2000 and Bass!!!

In the tradition of bass pioneers such as DJ Magic Mike, Poison Clan, MC A.D.E., DJ Assault and basically anyone with an insane amount of bass I have embarked on a weekly mission to record (by record, I mean torture ears) a bass tribute album that encompasses many different eras of bass. With the help of a silent partner (by silent, I mean he is too ashamed to be named) we have recorded 2 full tracks of speaker ripping trash. Tentatively titled "2000 and Bass" this album should invoke memories of a time much simpler. Kenwood, Alpine, Kicker, and Rockford Fosgate ruled the inside of hatch-backs throughout my youth and I intend to give this place in time its overdue homage. I will posting the title track shortly so stay tuned in.

return of the blog..

Yeah, yeah, yeah...It's basically been forever since I have posted a blog and I really don't have a solid excuse on why but I figured this is totally worthy of a new post. After a night of football and food, I found myself in my local watering hole (The Alley Bar) last night for a couple drinks. The bar was pretty empty as temperatures were in the single digit area in Ann Arbor and without some locals to socialize with I nearly packed it in, settling for an early night. Fortunately I chose to stay a tad longer as my night would get uniquely better. The door opened pushing a fresh wave of faces and icy air. A guy named Jeff and his dog "Caster" pulled up some stools right next to me. Caster sat stoically in his stool and ordered a whiskey and water in a bowl as Jeff and I got through the getting to know yous. After a few rounds in us the time had came for shots. "Puppy Shots" flowed as Caster and I lapped away at our respective bowls. Caster was pretty much the best bar buddy I have ever encountered as we drank and discussed a wide range of topics ranging from politics, football, and bitches. Many "Puppy Shots" had been tucked away into our livers and it finally took its toll on the young lad as he passed out at the bar. Goodbyes were said and kisses exchanged as we went about our separate ways into the winter night.

If you want to destroy my sweater...

It's starting to smell rotten in Denmark. What started out as a simple dry cleaning has turned into potential war. Back in July while working with my comrade Marc Labelle in Pasadena, I had dropped off my sweater (see photo) into the hands of the Ritz Carlton. The next day I received my sweater folded nicely on my bed only to realize they had manhandled it. It had been reshaped to fit an oompa loompa and the tag had been torn. Heartbroken that my prized cashmere dream had been shattered I turned to help of Mr. Labelle. Marc being the diplomat when it comes to negotiations with hotel concierges I figured my loss was safe in his hands. After a meeting with our liaison in the concierge room I felt relieved by their offer of a gift certificate to replace my magical sweater. Situation resolved, so I naively thought. Months fly by and the nights get cooler which brings me to today. As I scroll through my closet looking for a warm sweater to break the chill of what finally feels like fall I stumble upon my old pal. Immediately my heart and soul is filled with anger and sorrow over the inability to wear that comfy staple. To make matters worse (as if they could possibly be) I still have not received my promised gift certificate. This is where it gets weird. As I am pining in my closet the phone rings, it's Marc and he is repeating the word sweater with an ominous tone. We talk briefly about the usual and he says he is still working on my gift certificate. I am starting to think this was all a sinister plan by Labellicus to strip me of my cashmere armor and toy with my spirit. I am going to put some thought into the dialogue of events and if they add up it means one thing. WAR! Hope you are ready you old warrior.

I got that work!

Another weekend, another cannon ball run to the Pere Marquette river. As the season winds down I made hopefully not my last of 12 trips to the PM/LM this year, and it was probably the best of the year. I met my fishing partner Ryan at our usual M59/US23 parking lot at 3am on Saturday morning to make the drive up. After 3 hours of awesome radio and red bull we got into Baldwin around 6am and headed straight for BBT. Picked up a few necessities, arranged a car spot, got out room keys, and went straight to the river. Wanting to avoid the insane number of people up north this weekend we went down to the lower/mid waters. Besides the walk in areas along the drift the Lower to Walhalla stretch was pretty much 6 or 7 drift boats besides us. Met a really solid 2 man crew of older fishermen that we played leap frog with all day. It was nice to see a couple 60 something guys throwing their drift boat over the guard rail at Lower, made me laugh as I thought the young guys were the only ones that did that. We beat the boats down to a couple holes that always seem to have guides on them but the fish just werent in there. For this stretch it seemed the fish were strictly on the redds or deep shoots next to them. I really dont like fishing redds but I dislike not catching fish even more so we gave in. Logmark area and Mapleleaf had tons of fish on the redds and even more people. Luckily we found a nice area just past Mapleleaf between Barothy's that had a great number of fish in it. Mixed up technique and flies with great results/patience. We actually pissed off enough salmon to get them to bite. Hooked into nearly 30 fish between the two of us and actually landed 6 fair hooked ones. Overall a really good day, but really tired as we both havent went to sleep in a day or so.

