Reclusive Ramblings

It’s cold. It’s cold and the snow is coming down. I haven’t left my apartment all day, and most likely won’t. The terrible driving conditions prevented me from making it to my early class this morning, as I was not about to risk life and limb for a discussion about social Darwinism. As fascinating a topic as social Darwinism is, it’s not worth the white knuckle experience.

I lied. I may just leave my apartment later today and head down to Blogfest at Finnegan’s Wake. Six o’clock if anyone’s interested. Luckily I don’t need to drive there because it’s only a few blocks away, across the park.

My favorite watering hole was in the news yesterday. The PGH Post-Gazette did a story on “Third Places” and they profiled the Pub.

The inauguration is tomorrow. The more I think about it, I can’t believe Amerika elected this guy. What’s worse is that the next four years hasn’t even started yet. I get really depressed thinking about it. The direction this country is headed toward is devolution. Regression rears its ugly head. I have some thoughts about how to reverse the cycle, but I’ll leave them for another day.

I tried to record a bit today but I was playing like shit. I have a new song that’s pretty complex, both rhythmically and melodically. I got frustrated and decided to do other things like vacuum, smoke cigarettes and stare at this computer screen. What a sexy life I live.

The Swallow

If this song sounds familiar, it’s because the demo version was on the “LeapYear EP” that Michael and I put out last year. This version is different in the fact that there is some piano and reed organ. I feel the vocals are stronger as well. Hope you likey!

New Music (Sort of)

Now that the semester is over, I’ll have much more time to concentrate on writing and recording new material. Because I haven’t uploaded new music in quite some time, I’ve decided to post a previously unreleased song that I recorded a while ago. It’s a completely different vibe than the new stuff I’m writing, as it is performed by the band I was playing with at the time. I hope you like it.

Credits: Words and Music by Jeffrey D. Inscho Recorded at Mountainside Studio Engineered and Mixed by Rich Ruscigno and Jeffrey

Dimebag Darrell RIP

Some of you may have heard by now about the shooting in Columbus, Ohio last night. The shooting, at a Damageplan (x-Pantera) show, left 4 dead and more injured. Among the dead was the influential and highly underrated guitarist, Dimebag Darrell. This is a sad occurrence and my heart goes out to all that were affected by this complete disregard for human life.

Those of you who know me well know that I love metal music, although I’ve evolved into writing and listening to a different genre. Early on in my musical journey I cut my teeth on the likes of Metallica, Megadeath and Pantera. When I was in the seventh grade, my first band ever covered the Pantera song “This Love” off of their 2nd album A Vulgar Display of Power. I remember that song being the highlight of the set at our first show, inciting a degree of moshing only exceeded by Pantera playing the song themselves. I was fortunate to have been able to see Pantera play twice. Each time the energy, emotion and technical skill were outstanding. Their ability to energize an audience goes unmatched.

Dimebag Darrell’s guitar style was aggressive, methodical and unrelenting, teaching me the importance of using intensity as a tool to convey emotion through music. This is a lesson that I’ve always remembered and taken with me into any project I’ve been involved with, regardless of genre. While I’ve been out of the metal loop for quite some time, I feel sad about the events of last night. My only hope is that this incident will not tarnish metal’s image of being a relatively non-violent method of expression. Rest in Peace, Dimebag. We miss you already.

Those Damn Latte Liberals

John McIntire writes a rather amusing article about the political orientation of the average Starbucks patron in this week’s Pittsburgh City Paper. As I live the dream each and every day, I can attest to the authenticity and accuracy of his words.

He hits the nail on the head (or should I say pours the perfect shots?) when he describes the way many customers confide in their barista. We are basically highly underpaid psychologists. Just yesterday, one of my regulars found out he’d gotten his girlfriend pregnant and wanted MY opinion of what he should do. Within the past three years, I’d have to say that I’ve formed this type of relationship with about 20 regular customers. They are few and far between because most of my clientele doesn’t want to hear my opinion regarding the weather, let alone my 2 cents about their life. These few personal relationships that have emerged are what make dealing with the other shit worthwhile.

Can A Smart Person Believe In God?

