I attended my first ever Santacon this year, and wow!  I would describe it, but the video does it far more justice.   A good time was had by most.  Don’t miss it next year, unless you don’t want to drink illegally in a Santa costume all over NYC.

With all the drama about John Tyner not wanting his junk touched I thought the world needed another video about body scanners.  Turns out they are pretty creepy.  I mean what do they shoot you will if not radiation.  As someone who has been told by federal marshals to drop by boxers, bend over, and cough, I think I would rather be strip searched in some ways.  If you want to see my junk, please don’t shoot it with lasers, just ask politely for me to drop trow.  But I am way more comfortable with nudity then most.  I just don’t like the idea of the state scanning my body so deeply with harmful rays.  Next stop mandatory subcutaneous RFID tags.  The images on body scanners are clearly from a sci-fi movie about a totalitarian future world plagued by tyranny.

I had the pleasure of dressing up as a teabag and going to the Rally for Sanity.  Check out the video I made with the Cosmic Serpent AKA John Cara about our experiences of the day.  Hope you enjoy. I know I did.

Massive Peaceful Street protest

Baseej Militia Overpowered by a crowd

Policeman Pulled from car and hit

Police Van Flipped

Protestor Killed by Police Truck

Pitched skirmish with tear gas and shooting.

Burning Baseej Building

Crowd surges against Baseej and takes their helmet

Men rescued from being hung by huge crowd of opposition December 22nd. Probably at least one died.

Crowd crowd holds beaten policeman then durns down police station. A man is killed at the end.

Special thanks to Andrew Sullivan for keeping me informed.

If you are too lazy to read, I basically read the post out loud in this youtube video.

10. GPS in our Pockets

When I drove around the country in 2001 I bought a great National Geographic Atlas of the United States.  I would use it to find obscure roads, to orient myself when lost, and to locate places to camp.  Today if I made the same trip the atlas would stay in my trunk as back up.  My last two cellphones have had the ability to connect to google maps which only went live in 2005.  Today on my iPhone I can press a few buttons to know exactly where I am and how to get directly to my destination.  This allows me walk out the door without knowing where I am going and get there without getting lost.

9. Democratization of Information

When wikipedia launched in 2001 I thought it was a joke.  I laughed about the misinformation it would spread, and I was not allowed to site in my college papers. Today I find myself looking at it nearly every day.  I even update it sometimes.  Though wikipedia is the flagship of information democratization, it is only one player among many.  I check forums all the time to learn how to do things that stump me.  The fact that google allows me to search for the most obscure reference lets me find what other people already know.  I am doing multiple searches for every entry I am writing right now.  Though some people still question the integrity of online democratic information, there are still plenty of textbooks that claim Christopher Columbus was a hero and not a Hitler.  I think eventually democratic information compiling will lead to a more accurate understanding of the world.

8. Global Outsourcing

If you ever call customer service you have probably talked to someone in another country.  This effects us in three enormous ways.  First we lose jobs in wealthier countries.  Second we lower the cost of everything from manufacturing to customer service, which translates directly to consumer saving.  Third we make our country more reliant and connected to diverse people around the globe.  In the end I think global outsourcing is making the world a much more equal place.  It exposes call operators in poor nations to the norms, values, and laws wealthy nations .  It reminds people in developed countries that less developed nations control our fate as much as we control theirs, which is a good thing.

7. Networked Gaming

Sure there have been networked games since Empire in 1973, but most people really hadn’t been exposed to them until this decade.  There were plenty of networked games that came out in the 1990′s like Ultima Online, Everquest, Warcraft, Command and Conquer, but today almost all new games have some networked capability. The huge difference between classical computer games and networked games are the other players.  Fighting with or against another human, even if they are on the other side of the planet, makes gaming much more enthralling.  Today most console games, computer games, and even many phone games allow you to play with friends.  Games have sprung up across social networks as well.  This trend will continue until it will be hard to imagine games that don’t let you play with your friends.  Whether it is Farmville, World of Warcraft, or Online Poker, there is a networked game for you to play with your friends.

