Today is the final ordinary day of the year 2007. Once Thanksgiving is officially upon us, all commercial media outlets and front lawns across America will be inundated with holiday cheer. Gas prices, gluttony and capitalism will be on the rise as crazed parents rush to Wal-Mart at 5am for the latest toxic toy.
Let the Holidays Begin (21 November 2007)
JigGsaw-It's a Crime (7 November 2007)
For all those who missed them last month at Cowboy Monkey…
JigGsaw will be performing with many other great artists this weekend as part of the IMC Fest’s musicial line up. The IMC Fest is an annual event that helps benefit the IMC, its associated groups, and WRFU 104.5 (Radio Free Urbana).
Not sure where the IMC is located? Well then take a look at this handy dandy interactive map:
Strange Woman (5 November 2007)
So I had just gotten out of the shower this morning when I heard a knocking across the hall at my neighbors’ apartment. When my neighbors didn’t answer, the knocking turned to my door. Since I was still dripping wet and not prepared to greet anyone, I just kept getting ready. If it was someone who really needed to see me, they would call. Usually when someone comes around knocking on all the doors in the building, it’s a salesman of some sort. Or, from what television tells me, a serial killer/rapist. A few minutes pass and the knocking returns. I look through the peephole and it’s some woman I had never seen before. Because I am a cautious person, I decide not to answer. Some would call this uncharitable but I call it savvy.
After getting dressed, I went out into my front room where I could hear a woman outside shouting to someone. “Hey! Hey! Excuse me?! Can I ask you a question?!”, she yells. Naturally, I peek through my blinds to see what is going on. It is the same woman who had knocked on my door. The woman appears young yet she is morbidly obese, so it was hard to tell her actual age. She gets the attention of a mousy looking girl across the street. The girl approaches the strange woman, talks for a bit and then leaves. The woman now walks back to perch on my building’s stoop, which happens to be right next to my window (it’s a not quite garden level apartment). After a few more tries at shouting the same question to passersby, the woman has another mousy girl come up to her on the stoop. Because she is sitting about 3 feet outside my window, I can’t help but hear the conversation.
Woman: “Excuse me?! Can I ask you sumthin’?”
Mousy Girl 2: “Yeah…”
Woman: “Do you have any food?”
(at this point I start giggling to myself)
Mousy Girl 2: “Well yeah. My apartment is right across the street.”
Woman: “Can you give me some of your food? I am starving!”
(starving, eh?)
Mousy Girl 2: “Oh sure, sure. Let me go drop my stuff off and get you something right away.”
Woman: “Thank you! Thank you! You are the answer to my prayers!!! Oh thank god!”
a few minutes later…
Mousy Girl 2:“Here are some pretzels. You can have all of them.”
Woman: “Oh thank you so much!”
So here is where things get interesting. The Woman watches as Mousy Girl 2 runs back across the street and into her apartment building. When Mousy Girl 2 is out of site, the Woman dumps the bag of pretzels on the ground and leaves the stoop without eating the food she requested. Why didn’t she eat the food? Why didn’t she take the food with her for later? Why did she go around asking for food? Was it a cover for something else? It was just such a weird series of events. I can’t help but wonder if she does this in other neighborhoods…
Anyway, it was rude of her to litter.
Congratulations, Pink! (1 November 2007)
With a score of 211.5, Crystal and Pink took first place in the Half-Arabian Working Cow Horse Open Championship. It was really exciting getting see my horse win a national championship. Now I just need to win one for myself! Someday… 
For more information on the Arabian horse visit http://www.arabianhorses.org/
When Campus Rokked (10 October 2007)
I wasn’t around for any of this, but I sure wish I had been. It would be awesome to take back some of the soulless campus bars in the name of rock n’ roll. R.I.P. Mable’s and Red Lion Inn for you are now the icons of a pre-Starbucks Green Street myth.
Note: It’s good to see the crappy IHOP is still around, as well as Garcia’s.
This next video features the Vertebrats who are probably one of the first big acts in the Champaign-Urbana rock scene. Why doesn’t WCIA do segments on the local bands anymore? So what if there is no larger “creative movement” taking place. The lulls should be documented, too.
Also, check out the shot of Assembly Hall complete with empty beer bottle. Always classy, Champaign.
JigGsaw Tuesday @ The Monkey (9 October 2007)
This Tuesday, Cowboy Monkey will feature local face melters/rock awesomeness JigGsaw. (And don’t give me the, “But it’s a weeknight!” excuse.)
Check out JigGsaw on 
Fisher Price Creative Music Maker (4 October 2007)
You wouldn’t believe how excited I was when I came upon this page last night. I totally had one of these! The whole web site is dedicated to miniature organs (no, not little livers) and even rates them by how they sound, their design and coolness factor. The Creative Music Maker got 10s across the board. Yeah, my mom knew what was up.
The basic purpose of the Creative Music Maker is to make music with the keys and sing along in the microphone. You could even “broadcast” your voice through a radio. If I recall correctly, there was a small dial on the side of the instrument that would allow you to chose which radio frequency you’d like to use. It also features half-notes! Jawsome!
Fake Edit: I just found one on eBay in mint condition with a Buy It Now price of $79.95! Jeez, that’s a lot. I might have to dig mine out…
Pumpkin Pecan Muffins (1 October 2007)
Fall is stuttering to a start. One day will be 68 and the next is 85. Mother Nature is so indecisive. I’m longing to wear a cozy sweater and to once again experience the smell of burning leaves. Until then, here are some pumpkin-pecan muffins that I have adapted from a recipe via SmittenKitchen. I found this recipe about a month ago, but just couldn’t being myself to bake it until October. For some reason I associate October with being the “Autumn-est” of all the months. Just one bite and you’ll be thinking Fall.
Click here for the recipe. I added some chopped pecans to the mix for a little more texture.
Backyard Shark Live! (23 September 2007)
A video from Saturday’s Backyard Shark practice.
Holy Hum! (20 September 2007)
So I’m sitting here on my couch trying to figure out a computer problem and I hear a sexy woman’s voice on the T.V. She’s talking about a car and she says, “When you turn your car on, does it return the favor?”. Suddenly the rockin’ guitar part from the Hum song Stars starts playing as they show the sexy woman push down on the accelerator. It was a commercial for Cadillac, so I’m sure you’ll all get to see it at some point this season. But wow…Hum…on a commercial…for a luxury the luxury American vehicle. Either there is a Hum fan working in the ad department, or finally everyone else has figured out just how sexy Hum’s music really is.
Champaign bands represent!
Update: I found the commercial on the Cadillac website. Apparently the sexy woman is Kate Walsh from a show called Grey’s Anatomy. It looks like they are using Stars in all of their commercials.
