Monday, December 26, 2005
Is Halfassed a word?
The Gamits are ultimately frustrating to me. I guess everything in life becomes one frustration after another as we grow into this society that attempts to eliminate the human element in everything. It’s sad because we are taught to distrust corporations and support mom and pop shops but when it comes down to it I want to support people. I used to go to this independently owned record shop called Twist and Shout but those scenester fucks treated my like another CD consuming scum (in so many ways I know I am.) You’d think that if you went to a place every week for 2-3 months someone might know your name it would be a stretch to say musical preference but what about your face? I’m sorry but if a build a better rapport with someone at Best Buy then I’ll take my business there. But as I said the human element is really gone. I basically settle for my music shopping to be done at Second Spin. That’s still a shop where no one knows my name or music but I think they recognize my face. For the most part they don’t treat me like anything at all which is a step up from a music consuming scum. There’s just no human element left. What is it about childhood where that element can’t help but persist? ------What just happened? My girlfriend just dropped a bomb and walked out of the room. Jesus that was horrible. She didn’t even say anything. I must have trained her well-------
Now I purchase music from the I-Tunes store, got humans? This brings me back to the frustration of The Gamits who was my favorite band for the longest time. I guess they were my favorite band because they were so good and they were local. It just make me thing something good could come out of Denver. They were pop punk without being Blink-182 or New Found Glory-ish bubble gum. Bubble gum bands are fun and sweet for a little while before they grow stale. I never grew tired of The Gamits. It was always just fun power pop and great song writing. My dad got me The Gamits’ box set for Christmas. I spent part of my yesterday reading the two booklet set it came with. I’ve actually spent a good part of this quickly depleting break reading about bands like the Trail of the Dead and Elliot Smith. My reading struck two fundamental chords; first, I’m light years behind in my art and second, it takes interaction with people to lead to the creation of good art. Chris Fogal of The Gamits had his best friend Matt conjugated together and made music all the time. Not to mention they had a large well of shared memories to write music from. The Trail of the Dead, my god, the musicianship/artistry of that Conrad Keely guy was amazing. I watched their DVD that came with their new CD and he was playing the violin by ear...and he’s no violin player. It seemed like he wrote the music for the various instrumentals to play. He was reading piano music etc etc. Elliot Smith (who on more of a character level reminds me of Nick Drake) grew up playing music. It was probably in his blood to be amazing considering his dad was a doctor and his family had him playing instruments in grade school; I was barely potty trained by grade school. I’m just so fucking frustrated. Last night I tried to watch a Gamits video that came with the box set. It said I had to have quick time 7.2 which I thought I had but I clicked on the link to launch the video and nothing happened. So I went to the site and attempted to download the software but it failed last night. Now I can’t open my I-tunes which has my entire music library because the Quick Time software if connected to that. The Gamits probably didn’t put the videos to the link yet. I was trying to play the B-Side demo CD of the box set and it was the live CD. So they misprinted what album was which. What a halfassed job The Gamits and Suburban Home (their record label) did to represent such a beautiful 10 year career. I’m frustrated frustrated frustrated. On top of that they cut out my part on the live CD. The part when Chris Fogal reads his thank u’s and he said something to the effect of, “I realize now that the whole point of this was to play shows and just have the most fun we could.” The audience myself included was quite so I responded….”Duh!!!” He heard me and looked kind of shocked and the show moved on. Needless to say my insightful comments where not maintained on this recorded version of their final show. I guess everyone missed Chris’ point, my point and the entire point of being in a band. Frustrating….I tried to write a song last night and I realized how fucking stupid I am and it was and I’m going backward all the time. I woke up with a dull empty feeling in the center of my body cavity and it just scares me that I’m not living my life. As if I’m just living like some sort of misplaced tool in everybody else’s’ fucked up game. Everyone around me finds cathartic release in something but that release is something life is not granting me. I’m watching everyone my age being young having fun with friends and their youthful appearances. While I’m sinking in this desert’s quicksand working my ass off go keep my head from sinking all my peers are having some elaborate gala bash around me in the safe part of the desert. Everyone is interested in their own good time to notice an artist is dying.
