Here's something I'm conflicted on...

......click here to give a donation to an Athens, GA house that supports and treats mentally ill musicians.

Now, when I first read that, I'm thinking, "Fuck these assholes. They're musicians, they're supposed to be expressing themselves through their art. What about people who don't have any artistic outlet? They're the ones who need help." I'm also sick of the stereotype that musicians are by their nature a bunch of mentally ill fuck-ups.

Everybody's fucking depressed now, how did the species survive before psychiatry? How did we crawl out of the ocean if we swam around like a bunch of goddamned Sad Sals all the time?

That's why I'm conflicted. We're not a depressed species, but why is it so easy to slip into sadness and why does it seem so prevalent now? We're a society of enablers, the strong enslaved to the damaged. I guess humanity's saving grace is that we don't leave those people behind. That caring for them and helping them is what makes us better than the cultures that came before. It wasn't even 100 years ago that mental patients were "euthanized" or would lock them up like that woman in Italy a couple of weeks ago. That's the dilemma, right. How much do you have to do and how much do you have to give up because of someone else's problems?

I'm fucking this dead horse. I didn't like seeing that "home for depressed musicians" post on somebody else's blog today because it reminded me of how many people in this world feel that they're entitled to something and I hate that. But I didn't like my reaction either. Where was my empathy and why would I instinctually be so cold?

Nuci's Space was created by a mother whose son committed suicide at 22. Linda Phillips started the house so that other mothers' wouldn't have to feel the way that she did when her child killed himself in 1996.

God, suicide pisses me off and it's frightening because those who are fucked up can use it as a weapon against the people that care about them. Take advantage of someone else because they have a conscience and love you and don't want to live the rest of their lives feeling guilty and empty that they gave up on you when you needed. Fuck that, it's the most selfish act imaginable. I don't give a shit about Romeo and Juliet, there's nothing glamorous or beautiful about killing yourself.

I admire Linda and I admire what she's doing, but it took me a minute to get it. While we're out partying, getting laid, and being everything but depressed, she's trying to save people the pain that she went through herself.

This news...

...make-a me wanna cry-a.

This is how I looked...

...Sunday morning.

[EDIT: the picture was removed from the website and I can't find a new one right now, but it was a shot of the woman who got a face transplant a couple months back. Her face actually looked pretty good, but it was just off enough where it woulda been kinda funy. Oh well, not anymore. I guess I'm paying for my lack of sensitivity.]

Well, not really. But I should have. That's the frog who got a face transplant last year. It's not Nicolas Cage or John Travolta yet, but they're not that far away.

Good show on Saturday night, people seemed to react really well to the new songs and I liked that. I went to sleep somewhere around but my memory ends somewhere around 5 (around the time I think I lost my shirt, I really need to work on my pecs if I'm gonna keep doing that.)

King Club tonight, baby.

Death Hunt is on AMC right now and they just got to the part where Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin look at each other through their binoculars. If you haven't seen it, it's one long chase scene set in a Jack London novel plus there's asskicking with two of my favorite tough guys.

Oh yeah, we're playing at The King Club tonight in downtown Madison tonight with our homeboys in Automatic Gool and fortyone twin. The show starts at ten, we'll be on at midnight. Sharp.

Did I mention Carl Weathers is in Death Hunt? That's some hot shit right there.

Yeah...

To Dino's whippersnapper comment about my making fun of that Iggy Pop commercial...

You're right, I was being smarmy for no other reason than to be smarmy. And nobody likes a smarmy bastard.

B5 continued...

JRamone, I'll have to take you up on borrowing all of the seasons of B5 offer sometime. Right now, one of my roommates just BitTorrented the entire two seasons of Battlestar Galactica so I'm gonna try to get those in the databanks. I thought the mini-series was trucking sweet.

I'm listening to the KK and The Flying Hamsters of Doom demo right now and I forgot how much it kicks ass. I'm definitely putting their full-length, Defenders of Rock on my Someday/Maybe list. Ooh, "Search and Destroy" just came up in shuffle. Too bad I'm too young to remember when Iggy Pop was dangerous and not a dude who danced sinewy and shirtless in commercials.

EDIT: Never mind, I just ordered Defenders of Rock and can already cross it off my list.

What was I saying?

Looks like CNN was feeling like I was last week when they wrote this article, "Are American cars really that bad?" Maybe their piece of shit 2000 Cavalier went out on them twice in a month, too. Here's some more bad news for GM. They lost $4.8 Billion in the fourth quarter in 2005. That's karma for my starter harness, motherfuckers.

But enough about cars, let's talk rock. Please tell everyone you know about the show on Saturday night at The King Club. If you have any friends that you think would like us, ask us to send them an email or a demo, or better yet, go ahead and burn them some of our music yourself. As always, the best thing you can do to help us is let other people know about Sunspot, our music, and how much fun we have when we all party together. Thanks!

