Hello, Good Friend

If You're Feeling Worthless, This is Your Reminder: You Are Someone's Glue.

2011-12-21T05:06:00.016-05:00

It's 5:06 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.

I'm laying in a bed 30 miles outside of Chicago and can't seem to fall asleep. I guess I just have a lot on my mind.

Do you ever just get sick of yourself? I ask because right now, I'm sick of me. This isn't necessarily an uncommon or unusual feeling, and I'm sure everyone feels this way at some point, but it still, to be quite frank, totally sucks. I've been feeling like this a lot as of late, and I'm not entirely sure why. I have great friends. I like my job(s). I play in a band that tours pretty frequently. I make enough money to eat what I want. I have all of these wonderful privileges, yet I still can't seem to come to terms with how I am as a person. Although I don't know the exact source(s) of these feelings, I do, however, have a few ideas.

Hypothesis 1)
Because the people I have in my life are so great, I hold myself to a higher standard on a personal level. This bar is set so high that even the smallest, most minor inkling of a failure can sometimes throw me into a deep state of disappointment. Disappointment, coincidentally, is one of my biggest, deepest fears. If I'm not living up to expectations, either my own or those of a significant person in my life, I often find myself feeling like a complete and utter failure not worthy of interacting with other human beings (who are all clearly so much better at everything than myself).

Hypothesis 2)
I really need a change of scenery. In recent years, I seem to have (over)developed a sense of wanderlust; I long for a peripatetic lifestyle. Any time I stay in one place for too long I start to stagnate and begin to feel like I'm wasting my time. To get rid of these anomic feelings, I think I need to move on. Sure, tour is nice, but it comes far to infrequently, and I want to travel with even fewer confines and constraints.

When I stay in one place for too long I also feel like people begin to get sick of me, which I guess is understandable; sometimes I get sick of people too. I fall into the same, predictable patterns that tend to be repeated over and over and over and over again. I'm not sure why I feel this always seems to happen, but I can't seem to shake ennui's tight grip when it creeps up every few months.

Hypothesis 3)
I am artistically dry. I've had a lot of stuff happen to me this year, both good and bad. I've seen a little more than these green eyes can handle, felt more than my tiny heart has strength for and am here with the scars to prove it. With all of this potential inspiration, I can't seem to put anything together, whether through music or visual media. This is very frustrating to me, as art is my outlet for emotional release. I can't seem to get everything out on paper the way I feel it inside my head and heart.

Another facet of this hypothesis is the inability to share my art. Due to various mishaps, inflexibility and my desire for things to come out exactly how I want them to, I have little to show for my artistic endeavors. I need some way to validate my feelings; I need to know that I am not as alone as I think I am sometimes and that other people are going through the same things as me. I think I just need to relate and know that someone, somewhere is in emotional solidarity with me, and that everything is going to turn out fine.

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I know I haven't posted here, or honestly even thought about this thing in a very long time, but tonight I did my generation's version of flipping through old notebooks -- reading old blog posts. Sure, it tore open a couple scabs that were almost healed and reminded me of some scrapes and bruises that really hurt at the time (but really weren't all that bad after awhile), but reading through these posts really showed me how I tend to work in cycles.

It's an old adage, "Life is like a roller coaster." This phrase stuck around for a reason -- it's pretty darn accurate. Life has a lot of ups and downs. Sometimes it seems like you're careening straight into the ground, and the next thing you know, you're going up so fast it's hard to really tell what your surroundings are or how exactly you got there, but it's nice regardless. It's really fun to live "on the edge" and take your hands off the restraining safety bar, but sometimes you've just gotta hold on tight for fear of being slung out of the seat.

Basically, I think what I'm getting at is that life moves fast. Sometimes it's hard to keep (and sometimes catch) up, but I've always managed to do so, and I refuse to let this be the year that changes that. Sure, I've seen a lot of things that no one should have to see, but I can't let that bring me down. I can't wait for anyone else to "fix" my life, I have to do it myself, how I want and by my own means.

One old entry I read tonight really stood out to me, not necessarily because of the post itself, but an anonymous comment instead. The commenter said that my post made them feel better about the mistakes they have made and reminded them that they are in control of their life, to make changes as they see fit. To you, anonymous commenter, thank you for somehow stumbling onto a post I made a long time ago when I was sad and confused, much like I am right now, and reminding me that no matter how bad things may seem, there is always time to turn things around. We're in this together. I don't think you'll ever read this, but if you do, please know that you're not alone, and you're not a "pathetic freak" either. Everyone feels pathetic sometimes; believe me. And if you haven't yet, say hi. You don't have to tell me that you're the anonymous person, but I don't want anyone to ever be afraid to talk to me about anything.

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Tonight has been very confusing. I'm sorry if none of this makes sense. I need to make changes and make them soon. I don't know if I'll ever post here again, but doing this helped, so who knows. What I do know right now though is that despite everything, I refuse to sink.

To anyone that's ever doubted it: You are beautiful. You are worth it. You are not alone.

Paradise is Found In Our Beating Hearts...

2010-06-02T12:31:00.004-04:00

May was a busy month.

Aced all of my finals. Finished the semester with 7 As. College is easy.

May 1st - Savant, Snake Shark and the Broken Heart, and The Sounds That Machines Make @ Eyedrum. Fun show. It was supposed to be $10, but I got in for free. SS&B ruled.

May 2nd - Savant, Kadets, Archaeology, and Ridiculous Jacket @ WonderRoot. Weird show. Some really bad remarks were made and stuff turned ugly.

May 3rd - Witches, Dead Dog, and Josh Loner @ The Cat Cave. Awesome show, bad turnout.

May 5th - Jerry Fels, Sister Kisser, Southside Stranglers, Ralph, and Flex Your Head @ The Cat Cave. Crazy show. Andy Dick showed up. Seriously. The Sister Kisser guys were way sweet.

May 8th - The Wild, Small Talk, Giant Lion, and The Back Pockets @ WonderRoot. Dual CD release show for TBP and The Wild. Everyone did awesome. The perfect way to kick off summer.

May 9th - Some Mistakes, Paper Champion, Royalist, and others @ WonderRoot. Some Mistakes blew me away and Paper Champion were a lot of fun.

May 16th - Annabel, Very Magic, HisDayWillCome, Teenage Illiterates, Jerry Fels, Pat Jordace, and Josh Loner @ WonderRoot. Again, awesome show, but few people. Very Magic were insanely good.

May 17th - Stoked: The Band, Very Magic, Andy the Doorbum, The Hectagons, and The Emotron @ The Cat Cave. This show was a lot of fun. Every band sounded different, which is cool. Very Magic killed it again, and I might be asking them if they would let me put out a 7" or CD by them.

May 18th - Winston Troy, The Anchor, Shook Foil, Savanna Cameron, and Josh Rank @ WonderRoot. This was a good show. Shook Foil was fun and dance-y, Winston Troy was a total sweetheart, and The Anchor were cool dudes.

May 21st - Lemuria, Zlam Dunk, Bad Mammals, Savant, The Sunglasses, and Cover Your Head @ The Cat Cave. Way too many dumb people at this show. Bad Mammals reminded me a ton of one of my favorite bands, The Wunder Years. Might asked them to do a 7" or something.

May 26th - Snake Shark and the Broken Heart, Toby Foster, Eric Ayotte, and The Wild @ WonderRoot. Perfect show. FNB got moved to WonderRoot and everyone played awesomely. Eric's new CD is perfect. This show was the beginning of a wonderful 5 days.

May 27th - Mitch The Champion, Max Weiss, Madeline Ava, and Doctor Dinosaur @ The Birdhouse (in Knoxville, TN). It was great seeing old friends and making new ones. Mitch and Dr. D are awesome!

May 28th - 30th - Crucial Fun Fest 5 in Lexington, KY. The best weekend of my entire life. Tons of great bands, but more importantly, I got to see a ton of people that I love from all around the country. I wound up getting to play a short set too! Here's a list of bands I saw (that I can remember): Delay, The Sidekicks, Dead Dog, Timeshares, Sundials, Sean Bonette (of AJJ), Pedals On Our Pirate Ships, Pink Houses, Imperial Can, Doctor Dinosaur, Laura Stevenson and the Cans, The Pheramones, Madeline Ava, Toby Foster, Hop Along Queen Ansleis, Sister Kisser, Candy Hearts, Joe Mangum, Slugging Percentage, The Max Levine Ensemble, The Wild, Mischief Brew, Two Hand Fools, Vacation, Kepi Ghoulie, New Creases, Spraynard, Rudy Harts Mathilda, XERXES, You'll Get Yours, Chicken Little, Betty Crocker and the Rabid Youth, Plum Paws, Andy Gardner, Maryn Jones, Fry Hugs, Tristan Jemsek, American War, Max Weiss, Dylan Sizemore, and Ryan Starinsky.

May 31st - The Wild, Laura Stevenson and the Cans, and I Need Sleep @ The Poison Lawn (in Knoxville, TN). The Wild and Laura Stevenson did awesome, but I Need Sleep was super hip and super drunk. Kinda lame. Really sad to leave the next day.

Let's hope June can be just as awesome as May was!

These Hard Times Pass Fast Together, These Dreams Are Ours To Share Forever...

2010-05-04T23:39:00.003-04:00

April passed pretty quickly. Here's what happened.

April 1st: Jason Anderson, The Wild (acoustic), and Grey Milk @ The Carpet Bag in Athens. Fun show. Made some new friends and got a free pair of shoes. Gonna ask Jason if he wants to do a split 7" with The Wild sometime towards the end of the summer.

April 11th: Read In Watermelon Sugar, by Richard Brautigan. Good book, read it.

April 25th: Joe Mangum, Tense Kids, Andy Gardner, Captain #1, Drew Kohl, and Trench Party @ The Cat Cave. Not many people showed up, but it was great seeing Anthony and Joe again. Joe is coming down to Atlanta soon to play drums in The Wild. That's one of his favorite bands, and I'm really excited for him.

April 26th: Pink Houses, Toby Foster, Spoonboy, imadethismistake, Matt Casciano, Christ Lord @ The Cat Cave. Awesome show. Attendance was alright. Toby and Kylewilliam gave me their new albums, and both are amazing. It's always great seeing all of these people, especially in the same place at the same time. Witt gave me a copy of the new Wild CD on Asian Man. So good! My first day back at WonderRoot is the night of their CD release show. So excited!

That's about it. May is going to be a really busy, but hopefully awesome month.

So I Let My Cellphone Drop Low Down Beneath The Driver's Seat...

2010-04-05T23:38:00.005-04:00

"...and I pulled off on the shoulder and stared hard across at Mexico at some space station looking refinery. There was a puff of smoke like a dragon's cough off the tops of that factory. So me, I joked aloud, "I wonder if they make clouds?" instead of guns and robots and machinery, and I put my foot back on the pedal, and I pulled off really slow into the loneliness and the darkness of El Paso..."
~Jason Anderson, "El Paso"

March passed quickly. It was a busy month, but in a good way, for the most part.

3 / 9 -- Busman's Holiday, mulleigh, White Light Forest Choir @ The Cat Cave. Busman's Holiday consists of the sweetest people ever. They play some pretty great music too. I might be going to grad school in the town they're from. You can download their album for free (legally) here: http://www.ifyoumakeit.com/album/busmans-holiday/old-friends/

3 / 11 -- Biggest show I've set up to date. Defiance Ohio, This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb, Toby Foster, The Wild, Savant, Outpatients @ The Cat Cave. There were well over 200 people crammed in our basement. Amazing show.

3 / 13 -- Small Talk @ The Garbage House. One of the last shows at that place. It was fun. Small Talk consists of my really good friend Alec, his brother, and Alex. Fun times and tea + Super Smash Brothers for N64 afterwards.

3 / 14 -- The Wild, Pedals On Our Pirate Ships, Campaign, Sundials, me @ The Cat Cave. All of the bands did well, but the show was poorly attended. And our basement was way muddy. Stupid leaky walls!

3 / 15 -- Hop Along, Lithuania, Dangerous Ponies, The Long Shadows @ WonderRoot. Another poorly attended show. Hop Along ruled, as always. There was a crust punk show at The Cat Cave that I missed to be here.

3 / 19 -- Maribelle, Earth Shaking Samba, John Wayne @ WonderRoot. Another poorly attended WonderRoot show. Maribelle did great, but the other bands were kinda meh. Waffle House at 3AM, and Aaron and Dara stayed the night. It was fun.

3 / 20 -- Flex Your Head, Outpatients, Matt Casciano, Josh Loner, me @ The Cat Cave. This my friend KT's birthday party. A bunch of people I didn't know from Lawrenceville were there (that's where KT, Johnny, and Bob are from), and I was the only non-Lawrenceville person playing. Kinda weird. Broke a string. Met some nice people though.

3 / 26 -- Senders, The Wild, Trench Party. Bad night. Blew a mixer. Small crowd. Alex's car got stolen. Got asked to play, but I feel like it would've been really awkward.

3 / 31 -- Jason Anderson, Your Favorite Mixtape, Jack Carter @ WonderRoot. Jason Anderson is one of the most beautiful, inspiring people I've ever had the pleasure of coming in contact with. Dianna and Edric played fun covers. Jack Carter did swell as well. You can download a ton of Jason's stuff on his website for free, but you really need to see him live: http://www.jasonandersonswebsite.com/albums.html

You can find videos from nearly all of these shows here: http://www.youtube.com/user/DakotaFloyd

Other things that happened: Decided to buy a new electric guitar soon, and am selling stuff in an attempt to make a little money. All prices negotiable:
* Peavey VK112 Tube Amp with footswitch - ~$300.
* Morley volume pedal - ~$50.
* Fender Tuner Pedal - ~$15
* Rogue 5-string banjo - ~$75 - 100
* Rogue a-style mandolin - ~$35
* Rogue 200w guitar amp - ~$125
* Oscar Schmidt Delta King semi-hollowbody electric guitar - ~$50

Got some new records and books. Started looking at grad schools. I think I want to get a Master's in Non-Profit Management.

As of now I have just over a month left at this miserable cesspool of a school until summer. I absolutely cannot motivate myself to do anything here. It’s getting ridiculous. A lot of people say they love college, but if given the opportunity I would graduate tomorrow. If I had the choice, actually, I would've graduated a year ago. At this point, I want to find somewhere to call “home,” whatever that means, and help build a community that I actually want to live in. I want to make new, real friends. Right now I feel so distant from everyone and everything I hold dear, and it’s driving me insane. I have terrible anxiety about everything these days. I'm constantly filled with ennui. I’m ready to start living a life I want to lead, not being strangled by someone else's shadow. I’m ready to start making progress instead of sitting here, stagnant on an apathetic campus in a dead beat town. But instead of simply moving on and doing the things I just mentioned, I'm attempting to mollify everyone's anger and assuage their anxieties about my discontent towards this terrible institution by staying. Doesn't make much sense does it? Guess it's just one of the many personality flaws that I have.

For more up-to-date updates, go here: http://www.dakotafloyd.com

You Couldn't Breathe With All Those Doctors By Your Side, But You're Talking To Me

2010-03-05T19:36:00.000-05:00

February was a pretty bad month.

2nd -- My grandmother passed away. She had been sick for awhile and everyone saw it coming, but that doesn't make it hurt any less. It's hard to lose a best friend, you know? This happened a few days before my granddad's birthday. He's still pretty upset about it, which is completely understandable; how could one not be? I'm staying with him a few days over my spring break.

8th -- This was a good night. Show at The Cat Cave. mulleigh, Savant (their first show!), Trench Party, Imperial Can, The Wild, and Mount Righteous. All of the bands did amazing. You can see some videos I recorded here: http://www.youtube.com/user/DakotaFloyd

20th -- Picked up my new amp. Fender Hot Rod DeVille 410. My Peavey VK112 is now for sale (you should buy it). Painting at Eyedrum. Another show at The Cat Cave. This one didn't go quite so well due to a lot of negative factors. archaeology, Savant, imadethismistake, Giant Lion, Red Sea. Needless bullcrap happened and made the show kind of miserable after the first two bands.

22nd -- Fun show at WonderRoot. Hanging out with old friends and making new ones. Poorly attended, but oh well. It happens. Jenny is a Boy, Neil Cane, World's Smallest Puzzle, Trench Party.

28th -- Ordered new speakers and cables for The Cat Cave. Bringing my mixer down over spring break.

So there you have it. I'm ready for Summer so I can get out of this hole of a college. I hate it here so much. Isolation. Anxiety. Ennui. Anomie. Loneliness. I don't belong here, despite how much everyone tells me I do. You have no idea who I am; I know what is right for me and what isn't more so than you.

I Used To Be An Awesome Listener, But Now I Just Drift Out...

2010-02-14T17:30:00.004-05:00

"...or get pulled away by beats and measures like I don' t have a choice but failure and running from a brighter future."
~ Bomb the Music Industry!, "You Still Believe In Me?"

So, January. I'm trying to remember anything that happened. February is really the month to talk about, and it's not even halfway over.

Hmmmm...

January...

1st -- Saw a band called Thy Mighty Contract play. Amazing.
4th -- My buddies Spraynard got their new album, "Cut and Paste" featured on IfYouMakeIt. Download it for free here!
7th -- Went to the optometrist. My eyes are still getting worse.
8th -- Pop-punk covers show that kind of sucked at WonderRoot. 4 out of 6 bands dropped off.
11th -- Watched the movie "Rappin'."
13th -- Classes started back. I'm taking 7. They're all fairly easy. Surprise.
30th -- Watched "Ernest Goes To Camp" for the first time in years.

That's about it. What a cold and boring month.

What Is The Point Of Saving My Name In This Town?

2010-01-03T00:41:00.000-05:00

Oh 2009. Spring was bearable, Summer was absolutely incredible, Fall was terrible.

In some ways 2009 was the best year of my life. In many others, it was the worst.

The good:
Met so many amazing, inspiring, and just downright great people.
Went on tour.
Saw a bunch of good shows.
Started eating a lot more consciously.
Lived on my own for awhile.

The bad:
After the summer I became completely un-enthused towards nearly everything. Lonely and depressed.
Still stuck at a crappy school because I care about how other people feel, even though I can't truthfully seem to say as much for the other person.
Technically still living at home.
Got two speeding tickets, one when my speedometer was broken.
Let people use and take advantage of me like I always do.

In 2009, more people walked into my life than out, totally unlike last year. Unfortunately, I am almost being forced to walk out of theirs, due to my current static location. Talking on the Internet, seeing each other every few months, and getting an occasional text can only do so much, you know?

As always, I have no resolutions for the new year. This way, I can't get mad at myself when I fail in sticking to anything.

To 2010, let's hope this year is better than the last.

Oh, and PS, in case you were wondering, 5 As and a B+ this semester. Not too bad for never studying or trying, eh?

This Will Be Our Last November, I'm Praying I Make It Through December...

2009-12-06T00:37:00.002-05:00

Well, it's December. It snowed here earlier today. Woohoo?

November was a waste. That's about all there is to it. No real redeeming qualities to it.

At this point, I'm just waiting for the year to drown.

Chasing The Only Meaningful Memory [I] Thought [I] Had Left...

2009-11-02T23:56:00.002-05:00

Well, there went October.

October was a good month for music / entertainment. Check this out:
1st -- Slingshot Dakota + The Wild
6th -- Devidasa
7th -- Blink 182
16th -- Imperial Can + Up The Puppets!
17th -- Ben Kronberg
24th -- Copeland
31st -- Madeline Ava + Joe Mangum

Other than that, October was decent. Not particularly good, not particularly bad. Going to all those shows made me miss Atlanta insanely bad.

I started planning two more tours. One this Winter for a little over a week up to Chicago. Similar route to this summer. Leaving on my birthday, getting back by Christmas. The other one is a nearly three week trip up to NYC then Canada in the summer. I really hope I don't have to do that one alone, but I will if need be. I have an overactive sense of wanderlust. Sometimes I hate that about me, among other things. Anyway, tentative schedules are posted at the bottom of this blog. Everything is a vague idea right now, and totally subject to change.

I wrote three new songs in October. Played a couple shows. Bought an overdrive pedal. Started looking at a new amp.

TOUR SCHEDULES:
Winter '09
December
14th -- Atlanta, GA
15th -- Hayesville, NC
16th -- Knoxville, TN
17th -- Lexington, KY
18th -- Indianapolis, IN
19th -- Chicago, IL
20th -- Chicago, IL (DAY OFF -- watching Allison Weiss)
21st -- DAY OFF (family time)
22nd -- DAY OFF (family time)
23rd -- drive back for the holidays

Summer '10
Late July / Early August (no exact dates yet)
Atlanta, GA
Athens, GA
Greenville, SC
Charlotte, NC
Lynchburg, VA
Richmond, VA
Washington, DC
Philadelphia, PA
New York City, NY
Buffalo, NY
Toronto, ON
London, ON
Lansing, MI
Columbus, OH
Cincinnati, OH
Lexington, KY
Knoxville, TN
Hayesville, NC
Blairsville, GA

My City's Still Breathing (But Barely, It's True)...

2009-10-01T00:16:00.003-04:00

...through buildings gone missing like teeth. The sidewalks are watching me think about you, all sparkled with broken glass. I'm back with scars to show. Back with the streets I know. They never take me anywhere but here. Those stains in the carpet, this drink in my hand, these strangers whose faces I know. We meet here for our dress-rehearsal to say " I wanted it this way" and wait for the year to drown. Spring forward, fall back down. I'm trying not to wonder where you are. All this time lingers, undefined. Someone choose who's left and who's leaving. Memory will rust and erode into lists of all that you gave me: some matches, a blanket, this pain in my chest, the best parts of Lonely, duct-tape and soldered wires, new words for old desires, and every birthday card I threw away. I wait in 4/4 time. Count yellow highway lines that you're relying on to lead you home."
~The Weakerthans, Left and Leaving

So another month has come to a close. September went pretty quickly, and October has officially been born; it's hard to believe it's getting to be time for midterms already.

I've been thinking a lot about the ephemerality of life lately. Every month I find myself saying "I can't believe it's _________ already." When am I going to start doing something important with my life instead of just wasting every week away, unhappy with my accomplishments, or rather the lack there of? When will every day become something I look forward to experiencing? Or at least three a week (can't get too optimistic here...)? Heck, at this point I'd settle for a consistent one good day a week. I want to live with a thirst for learning and a passion for the well-being of others. I haven't felt that in a long time.

So, Fall is my favorite season. For one, it feels amazing. It's weather where I can wear a hoodie and shorts and feel great...on most days at least. I also like Fall, I think, because it's the beginning of the end of the year. It's the in between of the frenetic pace of trying to have a summer to remember and cramming in all of the things that can't feasibly be achieved by 11:59PM, December 31st; it's the time before the realization sinks in that I have wasted yet another year of my life on pointless, trite things, and there's nothing I can do to change it. Fall is also the Earth's time to relax. Trees don't have to worry about maintaining green, healthy leaves until Spring rolls back around. It's time for the animals and farmers alike to gather in their harvests and prepare for the cold, cold winter. And there's just something about the way those cool Autumn breezes taste on those mid-50, sunny days that never fails to bring me back to my (earlier) childhood. Jumping in my granddad's leaf piles, I swear I was infinite. Fall does not question, but instead is there, empathizing; we both know what is coming in a few months, but there's no way to fight it.

But enough of that Romantic jargon. It's October, and I'm still hanging on.

I know these posts usually serve as status updates, so here ya go:

-- I still like American Lit II. We just started My Antonia, and it's pretty good. Really excited to start poetry the week after next. My other classes? I'm doing fine in them, but I could do without them.

-- Fall Break starts next Friday. I'm ready for it.

-- I bought a pretty good amount of recording equipment and a new guitar. Music coming soon? Maybe?

-- It is freezing in my room.

-- I feel pretty alone on this campus, even more so than last year.

Yep. Bye.

[I'd] Prefer Say Nothing At All...

2009-09-07T02:58:00.004-04:00

"...than have to endure talk of the small variety."
~Owen, "Amnesia and Me"

It's 2:58 in the morning. I've had three hours of sleep in the past two days. Here is a blog.

School has started back for me. I'm still at Berry. It's still easy. I have two jobs on total opposite ends of the spectrum. I miss Atlanta. I miss Bloomington and Knoxville.

Classes I'm taking: American Literature II, Spanish 102, Speech, World Religions, History of Rock and Roll, Symphonic Band. American Lit is definitely my favorite, and I'm actually thinking about ditching my music minor and switching to English. Or Sociology. Maybe both. I dunno. My heart isn't in music classes; I make the music I want, I don't want or need to obey the rules of music theory. Plus, with music classes you're playing someone else's art, which is strange to me. Yes, things can be relatable, but I haven't related to anything I've played so far.

Jobs I'm working: Krannert Center Activities Board. Yay organizing events on campus. Everyone in this is overly enthusiastic about everything. It's weird. Job number two = Assistant Activities Coordinator at Mercy Senior Care. Here, most everyone is on their way out, for lack of a better term, and knows it. Thus, they're not too enthusiastic. It's a strange combination, but whatever.

I just got back to Blairsville around 10:30. I normally wouldn't come back, but my grandmother broke her hip and is in the hospital. I was working in Atlanta Friday, Saturday, and most of today (hence the miniscule amount of sleep), but tomorrow I'm going to spend with my grandmother. Breaking a hip is one of those cliche old people things that everyone laughs at until it happens to someone they know. It sucks. But lots of things are like that.

As soon as I get my next paychecks I'm going to buy some recording stuff and at least record a solo CD. A decent amount of people have been asking me to, and I'm starting to play solo more and more often so I kind of need something just in case anyone likes my terrible songs.

Blahblahblah. I don't like posting on here, but I feel like I need to for some reason. I dunno. On my other, far more interesting blog I never really make long posts. I feel like I need to sometimes and this seems to be the best spot. http://www.dakotafloyd.com is where you should go for play-by-play accounts of my failures and occasional triumphs. Yup.

So Long. It's Been Forever...

2009-08-08T19:02:00.004-04:00

Hi, old friend. It's been awhile. I've been busy with things, and I'm sure you have too. I know we promised to keep in touch, but you know how those things work. No one ever stays around too long.