6. Mass Acceptance of Cellphones

In 1997 there were 18 mobile phones for every 100 people in developed countries.  By 2007 there were 97 mobile phones per 100 people.  After resisting for the first few years of college I got my first phone in 2001.  Today I think it is weird for someone to have a land line.  Though there are some hold outs, like my father, almost everyone I know has one.  Having the ability to stay in contact on the run profoundly changes the way we make plans, what we considered timely arrival, and how we have conversations.  Lest I forget how much texting changes the way I communicate.  It is truly hard to remember what it was like to wait by the phone for someone to call.  But I certainly spent a good amount of time in childhood doing just that.

5. Digital Still and Video Cameras

When I started film school in 1999 the best digital camera on the market was one mega pixel and therefore no competition to film.  Photography was still taught exclusively on film.  Today it would be a crime to teach the same way.  Almost every cell phone has a still camera if not a movie camera.  This allows each and everyone of us to capture our lives, world events, and the comedic moments of others.  If a picture tells a thousand words, then the millions of picture being taken today speak volumes.  This technology turns us all into photographers and filmmakers.  It lowers the cost of artistic creation to almost zero.  One day it will spawn photo and video Mozarts and Beethovens that we cannot imagine today.

4. Internet Purchasing

Amazon had $1.6 billion in revenue in the year 1999.  It had $19.2 billion in revenue last year.  In 2001 online retail generated $31 billion.  By 2008 the number was $204 billion.  The way we buy and sell things has forever changed.  This drives the cost of things down.  It allows anyone to sell nearly anything to nearly anywhere.  It used to be if I wanted something I went store to store looking for a deal.  Now I barely ever go to a store, and if I do I am price checking everything over the internet on my phone.  While there is still a place for store fronts, I have to wonder how much longer before they will be obsolete.  Don’t forget basically no one buys music from anywhere besides iTunes.

3. Online Video Streaming

When surfing for porn in 2000 I would never click on video links for fear of crashing my computer and messing up my rhythm.  It was still photos only.  Today I am not ever sure a photo could get me excited, because I have been desensitized by the copious amounts of free streaming dirty video. Youtube was only founded in 2005, but today it gets the 4th most traffic in the world.  It has allowed any one and their grandmother the ability to broadcast whatever they want to the world.  Combined with cheap digital video cameras this site will forever change the way we make and view video. The bar for broadcast has essentially been lowered to zero.  Hulu, ninjavideo, uStream, and Netflix are opening the gates to a TV free world.  I know many people who have stopped getting cable, because they watch everything over the internet.  If TV in the classical sense is still around in ten years I will be shocked.

2. Social Networks

Friendster was only born in 2002.  Myspace was born in 2003.  Facebook was born in 2004.  Today FB has more than 350 million active users, or more people than live in the USA.  Though FB I invite people to parties, reconnect with old friends, research business contacts, stalk old girlfriends, and so much more.  I check it every day when I wake up and take a dump.  I check it when ever I am getting slighly bored from my work.  I just checked it.  I joined with much skepticism in 2008, but I have to admit FB shapes every day of my life when I am in range of the internet.  There is no going back.

1. Pocket Sized Networked Computers

This picture is a side by side comparison of the top of the line laptop I bought in 1999 with my iPhone which I got in 2008.  I decided to compare the tech specs of both machines only to discover that the iPhone is about twice as fast.  To be specific the thinkpad has a 333mhz processor, 128 MB ram, and 6.4 GB hard drive.  The iPhone today has a 620MHz processor, 256 MB ram, and 16GB hard drive.  The iPhone has network connectivity nearly everywhere, a longer battery life, its a cell phone, and IT FITS IN MY POCKET.  The iPhone cost $200 while the laptop cost $1900.  If I could tell my twelve year old self this was possible, he would have replied, “yeah?, and there are hoverboards in Japan.”  This advance gets top spot, because it gives me access to all of the others whenever I decide to wear pants, shorts, or anything with pockets.

