There was a battle-of-the-bands type contest going on between a rock band of Metallica-grade self-importance, and us (me and Kevin S and maybe Ray).
The Metallickesque band had just made an earnest, rocky song, and it was our turn to create a song to challenge it. We ended up copping the song structure from their song and changing it into an inane lounge song.
Kevin S wrote the words, and as we played the song for the other band, in like a backstage hangout room, written lyrics magically unfurled on one side of my field of vision, as though it were on TV.
The other band was dumbfounded as we played. I worked out some kind of chord/bass progression on the left (chordy) side of an accordion (though the sound coming out sounded like a perc/rotary organ).
It was in B flat. The words were kind of like:
1
Prose.
x . . . . . . .
3b 3b 3b 2 1
Rock music history,
Who-knows.
x . . . . . . .
It's such a mystery.
Bears.
[Something about bears..]
Bears.
[etc.]
Of course I probably did some random post-awakening edits while trying to piece it back together, but it was to that effect.
Showing posts with label silly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label silly. Show all posts
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Blew their minds with a song about bears
Location:
Prince William County, Virginia, USA
Labels:
accordion,
bear,
competition,
fictional music,
Kevin S,
Metallica,
music (playing),
music notation,
nonsense words,
organ,
plagiarism,
Ray N,
silly,
TV
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
EDM clubbers and the pirate who can't spell
I went down into the woods near our old townhouse, entering down the hillside path near Bob's house. At the bottom of the slope, where the creek passes by, a large group of guys were having out, listening to electronic dance music. They were dressed for clubbing, I suppose.
At first I approached timidly, expecting for some reason that they would be hostile upon my intrusion. I sort of passed through, down to the left, then set about climbing some rocks over the creek to get a better perspective. A guy with short blond hair, pretty Scandinavian-looking, saw me and helped guide me in getting the right footholds to get up.
At the top of the rocks, maybe ten feet above the ground, I found what looked like a sliced-off section of a metal boat, with seating, so I sat there and watched the gathering. Somebody mentioned to me that this hunk of boat belonged to a guy nearby (sitting higher up on another raised hunk of something) who was kind of dressed for yachting -- I think he had a skipper hat and maybe an eyepatch. They noted that he lamented his inability to spell, due to being a pirate.
At first I approached timidly, expecting for some reason that they would be hostile upon my intrusion. I sort of passed through, down to the left, then set about climbing some rocks over the creek to get a better perspective. A guy with short blond hair, pretty Scandinavian-looking, saw me and helped guide me in getting the right footholds to get up.
At the top of the rocks, maybe ten feet above the ground, I found what looked like a sliced-off section of a metal boat, with seating, so I sat there and watched the gathering. Somebody mentioned to me that this hunk of boat belonged to a guy nearby (sitting higher up on another raised hunk of something) who was kind of dressed for yachting -- I think he had a skipper hat and maybe an eyepatch. They noted that he lamented his inability to spell, due to being a pirate.
Location:
Prince William County, Virginia, USA
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Ringo and the big band at the mansion
I was hanging out in a small, cozy living room (I think maybe it had the dark brown shag carpet that we used to have) with a guy and girl I knew, watching TV on an old set (maybe the wood-paneled Zenith TV we used to own). On TV was a rare recording (in black and white) of an early Beatles performance in England. The setting looked like maybe one end of a ballroom or other function hall in a mansion. Ringo was standing with a microphone, singing an uncharacteristically soulful song (also, maybe sort of slow and big-band-like). I didn't actually spot the rest of the Beatles, but I assumed they were behind him somewhere. However, on all sides of Ringo were at least six or seven other backup musicians.
To Ringo's left (right from the viewer's perspective) was a guy playing a full drum set. At one point in the song, he did a fancy drum fill where he started in the seated position, then hopped up and walked off the front-right corner of the stage area and off the screen, hitting three or four cymbals on stands as he walked. Another guy who was playing hand percussion behind Ringo stepped over to the drum set and hit a couple things to finish off the part.
Meanwhile, I was wondering to myself if I could find a download for this on the Internet. I wasn't sure what search terms to use, though. The location had flashed up at the beginning of the performance, but all I could remember was that it had the letters "ea" in it somewhere, which didn't narrow it down much.
To Ringo's left (right from the viewer's perspective) was a guy playing a full drum set. At one point in the song, he did a fancy drum fill where he started in the seated position, then hopped up and walked off the front-right corner of the stage area and off the screen, hitting three or four cymbals on stands as he walked. Another guy who was playing hand percussion behind Ringo stepped over to the drum set and hit a couple things to finish off the part.