Yesterday I finished up a 16 day tour. It was pretty awesome. I'm in Blairsville again until Tuesday, when I'm playing in Lawrenceville. Then I'm playing in Atlanta the next night, and the day after that it's back to good ol' Berry ~~High School~~ College. I have to go about a week earlier than most everyone else due to my on campus job.

Yesterday was also the day of my last show in the North Georgia area for a pretty good while. For real this time. How long that while will be, I don't know. Just awhile. I feel like I've really lost touch with everything / everyone up here, and it just doesn't feel right anymore.

This post isn't to complain or anything, but rather just to say thanks. Thanks to anyone who ever came to a show, helped promote, bought merch from bands, donated, took pictues, listened, filmed, spoke kind words, hung out before or after shows, helped clean up, anything. People like you are why this crazy thing I started doing four years ago lasted as long as it did. During that span, over 100 different bands played, if you can believe that (I have a list if for some reason you can't)...

This town has broken my heart a lot of times, but made me happier than I could ever imagine at others. If any of you ever need to talk about anything, and I mean anything, I'll always be here. Message me for my phone number, email address, mailing address (yes, I still use "snail" mail), instant messaging handle, or whatever if you don't already have them. Spending nearly my whole life in a dumpy little town, going to college, and then living in a city has taught me a lot. If you're feeling abandoned or inadequate, there is hope. There is always hope. And even if you're not having any problems with anything, I still want to hear from you. Feel free just to say hello sometime; it's always nice to hear a friendly voice these days.

So yea. That's all. Thanks for the memories. Please continue to support local music and art. Without either of those things, what would life be?

Thank You For Your Thoughts, But I'm Done...

2009-06-15T02:58:00.002-04:00

I can't do this anymore. I can't keep faking smiles. All of my well-wishing. Do I still have to call this a hometown if it's not my home? I've watched the things I've worked at fall apart. I've watched people I thought I knew morph into complete strangers. All of this in the span of a few months.

I've been back in Blairsville for all of two days, and I just want to die. No, not because there's "nothing to do," because there's plenty to do if you know where to look, but because of the small town mentality that most everyone around here holds. Grow up a little bit. Get some compassion. Think about someone other than yourself for once. Find something you believe in and fight for it. It doesn't matter what, just believe in something. I honestly, and literally, don't know how I survived here for 18 years. Before some people start flipping out, I'm not knocking Blairsville itself, and yes, there are some good people here; I rationalize below, and this is all just my opinion. You can have your own. That's allowed. Well. Maybe. It's hard to tell these days.

For a long time I never knew whether I would rather live in the mountains or a city. After being in Atlanta for not even three weeks, I've made my decision. In cities people take a stand for what they believe in. If there's something they dislike, they won't let it fall by the wayside. People in cities are generally more welcoming as well, at least that's been my experience in every single large city I've ever been to. In Atlanta I feel like I'm actually making a difference and playing an active role in bettering my community. I'm also in the beginning stages of starting a book to prisoners program for the entire state of Georgia. If I had tried to do something like this in Blairsville, it probably would've been shot down by the church and my family's name would be "tarnished" for years to come for trying to do something nice for people who made some mistakes.

The same type things probably would happen at Berry too, just another reason I can't stay there either. Berry, in a lot of ways, is more "sheltered," for lack of a better term, than even good ol' Union County High School. At least at UCHS there's an official group for gay/lesbian/bi students now (I think). Berry doesn't even allow that, or a pro-choice group, labeling those as "special interest" groups. Uhm...What group isn't a special interest group? I myself am not a homosexual, but really? Shouldn't people be allowed to organize and affiliate themselves with like-minded individuals?

So, I guess here's my question. I haven't felt at home in Blairsville since I was a sophomore in high school. Do I still have to call it my hometown? I'm not at all at home in Rome either, so that's out. I love Atlanta, but I'm only going to be there until the end of July, so that can't be my home. Where's your heart supposed to be when you're homeless? If someone has an answer for that question, please let me know.

Garage Sale. Saturday. I Need To Pay My Heart's Outstanding Bills...

2009-05-26T03:22:00.001-04:00

...A cracked-up compass and a pocket watch, some plastic daffodils, the cutlery and coffee cups I stole from all-night restaurants, a sense of wonder (only slightly used), a year or two to haunt you in the dark, a wage-slave forty-hour work week (weighs a thousand kilograms, so bend your knees) — comes with a free fake smile for all your dumb demands, the cordless razor that my father bought when I turned 17, a puke-green sofa, the outline to a complicated dream of dignity, and a laugh (too loud and too long). For a place where awkward belongs, or a phone call from far away with a “Hi, how are you today,” and a sign that recovery come to broken ones. Or best offer.
~ The Weakerthans

Hello Internet.

In less than 6 hours I'll be waking up to head to Atlanta for the summer. I'm really excited. If you're ever around Little Five Points / Decatur, give me a ring.

I've been thinking a lot about life lately, mine specifically. I'm turning 20 this year...what do I have to show for myself? A nice CD collection. Some flyers. A few scars. More memories and sleepless nights (both good and bad) than I can count. Sometimes I think that these things are meaningless, but I know to someone they meant something at some point in time. At least most of them. I feel like I could have utilized my time a lot better, though. I wish I would have gotten hints sooner, or at least actually done something about them when I did get them. I wish I knew the right words to say. I wish that I had actually changed things or made any real difference at all, in anything. But I didn't. I guess the best I can do now is aim high, for whatever I decide to do, and go with it, hoping to God that it doesn't fail like most of the things I've tried to do over the past few years.

Summer just started, and I'm already dreading the fall. Going back to Berry College for at least one more semester is going to be torture. I can't stand that place, the people, the atmosphere, anything. Maybe I should just ex-communicate myself from all society? ...Or just try somewhere else, and hope I'm not exiled there too. I really feel like I'm wasting my life at Berry, and apparently these are supposed to be some of the best days I get. If that's really the case, I'm going to hate seeing the worst.

I wish I knew how to change the things in my head into words on a page, but that's not happening. At least not right now.

Goodbye Internet.

Happiness Writes White...

2009-05-03T03:29:00.001-04:00

April update.

Wow, what a fast month. April was, for the most part, great.

1. I finished writing the rest of the seasons. It's all ready to be recorded. It's happening this month, if all goes according to plan.

2. I started reading a fantastic book called One Hundred Years of Solitude. It's by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. You should read it.

3. Had many good times with friends, namely AJ, Mitch, Carlos, Cory, Luke, Lauren, and Nicole.

4. Got my summer internship at WonderRoot approved.

Lots of other things happened, but I can't remember them at the moment. Check the blog I actually use on a regular basis for more updated, in depth stuff. http://www.dakotafloyd.com

I Make My Own Memorials...

2009-04-04T04:59:00.003-04:00

A little late, but here's a March update.

March went by extremely quickly. Played a couple fun shows. Took a couple midterms. Wrote a couple songs. Things are going well. Band decided to record the week after graduation. We should be ready by then. I entered a 48 hour film challenge on campus and got third place.

It's 5 in the morning, and I just got back from playing at a Relay for Life benefit show. There's not too much to say about March. See you guys around Easter? Maybe?

The Best Books Of Our Lives Are Being Written All The Time...

2009-03-09T00:41:00.000-04:00

Everything that dies or burns doesn't simply go away, but actually becomes part of the light, illuminating everything. If you look into the light and how it plays off of everything just right, you can almost see all of the things that have died or the memories you have long since left behind.

Those are (basically) the words of Julian Koster of The Music Tapes. I drove 2 1/2 hours from Rome to Athens to see him play at The 40 Watt last night. Some of the things he said and sang really hit home for me.

I'm sorry if I seem distant.
I'm sorry if I've ever let you down.
I'm sorry if I've ever wronged you in any way, chances are, it wasn't intentional.

I'm just another awkward kid who has no idea where life is taking him. Most mornings I wake up with no aspirations for the day, just ready for it to be over, and that is no way to live. Last night, The Music Tapes' set really woke me up and reminded me of the things I have to live for, of the people that have positively affected my life, of some of the best times of my life.

That being said, I encourage you all to look into the light and remember something worthwhile. Not just something worthwhile, but your fondest memory. Try to remember it as vividly as you can. Now write that memory down on a piece of paper, not showing it to anybody. Kind of like a birthday wish, if you tell anyone your wish, it won't come true; this memory is yours and yours alone. Now take the paper outside and burn it. From this point onward, that memory can always be found in the light. You can talk about that memory, but never tell anyone what it was that you burned.

Really. Try this.

That's all for now.

If You Ain't Up To It, I'll Let It Die...

2009-02-24T01:24:00.001-05:00

February Monthly Update. I know you're elated.

February flew past.

The show on the 13th was awesome. We all messed up quite a few times, but I think we were the only ones who noticed. Most of our set got recorded if you would like to see it. http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=DakotaFloyd&view=videos Excuse the terrible video work. You can thank my friend Jesse for that. At the moment, we don't have any other shows planned, but I'm working on that. I know I'll be playing solo with Allison Weiss, The Wild, and Danny Rangel on March 20th at the skatepark, though. Hint: You should come. Also, I'm working on setting up a short tour for this summer. The first step, however, is to find a vehicle that will hold all our stuff. I really don't wanna deal with the whole trailer thing.

Classes are going well. Work is going slow, and I need more hours. My job every day I go in is to talk to a man with Alzheimer's about the same things. Everyday.

I helped film a TV show called The Conference Room a couple weeks ago, and it is now online:
http://vikingfusion.berry.edu/index.php/entertainment/the_conference_room/

The old friends I talked about in my last post have pretty much fully left, only asking me for occasional favors, while new friendships are budding. It's time to move on.

There have been so many things on my mind lately. I haven't been getting enough sleep, and have been gaining weight. Why can't I just focus?

I can't wait to get out of here.

EDIT: The month finished up well with Scion Rock Fest. I got kicked in the face during Converge, but it was amazing. All of it. Next time Converge comes to Georgia, I'm there.

Remember How We Used To Talk...

2009-01-25T19:09:00.000-05:00

...just one night, we’d tear the world apart, but now we need a drink to even start.
~Sam King

As January draws to a close, it's time for a monthly update.

I've been back at school for not even two weeks, but it's felt like months. I think it may be because I'm actually doing things on weeknights and have been staying busy. I'm taking the maximum number of hours Berry allows (again), plus going to band practice and work.

Lots of things have been coming together nicely this month. Stoked: The Band found a drummer that's really, really good. I'm moving in with Luke (lead guitar in Stoked) on the 26th. I'm a shoe-in for KCAB (the activities board that decideds basically everything that goes on on campus), according to one person in it, that I've only talked to her twice in my entire life. All of my classes are relatively easy, even though I am taking 9. Things are going great in that department, which is ironic because I'm planning to transfer next Spring.

Despite all of these positive things, not all of the changes since break have been good. Over the break, two of the best friendships I had crumbled. Although I have plenty of other people to hang out with, there's a hole in my chest. It's almost as if they had their memories erased and forgot that we used to be close.

But anyway, that's pretty much January. Lots of good, some bad, making this month bittersweet.

Oh and to anyone thinking about Berry: If you want to be academically challenged, this is probably not the place to come. Although there are indeed some tough professors, most of them baby all of their students along. And Rome is pretty much just like Blairsville, except a little closer to Atlanta. If you want out of the small town mentality, this isn't the place for you.

The Drums Kicked In With the Bass...

2009-01-22T02:11:00.000-05:00

...and you guys sounded so good together."
~ Paul Baribeau

So, I usually hate all of my songs, but tonight Luke, Alex, and I played together for the first time. Like magic, everything came together amazingly on the very first try, and we actually sound really, really good. Our first show is Friday, February 13th on campus. If you can make it, it'd mean the world to me.

That is all I have to say right now, other than congratulations President Obama!

I Was Born In A Hospital Bed...

2009-01-11T06:04:00.005-05:00

...and that's where I'll return.
~Real Live Tigers

So, I'm starting this post at 5:01 in the morning. Technically, it's Sunday the 11th. I'm not going to edit or proofread this at all, so what comes out, comes out, whether you like what I'm saying or not.

Yesterday evening I saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the movie is based off of F. Scott Fitzerald's book of the same title. WARNING: Possible spoilers. The main premise is Benjamin Button, the story's protoganist, is born with the appearance of old man and is aging backwards. Benjamin experiences all sorts of things and gains the wisdom of an old man at a relatively young age, but throughout the story his body slowly begins to rejuvenate. While everyone is getting older, Benjamin keeps getting younger, eventually dying in his lover's arms as a baby. Blah, blah, blah you've seen the previews, or actually, you've probably seen the movie by now. Although it didn't live up to the hype, in my opinion, it was still a really, really good movie.

By the time it ended, it really had me thinking of how ephemeral and fleeting our lives are. Basically, by the end of the movie I realized how bleak and meager my 19 year existence on this Earth has been up to this point. Really, what have I accomplished? What differences have I made on my peers, the community around me, the world? To my knowledge, very few.

But this all could be changed. To quote the movie, "it's never too late...to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit. Start whenever you want. You can change or stay the same. There are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it . . . Some people, were born to sit by a river. Some get struck by lightning. Some have an ear for music. Some are artists. Some swim. Some know buttons. Some know Shakespeare. Some are mothers. And some people, dance." Basically, this is not only a plea to everyone, but also to myself. Your life is your life. Don't be afraid to take chances. Don't be afraid to say "hello," but also be ready to say "goodbye." Don't forget to take the time to smell the roses. Always forgive; we're all human. Don't leave anything unsaid, and live each day like it's your last. Disregard all of this if you want to; your life is what you make it. Find your own true answers...They're there if you look.

I know I probably won't follow through with this as much as I'd like to, but I'm not where I want to be in my life right now. I know that I can change this, though. What am I doing? For one, I'm doing something that is important to me instead of working a mindless job or just lazing around at home this summer. I'm going to be living in Atlanta, working at a non-profit, community run art space called WonderRoot. Basically, WonderRoot helps with pretty much any kind of art you could think of at zero cost to the individual. For two, I'm planning on going vegan this summer. For three, as soon as I get enough credits (not all of my stupid, private school Berry credits will transfer) I'm planning on transfering to The University of Georgia in Athens. While there, I'm planning on participating in the local Food Not Bombs chapter, as well as adding my little part to the DIY scene. My main focus with this is to help build community and to encourage kindness to strangers, not for praise, but because it's the right thing to do. I want to do something that has a tangible impact on my surroundings. All of these things may sound unimportant or not worthwhile to you, but that's just it...that's to you. To me, I hold these things dear and want to do as much as I can with them.

Some days I feel like I'm on top of the world, but to be totally honest, I usually just want to die. If that is the case, then why am I still here? Because I know that there has to be something good and worthwhile somewhere inside of me; I just haven't found it yet. What I want to do with my life isn't make a lot of money, drive a nice car, or own a big house. What I want to do is help people. What I want to do is make people smile. I want to find something that makes me happy then share it with everyone I see. I want to open my crowded, crazy heart to everyone I meet. I'm not sure how I'm going to achieve this yet, but I have a lifetime to figure it out. I just want to make a difference. I just hope that someday I'll be important to someone, that I can find the sound of another heartbeat to match up with mine. When my day comes, I don't want to be remembered as a lawyer, or a businessman, or a whatever...I want to be remembered as a friend, as a mentor, as the stranger that chased someone down when he saw that they had dropped five dollars on the sidewalk.

I don't really know where I was going with this post or why I even started it to begin with, for that matter. Basically, don't be afraid to live life the way you want to. "I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things that you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life that you're proud of, and if you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again."

It's 6:04AM, and I have nothing left to say, but at the same time so much on my mind. Sorry if you read all of this.

I've Always Wanted to Wash Out With the Rain...

2008-12-31T05:25:00.000-05:00

2008 was a strange year. It wasn't necessarily good, it wasn't necessarily bad, it was just a year.

I graduated from high school and started college.
I released some more CDs.
I set up some shows, most of which were poorly attended (thanks).
I started a new band.
I started writing a zine.
I made some new friends, while others walked out of my life still holding on to some piece of me.
I let people walk all over me.

Basically, I accomplished nothing in 2008. Here's to hoping my life won't lack meaning in 2009.

So what are my plans for the new year?

Live in Atlanta this summer (come see me).
Record a CD and go on at least a short tour of some kind.
Probably still let people walk all over me.
Get rid of all of the instruments I don't play anymore.
Participate in at least one critical mass in Atlanta.
Help with Food Not Bombs when I can.
Vegan by summer.
Find something that makes me happy and hold on to it.

Any reflections on 2008? Any plans for the new year? Post away!

I Didn't Believe You When You Said That Life Is Easy...

2008-12-25T00:34:00.003-05:00

...I can guarantee you that these winter blues are real."
~Arkansas?

Well, another month is almost down the drain. What's been happening?

I made Dean's List. 6 As, 3 Bs. Woo.

I've decided that as soon as I can I'm going to probably transfer to UGA. Rome, Georgia just isn't doing it for me. Unfortunately, since Berry is a private school, I'll probably have to wait until Spring of next year to do so, due to some of my credits not transfering. Yargh. I really don't want to leave the few friends that I've made behind, but I really feel like I'm limiting myself at Berry. It feels like college jr.; at Berry they baby you through everything. Oh, and it's hella expensive. On top of the ridiculous tuition, they nickel and dime you every chance they get.

Stoked: The Band played two shows this month. Well, technically, one (because I played one of them solo), but whatever. The first one was at WonderRoot in Atlanta, and it went decently. For once it wasn't me screwing up the songs; Luke messed up a lot. It was fun, but I think we sounded like crap. The second one was the next day in Hayesville. It was a lot of fun, but not many people showed up. Basically, I had a venue 3 weeks prior, but they bailed 2 days before. It was fun, though, and I think Allison, AJ, and Dylan made at least gas money. I hope. I don't care about crowds for me, just other people.

I just got back from a week in Chicago. It was in the negative degrees like half the time I was there. I was starting to get used to it, though; one night I was out in 25 degree weather with just a t-shirt and felt fine. This was one of the best trips so far. I got to spend a couple days with some of my best friends, listen to some great music, Finish up last minute Christmas shopping, and play a role in pretty much reuniting / rekindling good relations with the stepsister and stepdad. Woo!

Now I'm stuck in Blairsville until January 14th, when it's time to go back to good ol' Berry College. Great. I started writing a zine a couple days ago, so that should keep me busy for awhile. It's gonna come with a CD. And it'll probably be freeeeeee. Woo.

So, Christmas came and went. It seems like everyone liked what I gave them, and I know, for the most part I liked what I received. The most amazing thing I got was a vintage Stratocaster. It was a gift from my uncle. I don't know where he found it, or how he got the money for it, but it really means something to me. And it plays awesomely! Other than that I got a plucked psaltery, an acoustic-electric mandolin, a new kalimba, clothes I'll never wear, and a ton of giftcards. Woohoo. Hope your holidays went swell.

For the past few days I've been hanging out with Trey and Bethany. It's been awesome, and I really miss them.

As always, for more up-to-date / interesting posts, go to dakotafloyd.com

That will be where I post demos from the Stoked: The Band album!

I say that like you care.

I Roll Down the Window Then Begin to Breathe In...

2008-11-27T00:00:00.001-05:00

"The darkest country road
And the strong scent of evergreen
From the passenger seat as you are driving me home

Then looking upwards
I strain my eyes
And try to tell the difference
Between shooting stars and satellites
From the passenger seat as you are driving me home

"Do they collide?"
I ask and you smile
With my feet on the dash
The world doesn't matter

When you feel embarrassed then I'll be your pride
When you need directions then I'll be the guide
For all time
For all time"
--Death Cab for Cutie

Wow, that was fast. It's almost the end of November. Here's my monthly update, as promised.

Not a lot happened this month.

You know the music show I'm co-host for? Well, not only am I still that, but I'm now the Producer as well. Starting next semester, I will be finding most of the bands playing. Hooray!

So basically, the clinic on campus literally almost killed me. They prescribed me medicine I was allergic to. When I went in a few days later, they told me I was fine, jsut to keep taking it. Well, I started running really high fevers on Day 4. By Day 5 I hardly had enough strength to get out of bed. On Day 6 I was still really weak and disoriented, but I managed to make it through all of my classes. This is the day I notice lots of little red dots appearing all over my body. Finally, on Day 7 the clinic was open again. When the nurse saw me she kinda of gasped. Little did I know, sometime between when I got out of the shower that morning and then I had developed a major rash on my face. Wonderful. Basically, she told me to stop taking my medicine and prescribed me something else saying, "I don't know what you have, but try this." After what had just happened, I wasn't so sure, so I went and picked up the medicine, but consulted my doctor here first. He told it was fine to take, but put me on a ton more medicine to make me feel better. So far it's working. All I really need to go away now is this stupid rash! Argh!

Oh, so I almost died another time this month. You know when you're driving and you go over those hills that kinda take your stomach away? Yea. I was in a car with 5 other friends and we did that. It was awesome so we decided to do it again...but faster. The car literally went airborne. It was intense.

I went to a bunch of good shows this month, most notably, Anathallo on election night. They finished up just as Obama won, so they played two more songs in celebration. Being on the streets of Atlanta that night was so intese. I loved it.

I also went to Gadabout Film Festival at WonderRoot in Atlanta. WonderRoot is a community run art space that I will be working at next summer. Check it out! http://www.wonderroot.org

I bought two new guitars and am now super broke. I bought one for a classical guitar class, and the other just to have. Basically, it's the perfect guitar for me, and I'll quite literally probably never need another one. My classical is a Valence LTD3 and my electric is a Gretcsh G100CEBK.

I decided to write songs for each season and eventually release it as an EP. Fall is pretty well done. Winter will hopefully be done soon.

Hooray Thanksgiving Break. One more week of class, then finals, then a month off for Christmas.

I've had hiccups for the past hour. I think I'm gonna get off of here and fix this issue. Adios!

I'm Leaning On This Broken Fence Between Past and Present Tense...

2008-10-20T22:09:00.002-04:00

Why do I always do this?

I never really get close to anyone. I don’t know why. Maybe I’m just scared that I’ll ruin something?

I think Ben Gibbard describes it perfectly. “I’ve got a hunger twisting my stomach into knots that my tongue was tied off. My brain’s repeating, ‘if you’ve got an impulse let it out,’ but they never make it past my mouth.” Basically, since as far back as I can remember, I’ve never really told anyone how I feel about them. Whether feelings of like or dislike, I don’t really reveal all of what I feel, ever. In some ways, this could be a good thing, but for the most part it just makes me feel sad and alone most of the time.

I wish I could just change, but I’m afraid. I don’t want to ruin what little I may have with people.

Ugh. I hate this feeling. And it’s my own fault. And I know I’m too scared to change it. But really, what’s life without taking chances? I’ve taken chances with every other part of my life except this one, the one that I’m least satisfied with.

I confuse myself sometimes.

I Should've Given You A Reason To Stay...

2008-10-20T21:56:00.004-04:00

Alright, so, I think what I'm gonna do with this page is this: Make one, semi-large monthly post about what all has happened with me, so you don't have to sort through all of the small stuff on dakotafloyd.com. I'll also probably post some kind of realization or analysis of self every once in awhile.

That being said, it has been one day shy of a month since my last post on here, so here's your update.

October.

I quit New Dawn, the band I was in. It just wasn't fun, and we weren't good. I've started a new band with my friend Luke that is a ton of fun, though. We're called Stoked: The Band. We've got two shows coming up this weekend, and I'm playing a solo show on Halloween. You can see a video we made on the fly at the bottom of this post.

I'm starting to bring my grades up. I mean, they weren't awful, but now that I know how my professors grade it has gotten a lot easier. I'm actually taking a break from studying for an Economics test as I type this.

I finally got around to switching my major, and it wasn't even a big deal to my adviser like everyone said it would be. Registration for Spring semester starts next week.

Probably my best friend here, Sierra, has decided to transfer to UGA next year. That makes me sad, but it fits her personality. She wants to live where there's more stuff going on. I certainly wouldn't mind being in Athens myself simply for the music scene, but as far as a college goes, I'm completely happy with Berry.

Taylor, my room mate is wearing more and more on my nerves as the days go by. Ugh.

I came home for a few days for my fall break. I somehow managed to not get up with anyone so I was pretty bored the whole time. How 'bout we change that over Thanksgiving break?

It's finally starting to get cold down here. It's certainly not fun walking to class in the mornings or back from the library at night. Yargh. Maybe the leaves will start changing soon, though?

I am now the co-host of Soundcheck, Berry's show for indie bands. My first show is already up on VikingFusion's YouTube page. Check it, yo. The band is called Good Call. http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=vikingvision1

Ok, well, I'm tired of typing, and I should probably get back to studying. If you want to stay super up-to-date, again, check dakotafloyd.com

Toodles.

We're Gonna See If This Bad Boy Can Fly...

2008-09-21T03:21:00.003-04:00

First post here in a long time. Basically, this is for those of you who haven't been checking dakotafloyd.com. If you really want to keep up to date with what I'm doing, check that. That url is way easier to remember than this stupid one. Anyway, here ya go.

For the first time in years, I think I can say I'm genuinely happy. Sure, I may have some bad days, and I dislike some of my professors, but for the most part I'm happy. I'm happy to be around friends. I'm happy to be helping in the Rome community. Maybe most of all though, I'm happy to be away from the drama of high school.

How are our classes going, you ask? Well, here's a quick rundown:
Piano - We're going a bit fast, but I'm keeping up fairly well. Decent class.
Music Theory - My second favorite of the music classes I'm taking, but that's not saying much. I like the teacher and most of the stuff we're doing now is review.
History Since 1550 - I like this class pretty well. The material is interesting, but the professor is kind of boring. Our first test is Friday.
Symphonic Band - The one music class I actually enjoy. The director is really cool. He just wants people to play, even if they hit wrong notes.
Principles of Economics I - Boring subject, monotone teacher. First test is Tuesday.
Freshman Seminar - This is a class that all freshman are required to take. It's basically about getting used to college. This is my favorite "class." It ends in about a month, though.
Rhetoric & Writing - Cool professor, but he doesn't explain things very well. Getting our first essays back Tuesday.
Brass Ensemble - Just as the name implies, a brass ensemble. Led by Dr. Pethel. We basically just play church music.
Euphonium Lessons - These are what make me regret even accepting my music scholarship. I think I would rather pay 1,000 more dollars than listen to Dr. Pethel, the head of the music department, not only insult me, but lie to me about my scholarship requirements.