Where will we be in 10 years?  Provided we survive 2012, who knows.  But I didn’t imagine any of these being possible ten years ago.  So the sky is the limit.  I predict self driving cars, quarter size cellphone computers, and AI personal assistants.  What do you think we will be capable of in ten years?  And what technologies have changed your life the most?

The Muppet Studio posted this amazing version of Bohemian Rhapsody 6 days ago.  It is up to 7.8 million views as of today.  I can’t remember any video that climbed at such a rate.  The newly created Muppet Studio channel is the number one most viewed and subscribed channel of the week.  Which basically means the Muppets are winning online video right now.  I couldn’t be happier.  They are hillarious.  I was recently complaining that kids TV is stinking these days, but thank goodness the interwebs seem to have solved that problem.  More amazing muppet videos after the jump.

One year ago today America changed forever.  I was near Times Square when Obama was projected the winner.  We decided to check out the scene.  What I saw opened my heart and made it sing. The universal joy and sense of mutual accomplishment was astounding.  This is a video I made with the highlights of the night.  Three young black men who I met tried to explain just how important Obama being elected is to them.  What they say is raw, personal, and deeply truthful.  It is good to look back remember how wonderful that moment was.

I have been listening to the Album all morning to figure out what to write about it.  My roommate, who is a sick musician in his own right, popped his head in my room and said,  “Who is that? They got some of that Smith’s style.”  When I showed him the video I shot he said,  “That front man has a lot presence and energy.  It looks like they have that type off catchy sound and style that will really take off.”   I couldn’t agree more.  This is band with legs, and I hope luck carries them to the top.  In my opinion the album grows on me every time I listen to it.  The music is rich, laid back, and pulsating.  It makes me smile and feel my insides jiggle with distorted pure ambiance.  They hit nice harmonies, solos, and everything else you would expect on great new indie rock album.

Uninhabitable Mansions is playing at Union Pool in Brooklyn tomorrow night at their album release party.  Full disclosure on my childhood friendship with Robbie and four embedded tracks after the jump.

Robbie grew up 3 blocks from me.  I walked past his house everyday I went to elementary school.  He was always quiet, unassuming, and nice.  He was a year older than me, had a twin sister, and was good at soccer.  One time in high school he invited me to play indoor soccer.  The game was ended by a spectacular soccer brawl that sent the ref running and was only broken up by Robbie’s take no nonsense father.  I got a cut under my eye, but I swear the other guy was pissing blood for a week. Though Robbie helped build sets for the drama club, I always associated him with his athletic prowess. So when he took off like a bullet with Clap Your Hands I as bit surprised.  After seeing him live a couple of times, that surprise has completely gone away.  Though he is good at soccer he is a natural at Rocking.

If you enjoy these four tracks pay for the rest.  They are just as good.

I just had the pleasure of watching The Guild seasons 1 and 2 on a sweet two-disc set.    I remember watching  season 1 on the internet when it came out a couple of years ago.  But I must say this show is definitely best when packaged together on one DVD.  While each season is broken up into many episodes, the over-arching storyline takes a full season to play out.  So watching a season all together is a lot more like watching a movie than a web series.

For those who have never heard of The Guild,  it’s the first ever web based sitcom about online gamers.  It was written by and stars her hotness Felicia Day of Buffy The Vampire Slayer fame.  It uses YouTube-style confessionals intercut with sitcom-style interactions to tell the story of an online gaming guild.  This show embraces the internet like no other and will probably spawn many imitators.  What impresses me the most about the show is how far it’s come from its origins as an unfunded labor of love.  Today it’s fully sponsored by Microsoft.  Each season (part of season 3 is now available free online) clearly one-ups the last on both plot and production value.  The Guild is a testament to what can happen if you connect with ravenous fan base / subculture.

