Alice & DiggNation

ok, I guess its time for me to hop on the Alice Cooper band wagon. It would appear that Alice has had a sudden resurgency in popularity in the last year with his name and face popping up every where. What's funny, to me, is that I've been around the guy for years since he attends the same church I do and I've known his son, Dash, for several years and yet I've never really been into his music or much of anything that involved the Alice Cooper persona. But "Nights with Alice Cooper" on 93.3 KDKB has completely transformed my opinion of the guy (not that I ever hated him or even just didn't like him. Ambivalence would probably describe it best). He rocks! I'm still not sold on his music but as a dj and radio host he's awesome, stringing together an awesome assortment of classic rock songs (and not just the hits) along with some extremely witty remarks and cracks at anything and everything. He is by far the best thing on the radio today. So check him out!

and here's a shameless plug for Dash Cooper's band, Runaway Phoenix. Check them out too!

And if you missed my plug for Digg.com a couple weeks ago, here's a great way to check out the best of Digg.com, weekly. One of the founders of Digg.com, Kevin Rose, and "The Screensaver's" last co-host (before G4TV got stupid and cancelled the best show ever), Alex Albrecht put together a weekly podcast and vidcast discussing some of the top stories dugg by users at Digg.com. If you don't want to wade through tons of links on Digg.com and get only the good stuff, check them out. Besides that they're funny. Definitely a highlight of my week!

Oh, my band "Sunday Morning Drive" is officially tech savvy. We've got an official website up so head over there and check out the new music posted, find out about our upcoming shows, leave a comment on our message board, and buy a T-shirt (only $15!!!). And if you're into myspace.com we're on there as well so add us as your friend. now. do it now.

Here's a Pic from my trip with Adrienne to the White Mountains of AZ. Awesome skies! 

Pretty Bees

Oh boy, here it comes. Are you ready? The torrent of new stuff you should be checking out right now is about to hit you square in the face.

First up: Digg.com

This is by far the best tech and news social bookmarking site out there. Every post is "dugg" or rated by members and the highest rated make it to the main site. Check it out. If you are or become a member you can check out all the stuff I've dugg by looking up my profile under "mickdaddy" (I'm super original with ALL my online profiles).

Next: some sweet pics of bees

This site features insect photography. Craziest thing is that this guy made a rig for his camera that when set off by an insect's movement it auto takes a picture of it. Super-macro pics of bees and such in flight. Pretty cool.

Third: Wallpapers

Some pretty cool wallpapers for your desktop

Fourthly: Google Talk

Google just released their new instant messenger program. Its free, has a clean design, and NO ADS! Doesn't have a lot of the extra features like AOL's does but give it time. I highly reccommend downloading this one. The more people who download it and use it now, the more likely they are to add those extra features as well as continue to push for interoperability with AIM, MSN, and Yahoo clients.

Fifth: Sweet Panoramas

Site collecting some sweet panoramic photography

Sixth: Shark v. Octopus

Video of a shark being taken out by an octopus. Pretty cool.

Finally: OpenOffice 2.0

Get it! Stop buying new upgrades for Microsoft Office and use this great, FREE alternative. Has programs that create spreadsheets, word documents, slide show presentations, and databases. The programs are all compatible with Microsoft documents and will save them to the same file type so all your friends and colleauges still using expensive Microsoft software can view your files.

That's it for now. Read, link up, and share.

oh man.

This has got to the best quote ever from an unattached single male: "Now there are plenty of perfect girls in relationships, but none are unattached. How is this possible? Did all the lovely young ladies come out of the womb already clutching hands with boys?" Oh man.

this quote came from an article written for RelevantMagazine.com

you can't say I gave up!

yeah, that's right, you thought I'd forgotten all about this crazy blog! ha! Proved you wrong! no seriously, just got a little sidetracked tver the summer. hopefully I'll be back in action right quick with plenty of good stuff to share with ya!

DMB Rocks!

so yeah, I'm not into the whole pot smoking thing, or all the sexually charged lyrics but man, I just can't stop loving this band. Today proved that Dave Matthews Band still is awesome (despite some lacking releases in the last couple years). On their site they posted a news clip on how to defeat the DRM on their new CD. (DRM or digital rights management for all you newbies to the tech world refers to how record companies are beginning to manage who gets to do what with the songs they buy. For instance you would not be able to rip your new 'Stand Up' DMB CD to your computer using iTunes because of the installed DRM on each of the songs. It's lame, I know.) I'm just so glad some band out there is sticking it the the 'Man' even when the 'Man' is their own record company.

where am i?