With all that being said, I'm changing majors. Why? Well, for one, I never signed up to be a "Music Business" major. That's a stupid major anyway. I don't see music as a business, I see it as something that's fun to make. For two, I've been going through musical burnout for awhile now, and this isn't helping. Third and most importantly, it's not where my heart is. I think I have finally figured out what I want to do with my life. What is that, you ask? I want to communicate and help people. I'm changing my major to something in the Communication field. Either Public Relations, Visual Communication, or both. So there's part one of what I want to do -- communicate. Now where's part two? I'm in Bonner. I help people. That's what we do. With being a Bonner scholar, jobs in the helping-people department are more easily attained. So woohoo! I'm really excited to switch. I walked into the Communication building the other day, and it just felt right, as weird as that may sound.

So, with all of this stuff going on, what do I do for fun? Well, this coming Friday I'm opening for some band that's playing here. And this Saturday I'm playing in a battle of the bands with some friends. Tonight I got together with some friends and we watched a movie. Last night I went and watched my English professor's band play at a local restaurant. Meditate. Make movies. Ride my bike. And I sleep. But not as much as I'd like to.

Moral of the story: Travel. Get out of your comfort zone. Don't be afraid to explore new things. I'm not necessarily saying go to college. College isn't right for everyone. All I'm saying is learn some stuff about the world. Find yourself. I'm working on that part right now. Live life while you can.

2008-07-23T20:16:00.000-04:00

All future posts will be made at http://dakotafloyd.com/

Expect Nothing -- You Won't Be Disappointed...

2008-07-22T05:37:00.000-04:00

"...Life is just a pie that smacks you in the face then you die. One door closes. Another one opens and busts you in the nose. What did I do?"
~This Bike is a Pipebomb

I don't think I'm gonna be using this thing too much anymore. I bought a domain name today and am just gonna update all my crap in multiple small posts as things happen and come to mind. It's way easier. So easy that I can even do it by texting if I want. Or from AIM. Or from my desktop. Handy dandy, eh? I'll still probably post larger, major posts here, but things will be popping up more and more sparingly here. This has already started to go into effect. I'll post up the url once I get all the bugs worked out, although it's pretty easy to figure out if you know me at all.

Just a heads up.

There are two shows tomorrow (or today, however you want to look at it). I'm pretty sure that they're gonna be bummers attendance-wise. Yargh!

Here's some stuff I typed up earlier:

What a wasted day. Basically, all I did was wake up and go to work. Awesome, huh? There are two shows tomorrow. The first one is Grandfather Clock and The New Diet playing acoustic at Meeks Park, and the second is Juffage, The New Diet, and Straight, No Chaser at Mountain High. I hope people decide to come out — I’ve been promoting pretty hard for awhile — but I somehow get the feeling that not many people will. It makes me so sad, this decline in Blairsville’s little music whatever, but what can I do? I offer people rides, free CDs, my undying affection, and most importantly FREE HUGS…What more could they want? Yea, I’m moving in under a month, but I want the bands that are coming through to get a good show. They put faith in me to set up something decent, and I want to make sure I can at least provide that. I haven’t been able to for the last while.

Yargh. I will never understand people as long as I live.

and

Things I need to do tomorrow:

— Remember to grab my camera and a fresh tape for tomorrow’s shows.

— Go to Blairsville Bikes and Boards to get / order a lock, rack, kickstand, and water bottle holder for my bike.

— Grab cash for buying distro stuff.

— Move all my screenprinting crap so people will have a place to stay tomorrow night.

— Watch Dave Dean’s DVD at least 5 more times.

— Wake up.

— BUY TAPE!!!!

— and envelopes.

— Remember whatever I’m forgetting to put on this list that I’m probably not even going to look at once tomorrow.

Anyway, be on the lookout for the link to the new site on Wednesday-ish maybe. That's all, really.

What Have We Done? Are We Making Any Changes Or Just Having Fun?

2008-07-18T00:18:00.003-04:00

I love Mountain High Skate Park. I found out some stuff that I didn't know tonight about that place, and it makes me respect Shawn and his wife for running it even more than I already did. Basically, the skate park is nonprofit. Shawn and his wife both work "normal" jobs then come and open up the skate park when they get off. Shawn builds all of the ramps, rails, and other miscellaneous things himself. The only reason the skate park charges for anything is to meet their costs. And they said even when the costs stop being met, they're not closing because kids need something to do, and skateboarding is not a crime. Shawn also told me something tonight that made me think that maybe there's something more to these crazy shows I do than just me trying to get people to like the same music I do...He told me that the skate park probably wouldn't have made it through this past winter if it hadn't been for the shows I did there during that time. That is kind of a sense of accomplishment in community building, which is something I've been striving for over the past while. But anyway, enough babble about that. Shawn gave me a free pair of shoes tonight! They're usually 35 bucks, but he said he had a ton that he just needed to get rid of. They're really awesome. I traded him some music from my distro that I figured he'd like. Next time I'm up there I'm gonna slip some cash somewhere that I know he'll find it.

Basically, this whole blog is gonna be about Mountain High and stuff that's coming up there, so if you're already bored, you might as well turn back now.

Shows coming up at Mountain High:
Tuesday, July 22nd / 5:30PM -- The New Diet, Juffage, Straight No Chaser (acoustic afternoon show at Meeks, 2PM)
Saturday, July 26th / 5PM -- Yoni Gordon and the Goods, Others TBA
Monday, August 4th / 5PM -- Jonesin', Others TBA
Saturday, August 16th / all day! -- Mountain High One Year Party! Bands TBA. This is the Bye FOREVER! Fest substitute.

I'm also leaving my PA at the skate park while I'm at college so they can continue to do shows during the year. Woohoo!

Anyway, yea. If you get a chance, go support your local skate park / general hang out spot for teenagers whenever you can! Chances are, if I'm going, I can give you and two or three other people a ride there and back. Wooo!

Every Time I Think We're Going Forward, We Start Going In Rewind...

2008-07-14T03:59:00.001-04:00

Well, after a good show on Thursday, of course the one today was awful. But this was a first. This was the first time I was the only person to show up. Magical, eh? Luckily, Goat Bell was awesome about it, as they face the same type of dilemmas up where they're from. They set up and played a full 11 song set just for me. And tomorrow they're printing up a shirt specifically for me. I mean, I knew it wouldn't be a very big show as it was kinda last minute, at my house, and on a Sunday night, but still. Anyway, they did really well. Way better than I was expecting. And everyone in the band is really cool. They're some of the nicest guys I've ever met. It turns out, they live really close to my mom (~20 minutes away), so I think next time I'm up there I'm gonna hang out with them. Oh, and Jim, the drummer runs Hip Kid Records. He has the best distro around. Sooooo much great stuff.

The next show / shows is / are Tuesday, July 22nd. More details on this soon. I think there may be an acoustic afternoon show and a fullband evening show. But we'll see. Maybe more than people than...me...will show up?

After the thing on the 22nd, Toby Foster and A Drum and An Open Window are playing at Meeks Park on the 29th. Then I leave for Chicago. When I get back, there is a show on the 15th. I'm thinking about doing it at the Civic Center, as that's one of the only real places that fullband shows can legally happen in Blairsville. I could use the skatepark, but I want this show to be in Blairsville. Start here, end here. But that being said, I may do one last skatepark show on Saturday. Maybe. We'll see. No Bye FOREVER! Fest though.

It's All Good, 'Cause I'm No Good...

2008-07-12T03:03:00.002-04:00

Wow. Thursday's show was actually...good. For one of the first times this year, I was genuinely happy at a show. Attendance could've been better, but everyone seemed to have a good time, so woohoo! Anyway, here's a quick rundown of everything:

The show opened up with Sharks! With Knives!!!. His stuff was really generic, and he only played three songs, but it was cool. He brought a bag of various percussive instruments and let people play them through his set. Woohoo!

Next up came Allison and AJ Weiss. They absolutely stole the show. They played 11 songs, spanning about 40 minutes, every single one of them was spot on. And one of the best parts is, they're local! Allison goes to UGA and AJ goes to school somewhere in Hall County, I think. So in other words, I'll probably see them again. I also mentioned that if they needed help with any upcoming releases to give me a shout. They at least pretended to be interested, so we'll see what happens with that. Haha.

Third was Ed's least favorite guy ever, Matt Fox. Basically, Matt Fox rocks. Literally. He has a knack for finding cool rocks. Somewhere on the tour he's on, he found a huge piece of quartz as well as a ruby in Hiawassee. Matt is kind of a transient and he had three panhandler friends with him. They smelled kind of bad, but were actually pretty cool. Except one of them who was a total jerk, but anyway, Matt played about eight songs. I liked them, except for the fact that his guitar was out of tune the whole time and they sounded the same. All of them were really sad too, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I'd say he was my second favorite of the night.

Last came Danny Rangel, or "Randal" if you will. Normally he plays for a million years and never says song titles, but that all changed Thursday night! He only played, I wanna say, six songs. Vocally, he sounded good, but his playing was sloppy. I think I noticed because I've seen him play so many times. Haha. It was good though, so woohoo!

Every single bit of what I just talked about, save one or two songs, can be seen on YouTube, here: http://youtube.com/profile_videos?user=DakotaFloyd&p=r

I also have a couple extra copies of everyone who played's stuff. If you want something, holla'!

The next show is this Sunday night, the 13th, at my house. 6PM. Be there?!

Ok, ok...I know you probably won't be at that one, but this next one will be really, really good: Tuesday, July 22nd / 5PM / Meeks Park / Grandfather Clock, Juffage, The New Diet. Be there, yes?

Alright, I'm done. That's about the least amount of time I've ever taken on a blog. And it's pretty much a happy blog. Weird, huh?

I Too Sang, Spit the Blood of Welling Thoughts...

2008-07-07T15:51:00.002-04:00

Saturday's show was ok. Maybe 25 people showed up. Rational Anthem and Troublemake sold a bunch of CDs, but didn't make much money off of them (they sell them for $1 - 3). They wound up making about $70 on the show. I have some extra CDs if anyone wants any. Afterwards we went to Downtown Pizza and wound up getting 5 free pizzas, as they were about to close. Woohoo! After Downtown, some of the band went on a trek for alcohol, got caught in a thunderstorm, and came back an hour and a half later with little to show for their efforts. Oh no. Anyway, Rational Anthem and Troublemake = nice guys. I hope the next show (which is THIS Thursday, the 10th, and will be much, much better, musicwise) goes quite a bit better, though.

So, my wisdom teeth are starting to hurt now. I don't really wanna say anything though, because I know we can't really afford to get them taken out now. Bluh! This sucks!

Wondering about my song-a-day-for-a-week thing? I made it through 6 days, but I was exhausted on day 7 (it was the day of the afore mentioned show) and totally forgot. I suck.

I missed an awesome sale on airline tickets, and I'm mad now. Atlanta - Chicago, $84. I technically did and didn't miss it according to their site; they had a typo. One page said it ended last Tuesday, another said it ended Wednesday. Yargh. Now the cheapest is like...$180. I'm definitely gonna wait to try to catch another sale. Blargh!
Caught a sale when I got home from work. $209 got me a roundtrip. Southwest Folk Fest here I come!

I hate waiting on stuff in the mail. Especially when it takes forever.

Well, work is calling. I don't want to answer, but I'm broke. Adios.

Celebrate Who I Am, Don't Mourn That I'm Gone...

2008-07-01T05:37:00.001-04:00

Well, Coach West's funeral was today. It was sad, but it got the job done. It left me with some sense of closure, that everything will be ok. He was a good man, who lived a good life. What more could anyone ask? I only hope that someday I can touch as many hearts as Coach West did in his short time with all of us. Until we meet again, Coach West, you will be greatly missed by everyone you ever came in contact with. Thank you.

So, I've decided for the next week to write a song a day. Why? Well, for one, there's nothing else to do, and two, I don't like anything I write. I'm hoping that by writing something everyday I'll eventually find something I do like. All of the songs will be posted on YouTube if I get around to it. If I wind up not doing this, you can all punch me in the face. Maybe.

So, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be able to make it to Southwest Folk Fest in Chicago this year. It's August 8th and 9th, with The Gadabout Film Festival going on at night (Ed, you still wanna submit that thing?). I'm super pumped!

I think I'm gonna buy a new guitar amp tomorrow. I hate to spend the money, but I really need one. I was messing around with a 50w Peavey Valveking (tube!) the other day, and I really, really liked it. So that's probably what I'll wind up getting.

All of the rest of the stuff for the Matt K CDs came in today. Burning 150 CDs is going to take FOREVER, though! Ahhhh! I got all of the disc face art done though, and they look pretty good. Better than I was expecting. If you want one, just give me a couple bucks or something? I dunno? My official price is $2 - 5 (sliding scale), but if you don't have that much or are cheap like me, I can give it to you for whatever. And if you wanna know what all you'd be getting: hand stamped / decorated 10 track CDr, fullcolor insert, slimline jewel case, sticker, and a hug! You know you want one.

Speaking of selling stuff, I am pretty broke / will be an even more broke college student soon, and I have too much stuff laying around my house. I'm selling my old Drive Electric guitar and my 100w Rogue solidstate amp. Really cheap. Also, I've got all kinds of CDs from bands who have played here. I'll sell them to you for exactly what I paid for them or less (they're all brand new). I just wanna get them out of my way. If you wanna know what all I've got, lemme know!

Eric Ayotte's new CD, "Remnants of Storytown" just came out a couple days ago. I'm really looking forward to getting it. Never listened to Eric Ayotte? He wrote one of my favorite songs of all time, which can be viewed / heard here: http://www.ifyoumakeit.com/video/eric-ayotte/mr-and-mrs-everyone/

Andrew Jackson Jihad also have a new song up on ifyoumakeit. You should recognize the tune. http://www.ifyoumakeit.com/video/andrew-jackson-jihad/sense-sensibility/

Anyway, I'm sure you guys don't care about any of that music stuff so I'm just gonna shut up. If you made it this far, awesome! If you didn't, you didn't miss much.

PS -- Where the heck did June go?

I'm Standing On This Corner...

2008-06-29T03:07:00.002-04:00

...Can't get their attention. Facing rush hour faces turned around. I clutch my stack of paper, press one to a chest, then watch it swoop and stutter to the ground. I'm weary with right-angles, abbreviated daylight, and waiting for a winter to be done. Why do I still see you in every mirrored window, in all that I could never overcome? How I don't know what I should do with my hands when I talk to you. How you don't know where you should look, so you look at my hands. How movements rise and then dissolve, melted by our shallow breath. How causes dance away from me. I am your pamphleteer. I walk this room in time to the beat of the Gestetner, contemplate my next communique. The rhetoric and treason of saying that I'll miss you. Of saying "Hey, well maybe you should stay." Sing "Oh what force on earth could be weaker than the feeble strength of one" like me remembering the way it could have been. Help me with this barricade. No surrender. No defeat. A spectre's haunting Albert Street. I am your pamphleteer.
~The Weakerthans

Well, as I'm sure everyone has heard, Coach West has passed away. It's still so surreal. But that's just the unpredictability of life, I guess. I recorded a video dedicated in his memory and put it on YouTube the other day. It's a cover of an old Suite 11 song that we wrote for Luke and Jameson. I kind of rushed it, as I was already running late for work, but it can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1d2HJ-luTU

Yesterday's show was fun. Not many people showed up, but the ones that did were sooooo random. Like, people that maybe come to one or two shows a year, random. But oh well. Maribelle and Bandits & Bandages wound up making 60something bucks. I think the best part of the whole day was that we went to Downtown Pizza afterwards, and I got free pizza! And I didn't steal it! Sometimes being in a crappy band pays off. Basically, Kelly, the manager or whatever the heck he is of Downtown said he liked a Red Hot Chili Peppers cover that we did once and said I could have free pizza. Balla'!

Worked sucked tonight. We had pretty much a million parties of 10 or more. Oh well.

It's been raining for most of the night. Wooo!

Speaking of night, I love driving at night. Not like, 9 or 10, but 3 or 4. When no one else is on the road. I like going down random roads that I've never been on before. It's nice to just get out and think. I don't do it too often, though. I don't wanna wake anyone in my house up! Ahhhh!

I need to start my summer reading! Eep!

I hate it when people don't call me back or respond to messages. Especially when I'm trying to help them with a show or something. Yargh!

The inserts for the Matt K CDs came in today. They look really good! Now I'm just waiting for my stamps so I can start making / stamping CDs. This release is almost out of my hair. Finally!

I really wish I would stop wasting my time doing stupid stuff and instead, do something worthwhile or important for a change. But I know I won't.

And that reminds me. Due to lack of interest, I'm not doing Bye FOREVER! Fest anymore. Sorry to the three people that were actually interested.

Wow, this was a pretty pointless blog. Sorry.

Save Your Worried Blues...

2008-06-25T00:38:00.000-04:00

Six Flags was fun. Seven hours out in the summer sun and by some miracle I'm not sunburned! Wooo!

I don't know how I forgot to mention it in my other post, but my room mate is awful.

I finally got around the re-ordering a bunch of stuff for some releases I've got coming out soon. And I might actually be getting a refund from the place that took my money a couple months ago. Wooo!

I need a new video camera. I have to hit mine to get it to work.

Since I got my new guitar a week ago, I've written three songs! Wooo! I'm still not entirely happy with them, but I like them a lot better than any of my other stuff.

There is gonna be a pretty cool acoustic show at Meeks Park on Friday. Maribelle, Geoffey Geoffey, and D-Flo. You should pretty much be there. Yea.

Speaking of shows, that's what I'm gonna spend all of tomorrow focusing on. I've got four that I have to finalize and they're all coming up soon! Ahhhh!

I've spent entirely too much money in the past week. Bluhhh.

So Here I Am...I'm Trying...

2008-06-22T04:23:00.001-04:00

Well, the show yesterday was ok. BAMF! said it was their best one all tour so far, but it was still subpar by my standards. 20ish people showed. But that's not bad considering this place was in the absolute middle of nowhere (farther out than Clay's Corner), so I'm not complaining. I filmed a lot of the show and it should be online sometime tomorrow night.

The next show is this coming Friday (the 27th) at Meeks Park. Maribelle and Geoffrey Geoffrey are playing. I might do a D-Flo set too. Who knows? All I know is that you should be there. Chances are, you haven't been to one in awhile.

I'm pretty sure, due to lack of interest, that I'm doing away with the whole Bye FOREVER! Fest thing. There will still be the Best Friends Forever show on the 15th, though. If you're actually still interested in Bye FOREVER! Fest, though, lemme know.

So, I got a new guitar Tuesday. It's an SX GG6 Custom with a natural finish. It's pretty much the greatest thing on the face of the earth. It's the most fun-to-play guitar I've ever had, and you can tell by my fingertips. It's been a lonnnnng time since I've played so much my fingertips turned green. And I've got guitar parts for three new songs down. Woooo! I think I wanna buy a backup guitar too, I just dunno what yet. I'm thinking maybe a Tele with P90s? Hmmm...Decisions, decisions.

So, I ordered a bunch of cables and stuff from Musician's Friend the other day. Well, not only is the box a couple days late, but when I get it, it's been ripped / opened and half of my crap is gone. I filed a complaint with UPS, but I haven't head anything back yet.

I have to be up in 5 hours for work. This sucks. I think we might be going to Six Flags Monday though, so that should be an adventure. But for now, I'm going to make an honest attempt at sleep.

Love Is A Sadness With a Face...

2008-06-17T00:35:00.003-04:00

So hey, I'm at college orientation. We were supposed to be in bed about 40 minutes ago, but I'm not really tired at all. For some reason, I really don't know why, I decided to go on Jason Webley's site (Jason Webley is a touring accordion player that's played with Jon Crocker a few times and is actually pretty decent). I randomly clicked on the tab that read "Etc." and happened upon a series of short stories. This is one of them. It is called "The Story of Balloon."

What is it about holding a balloon that is so magical and familiar? A hand that is holding a balloon is a content, happy hand. Why exactly is that? I’m sure the scientists and philosophers and marketing people have written dozens of millions of pages about this subject, but I have my own theory.

Once there was a girl. I don’t know her name, so I’ll just call her Balloon, since that’s what everyone else called her. They called her that because whenever anyone saw her, she was always holding a balloon. Always.

Whether she was walking down the street, flipping through dusty old books at the dusty old library or rotating the flowers in her garden, Balloon always was holding a balloon. Always.

I suppose it suited her to carry a balloon. Since the red of the balloon matched the red of her hair and the freckles of her cheeks and the lips of her lips. And she had shy little eyes that occasionally flashed with fire. The balloon looked good next to those little flashes of fire.

Now if you asked Balloon about the weather or such, she would look startled that someone was talking to her. Then she would blush red give a shy little answer. But if you asked her anything about the balloon - where she got it or why she always carried it - she would just go on with what she was doing just as if you had said nothing at all.

So, here is my theory. You see, Balloon never had the pleasure of knowing her father or her mother. They left when she was very, very young. Now hold you hand out like you were holding a balloon. Go ahead and really do it, since it says to right here. Now think about the other times in your life when you’ve held your hand like this. Really, think about it for a second.

Now, unless you’ve spent a lot of time on rush hour trains in Tokyo, I’m guessing that holding your hand like this is reminding you of your childhood. When you were a little boy or a little girl, walking down a street or through a park, holding onto the hand of your mother or your father.

So one day, when she was no longer a little girl – about the same age that most young people move out of their parents’ houses – Balloon walked to her favorite place in the garden. Then she closed her eyes, like someone who is making a wish would close their eyes. Now I’m not sure if she really made a wish just then, and if she did, whatever she wished for is her secret. But I do know that when she opened her eyes again there was a little tear in them.

Then she looked up at her balloon with a little smile, and let go of the string.

Now wasn't that touching? For more stories like that, go to: http://jasonwebley.com/etc.html

I think the one entitled "Balloon" under the boy section (the lower one) is really, really awesome too.

Anyway, hopefully that was as uplifting for you as it was for me. College is the change that I need. I've met some really cool people in the 12 hours I've been here. And of course, some not so cool, but they're all bearable. Wooo.

But now, if you'll excuse me, I'd best be heading for bed. I'm meeting my academic adviser and getting my schedule tomorrow! Wooo!

I Feel Like An Old Man Inside, Just Waiting For His Turn To Die...

2008-06-14T05:05:00.002-04:00

Happy Friday the 13th. How was yours? Mine? Oh, it kinda sucked. Oh, don't worry...I'm used to it. Yea. Oh, Okay. Talk to you later.

Yup.

The Farewell Flight show was terrible. Well, they were awesome. Attendance, on the other hand was not. There were like 7 people there. They still managed to make $110 though. Still. That sucked. Thanks for the support, guys. I think Bye FOREVER! Fest, if I still do it, which I probably won't 'cause I'm a total flake, is just gonna be in Hayesville.

On a slightly better note, however, after the afore mentioned awful show, I went to one at Electric Karma Tattoos in Murphy and met this awesome band from Atlanta called The 54. Basically, it's 4 black dudes playing a mix of rock and funk. It was amazing. I recorded a bunch of their set. Three songs from it are already on YouTube, but the others will be up in a day or so. Why is this? I'm a moron and forgot my battery charger at the tattoo parlor. But yea. The 54 are awesome and will be playing up here again really soon!

So that was my day in a nutshell. Jimmy Smith invited me to watch his band practice tomorrow morning at 11, but seeing as it's 5:13 right now, I don't think I'm gonna make it.

Well, bye.

Well My Phone Doesn't Ring...

2008-06-10T05:01:00.001-04:00

...I've got this answering machine
but there are never any messages for me

I go to work and I come home to be alone
no, there is no one waiting for me

and I make tea just for me in the microwave
no these days I don't bother with the stove

I order pizza and watch a dumb movie
and I wish that I could go home
I wish that I could go home

I go out sometimes and pretend that I'm alright
and I say hi to all the people that I see

I will smile at them and tell them I'm doing fine
but I will not let them get too close to me
I can't let them get too close to me.
because there's no tellin' when I am gonna leave

and I keep thinkin' for some dumb reason that you might come for me.
I keep thinkin' for some dumb reason that you might come for me.
~ Captain Chaos

Today was ok. I slept pretty much all day and when I got up I rode my bike. That's about it really.

I counted up how many bands / people I've helped with shows since I started: 94. I've actually helped right at 100, but they didn't show up for their show. My goal before I leave is to hit 100. But I don't wanna overdo it. Basically, all I have to do is get 6 new bands to play Bye FOREVER! Fest, if it actually happens.

Ed and I are growing some ridiculous facial hair to make fun of some guy at work. Woo.

Speaking of work, I have to do that tomorrow. Do I want to? Absolutely not. I think my new guitar is coming in tomorrow.

Farewell Flight is playing in Hiawassee Friday. I hope the show gets over with kind of quickly, as there's another show going on a bit later in Murphy at a tattoo parlor. The Farewell Flight show will be better, but I still like catching local music when I can. And hey, $13 tattoos all day as long as they're 2"x2" or close to it, if anyone's interested.

My head hurts. I think I'm going to go to bed.

I miss Chicago.

I'm On the Sad Side Of A Nowhere Town...

2008-06-07T03:38:00.000-04:00

Wow, what a lousy day. Yesterday was decent. Today sucked.

Yesterday:

-- Got confirmed venues for both the 13th and 20th shows. Woohoo.
-- Found like three awesome bands that are close that I'm going to ask to play at Bye FOREVER! Fest.
-- Work was really slow.
-- I got a package from No Idea Records with thew new Defiance, Ohio album, "The Fear, The Fear, The Fear" and a CD of old Paul Baribeau demos called "25."
-- Ordered a snazzy new electric guitar at a decent price. I'll need it for the mathrock band I'm starting with Kylewilliam this fall. Come see us at The Fest? Haha.
-- Decided that I'm probably going to go to The Fest this Halloween.
-- My Chris Clavin LP from Crafty Records shipped! Should be here in a couple days.

Today:
-- I'm pretty sure everyone got on my nerves at least once tonight I work.
-- Kylewilliam and company complained about the tour video they asked me to edit for them. They wanted me to take out all of the transitions, which are what made the video halfway decent, and fix a bunch of crap that they themselves did wrong. Normally it wouldn't be an issue, but iMovie keeps closing when I even touch anything,
-- Farewell Flight was asking me about getting paid tonight. They know I don't do guarantees.
-- I didn't get any mail.
-- Having problems figuring out where I wanna do Bye FOREVER! Fest.
-- Only got to ride my bike for like 3 minutes today.

