Books

[JHDK]

I'm about halfway through Leviathan Wakes (Expanse, Book 1) and this is a trip! It's like if Star Wars was directed by Quentin Tarantino. Can't wait to see how this ends!

Oh you're talking about the SA Corey books. Yeah, I tried reading them after I started watching the expanse on Amazon but I couldn't get through them.

Same with the Red Rising series. Everybody says it's great sci-fi but I just couldn't get into it. I listen to like 7 hours of it on the way to Tennessee when I was going to see Pam and I don't do audiobooks ever. I just usually read books but even an audio fashion it was not my style.

I'm more of a fan of Andy Weir type sci-fi. He is currently my favorite author because he is more or less a new version of Michael Crichton, who is my all-time favorite author.

 

[Jon]

Oh you're talking about the SA Corey books. Yeah, I tried reading them after I started watching the expanse on Amazon but I couldn't get through them.

Same with the Red Rising series. Everybody says it's great sci-fi but I just couldn't get into it. I listen to like 7 hours of it on the way to Tennessee when I was going to see Pam and I don't do audiobooks ever. I just usually read books but even an audio fashion it was not my style.

I'm more of a fan of Andy Weir type sci-fi. He is currently my favorite author because he is more or less a new version of Michael Crichton, who is my all-time favorite author.

I can't get into Audiobooks much, I suppose I have a better imagination and storytelling ability in my own head than any narrator could provide. I did read 'The Martian' , which I think I mentioned previously, and liked it very much. I haven't seen the TV series yet, maybe after I finish the books.

 

[Jon]

Just going through my Kindle highlights on Goodreads and found this from Alex Van Halen's book:

“Definition of rock journalism: People who can’t write, doing interviews with people who can’t think, in order to prepare articles for people who can’t read.”

 

[JHDK]

If someone has Van in their name, they are almost 100% Dutch..... If it's Von they're almost 100% German.

Fun fact!

 

[Jon]

Just finished "Poverty...By America" by Matthew Desmond. Did catch a clip of his interview on The Daily Show on Youtube the other day, that inspired me to finish it tonight. Pretty interesting stuff, and pretty much solidifies my belief that the real conflict isn't going to be left vs. right, it's going to be the 1 percent vs. the 99 percent. And it won't be pretty.

Next, "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson. Will report back when finished.

I'm also back in school finishing my degree so my reading time will be diminished slightly.

 

[Jon]

Finished 'A Short History of Nearly Everything', which was....anything...but short, although a very interesting explanation of evolution and paleontology.

Just now starting:

Pretend We're Dead: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of Women in Rock in the ’90s​

by Tanya Pearson.

All those rebellious women artists you listened to in the 90's who seemingly disappeared later? They're covered here.

A review later.

 

[sadchild]

Pretend We're Dead​

My band covered this summer 2023 when we opened for 3 Doors Down and Candlebox (we don't usually do covers but were asked to)

 

[JHDK]

when we opened for 3 Doors Down

You drop these little details about your musical career that I guess are just ho-hum to you but like that's kind of a big deal. Three doors down is a band that I know about, they're one of those kind of generic '90s pop rock bands right? But they were rather popular and were on the radio and TV. And I'm sure they made a bunch of money so they were a big deal.

And apparently you opened for them.

Maybe you've told us this before but it's the first time I remember hearing it. You've posted a bunch of your songs. They're good shit so I can understand how mainstream bands would be cool with you as the opener. It's still just fascinating though to get these new tidbits about your band.

What's next? You're going to say something like, "I was hanging out with this guy named Bob in 1965 and I casually told him dude, it would be a cool change of pace if you went electric for one of your shows".

 

[sadchild]

It sounds more impressive than it is. I call my band "big nobodies". We've opened for Korn, Seether, Shinedown, Buckcherry, Drowning Pool, Halestorm, Candlebox.... Our music has been on 40 FM stations. We've been voted best band in the state in the state's biggest weekly newspaper...........

.......But ultimately, we are still total nobodies. Haven't even made a speck of a dent in the music business. Of the 20+ big bands we've opened for, we've probably met 2 of them? None of them know or remember us. Most of the 40 FM stations played our music Sunday night at 10pm (except the college stations, they actually played us during the day). And winning best band in NH got us one thing, a free invite to a dance club one night. That was it. It sounds like we're bigger than we are. Because on a scale of 1 to 10, we're a fraction.