Top Ten People who should buy this DVD  and Season 3 Episode 1 after the jump.

10. Buffy Super Fanatics

9. Youtubers

8. People who like to dress up and go to conventions

7. Stalkers

6. People being stalked

5. People who want to know what the future looks like.

4. People who like to laugh

3. Parents  of Wow players

2. World of Warcraft Players

1. Anyone who wants to know what successful a web series looks like.

Last week I stumbled on one of most revolutionary political parties in New York.  It is called the Rent is too Damn High Party.  One look at the web page, and I was sold.  Jimmy McMillian (pictured above), a self avowed investigator and activist, is running for mayor of New York.  He will be officially on the ballot against Bloomberg and Thompson in November.  Here are the top ten reasons I think he is getting my vote.

1. He has the catchiest campaign songs I have ever heard.  If you went to his web page, you know what I talking about.  Listen here:[audio:http://rentistoodamnhigh.org/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/tookout.mp3] [audio:http://www.mcmillan09.org/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/westend.mp3]

2. Both of his web pages look like they are stuck in 1997.  Check the other one here.  Did you see all the animated GIFs and poorly compressed images?  This guy is grass roots.

3.  He has only one issue in his party platform.  It is this: “‘RENT Is Too Damn High‘ There is nothing else to talk about. Ablolutely nothing. Don’t get evicted from this City. Join our team and Fight Back.”

4. The state election board told Jimmy his party name has too many letters.  Jimmy responded that they could replace “too” with 2.  The board rejected this idea, and when Jimmy wouldn’t budge, they printed ballots with the “Rent is too High” as his party.  To make sure no one forgot his party name he has “Rent is too Damn High” tattooed on his left bicep.

5. Under the name Prince James McMillan, AKA Papa Smurf, he wrote a book called A Veteran For Life: Agent Orange.  He explains,”this Book was written in 2004 to help people understand how serious I am.”  Enough Said.

6. In 1993 when he was running for mayor under the name Jimmy Mack he was kidnapped, tied to a tree, and doused with gasoline.  His assailants made reference to Jimmy meddling in things he knew nothing about.  The police said it was a political attack after they found him tied to the tree.  He must have been onto something seriously good to warrant this type of action.

7. In 2005 he placed forth in the race for Mayor just behind the Conservative candidate.  He finish ahead of the Green Party, the Socialist Workers, and the Libertarian Party.

8. He wrote “How to Run for Public Office with Out Spending any Money Handbook.”  Bloomberg could save a million or two by reading that one.  As someone who doesn’t like big money politics, this is a important alternative.

9. He totally tricked out his silver Honda CRV to be his campaign-mobile.  I always liked CRVs, and I am tired of Roll Royce rolling politicos.  I would be more comfortable with a pimped CRV any day.

10. Do you see his chops?  I mean how can you not trust a guy with such amazing facial hair?  You can just tell he is a no nonsense politician who doesn’t give an F about the status quo.

I had the pleasure of watching the dress rehearsal for Robert Cary and Benjamin Feldman’s new play Inventing Avi (and other theatrical maneuvers).   It was side splitting funny.  The play, which is directed by Mark Waldrop, tells the behind the scenes story of how duplicitous people will be to make it in theater.  The cast is hysterical and employs great timing to tell some great Jew jokes.  It is full of wonderful and hilarious twists and turns.  The ending is a total shocker that got the biggest laughs of the night.  Check out the preview for this play at the Abingdon Theater starting tonight.  The engagement runs until November 1st.

