Years For Beards

I have been thinking about doing some music reviews and starting a music site for a while.  Well, I finally decided to just go for it the other day.  Corey Murphy is helping me out with this endeavor, and he was nice enough to tweak his reviews from The Badger Herald to give us some more content as we work on getting the site off the ground.

For those who’d like to check the site out, you can visit http://www.yearsforbeards.com.

As for the name…

1. “years for beards” comes from the lyrics for the Why? song “Sanddollars”
2. there is a running joke that the awesome potential of a band is directly proportional to the quality and quantity of facial hair

Right now, we’re focusing mainly on album reviews and some show reviews.  In the future, however, we plan on adding news, interviews, site-exclusive releases, city-specific content and most importantly, BAND BEARD REVIEWS.

At the time I am writing this, Corey has posted two album reviews and a summary of some highlights from Lollapalooza 2009.  New content will be uploaded on Tuesdays.  Some things we’ve got planned for this week:

• Bon Iver – Blood Bank
• Erik Enocksson – Man tänker sitt
• Flight of the Conchords – I Told You I Was Freaky
• The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
• Earth Died Screaming (a tribute to Tom Waits) – show review
• Sufjan Stevens – The BQE

We might have some more content if we get another staff writer or two.  If you’re interested, let me know.  Otherwise, Corey and I will be adding new content every Tuesday.

A Package From Home

I finally received the package my mother sent me one week ago, and I decided it might be nice to make a list of the things she sent me.

• 7 x 5.6 oz Knorr brand Rice Sides
• 10 x chewy chocolate chip granola bars
• 4 x ping pong balls
• 10 x single serving oatmeal
• 1 x 17.5 oz Frito Lay brand corn chips (1 week past use-by date {but still delicious})
• 10 x Create-A-Dino fruit flavored snacks
• 2 x 30 count cough drops
• 1 x Oral-B tooth brush (from Dental Associates)
• 1 x cork screw / bottle opener combo
• 1/3 x bottle of chili powder
• 1 x 50 m Oral-B dental floss
• 1 x 3 oz deodorant stick
• 1 x small screw (why??)
• 1 x beard trimmer (I’m in need of a trim)
• 6 x mechanical pencils
• 1 x green Sharpie
• 1 x container of pencil lead
• 1 x 1.75 liters Premium San Juan Liqueur made with Virgin Islands Rum (80 proof)

Thanks Mom!  (I wonder if she knows the difference between rum and rum-based liqueur…)

In other news, tonight I will be seeing Earth Died Screaming (while I lay dreaming of Tom) – a tribute to Tom Waits.  Hope and I failed to get our tickets ahead of time, so it will cost a bit extra.  But I’m still stoked to hear some Tom Waits songs live.  I sure hope this band doesn’t mess it up!

Earth Died Screaming (while I lay dreaming of Tom)

~a tribute to Tom Waits~

You are invited to a murky whiskey-evening where musicians from Trondheim’s metal, rock and jazz scene come together with a common denominator: Tom Waits. The band will create a dense atmosphere with their great interaction, great songs and wonderful drive. Vocalists Stian Leknes and Marita Rostad will be playing up to Tom’s dancing with good friends from Trondheim’s music scene. Stian is the lead singer of the Trondheim-based metal band Manifest, while Marita is best known from the city’s jazz scene, and with the album “Silent Sunday”.

Take your gutter humor and meet up!

That’s my rough translation of the description of the show.  For 150 NOK ($26.71), it had better be good.  The show starts at 9:30 PM at Grillen (“The Grill”).