On the brighter side, we have brownies at my house. And I just ate some tomato soup. Those are about the only high points of my day.

I'm so pumped for Bye FOREVER Fest! As of now, it's going to be happening on Saturday, August 16th. Where? I don't know yet! Somewhere indoors that I can use all day for cheap / free. I think I wanna start it around 12 or 1. I'm thinking something like 8 - 10 bands. I wanna make it free, but I know with that many bands playing, not everyone will make gas money, and I certainly don't have the money to give to them, so maybe it'll cost a couple bucks? I dunno yet. Also, I think I'm gonna make it a vegan potluck too, although I don't know how well Blairsvillians will embrace the whole vegan thing, and I might teach everyone who wants to learn how to screenprint. Got an idea for a spot that's somewhere close to town and not really expensive to rent out? And it needs to be indoors or in a covered area where no water can get in (because, uhhh...you know...we're gonna be dealing with electricity here). Oh, and big enough to hold maybe like 100 people, tops I'd say? I wish I could rent out that place that says "251 Murphy Highway" that nothing's in right now, but I doubt I'll be able too. And I know the Brasstown Community Center would be available, but that's wayyyy out in the country. Maybe the Brackett Room? Definitely not the Civic Center. Meeks Park is outside.

Jeez. Blairsville needs a teen center.

Do We Copy Art, Or Is the Art Just Us?

2008-06-04T03:45:00.003-04:00

Ok, so I decided to post the afore-mentioned, typed-up-but-not-posted blog from a few days ago. Here it is:

M'kay, so do you ever have those days when you just think "wow, I really hope someone remembers me someday?" And how about those days when you're like "I hope everyone forgets I even existed?" Yea. I'm siding with the latter at the moment.

I just want to be another human being. Sure, I still want to have individual thoughts -- I don't wanna be brainwashed by mainstream media or underground culture or anything for that matter -- but I know deep down that I'm not making a lasting difference on anything, and it seems like no matter what I do, that's not going to change. I'm just another person, contributing absolutely nothing to society, while all the while pouring what is left of this planet that we live on down the drain. I drive a car, I waste, I contribute to destroying the environment on pretty much every level. I know those are things that could be changed sometime, at least in my life (I'm working on it), but at the current moment they seems pretty impossible.

And something else. I'm sick of people saying "Dakota, you're gonna be famous someday." No. No, I'm not. I don't deserve to be. About the only thing I've got going for me is that I'm a nice guy. And I'm not even good at that. I'm just kind of patient. But not really that either. But who wants to be famous anyway? Certainly not me.

Blah. I'm trying my best to leave this town how it was when I found it. I'm not doing a good job.

Sorry.

~~I just typed up that post off the top of my head. I haven't re-read it or changed anything, so sorry if some of it doesn't make sense or there are a bunch of mistakes or something.~~

Ok, scratch that. Four days later. Here's an update:

The imadethismistake show was a lot of fun. About 11 people showed up and all of them seemed to have a good time. The band made enough for a full tank of gas and some food. And I got to play drums for the last three songs. Woohoo. A few songs coming soon to a YouTube near you.

A bunch of stuff fell through for the Friday, June 13th Farewell Flight show, so now I'm struggling to find a venue for it. I was thinking of House of Prayer, as they're having a huge lock-in that night, and Farewell Flight is a Christian band, but they're being super weird about it. Which is weird to me. Totally free entertainment for a bunch of kids who will probably be bored out of their minds. I will never understand people as long as I live.

I want to go on tour.

I want to see my friends again.

Everything I love is going away.

Sorry if you actually read all of this gobbledegook. To cheer yourself up a little bit, you should watch this video some of my friends made called "Boys Night In."

http://www.ifyoumakeit.com/video/31-movies/boys-night-in/

I Gotta Go...

2008-05-31T04:09:00.000-04:00

"...and you're talking in code
Saying I know where you've been
and I know where you go
but I've been tired from the minute I woke
I stopped listening the moment you spoke
and said I'm long gone yeah...
I'm long gone

And I'm sleeping alone...
in a house I don't own
'cause if you're touring your mind
you'll get lost every time
and you'll sing me sad songs to keep me awake
in that bedroom that we hid away
Baby, I'm long gone.
I'm long gone.

And your voice cracks like a piano
you keep moving...where are you going?
Baby, were long gone
Yeah, were long gone"
~ Margot & the Nuclear So & So's

Ok, so do you ever type up a full blog post and then just decide to not post it? Guess who just did that. It wasn't anything gross or super-personal or anything, it was just something really cynical. Something that I think I'd rather just keep to myself for awhile, because everyone seems so happy right now, and I don't want to be the guy that ruins everything like I usually am.

Maybe I'll post it sometime.

Or maybe not.

Measure Me In Metered Lines...

2008-05-29T23:22:00.002-04:00

"...in one decisive stare, the time it takes to get from here to there. My ribs that show through t-shirts and these shoes I got for free; I'm unconsoled, I'm lonely. I am so much better than I used to be. Terrified of telephones and shopping malls, and knives, and drowning in the pools of other lives. Rely a bit too heavily on alcohol and irony. Get clobbered on by courtesy, in love with love and lousy poetry. And I'm leaning on a broken fence between Past and Present tense. And I'm losing all these stupid games that I swore I'd never play. And it almost feels okay. Circumnavigate this body of wonder and uncertainty. Armed with every precious failure and amateur cartography, I breathe in deep before I spread these maps out on my bedroom floor. Leaving. Wave goodbye. Losing, but I'll try, with the last ways left, to remember. Sing my imperfect offering.
~ The Weakerthans

Well, that about sums it up.

Oh...You want a blog? That's odd. Uhmmm. I've done zero percent of anything since my last post, so I guess just read that?

Here We Are In This World...

2008-05-23T01:29:00.002-04:00

"...I don't know how we got here, but somehow we learned how to live here. Now our brains are too big for our heads. They're expanding. You can order your life through meticulous planning, but it's a crapshoot when things unexpectedly start to move faster. And you try to avert a disaster. But you can't always get what you're after. I know you know this. We all want to feel content, but we need more than a place to shit and to lay a bed. If sometimes living doesn't terrify you, if love doesn't pulverize you, then where are you at? Where's the power in that? Though it's been nothing but complicated since the first time that two people dated, and your heart makes you deathly afraid, it's all you've got. Is it impossible, friend? Is it only a dream to find truth in the visions you see? Or to believe the love that I'm waiting for is somewhere waiting for me? Well maybe the way to get what you want is to stop waiting for it to show up. Have faith in the wind and the rain it will come (but only if you let it come). Yeah, everyone feels alone. Maybe more, maybe less, maybe this year or next or when they grow old. But what a bogus affliction! It's the human condition. We all want affection and the sound of another heartbeat. Maybe when this ends and the stars all call down for me it'll finally make sense, or just as likely still be mystery. I don't know where you are my friend, I don't know if I'll ever know. But maybe you'll be there when it's time to go."
~Good Luck

Sorry that that's a bunch of words up there. It should be obvious that it's a song. You don't have to read it if you don't want to (maybe I'm too late with that), but I can kind of relate to it...Maybe you can too? Pardon the language in some spots too. I don't cuss, but I don't believe in censoring other people's art.

Alright, so this is weird. This past week that I've had off, I've pretty much done nothing besides sleep, yet I'm still tired. Now how much sense does that make? Maybe I'm catching up on all of the sleep I missed out on because of school? Whatever the case may be, though, it sucks. Lame, lame, lame.

Graduation is tomorrow. I really hope I don't screw up the words to the song I'm having to do. I probably will, though. Oh well. Oh, and I'm third to last getting my "diploma." Lame, lame, lame. I guess.

So, running a record label sucks sometimes. Well, not so much running one, but dealing with people that don't follow through. My payment cleared for the Matt K CDs about a month ago, and they still haven't come in. So basically, I got like 200 bucks stolen from me. Lame, lame, lame.

I got sunburned at graduation practice today. Lame, lame, lame. Times 17.

A couple people that I haven't seen in awhile and dearly miss are coming up tomorrow. I'm so excited to see them. Hopefully we won't have the nearly unavoidable awkward conversation of "Hey...This weather sure is crazy, eh? Yea...I think so too..." But I'm pretty sure we will. I'm bad at talking to people. Lame, lame, lame.

I hate waiting for stuff. Especially the mail.

So hey, everyone should go buy / steal a bike and come ride with me sometime. Not only is it good exercise, but it's pretty fun and eco-friendly! And if you never learned to ride as a kid, I'll totally teach you! For real. It'd be fun. I'm lazy, and I still think it's fun.

I need to clean my room. And do some laundry. And buy a white shirt for tomorrow night. And find my balla' tie. And go to the Post Office.

My head hurts.

So, since by the time you read this, school will probably be out for summer / ever (no Pink Floyd subliminal message intended, I swear...really), here's a quick list of bands / musicians that I've been into as of late, with a small little description next to each one. I suck at describing things. And I listen to bad music. Sorry.

Good Luck - Punk, but with lots of mathrock elements (ie, strange time signatures, weird chords, crazy guitar parts). Features Matty Pop Chart and Ginger from One Reason. Their new album, "Into Lake Griffy," is one of the best so far this year.

The Max Levine Ensemble - Real pop-punk from DC. Basically everything they've ever recorded is available for free download on their site. Their recent album, "OK, Smartypants," is also one of my favorites so far this year.

Your Heart Breaks - Female fronted indie-pop from Seattle. Super catchy. Super cute. Super awesome.

Dylan Taylor - Folky Canadian music. Really good lyrics, with vocals similar to Matty Pop Chart.

Jon Crocker - beardXcore. Enough said.

Arkansas? - Rough recordings, but Chicago punk superband, consisting of Toby Foster, redbear., and Victor V-B. Epic! Watch 'em on YouTube.

Well, I think that's about it.

Oh, and hey Krieger, many thanks to you and Batchelor for doing the cookout thing. It was fun. I'm pretty sure everyone else will agree. And Chris, if you read this, sorry no one told you. A bunch of people said you had said you weren't coming, so I assumed someone had told you, but you had something else to do. I don't have your number anyway. Sorry!

Ok, for real this time. Toodles friends and acquaintances. Even though I think I would consider most everyone who knows about this heap of junk to be a friend. Yes. That means you. Hello friend.

Goodbye friend.

So Now It's Over, It's Time To Say Goodbye...

2008-05-18T00:59:00.000-04:00

So, I guess this is it. No more high school. Woohoo. Looking forward to graduating, but not looking forward to playing at graduation, or saying bye to everyone. Well. Maybe not everyone, but you know.

So, last Wednesday's show was fun, but kinda weird. About 30 people showed up. Dylan Taylor, Fairyboy, and Sending Regards played. I really like Dylan Taylor's stuff. He played ukulele and had awesome lyrics. Fairyboy's stuff would've been good if it hadn't of been for his vocals. Sending Regards were meh. They could use some practice. Same with me. I could use a lot of practice. I played a couple songs and was done, but everyone just looked at me when I told them to go home, so I told stories then played some rap songs. Exciting, eh? Anyway, significance of this show? Dylan Taylor and Fairyboy were the first people that I've ever gotten to play here from out of the country (Canada! They said "aboot" and everything). They were really nice, but apparently everyone thought they were really dirty? I didn't notice. Maybe I'm dirty too? Haha. Anyway, yea, they were really nice. I gave them like $100 worth of music because I needed to get rid of it, and they wanted it, but didn't have much money. Although they only made 20 or 30 bucks on the show, they said it was one of the best on the whole tour so far. Woo.

While on the subject of shows, the next one is the Saturday after graduation at Mountain High Skate Park. Some punk bands. It was a favor for a friend. Come if you want. I think it'll cost 3 bucks (not my choice), but I could probably get you in for free.

I found out the other day that a track that I submitted for an audiozine made it! It's not a music track, but just me talking about something. Still cool, though! It's on Transmissions #2 on Rock-It-Records. If you want a copy for some reason, lemme know and I can order you one. They're $3 each. Or I could just email you the track. I don't care.

As it turns out, the time I'm going to be in Chicago, is not only when Southwest Folk Fest is going on, but also Mauled By Tigers. I'm pumped!

Oh man, I almost forgot. Friday, I made it through the day without feeling the least bit of sadness until the end of band. Mr. Rittenhouse asked if he could take a picture of me, then talked to me afterwards. He said I had more talent than he could ever hope to have, which is huge coming from someone who works with music professionally. Then he told me to come visit sometime, which just put things into perspective for me a bit: I'm going to be leaving a bunch of really cool people here.

But life moves on for both me and those people. Probably for the best. Maybe I'll come visit sometime?

"...Maybe you should have never met me."

This Juxtaposition of Good and Bad...

2008-05-13T23:55:00.001-04:00

"...reminds me of the best and the worst dreams I've had."
~ Andrew Jackson Jihad

The past five days have been ridiculous with ups and downs. First, read the blog I posted last night, then read this.

MONDAY -- Go to school, take my EOCT (which seemed to be easy), finish the day. Off to work. I get a call right before I go in from Randy at Blairsville Bikes and Boards; my bike has come in, and apparently it's really awesome. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to go pick it up then, so I'm going to get it tomorrow. Work was boring and slow, and when I get home I found out that two of our puppies died today. We think it was from contaminated dog food. Yargh.

TUESDAY -- Go to school, do nothing. Get home, discover two more dead puppies and a third one is MIA. We now have two left, and they appear to be perfectly fine. Went and got my bike after discovering all of that. I like it, and am planning on going on a decently long bike ride after tomorrow's AP test.

It seems like Death always takes in groups, but what can one do about it? Unfortunately, not much of anything.

These ups and downs are killing me.

Some Guys Take A Knife To A Tree...

2008-05-12T01:21:00.001-04:00

"...just to say hey I was here and in love
so here is my name plus the name of a girl
and the year in which this thing took place

when they see it they will know
even though we have the same names as so many others
that this was not just everyday
it was the first and only thing I thought to say

Please remember us
'cause I'm not the kind of guy to get a statue in my honor
now we're running out of ground
and I won't get a stone to say that I was here
so I will make my own memorial
right here on this tree

Some guys put some paint on a stone
on a road cut, on a highway
said Class of '88
and go bulldogs, go
let 'em beat that rival school
we are here, we are young, we are great
when they see it they will know
even though so many football players graduate
that this was not no gangster graffiti
it was so important that we had to paint

Please remember us
cause we're not the kinds of guys to get a statue in our honor
now we're running out of ground
and we won't get a stone to say that we were here
so we will make our own memorial
right here by this road

And I know that trees tend to grow
long after we are dead and cover what we carve
and the rain will mar the stones so that nobody will know
that the Class of '88 was really tough
but waves of sound never die
they just fade into the background and haunt us in our sleep
so we can sing, and dance, and laugh, and hope that this was enough

So don't remember me
I know I'm not the kind of guy to get a statue in my honor
I only wanted to be just another human being in my time, in my place
So I make my own memorials"
~Jon Crocker

Well. What an eventful weekend. Well. Kind of. Here's a summary.

FRIDAY: Work. Get home a bit past 10 and about two hours later get a call from Jon Crocker asking if he can come spend the night because apparently he hates Sylva and everyone in it. Of course, I say yes. The second I get off the phone with him, I get a message from my mom telling me that my great-grandpa has just passed away. Jon shows up a bit passed 3 and I go to sleep soon after.

SATURDAY: Wake up to a phone call from my mom. I'm supposed to be a pallbearer at 3:30. Eeep. Jon Crocker has a show in Blairsville at 2 and another in Hiawassee at 5. Well, about thirty or so people show up the the 2PM thing. We get outta there by a little past three. And I fly all the way to Hayesville, do the funeral stuff, which wasn't really sad until my uncle got up to say something. Jeez. "People say when an old person dies, a library is lost, and I think today we lost a full library of Appalachian history." Anyway, made it to the 5PM show right exactly on time. At first, only like 20 people were there, but by the time Jon Crocker got a few songs into his set there were probably about 45. And it was awesome. And I actually had a ton of fun. We wound up getting back to my house around 9:30, and I helped Jon get ready for his European tour which is coming up in about 3 weeks. Oh, and he gave me like 52 CDs. Well, he gave me like 40. I bought the other 12 (anyone want some Jon Crocker CDs? Only 4 or 5 bucks each. They're worth it. For real).

Oh! Something else about Saturday. I got a letter from the school saying I've missed too many days and am now losing credit in Economics. But uh. I haven't missed that many days? Three of my "absences" were for school related events (AP Test, practice AP test, Multimedia fieldtrip). So uhhh. I hope those get fixed soon so I don't have to go to that stupid meeting thingy on Friday.

SUNDAY: Went and had breakfast with my mom. Came back home for about 30 minutes and saw Jon Crocker off, then went off to work. Which sucked. To the max. YARGH! And now I'm here. Bored out of my mind. Not sleepy, but knowing that I should go to sleep. My bike is getting here tomorrow, but I'm working tomorrow. Which is weird. Because I pretty much never work Mondays. Double yargh.

One more week of school. Economics EOCT tomorrow, AP Language Wednesday, U-lympics Thursday?

The End.

I Had a Heart Once...

2008-05-07T00:48:00.000-04:00

"...full of fire and passion
but the summer took it away from me
And autumn has come to retrieve it."
~Andrew Jackson Jihad

So, I'm buying a bike tomorrow. Maybe I can start getting back into shape a little bit? Oh, and saving on gas. I'm getting an Iron Horse hybrid bike and it costs $337.05. I think it'll be useful in college, not only in getting to and from class, but when I get bored. So woohoo.

I hate waiting on things in the mail. I've got like $300 worth of music and other miscellaneous junk (presumably) on the way. Blargh.

Something else I don't like: Waking up early. We have to be at the Brackett Room at 7:15 to take our AP tests?! Ack! At least we don't have to go back to school afterwards.

Last Wednesday's show was an adventure. There were like 20 people there around 4:30, when we were originally gonna start, but it turns out my friends from Chicago, Pat and Ty, thought the show was at 7, and wound up getting there around 6:15. They played for 7 people. It was a blast, though. A guy from Jamestown, New York played too. Afterwards we went back to my house and watched MASH 'til four in the morning. As usual, it's all on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=DakotaFloyd&p=r

The next shows are this Saturday. One is at 2 at Meeks Park. Ben Chapman, Jon Crocker, and maybe me (but I doubt it), then 5 at Mystic Mountain Coffeehouse in Hiawassee with Danny Rangel, Mr. Microphone, Jon Crocker, and Ben Chapman & The Turnabout. Should be fun, if people show up. Probably not gonna film much of these, if that makes anyone wanna actually come?

Well, I let myself get wrangled into playing at graduation today. I'm playing "My Wish," by Rascal Flatts. Mrs. Ludlum said I could play something else, but that's what most people wanted. So whatever. I already figured it out, now I just need to memorize the words.

Wow. It's almost 1 in the morning already. Guess I'd best be going. Adios.

I Know He's Probably Twice the Man I'll Ever Be...

2008-04-28T00:52:00.004-04:00

...and I know I'm probably half the man you'd ever want.
~Grandfather Clock

Wow, I live a boring life.

I bought a drumkit the other day. I like it, but the cymbals are crappy (I've already warped all of them), and the sticks I'm currently using give me blisters. Oh, and since drums are indeed superloud, I can practice for only a little bit at a time when no one is home. Oh well, though. A worthy investment. I'm glad I bought 'em.

And speaking of buying things, I hate it when people get me stuff. If I want something, I'll pay for it myself or just not have it. I haven't done anything to merit anyone buying me a single thing. I mean, sure, if someone does indeed get me something, I'm gracious and grateful, but I really don't need anything. Besides people to leave me alone for five minutes.

I really don't see why everyone is making a huge deal about high school graduation. If you're going to college, it's not really that huge of an ordeal, is it? Going from one school to another. Whoopdeedo. I'm more excited to quit my crappy job. Everyone is all "CLASS OF '08 WOOHOOHOLYCRAPWERULEAWESOMEISUS," but who cares? It's not like our class has made any lasting differences to anyone. I dunno. Maybe it's a bigger deal if you actually like the people in your class? Or care?

Good thing I don't do either.

I'm officially leaving for Berry on August 17th, classes starting a week-and-a-half later. I think I'm going to get my Bonner hours in at Youth for Christ, but I dunno yet.

There are so many awesome people in my life whose names begin with the letter "B," it's ridiculous! Unfortunately, most of them are now long gone from here. I dunno why I just wrote those last two sentences.

Man, why do I hate all of my songs? Oh yea. Because they're awful.

redbear. and friends are coming through on Wednesday! Come if you can?

I am so confused about so many things right now.

I hate this. And me. But what does it matter? This is the blog of a teenage boy on the internet, and the amount of people who care is less than or equal to zero.

No One I Know's More Depressing Than Me...

2008-04-17T23:16:00.001-04:00

I think I'm about the only person on the face of the planet that can get a full-ride to college and still be sad. No, I'm not sad about getting a ton of money, just stuff. What stuff? I honestly don't know. Quite the pickle, eh?

I guess I just, in the words of Dustin and the Furniture, "miss knowing people that I like." I've grown so distant from all of my close friends that it's almost unbearable. "Why don't you just call them, or get up with them somehow" you ask? I've tried. They usually never respond. Maybe I just need to move on? I wish it was that simple.

On a better note, I've made a bunch of really awesome new friends lately. Unfortunately, they all live halfway across the country. I think that we would eventually become really close if we weren't, literally, so far apart. Bummer.

I complain entirely too much. But that's what blogs are for, right?

Some of the afore mentioned new friends are coming and playing here on Wednesday, April 30th. Everyone should come. But I know they won't.

Blagh.

Look at the Ground...Are You Growing Up Or Growing Into Somebody Else?

2008-04-13T00:40:00.002-04:00

Well, I'm back from Chicago. Even though I am indeed "home," it doesn't feel like it. This place seems foreign to me. I don't know where I belong. And no, I'm not saying I wanna live with my mom, I'm just saying that I don't know where my real "home" is anymore.

Anyway, about my trip. It was filled with good music. I made somewhere around a billion and a half awesome new friends. I slept a lot. I read a decent amount. I decided to make the jump to vegetarianism when I go to college. I still haven't unpacked. I found out that I might be going to a two-day folk / film festival in August (I might even be playing! We'll see). I played an awesome guitar that I want. But it costs 3,000 bucks. I debated, and am still debating, buying a drumset. I brushed my teeth multiple times a day (which is nothing out of the ordinary...I still did it though). I didn't send anyone who asked for postcards postcards, because I didn't go to any stores. Well...besides grocery stores. I slept a lot. Yup.

Overall, it was a decent trip. It was definitely good to have a break from working and school and everything. Unfortunately, it made my lust for summer grow even more. I can't wait to get out of here!

I have mixed emotions about lots of things right now. My mind is a trainwreck, with the survivors slowly dying among the wreckage.

Here, have some song lyrics:

a new song by redbear.:

Babycakes
your ports are lookin' boatless
my ships left dry land not long ago

Where's your home?
is that the town that you were born in?
I hear my home hum through my hands

Is this it? I see the streets here I know them by name
why crow on about your quail games
there's nowhere just the same

Badger heart
burrows deep holes in your body
a dryer day might crack more smiles

Turn your ears, you have to know that I still love you
but I'm leaving someone wherever I go
but it's easier now that I do it so much
spring words with a false tongue

Maybe you should have never met me.

Bluh. I don't want to go to work tomorrow.

Every Minute You Live You Grow One Minute Older, and I'm Older Right Now...You're Older Right Now...

2008-04-06T17:09:00.007-04:00

So, I went to this awesome show in Western Springs, IL last night. James Eric, This Forest!, The Pharmacy, Slutbarf, Arkansas?, and redbear. played. It was one of, if not the, best / most fun shows I've ever been to. I recorded all of it, and, as usual, it's on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=DakotaFloyd

Before and after the show were awesome too. I got to hang out with some old friends plus meet a ton of new ones. Yay vegan potlucks and sleepovers! Haha.

So anyway, flashback to my flight up here. I'm in the very back, right next to the engine, my reading light doesn't work, my tray table is broken, and to top it all off, there is a three year old kicking me the whole way there. Yargh.

And I can't steal wireless access at my mom's house. I'm at a library right now.

Oh well. At least it's warm up here.

Hope everyone else's breaks are going adequately. I wanna come home. It feels like I've been here a week.

Oh well. When we get back, four weeks of school left! Woo!

I Thought I'd Write, I Thought I'd Let You Know...

2008-03-31T13:36:00.003-04:00

"...The year since you've been gone, I finally let you go...
--Ben Folds

So, I saw Ben Folds Saturday night. It was pretty awesome. The first half of the set was kind of mediocre, but after that, it was incredible. They weren't supposed to play a certain Dr. Dre cover that they're famous for, but of course, they did anyway. And they didn't get paid because of it. And they knew that beforehand. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Lots of new songs, too. I'm psyched for the new album. Woo!

That's about it. I'm leaving for Chicago on Thursday night. I think I'm getting back the next Thursday? I dunno. I'm looking forward to the 5th, because there's an awesome show that I'm planning to film, and all of my friends from the area will be there plus I'm staying with them. Should be an adventure. Last call (until the next one) for anyone who wants anything.

I still haven't gotten to hang out with Bella, my friend who's visiting from Florida. She doesn't have a cellphone anymore and is on crappy wi-fi so it's kinda hard to communicate, but maybe today?

That's all, really. I'm just bored in third block, as usual. Here's a song by Ben Folds called "Smoke."

Leaf by leaf, page by page
Throw this book away
All the sadness, all the rage
Throw this book away
Rip out the binding, tear the glue
All of the grief we never even knew
We had it all along
Now it's smoke

The things we've written in it
Never really happened
All the things we've written in it
Never really happened
All of the people come and gone
Never really lived
All the people come have gone
No one to forgive - smoke

We will never write a new one
There will not be a new one
Another one, another one

Here's an evening dark with shame
Throw it on the fire
Here's the time I took the blame
Throw it on the fire
Here's the time we didn't speak
It seemed for years and years
Here's a secret
No one will ever know the reasons for the tears
They are smoke

Where do all the secrets live
They travel in the air
You can smell them when they burn
They travel in the air
Those who say the past is not dead
Stop and smell the smoke
You keep on saying the past is not dead
Stop and smell the smoke
You keep saying the past is not even past
You keep saying ...
We are smoke ... smoke ... smoke

When It Comes Down To It, I Am Filled With Hope...

