jerseydave77

It's been over a week and a lot is sinking in for me so I thought I'd just do some writing. You ever have your entire perspective on life completely rattled? It's happened a few times for me but probably not on this level.
Here is the background:
Friday October 26: I get the news my Aunt committed suicide. She was bipolar and I tried so damn hard to help her and get her off the streets. It's an odd life where a 35 year old is struggling to help a 52 year old who is too sick to accept the assistance of people who really loved her.
Saturday October 27: Still reeling from the day before my father has a heart attack. I literally drop lunch and run the half mile to the hospital to wait at the emergency room door to be sure he has family with him as he enters. Thankfully he is released in 2.5 days and it was a minor one and more of a wake up call.
Sunday October 28: Funeral. Life sucks as you hold your grandma that you consider a second mother in your arms because she can't stand up as they lower the coffin. The first of the Sandy rains start as we are still at the cemetery.
Monday October 29: Sandy hits. No time for mourning as I go on standby at my fire house. I spend the night with a small crew of my brothers cutting trees out of roads in the middle of the storm to keep open the roads that lead to the hospital where my Dad is.
Tuesday October 30: I see the Jersey I know and love - grew up and came of age in lying in shambles. I spend the next two days working with the fire dept.
Thursday: Too tired and my son is asking where Dad is so I go to be with him at a relatives who has a generator.
The next few days have been like a false reality. I pop on here for some normalcy, music is a huge comfort.
I've seen the best of people this past week. Family pulling together, neighbors risking it all to help strangers. Adversity shows us what life is supposed to be - people helping one another. A grandson hugging a grandmother who gave him so much. A man who brings his son to our fire house after they lost their home but still wanted to say thanks.
It's cliche but be good to one another, human nature means we need other people to help us in the worst of times. When I reported for that standby I had a bunch of tough guys giving me comfort for my loses before we headed out to work.
Anyway, the loss of my Aunt and the circumstances surrounding it are finally settling in again and I just felt like writing something.
If you are in the Northeast or anywhere and struggling - stand strong. Ask for help. There are a lot more people that give a damn out there than you realize.

I'm covered on the Fat Comp now gang. Since I posted this earlier I got some of the worst news one can face. The kindnesses of my VC Friends, though we are mostly strangers, have helped me crack a little smile. Thanks for being decent Gents, you never know when simple acts can pick someone up on a bad day.

I'm covered on the Fat Comp now gang. Since I posted this earlier I got some of the worst news one can face. The kindnesses of my VC Friends, though we are mostly strangers, have helped me crack a little smile. Thanks for being decent Gents, you never know when simple acts can pick someone up on a bad day.

Prices are reasonable for sure. I can't see you having an issue getting some sales here.

You know what I am reading: There are a lot of people on this board who have never needed significant funding for an artistic undertaking and have never had to negotiate a contract. Further, they have probably never felt the pressure of needing to find continued funding to pay people's salaries, people who depend on you to survive in a harsh business world.
Quit guessing and judging. Some of what I've read here comes from a place of complete ignorance and if that's not the cause then it's complete stupidity.

Yeah, a friend sent me this and I can't stop laughing.

Figured I'd share this one since I find it pretty funny.
I went down to the Third Man Rolling Records Store last night. I had to wait about two hours before my turn and got to know a few of the folks around me pretty well. One guy is an insane Prince Collector - 400+ pieces of Prince vinyl, over 100 posters, has seen him 45 times and met his wife at a Prince Concert. Awesome. Anyway, the guy ahead of him was a young actor and we chit chatted a bit but Mr. Prince wanted to talk Third Man etc more than anything. Great guys.
Actor gets up for his turn. He was 12th in line and had spent a lot of time. He buys the Rome record but it rings up with tax to $44. He's $4 short not realizing that they charged tax. I give him the $4 and my business card and tell him to mail it to me. He waits until I'm done with my turn and we ride the Subway uptown together.
On the Subway he tells me he's going to be seeing Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson at Hammerstein. Pretty sick. Sheepishly he pulls a package of face paint from his pocket and tells me the reason he was short $5 was he bought the paint. He decided it would be funny to paint himself like a sad clown then go to the Zombie concert. He wanted to watch peoples reactions to him. I am laughing out loud on the subway at the notion partly because of the absurdity but also because I have a clown-phobia and never would have leant him money if he'd already had his face painted. I actually would have left the line rather than stand with a clown 2 hours (I know, that's shit for my therapist trust me, I've been there).
Anyway, I thought his story so awesome I wanted to share it. What a great reason to be short money. I'm glad I helped sponsor his night out in a small way.
If anyone was at the concert last night let me know if you saw an odd clown guy walking around.

To anyone curious I got a kind response today. The line cutter was tossed and the kid got a Triple Decker as a result. I really glad things worked out.

To anyone curious I got a kind response today. The line cutter was tossed and the kid got a Triple Decker as a result. I really glad things worked out.