I hope this grandma beater...

...has to toss the biggest, nastiest salad there is when he's locked up.

Why...

...do people have such a hard-on for Babylon 5? I watched the first season when it was part of that Primetime Action Network (remember Time Trax, yeah you do)and I didn't really like it that much. Maybe it got better after that season(I'm not opposed to giving a show a chance), but I just never got into it. I'm just thinking about it because I'm listening to Slice of Sci-Fi this morning and they're talking about Bab 5 like it's the second coming.

I know Michael J. Stracysafsafdadfki is a great writer, I loved his Real Ghostbusters episodes. The dude is no slouch, but I guess Babylon 5 and I weren't meant to be.

I don't know if I trust these Michael and Evo dudes, though, one of them just said that the first X-Files movie stunk. Who the fuck is this guy?

I try not to watch too much TV unless it's late night Skinemax, but the shows I pick, I really like to get into. And holy shit, is anyone else watching Season Five of The Shield? It's just the balls. I'd love to talk about it, but I haven't found a decent active discussion forum for the show yet. Everything comes together so well, I only hope The Sopranos season six is as well-written.

Oh well, we're not just sitting around watching TV all day, we're also working a lot on new songs and drinking heavily. This year will probably be the most prolific for us material-wise, we might play a couple new tunes this Saturday at the King Club, so come on down.

Okay okay

I guess everyone can make comments but me... I'll put my responses next time up here.

Thanks for trying, though, and making me look like a weenie. I appreciate it. ;)

Am I an idiot...

...or is it fucking impossible to login and do a comment on our blog? Every time I try to respond to other's responses, the blog spam guard that makes you enter the weirdly shaped letters in order to verify you're not a machine, fucks with me. Either I'm not logged into Blogger or I'm not entering the letters correctly, but after five tries I just give up and my pithy wit doesn't seem worth the effort. I'm about to kick this goddamn keyboard.

King Club show

Well, The Treats and Jimmys Comet did a good job of packing the King Club last night and John Dolby was working sound, so it actually sounded pretty decent in that tough room. The Treats started after 1am - holy crap, but I'm glad I went. I met a bunch of really cool people that said they'd come see us next Saturday. Oh yeah, by the way, we're playing at the King Club next saturday. And if you remember our last time there, it was a sweet party that involved not a lot of moving around, but a lot of beer and some tunes off the new album. Speaking of new albums, we'll be playing a lot off of Cynical and we might even have a new song for you if you are real nice to us! Yes, we've been writing again as well as keeping up a rigorous touring schedule, and we also got to hand pick both bands for Saturday so we are looking forward to the night.

WAMI Showcase tonight (1/21) in Milwaukee

Check it out... Tonight a bunch of WAMI bands will rock the Mirimar in Milwaukee!

It's guaranteed to be a good show with quite a variety of music, featuring the Rob Anthony Band, the Cocksmiths, Twang Dragon, and Aspen Drive. It'll be a great chance to hear some of the WAMI bands we've been meeting at the monthly meetings and seeing on the road!

All the info on the show is available on the WAMI site, http://www.wamimusic.com/

What do you do...

...with someone who's mentally ill and there's nothing you can do about it?

This Italian woman who locked her daughter up in the darkened bathroom for 30 years certainly shows theJane Eyre like way of handling things. But what do you do when you're at the end of your rope?

When someone isn't right, is it your job to fix them? Sometimes even the most patient people reach breaking points. Is locking someone in an asylum necessarily any more humane than locking them in the attic or bathroom? It's someone that you can't deal with in regular life, they have to be put somewhere. Should someone else's mental illness ruin your life?

Anyway, I just read the article and I felt sympathy for everyone involved. It sucks to be the daughter, but it sucks to be the rest of the family too, a lot of times, mental illness is more difficult for the people around the person than it is for the person himself.

Help out our friends!

Our friends in the band, ON A SUN, have a chance to open up for Bon Jovi at the Bradley Center next January 28th.

The deadline for voting is this Saturday, January 21st, and you can vote for ON A SUN at WKTI's website. Good luck to the Brothers McWilliam!

Trinity James got the opening slot at the Madison show and he said that it was a great opportunity.

New Podcast Up - Road Mania Episode 19

Ch-ch-ch-check it out!

http://sunspotroadmania.blogspot.com/2006/01/sunspot-road-mania-episode-19.html

More Vehicle Ass Poundage

GODDAMIT.

Once again, my sweet 2000 Chevy Cavalier fucks me in the proverbial goat ass. This time I need a new starter only two weeks after having to get a new battery. I used to be a rah-rah Buy American guy, but not anymore, these assholes in Detroit have to build a reasonably-priced car that doesn't suck ass and have multiple issues that mechanics can't diagnose (which has happened with my POS since 2002.) No wonder everyone I know has bought a non-American car.