The Gamits are ultimately frustrating to me. I guess everything in life becomes one frustration after another as we grow into this society that attempts to eliminate the human element in everything. It’s sad because we are taught to distrust corporations and support mom and pop shops but when it comes down to it I want to support people. I used to go to this independently owned record shop called Twist and Shout but those scenester fucks treated my like another CD consuming scum (in so many ways I know I am.) You’d think that if you went to a place every week for 2-3 months someone might know your name it would be a stretch to say musical preference but what about your face? I’m sorry but if a build a better rapport with someone at Best Buy then I’ll take my business there. But as I said the human element is really gone. I basically settle for my music shopping to be done at Second Spin. That’s still a shop where no one knows my name or music but I think they recognize my face. For the most part they don’t treat me like anything at all which is a step up from a music consuming scum. There’s just no human element left. What is it about childhood where that element can’t help but persist? ------What just happened? My girlfriend just dropped a bomb and walked out of the room. Jesus that was horrible. She didn’t even say anything. I must have trained her well-------
Now I purchase music from the I-Tunes store, got humans? This brings me back to the frustration of The Gamits who was my favorite band for the longest time. I guess they were my favorite band because they were so good and they were local. It just make me thing something good could come out of Denver. They were pop punk without being Blink-182 or New Found Glory-ish bubble gum. Bubble gum bands are fun and sweet for a little while before they grow stale. I never grew tired of The Gamits. It was always just fun power pop and great song writing. My dad got me The Gamits’ box set for Christmas. I spent part of my yesterday reading the two booklet set it came with. I’ve actually spent a good part of this quickly depleting break reading about bands like the Trail of the Dead and Elliot Smith. My reading struck two fundamental chords; first, I’m light years behind in my art and second, it takes interaction with people to lead to the creation of good art. Chris Fogal of The Gamits had his best friend Matt conjugated together and made music all the time. Not to mention they had a large well of shared memories to write music from. The Trail of the Dead, my god, the musicianship/artistry of that Conrad Keely guy was amazing. I watched their DVD that came with their new CD and he was playing the violin by ear...and he’s no violin player. It seemed like he wrote the music for the various instrumentals to play. He was reading piano music etc etc. Elliot Smith (who on more of a character level reminds me of Nick Drake) grew up playing music. It was probably in his blood to be amazing considering his dad was a doctor and his family had him playing instruments in grade school; I was barely potty trained by grade school. I’m just so fucking frustrated. Last night I tried to watch a Gamits video that came with the box set. It said I had to have quick time 7.2 which I thought I had but I clicked on the link to launch the video and nothing happened. So I went to the site and attempted to download the software but it failed last night. Now I can’t open my I-tunes which has my entire music library because the Quick Time software if connected to that. The Gamits probably didn’t put the videos to the link yet. I was trying to play the B-Side demo CD of the box set and it was the live CD. So they misprinted what album was which. What a halfassed job The Gamits and Suburban Home (their record label) did to represent such a beautiful 10 year career. I’m frustrated frustrated frustrated. On top of that they cut out my part on the live CD. The part when Chris Fogal reads his thank u’s and he said something to the effect of, “I realize now that the whole point of this was to play shows and just have the most fun we could.” The audience myself included was quite so I responded….”Duh!!!” He heard me and looked kind of shocked and the show moved on. Needless to say my insightful comments where not maintained on this recorded version of their final show. I guess everyone missed Chris’ point, my point and the entire point of being in a band. Frustrating….I tried to write a song last night and I realized how fucking stupid I am and it was and I’m going backward all the time. I woke up with a dull empty feeling in the center of my body cavity and it just scares me that I’m not living my life. As if I’m just living like some sort of misplaced tool in everybody else’s’ fucked up game. Everyone around me finds cathartic release in something but that release is something life is not granting me. I’m watching everyone my age being young having fun with friends and their youthful appearances. While I’m sinking in this desert’s quicksand working my ass off go keep my head from sinking all my peers are having some elaborate gala bash around me in the safe part of the desert. Everyone is interested in their own good time to notice an artist is dying.
# posted by Nick D @ 11:44 AM 