Inventing Avi tells the story of a young playwright played by Stanley Bahorek.  He writes a script about holocaust deniers, but can’t get anyone to take him seriously because he is not Jewish.  After a Kinkos girl played by Havilah Brewster reads his script and recognizes its brilliance they hatch a mad plan to get it produced.  They enlist struggling and promiscuous actor Avi Aviv to pretend to be the Jewish writer of the play to win a grant from a Jewish foundation.  The other major driving force of the play are dueling sisters played by Alix Korey and Emily Zacharias.  Their tumultuous relationship, which is explained in flash backs to their youth, is both funny and poignant.  It also sets up tons of great conflict and back stabbing that is a joy to watch.  The cast is puts on a great performance, and it is easy to see they are deeply enjoying themselves on stage.

This play is really all about how far people are willing to go to get their artist work recognised.  It also shows how low people are willing to stoop to remain in the spot light.  As its name suggests this play is also about the Jewish experience.  However the Jewishness is used more to drive both plot and humor.  In the end, this is a play about learning to forgive and putting the art above the individual.  It is about the messiness of human relationships, and how truly remarkable stories are told.  If you want a fun night and to see some great new theater, go check out Inventing Avi.

I am having an interesting moment. My gmail just stopped working. When I texted Juan Carlos I learned his was down as well. Suddenly it dawned on me.  Gmail is broken!  AHHHH.  My connection to the world has been severed.  Suddenly I am lost without my list of connections, my thousands of searchable messages, my gchat!  What is happening Google?  Are you Okay?   Or are you succumbing to evil?  Oh how naked I feel in this wilderness of the world wide web with out your address to cloth me.  Does any one know what’s going on?

In the mean time, I am going outside.  It is really nice out.  Maybe google thought it was evil to keep me inside, and decided to let me get off an hour early to appreciate the weather.  I wonder when gmail will come back online?  Until then, send me a telegraph.

Is Using A Minotaur To Gore Detainees A Form Of Torture?

The number one problem facing medical reform is that the mainstream news media has been bought by the insurance and pharmaceutical industries.

Two days ago I was watching supposedly unbiased State of the Union with John King on CNN. I was very annoyed that he had two republicans (Tom Price and John Barrasso) and one democrat (Eddie Bernice Johnson) on to debate health care reform. The problem is that in the Senate and house the ratio of Republicans to Democrats is basically the exact opposite. John King threw soft balls to the Republicans and hard balls to the one Democrat. He was not allowing the Democrat rebut the poisonous lies being told by the Republicans. The final question, King asked all three was, “can there be a bipartisan solution?” He let Johnson answer first. She said no, then when she was trying to explain why, King interrupted her and moved on to the Republicans. They said yes there can be a bipartisan solution, and when Johnson asked to respond, King said, “we are going to give the final word to Barrasso.”. There you have it, CNN, the second most popular cable news station, is giving the final word to an outmoded, foundering, leaderless, racist Republican party. And here I thought it was part of the liberal media.

The reason is very simple, during the ad break over half of the commercials were for pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies. Imodium, Progressive, and Liberty Medical to be exact. CNN and every major TV news source are being paid for the by the very same industries that stand opposed to reforming health care. And as a result their reporting is completely, insidiously, biased toward defeating the reform. The average American viewer is blind to this, because most people take the news at face value and assume it to be honest. It is not!

I like to watch the evening news when I have time. I noticed a long time ago that nearly all of the commercials were for insurance and medicine. The demographics of the news skews older, and therefore these programs are a good way for drug and insurance companies to peddle their wares. Every single news caster knows what pays the bills is not how many people watch. Of course that helps convince to advertisers shell out money. What matters is the bottom line, which is controlled by the people footing the bill.

Aside from public TV, the American people do not give one cent to fund the mainstream news media. The drug and insurance industries do. CNN, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, ABC, and FOX’s news program’s biggest customers are the pharmaceutical and insurance industries. The people watching at home are not their customers. Instead the viewers are the product that the news stations sell. The mainstream news media sells the eyes, wills, and spending habits of the American people. It is their only product. This is how TV has always been structured. It is this structure that is killing health care reform.

