Crumb

Crumb (aka Caleb, aka The Notorious I.Z.M., aka Schmuck Foo, aka Bread Man) has been my best friend for about 20 years.  We both started listening to punk music at the same time.  We raided his brother's CD collection and found some Nofx albums in junior high.  From then on we were hooked (thanks Rob).  Crumb and I also started playing guitar and writing music together.  We dreamed of creating a band.  We would succeed, but like most bands, we had a high turnover rate on band members.  To this day Crumb and I have remained the nucleus of the band.  Since we both write music and lyrics our approach is simple, if you write the song - you sing it.  

In 2004, after several years of band successes and failures, "life" derailed us.  Caleb moved to Japan to do some teaching (and become a ninja).  I moved to Gainesville and became a police officer (and used ninja tactics on covert details).  The band was gone but I never stopped writing music.  I routinely listened to our poorly produced CDs and hilarious band practice videos.  I knew that one day I would create a new band, but I doubted that Crumb would be a part of it.  Luckily in 2009 the stars aligned and G-14 played a reunion show.  It took lots of hard work to pull off the show, but it was worth it.  There are too people many to thank.  In a few weeks Crunb will ship off to Hawaii for his new job as an NCIS special agent.  Once again the band is down, but I don't think it will ever be out.

Nut and Crumb will prevail.  Here's to G-14 in 2014!

tomorrow is more than a thousand songs

God and Family are the priorities of my life.  The ranking system is simple #1 God #2 family and #3 everything else.  My right arm displays this boldly in the form of Japanese Kanji symbols. If I were to assign a #3 it would be music.  I'm sure that everybody has a favorite song (or songs).  These songs invoke our deepest emotions, you become seduced and unable to fight the urge to turn them up and sing them at the top of your lungs.  At worst, you have to at least bob your head.  I fully understand, music has been a large part of my life for some time.  

However, I learned early on that the music industry was crap.  Back in junior high I remember sitting on the bleachers after gym jamming out to Kris Kross (spelling?).  The group's shelf life was about expired but I enjoyed the music.  A friend asked me what I was listening to and I told him.  He scoffed and dismissed me.  I didn't care because I was enjoying the music, but I did take some time to ask myself, "Why is this music not cool after only a few months"?  I concluded that the music industry made their money from exploiting artists and then quickly replacing them in order to maximize sales and profit.  I was young, but smart enough to call BS.  From that moment on I discovered the sweet nectar that is underground music.  In my case the genre was PUNK.  Thank God my music never expires!  Here is an example, today I listened to Dynamite Boy in my car and enjoyed some Face to Face on my Ipod while grocery shopping.  Have you ever heard of these bands? NO

My tangent does have a point.  The only thing better than loving music is writing it.  In high school I decided that I wanted to play guitar.  Teri was in the picture at this time and can she can tell you that I sucked.  But, after a while I developed some skill and taught myself to play.  I have still never had a lesson but I can play pretty well (punk, very well).  Soon after I started playing guitar, I started writing lyrics.  13 years later I can play the drums, bass, guitar, recorded 4 albums, and played dozens of live shows in every corner of Jacksonville and the surrounding areas.  I love music, and believe me when I tell you, nothing beats writing your own.  I never cared and still don't care if anybody likes my music.  It is not for you it's for me.  If you happen to like it, it's a blessing to me.  I pour my soul out on paper when I write my songs.  It has been my catharsis for over a decade.

I now present to you my band.  Once known as Indiscretion, The Izms, and The Crumpetz.  We are currently known as G-14.  We just had a reunion show after 5 years of not playing.  It was a dream come true.  This blog begins a series of blogs dedicated to my band and its members.

The title of this blog happens to be one of my song lyrics.  One that just recently escaped my lips on 5-2-09 (our most recent show, AKA my 30th birthday party).  It generally means that my songs mostly represent the past and the lessons learned from it.  We all have a past, and have mistakes that we have made.  The good news is that it IS the past and that tomorrow is yours to seize.  Hence, "tomorrow is more than a thousand songs".........................Enjoy my #3.