I was watching Heartland w/ John Kasich the other night and an interesting topic was being discussed. The segment was entitled, “Can a smart person believe in God?”. Author Michael Giullen was the guest expert of the segment, having just penned a book of the same name. The discussion made me ponder the question. Is an intelligent person able to believe in a supreme entity that displays no physical proof of existing in the first place?

I first thought about the question subjectively. I consider myself somewhat intelligent, although some of you might disagree. I also consider myself a spiritual person, albeit not conforming to one specific organized religion. If I must be labeled, I would consider myself Tibetan-Buddhist, only because it falls in line with MY belief system. As to address the question stated above, I feel one would be a fool to not concede that there is some additional force at work in this universe other than that of humans. Be it nature, be it Allah, be it Karma, be it God, be it science. To suggest that a greater force does not exist displays ignorance, narcism and stupidity.

I think that religious people are deemed “not smart” or ignorant because the overwhelming majority condemn beliefs that are not in line with their own. This, in turn, makes them seem less intelligent because they are unwilling to understand a different point of view. I’ve been told many times that I will burn in hell because I do not accept Jesus Christ as my lord and savior. In my opinion, we mislabel religious people as ignorant. They are not ignorant because they believe, but because they are intolerant.

I understand that certain religions are less accepting of others. It shouldn’t be that way. If you look at a cross section of the major religions on this planet, they all teach tolerance, forgiveness and love. All religions are beautiful in their own right. It’s when intolerant fundamentalists hijack a belief system that religion gets a bad name. So to answer the question, I believe that a smart person can believe in a God-like entity, but it is a truly wise person that also realizes there are, often times, more than one answer to a question.

A Belated Weekend Wrap-Up

This past weekend was eventful. Friday and Saturday evening saw me working like a mofo ‘cause a brotha’s gotta pay rent. I was made aware on Saturday that, for the first time in the three years I’ve been working for the company, I’ll be receiving a X-mas bonus. Starbucks really does get a bad wrap when it comes to employee compensation. I may not agree with many of their business practices, but for the most part they’ve taken good care of yours truly.

On to Sunday. I actually had a day off and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Jilly and I started off with brunch then proceeded to fight the crowds at the mall. I now intend on doing all my X-mas shopping online, as I had my fill of the Amerikan retail orgy in the hour I spent in line to buy my aunt a gift.

After the mall, Jilly and I participated in the quintessential holiday activity, X-mas tree selection. There were many options, shapes and sizes. After careful consideration of these options, we emerged with a 10-foot Balsam Fir. Decorating the tree proved to be a fiasco, complete with tree-stand issues involving multiple runs to the hardware store. In the end, we got the tree standing upright.

Here is a picture of the final product. Notice how we’ve trained Monty to pose for the camera.

After the decorating festivities, I sat down to watch the most exciting football game I’ve seen in quite some time. The Steelers proved that they are THE best team in the NFL with their come-from-behind victory over the Jaguars. Rookie Ben Roethlisburger demonstrated poise and maturity during the hurry-up offense on the final drive of the game. This kid was a blessing for this team. I can’t wait to see the way he performs in three years. 11 and 1. Jacksonville, we’ll be back.

Shameless Plug

Wanna hire me to work a full-time internship at your PR firm? I’m available to begin interning on May 9th, 2005 and must log 480 hours by the first week of August in order to complete my 12 credits. Here’s to yet another extremely busy summer.

Higher Education

I apologize for the lack of updates over the last few days, but school is really kicking my ass. It’s getting down to the nitty-gritty, with only about two weeks left until the end of the semester. I have a ton of work to do, so I most likely will not be updating regularly until my finals are over on December 14th. Consider this a break to regain positivity, empathy and understanding ;) Hi Nan!

Alone on Stage

I just received word that I’ll be opening for the amazing Bob Mould. The show is on Tuesday, November 16th at the Rex Theatre on Pittsburgh’s southside. Hope to see alot of you there.

For those of you unfamiliar with Bob’s work, he was a member of two great bands before going solo. Husker Du was, and continues to be, an extremely influential group. They were one of the first to show that you could combine melody with intensity. Sugar, Bob’s band after Husker Du, continued where the Du left off. In my opinion, Sugar’s melodies and subject matter were a little more advanced than that of Husker Du. Two of my all-time favorite songs, “Hoover Dam” and “If I Can’t Change Your Mind”, come from Sugar’s Copper Blue album.