Capturing a Mental Image.

**This is a disclaimer that the following post will not have any visuals or sound. This is more of a exercise for myself, trying to describe a mental picture I have.**

Before my shift began, the waiters were all gathered behind the restaurant. This ritual began every shift before the dinner rush started. They sat on the curb in a line, drinking ice-coffee and smoking cigarettes. The words that they spoke were foreign, but the effect they had knew no language. They laughed with their bodies in between the drags of their cigarettes and sips of coffee.
It used to puzzle me why this image was so ingrained in my head. It happened every day, regardless of if I witnessed it or not. I was not a selected viewer, just a by-stander. I contemplated this mental image for much time before I realized its' special quality. In this moment, they were happy. Yet the pure happiness that existed in this moment puzzled me. I thought about all the troubles they had. Most of them were illegal aliens still yet to sustain any sort of real future, let alone pay for next month's rent. With so much unsure, how could somebody be so happy?
It was with this that I realized happiness is not about security or answered questions. It is about enjoying the simple pleasures that life has to offer with the most important of people. Please take this message to heart.

-Charlie.

Snows Of...

It's not very often that I have the opportunity to post free non-hip hop music so I am jumping on the chance to post about As Tall As Lions' side project "Kilimanjaro."



There EP is available for free here.

As explained about on their website, Kilimanjaro is more about creating interesting textures in a spontaneous manner as opposed to creating "songs." The result: goodness. Simply goodness. While Kilimanjaro consists of every member of As Tall As Lions, the differences in sound are drastic enough that it warrants a whole new band.

Please enjoy it,
-Charlie.

Five Finger Discount?

Just a quick observation...

The Cool Kids- Volume II


Sugarhill Gang- Rappers Delight


You be the judge and download The Cool Kids' newest mixtape here.


Happy Listenings,
-Charlie.

Skatefest 2010

I woke up at 6:00am on Saturday morning. For those who know me personally, I do not do this on a regular basis or without good reason. I then proceeded to get into a car with two friends and drive 8 hours north. Why would I do this? Not with out good reason, that is for sure.


And good reason is what I had. The Receiving End of Sirens is honestly one of my favorite bands of all time. Every song of theirs has given me personal inspiration to play music or simply create something larger than myself. While I have seen them perform perfectly their perfectly written songs twice already, this was an opportunity to partake in. With some mild traffic and bad weather in the most cliché of all places (I think you know which state I am talking about), the arrival time was around 3:30. While I do want to focus on the bands that stimulated this experience, I do want to mention a quick snippet about a band that was pleasantly surprising, All Day Holiday.


I have always liked bands that set up with all members in a line on stage, like All the Day Holiday. It sends a statement that everyone in the band is equally important and interesting to watch. The soaring guitars and refreshing drums was quite pleasurable to the ears. Please listen to them.



After many bands I would most preferably avoid talking about came The Dear Hunter. What started out as the side project of ex-Receiving End of Sirens member Casey Creszcno, has become a band with a dedicated following. At some parts, the vocals were sung louder by the crowd than by the band. Their original sound was also refreshing when compared to the many breakdown-heavy bands who played earlier.



Finally, The Receiving End of Sirens took the stage. While there was some initial technical difficulties, once they started performing, things went flawlessly (except Alex Bars gets smashed in the head with Brian’s guitars and bleeding all down his neck). They are a true example of that many individuals playing together can create something more beautiful then one individual. Often times, it was hard to distinguish who each melody was coming from but it really did not matter. They were playing great music and having tons of fun in the process. A lot of previous bands were coming up to play and sing little parts with them. Clearly, this was a band that had inspired not only their own fan base, but other musicians as well.



If you do not have BOTH of The Receiving End of Sirens records, there is much musical goodness to hear. While Between The Heart and Synapse is the record that started it all, The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi stretches the instrument capabilities of The Receiving End Of Sirens.




I will leave you with this video:


Happy Listenings,
-Charlie.

Fresh-ish.

As you can tell by the wear and tear on them, I've had these Nike Dunks for a while now. Lately, I have felt that the "neon color on a black" look has been a little out-dated (I was originally thinking of elaborating on this point but I'll just keep it at that). In order to breathe a little more life into these shoes, I decided to embark on a little project. Please enjoy:

For this project, I needed the following materials:

I began wrapping the shoe like so...

Until it resembled this:

I ran into a little problem when I thought I could use an exacto knife to cut out the nike swish. This ended up peeling off uneven and I ended up bordering the swish with more tape.

After that I took to the spray paint...


After a couple coats of paint, this was the result. As you can tell, it was not quite as successful as I would imagined it to be. The spray paint looks great on where it was sprayed, it just was not sprayed on every part.





As a final step, I re-strung some old white laces I had lying around. While this was by no means a huge success, it was not the worst project I ever attempted. My advice would be to, if possible, try not to spray paint over a existing color that is bright. It makes the flaws of the spray paint more obvious. Also, be really really exact in your taping. It is hard to go around a Nike swoosh but this idea could work flawlessly if the area was all straight lines.


As a side note, now that I am home for summer, this blog will become much more experience and adventure heavy. Please be weary, I have many things in the works.

-Charlie.

A Frame of Mind.

All the following photographs were taken by Ryan Russell on a manual camera. Please see more of his work ryanrussell.net.

In many ways, life is like film photography. When creating art, the negatives always come back first.


It is what we do with the presented negatives that defines who are. Some decide that based on what they say or point out, it is not worth pursuing.


However, if you remember that the negatives are not what was seen in your lens when you clicked the shutter, you will continue to pursue your artistic vision.



Hopefully, what you saw in your lens was beautiful.


-Charlie.

Stanky & Expired.

I know I am biased in this critique because I have never smoked a single nugget of marijuana in my life, but please here me out.

Remember the song "North Carolina" by Petey Pablo? Do you remember the "USA Remix?" For the sake of convenience, please click play below.


While the beat is above average, the reason this song received as much popularity as it does because it mentions almost every geographical area in the United States (including yes, North Carolina).

When Mr. Pablo did this, he acknowledges his listeners and makes them as if they have a personal connection. But let me dare to ask, does anyone in have a personal connection with Petey Pablo? Is anyone a huge Petey Pablo fans these days? Did he create long-lasting, inspirational or creative music? I hope the answers are obvious.

Now let me ask the same thing about Wiz Khalifa's newest mixtape "Orange Juice & Kush." Does Mr. Taylor Gang himself say anything of substance in his hour long mixtape other than "I smoke a lot of weed" or "I have a lot of girls?"
While I enjoy a party music and non-conscious rap, music that gets "dumbed down" this much bothers me. The bottom line is that there are almost no artistic statement here.

Kush & Orange Juice download.

Please download it for yourself. I am not shoving my opinion down anyone's throat, just observing what seems to be substance-less music. So Charlie, if youre not a fan of Wiz Khalifa's newest release, what are you listening to? At this point, I'd recommend Dom Kennedy's "From the West Side, With Love." It may take more than a listen to understand, but it is great.

Happy Listenings,
-Charlie.