2008-03-24T19:58:00.002-04:00

...when I look around at all these faces, eyes are filled with love.
Even though it may be false, it still brings me joy...
--Eric Ayotte

Well, it's been a week since my last post, and I'm bored, so here ya go.

Nothing has happened.

A friend of mine from Florida is coming up towards the end of this week, and I'm super psyched to hang out with her. However, Bethany is moving, I think, this week, and I'm super bummed about that. Yargh.

I don't have any shows planned until April 30th. Krieger: Prom is on the 19th, I think. Would April 25th or 26th work for a Key Club fundraiser show? Well, if we can wind up using the Family Life Center, that is? This one would probably be much, much better than the last one.

So, Crafty Records is pretty much awesome. What is Crafty Records, you ask? Crafty Records is a NYC based record label. Some folks from Crafty have stayed here twice and are always super nice and courteous. They released a CD called "Thanks for the Floor" that they're giving away to people who house them for a night, and I got one! It came in super cool darkwood packaging. Really thoughtful! Crafty is one of the most original, "crafty," if you will, labels out there today. They're also working on something called the "1,000 Letters Project." Basically, the writing of physical letters is dying, and they're trying to save it. They're getting 500 letters and packaging them with CDs. If you buy a CD you have to write back to the person whose letter you got, starting a kind of penpal thing. It's really neat. Anyway, I'll shut up about Crafty Records now. I know you don't care.

Four releases coming out by mid-next month! Woohoo! Two will be basically free! More / cooler buttons coming soon! Our new stickers will be printed on the 31st! Shirts are...delayed. Again. I need transparency paper! I like exclamation points!

I need to go to the Post Office. I hate going to the Post Office. Oh well.

Kylewilliam and I are buying all the remaining copies of his album "Tomorrow, We Start New" from Valiant Death Records soon. Anyone want a copy? $2 - 3. I'm also buying most of The Alcoholic Freshman's "Sick of Depending On People." Gimme like a dollar and it's yours. Or I might just give you one. Probably that. I like giving people things. Oh, and hey, does anyone who reads this draw decently? Or crappily? I don't care. I need to make a "Bonfire Club Records" logo. I don't care what you draw. Just make it fairly large so I can scale it down later. And you can just put "BFC" in really big letters somewhere. I would totally give whoever does that a big smooch. Or not. Probably not. But hey, it's worth a shot, no?

The chord organ I ordered like a month ago still hasn't arrived. The guy I ordered it from's dad is a UPS driver. This doesn't make sense to me. Good news, however, my ukulele will be here tomorrow!

Oh, and that reminds me. Some awesome label from Canada asked to release a CD by me the other day. Now I just need to write songs I like...

If You Make It is pretty much the greatest thing on the internet. Go to it, love it, revisit it every 5 minutes. For real. The stuff in the "Series" section is hilarious, and I like pretty much every band / musician that they post. Woo!
http://www.ifyoumakeit.com

So, I'm gonna be in Chicago pretty much all Spring Break. And will be going to a couple balla' shows. Anyone want anything? Postcards? CDs? Hugs? Snow? Hot Dogs? Phone calls? Ankhs? Anything? Lemme know and I'll do my best to hook it up!

My blog sucks. Why did you just read all of this crap?

You Wouldn't Know Honesty If It Hit You Goin' 90 On the Interstate...

2008-03-17T00:19:00.005-04:00

Wow, what a terrible weekend.

Friday -- Got back from the band festival (we got superiors...woohoo) and went to work. Got to leave work early because Mack came in when he wasn't supposed to. Awesome. After I got out of work I got a phone call from my friend Kylewilliam. He and his bass player Evan are getting ready to play a show for a bunch of drunk people in Chattanooga and wanted to know if they come could crash at my place afterwards because they didn't feel too well and didn't wanna stay with a bunch of drunks. They were set to play here the next day, so of course I said it was fine. Their show didn't wind up starting 'til past midnight and they were the second band. They wound up getting here around 3:45.

Saturday -- Woke up around 12:30. Sat around for a bit, playing some folk instruments, went to Downtown for lunch. I paid for everyone's stuff. Came back to my house, played with puppies, puppy stole Kylewilliam's shoe while we weren't paying attention and we still can't find it. Gave Kylewilliam a pair of my shoes and onward to the show. The show sucked. I mean, everyone played well, but the other bands were total jerks and hardly anyone in the crowd participated. How so? Kylewilliam broke a string when they had two songs left in their set, out of four guitarists, no one would let him borrow a guitar. For two songs. That's just rude. And for the first time ever, I just left. All the other bands were being rude and arrogant, and I just don't tolerate that. Oh, and I rode over there with Kylewilliam and Evan, so they were my ride back, and they wanted to leave too. We came back to my house for about an hour, where they finished downloading book 7 of Harry Potter to listen to on their way back to Tallahassee then off they went. It was awesome hanging out with them, Kylewilliam is always fun and Evan is basically exactly like me but taller and bearded, but the show was a total bust. I feel terrible. Shows like that are why I want to stop. But it happened, and there's nothing I can do about it now. At least I got to see some people I hadn't seen in forever: Bethany, Stephanie, Kylewilliam, blahblah. Oh, and if you get bored and for some reason want to see some of this show, a lot of it is on YouTube. You know the drill.
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=DakotaFloyd

Sunday -- Work. All day. Magical.

Yea, my life is pretty lame right now. Except for a couple people that I am extremely thankful for. Even though they'll never read this, thank you for making life at least halfway interesting and bearable!

That is all. Four CDs coming out by the middle of next month. Awesome.

EDIT: It's Monday. I have a flat tire. I am annoyed. Having terrible luck sucks.

I've Tried To Know Which Words To Sing So Many Times...

2008-03-10T21:55:00.003-04:00

...And I've tried to know which chords to play
And I've tried to make it rhyme
And I've tried to find the key that all good songs are in
And I've tried to find the notes to make that great reason begin
--Andrew Jackson Jihad

Here is an official "screw you" to being sick: being sick, screw you.

I've been sick since I played soccer who knows how long ago. Today was the worst, but I think it was a combination of other things, such as sleep deprivation and over eating.

"Overeating," you ask, "but Dakota you're so skinny." First off I'm not that skinny, and yea. At work yesterday, once the lunch rush was over, Dave told Ed to make him a pepperoni pizza to go, but didn't put in a ticket. About 30 minutes later Ed remembered. By that time, the pizza was black, and Ed and I decided to hide the evidence. We put in another one, and wound up finishing the whole, black pizza right as Dave walked in the door. Dave takes his new, nonburnt pizza, grabs three pieces, then gives the rest to me: "Look Dakota, they made us a pizza." No one would help me eat it. Ok, so there's basically a pizza and a third. On top of two cookies, two glasses of really thick chocolate milk, and three chicken tenders. Oh, and a milkshake. Great Scott. That is a lot of food. Especially for me. But hey, if you ever need to get rid of a pizza quickly, and I'm the only person around, you know what to do.

But enough about food. Ugh.

Onward to Friday's show. It was alright. The music was good and all, but the guys in the band were kind of divas. But they're basically signed to Sony so I guess they have an excuse, even though it is a bad one. All of it, save the first song (camera malfunctions), are on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=DakotaFloyd&p=r

Two shows Saturday! The first one is imadethismistake playing acoustically at Meeks Park at 2PM. The second is fullband imadethismistake, The Dancing Pandas, Social Medicine, Mr. Microphone, and A Piano for Penelope at the Black and Gold Center at 5:30! Both are free. Both are awesome. Be there?

Oh, and a new band is in the works. We jammed Wednesday. What we have so far sounds pretty nifty. I will be singing and probably playing guitar.

Bands / Musicians you should all listen to:
Doby Watson
Eric Ayotte
Ghost Mice
Best Friends Forever
Andrew Jackson Jihad
imadethismistake
Your Heart Breaks
Paul Baribeau
~~Suite 11~~
The Max Levine Ensemble
Anathallo
The Accident That Led Me To the World

Indeed. Good night.

I've Got the Rotten Apple Core Feeling...

2008-03-04T00:21:00.000-05:00

...Dying like a living ghost. Now I'm lying on the ground, not making a sound, thinking I love you the most."
~Andrew Jackson Jihad

So, Ghost Mice played here today. It was pretty awesome. They showed up about 10 minutes late (surprised?), and out of their van pops Eric Ayotte, which was an awesome surprise. I conned him into playing a short set, and it was pretty fantastic. Only a handful of people showed up, but it was still fun. It seemed like everyone had a good time. I have all sorts of random CDs from the show, so if anyone wants anything, lemme know! Oh, and I recorded the whole thing except for about a minute of Ghost Mice's last song (I ran out of film). It can be viewed here:
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=DakotaFloyd&p=r

Woohoo!

Next show = This Friday at Antioch Baptist Church. HighFlightSociety is playing. 6PM. FREE! Should be magical.

I am so sick. I've been feeling dreadful since Friday night when I played soccer (for the first time!) with Ben, Tommy, Victor, and a few other people. Oh well.

Now onward to finish this paper for Batchelor!

When I Take A Look Back At This Stupid Game...

2008-02-25T23:49:00.001-05:00

...I cannot find a reason why I'm still playin'."
~I Am Only Your Side Effect

Oh wow, what a weekend. Nothing incredible happened, but it was just a really long weekend. In kind of a bad way. Well, not bad, but not awesome...You know. Here's the deal:

Friday night: school, work, home, sleep.

Saturday: Woke up relatively early. Left for Hayesville around 3. The show started at 6. I didn't leave 'til after midnight. Holy crap. Long day? I think so. Why was I there so long? I was planning on 4 bands, there wound up being 7. How did this happen? Apparently, some of these bands "talked to Chris." I don't know who Chris is, and they were really rude. Well. 2 1/2 of them were. Although they were rude, I still filmed some of their sets and they'll be up on YouTube shortly. All of the bands did well and everyone seemed to have fun though, so hooray. I wound up going to bed around 3, as a band was staying at my house, and then had to wake up early for...

Sunday: 12 1/2 hour shift. Oh joy. And we actually stayed fairly steady for the first Sunday night in...ever. When I get home, I can't go to sleep until like two. Ahhhh.

In other news, after months, Rollie is finally done with his album, "Flawless Mistake." I should be getting the artwork within the next day or so, and the CD will be out mid-next Month, along with our new stickers, buttons, shirts, and hopefully sampler. Woohoo! Matt K also just got done with his new CD. Wheee!

So anyway, I've decided that since I have no life and because I just want to, I'm going to start reading at least 50 pages a night until I get tired of doing so. So I'll probably be done by mid next week. I'm a terrible person. So far I've read all of All Alone in the Universe, by Lynne Rae Perkins. Never heard of it? Me either. I just went to the library and kind of grabbed random books that seemed halfway interesting. It was ok, but it seemed like it was written for a 6th grader. It took about an hour and a half to read. Next on the list is Twilight. Sorry for taking forever with that, Krieger. Things got crazy for a bit, but I'll be done by the end of next week. After that comes "The Redemptioner," "Taking Lottie Home," and "The Akhenaten Adventure." And I need to finish "Evasion." And "Different Seasons." And start "Catch-22." And the books Ben and Ed gave me. And tons of other stuff. So yes. Books, books, books. Words, words, words. Word.

And at the moment, that is all. I wish my brother would stop burping / making farting noises and get out of my room. I swear, he acts like a five-year-old 75% of the time.

So We Don't Talk...

2008-02-12T00:23:00.001-05:00

...though it seems to be
the one true cure for the disease
that tears relationships apart
though you'll say something like
"how's it going"
watch me cringe
i never want to hear those words again..."
~The Max Levine Ensemble

Well, it's been awhile, and guess what! Nothing of any importance has happened! Big surprise, huh? Don't worry though, I'm going to include every sundry detail of uhhhh...everything that's happened since my last post.

Or not.

Friday, the 1st -- Was gonna ride with someone over to the skate park because I was almost out of gas and had zero money on me. We all plan to meet up at Wendy's right after school, but I got ditched. Awesome. Thanks a lot. Oh, and I find out that someone has taken two rather important screws out of my guitar, but no one knows anything about it. So anyway, I get over to the skate park and the second I pull into the parking lot I get get a call from Michael Driskell. He's still in Blairsville. I could've ridden with him, but no. Whatever. So, as people start showing up for this here shindig, Michael jokingly says to me, "Dude, you should go steal that kid's skateboard." Of course, I go along and say, "Dude, ok." So I go to hop over this thing I've jumped over a million times before...But this time doesn't make a million and one. The back of my foot catches, chin meets asphalt, asphalt meets chin, chin stays on asphalt. Magical. I get up laughing about it, seemingly unscathed, but a bunch of people tell me I'm bleeding. A lot. I wind up almost passing out, but was fine within a few minutes and a bottle of water. No stitches required, but I do have a rather disgusting looking scab now. Woohoo.

Oh, and as for the show, everyone was rude and talked through the solo guy's set, and MkJag sucked really bad, but other than that everything went well.

That's about it really. Have a list of crap.

Things I'm Tired Of:

-- Waking up tired
-- Falling down
-- Subdivisions
-- Deforestation
-- People
-- Stupid questions
-- Being broke
-- Randy Zimmerman
-- Drama
-- Writers' block
-- My mom calling me
-- Driving
-- People
-- High School
-- Going to the Post Office
-- Me
-- Living at home
-- Not having a band
-- Un-good "spelin'" 'n "grammer" on da interweb
-- Not having any firewire cable at my immediate disposal
-- Waiting
-- The internet
-- Holding on to certain things from the past
-- Trying to do something positive for the community through music, but either getting a rude response or none at all
-- People
-- People
-- People
-- People
-- People
-- People
-- People
-- People

Enough complaining. I'm going to bed.

I Don't Like Photographs...

2008-01-31T00:57:00.000-05:00

...'cause pictures only show me what I cannot have anymore."
--nineteen94

So, I'm not really liking the semester change anymore. The only class that I really like right now is Economics, the class that I figured I'd hate. Strange how those things work, eh? Oh well. Maybe it'll get better.

So, I got emails from four bands today asking about playing here. Only one of them sucked! Out of the other three, two were mediocre and one was amazing. I'm helping all of them. So much music is coming through here, and so few people are hearing it. It's unfortunate, but I honestly don't know what else to do. Oh well. It'll be over in a few months. I'm glad that at least a few people (out of like...80) have had good experiences here.

So, I've got a few releases coming out soon on Bonfire Club. First is our Spring Sampler, which is coming out mid-late next month. I should have buttons and new stickers by then too, which is cool. I might even have shirts then too. Who knows. I'm thinking about running a deal, for 10bucks you get a shirt, CD, button, and sticker. What a bargain. Anyway, after that is probably either the Matt K EP, which is shaping up really well, the Snorklewacker Bering Sea 7" PICTURE DISC, or the When Good Things Die / The Ef'd split CD. Should be epic! Lemme know if you want anything.

I got 9 CDs in the mail the other day and they all weren't so great. Magical.

Oh, my external hard drive came in yesterday. It was supposed to be 500gb, but it's really only like 475. Oh well. Basically, I'll have room for everything ever on that thing. Woohoo.

Berry's Presidential Scholarship competition is in a little over two weeks. I'm kinda scared. That's understandable, though, right? I mean, I'm competing for like $125,000, and on top of that doing a music audition on an instrument I haven't seriously sat down and played for nearly four years. Jeepers. I really, really hope I get one (they give out five), but I'm trying not to get my hopes up. I'm really not that smart.

Sometimes I hate having a computer in my room. My brother is in here watching music videos. I wouldn't mind so much if they weren't anime videos with Godsmack and Disturbed dubbed over them. Oh, and he never shuts up. In fact, he's talking right now. Yargh.

Well this sucks. One of my only good friends up here is moving in about a month. Oh how I'm ready to get out of here.

So, I think I'm gonna run for the worst blog ever award. Think I'll win?

I Got Doubts That I Can't Count...

2008-01-20T03:05:00.000-05:00

So today went from bad to worse to surprisingly good. Here's the scoop:

I wake up praying that it hasn't starting snowing yet, and of course, it has. I get a call from Krieger about an hour later. We don't know what to do about this show. This is about noon.

Well, at about one, I call up Josh Fletcher to tell him that there's a possibility that the show might get canceled. He's already in Blairsville. This show can't get canceled. If they can make it from Fayetteville to here fine, people can make it from Young Harris.

We wind up starting the show around 3:45. Something around 45 people showed up! Woohoo! Waaaaay better than I expected considering the weather. All was fun and grand, and I am in the process of burning DVDs. All of the videos would be up on YouTube right now, but it crashed halfway through WAOF's set. So they may or may not all be up when you see this:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=DakotaFloyd

And that's about it. If for some reason you missed this one, there will probably be another one in late April! Woohoo!

Although I wanted to say a bit more, it's 3 in the morning and I think I have to go to work in a few hours. Toodles.

EDIT: Here's the "bit more."

So, after the show I went to Rib Country with Josh Fletcher and friends. If you go into Rib Country and look right behind the counter and see an American flag that says "GIVE ME BARBEQUE OR GIVE ME DEATH," that was Josh. Josh also flipped over the entire container of toothpicks and a baby ran in to grab some and rammed his head into the wall. It was hilarious.

When I get home, I have mail. One of the packages is a couple CDs I ordered from a friend in Chicago, and the other is something I had actually ordered about a year ago and forgotten about. The guy had a note apologizing and gave me 2 free vinyls! Woohoo!

My Heart Broke On the Night That You Left...

2008-01-16T21:23:00.000-05:00

...and there are a few pieces I still haven't found. ~Paul Baribeau

Well, we have yet another snowday tomorrow and probably Friday. I didn't really want them, as I believe we're gonna start taking away from Spring Break soon? I actually have semi-plans for this Spring Break and I don't want them to get canceled! What are my plans, you ask? Go to Chicago and be with friends. Yes.

So anyway, here's some stuff:

The book I ordered awhile back has finally arrived. The book is called Junior, and it is by Macaulay Culkin. I read it early last year and absolutely loved it, so I figured, eh, why not? If anyone wants to borrow it, lemme know. It's one of my favorite books ever.

My semester so far hasn't been too bad. AP Lit, Economics, Multimedia, Band. I think Economics is actually gonna be a really fun class. Despite hitting my car, Coach Hussion is pretty cool, and he explains things in ways we can understand. Woohoo. AP Lit is AP Lit. Multimedia should be better this semester, as I'm going to be working alone most of the time. As of now, Kellie and I are having to do 11 videos. We've already finished 4 1/2 of them. Woohoo. Band sucks. I kinda wanna take Spanish III, but I don't wanna learn Mrs. Pestiana's teaching style, and I kinda feel like I should take band.

Saturday! Key Club show! I'm psyched. I think I'm gonna record the whole thing too, as I found a killer deal on miniDV tapes (less than 3 bucks each? Yes!) yesterday.

Oh, my phone got washed the other day. Another reason I always do my own laundry. My dad was just trying to be helpful by doing my laundry though, so oh well. I should be getting a new phone tomorrow or Friday, but I'm kind of doubting I will. At least that's how it usually goes.

Well, anyway, back to reading Junior again. After I finish this, I'm gonna start on the book of short stories Ed gave me, then that Twilight book. Robert said it was good, so if it sucks, I'm kicking him in the head.

Word.

It's Not What You Remember...

2008-01-11T01:39:00.000-05:00

...It’s not what you can count on just one hand,
It’s not how you can fly the flag of definitive action,
Or play the link in a chain reaction,
“I clocked you going 40 in a 30 mile zone.”
“Officer, I’m sorry I’m so far away from home.”

It’s every inclination,
It’s every time you wanna stop and turn around.
It’s just how you can dive head first in a pool of water
Without even giving just a single thought to
The monsters that lie waiting at the bottom of the pool,
Like a child at the bus stop on his first day of school.

It’s how we say “Let me out of here!”
But we don’t have the foggiest idea of what it means
To be left cold and slowly dying.
And the freezing man that I met tonight,
Well he grabbed my wrist and he held it tight,
He said “Soon you’ll sing your freedom song,
But come along into the alley first.
You look so young and I’m dying of thirst.”

Sometime we’re bound to lose for our pretense and misdirection.
But if the whole world does come crashing down
Who’ll bend their knees and kiss the ground with me?"
--The Max Levine Ensemble

So, this year has surprisingly started out fairly well. If things keep going this way (heh, right), it'll be a waaaaay better year than last year. I mean, last year wasn't awful, but it wasn't awesome either. It was either extremely awesome or extremely terrible at any given point.

So anyway, here's some awesome stuff that I know is gonna happen this year. Unless I die in a car wreck or something? But even in that case, most of it will still probably happen.

-- RECORD LABEL! As of this second, I already have 11 releases lined up to come out on Bonfire Club Records, including 2 7" records and possibly a book! I'm also in the process of making shirts (waiting on the design), buttons, and new stickers. As always, things will be sold at cost. Unless I decide to change this. Which I might. Because sales are slow. If I do change it, it won't be by much (shirts from like $4 to $5-6, CD-rs from $1 to $2-3, CDs from $2 to $4-5, 7" from $2 to $3, but as always, stickers are free, and buttons will be free with purchase). Sorry for ripping you off if I change them. And even if I do change them, I'll probably still give you the at-cost price. The mark ups are only really for online orders and people I don't know. Cause I'm a jerk.

-- SHOWS! Lots of cool shows coming up, and one amazing one that already passed. Here's some upcoming stuff: foreverdown, We Are Only Fiction, Joshua Fletcher & the Six-Shot Romance, The K-Macks Endeavor, Ghost Mice, Adam Tanksley, HighFlightSociety, imadethismistake (fullband!), Social Medicine, Jon Crocker, Matt K, I Am Only Your Side Effect...How much more awesome does it get? One thing about shows, though...People in Hayesville are much cooler than people in Blairsville when it comes to them. At least as of late. Hayesville is why I still do shows. Blairsville kids: I'm begging you to show me otherwise.

-- NEW MUSIC! Awesome bands releasing new albums. The first one that comes to mind? Anathallo. Sweet Lord, that album will be amazing.

-- COLLEGE! / MOVING OUT! I am ready to get away from you people.

...really.

-- MEETING NEW PEOPLE! This goes with getting away from you. And pretty much everyone else I know. And I still probably won't meet too many people I like.

-- JOINING / STARTING A NEW BAND! If I do indeed wind up going to Berry, a friend has already asked me to be in his band, which is cool because he recently toured the US with a fairly large band (aka, a they-had-a-video-on-MTV2 band). Woohoo.

-- CALMING DOWN? / RELAXING? Doesn't happen too often as is, and the new year probably won't fix this, but we can hope, right? Anytime you see me, I am probably stressed out over something. I'm weirded out right now as I type this. Weirded out about what? I have no idea. I just am. And pretty much always am. If you see me in the hall, in class, falling down the stairs, I probably have other things on my mind. I'm also not as happy and social as everyone seems to think I am. I really don't like talking much at all. Especially not to random people. And if I'm smiling, it's probably fake. Yargh.

-- GETTING MY CAR BACK FROM RANDY "RETARD" ZIMMERMAN! Oh wait. This is never gonna happen.

-- FINISHING THIS POST BECAUSE I'M TIRED OF TYPING AND IT'S ALMOST TWO IN THE MORNING! Word.

I Saw You Hanging Around the Corner...

2008-01-06T21:53:00.000-05:00

"... I think you wrote something about it,
it was a metaphor.
it was something about an ice cream shop.
you remembered how your friends said you knew how to have fun,
so you went to their party,
and watched them all get drunk.

you went dancing at a show,
and you stayed out pretty late,
and you wrote a song about it,
and someone put it on a mix tape.
what they didn’t know was how hard you could take it,
your heart slowly eroded before you let them break it.

and the part of me that gets sad saw you,
feeling alone and was confused.
how you knew that you were loved,
but couldn’t find someone to love you.

you spent a week in California, and they said it made a difference.
your friend came down from Boston, just to see you off.
and that's what he said, and it was partially true.
he said, "would you write me a letter,"
you said, "that's the one thing that I can't do." (do do do do)

and I would love to get to know you. everybody seems to miss you."
--The Max Levine Ensemble

They say in the lyric booklet for their new CD, "OK, Smartypants," "Welcome to our record. Here you'll find a story about the heartbreak of living in a post-modern capitalist world and all the confusion that could possibly result. You'll find our protagonist alternating between first, second, and third person, and each time we read the word 'I' it can be safely read as 'you,' 'me,' someone you know, someone you don't, or someone who is entirely fiction. The same can be said about the words 'you,' 'me,' 'he,' 'she,' or 'they.'" It says a bit more, but I could definitely substitute some names for all those "you"s. Maybe you can figure out who?

Anyway, it's been awhile so here's what has happened since Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve -- sleep.

Christmas Day -- Gave stuff, opened stuff, ate breakfast, went and hung out with Johnny and Trey. What "stuff" did I get, you ask? A violin, speaker stands, and money. All extremely useful. Woo!

Day After Christmas -- Went to Helen with Johnny and his girlfriend. We got bored so we came back and decided to go to Helton Creek Falls then The Cliffs. Exciting.

Day After That -- Johnny and girlfriend left. I did nothing all day that I can recall.

Friday, Saturday -- Work. Great fun! ...Right.

Between Then and New Year's Eve -- Nothing, work. Got my ACT scores back. My composite score was a 29, making me eligible for Berry's Presidential scholarship. It also upped my grant by $500 a year if I don't get the scholarship. I hope I get it (who wouldn't?). I have to go down for an interview sometime in February so we'll see! I think I might do my music audition then too if it's possible.

New Year's Eve -- Work. Got invited to a party, but I'm not much of a partier. I didn't feel too grand either. So how did I spend my New Year? Alone, sick, and at home.

New Year's Day -- Started my Shakespeare play, but other than that absolutely nothing.

Day After That -- We were supposta be back in school, but it snowed like an inch overnight. Yay, snowday.