Pretty sure I have this on green but I don't feel like pulling it or taking pics.

No one on here ever lives up to my mental image. Ha ha.
Well done man.

This show is getting really primal as you'd expect. I think they came out swinging this season unlike Season 2. It's been gory yet full of solid plot development. I hope this show is just starting to hit it's stride creatively and we can expect a lot more to come.

Spread it around.

See - this video is deep. It only really sunk in later. It's a huge commentary on the Presidential Election.
1. Synchronized Crab Stomp - Symbolize the Masses mindlessly marching to pull the lever.
2. Matching Shredded Jeans - The destroyed dreams we each share
3. Dude living in an abandoned House who has a servant who feeds him whole chickens - This is the 99% vs the 1%
4. Murdering Your Employer - No doubt it's a call to a violent revolution
5. A bunch of stupid haircuts - I'm pretty sure there is no symbolism to this, these guys just have dumb haircuts.
Let me know what other subtext you find in this destined-to-be-legendary video.

We are the 1% of Collectors to this guy.

We are the 1% of Collectors to this guy.

I've been holding this one in. Yes. I got mine. It took forever and they were apologetic and sent me two extra LPs. The problem is that the test is scuffed and scratched to high hell.
I give a different standard to Tests than I do a brand new release. They've frequently been used, shifted and traveled wide distances. This copy passes nothing but the piece of shit test. It's a huge bummer after months and months.
I emailed Protagonist but never heard back. To be fair I phrased the email more in terms of I hope you figure shit out soon and learn from all these mistakes. I washed my hands of them after telling them of the fucked up copy. I mean there is no excuse good enough at this point. To not even say "sorry" is bullshit as well.
So yeah, I'll never order from them again. It is easily the worst small label experience I've had. I wish you all the luck in the world but don't get your hopes up for too much here man.

Figured I'd share this one since I find it pretty funny.
I went down to the Third Man Rolling Records Store last night. I had to wait about two hours before my turn and got to know a few of the folks around me pretty well. One guy is an insane Prince Collector - 400+ pieces of Prince vinyl, over 100 posters, has seen him 45 times and met his wife at a Prince Concert. Awesome. Anyway, the guy ahead of him was a young actor and we chit chatted a bit but Mr. Prince wanted to talk Third Man etc more than anything. Great guys.
Actor gets up for his turn. He was 12th in line and had spent a lot of time. He buys the Rome record but it rings up with tax to $44. He's $4 short not realizing that they charged tax. I give him the $4 and my business card and tell him to mail it to me. He waits until I'm done with my turn and we ride the Subway uptown together.
On the Subway he tells me he's going to be seeing Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson at Hammerstein. Pretty sick. Sheepishly he pulls a package of face paint from his pocket and tells me the reason he was short $5 was he bought the paint. He decided it would be funny to paint himself like a sad clown then go to the Zombie concert. He wanted to watch peoples reactions to him. I am laughing out loud on the subway at the notion partly because of the absurdity but also because I have a clown-phobia and never would have leant him money if he'd already had his face painted. I actually would have left the line rather than stand with a clown 2 hours (I know, that's shit for my therapist trust me, I've been there).
Anyway, I thought his story so awesome I wanted to share it. What a great reason to be short money. I'm glad I helped sponsor his night out in a small way.
If anyone was at the concert last night let me know if you saw an odd clown guy walking around.

Warner/Electra
1. Never sent me items.
2.Claimed they did.
3. I File Paypal Claim.
4. They tell me to return merchandise to receive a refund.
5. Reread #1
6. Warner Electra once again wins asshole of the year award - a repeat performance after fucking up the Flaming Lips/Yoko Ono split in dramatic fashion.
7. I offer hearty congratulations to Warner Electra for their consistent history of being the absolute worst when it comes to customer service. Well done ladies and gentlmen - may you all have as obnoxious an experience as I have in your daily dealings.
(After 6 weeks Paypal found in my favor since all of Warner's responses were contradictory)

Your goodwill is somehow bothersome
Seriously, though, that's a touching story about your cousin.

Whoever wrote that listing obviously has taken writing lessons from the Kenyan Prince who needs your bank account number to make a transfer. You know, the guy that will give you half of his inheritance for your kindness.

I'm going to split the money in donations back to the bookstore and my Cousin's charity that supports him after he lost both legs to Viral Meningitis related infections. I know it was a lucky find so I'll put it to good use.

I'm going to split the money in donations back to the bookstore and my Cousin's charity that supports him after he lost both legs to Viral Meningitis related infections. I know it was a lucky find so I'll put it to good use.

I'm going to split the money in donations back to the bookstore and my Cousin's charity that supports him after he lost both legs to Viral Meningitis related infections. I know it was a lucky find so I'll put it to good use.

Breaking this into a series of 7"s created some magic: $100 worth of LPs just became $325 worth of 7"s. Amazing.
I wouldn't even know where to put this. I like how Pirates tries new things but I didn't even hesitate in saying pass.