benonskates's Xanga

House Pics

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 02:48:27 GMT

Erika and I are closing on our first house tomorrow! We went by for a 'walk thru' today. It was built in 1945. Wood floors are under the carpet that we'll rip up in the next few days. And we're going to knock out a wall to open up the kitchen. We went by Home Depot this evening and felt like real home owners.
Here's some pics of the house:

We're excited about it tons! Isn't it great!?!

And, back by popular demand... CATSY CLINE!!!

NEW EVERYTHING!

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 19:18:10 GMT

When it rains, it pours... money. Or at least that's what you'd think with the way we've been buying crap lately.
Well, our cat was free. Catsy Cline.
She's really great. I'm still not a cat person, but get Catsy around you and I promise you'll love her.

This week we've been firming up plans on the house that we bought last week. First house purchase for us. It's really great. We're both really excited. It was built in 1945 and it sits on a really neat corner in a really cute neighborhood called Woodbine. Our House will be ready towards the beginning of September. (We're going to redo the kitchen and take up the carpet at the end of August)

AND! we bought a scooter yesterday! (Thanks G.W.Bush, officially stimulated)

I'm going to paint it myself. I've been reading about spray painting motorcycles and such. You can actually do a really good job if you're cafeful and take your time.

Anyways, that's cool.

okay, so far...

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 18:25:15 GMT

We've been here a few days now. It's been really fun. We all four like it. A lot.
Only played one gig so far. At a place called the Knotting Hill Arts Club. The way they do it here, is that they have club nights. So, the venue is called Knotting Hill Arts Club, and the club night is called Yo Yo. It's a very trendy London club night apparently. Lily Allen hung out there for a while because she was dating the dude that put on the club night, and that's when it became really popular. Anyways, was a pretty cool feeling place, but we actually didn't do that great. I don't know, we just didn't do our thing.
But, there was this really neat picture that came out of it. They had projectors everywhere, shining on all the walls, and they had the word 'yo' and mouths. and, in this fine picture, they're all over me.

I gotta go because this computer's about to die. But, looking forward to tonight. We're playing at the Barfly in Camden which should be a lot more our scene.

Here's a pub we went to last night that was 'rebuilt' in 1667. mmmmmmmm

And here's DJ and Kevin on the Bridge of the Future outside the wonderful TATE Modern Museum.

More soon...benj

London Happenings

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 17:55:15 GMT

So, our time here is coming to a close. It's ended up being a very productive and fun trip.
Yesterday we went to the Natural History museum where there was a giant fake blue whale. I especially posted this pic for my wife because it's probably her favorite mammal of all.

And, just for all you doubters out there, here's proof that I really am in London. That's me standing very straight, just like the London Bridge in the background.

So, you walk a ton in this town if you go anywhere. We went to the Camden Market the other day. It's a massive area filled with rows and halls and rooms and tents and anything you can think of that could possibly house stuff to purchase. Okay, that was a horrible way to describe that. Basically it's a big market of mostly clothes that you can buy to make your life just a little bit better.

After that we headed up to Primrose Hill which we were told is the highest point in London and from which you can see all of London. So, yes, we headed that way, but on the journey we stopped off at the classiest little pub I think I'd been to yet. Here's a shot of the garden out back where we drank our half pints of Leffe. (it's beautiful if you can't tell.)

And then we made it up to Primrose Hill. Absolutely so pleasant. Just laid there in the sun, and the breeze was all blowing and stuff. soooooooooo nice. one of those times you wish you could bottle up and save (and sell!)

Liam's lil girls were up in the studio the other day being extremely bored while we just kept working on the same ol' part of the same ol' song over and over.
Anyways, they tried to find anything at all exciting to occupy themselves while they waited for DJ and I to go down and read them their bedtime stories. Josie and DJ here pickin' a tune...

and...
Here's a video of DJ cutting a rug, or a roof rather.

