with fast cars, b = a menu item, and y = an adjective generally used by victorian novelists to describe a young woman. i.e., “what the soup lacked in punch, the crème brûlée made up for in delicacy.”

music review: n. that’s what the new x album calls to mind. where n = evocative nonsense and x = a band name. i.e., “unrolling carpet padding. that’s what the new nin album calls to mind.”

ok, give it a try:

my favorite comment is from AJames09: “you should sing miley’s song see you again some time. it would be entertaining.”

i am happy to inform you that a limited edition of the remedy cd will be in stores tomorrow. it is double disc, one being the remedy cd with one additional track, the radio version of “never let go” which in my opinion is way cooler than the album version, and also a dvd that has 4 live songs from our remedy tour. i genuinely can’t wait for you to see them. they were recorded in atlanta at the tabernacle and new york city at the hammerstein ballroom and are a peek at what’s to come. oh! and i had them include the foreverandever etc… video as it may cause you to smile when you behold it on something other than a computer screen in all of its uncompressed glory. magnificent.

my favorite comment comes from brody and it is this: @jessylindaz – David knows better than to give me best comment. But thanks for noticing

a few other comments i thought were particularly fantastic:

this one submitted by emprise34, he even titled it:

title: overly verbose response to the comments surrounding
the previously released “official bad news” [sic]

i must apologize, and i hope it is not too late. i made a
few assumptions in my happy post about the remedy limited edition release. i
know you to be informed readers that want for nothing outside of greater good
to exist in the world, which is why you and i get along so well, so, i should
have taken the opportunity of this release to inform you what purposes limited
editions serve and to what end they exist and how possibly they came to be and
why in turn you may or may not be interested in them.

i’d first like to say, my hope was to simply inform those
who might care for such a thing, that we were offering such a thing. this
seemed obvious to me. however, i now feel the need to acknowledge a major
fundamental assumption and it was this: that you, being a music lover as
am i, make your musical purchase decisions the same way i do. that is,
obviously, a ludicrous and self centered assumption – to assume we are the
same. i mean granted, there have been signs at times that this was the case,
but never-the-less, it is a flawed assumption. for this i am sorry.

so i shall first describe my personal reaction to artists i
enjoy releasing limited editions of projects i already own.

ok, if say, jimmy buffet (universal crowd pleaser example)
released a limited edition of “fruitcakes” i would not buy it. i own most of
jimmy buffet’s cds. they are pleasant to listen to while sitting in sunshine. they
also make you think of sunshine when it is cloudy and you are in a bad mood. i
like his “jimmy buffet” album best. i would say i mildly like jimmy buffet.

if say, “the frames” (band from dublin whose lead singer is
one academy award winner glen hansard) released a limited edition of “the cost”
(“the frames” latest album) and all they added was a sticker of a beaver on the
front i would buy it. if they released different versions of the cover with
different stickers, with like say a duck, a rabbit, an ox and some type of
amphibian, not a salamander, i would totally buy each of the covers so i would
have all of the animals. i would say i really like the frames.

i am the same way with books. i bought all 3 versions of
dave eggers’ “heartbreaking work of staggering genius”. all that changed was
the cover. one edition completely eliminated a rather large portion of the
first edition and i was pleased to do this, buy the same book again, but with
less in it. i enjoyed it. i also bought all 3 editions of his “they shall know
our velocity”. the second release was re-titled “sacrament” and was exactly the
same as the first except it included an insert from one of the characters in
the book. then it was re-released for imprint distribution and re-titled “they
shall know our velocity!” the difference being the exclamation point in the
title. this was thrilling to me, i kid you not. i am not well.

but this is what i do. when i am deeply moved by an artist i
want to participate fully in all that they are attempting to produce and
distribute. i have been touched and i wish to touch back and this is the means
i have been given to lessen the distance between us.

then there is this: i have knowledge of a few advantages
that limited edition cds afford to artists. i regret that i made the assumption
that these advantages are obvious.

you may have noticed that cds are no longer afforded the
shelf life that they previously were given. this is in large part due to the
devaluation of music, monetarily speaking, and, in small part, due to the
growth of electronic distribution. both of these result in the hard artifact no
longer having the ability to cover the necessary costs for retail stores to
permit it shelf space that could instead hold a twinkie or something useful or
in demand. new releases and a handful of mega sellers are afforded the ever
coveted placement that says, “hey look, over here, you may find something
special,” and stores have no reason or incentive to reorder/restock a cd that
has been available for a good bit of time. a limited edition, however, is
viewed by retail as a new artifact. this means that the shelf life of this item
has been effectively extended, and, for the artist and the person who believes
in and supports this artist and thinks other people should also hear and
support this artist, this is, obviously, a good thing.

now, here’s the punch line: i’m ok with being your “jimmy
buffet”, but i really want to be your “frames”.

we’re trying to make music that pulls at the soul in a
special way and for those of you whom have felt this, thank you for
communicating such by making sacrifices, crazy sacrifices at times, to do so.
we’re blown away and inspired that anything we would do would be useful to you,
or move you, or become something that is special to you in some fashion. this
is both ridiculous and exactly what we’d hope.