Day After That, Part II -- School is still recovering from the blizzard.

Day After That, Part III -- In the words of my friend Kane, "school got pwned." Then I went to work.

Saturday, the 5th (aka, yesterday) -- The Max Levine Ensemble and Doomhawk came and played in Hayesville. 2 / 3 of TMLE had bronchitis, but it was still one of the best live shows I've ever seen. Doomhawk killed it too. And I got it all recorded. Woo! Oh, and I made them vegan lasagna and they loved it, which is good because it was the first time I'd ever made one! Anyway back to the show, the local bands were pretty crappy, as expected. And one of the members of The Pack got drunk towards the end and started making anti-gay / white power / anti-semantic comments and gestures. Did I lose most of my respect for him? Absolutely. All of the good and some of the bad will be up on YouTube whenever I find some firewire to steal (probably tomorrow night).

Today -- I was gonna go to church, but I wound up sleeping 'til like 1. My dad got home and we went and got Chinese, which was good, but I didn't have much of an appetite; I think I'm getting sick. Hopefully it's not bronchitis! I don't think it is, because the symptoms are similar, but nowhere near as severe. I think / hope it's just a cold. Anyway, the snowdays were nice, but it's back to the ol' grindstone tomorrow. Can't say I'm thrilled in the least, but oh well. Time to go finish The Merchant of Venice. Adios.

I Wanna Top of that Drink With the Poison...

2007-12-25T01:56:00.000-05:00

...so I won't have to think of another reason to wake up tomorrow; I can sleep all day long if you help me."
--Doby Watson

I'm sad, and I don't know why; I have no reason to be. You ever get that way? I dunno. I guess I'm just remembering my Christmas two years ago. In fact, I know I am. But I dunno if that's why I'm freaking out. For some reason, I really don't think so. Yargh.

So, for once I wish I was in Chicago right now. Why, you ask? Well, all 5(!) of my friends from up there that had moved in the past year are back visiting, there's a ton of great shows going on, and I need to get out of here. I'm so ready for college.

Here's the story of my break so far: Sleep. Work. Exciting, eh? At least it's a break, I guess. Oh! I did see Dave for the first time in like...a year tonight. We're probably gonna hang out / record sometime between now and the new year. And tomorrow I'm hanging out with Johnny and probably Bethany. That'll be fun.

I hate writers' block.

So, you guys remember that Nichole Brown girl that was such a diva? Well, she wound up making a 98 on her project. Wooo. She's planning on coming to Key Club Benefit Show...You guys know what to do.

I love Swedish music. I got 2 CDs from Swedish bands today: Napoleon!'s "Vaxala & I" and Rambling Nicholas Heron's "Here In Dreamland." They're nothing shy of amazing. Napoleon! plays like, 70's disco: super catchy, super awesome. Nicholas Heron plays kind of low-fi, mellow acoustic pop music. Quality material. You can check out both bands over at http://www.valiantdeath.com/ You can find them in the "New Valiant Death Releases" bar on the left.

Christmas is a weird holiday. Why should anyone give me anything? What did I do to deserve anything? Why not just give gifts to people at random times during the year for no reason? Blargh. I'm outta here. Hopefully your Christmases are merry and bright.

Each Mile Marker Lies Worse Than the Last...

2007-12-16T02:28:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm officially an old man as of today. Wooo for 18-ness. Fun. All I did today was sit around and eat, because that's what my family likes to do. Oh, and I bought a guitar, but not with birthday money or anything (my family also enjoys getting me clothes that I'll never wear and ripping the tags off so I can't return them and thus get birthday money). It's an acoustic electric. My other one burned out so I kind of needed a new one anyway. It was cheap and will probably fall apart soon, but it came with a nice case and sounds ok, so woohoo. But now I'm broke. Un-woohoo. So goes the life of a musician, I suppose.

So, after I picked up my guitar the temperature had dropped to about 50-something and it had been raining for about 2 hours. Well, I had seen this dude trudging through the aforementioned mess on my way up to the store, and when I got out he was right across the road. This is some cold rain and it's gonna start getting dark soon, so what do I do? I call the guy over to my car and tell him to hop in. This was the first hitchhiker I'd ever picked up. Basically, he was a retarded, Spanish-looking man trying to get to California. He said he'd been in the rain for 2 hours when I asked and that I was the first person to pick him up since it started. Anyway, this guy was headed to 64 West, and even though it was out of my way, I took him to Grizzly Bear (the little convenience store / gas station / restaurant / whatever else thing right after the flea market on the way to Murphy). Before he got out I gave him $1.50 (because I didn't have much more) and told him to go grab some coffee or something. It was a little strange picking him up, but I'm glad I did. I just wish he had been a bit more social; I've heard hitchhikers have the best stories. But oh well. That was my good deed for the year. I hope he wasn't a mass murderer on the run or something.

So anyway, I got some Scholarship information from Berry today. They're giving me $9,000, as of now (it can and probably will go up), in academic scholarships and I'm getting like $4,100 from HOPE? I thought they only gave $3,000 for private schools, but I think my dad said that Berry added on to it sometimes? Anyway, that's fun. I need to find some more scholarships to apply for. Yay for free money.

I think I've finally got my Christmas shopping done. Well. Except for my dad's. But I know what I'm getting him. Exciting. Now for wrapping. My favorite.

Well, I got wrangled into playing at the Christmas assembly on Tuesday. I told myself that I wasn't going to participate in it unless some faculty member asked me to, and guess what happened. Mrs. Payne told me she was in dire need of acts and asked me if I would play. Of course, I said yes. I'm gonna play a crappy acoustic cover of "Sleigh Ride." I might play tambourine with my foot too. I dunno yet. I pretty much look like a moron when I do that, but it's not like it's gonna matter because everyone's gonna be laughing at my terrible singing voice already. Hmmm...

Well, I believe I'm gonna start getting ready for bed. I don't have to work tomorrow, but I'm gonna go to church. Then to Young Harris to do some recording with Rollie. Then to Hayesville for a show that's gonna suck (I set it up as a favor for a friend). Then back home. Unless something comes up. But nothing will. Nothing ever does. Because I live a boring life. And none of my friends live here anymore. Save like...2. But one has to work tomorrow. On her birthday. And the other one isn't really fun to hang out with unless there's more people there to start conversation. Because neither of us are very good conversation-starters. Typing like this is weird. Yup. Ok. Bye.

All That I Think About Is How You Should Be Standing Next To Me...

2007-12-09T22:54:00.000-05:00

So, I heard before the idea got canned that the Newspaper class was doing their own list of Senior Superlatives. Mine was something along the lines of "Most Likely to Be a Record Producer." I scoffed and said that that'd never happen. Well...Now it has. I am producing and recording the new I Am Only Your Side Effect album, "Flawless Mistake." Two days in and we're about halfway through. Not bad. Basically all we have to do now is add vocals to all of the songs and random extras like eggshakers, bass, banjo, yadayadayada. Fun stuff. The album will be finished by next weekend and officially out by the end of the year. You know you want a copy.

I just told you about most of my weekend right there, but here's basically everything else.

Took the ACT Saturday morning. Everyone said it was easier than the SAT, but I really didn't think so. At all. I'm pretty sure I sucked this one up. Bad. But oh well. It happens.

Got my birthday present from my aunt -- a $100 gas card. Hallelujah. I love my aunt.

Kind of slept-in today because I wound up not having to work. Shazaam!

And now I'm off to finish my research paper.

Toodles.

Look at the Trees Through the Window and How They're So Alive...

2007-12-06T21:25:00.001-05:00

...and I remember how you said we die, but not like this...
--Dustin Gamble

Well, things have been shaping up since last weekend.

Monday -- Nothing happened. Surprised? Nope.

Tuesday -- MY LAPTOP CAME IN! I love this thing. It came with iLife, aka everything awesome in the world, and I've been making music videos and whatnot like mad. I love this computer. One thing that's annoying is that the 'v' key can be a little unresponsive at times, but I'm not worried about that, as it should be a pretty easy fix.

Wednesday -- Show at my house. The Awful Truth and Dustin Gamble. Pretty awesome. I recorded all of Dustin's set. You should go check it out on my YouTube account. I think one of the videos was featured for awhile because it got over 3,000 plays in under 12 hours. Awesome? I think so. http://youtube.com/profile?user=DakotaFloyd

Today -- A bunch of nothing besides playing on the computer. I signed my papers accepting my admittance to Berry today. The cool thing is, if I change my mind before mid-March, I can get my money back. I'm probably not gonna change my mind, though. Something I probably will do, however, is apply to Georgia Tech just so I can say I got in (because I'm fairly positive I will).

And uhm, that's it, I guess? Man I live a boring life. Oh, and I HATE SLOW SHIPPING.

The End.

I Am Lost In the Crowd. I'm Standing In Line, I'm Feeling So Down...

2007-12-02T23:22:00.000-05:00

I'm not feeling too well tonight so please excuse any typographical / grammatical errors in this.

So, Friday night was basically the worst night ever. Check it yo:
Right after school, I head off, with my car filled with PA system, to Mountain High Skate Park in Hayesville, NC to help Nichole Brown with her senior project, a show. Well, I'm the first person there, so I go ahead and set the PA and everything up and just kinda stand around for a bit. The first band shows up and the singer is either retarded, drunk, or both. He will not shut up. Soon after, another band shows up, Cornerstone. Cliche name, cliche music, decent guys. Within 30 minutes, A bunch of people have shown up, and I only know two of them. Finally, an hour later, the show begins. All of the bands are dreadful, tons of people are drunk and / or high, there is mass confusion among bands about, well, everything, and I only talked to two people the whole time. The rest of the time I laid down on top of a vert ramp. After the show was over everyone just left without saying anything. It was weird. I felt like I was being used to the max. Normally I don't mind, but this was kind of over the top. This show felt like a job. But the sad thing is, I would've rather been doing my job at Cobb's Mill than dealing with all the crap and wasting what little is left of my ear drums at this show.

On a much better sidenote however, the Key Club benefit show will be amazing.

Saturday was weird too:

Flashback to Wednesday. I'm working on Physics at Cobb's Mill with everyone else in the class. Joan asks me if I can work on Saturday. I say yes, thinking that the parade is in the morning because that is what I was originally told. Come Friday, I find out that the parade is at 4, right when I'm on the schedule to work. Well, I get up to town around 4 and have to sit through the parade in a parking lot, finally getting to work at 4:30. The first thing that's said to me is, "Hey, we looked for you in the parade." Yargh. Even though I hate parades, it was weird not being in this one and knowing that Dave and Joan were expecting me to be late because of it just makes it worse.

Oh, another thing that made Saturday weird / not fun: FedEx "Priority Overnight" shipping. You would think with a name like that the stuff I ordered would get here, y'know, overnight. Wrong. Shipped: December 1, Arrives: December 4th. Next day? Only if you're bad with numbers.

Sunday:

I woke up happy because this was supposed to be the last Sunday that Cobb's Mill was opened. Well, things changed. Magical, eh? Krieger's house after work was fun, though. Driving to Young Harris after that to write 3 sentences, however, was not. And now I'm home. With a headache. And it just started raining.

I'm Just Waiting for You to Shine, Like Carolina Sunrise, Something Deep Behind Your Eyes...

2007-11-25T23:13:00.000-05:00

Alright, I'm sure you're all on the edge of your seats for a report of my break, so here it is.

Tuesday -- Get up at 3AM and ride to Chicago. I didn't sleep any, just read when it got light enough. Sorry if I don't remember a ton of The Awakening, as that's when I finished it up. The whole drive took something like 10 hours? We passed through Tennessee, Kentucky, which was pretty much beautiful, Indiana (where we got lost in the ghetto; ask me about it if you care), and obviously, Illinois.

Wednesday -- Sit around the house. Do Thanksgiving dinner whatever with mi madre. Go to the library. Sleep. Oh, and my dog of over 16 years died. I don't really remember life without her, but she was close to 18; it was just her time to go, I suppose.

Thursday -- Up at 4:45 to get downtown and meet the rest of the band at the hotel. Sat around in the room for about an hour then went and marched the parade in the snow. Exciting? Not really. Came back for a couple hours then went back home. My mom didn't make it to the parade because the conductor of the train just passed by her.

Friday -- Wake up at 4 and ride back home. Slept about 30 minutes, read when I felt like it. Got back around 2 and went and hung out with everyone awesome. Which was awesome. Johnny, Bethany, Mark, Trey, Clay. Hadn't seen any of them in forever. We had a campfire, the first one in over 6 months. Fantastic? Yes.

Saturday -- Hung out with the same people as above, but add Adam and Kalisa to the list. Fun, fun, fun, fun.

Sunday -- Work. Everyone was asleep when I left, which was lame, but oh well. After work I did Thanksgiving stuff with my dad's side of the family. They waited 'til I got back to do their stuff, which was cool. After I ate I fell asleep on my grandmother's couch. When I woke up it was close to 9. I went home and read A Streetcar Named Desire. Oh, and I became the proud owner of a Macbook Pro. That's the most money I've ever spent on one single thing. Fun.

And that's about it. Pretty boring, huh?

This Road Leads Home If I Turn the Car Around...

2007-11-18T00:11:00.000-05:00

Well, after this weekend, I'm pretty positive I will be attending Berry College next Fall. I haven't been officially accepted yet, but I know I will be. And I'm not trying to sound cocky about that, but I'm 99.99% positive that I will be. As of now, I'm looking at a $9,000 - $9,500 academic scholarship and if I make a 29 or higher on the ACT, will be eligible to receive Berry's Presidential Scholarship. Plus HOPE. Plus all the rest of the scholarships that I haven't applied for yet (like the African American Women's Varsity League Croquet Tournament Five Time Reigning World Champion Scholarship, sponsored by Wendy's, in collaboration with the NAACP, the country of Darfur, BET, and the Atlanta Journal and Constitution). Fun. Now if only MRS. DONAHUE WOULD SEND IN MY STUPID PAPERS LIKE SHE SHOULD HAVE 3 WEEKS AGO, I could get accepted and start applying for some of these things (because they're...uhhh... already giving out scholarships...and stuff...kind of important, y'know...).

So anyway, if you haven't guessed already, my trip down to Berry was quite nice. I'd been to the campus several times before, but never taken an official tour. The whole thing lasted from 8:30 to about 3 and they even fed us lunch, which was kind of surprising. After that, my dad and I explored the campus, and he gave me a history of all the stuff down there (Berry is where he graduated from).

Here's a few quick facts about Berry in case you're wondering:

-- Berry has the largest campus in the world. Handy dandy, eh?
-- The deer-to-student ratio is 8 : 1. This is cool because if you know me at all, you should already be aware of my dislike for people. Handy dand....ier...
-- The average student-to-teacher ratio is 11.7 : 1. I would rather enjoying seeing that .7 student.
-- Berry is all about community service and whatnot. There's actually a day called "Freshman Community Day" (or something to that nature) where freshman as well as whoever else wants to go go out into Rome and surrounding communities and do volunteer work like cleaning up parks and stuff.
-- Counting books, Berry costs a little over $30,000 a year. Yikes. Hooray for financial aid and a banker aunt. Oh, a dad and grandparents who are supportive. Un-hooray to my mom, who would much rather see me go to Tri-County Community College for the rest of my life.
-- While touring the dorms, two staple food groups immediately became apparent: Easy Mac and Ramen. Sounds like my kind of place.
-- There's like a billion organizations and clubs. This probably means I can still set up just about as many shows down there as I did up here. I can also house the musicians in my room as long as I let an RA know a day or two in advance and it's cool with my roommate.
-- The college has its own Post Office, as well as zip code. All students get their own PO Box.
-- 75% of students enrolled work on campus. It's a pretty cool setup because wherever you work knows your schedule and works around it. If you have a bunch of tests coming up, they give you time off. As a freshman, you can work no more than 15 hours a week, this amount eventually increasing up to 20 as you become a senior.
-- As of now, Berry offers 41 majors.
-- There is a place where students can board their horses, even if not involved with the equestrian program.
-- The college has at least 3 different news publications, as well as its own TV station.
-- Unfortunately, as of now, there is no wi-fi connection on campus. There are, however, two ethernet jacks in every room.
-- Freshman are required to live in dorms, basically so they can make friends and meet new people.

But enough about that.

The Bonfire Club Records shirt design is almost ready! I need to hurry up and buy my screenprinting stuff. I think I might use this design on more than just shirts too. I'm thinking of printing up a messenger bag or two. Anyone want anything specific? Or at all?

I'm in the market for a laptop. Exciting.

I don't want to go to work tomorrow, but what else is new?

I'm a tired boy. I'm outta here.

I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You...

2007-11-11T03:33:00.000-05:00

Alright, so here's the deal. It's Saturday night. I was typing up a blog last night, but I didn't really feel too well so I went to sleep around 1 or so. So basically, part of this is from last night.

Ah, my last football game ever, and oh was it a heartbreaker, and I don't mean because it's my last football game in band. I'm glad about that...I've always hated marching band. It was a heartbreaker because we lost within the last minute or so by 2. I know how much this game meant to some of our players, and it's pretty sad that we lost. Oh well.

Speaking of football, apparently the Senior Night video I made made some people cry. Awesome. It was thrown together in about 30 minutes so I'm glad it was at least semi-effective.

So this morning I was on my way to school. As you should know, it was ridiculously cold this morning. Well, my windshield gets really, really foggy / icy / whatever-y while I'm going down the road and I pull off to scrape off some of the crap. Well, I get back in and the car is off. And won't come back on. Apparently some converters are totally stopped up. So now, since Randy DS-head Zimmerman is still "working" on my car, I have nothing to drive. Man, I hate my life.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, Fall Ball is today. It's kind of depressing that I'm getting to miss everyone grinding on each other. Right. At least people will stop asking me if I'm going now. But next is prom. I don't really wanna go to that either, but I think I'm gonna swing by for about 5 minutes or so just to say I did. If it's cool (which I'm totally not expecting it to be) or if I somehow manage to find a decent date (right), I'll stay. So in other words, if you're there, expect to see me for about 5 minutes, if at all.

Well, it's looking like Bonfire Club Records is going to be releasing a Christmas compilation soon. Fun stuff. As of now I don't have to pay any of the bands on it so I'm thinking of making it a benefit release with all of the profits going to some noble something. What is this noble something, you ask? I don't know yet. Maybe Key Club; it can go hand-in-hand with the concert. We'll see. I'm 75% sure that this is going to happen. If it does, I'm aiming to have it out by the end of the month. It'll just be CD-r, but I'm planning on making cool, screenprinted Arigato-style boxes for them. Should be nifty if everything works out, which I'm hoping will happen.

I really miss having a band. Even though we sucked, it was fun. Playing solo just isn't the same. I like writing solo, just not playing shows solo. It's weird. I hate all my songs. Ack.

You know what else I really miss? Probably not. So I'm gonna tell you. Actually having non-school friends. As in people to hangout with outside of school. I'm pretty positive I'm gonna forget and lose contact with the vast majority of my class and vice versa, simply because I don't really have any close friends that live here any more. And the friends that I used to hangout with have moved and, surprise(!), for the most part lost contact with me! Magical. And yea, yea, yea, I know the whole "you'll make better, real friends in college" spiel. But I'm not in college yet. And this blog is mostly about current stuff. So there.

I need to buy some more blank CD-rs. I have a grand total of two left and one of them is going to be used for a mix CD that I just finished compiled tracks for. It always takes me forever to make a mix CD, I think that's mainly because I always put songs on there that correspond to what I'm feeling towards a person at the moment. Hooray for music being the universal language. Oh, and all of the songs have to kind of blend together, so it takes me awhile to pick the order. And I always add a track by me, not necessarily a song, but something. But that's not for all mix CDs. Just ones for certain people. I've only made mixes like that for two people because they're awesome. For other mixes I just pick random songs that I like. So, now that you know my mixtape habits, If you want one of those "random song" mixes, lemme know. Oh, and bring me a blank CD. Cheapskate.

Well, awesome. In less than 5 hours I have to be up for work. I'm completely and totally ready to not work in food anymore. And have been for about 2 years. Yargh.

Toodles.

So Hey, Listen Up Friends, Good News Is Coming, Soon is the End...

2007-11-05T02:41:00.000-05:00

...of all the world's troubles and all of it's sin...
--The Rocket Summer

So, the books that I ordered finally came in, after 2 months of constant emails. I've started one of them, and nothing has really happened so far, but I can't seem to put it down. I think it's the writing style, casual, yet elegant. Here's a passage from it:

"When we peel back all the layers of pain and distrust and neurotic surface fears, what lies beneath is that infinite primal fear of being stuck forever with no love. We have built our societies on the pursuit of success: traditionally that's meant beauty for women and power for men, although increasingly they overlap. Daily, we see around us the dismissal of the ugly, the weak, the old, the powerless. So we know that one day it could and can and will be us who are dismissed. Whether we have the tools to fool everyone until we are old, or whether tomorrow someone sees our cracks and rejects us, the fear of isolation because all around us are images confirming that isolation is our destiny. Buy your way out of isolation, out of dismissal and anonymity, say the corporations. Try this product, this shampoo, this razor, this cellphone, this car . . . blah blah blah. Buy in. But the billboards of sexy girls gaining the attentions of powerful men are empty promises of reward when below them an old woman sits alone at a bus stop."

Now wasn't that fun? Anyway, the book is called Off the Map and is about two women hitchhiking / squatting their way through Europe. It's a true story, originally a 'zine, but re-published as a book. It's a short, easy read...Kind of like a personal journal. Anyone who wants to borrow it can; I'm almost done. Oh, and along with my books came several posters. If anyone wants any of them, you can have them...Just tell me what you want. They can be seen here: http://www.crimethinc.com/tools/posters.html

In other news, I wish people would STOP ASKING ME IF I'M GOING TO FALL FORMAL. No, I'm not. Ok? Good. The End. Go kill yourself.

I'm ready for marching band to be over. I've always hated it. Only one game left. EVER. But then I've got at least 3 parades to deal with. Yargh.

College Board takes entirely too long to ELECTRONICALLY send scores. I paid my 10bucks to get more scores sent to Berry a bit over a week ago and they're still not there. I would understand if they were sending them by actual post, but uhhhh they're not; sending things over the interweb should be instant! Ahhhh.

So, this band called Low Red Land played at my house Thursday night. Only 8 people wound up showing up, but it was a lot of fun. I think mainly because the band was so "chill," for lack of a better word (I hate using the word "chill"). I offered to give them some gas money, but they said it was fine, that there were good vibes, and they were totally happy with what they made off merch (about 30bucks). Oh, and this was one of their less common acoustic shows. Fun stuff. I recorded part of the show, and it can be found on my YouTube page along with all sorts of other crap: http://youtube.com/profile?user=DakotaFloyd

I'm already making plans for the last big Blairsville show ever. The only thing that I'm saying right now is that it's gonna be on Saturday, March 11th and will be epic. More details to come.

Hey, guess what. Randy Zimmerman's "almost done" with my car again. I think I'm just gonna go sign the title over to him tomorrow after school.

Hey, guess what else, all sarcasm aside. There's some really good albums coming out soon. Defiance, Ohio's "The Fear, The Fear, The Fear," something new from The Max Levine Ensemble, the US release of Efterklang's "Parades," the imadethismistake / redbear. / Super Famicom / tinyfolk split 7", a new, fullband EP from Matt K., the reissue of Jon Crocker's "The Dust Will Settle," a new full-length as well as live, acoustic EP from Low Red Land, a 7" from The Riot Before, and so on and so forth. Hooray music!

While on the subject of music, An Act of My Own, aka me and Dave, has been selected to be on the latest Skratch Magazine sampler! I found this to be quite awesome, as I actually have a copy of Skratch. Basically, there's gonna be 5,000 of the CDs made and given out for free. Said CDs go into over 75 record stores in California and to over 350 labels (even though we're already signed to a very small indie label out of Florida). What they do is mix big name artists in along with small ones like us. Last year, Bright Eyes was on the CD. Anyway, I thought that was really cool. I've gotta call the guy in charge on his cell phone tomorrow and get all the details worked out. Oh, and someone is designing us a website for free. It's kinda weird...Good things keep happening now that we've taken a really long break, but hey, I'm not complaining! We might actually be recording something soon too (I doubt it).

So anyway, I've been thinking about when I move off for college next year. It's gonna be strange and new, but I think I'm ready for it. I've been in Blairsville for nearly 18 years, and I definitely think a change of scenery is muchly needed. It's not like I'm gonna be totally unknown to everyone when I go to college either; I have friends at all of the colleges I'm looking at, which is just an added bonus.

Aaaaaand, I believe that's it. For now, I bid you adieu.

Blowing Lungs Like Bubbles...

2007-10-30T01:45:00.000-04:00

Ok, so this band is incredible and deserves their own post on this here blog. I can't think of a way to really describe them other than by what's already been said; "it's music to witness the dawning of new ages and the end of days as we know them."

This band is called Efterklang, and they are a 5-piece ambient-ish / awesome band from Denmark.

Seriously, if their songs don't make you feel something inside, there's something wrong with you.

Or you're just not into them.

I dunno.

I love them. They're one of the only bands that I can totally lose myself in.

Without further ado, Efterklang.

Want anymore info on them? http://www.efterklang.net

I'm getting their albums once they're released in America (import prices are dreadful!), so if anyone wants to borrow / burn them when I get them, let me know.

I really doubt (m)any of you will be into this.

Oh well.

All I Have Is All of Me, And That's All That I Can Give...

2007-10-26T03:18:00.000-04:00

Well, my granddad got in a car wreck today. No one got hurt, thankfully, but his truck is totaled. Lame? I think so.

I got my SAT scores back today. I did pretty crappy. 1740. 620 verbal, 580 math, 540 writing. I probably could've done better if it hadn't been for lawnmower (actually, chainsaw-er) men and hacking girl. Oh well. I'm not gonna take it again. Just the ACT in December. I think that a 1740 is good enough for pretty much anywhere I want to go, but I feel like I should take the ACT. Just to say I did, y'know?

So, I've pretty much completed one full college application; all I need is my official transcript as well as an official copy of my SAT scores. Awesome, huh? Now that I have my SAT scores I can get started on some others as well. Fun, fun.