Meanwhile, I was wondering to myself if I could find a download for this on the Internet. I wasn't sure what search terms to use, though. The location had flashed up at the beginning of the performance, but all I could remember was that it had the letters "ea" in it somewhere, which didn't narrow it down much.
Location:
Prince William County, Virginia, USA
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
MythBusters, rockets, and "urn-ale" climbing
Standing on a long dock/boardwalk over a small lake, watching Jamie and Adam from MythBusters shooting some sort of handheld rocket launchers (the rockets launched whereby being somewhat light and unthreatening). At first, it is more like a filmed scene -- indeed, I watch the two of them launch rockets in reverse -- the rockets find their way back to the launchers, and then the vertical smoke trail finds its way back to the rockets. Then I see them do it again. Adam's little rocket lands in the water behind him, just off the side of the dock. Jamie's lands very close to his own feet. Adam quips that this may be the first episode where they experiment on their own blood.
Seems filming has stopped now, we've walked off a little to the right, and Adam is talking to me and a friend about the background to that episode. Jamie had the idea of setting up a small monorail along the dock to which the rocket launchers would have been attached. One of Adam's assistants (not from the real show) mentioned how it would have been difficult to set up the monorail without buckling the dock because of the shape of the planks. Adam said they had actually worked out a solution to that, by fitting mounts below the railing that were the same size as the planks. In any case, the monorail idea had been scrapped. Adam also mentioned offhand that the show's photographers took way too many pictures, that there were so many photos from the show that would never see the light of day.
Then we headed off further down the dock towards land. Hopping. I hopped down the slope of the dock onto land, then started hopping towards our destination, over a pile of junk or two, and slowly uphill, with my friend (and possibly the MythBusters crew) following behind me. For some reason, the song "Civilization" by the Andrews Sisters and Danny Kaye (featured in Fallout 3) was running through my head. Possibly because of the line "They hurry like savages to get aboard an iron train" -- thinking of the monorail idea.
The ground was grassy and was pretty wet. As we got further up the hill, the wet ground changed to snowy ground. Then we reached a part of the slope that was too steep to hop (or walk) up. My friend (I think a girl, but not particularly feminine, just sort of a pal) and I started grabbing tufts of snow-covered grass with our bare hands and slowly lifting ourselves up the slope, bit by bit. We were laughing and having a grand time. I was surprised every time I grabbed the grass and it managed to support my weight and not break in my hand. My friend said this was great "urn-ale" climbing. I told her this was the first "urn-ale" mountain I'd ever climbed. We continued to climb and grin and laugh.
In the background now, the music had changed to something Celtic-sounding: It was fast-paced, 6/4 time. Every beat had a high-octave major chord on piano keeping time, and there was a pennywhistle which started on a major third, and every half measure it flourished to a different note.
Seems filming has stopped now, we've walked off a little to the right, and Adam is talking to me and a friend about the background to that episode. Jamie had the idea of setting up a small monorail along the dock to which the rocket launchers would have been attached. One of Adam's assistants (not from the real show) mentioned how it would have been difficult to set up the monorail without buckling the dock because of the shape of the planks. Adam said they had actually worked out a solution to that, by fitting mounts below the railing that were the same size as the planks. In any case, the monorail idea had been scrapped. Adam also mentioned offhand that the show's photographers took way too many pictures, that there were so many photos from the show that would never see the light of day.
Then we headed off further down the dock towards land. Hopping. I hopped down the slope of the dock onto land, then started hopping towards our destination, over a pile of junk or two, and slowly uphill, with my friend (and possibly the MythBusters crew) following behind me. For some reason, the song "Civilization" by the Andrews Sisters and Danny Kaye (featured in Fallout 3) was running through my head. Possibly because of the line "They hurry like savages to get aboard an iron train" -- thinking of the monorail idea.
The ground was grassy and was pretty wet. As we got further up the hill, the wet ground changed to snowy ground. Then we reached a part of the slope that was too steep to hop (or walk) up. My friend (I think a girl, but not particularly feminine, just sort of a pal) and I started grabbing tufts of snow-covered grass with our bare hands and slowly lifting ourselves up the slope, bit by bit. We were laughing and having a grand time. I was surprised every time I grabbed the grass and it managed to support my weight and not break in my hand. My friend said this was great "urn-ale" climbing. I told her this was the first "urn-ale" mountain I'd ever climbed. We continued to climb and grin and laugh.
In the background now, the music had changed to something Celtic-sounding: It was fast-paced, 6/4 time. Every beat had a high-octave major chord on piano keeping time, and there was a pennywhistle which started on a major third, and every half measure it flourished to a different note.
