The Little Garçon

But Why Soccer, Cousin?

2010-07-09T06:33:00.000-07:00

Because it's dull! It'll hurt more, you twit!
But seriously, folks...
In light of the United States' recent love affair with the beautiful game of soccer, I wanted to relate a soccer-lover's point of view. I don't anticipate converting anyone to my way of thinking; nor do I think of everyone who doesn't love soccer as a poorly-educated, prejudiced troglodyte. Different strokes, ya know?
Soccer began for me as it does for many people: on the fields of the local YMCA. I remember playing for the Jaguars at age 5 and then the Transformers (yep!) at age 6. Everyone wanted to play goalie because you got to wear the different-colored shirt. I'm not sure anyone realized that you'd have to deal with balls being kicked slowly in your general direction.
Fast-forward a few years (and a few more awesomely-named YMCA teams), and you'll find a very awkward 7th grader just trying to fit in. I wasn't very good then, but I gave goalie another try. Knowing what I know now, I regret not sticking with it. I played all through middle school and high school, and while I thoroughly enjoyed playing for my school, I never really caught the fire and passion for the sport that football (the American one) inspired in me.
My last game for a few years was a college intramural. I can still vividly recall what caused me to stop playing for an extended period: I was playing sweeper and directing my defense (as any good sweeper should), when I encouraged a fellow defender to attack the opposing player with the ball. The two collided, and I heard a loud SNAP as my friend's tibia broke in half in a compound fracture. That sound, coupled with the screams of pain, were enough to put me off the game for awhile, not to mention my lunch.
About 6 years ago, a few friends of mine got together and created an indoor soccer team. We weren't terribly good--in fact, we lost almost every game by double digits. It was a motley crew of graduate students (and me) who were mostly out of shape and hadn't exactly spent much time honing our soccer skills. We named the team Huff n' Puff, one of the great (and accurate) team names in rec-league history. I started out playing defense (as I thought I was a natural defender, what with my lack of ball-handling or great speed), but that soon proved to be a misstep.
In the second or third game I played, our goalie had the unfortunate displeasure of stopping a shot with his face. After a day or two of not being able to see properly, his wife informed him that his goalkeeping days were behind him. We needed a new goalie; I was out of shape and not scared to step in front of a shot; a beautiful marriage was born.
All of this was, of course, lead up to a true life-changing event: World Cup 2006. What happened then? Well, I'll tell ya...
...in my next post.

Huh? Wha? How Did I Get Here?