yeah, even i don't know where i am, or where i've been, and even where the heck i'm going! the past two weeks have been insane!!! lets see there's been a job change (from Best Buy to the Solid Rock Foundation, woo hoo!); housing change (from a nice condo with 2 roommates to an old house with 4 roommates. makes sense doesn't it?); there was the insane three days of May 1st, 2nd and 3rd when I pretty much didn't sleep as we put on the 9th annual Alice Cooper Celebrity-Amateur Golf Tournament (one of the fundraisers of SRF). oh and SMD had three shows, 2 of which were on the same day in two different cities (NAU rocks!). my oh my i've been busy! but not busy enough to not have found some sweet sites!

first up is a sweet flash site with this crazy picture that you can zoom in on for like 2 minutes. go ahead, you know you want to check it out!

then there's a cool collection of clips from the Simpsons. yay for wasting more time!

here's my final project for my graphic design class. nothin' fancy but check it out if you want.

a cool Beck video.

and a sweet forum of digital art. there's some way cool stuff in here.

that's it. i'm done. check y'all later.

NY is hilarious!

best Isaac Rentz post ever! this guy totally makes my day when he posts stories like this one!

a little shortcut

some good keyboard shortcuts for Windows. have fun. and you're welcome!

flash vid sweetness

one way sweet flash video! the load time's a bit long but its worth the wait. oh, and good news: my spacebar has fixed itself and is no longer sticking like mad crazy. yay.

Videoing the Music

best music vid ever. done by an old acquintance of mine - Isaac Rentz. check it out. among other things, my stupid spacebar is about to make my head explode seeing as it has been sticking really badly lately. argh. I guess that what I get for drinking soda at my desk and then spilling it. what bugs me is that that happened like 2 months ago and has been fine until the other day. double argh. oh well.

An MTV Africa

hearing MTV's plan for the new channel they're creating to broadcast in Africa makes me sick. MTV and all its blatant hedonism and worship of luxury, is the last thing that continent needs.

Relevant Magazine has a great online article on it.

Follow-up

Letter to ‘Frontline’ in response to episode on the music industry. I think it pretty well spells out what we’ve talked about as a band about our philosophy of business.

Dear FRONTLINE,

'I felt that your program "The Way the Music Died" was a very good look at the way that major record labels do business today. However, I take issue at the scope of your broadcast. By focusing on the elements of the music industry that are in decline, you paint a picture which is not entirely indicative of the industry itself.

As a fan of what some term "jam" music, I follow bands such as Phish and Widespread Panic, who have developed large touring bases. From this, I have discovered dozens of bands who make their living under the radar of major labels and corporate radio. These are bands not supported by MTV, and yet through hard work, determination, and talent have managed to pack clubs and arenas and make quite a killing.

I feel that this sort of existence will become the norm for musicians, with touring revenues quickly outpacing record sales, until eventually CDs will become loss leaders, selling at a few bucks apiece. Recordings themselves will become mere advertising for bands outside the corporate system. When an artist comes to town, there will be several thousand people, who picked up the recordings for a dollar or two or even stole them off of the Internet, lined up to pay 30 dollars for a concert ticket, with most of that money going into the hands of the musicians who make the music rather than the stuffed shirts who sell it. In fact, Dave Matthews Band is already following this model, making much more on touring than they are making in recording royalties.'

John Emery
Memphis, Tennessee

music review

here's a link to one of the best explanations of why the music industry has killed good music and is pretty much overall evil. This was an episode of 'Frontline' a PBS supported show. They take an in depth look at the music industry and how it has made commercial music into a formula where as long as you input the right ingredients you'll always get a top-selling artist. argh. yeah, the music industry has just about killed good music, in my opinion.

one more thing...

check Jack's new vid too. its pretty tight. though very similar to Coldplay's 'the Scientist' (you know that one where it all plays backwards)

In Between Dreams

yeah, I've been having some weird ones lately...like rooming with 50 cent. that was interesting. weird. and just plain freaky. really, it was. but anyways, I digress...

if you haven't seen it, heard it, bought it, or smelled it you MUST go pick up a copy of Jack Johnson's new album, 'In Between Dreams!' it kicks some serious butt and is by far his best album to date. get it. now. RIGHT NOW. I don't care if its 1:30 in the morning. get it.

uh huh, yeah

some sweet sites:

typorganism.com - a cool site showcasing the usage of type with some cool flash applications

neat site giving a great, enjoyable tutorial on color and its usage in art and design

can't remember if I linked this one already or not, but I'll do it again anyway! its a great tech news site, with daily listing of links to anything and everything tech related, from articles on Microsoft's continuing take-over of the world to great deals on hardware and other great picks from sites across the web. digg.com

article on how Microsoft is going to "checkmate" its competitors by invading the consumer electronics market.

that's it for tonight.

oh, reminder that we're playing @ Cooper'stown this Friday. Whole show kicks off at 7pm, we're on at like 9-10ish. I'll be seeing you there.

and the good stuff just keeps on comin'

yep, yep. just keeps on comin'.