Location:
Prince William County, Virginia, USA
Labels:
Adam Savage,
Andrews Sisters + Danny Kaye,
celebrity,
climbing,
cold,
dock,
Fallout 3,
fictional music,
film set,
fun,
hill,
Jamie Hyneman,
jumping,
lake,
MythBusters,
nonsense words,
silly,
snow,
time travel,
track
Sunday, October 2, 2011
All in the name of the Bone Dog's life
"Áll in the náme of the Bóne Dóg's lìfe."
(Accents intended to illustrate intonation.)
- Sparky (in a nasally gangsterish voice), jokingly, mid-conversation with Ray and Priss, who laugh a bit in response
(Accents intended to illustrate intonation.)
Location:
Prince William County, Virginia, USA
Labels:
dog,
dream quote,
fun,
nonsense words,
Prifs,
Ray N,
silly,
Sparky
Friday, September 9, 2011
Scenic train ride to the east
Preparing to take a train back east with a bunch of townspeople. Everyone made sure to collect all their belongings and bring them to the train. For me, this included my bike, bike rack, bike lock, bedclothes, hoodie, half-eaten granola bar, backpack, suitcase, etc.
The train conductor noted that our one guard in town was the only guy with a gun and so anyone who wanted to board the train better be on the guard's good side. The guard was flattered and half-chuckled. I was standing near the guard when that was said, so I gave him a little salute.
The train set out -- source was maybe somewhere around Colorado or Wyoming; the route would take us directly east via the Black Hills of South Dakota. Looking out the window, we saw plenty of interesting scenery (and surprisingly little wilderness). The first thing I noted were the giant dandelions which I had first seen in real life in Colorado. At that time, I had only seen the seed stage, but in the dream, I saw some of the flowers too, and they did bear some vague resemblance to dandelions; bigger, less vibrant yellow, more droopy -- but maybe they were dying off.
I got hungry and dug into my suitcase, finding a peanut butter and jelly sandwich whose two halves were, in some ineffable way, shaped like two chicken fingers. Ate it.
Next, we passed through a hilly area, where these very small clouds were floating, quite close to us, and not far from the ground, ranging from eye level to maybe 50 feet up. There were a lot of them, and as close as they were, they zoomed by as quickly as the train zoomed along. I spotted a fleeting space between a group of clouds that looked like China, and I mentioned it. Mom mentioned she saw one that looked like Ireland, but when I looked up to see it, it had already passed. I went and got my Nikon camera to take pictures of the clouds, but by the time I was ready, they had all passed.
My camera had a little glitch, and I had to remove the battery and put it back in to get it running again. It wasn't a simple operation, as there were a few buttons (all of which appeared to be power buttons) to be pressed and a bottom panel that slid up out of the way. When I touched the battery it was kinda hot.. Anyway, I got the camera on again and fiddled with it, when suddenly a magnificent towery-castly-cathedraly thingy whizzed by on the left (with other, less impressive development on either side of it...). I was on the right side of the train so I wouldn't be able to get a very good shot. But I decided to go for it, so, with camera in hand, I leaned backwards and to the side and hit the button. I didn't hear a click, so I figured it hadn't worked, but when I looked at the review screen, I had taken a surprisingly nice picture of the lower half of it.
I wondered how it had worked if the shutter hadn't clicked. I turned it around and took a close picture of my eye, but that time the shutter worked. I was confused. Mentioned it to Greg and Neil, sitting in the seats behind me.
The train conductor noted that our one guard in town was the only guy with a gun and so anyone who wanted to board the train better be on the guard's good side. The guard was flattered and half-chuckled. I was standing near the guard when that was said, so I gave him a little salute.
The train set out -- source was maybe somewhere around Colorado or Wyoming; the route would take us directly east via the Black Hills of South Dakota. Looking out the window, we saw plenty of interesting scenery (and surprisingly little wilderness). The first thing I noted were the giant dandelions which I had first seen in real life in Colorado. At that time, I had only seen the seed stage, but in the dream, I saw some of the flowers too, and they did bear some vague resemblance to dandelions; bigger, less vibrant yellow, more droopy -- but maybe they were dying off.
I got hungry and dug into my suitcase, finding a peanut butter and jelly sandwich whose two halves were, in some ineffable way, shaped like two chicken fingers. Ate it.
Next, we passed through a hilly area, where these very small clouds were floating, quite close to us, and not far from the ground, ranging from eye level to maybe 50 feet up. There were a lot of them, and as close as they were, they zoomed by as quickly as the train zoomed along. I spotted a fleeting space between a group of clouds that looked like China, and I mentioned it. Mom mentioned she saw one that looked like Ireland, but when I looked up to see it, it had already passed. I went and got my Nikon camera to take pictures of the clouds, but by the time I was ready, they had all passed.
