Smokestack Joe

16 teams out of 30 make the playoffs, yeah that is a lot of teams but i am one who thinks the NHL playoffs are exciting as hell eventhough it takes forever. but it is the true test of endurance and strength for teams, not a one shot at the championship

well the NBC game wasnt a great game and both teams arent that fun to watch. i would have rather seen the other game Caps v Pens (Ovechkin v Crosby) but since Im in midwest I got the Blackhawks game. but yes both big markets but not too many people in chicago care about the 'Hawks. Im routing for the Predators but i think Detroit is really starting to play well. it all up for grabs when the playoffs start though.

so back to the NHL, im loving what Sidney Crosby is doing, he is the best right now, no question. I like the Nashville trade to get Forsberg although i dont think it will help them win the Cup. NHL on NBC--you arent going to get ratings when you have NY Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks on TV.

has anyone seen/heard Sam Beam of Iron & Wine solo before? he played at wonderful Pabst Theatre on Feb 8th in Milwaukee to a sold out crowd and it was one of the most beautiful shows ive seen. he is a gentle humble witty guy, soft-spoken yet powerful lyrics and guitar playing. i kept imagining that this is how a Nick Drake show would be if he was still around. amazing!!

nothing to do with italy but great reads nonetheless.... BUKOWSKI

i was wondering about the live version of We Would Never Die. Im assuming Nels Cline will be absent from the shows and his solo on that song is excellent. how was it recreated in the show?

ever since i saw tweedy solo live, ive enjoyed playinig Summerteeth and Was I In Your Dreams solo version.

i had this happen to me earlier this year. my Lacie drive crashed but i was able to recover my songs off my iPod and recopied back onto a different ex drive. it was a long annoying process. i need to get a bigger internal drive to store music and an ex drive to back up stuff. my computer and ex drive have both crashed so it makes me a worried man.

love and mercy (tweedy version) it is on my MySpace page.

ummm.. -10 in milwaukee

M Ward is my favorite right now. truly amazing! i saw his solo show in Chicago and i had the same feeling when i saw Tweedy solo for the first time. oh chilling!

i was excited to see M Ward worked with Chris Scruggs. im a fan.

any photos? i cant imagine what it looks like.

im coming from Wisc. so i will have to park in the neighborhood. i got lucky years back at a ryan adams show, got a parking spot on armitage.

is this recording from the Milwaukee solo show?

I enjoyed 9 Muses Acoustic Tavern, Pad Thai Restaurant, Happy Planet, LaurelThirst, I was hanging out a lot of the SouthEast side.

yes when the sun is shining. also from wisconsin, the Tillamook cheese is great. but i have to get back to cannon beach in the summer time. and also imbibe in more Bend beers and Deschuttes beer. quite tasty.

i actually enjoy the pedal for vocals. i hooked it into my mic and fooled around in love.

i decided to go with the DD3, so far i like it. the slapback echo (my main reason for getting it) is nice. but i like all the sounds and effects that you can get from it. only for $100.

i was at cannon beach two weeks ago, it was foggy and misty, couldnt see much but the waves created all these canals on the beachfront. it was quite cool.

im interested in using it for slapback echo, tape echo type sounds. ive looked at Boss website and found some settings that sounded alright. im gonna hit the music store tomorrow to have a one-on-one with the pedal.

ive been researching online (and guitar stores) for decent pedals. Looking at affordablity plus decent sounding and playability, what do you think about Boss DD3, Rocktron Short Timer, Danelectro DE-1 Dan Echo, Danelectro AS-1 Wasabi RockABye, DJ-3 BLT Echo..... im leaning toward the Boss DD3, seems decent, a lot of options on sound, durable. THe Danelectros are nice too but somewhat limited yet very affordable. help guitar pedallers!

what is stumptown? i had sushi at saburos. it was super, a huge plate of sushi, hell i even ate the sea eel sushi. yes the beer was great. A lot of good beer brewed from Bend, OR. I liked the Full Sail Ale.

I just returned from Portland OR. My friend moved out there to join his band. It is a pretty cool town, although it is the rain season so the weather sucked. I was looking forward to doing some outdoor activity but the clouds and fog and rain prevented it. The music scene is cool. I like that there are a lot of places for bands to perform. It has a great appreciation for the local music. 9 Muses Acoustic Tavern was one of my favorite places. I checked out Multnomah Falls, which was beautiful. I saw Mt. Hood only one day that i was there. Clouds were too low otherwise. I dont think i w

Herzog is great!! if you find Kinski a rage, check out My Best Fiend, a doc on the relationship between Kinski and Herzog. quite the doc. Fitzcarraldo is also a captivating film. My Best Fiend has a lot of footage during that film. great stuff.