for those of you whom we have not had that transcendent
connection, i’ll offer this: i doubt i would take the time to comment on jimmy
buffet’s blog to inform him that i’ll not be buying his limited edition
“fruitcakes” cd or lecture him on the evils of the limited edition. that would
seem to me strange in some way. i’m pretty sure i would feel rather foul
inside if i were to do so and thus i would want to avoid this, the feeling foul
inside. and i’d kinda figure that jimmy would already expect that whoever would
be interested in something like this would buy it and whoever wasn’t wouldn’t
and to tell him that i would be one of those who wouldn’t might be, at best,
unnecessary or, at worst, a bit cruel, maybe, depending on jimmy’s sensitivity.

unless, of course i wished to inform jimmy that i would
really, really like to purchase his limited edition but am currently flat dusty
broke and see no possible means of dollar bill acquisitions on the immediate
horizon, and please, dearest jimmy, let this be no reflection whatsoever on the
abundance of love and happy thoughts i hold regarding you. i’m sure jimmy would
smile endlessly after reading such a thing and wish that he could simply drop a
limited edition fruitcakes cd in the mail to me for being so thoughtful as to
make his day by saying such a thing in the comments section of his blog. yeah,
i’m pretty sure he’d love me forever.
love,
jimmy or glen

and this one, also submitted by emprise34:

i deleted two of murlough23′s comments as i felt they did not paint him in the best light. he did reiterate his point that he doesn’t think it is proper to make people pay for the same songs again, but in doing so he made a few comments that were unnecessary and not very productive, i think. but to be fair, i’ll state again on his behalf. he really doesn’t like it when bands, or disney, release limited or special editions of things previously released. he, murlough23, really wants you to know that and then he will feel better. he views himself as sort of a consumer watch dog. he really, really doesn’t want me to dupe you into buying the same thing twice; so, if you don’t understand that the entire remedy cd is in this limited edition release of remedy, well then, please know that the only thing you are getting for your money is a different version of “never let go” (which murlough23 thinks is a crappy song anyway) and 4 live songs filmed in hd from the remedy club tour (which murlough23 apparently doesn’t like live versions of songs 99% of the time, unless he is there, and would just prefer to listen to the studio version) and of course the foreverandever etc… video.
love,
david

and there was this one, also by emprise34:

dearest @murlough23 –

just because i make something does not give you the right to
it nor does it obligate me to allow you access to it. there are things i create
that i do not wish to share with the public at large. the act of creating and
the offering of the result of this act is a fragile transaction and i would
prefer to be selective with what i allow you to participate in as the general
public can be quite venomous and speak quickly without complete information or knowledge or tact or an awareness or concern toward the potential harm they might inflict, as
evidenced by your comment here.

to validate my opinion on this i’ll use as
example your humbly offered suggestion that we should have included the
“better” version of the song on the cd in the first place. this is truly a
fantastic suggestion. near genius, i dare say. why in the world don’t more
bands do that, you know, include the best version of songs on their cd? dang.
that’s such a better idea than including the lesser versions. thank you. we’ll
keep that in mind for future recordings because that is absolute gold. however, in
this case we did not have this particular version of the song until we were
mid-way through our remedy tour and had the great fortune of playing the
song night after night in a live setting. but yeah, freaking heck, we should
from now on include the best versions of songs on our recordings, or, as you
said, just not call the recording finished until we do so.

except we wouldn’t have been on tour had we not called the recording finished and therefore would never have created this skull crushing version of the song that we should have included the first time, but i think what you’re suggesting is seriously brilliant. please, include more of your thoughts in the comment section of my blog so that
we all my live better fuller lives.

and finally, dearest murlough23, if you’ll include a mailing address, i’ll be happy to send you the new limited edition (the one you should have just waited to buy) free of charge so you won’t hold such bitterness regarding your contribution to our cause.

your humble servant,
david.

and then there was this one, also by emprise34:

dearest @murlough23 -
you frustrate me by making too many jaded assumptions. you have too many issues for me to engage in a healthy exchange. to deny my offer to send you this cd is simply pompous and a direct refute of your claim that i’m not your jimmy buffet. call me shallow, but if jimmy buffet offered to send me a puffy tick i’d be thrilled. i would go to the mailbox waiting for the tick to arrive and when it got here i would say, “hey, jimmy buffet sent me a tick that probably started out puffy but is now sort of dried out and dead.” i’m wondering if you enjoy the anonymity the internet offers and therefore refuse to include an address as it makes no sense whatsoever to me that you would refuse the offer of my hand. and, i don’t even have a clue where to put “i don’t like live recordings.” you’re just not right inside and we do not appreciate music in the same way.
love,
less than jimmy

and, yes, this is ridiculous, but seriously, this also notable, and from emprise34; what searing, insightful words he pens:

@jenny – yes. send me a message with your address and i’ll send you murlough23′s cd.
love,
glen