Extra Extra


Who knew? James Brown was still alive..until today.

PARTY AT ALICE'S HOUSE!!!!!111!1!!!!



When?

Tomorrow.

Where at?

Alice's.

What?

Sacramento's most handsome and best DJ -aka- me.

What time?

Party time.

What should I wear?

Come naked for all I care.

KT Noodles


Just got back from KT. Jeezus that place is good!

(the above picture was ripped off from the internets, here is a link to their slammin' website)

Never thought I would say this



Bill Gates said it best when it comes to dealing with music encoded with restrictive DRM schemes.

More and more I've been finding myself buying songs off of iTunes, mainly just to be legit, or after I get sick of spending lots of my time scouring soulseek for a decent version "Last Christmas" by Wham. A lot of people complain that buying songs from such services is limited, since you are restricted from copying those files and sharing them with other people. I never really got what the big deal was, since you aren't being stopped from burning your music purchased with iTunes to a CD and listening to it wherever and giving out copies to whomever you want to...I figure if I buy an album from iTunes and burn a CD of it for at least one other person besides myself, I'm still beating "the man".

Awww



remember when heylove looked like this?

HipHop is dead


A co-worker just hooked me up with the new Nas and the new Jay-Z.

Expect a verdict later this week, although the title of Nas's album has me won over already.

Mexican Bagels


I was going to post about these amazing tortillas you can get at the co-op, but while the code monkey research department was conducting our background and fact checking (to prevent further lawsuits and hatemail), Cookie, the intern, stumbled upon local blog sactomato.com. Well it looks like they've done a bang up job already (although I prefer the non-whole wheat variety), so the staff here will continue with our day of rest.

Speaking of bagels (sorta). I've seen numerous comlaints about the lack of decent bagels in Sacramento. Sacramento Bagel on H street isn't bad at all, as far as full-service bagel establishments go. They even serve decent coffee!

Personally though, going out to get a bagel makes just as much sense as going out of your way to get a grilled cheese sandwich somewhere, since they can easily be sliced, toasted and spread at home. My favorite bagels in Sacramento are by Bella Bru and you can get them at the co-op as well (located on the other side of the rack where the hecka good tortillas are kept).

My Old Car


So it looks like the city spent 40 million dollars to extend light-rail 2 blocks!

way to go guys!

Whoo...



just found out that I may be going back to Germany later on next year!

beach ball of death



Love my Mac. It's sexy as hell, but it's a computer so it does annoying things sometimes...

list of complaints:

• I still had to reboot after getting the latest OS X security patch. I've heard Mac people make fun of Windows for doing such things


• no right click (not easy to do [ctrl]-click with infant in one arm)


• firefox 2.0 constantly crashing on me (thanks to Gerri for tech support on how to kill a hanging application -aka- "force quit")


• iPhoto is not as cool as Picasa


• got soulseek to work, but it's just not the same


• no right click...no I'm not going to buy a new mouse any time soon


• beach ball of death (no where near as annoying as a blue screen of death, but annoying, none-the-less)

did I mention the lack of being able to "right click"? I like to get the most out of things, so being able to right click instead of hitting [ctrl]-click would be nice.

Other than my petty complaints above (except the firefox crashing), the good seems to outweigh the bad. Garageband is, like, the best, and the built in help system puts Windows to shame (I've been able to figure out pretty much everything on my own).

Baby Grand Show reminder (this SAT!)

Seeing the light



I love my sister more and more each day (does that mean I loved her less yesterday?)


So my sister, the pastor, thought this was funny and sent this to me. It is funny (and not too far off). Thank goodness all Christians aren't uptight and know the difference between [blind] faith and religion.

Top 10 reasons why Beer is better than Religion...

10. No one will kill you for not drinking Beer.

9. Beer doesn't tell you how to have sex.

8. Beer has never caused a major war.

7. They don't force Beer on minors who can't think for themselves.

6. When you have a Beer, you don't knock on people's doors trying to give it away.

5. Nobody's ever been burned at the stake, hanged, or tortured over his brand of Beer.

4. You don't have to wait 2000+ years for a second Beer.

3. There are laws saying Beer labels can't lie to you.

2. You can prove you have a Beer.

1. If you've devoted your life to Beer, there are groups to help you stop.

Ummmm...awkward


I just got a nice quick glance of someone wiping their behind. It's not my fault they forgot to lock the stall door.

