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Spaghetti Westerns, Arcade Fire style

The problem with my creativity is that it all lives in my head. I can conjure up fantastic ideas, but I lack any kind of artistic or technological skill to make them happen. Just last night, right before I fell asleep, I finished a painting that would look perfect in my living room. Actually, I finished a mind painting that will more than likely never come to life to hang in my living room because I have no idea how to paint. I’m sure that I could look online and find out what types of canvas and brushes and paints to use, and then I could go to an art supply store and spend money on everything I need, and then take them all home only to stare at the blank canvas with no idea how to make the image in my head take form. I also get brilliant ideas for stories and novels. Sometimes I jot down lines of dialogue or map out the entire thing in a notebook, write up character descriptions and names. At then when I sit down at my computer to begin writing something very peculiar happens. Nothing. I have had writer’s block for 25 years.

For some reason there is a great deal of dissonance between what I want to produce creatively and what I actually have the ability to do. It’s not that I lack the drive, it’s that I lack the talent. This is why I could never be an inventor. I would have to hire so many people to do my sketches and mock-ups and models for me that by the time it was all said and done it probably wouldn’t even legally qualify as my invention anymore. Oh well.

Luckily, we live in an age where we have access to all sorts of creativity through this magical invention called the internet. As far as I am concerned, the internet is just a really quick way to develop a major inferiority complex. While I was checking out some Arcade Fire videos on YouTube, I came across this fantastic clip of the Arcade Fire’s “My Body is a Cage,” set to a montage from Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West .

Arcade Fire songs really are lush, they fit perfectly with cinematography rich films. In fact, I can imagine a lot of their songs set to Terrence Malick films, something like Badlands maybe. of course, someone else will have to make that video. I sure can’t!

SPRING BREAK 2007!

This past (long) weekend, we embarked on the first of this year’s band related travels.  These typically take place a few times a year, depending on what events J & J decide to play.  Traveling with Jon and Missy is always an adventure, mostly because we spend the entire time laughing at ridiculous things and getting as close to obscenely drunk as possible.  This time was no exception, as we traveled to Dewey Beach where the guys were playing at the Dewey Beach Music Conference.

I hadn’t been to Dewey since my Senior Week – the infamous seven days after high school graduation where groups of Delaware teenagers rent houses near each other and get older siblings to buy them copious amounts of alcohol that they start drinking somewhere around eleven in the morning. Also known as BEST WEEK EVER, 1999. During my Senior Week, I notoriously got highly intoxicated for the first time, walked into the wrong house on my way home from a party, used their bathroom, and accidentally broke their towel rack. But that is another story. Even though the average age amongst the four of us is a ripe old 28, we decided to treat this week as though it was a debaucherous Spring Break 2007. After all, it was spring, it was the beach, and we were renting a cheap motel room and filling the mini-fridge with cans of Miller Lite.

We got a slow start on the plan to relive our glory years. After checking in, taking a walk on the beach for an hour or so, and gorging ourselves on awesome seafood in Rehoboth , we had a few beers while watching the Phillies game (which they lost) in our room and then three out of the four of us promptly fell asleep before 11pm. Only Jeremy actually made across the street to see any music. Whoops. Guess my liver doesn’t function like it used to!

The next morning we woke up around 7:30 on the morning. In true Spring Break style, we wouldn’t have even gone to bed until that time, but that’s okay. We can still be party animals after a nap! We spent the morning and early afternoon in Rehoboth Beach , playing arcade games for tickets that we spent on bouncing silly putty that amused us for well over an hour later that evening. We had lunch at Irish Eyes Pub , along with a few beers just to prove to ourselves that we could, and then it was back to the room for Saturday afternoon’s Phillies game. Which they won. Huzzahs and hallelujahs all around for that one. That night we finally ventured out to the Rudder for the Music Conference.

We saw lots of amazing bands, with my favorite (aside from our guys, obviously) being Bears Repeating. These guys were just fantastic. It seems like the only thing I forgot to pack was my camera. I had a suitcase filled with clothes – in my defense, I didn’t know how the weather would turn out – but I neglected to bring the one thing I really wanted to. In any case, you can check out Ryan Cormier’s hilarious blog to see pictures of the night as well as witty band recaps that I am too lazy to produce.

On Saturday night the weather turned sour, putting a damper on J and I’s plans for a romantic midnight rendezvous on the beach. Okay, I know it’s cliche, but they didn’t name a drink after it for nothing! The rain was close to sleet, the wind was downright ridiculous, and there was some minor flooding. We left the Rudder after the awards presentation and part of The Metrosexuals set. Oh, and after J knocked his entire beer off of a table and straight into my crotch. That “I just peed myself” look is enough to make even the most headstrong Spring Breakers call it a night.

We checked out the next morning after spending close to an hour getting J out of bed (he had gone to another room in our hotel for an after party while the rest of us old heads got some shut-eye) and braved the nasty weather to have brunch at Crabby Dick’s before heading home. One thing worth mentioning before I wrap this up is that Crabby Dick’s has a sizeable gift shop where they sell t-shirts, shot glasses, and pretty much anything they can print their moniker on. One thing that made me laugh while at the same time making me barf in my mouth a little bit was a special sauce they have to go along with the famous Crabby Dick’s Crab Balls they sell – Crabby Dick’s Seaman Sauce. That’s right. Say that one out loud.

In all, Spring Break 2007 was a great time. I still have sand in my hair and bags under my eyes, and I weigh about seven pounds more than when we checked in, but that’s par for the course. I’m looking forward to the next long weekend I can spend having fart contests and eating funnel cakes.