For future reference, if you see a book put out by Crimethinc and want it, don't order it from them. I ordered a book from their store nearly 2 months ago, and it still hasn't arrived. They haven't returned any of my three emails either. The book was cheap, but it's just the sheer fact that I haven't gotten it yet, and they aren't replying to my emails that gets on my nerves. Yargh!

I hate my group in Multimedia. For our current project (football highlights), I did the whole storyboard, and they agreed to film the stuff we needed for a part of our intro because I couldn't due to band. The shot we needed was all the football players behind the banner before they busted through it. Well, of course, they didn't film it. Now there's one game left before our video airs, and I'm the only one going to it. I have band though, so there's a large chance that I won't be able to get it. Yargh. I really don't wanna have to rewrite the whole intro because of something stupid like that.

So, I order a bunch of musical equipment the other day, and it finally got here. And it all works. Wooo! Just in time for the first show in over 2 months, which is going down on Thursday, November 1st at mi casa. This band from California called Low Red Land is playing. They play altpunk type stuff. Think REM, but a little heavier and faster. It's quality stuff. I'm looking forward to it; I just hope people show up. Right.

I've read a ton of books this school year, and surprisingly enough, the majority of them weren't required; that's a sign that I really have no life. I don't mind though.

So, my car is supposedly going to be done by the end of this week. Right. I totally believe that. It'll be done by the end of this week just like it's been done at the end of the week before and the week before than and so on and so forth for 2 months.

Anyway, I can't think of anything else to type at the moment, so there ya go.

So I'll Be Picking Me Up, Breaking Me Down...I Was Lost...Was I Found?

2007-10-21T05:05:00.000-04:00

...I wanna feel everything
When everything feels wrong with me
Take a look and brace myself
Everybody wants to make it count

Save me
'Cause I can never float, sinking
Amaze me
And I would be there holding on for life
--The Rocket Summer

Ah, the mandatory Fall Break post.

So, this Fall Break has pretty much sucked and will probably continue to suck all the way to its close tomorrow. Oh well. The break from school has been nice. Anyway, here's all of the incredibly "fun" and "awesome" stuff I did.

Saturday (the 13th?) - Marched in the parade and went to a band contest. It pretty much was terrible.

Sunday - Work. Exciting.

Monday - Went down to Kennesaw with Ed, Josh, Richard, and Ben to tour the KSU campus. Overall, the trip was pretty fun, but I have no interest in the college. I've narrowed my choices down to three: Georgia State, Georgia Tech, and Berry. I'm kind of leaning towards Berry because I can get a degree from Tech while I'm there, and I really like the campus. I would rather live in a place where the ratio of deer to students is 6:1 than a place where that same ratio applies, but instead of deer : student, it is hobo / car : student. Who knows where I'll end up, though? Certainly not me.

Tuesday - Work.

Wednesday - Sat around most of the day, but got invited to go play soccer at the fields near my house by a couple friends. I went, and it was alright. I'm really out of shape and got tired out quickly. Yargh.

Thursday - Work.

Friday - Morning: work, Evening: Senior Night. Whoopdeedo. The guy in the announcer booth can't read. My paper thing said "one year cross country, one year baseball." He somehow managed to get "one year track, one year basketball" out of that. Way to go. Oh, and he said my mom's last name wrong. Anyway, fast forward to halftime. I get to play the 2 measure solo in the first song, and what happens? My valve gets stuck down, and I hit some terrible notes. Awesome. At least my marching days will be coming to an end soon...

Saturday - Work.

Sunday - Work then math test.

So yea, my Fall Break was just magical, as you can now see. I did get a couple things accomplished, though, such as reading 3 1/2 books, buying a couple good CDs, and finding somewhere close to 25 million guitar picks not a day after I ordered a bunch, but that's about it. And now that all that Fall Break crap is out of the way, on to junk I normally post.

I'm releasing a DVD soon. It'll be a semi-limited release and will probably cost something like 10bucks postpaid or 8 in person. What is this a DVD of, you ask? The Alcoholic Freshman! Everyone's favorite one-man-ska-band! Wooo.

Ok, my hands are cold, and I really don't feel like typing anymore. Adios.

What's Happening Here?

2007-10-06T15:19:00.000-04:00

...I was once so alive and now I’m so full of dread and almost dead
Show me your wounded head that is lead to communion with the father
But where did he go?
His presence seems farther and farther away each day
but I’m trying so hard to steer his way
Yet still lonely and confused on this cold hard ground I lay

Speak to me wise mouth and say “it’s all good kid, it’s nothing that you did, and though it feels like I’m not here with you right now just be still and silent and listen for that sound..
Shhh..
Did you hear it?
Listen again.
Did you hear it?
That silent voice that just spoke nothing, that is me, I’m listening to your plea with open ears Counting all your tears flowing from your irritated eyes
Searching the skies looking for that hope that beyond there lies.

Oh you young worrisome sparrow, find rest
Lay your battered head upon my omnipresent breast and make it your nest
No strong cold wind could ever blow and carry you from this your home
Look around, see the life shooting up from the ground
Spring colors springing fourth and celebration of your trusting

It’s a constant process this is
Growing you into the man you are to become
But when you sense the setting of the sun know it is only rising and has just begun
Now go fourth, sing songs of faith, and lift up others in the midst of this race
And if you can’t keep the pace or lose sight of my face
Know that I’m always near so you need not fear
But don’t worry about all that right now
Just sit here and enjoy the peace I offer in my silence
When I am silent I am listening, and not abandoning.
--Bradley Hathaway

Man, this week has dragged by. Monday felt like a Friday, Tuesday felt like a Monday, Wednesday and Thursday felt like Fridays, and Friday felt like a Monday. Yargh.

I took the SAT today. It wasn't really as bad as I was expecting at all, and it didn't seem like it took 4 1/2 hours to take. The essay topic was pretty simple (but I must "keep it secret, keep it safe" for now), and all in all, I think I did quite well. I suppose we'll see in a few weeks.

The end of last month marked the first month in two years I haven't had a show. Kind of strange. I don't have any fully planned for this month yet, but I'm kind of working on one (waiting for a date), and I have some things I've committed to in the coming months. Fun stuff. Maybe people will actually show up this time?

Nah, I doubt it.

I've heard two songs called "Dakota" today. Strange huh? Come to think of it, I listen to 3 bands with my name in them: Dakota Dakota, Slingshot Dakota, and Dakota Floyd. The last one is weird because I'm in no way affiliated with them. They're a band from, I wanna say, Ohio, and the singer is a fat blond-haired woman with a big wart. Random fact.

I checked the mail yesterday and I had a box of 200 CDs waiting for me. It only cost 20bucks for all of them. And I don't mean blank CDs. These are nice, professionally pressed and packaged deals. My friend Dan that runs Crafty Records hooked me up because they were trying to make space for new releases. He said I could do whatever I wanted with the CDs -- throw the inserts and CDs away and just use the cases, sell them, give them as gifts, whatever. I've decided to give them away to whoever wants them. It's kind of crappy 90's altpunk stuff, but hey, it's free. Anyone want a CD?

Speaking of getting things in the mail, I've been waiting on a book to get here for like a month. I hate crappy shipping services.

So for college, I'm thinking I wanna go to Georgia State. I dunno though. I still have no earthly idea what I wanna study besides something with History. And I'm not even sure about that. It seems like everyone else at least has some general idea. Not me. Oh well.

Sorry that none of these little sections connect. I really don't care. I type things as I think of them and rarely revise / reorder.

I don't wanna go to work today. That's nothing new, though. When do I ever want to go to work?

I need to finish up a couple of the books I'm reading. I'm juggling 4 right now.

I feel so distant from everyone and everything. It's quite strange.

Anyway, I don't feel like typing any more. Adios.

Looking Towards the Future, We Were Begging For the Past...

2007-09-26T02:55:00.000-04:00

I have absolutely dreadful luck sometimes.

It's Sunday, right? I've just gotten off work and am on my way to Hayesville for my grandfather's 70th birthday thingy. Well, I get to about the Ingles sign (in Blairsville) and all the tread on my driver side front tire just uhhh...peels off. Luckily, I was able to pull into the Westgate parking lot and fix it (and by fix it, I mean change the tire), but still...It sucked. I wound up cutting my hand on the metal shards sticking out of my stupid tire AND not going to Hayesville. Lame? I think so. For this, I completely and totally blame Randy Zimmerman. He's been "ready to paint" my car for, hmmm...let's see...over a month. Basically, my normal car has been in his shop since the week after school started. All he was gonna do was replace a part and paint it. Normally a 2 or 3 day job? Not for this guy. But I digress.

I have absolutely awesome luck sometimes.

It's Monday morning, and I am in a group with Katie Wesche, Ed Drake, and Josh Loftis in Physics. We're trying to roll a ball down a ramp, across a table, and finally into a cup on the floor. We're supposed to do a bunch of math for it, but we didn't get done with it in time so I just pointed to a random spot on the floor and said to put the cup there. Well, we did, and when we rolled our ball down the ramp, it went right across the table and...you guessed it...right into the cup. We were the only group to get it in. Wooo.

Things are still weird, but not as bad as they have been. Since I'm bored, here are some song lyrics. Maybe you can relate to them, maybe not? I dunno. I've already posted a lot of these, but oh well. Sometimes I remember periods of my life with what music I listened to at the time. It's just like some people saying, "the smell of burning leaves reminds me of my grandfather. He would always rake all of the leaves into a pile and burn them on cold Saturdays in October" or whatever. Maybe no one really says that and I'm just weird. Whatever. Here are song lyrics. Read them if you feel like it. I don't know how many there are gonna be by the time I'm finished so sorry if there's like a million.

"Everywhere I go, everyone I know comes with. Wonder how many more I can fit inside this crowded, crazy heart...Just don't let it be the last time you come into my life. Don't let it be the last time you come into my heart."
--Paul Baribeau, "Last Time"

"I can't help but feel like I failed, I know I failed you all."
-- The Alcoholic Freshman, "Letters to Home"

"There's a monster, and it lives inside my chest."
-- Patrick Cadaver, "Monsters"

"I'm getting my last wisdom tooth in now. Maybe this'll be the one that works?"
-- Wildebeest, "Wisdom Tooth"

"My brain's repeating, 'If you've got an impulse, let it out,' but they never make it past my mouth."
--Death Cab for Cutie, "Sound of Settling"

Ok, I'm done. Adios.

It's Always Easier To Say That People Love You and That Everything Will Be OK...

2007-09-16T20:54:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I wish I was 5-years-old again. Carefree. Simply taking in nature and not worrying about anything besides the sun being out. Sometimes I'll be driving and get an image of some beautiful local scenery, usually during the current season, -- postcard quality stuff -- and I can't help but wish I was there once again with nothing to worry about, simply soaking it all in. And just as soon as these thoughts enter, they leave again. I realize I'm in the same spot, and it's totally different, and I don't like it. Not at all.

Sometimes I think about old friendships and whatever happened to them. Sometimes I miss them, but most of the time I don't. That's probably the one thing I don't miss too much about the past. Just looking at some of the people I used to hang out with, it's a wonder that I turned out the way I did.

Sometimes I wonder what things would be like now if I never even existed or if I grew up somewhere else. Y'know, if I've even affected anyone at all. It's a strange thing to think about.

"Freedom" is nothing but a word. Everyone always says, "You'll have more freedom when you're older," but now that I am older, I believe -- know -- that is an outright lie. The older you get, the more entangled you become in arbitrary things. I felt more free when I was 5-years-old that I do now at age 17. We're trapped. We're lost. We're so far from home. Life is too short to take the small things for granted. Step outside and look around for a minute. Take a walk through your yard. Go sit under a tree. Something. Anything to break the monotony of your daily cycle. Unless you're totally satisfied with everything. Then nevermind.

I'm sorry. I dunno why I typed all this up. And sorry if I've seemed kind of distant in the past couple months. Things have been really weird lately. I don't really feel like getting into it all here, but yea. Sorry.

I Saw Two Shooting Stars Last Night...

2007-09-12T02:43:00.000-04:00

I wished on them, but they were only satellites.
Is it wrong to wish on space hardware?
I wish, I wish, I wish you'd care...
--Billy Bragg

Ok, so I'm a few days late on this. Sue me.

Friday night was the first football game. Union vs. Towns. Exciting. I was completely and totally enthralled by the whole game, brimming with excitement as we actually scored. Right. Anyway, yea. Football game. The football team did "real good," as the football players would say (I actually think they weren't that great...I mean c'mon...It's Towns County. They're a division below us. Or at least they were.). The band did alright too, I suppose. The fresh batch of "band retards" as I like to call them were annoying, but hey, they're the band retards...What else would I expect (PS -- I'm not referring to freshman when I say "band retards." I'm talking about any moron in band. There are several)? All in all, an adequate night. It's the beginning of the end of my band career. Oh noes!

Moving on, I felt pretty awful / exhausted after the game so I went home and passed out on my couch around 12:30, woke up around 4, and finally went back to sleep until about 10 or so. I like to sleep. After I officially got up I checked the mail and had 3 CDs waiting for me! Woooo. The best part is, I pretty much got them for free. Oh the perks of running a record label. The guy that sent them to me is actually really awesome though. He's a friend of mine from Chicago. I think I'm gonna release his next album. If I'm not dying from anything, we might do a split CD. It'll be epic. At least his side will. Mine's bound to suck, although I am slowly coming out of my 4-month long writer's block. I still hate all my songs though. Yargh.

Speaking of dying and song singing, my appointment to see Wendy Smith (a throat specialist) is on the 24th of this month. In case you somehow missed it, I've had a sore throat since, uhmmmm, May? I went to the doctor at the walk-in clinic to see if he could spot anything right off, but the guy I got is a retard and told me nothing. I really think I have calloused vocal cords and that sucks quite badly, as they either require nearly 3 months of rest or surgery. Yikes.

Again on the theme of dying, I post on a music forum and in the general crap section someone made a thread about Horcruxes (Harry Potter). Their question was where would you put yours? It's actually really hard to think of where you'd want part of your soul to be forever (until the Horcrux is destroyed at least!). And yes, Horcruxes involve some of the darkest magic. Whatever. If you're a big enough nerd to care change the question to "what memory would you think of in order to conjure a patronus?" Anyway, mine were Fall 2005, campfires at 7070 T Chapel Road, a random tree in the middle of the woods around my house, my grandfather's tractor, and Jon Crocker's beard (nothing would ever get to it there). I really couldn't think of anymore. It was a lot harder than I expected. How about you guys? Where would you put yours (just in case I need to go destroy them someday. )? < / nerd >

On a completely and totally unrelated note, school has been going alright so far. I don't feel like elaborating because I'm lazy, but there ya go. In case you were wondering for some reason. One thing that kinda sucks, though: I don't have any classes with people of mixed...uh...classes. I'm stuck with seniors all day (well, except in Trig, but that's beside the point). I hate my class. Well...Not really. I just like the other classes better. Maybe I'm just immature? I dunno. I just don't like being stuck with the same people all day.

OH! Talking about school reminded me. I registered for the SAT today, and it was pretty awesome because according to the College Board site, I was supposed to have to pay a $22(!) late fee (the normal sign up date was yesterday), but they hadn't updated their shopping cart feature to tack it on yet so I totally didn't have to pay it. Wooo internets! Now off I go to sign up for the ACT. Magical.

Oh, and another thing about school. I swear I'm gonna shut up about this soon. I can't park on campus for 5 days. It's kinda lame though. Lemme set the scene. It's Friday, and I haven't gotten a parking permit yet because all of my insurance and crap is in my normal car, which is being worked on / painted, right? Well, I finally get all that stuff on Sunday, and I go to get my parking permit on Monday, right? I get out to my car and there's a ticket there, so I'm thinking, "Alright, cool, warning...whatever...I've got the pass now so I'm ok." Well apparently I either a) didn't get a warning, b) the warning blew off, or c) someone took the warning off, because what I got said that it was my second offense. So yea. It pretty much sucks. I wouldn't care at all if I had actually gotten the first ticket. My guess is that it just blew off because that's what the one on there Monday was about to do until I grabbed it. Oh well. At least I'm not paying for gas for 5 days.

Again, wild tangent here, but this year has been quite nice as far as music goes. New Andrew Jackson Jihad, Jon Crocker, Paul Baribeau, foreverdown, Toby Foster, Sam King, redbear., Alcoholic Freshman, 1994, imadethismistake, Joshua Fletcher & the Six-Shot Romance and that's just off the top of my head. Coming soon there's tons more awesome (yes, "awesome: as a noun): Peasant, Farewell Flight, Defiance Ohio, The Accident That Led Me To the World, Hop Along Queen Ansleis, Lemuria, Jon Crocker (yes, again), Max Levine Ensemble, and tons more. I'm pumped. And soon to be broke once I buy it all! Ahhh! There's also been a bunch of disappointing albums come out this year (Starting Line, Cartel, Bright Eyes), but I digress.

Ok, so there's the long post I promised. Hopefully it made up for me completely and utterly lying to everyone who reads this (whoopdedo), if anyone even made it this far. Here's to hoping you (don't) fall off a cliff today. Cheers.

Before They Changed Me I Was Pure...I Was A Baby Being Born...

2007-09-07T03:51:00.000-04:00

I feel like death. A headcold mixed with an already sore throat. Magical.

Longer post tomorrow. It's nearly 1 in the morning...I'm going to bed.

You've Got Those Tired Eyes All the Time...

2007-09-04T16:23:00.000-04:00

Ah, Labor Day Weekend. If you've never had the privilege of doing so, working in a restaurant around holidays pretty much sucks. This weekend was insanely busy. Working with a retarded 50-something-year-old 'Nam vet and Chris Jones is quite the adventure.

So, I went to my grandparents' to see my mom Sunday night and my uncle just so happened to be over there too. My uncle is probably the person in my family I can relate to the most, I think mainly because he knows what it's like to be a broke musician. But anyway, he gave me two passes to Camp Reggae over in, of all places, Turtle Town, Tennessee. The passes were supposed to be 80 bucks a pop, but a friend of his was DJing at the thing and he got them for free. I wound up not going, though. I couldn't find anyone to go with. Usually I'd just say "screw it," go by myself, and scalp the extra ticket, which I frequently find myself doing, but, as you may know, I'm driving my grandparents' car right now while mine is being painted. It's a beast. Something's wrong with it and it gets like...9 miles to the gallon. Ouch. It's not very reliable either. So yea. I wound up not going, which is sort of a bummer, but I'm not really devastated because I'm not a huge reggae fan. But still.

There, however, is good news. My other (dad's side) grandmother appears to be shaping up. She was recently diagnosed with end-stage COPD, which is severe emphysema, and up until this week would just lie down and kind of squeak out words. Now she is sitting up more and speaking with her normal, strong voice. She's still a bit shaky, but the nurses are saying her lungs are clean and it seems as if she is getting better which is always a good sight to see.

I am one tired kid. Have a day.

You Have A Special Heart That I'm Afraid To Touch...

2007-08-31T03:34:00.000-04:00

...only because I know that it's been hurt enough. I knew that someday you'd have to go away, but promise that you'll never change. I care for you and everything that you hold onto. I swear I do, and if you're not the praying type, I'll wish upon a star for you."
--Super Famicom

So I go to the doctor to get my throat checked out, right? Well, I sit there for awhile until the doctor comes in and then tell him my symptoms, ending with "I think I've strained my voice and messed up something...I've been resting for nearly 2 months and the pain still hasn't gone away." He nods the whole time and then for about 15 minutes and he babbles and tells me absolutely nothing I haven't already said, finally shutting up with "I think you've strained your voice...I dunno what the problem is. Rest for 2 or 3 weeks and see if it goes away then come see me." He didn't check anything at all (although he did ask if I had a sexy voice). Needless to say, I'm not going back to him. I made an appointment with Wendy Smith, but it's unfortunately nearly a month away. Hopefully I won't do any further damage between now and then, if I've even actually done any.

So I'm kinda liking Multimedia now. It's not only easy, but pretty fun, and I've actually learned a decent amount of stuff in there. My group basically gives me full say in music and it's pretty awesome.

On a totally unrelated note, I think I'm gonna go buy some screen printing stuff this weekend. If I'm not working, anyway. I've been meaning to get all the stuff for awhile now, but have never had the chance to. You know what this means? "Dick Dak Rob" and "BATCHELOR SUCKS" shirts coming soon. Yes.

Also on an unrelated note, if you were wondering about the show on Monday...It didn't go so well either. 4 people. Again. This time I wound up buying $40 worth of stuff from the two guys who played and still felt terrible. I'm sure I'll sell their stuff and make most of my money back, but still. I need to stop doing that. Oh wait. I am. Well...After a few commitments I've already made.

Anyway, I think I'm done babbling. Have a good day.

I Need Recourse For the Course I'm Taking...

2007-08-22T00:58:00.000-04:00

Well, the show today went pretty terribly. I'm not surprised though. Things were actually looking good at one point -- Ed said he was bringing several people and so did Kane from Suches. Well, no such luck. It was me, Stephanie, Pierce, Skye, and Ellie. Dustin showed up about an hour late and we kinda had to rush. Dustin played and was really good. I wound up buying 20 bucks worth of stuff from him even though I already had half of it because I felt bad. There's video of part of the show here, ignore the terrible singing along: http://youtube.com/profile?user=DakotaFloyd

I've been blessed with the gift of good music in the past two days. Yesterday Wilson sent me a copy of "The Lonely City," which is amazing. Today, I received my Hop Along, Queen Anslesis album which is also fantastic. I also bought 2 new Dustin and the Furniture albums today and they're quite pleasant as well. So much to listen to, so little time! I love it all.

I'm playing a show tomorrow. Not solo though. It's me, Johnathan Roach, and like a million other people playing praise and worship songs at House of Prayer church to kick of their youth group starting back again. The songs are boring, but it's something to do and they asked if I'd help so I didn't wanna let them down.

The next actual show is Monday, the 27th. Real Live Tigers and Sam King are playing at my house. It should be fun. Hopefully it'll turn out better than today's show did.

For the first time in almost two years, I don't have any shows booked after Monday. I've been trying to get Paul Baribeau and Defiance, Ohio to come play, because they're passing right through here, but it looks like they're going to be doing just that -- passing through. Not like anyone would come to their shows anyway.

School has been going alright. AP Language is my favorite class so far. Physics is getting confusing now, making me wish I had taken Advanced Algebra / Trig last year. Yargh. Oh well. Can't change that now.

Anyway, it's almost 1AM and I have school tomorrow. I'm out.

It's Time To Go Back Home...

2007-08-11T03:42:00.000-04:00

...where the ocean knows me as its own, where I will live and see through the waves, and not let them hold me, try to push them away, but accept them and know their place in the deep black ocean where I'll spend my days being active, brave, and also sitting still. Dancing on nothing is easy when you don't need time to kill. So here is living, striding along upon the train, looking out at the scenery, but not looking down at the track, 'cause there's no time for that.
--Dustin & the Furniture

Well, school has begun. I'm going to have a busy schedule, but I'm actually quite looking forward to the challenge. I have Physics, Advanced Algebra and Trig, Multimedia (ha), and AP Language. It's kind of weird -- I didn't even want Multimedia, everyone in there is an idiot, but I somehow managed to get it BOTH semesters. I think Mrs. Payne had a hand in that because last year when I was in Computer Apps first semester she offered to let me just go straight into it the next semester without taking Business Data Apps or whatever that class is. But yea. Weird. I dunno why she wants me to be in there so bad. Anyway, I'm still doing marching band for anyone wondering, I'm just not in the class. Obviously. But enough about that.

The show scheduled for last Sunday / Monday was a total disaster. ONE person showed up. Thank you Michael Driskell. The show Tuesday was a little better, with a grand total of 7. I actually enjoyed that one being smaller though. It was fun. But that's beside the point. I'm thinking of not doing shows anymore. No one cares, save a handful of people, and I love them for it. It's just tiresome, promoting and promoting and promoting and only getting a handful, and then when they're there all they do is talk. I don't mind paying people out of pocket, which I always do, but it's just not fair for the bands and musicians who put faith in me to set up a decent show getting a crappy crowd. Oh well. I'm gonna try a few more shows and if they bomb, I suppose that's the end. It's sad, but I'm tired of feeling terrible after every show. I just want to make people happy.

Although the shows may be going away, which I hope they...uhhh....don't, Bonfire Club Records will still be kicking. Planned releases as of now: Miles Ramsay / Jon Crocker(?) split CD, Patrick Cadaver CD, Fall '07 Sampler (maybe). I will also be getting buttons and maybe new stickers soon. Well...If I get around to it. And if anyone cares (out of all 2 people that read this. I don't even think it's that many, but who cares?), I still have tons of copies of our other releases. They're all sold at cost. In case you didn't know, that means they're really cheap. So check it out. Or not. Whatever.

I miss all of my friends. My summer was miserable.

My throat is still killing me. I really need to get it checked out in case I'm actually doing some serious damage. My singing voice has really been taking a hit from this and it's really annoying, especially because my singing voice is already pretty terrible. It's really noticeable too, check it if you get bored: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bowmJk6ZFok

I need something new. This tired cycle has me down. I want to start fresh somewhere new. Make new friends (ha...me with friends...right), meet new people, explore new places, try new things. I wonder how much more I can fit into this crowded, crazy heart...Blah, maybe something monumental will happen soon? Only I don't see it happening in Blairsville. You know, as much as people assume I hate Blairsville, I really don't. I enjoy it here. The scenery is quite nice and I really like the everyone-knows-everyone thing we have going on. Sure, there's never anything to do, but that's how Blairsville needs to be. Lately Blairsville has had me bummed out though. Maybe it's seeing the same faces in the same places following the same routines day after day. Who knows? I think I just need out for awhile.

I'm gone. Later.

If It Were Up To Me I'd Be the First Thing That I'd Change...

2007-07-27T03:57:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm back from Chicago. This was the best trip so far. Here's an outline of it:

Tuesday -- I got there at like midnight. Just went home and slept.
Wednesday -- Went to an awesome show and spent the night with great friends and had a ton of fun. This was the best thing I've ever done out of all my trips up there.
Thursday - Tuesday -- Went to the library and watched a bunch of movies.

That's about it, really.

Now that I'm back, though, I've got a bunch of shows to worry about. Wonderful. I just want people to show up and have fun. People seem to be bored at all of them now and that makes me wanna stop doing them.