AWWWW YEAH




I'm blogging from my new non-windows computer. Free at last!

baby t



Check out this awesome shirt Ira just got in the mail.

Thanks Mark y Lupe!

Too cool for school



damn these are friggin' cool. Too bad 39 Euro == 50 USD

If anyone wants to buy me one for Festivus, feel free to do so!

Listen at your own Leisure



I used to have a roommate (who is still one of my best friends) whose life revolved around television, and still does. If you wanted to hang out on Wednesday evening, his excuse would be (and I'm not kidding) "I can't...'Everybody Loves Raymond' is on that night". Sometimes we'd be chillin' at home and someone would call and he'd answer "90210 is on right now, so this better be fucking important!" (I didn't make that one up either). He was halfway joking and half-way serious when he would say things like that. There was no compromise either. Thank goodness for TiVo. Those days are now over (Yo bro, you can catch up on "Top Model" over the weekend).

Which brings me to NPR. There are tones of great show's I'd like to listen to, but they are never on when I can listen to them, and I can't listen to talk radio at work...my brain just doesnt work that way. I'm glad "This American Life" finally got a clue and is now releasing a (free) podcast of all the new episodes every week. Since they've accepted that format, I've listened to more episodes in the last month while walking the dog and driving to work than I had over the past year! I think if shows like "Fresh Air" (which are available in streaming Real Audio format...I know..I know) would just bite the bullet and podcast, they'd get more listenership.

The reality is that getting all my favorite NPR shows to podcast is like pulling teeth, since the reality is that local NPR stations PAY for these shows, which gets listeners to support public radio.

I can still whine though, right? What else are blogs for?

Bandmates that rule



So last week, bandmate Cory made me two Long Blondes CDs. The new album and a b-sides/singles comp. Awesome!

Oh yeah.. and I'm back at work now.

YOYOYO




So right now Ira is listening to "My Philosophy" by BDP...you know... the oldies? To put it in perspective, that's like my dad listening to the Beatles when I was just a we li'l bairnie. Crazy huh? Pac-man..that's like howdy doody....speaking of doody. I got to go for now. late.

Introducing...Ira Jacob Levy!!!

Ira Jacob Levy!!!
Originally uploaded by bugbiteme.

He's here!

OKTOBERFEST



@ Bonn Lair

Heroes



Dear writers of the television show "heroes",

You have a great show, but you don't need to re-explain everything to me every episode. "Save the cheerleader"...I GET IT!!!

One of the reasons shows like "Lost" are so popular, is because the writers let the viewers figure out what is going on...on their own!

Totally accurate band life-o-meter


I ripped this off from some dude in some indie band that hardly anyone has heard about, but gets written up on some trendy music review website now and then (you know..the one I read ever day).

Start Now:

Start with 10

SUBTRACT ONE YEAR for any two people in the band who identify themselves as a couple, and TWO YEARS for each additional couple.

SUBTRACT THREE YEARS for any two people in the band who used to date, but now just glare at one another through bitter, stoned, accusing eyes from the rearview mirrors of rented minivans.

ADD ONE YEAR for anyone the band with access to their own studio who may actually know how to engineer. But...

SUBTRACT ONE YEAR if said member regularly writes sardonic, Comic Book Guy-caliber letters to Tape-Op and wishes Steve Albini produced Abbey Road.

SUBTRACT SIX MONTHS for anyone in the band who likes to listen to jazz when they drive.

SUBTRACT THREE MONTHS for every soundcheck that ends with someone using the 'F' word.

ADD ONE YEAR for each member who's been in a moderately successful indie band that's toured before, and knows to keep his expectations very, very low. But...

SUBTRACT SIX MONTHS if he is the schadenfreude type-- a bitter, jealous, shit-talking troll who's convinced he is a misunderstood genius because his previous band got dropped from Kindercore.

SUBTRACT ONE YEAR if someone in the band's uncle has in any way 'subsidized' the band by lending any money for a van, recording time, etc.

ADD ONE YEAR for every attractive girl in the band. Add six more months if she doesn't play bass.