-Website of a Brazilian designer who's worked on a lot of commercials and videos. speciallizes in lots of vector work in his vids. www.nakd.tv
-great interactive site that allows you draw with words. be sure to check out the monthly 'best picks'. www.storyabout.net/typedrawing
-friends Isaac Rentz posted his short film 'Fidel' on his website! check it out. www.isaacrentz.com
-best free photoshop brushes website. www.8nero.net/brushes
-official website of Mattew Mahon, photographer. sweet flash layout! www.matthewmahon.com

p.s. - SMD has shows coming up on March 4th @ Cooper'stown, 10pm, and at Minder Binders (in Tempe) on March 11th. Both are $5 ($5 presale for Minder Binders show. email me for tickets...presale makes us $$$, paying the $8 at the door doesn't. do us a favor. thx!)

oops! gotcha!

yeah, that's what you'll be tellin' Sum 41 too once you've heard this crazy mp3 - http://www.jbarkerdesign.com/UML/coldsum.mp3 Basically, if you've got stereo on with those computer speakers of yours you'll be hearing Coldplay's 'The Scientist' out the left speaker and Sum 41's 'Pieces' out of your right speaker. give it a listen. you should notice that both songs have the exact same chord structure, same tempo, and an eerily similar melody. "whoa" (as Keanu would say). yeah, scary isn't it? any booing, name calling, or other taunts for musically cheating can all be directed at Sum 41 seeing as they released 'Pieces' 2 years (2004) after Coldplay released their song (2002). so to all you punkrockers out there, here's a little tip I'm passing on to you: if you don't know how to write good music, just steal. if it works for Sum 41, it can work for you! just don't steal any of my stuff!

heaven, almost here

just got the Garden State soundtrack for Valentine's Day. all I gotta say is that Adrienne, you're awesome!!! this soundtrack is...I can't even put it into words. its just too good. every song is full of emotion and substance. the Colin Hay track is just incredible. its this amazing mix of guitars, his scott-accented voice, bag-pipes and this undercurrent of celtic melody that just blows me away. this one's a keeper.

music categories...

this has got to be the best description of all that crappy, over-done, pop-punk stuff they keep pumping out: *mall-ready punk. totally. mall-ready.



*quoted from a music review on allmusic.com

discouraged and disgruntled

yeah, so don't get me wrong, I love our band! I have a ton of fun playing music, writing songs, and just hanging out with the other guys. but man, surfing around purevolume.com has made me realize just how good our stuff is! I'm not one to brag but I happened to be checking out some of the top unsigned bands on the site and a lot of them are just the 'same old, same old.' its like we're the only band out there who actually doesn't sound like every other band. what gets me down, though, is that we get like maybe one hit a day on our little blurb on purevolume. it's like we don't even exist. it begs the question: "what the heck are people listening too?" another green day/blink 182/the strokes pop-post-punk band??? c'mon people!!! get an ear! or two! there is so much better stuff out there! its like the entire music world has gotten completely wrapped up into this huge hipster/post-punk craze that it appears that nothing new can be popular. argh!!! it makes me sick. if people would just stop buying into it. its just like hollywood. they're gonna keep putting out the same old rehashed crap as long as people keep throwing their money at the screen. all I know is we gotta get this thing rolling. we need to show the world, or at least the greater Phoenix area what real music sounds like, prove that musicality is still alive! so if you wanna join this crusader please check us out at www.smdband.com and purevolume.com and myspace.com. support the music reformation!

so tired...

of being tired. yeah, life got pretty full and crazy in the last few days what with work, my design class, the band, and putting together our website, all at the same time. oh man, tomorrow (my day off) is gonna be awesome! 'why?' you may ask. well, it means I don't have to be up until I want to! yay! anyways, here's some major design linkage for ya: netdiver.net, a 'best of website design' site. check it out but beware, if you've got access to a broadband connection you may never return from this site! its got more good stuff to oggle and drool over than you can imagine. at least if you're into design. some way sweet stuff. I thought of perhaps picking out some of my favorites, but the more I started checking out sites the more I wanted to post them all, so I figured I'd just let you discover them all for yourself.

One more time

And you thought I'd forgotten all about my little blog! hardly. check this one out - Gene Kelly gets his groove on.

