Thursday, March 29, 2007

Dixie Mine Trail...Fountain Hills...Rattlesnake, Gila Monster, cool dips, and Brewers Cactus League...

Just got back from AZ hanging with friends and checking out the Brewers at spring training (Cactus League). It was cold (50s/60s) and raining when we arrived and the first game we attended got hailed out... imagine that in AZ. But it was a very nice trip.

We took a hike on the last day and my friend almost stepped on this rattlesnake:

rattlesnake in AZ - Dixie Mine Trail - soul amp

We were hiking to this spot (the Dixie Mine Trail):

http://www.fountainhillsguide.com/rec_hike_mcdmtn_dix.html


Very interesting....


The AZ trip inspired me to jot down some lyrics that might be a song someday:


you're snoring
you got to leave
I'm going to get some sleep
Going to eat some just desserts


Second in the pool
For the first time this season
Freezing cold in the afternoon
Trickle water splashing on toes


Reptillian stories
On the dusty slopes
Looking for precious metals
To smelt


Trash accumulates
Through the slowth growth forest
You cry out in fear
At the shape on the ground

oh... here's a Gila Monster we saw on the same walk....


gila monster in AZ - dixie mine trail - soul amp

Talk at you later.....

Top Ten Soul Amp Songs Here.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

An essay entitled,"The Reality of Guerilla Warfare"....from M2

The USA invades Iraq. It is called an invasion because we were not invited. We have heard several "reasons" for this invasion...

1.) To defend ourselves against a terrorist supporting government
2.) To liberate the Iraqi citizens from a tyranical government
3.)To protect American interests on foreign soil (drop the s, and it spells oil)...

Although completely and sickly corrupt, Saddam's Bathist regime did provide a sort of organized chaos to its citizens. They ruled by intimidation/fear. Standing on his flaccid pulpit, he did shake his ugly fist and threaten the world with his Napoleanic dreams. He was isolated, awaiting his inevitable demise by a civil war that broiled under society's surface...trapped in the stranglehold of a dominant allied airforce. The Iraqis couldn't let out a military fart without being precision bombed...Then we erred. We sent thousands of men and women in uniform into a theater of militant guerrillas. Even if we were able to squash the ongoing insurgency...rid the entire nation of "improvised explosive devices"...we would STILL be embroiled in a guerilla war. The ubiquitus AK-47 would be replaced by [original editted here] sabre..masked men leaping from doorways with kitchen knives. NEVER will our troops be safe to roam the streets of Baghdad without fear of a blindsided attack. Have we not learned from history? Here are some fairly recent examples of our forgetfulness: Viet Nam. Providing Iraq with CIA support against Iran. Providing Iran with missles in exchange for hostages. Providing CIA assistance to Osama bin Laden and the Taliban in Afghanistan in a guerilla war against the Soviets...or how about this?...remember how the Nazis rolled into Paris? Not much of a challenge to defeat the French military. BUT...the French Resistance fighters (guerillas) made their stay on French soil a daily hell. It didn't matter that the Resistance wasn't able to chase the Nazis out, they would have fought forever...as WE would if the USA was invaded. This war in Iraq..this whole debacle..was based on half truth's, lies, deceit, and an arrogant misconception of a realistic outcome. When will we learn? When?...When there is no one in uniform left on our home soil to defend the Motherland of America?..When the National Guard is too busy guarding someone else's nation to help out with the next Katrina? When we can't care properly for our Vets?..My cousin Patrick, an Army Ranger stationed in Baghdad, watched two of his buddy's burned alive in a roadside attack. There wasn't a damned thing any of them could have done to prevent this.

Yes, WAR IS HELL. It's to bad that the Cheif Warmongers don't understand..PEACE CANNOT BE FOUND IN HELL.It's time for True Patriots...for us...to stand up for those in uniform and GET THEM THE F*** OUT OF THERE!!!!...M

Sunday, March 11, 2007

M2 and Russ Feingold

Hey here's our very own M2 hanging out with Senator Feingold with his other band squarewavetrio :

http://www.squarewavetrio.com/pics.html

M2 and russ feingold - squarewave - soul amp
M2 (aka Michael Netteshiem) is the one on the far left. They were playing at Russ' birthday party. He was reported as saying that squarewave would get to play at the White House if Russ ever gets to be prez.... Maybe Soul Amp could warm up for them!... =)

Fisking.....

Ran across this today....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisking


yep, I was ego-surfing...

let's see what brad and M2 come up with on that....

Thursday, March 01, 2007

working late

So here I am working late again (at work work.... not working on music). I seem to do that a lot now. I have my brain on music much of the time though. I've worked on some new tunes and we got together last week and just made shit up. We have done that for the last couple of practices. And guess what? We have a gig at the HOG http://www.houseofguinness.com/ in Waukesha on Friday, April 27. We'll probably make shit up there as well... =)

It sometimes gets discouraging having so much work stuff hanging over my head... but music is definitely one of the thing that gets me through it all... in fact I'm lucky in that I can listen to music for much of the day (looking at it that way and I'm doing the ol' comparison thing of why should I complain when things are so good for me). Anyhow, some stuff I've been digging (and well listened to today) includes: Midlake "The Trials of Van Occupanther", GrizzlyBear "Yellow House", the Shins "Wincing the Night Away" (of course), Beirut "Gulag Orkestar", Bert Jansch "The Black Swan", My Bloody Valentine, Cat Power and just a bunch of other stuff...

I also listened to some of our scratch tunes we made last year... you know, some have potential like:

http://www.soul-amp.com/freebies/RipplesFromTheStone.mp3
http://www.soul-amp.com/freebies/FineThinLine.mp3
http://www.soul-amp.com/freebies/SettingTraps.mp3
http://www.soul-amp.com/freebies/TrappedInUrClothes.mp3

not sure these tunes will ever amount to anything and they are kind of rough as they were all recorded pretty much right as they were written... but having not listened to them for a long while and now checking them out again... I think there's some stuff there that might be all right to keep...

Anyhow, I would have to say that Soul Amp is still alive and kicking and we're going to get more material out there and hope that people like some of it. By the way, check out M2's been up to:

http://www.squarewavetrio.com

oh and here's a poem that M2 wrote that I though just rocked and fit on the day I read it:

sparkling silver swirls in an eddy of powdery snow_ hiding a dingy salted yesterday beneath it's squeeky crunch_ the evergreens, majestic, with white laden sagging limbs_ wise old men standing strong against the wind_ a squall so thick the earth becomes sky becomes earth becomes sky_ I am enamoured by it's beauty...and at peace with it's challenge

well that's it for now.... if you happen to read this, say hi....

talk at you later
-M1