2010-03-15T21:47:00.000-07:00

As promised (albeit a bit late), a new post!
I've often been called (accused of being / complimented as / what have you) a "music snob" or "music nerd." There are several reasons I've been named as such: people think I have outstanding musical taste (quite the compliment), or people think I'm an over-opinionated blowhard who should just shut the hell up.
They're both equally true.
I do think I have pretty terrific taste in music, if you'll allow me to toot my own horn. This isn't something I've fallen into. It's taken many, many years of missteps, heartbreaks, and glorious random discoveries. My musical taste (while not particularly noteworthy to some--mostly Nickelback fans) has taken years to cultivate; years that have been filled with quite a bit of exploration, blind leaps, and a lot of dollars.
Probably too many dollars.
Let's start at the beginning: my house was filled with music. While my dad (God rest his wonderful soul) wasn't particularly musically talented, but enjoyed the hell out of old-school country (we're talking Smothers Brothers-era stuff). Mom, on the other hand, had and still has a lovely alto voice. This voice was put to good use in the choir at Houston's First Baptist Church. I went to church once a week, every Sunday; the choir was, at that time, world-renowned, and I was inundated with gorgeous choral recitations every week by a choir that was at least 100-strong. I spent some time in church and school choirs myself, so while I'm no musical theory scholar, I learned some appreciation for a few of the finer points of music.
My earliest musical memories involve that church choir as well as the oldies station in the car on the way to school every morning. As Mom went to high school in the early 60s, she had fond memories of sock hops and slow dances to the classics; any musical base that starts with Frankie Valli, Smokey Robinson, and the Everly Brothers can't be wrong.
I suppose that's where my love of pop comes from; more on that in a moment.
Grade school always started with the strains of 60's pop, and I can still picture the smells of the early day, always accompanied by sunlight streaming into the car as I headed in for another day of vital education mixed with prepubescent socialization.
From there, it was easy to transition to Classic Rock. During the 90s, Houston had an absolutely incredible classic rock station: 107.5. They never played the same version of the same song twice from midnight to midnight; that means they had a DEEP library that they utilized as well as possible. I learned about Led Zeppelin, Queen, Pink Floyd, Rush, etc., etc. in those old days of THE Classic Rock station.
Unfortunately, the radio business is unfair and ugly, and 107.5 went the way of the buffalo, making way for a new modern rock station.
Two still-vivid memories:
Reading "The Taming of the Shrew" (William Shakespeare) while listening to Led Zeppelin's debut album, discovering two new loves, and feeling fulfilled and satisfied.
Sitting in the locker room, listening to 107.5 the day it changed to modern rock, and discovering Smashing Pumpkins. I expected Fleetwood Mac. That was a weird day.
I recall my aunt (who was the Vice President of Houston Baptist University at the time) giving me a tape she had gotten from a student; it was a band called Cranes. Damn, they were weird. But they were like nothing I had ever heard! Childish girl vocals, NOISY guitars, and totally out-of-the-ordinary tunes. I instantly loved them. Looking back, I think they might have actually been a terrible band.
But they opened my eyes.
There was a whole world of unheard music out there! And I wanted to hear it all!
So I began a long, strange trip of searching out odd music that none of my friends were listening to. Luckily, Clear Channel's radio takeover was still a couple of years away, so radio stations were free to play a much broader range of music. I generally stuck with what could be termed "grunge" and then "alternative rock," and lucked out that it was during the second-best era in rock history (after the 70s, naturally). Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Seven Mary Three, Dave Matthews Band, Rage Against The Machine: this was the soundtrack to much of my high school experience. But there was also Semisonic, Meat Puppets, Rusted Root, Mudhoney, Violent Femmes, and Big Head Todd & the Monsters. Those were hazy, crazy days, my friends.
Fast-forward to college. My girlfriend at the time (sorry, Jen) was a DJ at a college radio station and regularly stole CDs from the station to give to me. That, coupled with my high school concertgoing-inspired love of Dave Matthews Band, led me into a bit of a jam-band phase. While I don't regret those days, there is an unfortunate stigma attached to jam-band fans, so I don't talk about it much.
After my first stint in college, I started working at a company that, among other things, allowed me access to a T1 internet connection. And then, the bombshell: Napster. I was able to download songs for FREE! Just like you did! Who cares if it was sort of illegal? All those bootleg versions of the Agents of Good Roots' lead singer's basement tapes from when he was 12 were out there, ready to be devoured! I wound up with about 7 data CDs filled with mp3s and managed to jump into the digital music revolution at the start (which has benefitted me greatly to this day).
After years and years of exploration and sampling, ripping and burning CDs, buying and selling albums (and sometimes re-buying them, when I realized I was selling something I'd listen to later), I feel that I've developed a pretty specific and cultured ear for music, mostly of the indie-rock and -pop variety. While I have a few albums that are in regular rotation, I love to dip into the vast array of styles, sounds, and textures that all this work has afforded me.
There's more to this story--how my affection for sunny, pretty pop melodies with great harmonies developed; my short-lived foray into country music (what?! I know!); what I'm listening to and loving now; why I never pursued a career in music; how music has affected my moods and soundtracked my life experiences. But why would I put all that into just one post? Gotta save something for the encore(s), right?

Tweet! Tweet!

2010-03-13T23:45:00.000-08:00

By the by, I have a Twitter feed. I try to make it as interesting as possible. Please read. And enjoy: Anthony's Twitter Feed.

Music? What?

2010-03-13T23:03:00.000-08:00

Well, my favorite folks and wonderful fellow Earthlings, I was paid quite the compliment tonight. What happened? Well, I'll tell ya: I was told by two people (whose opinions I respect to quite a great degree) that I "should have a blog!"

I feel I've failed here. I have a blog! It's this one! Have I posted in the last month or so (aside from an empty promise that I'd post sometime on Friday night?)? Nope.

Whoops.

I want to write. I want to blog. I want to share my opinions, experiences, and grammatical criticisms with the world.

It's hard, this blogging thing. I have no sponsorship, so I have no real fiscal reason to post. I have a couple of friends who follow me, but aside from them (I love you dearly, friends), I have few followers or readers who count on me to post regularly. I want badly to join the millions of bloggers out there, but more than that: I want to stand out. But how? Exposing my deepest, darkest secrets seems a bit heavy-handed, and while I want this site to be must-see and water-cooler worthy, it's simply not worth it to me to over-sell myself just to get some readers.

I suppose I'll continue to follow the model of my now-defunt MySpace blog: expose myself and my feelings to a degree I find compelling, without going overboard.

To continue the solipsistic nature of this post, I intend to write a column tomorrow. Its content? My musical development. This, of course, has nothing to do with my incredible journey toward being the next Ottmar Liebert or Steve Vai. I am nothing but an opinionated observer; a musical voyeur, if you will.

It's an interesting story, if you'll let me toot my own horn. While there are certainly much more interesting and interested music fans in this world, I like to believe that my tastes are unquestionably outstanding and without fault (untrue, I'm sure). I'm more than happy to off-handedly recommend a band or artist to a friend I feel is in need of musical education or assistance. But where did this all come from?

This, my friends, shall all be revealed in the next post. I'd like to do it Sunday, but I make no promises (despite my, um... promises).

And where to go in the future? I'm all set to blog about my musical education and development, but what then? I want to resurrect Music Friday (holy shit, but I've got a lot of great albums for you!), but what else? I don't want to be some asshole writing about the albums he likes!

Any suggestions?

Finally, my greatest hope is that I actually do get some followers--that I have people who rely on me to write something in the same way I rely on Kissing Suzy Kolber or Deadspin to keep me entertained like the gladiators of old.