Oh and be sure to come out to Cooper'stown this Friday, 8pm to hear your favorite Phoenician jam band produce another scintillating show of sound. you know you want to. and don't forget to check out all our audio clips on purevolume.com, 15megsoffame.com, and now on myspace.com (and no, they're not all just repeats of each other)

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!!! (and Saturday!)

gigs, gigs everywhere! yay!! come see Sunday Morning Drive play on Saturday, 9pm @ Cooper'stown and then on Sunday 8pm-ish at Meredith's house for her big B-day bash (sorry kiddos, this one's a 21 n' over gig. I wonder what that means for me!). oh, and be checkin' out purevolume.com for more info on upcoming shows. I really hope I see a bunch of you at the Saturday one, we're gonna be playin' a massive set!

Update, Schmupdate (Again!)

I also updated our stuff on www.15megsoffame.com, another cool site where you can post music, except this on this one listeners get to rate the songs, so go check it out and rate our stuff! you know you want to! just search for 'sunday morning drive.' the new songs should be up within 24 hours.

One awesome pic! Natedawg's the bomb-diggidy! 

Jesse rockin' it @ Cooper'stown 

Its a blur of music! 

Update, Schmupdate

I added a couple songs to our page at purevolume.com, check 'em out! they're good!

poster postin'

here's some cool movie poster designs. my fave's the one for Picasso.

comin' soon!

I got some pics from my friend NateDawg of our show, like 4 weeks ago. they are awesome! I couldn't have imagined they'd come out this well. anyways, I'll try and get a few of 'em up in the coming days.

other than that, I was given an awesome link by my graphic-designing uncle for this cool flash website (a promo website for Adobe InDesign). sendin' it on to you all. its worth a look!

One of my faves of Josh (and the big monitor with us on it!) 

Scottie and his guitar, or at least some vague representation of scot, and then his guitar 

My bass never looked so pretty! 

i, human

finally saw I, Robot tonight. i'll be brutally honest: i had no desire to see this movie. being a bit of an Asimov fan and hearing how 'well' they stuck to the book this movie is loosely based on I was never drawn to see this movie, both in the theater and/or to rent it. but it was free, and its entertainment so I steeled myself for the worse and watched it. my review? not bad. not great, but not bad, and so it passes the Mick Jones Patented Movie Review critique.

while not directly following the plot of book that shares its name (though that book is merely a compilation of short stories) nor to the other Asimov book that shares much of its inspiration, The Caves of Steel, and despite the fact that they failed to including the way cool mass transit system described in that book (a system of varying speed, moving sidewalks) the movie did a decent job of capturing much of the essence of Asimov's writings as well as entertaining us with action, suspense, quick banter, and some nifty tech advances of the near future. Most of all I was pleased with the fact that the movie was able to capture a glimmer of the philosophical and sociological aspects of Asimov's work. Though he created great stories and came up with fantastic new ideas within the science fiction realm, the real genius of his was to take his science fiction and use it to discuss human kind, civilization, our societies, and the human mind, thus making the outlandish and fantastical real and tangible, relating men and women of the future to the similar issues we face now.

if you get a chance at least rent the movie, give a chance, and then go read some Asimov books. obviously I'd reccommend I, Robot as a good read; its easy, with short stories and quick conclusions, its a good starter for the Asimov world of robots. From there I'd suggest diving into his Robot series with Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun. that reminds me I need to buy those two and re-read them. they were good!

well, until next time, keep high and dry!

crazy go nuts!

well, happy post-holidays to all of ya! its been a good X-mas/New Years. lots of food, fun and good times! got a few sites to share with you:

this one's an awesome mix of flash with embedded video. way cool! somebody finally got a clue about what flash was really made for (it was originally created as a video creation program!). just be sure to use the english version of the site, unless you wanna brush up on that french you learned way back in high school.

this is a way cool article @ www.relevantmagazine.com on how we should be interacting with one another as Christians. no more of the 'church-talk.'

here's a great article that'll get your brain wheels turnin'. when's the last time you thought that the anti-consumerism fad that has been so popular amongst youth and young adults in America is really just driving American consumerism even further? this little article will have you wondering just how much of an impact Fight Club had on fighting American consumerism.

here's some pretty sweet holiday card designs. check 'em out. maybe you'll get one from me next year...if you're good!

this one's a pretty sweet flash site. nice use of the designer's face! the heavy breathing part's pretty funny! oh yeah, and his eyes are a little freaky. but you'll like it, trust me!

last but on least is a one kick-butt drum site! this one features music clips and vids of just about every great drummer ever! be sure to check out all the videos, there are some awesome solos! and Jesse would kill me if I didn't mention that Neil Pert's got some good stuff on the site as well. check it out.

oh, for all you Sunday Morning Drive fans out there, our next show is this coming Friday, January 7th @ Cooper'stown, 7pm. We'll be playing four, 20 minute sets down in the 'dungeon' in between the bands outside. Be sure to come by and hear us play, even if you can't stay the whole time. we'd all love to see you! oh, and we've got a special guest with us, violinist Tammy McGavock, so don't miss the fun!