I suspect there have been many behind closed doors discussions directly between the health industries and the news companies. Basically the health industries told them, “if health care is reformed it is going mean we will give you less ad dollars, because we will have less money.” Even if these discussions did not happen, news executives know that drug companies spend 24.4% of their budget on advertising. If health care is reformed and the profit from drugs and treatment go down, the news media will be hurting their most important customers. Everyone on the news floor knows this will threaten their jobs. They know who is writing their pay check, and it is not the American people.

Would a drug dealer send their addict to treatment? Would a psychic send their mark to a psychologist? Would sub-prime lender send their customer to an honest debt counselor? No, no, and no! The news media is not going to hurt their bottom line by helping to take one cent away from the health industries.

If health care reforms fail I have a much simpler and easier way to reduce how much of our GDP goes to health care. Make it illegal for drug and health care companies to advertise on TV. I know, the freedom of speech makes this tricky, but already you cannot advertise cigarettes on TV. The FCC charter enables it to tightly control what is allowed over the airwaves. It can fine a station huge amounts for letting a Jackson nipple corrupt our youth. So why can’t it save our national economy from the crippling and corrupting cost of advertising heath care?

Think of this, the US pharmaceutical industry had revenues of 315 billion last year. They spend 24.4% of their budget on marketing. So if you made marketing drugs illegal, you would save the US consumers 79 billion dollars per year. The private health insurance industry has revenue of 1 trillion dollars per year. It is unclear how much they spend on marketing, but it is certainly a lot. Possibly as much as 150 billion. So if advertising health products was made illegal that would save hundreds of billions of dollars.

If drugs are truly good, why do they even need to be advertised? Personally I am happy to have my doctor not drug pushers tell me what drugs I need. Think of all the needless trips to emergency rooms that will be prevented by the fewer four hour erections, fewer temporary losses of vision, and fewer sleep driving incidents caused by the side effects of unnecessary drugs. I am sick and tired of children being medicated for misbehaving. Kids are supposed to misbehave. I am over people being medicated for restless legs from not exercising enough. I am done with how many products the TV says we need for perfect skin. Life ain’t perfect, and a medication that makes us believe the opposite is truly dangerous.

Since the news media isn’t being honest or serving the will of the American people I have no problem going after their bottom line. If health care reform fails, we will need to limit the ability of the health industry to buy the news media. If we stop this corporate bribery next time we try to reform health care it won’t fail. For now I fear the main stream news media is doing everything in it’s power save the profits of their biggest customers. Turn off the news and find the truth for yourself!

For last year I have paid embarrassing little attention to whats happening with WoW machinima on youtube. I was hanging with my bud Nicky O, and he showed me tons of new great machinima. I asked him to help me find some of the best Machinima on youtube. Most of these are his finds, though I added a few of my own. Who would have thought WoW heads were so into musical theater, but most of the top videos are best when sung along to. I know how hard it is to make machinima, so I have the utmost respect for the huge amount of time and energy people poured into these videos. It is great to see the creativity WoW has spawned by letting us all use WoW model viewer.

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Above is a clip of Second Skin. (trailer)  It was directed by Juan Carlos, and produced by Victor and I.  Finally after years of toil it is coming to a theater near you, in LA, NYC, Austin, Boston, and Colorado springs.    Its first showing is this weekend at The Tank Theater in NYC.  It is sure to be a three day popten party.  We will be there every night.

Second Skin is the first ever feature length documentary about online gamers.  I would write a review, but clearly it would be biased.  All I can say is that in addition to blog, JC, V, and I make movies.  This is our first ever to come to theaters.    I am very excited, but my nerves are a wreck.  Please support us.  More details about the NYC afterparties after the jump.

Every night after we screen at The Tank, there is a really cool Geek themed event immediately following.  We will be sticking around to enjoy the acts.   Needless to say I am really excited for the acts.