My camera had a little glitch, and I had to remove the battery and put it back in to get it running again. It wasn't a simple operation, as there were a few buttons (all of which appeared to be power buttons) to be pressed and a bottom panel that slid up out of the way. When I touched the battery it was kinda hot.. Anyway, I got the camera on again and fiddled with it, when suddenly a magnificent towery-castly-cathedraly thingy whizzed by on the left (with other, less impressive development on either side of it...). I was on the right side of the train so I wouldn't be able to get a very good shot. But I decided to go for it, so, with camera in hand, I leaned backwards and to the side and hit the button. I didn't hear a click, so I figured it hadn't worked, but when I looked at the review screen, I had taken a surprisingly nice picture of the lower half of it.
I wondered how it had worked if the shutter hadn't clicked. I turned it around and took a close picture of my eye, but that time the shutter worked. I was confused. Mentioned it to Greg and Neil, sitting in the seats behind me.
Location:
Prince William County, Virginia, USA
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Thursday, May 1, 2008
I can't get by without that...
"I can't get by without that....
one stick of butter in the past.."
one stick of butter in the past.."
- Anonymous
Monday, February 5, 2007
John Madden says:
"We're talking about the crime scene here.
We're talking about the vinyl cloak of the shooting star!"
We're talking about the vinyl cloak of the shooting star!"
- John Madden, talking about some flaw in the question
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Beat on the missile
Eh Jon cool
. . x . | x . x .
Beat on the mis-sile << repeated several times, fast paced
x x . x | x . x .
Saturday, February 3, 2007
Your modest cheers...
"Thank you...
Your modest cheers..
are seductive."
Your modest cheers..
are seductive."
- Bob Dylanesque voice
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
Your parts...
"I'm gonna miss your parts..."
- Me
Monday, December 4, 2006
Sunday, December 3, 2006
Oo.. I stepped on you...
"Oo.. I stepped on you... and you left it on downstairs."
- Kids, in a dark room with a gaming console, lying on the floor
Monday, November 6, 2006
Sorry, ten foot soldier.
"Sorry, ten foot soldier."
- Anonymous
Saturday, October 7, 2006
Thursday, October 5, 2006
Wrongly accused, but hey, she gets a sitcom out of the deal
A junior deputy or some such thinks he has found the culprit in a recent crime, a woman (who happens to be cute, in a wholesome sort of way) with brown hair in her twenties. She is found guilty and put in jail. However, soon after, someone else is also found guilty of the same instance of the same crime. The deputy then goes about trying to prove the original girl's innocence, but her fingerprints all over the original crime scene (dusty shelves at a library) are enough to keep her in jail. So, the deputy's mission (along with his hilarious, believable backing cast) throughout the rest of the sitcom is to keep his convict entertained and make sure she enjoys her stay at the jail. Comedy gold, I bet. I'm sure they fall in love, too, because it's TV.
Location:
Prince William County, Virginia, USA
Labels:
brunette,
crime,
fly on the wall,
girl,
jail,
library,
police,
relationships,
silly,
sitcom,
wrongly accused
Thursday, June 1, 2006
Thursday, February 2, 2006
You're welcome to come along...
"You're welcome to come along,
but you can't wear a sidewalk."
but you can't wear a sidewalk."
- Anonymous
Wednesday, March 9, 2005
Girl on the bus; mountain tunnel. Dance?
On the bus, a girl: medium-tall height, brown hair, window seat, straight white smile.
"What're you, some kind of dentist?" says a guy nearby on the bus. Glad he said something so I don't just feel dumb in the silence.
Mountain road pull-up to the bus tunnel, coasting uphill, I get out, go through the tunnel on my own. Successive tunnel doors begin to close as I walk through them, but I eventually get out.
Dance. "I'm starting to not suck so much." "Nah, you're really pretty good."
E 3 1 0 0 B 1 3 1 3 3 G 2 2 2
That's the one.
"What're you, some kind of dentist?" says a guy nearby on the bus. Glad he said something so I don't just feel dumb in the silence.
Mountain road pull-up to the bus tunnel, coasting uphill, I get out, go through the tunnel on my own. Successive tunnel doors begin to close as I walk through them, but I eventually get out.
-
"How'd you get up there?"Dance. "I'm starting to not suck so much." "Nah, you're really pretty good."
-
Woke up with a DDR song stuck in my head.E 3 1 0 0 B 1 3 1 3 3 G 2 2 2
That's the one.
Location:
Prince William County, Virginia, USA
Labels:
brunette,
bus,
DDR,
dream quote,
girl,
mountain,
music notation,
post-dream input,
shyness,
silly,
tunnel
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