ADD FIVE YEARS if someone in the band's dad is in ZZ Top, Santana, or any of the half-remembered bands on the Nuggets box.

SUBTRACT TWO YEARS for anyone in the band addicted to heroin. But...

ADD FIVE YEARS if he dies tragically between your first and second albums.

SUBTRACT THREE MONTHS for each vegetarian in the band who worries that the Waffle House hash browns are 'cooked with the meat spatulas.'

SUBTRACT TWO YEARS for anyone in the band who has a job back home that he or she is unwilling to leave.

SUBTRACT TWO YEARS for anyone in the band who has a spouse back home that he or she is unwilling to divorce.

SUBTRACT FIVE YEARS for each band member with any kids that he or she even gives the slightest shit about.

SUBTRACT TWO YEARS for every band member who cannot, will not, or should not drive.

ADD SIX MONTHS if you're traveling with your own soundman. But...

SUBTRACT THREE MONTHS if he frequently drinks himself mute and is currently facing statutory rape charges.

SCORING:

-20 years - 0 years: Consider yourself lucky. Walk-- don't run-- to the nearest technical institute and learn how to weld or something. Remember to thank me later when your deathbed is NOT a cot at the YMCA.

0 years - 5 years: Congratulations! You've managed to really make something of yourself: a blip on a radar that itself is less than a blip on the radar to most of the civilized western world. At least you can look forward to Casual Fridays.

5 years - 15 years: The odds seem to be in your favor, buckaroo. When your life eventually flashes before your eyes, you will be treated to a montage of drink tickets, Super 8 motel rooms, studio vending machines and an anonymous gaggle of surly soundmen all named Eric. Wowee zowee!

15 years or more: You are R.E.M. You probably took this test with a pen and paper. Kill yourself."

Love is all



So it looks like baby Neon will be here or close to being born when one of my favorite bands, Love is all, will be playing in SF. Stupid baby...(I kid!!!!)

Tour dates

Check out this rad version of "felt tip"

Say it loud...


A nerd..and I'm proud.

Slumberland returns!!!!



In case you missed the news, one of the best indie labels of all time is putting out a couple new 7"s. One is by the Crabapples (featuring my other musical half, Amy Paris on drums and backing vocals), and the other is by The How...who I guess you would say are Amy Linton's other musical half?

Here are a couple awesome tracks from both 7"s...both make me smile (especially the How track)

MP3: The How: I Was a Boy [from the Happy Matt seven-inch]

MP3: The Crabapples: London Belongs to Me, Pt. 2 [from the Crabapples for Change EP]

:)

Pea Green Soup


What did you eat for breakfast yesterday?

What did you eat for lunch yesterday?

What did you eat for supper last night?

What did you do all night last night?

FREE FREE FREE FREE...FREE^n



FINALLY!

looking a gift horse in the mouth



Sorry to sound like a complete ingrate, but my carpool partner brought my attention to this article in the SN&R about the show BG played the other week. Huh? Thanks?

Nothing negative was said, I'm just not following the story all that well (was this article rejected from Alive and Kicking or something?).

Vacation Mode



It's been a long time since I've had a proper vacation (i.e. 2+ weeks off), and it'll probably be some time before I get another one. I'll be taking 3 weeks off from work when the baby hatches but I'm already in that mode where being at work is the last place on earth I want to be right now. Maybe it has something to do with being a busy body every weekend. I'm just gonna chill this weekend. Maybe go out of town even (SF?).

Front Page news



Both Niki and my place of work seem to be on the front page every day.

RIP Tower Records :(
(and sorry for stealing all those cassingles when I was a punk-ass kid)

Show last night



Great show last night at Delta Of Venus.

Opening act was the Bushes. Hilarious! Their recordings don't do them any justice. I was LMAO during "Animal Style".

I wasn't into the second band..what's-it-name, so of course they played forever. They weren't horrible, just coulda done-a shorter set, but I think I was in the minority, since all the Davis kids were totally digging it. After staring at the menu during their set, I started craving a DoV breakfast burrito (they make the best one in the nine one Sickness btw). Niki and I put that on our agenda for breakfast first thing Saturday or Sunday. Anyone want to come with?

The finches. What more can I say about them? You either love them or you're out of your mind. I got goosebumps from some of the "newer" songs. I could see them play every day for the rest of my life and be happy.