Plenty to blah-g about

1st, On Friday May the 1st I reached the ripe age of 30. I really don't feel any older. Things like my sister graduating college and my son turning one and a half have aged me way more than existing for a third decade. Life experience at this age is similar to being a police officer. In policing, the more years of service you have, the more you realize you don't know. Of course you gain experience and knowledge over time, but your maturity seems to reveal your distance from mastering your discipline. The same applies to life. At thirty you can think and function like a normal person (well...most of us) but your age reveals that you are far from fully understanding the idiosyncrasies of life.

2nd, the NBA playoffs (all women begin zoning out now). I have hated Labron James since the day his hype invaded my consciousness. Anybody close to me knows that I hate things that are "popular" or "trendy". King James came to the NBA straight out of High School and was supposed to be the next Michael Jordan. I called BS on that crap and vowed to hate him until he proved himself. Well, I can now easily say that Labron James has surpassed all of my expectations and I am now a fan of his amazing talent. The Cavaliers are racing through the playoffs with a strong momentum. I believe that they are the front runners to win it all this year. I know that the west is always strong and is the conference to beat, but this year it is the Cavs championship to loose. If you have seen the bench of the Cavs you know why I say this. The Cavs are tearing people apart and are having fun doing it. No other team has this continuity to their group. The Cavs have the unpredictable and intangible "team" quality that no other team in the playoffs possesses. They will win it all unless the western conference winner is playing their absolute best come finals time.

3rd, I would like to give my first summer movie review. I love huge budget summer movies because they show us the potential of Hollywood. Of course I have no love for the liberal propaganda machines of the west coast, but I do love when hundreds of millions of dollars are spent for my simple 2 hour amusement. I'm so poor that I had to use change from my car and bedroom change jars to see this movie, but it was worth it. X-men Origins: Wolverine is the subject of review - Wow, I had high expectations going into this movie and they were surpassed. The intro was action packed and was developing characters from the start. Several new mutants were introduced and they all had some impressive skills. The movie takes an expected lull afterward to further develop the Wolverine character. At one point I was turned off because of the use of a terrible movie cliché. When a character dies, why must somebody always scream "Noooooooooo!" while the camera angle fades away. It has been done so many times that I roll my eyes when it happens. I'm sure there are more creative ways to invoke strong emotion on film than to use that cliché. Anyways, the transformation into the Wolverine character was awesome and the movie kicked into overdrive at that time. Blood, guts, explosions, screaming, fighting, and general manly stuff ensued. Just what I paid for. The special effects were terrific and the movie had one heck of a twist at the end (I won't spoil it). The final battle was a worthy crescendo to the action and I also loved the cameo at the very end of the movie. This movie would be entertaining to someone who has never seen any X-men movies, BUT to get the most out of it, like I did, you have to have seen all the prior movies. I am not a comic book guy so I can't give any critique on how much the old school Wolverine was represented. I just know that I like what I saw. This movie is really not for women, so guys don't take your significant others (not to say that they are not wonderful company at all times).

Oh, how the mighty have fallen

Lots of people ask the question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" The answer is, there are greater things at work in this world than you can comprehend with your limited human understanding. God is in control. Life is certainly not easy, and things sure can suck, but the fact remains that we are just a fraction of a grain of sand in this world. How does a spoiled rich celebrity effortlessly amass tens of millions of dollars and then spend them on ridiculous things such as designer dog jewelry? I don't know. Why are babies born with deadly diseases that limit their life to only a few minutes, hours, or days? I don't know. I do know that God doesn't miss a beat on this Earth and that I trust in him completely in my life.

I bring this up because God has decided to take me down a notch. In short, I had it all eight years ago. My living condition was one that people work their whole lives toward retiring with. My family life was outstanding, my finances were secure and virtually stress free, and my career was perfectly on course. Now I am unemployed, in debt, and struggling to provide for my family. Not quite the future I planned.