Thanks for the kind words about the music again though. The biggest compliment for me is always when people say, years later, they still listen to our music. I'd hate for it to be totally forgotten. Plus, that $14 in streaming we made last year is ... is ... is , well it's LOL. That's what it is!

 

[JHDK]

It sounds more impressive than it is. I call my band "big nobodies". We've opened for Korn, Seether, Shinedown, Buckcherry, Drowning Pool, Halestorm, Candlebox.... Our music has been on 40 FM stations.

Come on man. All that shit is pretty fucking cool. This is a like awesome humble brag.

the 20+ big bands we've opened for, we've probably met 2 of them? None of them know or remember us.

I was probably like 26 or so when I went to see state radio (The sideband of the lead singer of dispatch) I kind of toured with them cuz my one buddy was super into them. We saw them all through Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama.... And when they were in Florida by our apartment, somehow my buddy invited the opening act to sleep at our place for the night. So that was cool... But yeah I get what you're saying. The opening acts aren't super remembered by even dispatch's sideband.... So obviously Korn is on a completely different level.

Most of the 40 FM stations played our music Sunday night at 10pm

Doesn't matter dude. Still fucking cool. You were played on top 40 stations. That's awesome.

Thanks for the kind words about the music again though. The biggest compliment for me is always when people say, years later, they still listen to our music.

I don't even like your genre of music and maybe the fact that you're a DRC member makes me biased but I legitimately enjoyed the shit you posted so there's that.

Post some more shit that you haven't posted yet.

 

[scotchandcigar]

Sadchild needs to repost the magazine cover where he was flying in the air.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

It sounds more impressive than it is. I call my band "big nobodies". We've opened for Korn, Seether, Shinedown, Buckcherry, Drowning Pool, Halestorm, Candlebox.... Our music has been on 40 FM stations. We've been voted best band in the state in the state's biggest weekly newspaper...........

.......But ultimately, we are still total nobodies. Haven't even made a speck of a dent in the music business. Of the 20+ big bands we've opened for, we've probably met 2 of them? None of them know or remember us. Most of the 40 FM stations played our music Sunday night at 10pm (except the college stations, they actually played us during the day). And winning best band in NH got us one thing, a free invite to a dance club one night. That was it. It sounds like we're bigger than we are. Because on a scale of 1 to 10, we're a fraction.

Thanks for the kind words about the music again though. The biggest compliment for me is always when people say, years later, they still listen to our music. I'd hate for it to be totally forgotten. Plus, that $14 in streaming we made last year is ... is ... is , well it's LOL. That's what it is!

That's $14 more than I made on streaming.

 

[JHDK]

That's $14 more than I made on streaming.

Yeah right? If it's only 14 bucks just getting a check that is from Spotify I would frame and put on my wall. That's pretty fucking cool.

 

[Jon]

That's about what the average musician is making on streaming nowadays. Don't spend it all in one place.

 

[sadchild]

Sadchild needs to repost the magazine cover where he was flying in the air.

Post some more shit that you haven't posted yet.

I forget if I posted the third song we recorded in 2023? It's not on Spotify, Apple, etc. Only YouTube. My son did the video work.

 

[HecticArt]

That's about what the successful musician is making on streaming nowadays. Don't spend it all in one place.

FIFY

 

[Jon]

I'm about 4 chapters in to 'The Three-Body Problem' and so far it ranks about a 9.8 on the weird-shit-o-meter. In a good way of course, makes for an entertaining read. Another one I can't wait to see how it ends. (I haven't seen the Netflix show yet for the record.)

 

[HecticArt]

The NF show was pretty decent. I'd bet that the book is probably better, like they tend to be.

 

[Jon]

It's pretty good so far, but I figure this author (who I've never heard of previously) is on some really good drugs!

 

[Jon]

First 'DNF' (Did Not Finish) book on the list. Going Infinite by Michael Lewis, which is basically a biography on Sam Bankman-Fried, who was the crypto tycoon who ran FTX into the ground and was sent to jail. Parts of the book contained interview excerpts, and the more I read of his words, the more it made me want to shove him in a locker. Didn't make it past two chapters.