Friday night at 9:30 Schaffer  and the Darklords (STD) performs a sweet nerd core set.  The Tank describes him as, “Schaffer the Darklord (or STD) is a New York City-based rapper and comedian with subversive material best-suited for brainy and/or decadent audiences. With manic energy, verbose vocabulary and cartoonishly commanding stage presence, STD skewers such topics as religious zombies, sci-fi sex fantasies, grammar snobbery and obsessive cat-enthusiasts. Imagine a Frankenstein-esque monster assembled from equal parts Bill Hicks, Eminem, Prince, Ozzy Osbourne and Darth Vader, stitched together inside the shell of a maniacal heavy metal ex-patriot.”

Saturday night at 9:30 the Video Game Vixens will perform some hot nerdy burlesque.  Its will be  an “epic evening of video-game themed burlesque starring some of the most elite waggle performers Gotham has to offer. An evening filled with music, laughs and magic…but mostly, scantily clad burlesque beauties paying homage to some of our most beloved electronic interactive entertainments. Pwning the stage with their own brand of Konami code will be:
Magdalena Fox as Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft!
Lefty Lucy as Carmen Sandiego!
Victoria Privates as a Silent Hill nurse!
Miss Mary Cyn as Guitar Hero’s Judy Nails!
Bonnie Voy’age as Street Fighter’s Chun Li!
And Precious Little as Super Mario!”

Who would miss that?

After Sunday’s screening Juan and I will be doing a question and answer session.  Please come ask us some questions.  If you are a popten fan, please introduce yourself.

I have been obsessing over facebook recently.  Wanting to get some information about promoting in LA, I checked out my friend Tay’s page.  I wanted to see how he promoted the band he is in.  What I found was this video, and I went on a wonderful trip.  He plays the keyboard in the band.  After watching a few more live videos of the band on facebook I knew I needed to hear the whole album.  So I bought Up From Below through iTunes.  After listening to it on repeat  for the last twenty four hours.  I can safely say this is one of those albums I will always remember listening to the first time.  Thanks for rocking me so good.

Holy Crap! This album is good.  It rollicks all over the place.  Listen to Janglin, and tell me it didn’t get stuck in your head.  The band’s group energy reminds me at times of the Kinks.  It had clear touches of the Beatles, Dylan,  and it ranges to all the way to an Ennio Morricone sound.   It has walls of sound, horns, and ambiance.   It makes me want to dance like a fool and stare into infinity.  Up From Below weaves a complex and epic story.  It is a complete album that has both extremely light and dark moments.

Edward Sharpe is a captivating front man.  His voice is both good and memorable.  He is long and has a big beard that lets you know he is serious.  Based on his videos he seems vaguely messianic.  The female vocalist compliments him sweetly and rocks on her own.  The band is huge.  Frankly I have no idea how many members, but they need a really big bus.  Through out the album the sound ranges from a very big and wailing to acoustic and intimate.  Group shouts, laughter, whistles, and um-baps make me want to be able to sing along.  They seem like such a fun group to go adventuring with.

I met Tay at summer camp when I was 13.  Latter we worked together at the same summer camp.  If you wanted a Wet Hot American Summer day off, you took off with him.  You were sure to laugh constantly and be goaded into at some fun/bad ideas.  In camp Tay became the cook to be able to practice piano at a sister camp down the road.  He wowed me back then with his talent to play and write music.  I am so happy he found a group share his brilliance.  I hope the band can sell a ton of albums,  shows, and t-shirts.

This is an album you want to buy.  Don’t download the singles and watch tracks on youtube.  Pay for it!  Let the world know you want to hear more music like this with your money.  Also they are touring right now.  The August 7th show at the Mercury Lounge already sold out!  So I bought a ticket to the Music Hall of Williamburg on August 30th.   Judging from their live videos, I am really looking forward to it.

This is the sound I have been listening and waiting for.  Every time I listen to the rock of my parents generation, I wish some one would make the rock of my generation.  I wonder, could this be it?  My gut says yes. Everything repeats itself.