We'll see where this goes. Here's hoping it's awesome and entertaining. If not, feel free to let me know. I'm always open to suggestion.

But in the meantime, listen to this album: Broken Bells. It's James Mercer from The Shins and Danger Mouse. Also known as: amazing.

I'm Coming Back, I Swear!

2010-03-11T08:34:00.000-08:00

Hey all you (both) followers of this here blog! Sorry it's been so long since I've posted--we're going on almost 2 months. I promise to be better about posting. I've got a good idea that I've been rolling around my head for a bit, so I'll try to get that out tonight.

Looking forward to writing again...

The Hills Are Alive...

2010-01-22T11:59:00.000-08:00

I've been encouraged by one of my friends to add another post (I may very well need this on a regular basis), so I figured while I have time, I may as well toss one up.

I think it's important to have themes or regular features on a blog; it kind of keeps readers coming back on a regular basis, so let's try one with which I have some semblance of expertise (or at least a nicely-sized compendium of knowledge): Music Friday!

I know: the name sucks. Anybody have any better ideas?

The idea behind this is to recommend a particular band or album or song or whatever that I think everyone should hear (doesn't every self-described music snob have some favorite band that "you've never heard of?"). Rather than make this a long-winded post all about me, I'll explain my musical tastes and history in a subsequent post (and that will be a long-winded post about me).

To the music!

The inaugural Music Friday pick is the album Aim and Ignite by fun. A few years ago, a friend of mine introduced me to a band called The Format. She liked them but wasn't crazy about their music; I, on the other hand, found an instant love for their album Dog Problems. It's mostly high-energy pop-rock, but with the twist of absolutely brutal, heart-wrenching lyrics. Some girl took the poor lead singer and crushed his soul... so he decided to bear witness to all in song. This is one of those albums that I experience the same deep-seated joy and satisfaction listening to now as I did when I first heard it.

Well, as we all know, nothing lasts forever, and I found out about two years ago that The Format had decided to part ways. The fan posts on their MySpace page were nothing short of melodramatic, but made me feel better in that The Format's music had touched others as deeply as it did me.

I read a few internet rumors and posts about Nate Ruess (The Format's lead singer) forming a new band, but wasn't terribly interested and forgot about it, reveling in the past of The Format.

One of the gifts I received for Christmas was an iTunes gift card, and while searching for albums to download, Aim and Ignite by fun. came up. I knew I had heard of this band, but it didn't ring a bell until I looked at the "Listeners Also Bought" section in iTunes: The Format! All of their albums!

I didn't have to think twice: fun. it was!

What a find this was! Nate packed up and moved to NYC, got together with some other musicians and made yet another spectacular pop-rock album, with full orchestration, delicious hooks that stick in your head, and one teary-eyed tribute to the love his parents share.

Beginning with the self-assuring "Be Calm," Aim and Ignite draws the listener in with orchestral crescendos complimented by Ruess's countertenor. "All the Pretty Girls" is the obvious single choice here, what with the classic sing-along chorus and simple concepts.

By the time you get to "Light A Roman Candle With Me," you've already been through Tin Pan Alley-style jazz and pop, straightforward crowd-pleasers, and soul-affirming choruses, all tinged with a thoughtful mix of bitterness, sarcasm, and hope.

"The Gambler" is a beautiful ballad, recounting Ruess's parents' courtship and life together, providing the listener with a blueprint for a happy, simple marriage; something we can aspire to and with which we can compare our own romances.

All in all, Aim and Ignite fulfills the promises that The Format made with their two albums. It's hardly the work of a new band; rather, it's a continuation of the wonderful, incisive, and smart pop that The Format put together. fun. takes The Format's prologue and writes an excellent followup chapter. I look forward to hearing what comes from these guys in the future.

First Post

2010-01-20T22:14:00.000-08:00

Last year, I tried to create a blog. I thought I was doing everyone a service by expressing all the wonderful brain-things crawling inside my head! I used to blog on MySpace (remember MySpace? I don't either) and got quite a few followers and readers, and I felt connected. I felt that I really had a place on these here internets and that my (often unneccessarily strong) opinions mattered. Well, after about three posts on my previous Blogspot blog, I got bored and gave up. I promise to do more and write as much as possible on this page. I might regret this circa 2011, but I hope that you, my dear reader, gets as much a kick out of this little experiment as I do.

So what's this gonna be about? Who knows? I'm a pretty opinionated person, so I fully expect rants about terrible drivers or bad music or whatever's annoying me at the time. I also expect plenty of posts about whatever it is that I'm loving at the time, whether it be TV shows (watch "Better Off Ted;" seriously, that's a great show) or (again) music, or soccer, or whatever else there is in this world that seems worthy of mention. I'll try to keep it clean and watch my language, but I make no promises.

I'd like to thank you in advance for reading. I know there are millions of sites and blogs out there that are far more deserving of your time. Hopefully you'll give me a shot and I'll add a little bit of entertainment to your daily life.