I'm playing my first solo show since like...last year...on August 8th with Patrick Cadaver. Should be fun. I need to figure out what I'm gonna play and where the show's gonna be, though...

I don't want school to start. I still have a bunch of summer work to do.

I was dissatisfied by the end of the Harry Potter series. The ending was completely predictable. Yea, I'm a nerd.

My throat has been hurting for about a month. I think I should go get it checked out sometime soon.

I need to lose weight.

My grandmother was taken to the hospital again Saturday. She now has a nurse coming to her house a few days every week to take care of stuff. It's really bad, but there's nothing anyone can really do about it. :/

And in conclusion, here's a song by my friend Pat (aka redbear.) that I've been really into lately. It's called "Cook County".

I'm not the boy I want to be, and I can't stay at this party. It's getting harder and harder to breathe. So knock my teeth out when I'm drunk and drag me to your neighbors' tub, and please just leave me there face up. Cause I've always wanted to wash out with the rain, and it's sad to see that things all stay the same. If it were up to me I'd be the first thing that I'd change, but it's impossible to be washed down the drain. And when you're with me I feel the same. I love you , but I know I'm never going to change. And when I'm gone, will you all forget my face? When I'm gone, I might just lose my place in this town.

I Heard From Someone You're Still Pretty...

2007-07-16T02:05:00.000-04:00

Well, so far this summer has been pretty terrible. I've been working all the time.

The show on June 26th went smoothly, but the one on the 7th was the worst attended show ever and that makes me very sad because it was awesome. Oh well. Can't change it now. All the shows I have lined up right now are really close to each other. I hope people will show up. :/

I'm leaving for Chicago Tuesday. The next day I'm going to see imadethismistake, redbear., Delay, reddelicious, and a few others. It should be fun. I may go to Mauled By Tigers too. I dunno.

I feel really, really fat and it's terrible. I really need to exercise...I'm just so lazy.

I miss my friends. Even the ones that haven't moved away...I never see any of them anymore.

My car messed up the other day. It's still drivable, but the problem is getting worse and worse. Something with the axle and brakes. It's gonna be expensive to fix, which pretty much shoots my plan of buying a drumset any time soon in the face. Argh. Oh well. I guess it's a good thing I didn't buy it already though, because then I'd be broke and couldn't get my car fixed.

So I think Miles has talked Jon into doing the split release I proposed to them. This makes me very happy. I dunno when it'll be out, but I'm pretty positive I'm gonna spring for nice, professionally pressed CDs with full color inserts. Hopefully I can afford it whenever the time rolls around.

"The Blairsville Sessions" will be out whenever I do the artwork. Who knows when that will be. Certainly not me.

I wish I liked my songs well enough to start playing solo on a regular basis. But I don't. Oh well.

I know I say this every time, but I really need to figure out what I wanna do with my life before too long. I don't even have any ideas on where I wanna go to college.

I wish my Paul Baribeau and Matty Pop Chart CDs would get here already. I got the new foreverdown EP and it's nothing spectacular.

Dave said he's actually gonna bring my recording stuff back next week. I really hope so...I wanna get my demo all recorded and ready to go before school starts. It's gonna be more like an album than a demo as far as length goes, though.

A girl from Seattle named Bella moved near me. We listen to similar music, and she seems to be a little bit like Bethany. We've been planning to hang out for like a week, but things keep coming up and we can't. She's leaving for 2 weeks in Florida tomorrow, but I think we're gonna try to grab lunch or something before she leaves. I hope it works out. She seems like a nice girl who just needs some friends. She graduated highschool at 16 (she's 17 now), so she won't be going to school to make any friends and that's kind of a bummer not having any friends. I should know.

Anyway, I think that's about it. Hope anyone who's reading this is having a good summer. If you want anything from Chicago, let me know by Tuesday afternoon!

I Can't Help But Feel Like I Failed...I Know I Failed You All...

2007-06-25T08:26:00.000-04:00

Well, here I am again. Not much at all has happened since my last post.

I passed out at work the other night. I guess 3 1/2 hours in front of a hot oven and apparently not enough to drink will do that to ya. I was having to bake and started to get a little lightheaded, so I went to the back sink and splashed some water on my face, then I sat outside for about 10 seconds. I felt a little better so I went back up to the oven. Ben hands me some dishes to put up, I set them down, say "I feel like I'm about to pass out," then pass out. Luckily Ed caught me.

That was the first time I've ever passed out.

I just got done working 8 days in a row. It sucked, but at least I'm gonna have one decent paycheck. I'm thinking about spending my money on a drumset, but I dunno...I feel really selfish doing that...I really wanna do something so I can give back to the people who have always been nice to me...

I need a haircut.

There's a show Tuesday. I get the feeling that like no one is gonna show up and I'm gonna feel terrible, like I've been feeling a lot lately.

I need a venue for the July 7th show. I wish Alex Walters would get back to me...

I finally got my imadethismistake CDs. They both look and sound great. Ed's making a music video for one of the songs. Hopefully it'll turn out well. I'm selling them for what I paid for them (2 bucks each). I hope people are into it because I have a lot invested in them.

That's about it. Hope your summer is going better than mine.

I Wish That I Could Make You Happy...I Wish That I Could Be An Old Pop Song That You Only Listen To When You're Lonely...

2007-06-04T05:34:00.000-04:00

Well, Friday's show eventually ended up going pretty well. Things started out pretty shaky though. Check it:

So I wake up expecting a clear, blue sky since we're in the middle of a drought and all? No such luck...It's cloudy and starts sprinkling. It eventually clears off by the time I get to Meeks Park and get everything set up, but the bands are late. Josh Fletcher shows up at a little passed six. The show was supposta actually start at 5:30. Wonderful. Well, they eventually start and after about 3 songs a cop and the park director show up and say that people are complaining and we either have to change the show to acoustic or shut down, which is pretty lame because I've talked to the director about doing fullband before and he said it'd be fine. So anyway, the bands load up all their stuff and we all trek back to my house. My brother has parked something in the way of all the parking spots so my driveway is backed up like mad and the bands can't fit at first. So we all get out and push the van down the hill out of the way then get everyone situated. Finally, at about 8:15 we get started. There are 35 people crammed into my living room / hanging off the balcony...It's amazing. Everyone did wonderfully, but I'm pretty disappointed as I thought it was a bum show due to all of the delays and issues and crap, although they said they had an awesome time. There are some videos of it here: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=spivaman

As for my thoughts on Aniston: I'm not as sad that TLH broke up anymore. All the guys in Aniston are awesome, a ton more social than the TLH dudes, and their live show is pretty awesome. Adam only said like 3 words to me the whole night though, which I thought was kinda lame, but everyone else was cool. I'm still sad that I didn't get to go on tour with them, but oh well. Maybe some other time. I hope.

This Friday's show has been canceled. Ben (Mancub) was killed in a fatal car accident Thursday night. I will probably have some copies of his final album that just came out today soon.

Upcoming shows:

6 / 29: Vera Maleta, This One's For Anna, Others TBA // Meeks Park?
7 / 07: foreverdown, Yoni Gordon, Others TBA // The Black and Gold Center?
7 / 31: imadethismistake, White York, Others TBA // The Go Away House?

I finally got paid at Cobb's Mill today. It's about time. I was getting in desperate need of some cash. I'm hoping by the end of the summer, though, I'll have enough spare cash to buy a drumset...

I need to start my summer reading...I really don't want to though. Next year is gonna be so weird.

That's all really...I doubt much of anything interesting is going to happen this summer, so don't expect to hear from me too too much...

Right Now All You Have Is Time, Time, Time, But Someday That Time Will Run Out...

2007-05-27T03:30:00.000-04:00

...That's the only thing you can be absolutely certain about..."
--Paul Baribeau

So much is going through my mind right now. Everything I've tried to do lately has failed or gone horribly awry: No tour, no definite spot for the show Friday yet, John and Trey are moving tomorrow, I'm a senior and it feels weird, I'm a senior and it feels weird, I'm a senior and it feels weird, I really don't think I'm gonna get drum major (and even if I do it's gonna be awkward...details further down), I think I might end up with a B in Chemistry.

So yea...I'm pretty positive there's no tour for me which sucks, as it was going to be my summer, but whatever. I just need to focus on finding a spot for Friday's show before anything else. Also, I'm hoping attendance will be ok...The past few shows have been total busts...

Johnny and Trey are moving tomorrow. I'm gonna try to go visit them this summer, but it's just gonna be so weird not having them around. They were the people I hung out with most and like that, they're gone. Graduation was pretty sad too, although I did get to see Beth for a few minutes though.

It's so weird being a senior. Time has absolutely flown by. I have no idea what I want to do with my life. College is looming in the distance. What am I going to do? Leslie already told me I'm going to have to play something at graduation, but I don't know what yet. If I have to sing I think I'll just break down and cry right in the middle of whatever it is I'm singing.

Drum major. I really don't think I'm gonna get it, which doesn't surprise me. Mr. Rittenhouse did the tryouts a bit differently this year though. Our audition was in front of the whole band and they got to vote on who they wanted, although Rittenhouse got the final say. I think I got quite a few votes (a majority even), but right after we tried out Mr. Rittenhouse called the section leaders into his office and said "Between Andrea and Eric [two other people trying out], who do you think should get it?" A few people objected to just those two and said I should get it, but their opinions were dismissed. Even if I happen to get it by popular vote it's just not gonna be the same, as Mr. Rittenhouse didn't even consider me to be good enough to be in the running. Whatever I guess. The more deserving person should get it, yes, but it's just kinda disappointing to be totally counted out like that.

As for Chemistry, my final grade was an 88.somethingabove6. I'm hoping he'll bump it up to an A, as my lowest grade beside it is a 97.17 in Honors Lit. If not, so be it...Can't change it now.

But anyway, yea...This past week has been pretty terrible for me. I'm hoping things will shape up soon.

There's A Monster and It Lives Inside My Chest...

2007-05-17T02:56:00.000-04:00

So there's basically just one week of school left. I'm ready for it, but it doesn't feel like I'm gonna be a senior when we get back in the fall. This summer is gonna be pretty awful though, I can already tell. No tour, AP work, normal work, all my friends are moving, band camp, very few shows (although that could be changed). Yargh. Not really looking forward to it. But Chemistry will be over and that's a good thing.

I finally caved under the pressure of like 20 people and decided to try out for drum major. We haven't done anything hard yet, but I'm not really looking forward to what's to come. I don't really want to be drum major, but I feel like I need to at least try out for both my and the rest of the band's sake, as the other people trying out would make band very un-fun and strict. We're having another tryout / lesson thing Friday until around 4:15-ish. That's also the day of Adam and AJ's going away party in Habersham. I'm hoping that Trey will wait for me to get done before he leaves, but I dunno. He probably will. We'll see, I suppose.

I need to finish up some Chemistry work...I'm a terrible procrastinator. Actually, that would make me an amazing procrastinator. Yargh.

I found out today that my grandmother's illness is permanent. There's something wrong with her lungs that can't be repaired. This is really sad, as she used to always be up and doing something. That's what made her happy. Now all she can do is rest. It's really depressing, but what can one do?

The show yesterday went better than expected in some ways and worse in others. There were about 15 people there. Some people were loud and rambunctious, which sucked, but as far as I know everyone liked the people who played, especially Miles. I noticed nearly everyone there getting a copy of something of his. Patrick signed a bunch of autographs and left little notes to people and seemed to be having fun. He moved probably 15 CD's. After the show, I hadta go to the band concert, but Miles, Patrick, Evan, Kalisa, and everyone else that was left went out to eat then to the cliffs and apparently everyone had a good time. Once that was through Miles, Evan, and Patrick came back to my house and crashed. Good deal. They'll be back next Tuesday!

Well...That's about all that's happening in the world of Dakota right now. Adieu.

If You Can't Find Out What It's All About Then You Might As Well Be Dead...

2007-05-14T02:31:00.000-04:00

Well...No tour for me. Aniston already had their regular folks lined up to go and apparently neither Adam nor AJ had much of any say in anything. I wish 1994 would let me go with them, but I don't really know them well enough so they'd probably for sure say no. I'm pretty sad, as this was gonna be my summer, but oh well. Things happen. I'll deal with it.

I've been in Hayesville all weekend visiting everyone. Used a lot of gas, but it was good seeing everyone again, I suppose...

I got the master copy of the Alcoholic Freshman's album Saturday. It's pretty awesome. I guess you could say it's "OUT NOW!" Only 1 or 2 dollars in person.

Lately I've been feeling like I'm gonna have a nervous breakdown. I've just got so much going on. I'm ready for summer. I'm ready to release records. I'm ready to play shows. I'm not ready for everyone to move off yet. I'm not ready to be a senior. I'm not ready for college. I need to make an A in Chemistry. I need to lose some weight. I need to work on my singing. I need a haircut. People want me to be drum major. People think I'm ridiculously smart, but I'm not. People expect too much out of me. People don't come to shows as much as they used to.

Yargh. I'm exhausted and still need to do homework. Goodbye.

I Just Want Out...I'm Just Going Through the Motions...

2007-05-09T03:14:00.000-04:00

Well, the show Saturday didn't go quite as well as expected, but it was still fun. About 20 people showed up. Everyone was pretty attentive until Kalisa started throwing boiled peanuts. That kinda got on my nerves, because Patrick was amazing. He played a new, slow song that made me wanna cry. That song's gonna be on "The Blairsville Sessions". Yes, I'm still planning to release that. Anyway, after the show we all went back to my house to hangout...It was fun. I found out that Pat is moving to Olympia, Washington later this summer though...That means I can't hang out with him whenever I'm in Chicago anymore. :/

In other news, my PayPal account is acting screwwy. I'm trying to set up the pre-order for the new Alcoholic Freshman album, but it's being all weird. Yargh. I should be able to get it all figured out by tomorrow. At least I hope so.

There are 3 shows coming up realllly soon. Tuesday, May 15th -- The Alcoholic Freshman and Patrick Cadaver @ Meeks, Monday, May 21st -- Kill Your Ex and (maybe) An Act of My Own @ Meeks, and Tuesday, May 22nd -- The Alcoholic Freshman, Matt Turner, and Patrick Cadaver @ Meeks.

I sent out my check for getting the new imadethismistake album pressed. I am really, really excited about this release...I should have copies towards the end of this month and they will be 2 bucks from me in person.

I've finally stepped up my game in Chemistry and (hopefully) aced the test today. Huzzah! Hopefully I can do equally as well the rest of the year.

People have talked me into trying out for drum major. I don't think I'll get it and even if I do, I don't really think I'll be too awesome at it, but so many people asked me to, I didn't wanna be a jerk and say no.

Work is dreadfully boring. I hate it. The pay sucks, but it's better than nothing I suppose.

Anyway, I need to be doing Chemistry work. Later.

You Mean A Lot to Me...Best Friends Forever...

2007-05-02T03:37:00.000-04:00

I promised not to tell anyone until it was officially announced, and now that it has been: Taking Lottie Home has broken up. Adam and AJ have decided to go be in NC band Aniston. The tour is still going on and I'm still going, as far as I know. Everyone in the band is still friends with one another, but it was just getting hard to be a band with half of the members still in highschool. I'm going to miss Taking Lottie Home, as they were one of my favorite bands of all time, but I'm looking forward to hearing what's in store for AJ and Adam in Aniston. http://www.myspace.com/anistonrock

I've bombed the past two tests in Chemistry. It's horrible. I'll study and do all the practice problems and seem to get it, but when I get the test I either totally blank out or it's something we haven't directly covered. It's terrible. I really, really need to step it up if I have any hopes whatsoever of getting an A in that class. I'm trying, but it's hard. I think I just have too much on my mind. I'm feeling the same way in Honors Lit, although my grades are remaining steady. I just feel out of touch, lost, if you will. I'm pretty positive I'm going to make an A in there, but still...It's a bad feeling.

Mrs. Batchelor gave us our transcripts today and I am easily within the top 10% of our class. That's cool and all, but I know I could do so much better. I'm beginning to wish I had actually applied myself the past few years, 'cause now I'm noticing that every few points count.

There are new imadethismistake songs up on MySpace from the new album. They sound awesome and I am extremely excited to be a part of the release of "Tomorrow, We Start New". Check 'em out! http://www.myspace.com/imadethismistake

Sometime tomorrow I should have the pre-order for "E fatto!" set up. Watch out for that. It'll probably cost about $2.50. $1 - 2 at shows, though.

Show Saturday. redbear., Super Famicom, For My Love, Mr. Microphone...Be there if you can! It's at Meeks Park around 5 and is gonna be awesome.

I need to go into Cobb's Mill and see when they want me to work next. My schedule is blank so I guess I make my own? I could really use the cash to pay for gas and putting out CD's and stuff...

Only 3 weeks left of school after this one. I'm ready for it. I just need to step it up in these last few weeks in order to maintain my A's. There's lots of shows coming up soon...I hope attendance is alright for all of them. I also hope my grandmother gets well soon...She's been sick for awhile now. I need a haircut. I need to lose some weight. I miss some people. I wish Taking Lottie Home hadn't broken up. I need to sell tickets for The Masq. I want a new band. I might buy a drumset this summer. I need to go to YHC and get Spiva's mic back. AP next year is gonna be insane. I'm not tired, but I need to go to bed.

I'll Always Try To Get Back To You...

2007-04-30T02:49:00.000-04:00

Well, this weekend was surprisingly pretty fun. Some people were ridiculously annoying, but we joked about them all weekend and it was quite nice. Here's a quick recap:

Friday morning I arrive at school around 7. The bus driver was about 45 minutes late, leading us to having a delayed start. Thankfully, nearly everyone sleeps most of the way down there. About 4 1/2 hours later, we arrive at the VA hospital in Dublin to play for the wounded veterans. It was pretty touching when we played all of the military songs -- Whenever one group's song came up they stood and cheered as best they could. Once that was over we went to eat and then to the hotel.

The hotel was where the majority of the fun stuff happened, mainly because we weren't with a large group of idiots. It was me, Jason Reid, Nate Saunders, and Peter Dohogne in the room.

After this stop at the hotel we went to River Street in downtown Savannah where we were set to see the ghost tour. It was pretty terrible.

Back to the hotel. Sleep. Wake up. Go on the dolphin tour. This was pretty boring. I had seen dolphins before so it wasn't a huge deal to me. After this we went back to the hotel, yet again, and then we were off to the Tybee Island's beach...for 4 hours. I didn't swim, but I still managed to get a slight sunburn which isn't fun. Back to the hotel...Again.

This morning: Wake up around 8:30, pack up our stuff, get on the bus, grab lunch, go to the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame was fun. They had a music making area with a guitar and (crappy) drumset. I played guitar nearly the whole time. Every time I went to stop, someone would ask me to play them something. I hate it when people ask me that...I never know what to play.

And now I'm back here. Slightly sunburned and needing to get started on Chemistry homework. I have quite a large amount. Yargh. 4 weeks of school left. I'm excited, and ready to get out.

I Don't Wanna Go To Bed...I Couldn't If I Wanted...

2007-04-23T02:35:00.000-04:00

The show was incredible. It was definitely the funnest / best one ever. Alex and Danny's new band went first. They weren't so great. Next came Taking Lottie Home, whom everyone already loved. They did quite nicely. My dad gave the approval for me to go on tour with them too! Now I just gotta convince my mom... After TLH came We Are Only Fiction. They were much, much improved from when I saw them the weekend before. This is when the craziness started. People started crowdsurfing and moshing a little, but this was nothing compared to 1994's set. Literally EVERYONE in the building was jumping up and down and moshing and going crazy. Two members of the band had wireless and were running around the room and climbing up to the balcony. It was pure insanity, emotion, and passion crammed into a 30 minute set. I, as well as everyone else, loved it. It was beautiful. I feel bad for whoever missed it. They'll all probably be back June 1st as a tour kickoff show along with (hopefully) foreverdown. I'm already pumped.

Saturday I started at Cobb's Mill. It's really easy and pretty laid back. I like the people who work in there. I'm only making 6 bucks an hour, and working a few days a week, but it most definitely beats nothing.

Also Saturday, I "signed" The Alcoholic Freshman to Bonfire Club Records. I'm gonna be putting out his latest and final CD (due May 4th). I am also gonna be the sole distributor (besides him) of his debut EP, "Sick of Depending On People" starting May 15th-ish. I will have them both for crazy cheap (the new CD for like 2 bucks and the old one for like one), so if anyone wants to buy something, lemme know! If you can't afford something, I'm sure we can work it out.

That's about all for now. I hope I can convince my mom to let me go on that tour. I think I'm gonna try tomorrow. Wish me luck. As for the time being, I need to do my Chemistry homework. I have a 91 in there...Yargh!

My Smile's In Sad Shape, All the Dead Weight I Got Tired of Carrying...

2007-04-15T02:57:00.000-04:00

...Yeah it’s got me looking for a friend
or a crutch I can depend on...
-- Bright Eyes

Well, Spring Break is nearly over, and I've gotta say, this has been one of the worst ones I've ever had.

For the first 4 days, I sat at home and did absolutely nothing. Wednesday and Thursday nights I went over to Trey's house at like midnight to spend the night with him and John. Trey is one annoying character. He seriously asks the dumbest questions and plays the same thing over and over again (on both guitar and whatever music player he has on his computer). He's one of the most pretentious people I've ever met. On Friday night we went down to The Vineyard in Marietta to watch Taking Lottie Home, 1994, We Are Only Fiction, and a couple other bands that weren't so hot. Natalie Sheppard as there and we hung out pretty much all night. It was fun. Trey kept trying to be the center of attention by pulling my hair and hitting me. It was quite annoying. When we got home he lied to some people and said he sung with Taking Lottie Home that night, then later denied it. Ugh. So annoying. Whatever I guess.

Today I've just sat around doing nothing. I need to do my essay for Honors Lit. One thing I did kind of get accomplished though was finally talk to Bucky (Valiant Death dude) about some releases I'm helping with. He says the Lee Lewis CD's are finally done and he's shipping them, along with some more distro stuff, soon. We also talked about the new imadethismistake album Tomorrow, We Start New. I'm gonna have about 100 copies of it come the beginning of June. I'll be selling them for around what I'm paying for them ($1.50 each) and they're professionally pressed and packaged and all the good stuff. I'm excited.

I think I'm gonna get a job next week. I don't want one, but I need one.

Next Friday. Awesome show at Black and Gold. Taking Lottie Home, 1994, We Are Only Fiction, and Alex Walter's new band. I'm excited. I just hope people show up....and donate. I have to get 70 bucks to 1994. Whatever doesn't come in with donations is what I have to pay out of pocket.

My brother is cheating on his girlfriend. I don't see why he just doesn't break up with her instead of trying to keep secrets. I wish they'd at least leave the house for a little bit so I could record some stuff (I hate singing when people can hear me).

I wish Dave would hurry up and come back up here with my stuff. Maybe he'll come up in time for the show Friday? It'd be cool to get my stuff back and play a quick set on top of that. I doubt that'll happen, though.

May is going to be insane for shows. I have 5 set up. Three within a week of each other. Ack!

Eh, I think I'm gonna go. Hope your Spring Break was better than mine.

Forever's A Long Time, Been Alone With My Fears...

2007-04-09T22:15:00.000-04:00

So I really wanna get "The Blairsville Sessions" out. All I'm really waiting for is In the Shadow of Victory's track and I have to do the artwork. I may ask 1994 for a track if I have room. Here's the tracklisting without that stuff:

1. Super Famicom - To Be In Custody of Ghosts
2. Jon Crocker - Summer Days
3. The Alcoholic Freshman - Thanks A Lot, Dickhead
4. Sloppy Meateaters - Truth In Rations
5. Taking Lottie Home - Kill the Lights
6. Farewell Flight - Cruel
7. foreverDOWN - Hopefully Finding Hopeless
8. An Act of My Own - Never Keep Forgetting
9. Defiance, Ohio - Grandma Song
10. Joshua Fletcher & the Six-Shot Romance - Love Is A Loaded Weapon (Bring Your Own Chainsaw)
11. The Max Levine Ensemble - Another Song About the Rain
12. Wildebeest - Fighting Windmills Again
13. Natalie Sheppard - Leave the Light On
14. Inertia! - St. Augustine
15. The Rescued - Sweet Dreams Little Soldier
16. imadethismistake - Staring Blindly Into A Dull Sunset
17. redbear. - Body Parts
18. I Am Only Your Side Effect - Parkers Rich Is Dead
19. Brook Pridemore - Sky Falls Fast (live cover)
20. Mr. Microphone - West Side Story
21. Peasant - Exposure

So I seem to make everything awkward for pretty much everyone. I don't like it, but I'm just being who I am -- A quiet person. I honestly think I could go days without speaking to anyone. I just need to meet new people I guess. Get outta Blairsville. I dunno. It's depressing. I miss my friends.

Although it's just beginning, this Spring Break is shaping up to be one of the worst thus far...

Oh well. Life moves on.

The Days Are Getting Longer and Our Lives Are Getting Short...

2007-04-09T05:17:00.000-04:00

Hello.

Hope everyone's Easters went wonderfully. Mine was pretty good, I suppose. I got to see Beth for the first time in forever today. I made her a mixtape...Hopefully she'll like it.

I'm excited for the April 20th and May 5th shows, but not so much for the May 15, 21, and 22nd shows. They're just too close together. And I need to figure out what I'm gonna do for the one on the 15th...We have a band concert that night. Hopefully the concert will be at 7 or so so we can just have the show at like 5...Only 2 people are playing so it shouldn't take too long.

I'm dreading writing this paper for Batchelor.

All of my friends are moving away after this school year and it really makes me sad. I've known it for awhile, but it's like it's just now hitting me and I hate it. What can ya do, though?

I need a job. Bad. I don't want one, though. I don't think any employer would like me too much anyway...I need off too many days (for shows and long trips and crap).

I am now distro-ing all of Jon Crocker's self-releases. That's all of them, save "Death." and "7 Days, 6 Nights". They're on CD-r and are 5 bucks a piece.

I have a cool idea for a split CD: Jon Crocker, Mr. Microphone, and An Act of My Own. It'd work great if AAoMO would ever record. Yargh! Maybe I'll just do it with This Is Lestat...If only Dave would bring my recording stuff back...

I'm getting the feeling that this Spring Break is going to be quite uneventful. Oh well. It happens, I guess.