I'm the last guy that gave a shit, American carmakers, and now you have forsaken me. Kiss my taint.

Sunspot Replay on WYOU in Madison

Apparently, last night an episode of "Worth Watching" featuring Sunspot as the musical guest was re-aired on Madison cable channel 4 (WYOU).

Thanks to our friend Fry for the heads-up on that! Unfortunately, I didn't get to check it out as I was at the gym and got the message too late...

I wonder if it was the embarrassing episode with Tammy Baldwin? Ah, memories!

Now if only they would re-air those really old episodes of Late Night Madness.... :)

Thank God

The Sci-Fi Channel is going to fonally start carrying the new Doctor Who in March. Only a fricking 15 months after the BBC aired it and most fans have already seen the episodes through BitTorrent.

I used to really like the Sci-Fi Channel, but I think it sucks most of the time now. That fucking Stargate show with MacGuyver is on twenty-four hours a day, and when it's not, it's some shitty b-movie. Battlestar is great and Taken was awesome(I missed The Triangle but I hope to catch it sometime soon), but that channel just doesn't seem to hold my interest much anymore. Back in college, I would skip class just to watch it, but now I can't even convince myself to watch it before I go to bed. Quantum Leap right into The Twilight Zone starting at 11 every night? That was a recipe for sweet dreams, baby.

Have we run out of all the good sci-fi shows? Can a brother get some Blake's 7 up in this piece?

Just because you have a movie with Bruce Campbell in it every once in awhile, doesn't give you a license to show crap the rest of the time. I'm excited about the new Who and I can't wait to see it.

We've been watching The Shield almost twenty-four hours a day at the house getting ready for Season Five. With new Sopranos on the way in a coupla months too, I'm looking forward to couch potato-ing a lot in 2006.

Pics from Hartford

Had a lot of fun with the boys in Living Dred last night. Here's the pics to prove it!

Springfield, IL Tonight!

We're back with The Pimps tonight at Viele's Planet in Springfield, IL. We've had some awesome times there over the past few years and I don't think tonight will be any different.

We also jumped on a last minute show tomorrow night with our friends in Living Dred and we'll be at the Underground Saloon in Hartford.

Anyway, here's a story about a town that finally lifted a beer band after 131 years.

It was a good week, we kept ourselves busy. The WAMI Christmas Party on Wednesday night was hot. Once the free beer ran out, we drank Caroline's out of Jaeger and then proceeded to attack the Goldschlager, but I don't think any of us had the particular stomach for it. That reminds me, some dude in Springfield introduced us to the Flaming Nazi shot one time when we were there, and that's the only specialty shot I know that has Goldschlager in it. It was a great time. We even tried to podcast, but we didn't get any usable results. Incoherence doesn't make for very interesting listening, I'm afraid. OUr conversation probably sounded like Barney's internal monologue. We'll try again this weekend.

This weekend!

Alright kids.... Is anyone else PUMPED for the weekend?

I'm stoked, as we get to rock out once again with The Pimps tonight! This time it will be at Viele's Planet, in Springfield, IL. We've had some very memorable times there (not to mention the times I wish I could remember, but can't).

In fact, this "self-portrait" was taken at Viele's planet. I'm pretty sure it was when we played there on my birthday in 2003... What a fun night!

Saturday night we'll be going back to good ole Hartford, Wisconsin, to rock out and party with our friends Living Dred. Last time we played in Hartford was also on my birthday.... how weird! This time we'll be celebrating Matt from Living Dred's birthday, a great reason to party!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to both shows. I hope to see you there. :)

Christmas Cards

We had Christmas Cards out at our merchandise booth on our December 15th Salvation Army Benefit Christmas Party and here's some of our favorites. Just click on a pic to make it fullscreen.

Fittest Cities...

...Baltimore is Number One. Milwaukee is Number Five.

You read that right, Milwaukee is number five. That's number five on the fit list.

Bullshit, you say? Have these assholes ever been to Polish Fest?

I think we went over this last year, when they declared Houston the fattest, but the fine people of Chicago have ate long and hard to attain this year's elasticized crown.

New Podcast This Weekend...

...sorry we haven't had one in awhile. We'll be back in action this weekend in Eau Claire.

Drummer Cam from New Year's Eve!

Wow, yet another great one for the books. Thanks everybody for partying with us on our very last show of 2005; it was a blast!

Pics from New Year's Eve!

New Year's Eve 2005 pictures from our show at Otto's in Dekalb, IL are now up!

You're my boy, Blue!

Blue died in real life this weekend, no news if there were topless girls involved, though.

Happy New Year!

What a great way to end 2005 last night partying with The Goodyear Pimps in Illinois. Here's some shots when everyone was aonstage for "Family Tradition".

I hope everyone had a great start to the New Year!