The Finches 2 night in Davis

The Finches
Originally uploaded by riblet.

This almost ALMOST makes up for the Futureheads flaking on America...

I was regretful of my mindstate last time the Finches/2 played. I promise to lay of the sauce tonight.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO00000
00000000000000000000ooooo
oooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


(I'm so bummed right now)


“It is with great sadness that I must tell you we have had to cancel our forthcoming US Tour, due to the development of tendonitis in Barry's left wrist. He has been advised to rest and, as far as we can see, there is no way of us being able to make those shows work, given the state of his wrist. We are all deeply disappointed at having to pull the shows at such a late stage, but there is no way around it for us. Apologies to the people with tickets - we promise to get out to the US at the next available opportunity."

back from hiatus...kinda



sorry...
I've been one busy guy....and I'm a long way from getting a new computer.

Since my weekends are now filled with chores, I've decided to take last Wednesday off and go hiking with a co worker. We hiked to castle peak. It was pretty intense (1000 ft elevation gain in 1 mile), but not too bad.

Here is the crazy ass picture of Al (co-worker) from the top of the peak:



I have a feeling this will be my last hike for a while. Hopefully by next spring, Leon Jr. will be able to hike with me via one of those baby backpacks. I'd like to hike back up to half-dome, but I'll be happy if the family (and maybe some friends) will go up with me at least half-way to Nevada Falls.

In other news. We finally got new floors in the main rooms that needed new floors. One room to go, but it's not at the top of my priorities at the moment (but I plan on doing it within the year).

Here is me standing on the new bedroom floor:



I haven't really been to any shows in a while, but I'm planning on seeing the Futureheads this Friday. What's up with all these non-promoted local shows? Is everybody just too jaded to even try anymore? I got a text message from Sweats moments before RTL and the 4-eyes started playing at the Distillery Saturday. I was already just chillin' at home so I decided to remain chilly chill. I'm guilty of doing the same thing. Friday...moments before Baby Grand played at the FnG, I sent out a spam text message. No other promotion, but the turn out wasn't too bad and I got totally wasted on Chimay before we went on.

Other than that, just waiting for the hatchling to hatch and all that. Niki's been keeping everybody up-to-date on that front.

I paid my dues



So my computer has reached the 5 year life-span and is starting to act up on me (blue screens of death, eating up virtual memory, programs crashing all the time). Yeah I could re-install windows and all my other programs and my computer will be almost like new...for a while...but I think I'm going to make the switch to Mac. I was originally thinking of getting a laptop, but then me and Niki would fight over it all the time, so I'm eyeing the iMac. I'm lobbying for the 24" version.

I have one question though. Are they really worth the price compared to a Windows desktop (that will only cost a fraction of the iMac's price)? Any advice? Also, what sorts of problems to Macs encounter? Back in junior college we had a bunch of macs in the computer lab that were pure shit, but that was the olden days (back when they were called "Macintosh") and I know a lot has changed since then.

Idiocracy



So this entry on boingboing.net definitely caught my attention. Apparently a new movie by Mike Judge came out this month with little or no publicity, and surprise, no one knows about it (and I can't find a theater playing it). Is it an "indie" flick? Does anyone know anything about it? It sounds like a great storyline.

An average guy volunteers to be the subject of a hibernation experiment that goes awry. He wakes up 500 years in the future, discovering that he's the smartest guy on the planet.

too busy to read your blog

dude. look at me...I'm in the brodys!


In honor of Chris getting fired for reading blogs, I decided I should actually work and not read your blogs while at work for a bit (bit == a few hours).

Weekend update:

• Finally finished the floors in baby Levite's room (before/after pics coming soon)


• played a BG show Friday while nauseous from rum-and-cokes


• took heylove to the river


• had a mini bbq to celebrate finishing the floor


• hung out with Alisha and her J.Crew last night at brew it up


• took funny pics at f n'g


• look...Niki is on Spin.com!


• got new glasses (as pictured above)

OK later

Another binge



So I kind of got bored with the Junior Boys album. Much like their last, it's better in small doses. The J Dilla album is a strong candidate for one of my top albums this year (too early to say for sure). It's not perfect, but it is good.