Luckily I have not lost heart. I know that my family and I will recover from this difficult time. Years or even months from now, we will be able to look back and glean lessons from this terrible experience. This is not to say that I haven't been stressed out. I am still human. I've succumb to the occasional fit of rage and have tested the depths of my profane vocabulary. But even now I can understand that I did consider myself "mighty" in the past. I wasn't in the position to correct myself, so I was"corrected". It's exactly the same thing a loving parent does with a child. When Sammy D wants to stand up on the couch I tell him "no" and sit him back down. He doesn't understand that I'm trying to prevent him from falling and getting hurt. He just gets mad and cries having no idea that I did it for his own good. This is a microcosm of what my "father" has done for me. I may be prone to the occasional fit, but unlike Sammy, I understand that events in my life are being shaped for my own good. The appropriate response should be that of thanks, love, and understanding.

@#$% happens. When it happens to you, don't miss the opportunity to capture the positive within it.
The mouth of Sam has spoken.

Calm Down

It is a rare occasion when I disagree with the right, but it's time to call them out. Obama authorizes the Navy to use deadly force to free an American hostage held by Somali pirates. The Navy executes a flawless rescue effort and saves the life of the hostage. GREAT JOB! Well done Navy seals and well done president Obama.

I was fearful that the great appeaser would wuss out and allow us to be victimized in this scenario, but he did not. I have no problem acknowledging that Obama made a good call. Apparently the right is incapable of doing this. Blinded by pure anti-Obama sentiment (similar to the anti-Bush hatred) the right is now focusing on how the media is giving Obama too much credit for the rescue and not enough to the Navy. Who cares!? Clam down with that crap! There are plenty of things that Obama and the media do (and will do) that deserve our scrutiny and disapproval. This is not one of them.

God Bless America

don't blink or you'll miss it

Here are just a few monday morning headlines -

5 dead in Florida boating wreck

21 killed in blaze at Polish housing shelter

5 killed in hit and run crash in Atlanta

22 Afghan militants killed in clash

Uf student dies studying in Africa

Fort Lewis soldier accidentally shot wife dead

It's easy to become desensitized to these stories, but death is certain and is everywhere. I can't imagine facing death with uncertainty and fear. Of course I'm scared of death, it's human nature, BUT I do understand that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. I have no uncertainty as to where my eternal destination will be. As a former police officer, I have seen plenty of dead bodies and have actually watched people die. I can tell you from first hand experience that those bodies are just empty, inanimate vessels, devoid of any substance or essence. The soul is gone, it's not hard to see.

All I can do in response to my impending death is to thank and praise God. Jesus died and then rose from the grave, NO other "God" has done that. He defied and defeated death so that I may do the same in his name when I perish. Life is precious and short. You best get your eternal business in order Mr. or Mrs. blog reader.

I am happy to notify all that today is my 7th wedding anniversary. A blog couldn't hold all my thoughts about marriage. It can be as complicated as neuro-science or as simple as flicking a light switch. My best advise is, marry someone with true character. I lucked out and married someone with intelligence, compassion, faith, kindness, and loyalty. It is only in the tough times that you can truly measure the character of an individual. Over the years I have found that Teri is the real deal. She has been tried and tested and has remained as solid as a rock. I have more love and respect for her than I have ever had in the past because I know her true character. There is no show, she is all real. And that's why I love her.

Happy Anniversary Ful Ful, Cheers!

I relinquish my title

About five years ago I decided to give my self a nickname. It was "KING". The name was only to be written in capital letters and never to be preceded with "the". I was simply KING (yes, I was arrogant enough to give my self a nickname). Teri refused to acknowledge my title and vowed never to call me by it. The rest of my cohorts also failed to respect the title. I was called by that name approximately half a dozen times in the past five years.

Here ye, here ye, I officially relinquish my title and bestow it upon my son, baby gordito. From this day forward, he shall be known as KING Dito.

Enjoy your new title Sammy D!