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:56:49 GMT

Welp, things are going good here.
DJ and I have been mostly spending our days hanging around Liam's house working on our songs. It's been more a closed-up-in-the-house London trip than I'm used to, but we have gotten out some:

Liam's taken us to all the pubs in his neighborhood that he can think of. It's crazy, there are so many pubs here in the neighborhoods, within walking distance. They're like fire-hydrants in our neighborhoods. And they serve a similar purpose, to snuff out the harshness of our lives.
Anyways, here's one called The Rosemary Branch, and We walked there on one of the few sunny moments we've had here so far...

After that, DJ and I made our way downtown, or to the city center, where all the action takes place, for instance a giant battle ship backed by the famous London Bridge...

Here's DJ standing by a big scary London monster...

And, imagine an 8 story tall cross section of a person's head. What do you see inside? does it look like this?

That and several other paintings are up on the TATE modern art museum at the moment. It's pretty phenomenal. We spent a couple wonderful hours wondering around in the TATE. It's probably my favorite thing to do here in London. My other favorite thing to do is to go down to the Borough Market and get a chorizo sandwich. We tried to do that on Saturday, but got there about 30 minutes after they started closing down. It was pretty depressing. We got to see only the potential of terrific experience. But today, we're going to give it another shot. And I think the potential will be realized.

In London again!

Sat, 31 May 2008 00:31:06 GMT

Welp, I'm back in London for another two-ish week stint. DJ and I came over on Wednesday. We'll be here until the 8th. The point of it all is to hang around Liam's house and mix/arrange/make awesome as many of our new songs as we can. We'll probably leave here with either 5 or 6 songs sounding really good. Then, hopefully, somebody with money will come along and give us some of their money to finish our record properly and go on tour. (any bidders out there?)

so, here's what we found while walking around the Detroit airport...

After that, we flew to Heathrow Airport in London at which we were taken into some kind of custody for a few hours because they didn't like the way we explained our reasons for being in the UK. If we would've said, "yeah, just a little vacation with our mate that lives over here in Islington... Probably go visit London Bridge and that." we would've been fine. But we had to go into how we're sort of working here, but not earning any money. Anyways, a real downer after traveling for 12 hours and staying up all night (got 10 minutes of sleep on the plane ride here).

Not quite feeling normal yet, but hopefully will soon. Here's a neat pic of DJ while we were walking around in Liam's neighborhood. (Liam's the producer we're working with over here)

really pretty blue trash bags accenting blue car in a work I call Blue Things Well Balanced:

and then there's this one which is just of me yesterday waiting for my baguette with sucuk and hellim (sausage and goat cheese) filling at a little cafe that liked the movies Scarface and Godfather A LOT.

Last night Liam cooked us bangers and mash which is sausage and mashed potatoes (two points for those of you who realized that I ate sausage two times yesterday). It's a real traditional working class meal over here, which is fitting because we're working our bums off to make music that everybody in this darned whole world will enjoy listening to.

Friday, November 30, 2007

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:08:14 GMT

here's just a quicky...
On the last day of recording with Steve Dub and Segs, we dumped in our song called "Ticket" into their system to polish it up some. Dub wanted all the tracks to go to the mixing board, so the engineer, Ben, had to put in another Pro Tools box. Most of that might not make since to some of you, but don't worry, the point is is that for about an hour, poof Ben huffed and puffed around on the floor trying to retrofit the right equipment into place. This is him here while I sit patiently behind him, sporting my brand new winter cap which I purchased at the Portabella Road Market on the Sunday prior for only 7 pounds, down from 8. It's a colorful blue/yellow/white/grey pattern made from the wool of an Alpaca