Sunday we wanted to a shorter drift so we went down to Rainbow to Sulak. Not many people on that stretch except for the usual guides that have to drop in a Macdougals. Fishing was really slow and we nearly got skunked. But thankfully we found a deep hole near the end of the drift with an amazing number (60 to 70) of FRESH salmon in it. One of the best days I have had in years. The hole was covered in shade and leaves so it really helped in hiding our lines. If it wasnt for the giant log running down the backside (salmon magnet) we would of landed more but still ended up with 5 or 6 each. Overall a really sucessful weekend if it ends up being my last for salmon. Met a few groups of really nice people which made fishing even more fun. Hopefully we will get one more run and I will get another weekend away from home.

new section..

It adds up.
It all adds up.

Every few weeks it seems a ton of new shit (ie: products, people, opinions) are shoved in our faces and with some leaving a horrible taste in my mouth. I could go on and on about whats wrong with everything in my cynical mind but I would most likely come across insane or dragging. Anyways I want to do a new section in this blog dedicated to the "shit" that just blows my mind. I am still tossing around a couple names for this section and for now I will simply leave it at:

"Things that make me want to punch myself in the face"

1. Cross promotional marketing: I believe the picture says it all. How dare you Mountain Dew use your mystical wizard juice in such a manner. You are shaming yourself. And the word "gamer-fuel" is the most retarded word ever. EVER!

2. Perez Hilton: Just stick to the website man. You are good at it and it's funny. Don't ruin the whole thing by actually letting people see how sad your life really is.

3. Sports media: Sports writers used to be articulate well educated quirky dudes with tweed jackets on that wrote about the games and players they loved or hated. Now it's about douchy web geeks with absolutely no journalistic savy writing about bullshit scandals. Sports scandals ? Do we need to care that much ? If you put a microscope on every person on the planet you are going to find we are all fucked up in our own ways. Want something to write about ? Try an article on how John Madden is a robot that lives on pork chops and gun powder. Classy!

4. Kayne West: Dude you are making it impossible for me to like you. And it's spreading.

5. Beards: Fuck you beards! Because I cant grow you.

Blam!

hail to the drunks..

I should of seen this coming. After many years of being a staunch University of Michigan football supporter and overall shit talker the once mighty Wolverines are horrible. I am kinda late with this post but it really has taken me a couple weeks to let this sink in. In all of my 20 years of regularly watching U of M football I cant remember seeing a more over-hyped bunch of losers ever. The blame has been kindly tossed in the laps of our coaching staff, which I agree shares a fair amount of the blame. But after seeing the players out getting trashed on a regular basis around town one would have to think that the players themselves need to take the hit. For example after the Oregon bludgeoning wouldnt any respectable player who gives a shit about his storied school and his own career not be at the bar wasted, celebrating like he just won the Heisman ? That was not the case. To make it even worse the leaders of the team are the ones I see out. Crable, Hart, Arrington all drunks. Maybe Carr should put these kids on lock down during the season like Bo would have. And now we get to see wonder kid Ryan Mallett suit up for his first college start. The wrap on the Texas native is that he has the biggest arm coming out of high school since Elway and an even bigger ego to match it (I can confirm first hand that the kid is an asshole). He is starting in place of the injured ? senior Chad Henne who has taken his NFL draft stock and puked all over it. If we end up losing to the equally pathetic Notre Dame the coaching staff should throw in the towel on this season and start playing only freshman and sophmores to get ready for next year. And start looking for new jobs on craigslist. So Lloyd please get your shit together because I am tired of constant let down by Michigan and sick to my stomach from eating crow.

The L is silent...

It's been awhile since my last post, seeing that I have been tucked away in the northwest rivers of Michigan for the past week. Phone service has been spotty at best and internet was not an option, which I fully enjoyed. I cant possibly begin to express how nice it feels to not carry a phone, blackberry, and laptop around all day. Now on to the fishing. As indicated by my last name my favorite past time seemed pre-destined and with a little help from the weather I finally got to get into some Michigan migratory salmon on the Pere Marquette River this past week. The lack of rain and the high temps they have received up there has delayed the annual salmon push and fishing was going to take more work that usual to get into them. The PM runs from the mouth of Pere Marquette Lake for 66 miles for some of the countries best blue ribbon trout, steelhead, and salmon fishing. And when conditions are like what I experienced last week the fishing can be tedious. Luckily I have a few years of fishing the PM under my belt and I was able to put our group on some fish. The fish were in slower waters as pre-spawn staging seemed to be taking place. I was running eggs tandom with a short tippet as staging fish like to be suspended off the river bottom anywhere from 2 to 3 feet. I didnt get into as many fish as I wanted to but I still managed to land almost more fish than our entire group combined (20 people). Here are some photos of some the strong bastards that are resting in my freezer right now. I am most likely going back up this weekend so I will have a new fishing report for you next week.
Enjoy.