Right now I'm "spinnin" the new JT album. It's got about 4 songs on it that I can safely say are really good. Timberland's beats can get a bit clichè here and there. Lots of dance hits. If I knew I would become a semi-Justin Timberlake fan 5 years ago, I would have jumped off a bridge, but you can't deny his shit is tight.

I just got done listening to the new Roots album. I've actually liked the idea of the Roots much better than getting enjoyment from their recordings. I always thought the idea of a hip-hop group was great, yet they never seemed to push the boundaries all that much and I could never get through any of their albums from start to finish without getting bored. This is definitely different with "Game Theory", which is definitely one of my favorites by them so far. My co-worker who's a die-hard Roots fan, who gets mad at me for dissing them all the time doesn't like it that much. So it's confirmed, it's a great album!

SHOW



THIS FRIDAY!
@ THE DISTILLERY
SPIRAL STATES - great frikkin band
BABY GRAND - even better band
(TBA)
SHOW STARTS AT DISTILLERY O'CLOCK

Binge and purge



My iPod is an old 3rd gen model that supposedly only holds 15 GB of songs, which seems like a decent amount of holding capacity, but compared to today’s 60 GB model, it's a small amount. Even though I'm suffering from a case of GB envy, I feel like I have way too much storage and seriously contemplate buying a nano when my dude breaks down (which will hopefully still be for some time if I continue to baby my iPod as I have).

15GB = roughly 3,400 songs, and between illegal downloads and my towers of music (in physical form), I'll never run out of things to feed the iPod, yet the other week I just stopped listening to the beast all together. Why? Well, there is just too much shit on it, and by shit, I mean music I like, but really don't need to have at my finger tips at a moments notice (i.e. the entire Belle and Sebastian, Beatles, Kinks, Rolling Stones, Smiths, catalogs, butt loads of indie-pop and old school jams, local band albums).

I like the idea of having a large repository of music at home, and just a couple albums with me at any given time so I can wrap my head around them and get to know my music a little better...like when I was a kid riding the bus or my bike and listening to my walkman. I remember a time when I could recite every word to every song in my music collection. I just got lazy over time with my iPod and started hitting shuffle, which can be nice at times, but I found myself skipping more and more songs, and I realized I hadn't put any new tunes on it in a long time. Anyhow, I spent all last night going through most of my songs, and was able to eliminate half of what was on my iPod. I'm sure I could eliminate more, but just like trying to sell CDs, it's hard to figure out what can be parted with (even though it's only temporary). It took a long time, but I feel better about it.

Anyhow, here are three albums I'm listening to at the moment:

Pipas - Sorry Love

Pipas are my peeps and I love everything they do. The only thing lacking about this album is that it's too short, and Mark doesn't have any of his songs on it (dude...wassup with that?)

J Dilla - The Shining

Even though the opening track is a weak, mainly because of the pointless guest appearance by Busta Rhymes (I remember when I could respect that guy), the rest is solid. J Dilla was one of the best hip-hop producers around. It's the first album made since his death. He and Tupac need to collaborate sometime

Junior Boys - So This is Goodbye

I've only heard a few tracks from it so far, but what I've listened to so far is pretty dope. This album is a lot catchier than tthe last one, yet it still keeps true to their sparse electronic sexy pop songs.

"What in the heck are you talking about Leon...erm...Willis?"



So a co-worker of mine who has to be around the same age as me, has never heard of "Different Strokes". WTF?!?!?! I don't know anyone between the age of 28-33 who can't give me a decent rendition of the theme song right off the top of their head. So what gives?

Old School Levy



Anyone going to this?

I am!!!

I can't say I'm not skeptical about this show. 99.99% of every hip-hop show I've ever been to in my entire life has never started on time and has rarely ever lived up to expectations, but hopefully there will be an exception here (and I'd be bummed if I missed out).

(BTW: best live rap show ever seen: Disposable heroes of Hiphopracy at the Cattle Club circa 1991..and I was never that big of a fan of their recordings)

Sorry


One of the pictures of my riddle was messed up, and rather than fix it, I just left it up because (A) I'm lazy and (B) Felt it was a bit uninspired anyway.

Late.

Dude? Where is RT?

lifted once again from Chris: What public transportation have you been on?

Got at b3co.com!