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:23:48 GMT

On Saturday I slept in a little and then tagged along with Jamie and his son to an amazing place called Gamboro. Parents, tune in, this is a dream come true for you. It's a giant room filled to the gills with child madness. There are four completely enclosed trampolines, a Carousel, and a bumper car course. But the main attraction is a giant Chucky Cheese-esque block of slides and tunnels and balls and rope swings and nets and spinney poles and just plenty of places to run and climb and be dangerous and get germs while parents sit around drinking lattes.
Ellis, Jamie's lil boy, was a little jitter bomb ready to explode even before we stepped in the play area. Once Jamie paid the 9 pounds toward ellis' happiness for the next hour and the 2.50 pounds for he and I (yeah, that's the catch, that's $28 total for us americans) Ellis was instantly gone/lost and Jamie and I went over to get a coffee. (One thing about London is that anywhere you go, you can get good coffee, and by coffee I mean espresso drinks. (and one thing about the espresso drinks here is that they're cheap. They cost about 1.40 pounds which puts it in the I'm-not-getting-screwed-because-of-the-weak-american-dollar club along with wine, both of which if you double the price, they come out to about what they'd cost in the states.)) So, we drink our coffees, and then we're off to find Ellis. I took a whole bunch of pictures. The colors were great in there. So bold and fun. It was so fun watching Jamie play with Ellis. It's the best to see a parent being goofy with their kid.
And another great thing about the funnest-kids-playland-ever is that adults can play too. So, I made my way around the maze a few times...

Anyways, we left when Ellis had had enough and was crying sufficiently (which seemed like the thing for kids to do when they have to leave Gamboro). Jamie dropped me off at a tube stop and I made my way down to the Borough Market.
Erika and I discovered this Market to be one of the best places in the world the last time she was here. There's every kind of fresh food you'd ever want. It's sectioned off by food type, so I head immediately for the chorizo sandwich section to first wait in line for the mandatory 15 minutes, and then to receive the only thing on the menu... the chorizo sandwich.

Vegetarians beware... If I EVER end up living here and you EVER come and visit... you will eat one of these sandwiches because it's the best sandwich ever and I won't let you miss out on it.

To make you feel better, not if you're vegan though, afterwards we'll go sample some none meat products that amazing like this cheese...

After hanging around the Market for a while, I walked down the riverside to the Tate Modern. This modern art museum is housed in a cavernous building with a massive lobby area in which you could probably fit 120 eighteen wheelers. This space is constantly being used for really neat ideas. One time, put some AMAZING SLIDES up which is worth checking out.
Presently they've figured out how to put a giant crack down the whole floor. It's really amazing actually. It makes the space feel so intense and troubled and uneasy.

And after spending way too much time in the gift shop (they've got tons of neat stuff... promise) I hoofed it up to the 7th floor where the bar/restaurant is and took this amazing picture...

Where I'm staying...

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 19:11:05 GMT

here's where I live at the moment. oh my gosh, it's great...

It's at my mate Jamie's house, near Wansworth Commons. The commons look like this... amazing...

Jamie's house is right across from the flippin commons... amazing...

and here's my room... amazing...

and here's me sleeping there... kinda what that looks like... you can get the idea... not so amazing...

the bathroom... as far as bathrooms go... amazing...

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnndddddddddddddd the table setting that I find waiting for me when I go down for breakfast each morning. I mean come on. It's beautiful... and amazing...

I moved into this place on Monday night. I had been living at Sarah's and various other places. It wasn't real restful or peaceful. The plan the whole time was for me to move in with Jamie (he's the guy I signed publishing with), but I had to wait until he and his wife, Abi (abbey), got back from "holiday" which happened monday. And boy oh boy was I happy to move in. I mean, I was giddy, I could hardly go to sleep! I showered in such a clean shower and shaved and then laid in my own big fluffy bed and was just so freakin happy. And they have internet there. it's just superb. And Jamie and Abi are both really neat people, and I've enjoyed our talks in the kitchen at night and in the mornings. Jamie manages a guy here in London called Liam Bailey also who's doing very well over here.
Anyways, I actually look forward to going "home" now which is really really nice and amazing...

Rock Show That Completely Rocked

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 20:16:58 GMT

No kidding,
This whole rock show melted my face right off.
Sunday night my friend Mike and I went to a rock show that completely rocked. It's a band called Acid Mother Temple (I think) and they're completely from Japan and completely old and completely cooler than any other band ever.

the guitar player looks like an asian version of Slash. and when he finally kicks in his shredding solos (that's after maybe 20 minutes of a two chord "jam") he throws his guitar up high so that it's pointing up to the ceiling and he holds on for dear life as if it's trying to fly into outer space and leave all of these crummy, boring humans behind. And his tone was a cheese shredder rubbing back and forth over all our faces til all that was left was an absolute packed room of bobbing skull heads...