Jamie’s Brain

Blogging.

To think that a little over a year ago I didn’t exactly know what it meant, is kinda strange. To go from not knowing the definition of the word to having my own within one year really speaks to how fast things are moving these days.

Is blogging some form of vanity? Sure. Mine started out being a self promotional piece to assist me in getting a job by displaying my work and how I think. But, it morphed into a journal of things I want to get out of my brain and think that someone else just might be interested in reading about. Not that too many people read this, but, you know.

Now I walk around and when something of interest occurs I say to myself, ‘blog fodder!’. I keep little lists of potential topics and do research for my entries. I like to look at the statistics to see how the few people that come here are getting here. It’s usually not what I’d expect. Ah, what the extra time from being unemployed leads you to…

I just googled my name, the most vain thing of all, to see if my site came up. Apparently, Jamie Harvey is a damn fine dart player as well a comedian (Jamie Harvey Kennedy). Maybe one day I’ll rank up among the Jamie Harvey’s.

The Audioslave show that I went to Sunday night will rank up there with one of the top shows I’ve ever seen. It was like a good, old-fashioned rock show: it wasn’t overproduced, there were excited fans who knew all the words, there were several instances of tit-bearing, and the set was long and satisfying.

Seether was playing when I arrived. It was a great set even though I was only familiar with their bigger hits.

After a pretty long wait between sets, Audioslave began their set with a curtain drop (another thing you don’t see anymore). It was great and dramatic, and I felt that rush of starstruck-ness that I only get with some musicians.

They started with some new material, then went on to some of their last album’s work. Then the cover artwork for Badmotorfinger dropped in the background and they played Rusty Cage, which I’ll call Highlight Number 1. Next was Spoonman. Then I was pleasantly suprised when they pulled out Hunger Strike, which Cornell sang with Brad Wilk (the drummer). It felt really raw, slightly rehearsed, like Wilk didn’t exactly know how to sing it….but I didn’t mind. This brings up Highlight Number 2: part of the performance seemed like it was in response to the crowd’s boiling over with excitment - Morello would sometimes approach Cornell as if saying, “they’re really into this - let’s give them a suprise”.

When it was time to lay down some Rage material, Cornell left the stage momentarily, which I thought was a little odd. If the former Rage members can play Soundgarden, then how come he can’t sing Zach De La Rocha’s part? He did come back, and did a good job - though you could tell Cornell had to hold back a little with the vocals. The crowd was going nuts and security was pulling out potential moshers right and left.

Then they went back to more Audioslave material. During some of the slower songs, girls got on shoulders and bared their souls to Chris, who would promptly come over for a closer look. Highlight Number Three.

At the end of the set, which was one hour, the crowd was so into getting them out for an encore that it was deafening. After a couple of minutes, Cornell came out with his acoustic and played an amazing acoustic set including Black Hole Sun and some of his songs from his solo release. The other members came out to finish off Change: Highlight Number Four.

They played some more Rage, and some more of their own content. The encore lasted a full hour, making it definitlet Highlight Number five It was absolutely amazing.

Chris Cornell sang his heart out to us. His voice is so amazing it made me have chills in the hot Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Tom Morello’s amazing guitar skills and energetic performance was so exciting to witness (last time I saw him with Rage, I couldn’t really see much). Tim Commerford makes me want to play bass, and Brad Wilk’s beats left my bones vibrating well after the show had ended.

They are a phenomenal performing band. Cornell looks around the audience like he actually sees the faces and sings to them. They seem like they are truly excited to be there. I know I was. Highlight Number Six.

My first live music experience in SF was the Now & Zen Fest, a short & sweet music festival put on by the radio station Alice FM. The lineup featured Natasha Bedingfield, Josh Kelley, Duran Duran, and Maroon 5.

The festival took place at Sharon Meadow at the Golden Gate Park, which was a nice venue. The day was the hottest I’ve witnessed outside since moving to SF (inside my no airconditioning apartment it gets hot like that a lot), a we got sunburned a little. But Kaiser Permanente gave out little sunscreen packets which was nice, but I got them a bit too late.

I was bummed because I wanted to mainly see Billy Idol, who cancelled due to a family emergency, but I was still pumped about Duran Duran. The website said the set would be short, and it was, at a mere three songs. But they were an amazing three songs. And you can’t beat an acoustic set.

ah, the daily show segments. how I love thee.

there was a new guy conducting last night’s segment, ‘Face For Rent’, and, boy, was it a winner.

Basically, some nimrod operating a poker website called pokerfacebook.com decided that it would be great if he could advertise on ‘bums’ sidewalk signs. And he pays them for it, in case you were wondering - a wopping $3/shift. So, while he thinks this is a great new invention, most people would probably agree that this is exploitation, as well as illegal since he is paying below minimum wage. But this kid continues to smile and continue to believe that he is really onto something here, as if adding another poker site to the bunch is doing society any good as well.

Advertisers are already disliked enough. Let’s not throw bums into the mix.

StuffOnMyCat.com is exactly what the url says - its stuff on people’s cats. And it’s really funny.

wordcount tracks the ‘way we use language’. It’s kinda like the word equivalent of 10×10, showing a block of words sized differently by usage frequency. The information comes from ‘written and spoken language sources’. Thus, closely ranked together words can tell a little story.

Stars. Want to own one? Check out the International Star Registry. You can buy one, which basically means you get to name a nameless but existing star, not physically own it and claim it as an asset. My grandmother did this a long time ago, I think it used to be more popular then, and I thought it was sooo cool. Am I a nerd? Yes.

And while you’re at it, why not buy your own private island.

Riddles. I like ‘em.

Apparently so does Microsoft, as riddles comprise most of their interview questions. Here is a site that gives some examples of them.

I only wish they’d let you post answers and debate them. But that would ruin the allure, I guess.

method.

it’s a product line carried by target. i used their pink grapefruit hand soap once.

check out their website. it’s like reading excerpts from someone’s diary while being advertised to. and that’s okay with me.