2009 is almost no more

Ever wish you had ipod video footage of HP2 playing "Lyin Eyes" at the Home for the skalidays show? No? Here it is any way (the memory ran out at the end).


Make Sure to watch till the end to see "THE HEIGHT OF ORANGE COUNTY LIVING"...I thought it was funny.

Merry Christmas, Almost!

Hey Internet. Thanks again to all the people that came out to/played the "Home for the Skalidays" show. Good times was had all. Above is Hp2 in the warehouse. Below is yours truly and Melody (she is disregarding the last line of the sign behind us):

Rude and Crude, Which Are You?

Half Past Two deliberates on the fine points of being rude...or crude at the 2009 Rude and Crude Rockabilly and Ska Festival at the Glasshouse in Pomona 12/1/2009.

Holiday Show Rules!

This Saturday why not give yourself the gift you know you want for the holidays... The gift of your favorite Half Past Two song played live.

That's right, this Saturday at the Skamikaze food benefit extravaganza we'll be playing an ALL-REQUEST SET chosen by YOU the ALL REQUESTING FANS!

RULES:

1) Become Friends with us on our new Facebook account which can be found here: http://bit.ly/4NHSZ8

2) Once that's done leave us a comment on our wall telling us your top 7 song choices

EASY RIGHT!

For your voted to be counted it must come in by Friday the 18th

Here's a list of songs for those who've forgotten:

CLOSET POLAR BEAR EP:

At My Door

Hit #1

Maybe Tomorrow

Sean Connery

We Want More

IT'S ABOUT TIME LP:

Dare Don't Tell

1,000 Miles Away

Radio Song

Lyin' Eyes

Panic!

A House Isn't Always A Home

Legacy

Aaron, The Castaway

Rock You Out

We Want More

A Place To Go

VARIOUS SONGS:

Death of Disco

"Banana Phone"

COVER SONGS:

Starlight (Muse)

Material Girl (Madonna)

The Way (Fastball)

Kids (MGMT)

Living On A Prayer (The Most Epic Band Ever)

1st Annual Rude and Crude Fest.

Thanks Tazy for hosting the Ska part and thanks to all of the crew, promoters, coordinators, fans, etc. etc. etc. Thanks Rude and Crude!

I love it when I'm skankin to another band and I get that tap on the shoulder to join the pit. I'm trying to spread the love and its good to know others are doing the same. Cheers to you fellow current or future Rude boys and girls! Any good stories/pictures from the show?

P.S. If you missed it heres your next chance to catch HP2 along with our (Non-Child Labor Supporting) buddies Skamikaze! The Venues sweet I've been told.

Happy Holidays from HP2

Wait... This Isn't Sunday?

Maybe I'm just a nerd, but this is awesome/hilarious/chalkfullawin:

NERD LIST 2009!!!!

There are two things that nerds are good at in this world:

1) Seeing the world as completely black or white (ex: Vampire Diaries/True Blood/Twilight/anythinginvolvingvampiresmadesrecentlythatdidn'tcomeoutofsweden - Sucks, Dr. Who - Awesome)

2) Making useless lists that no one (obviously excluding the person writing said list) cares about.

Today feels like a number 2 day to me.

Dave's Favorite Records of 2009:

Frank Turner - Poetry of the Deed

Bomb The Music Industry - Scrambles

Teenage Bottlerocket - They Came From The Shadows

Andrew Jackson Jihad - Can't Maintain

Bouncing Souls - 20th Anniversary Album Thing

O Pioneers!!! - Neon Creeps

Lucero - 1372 Overton Park

The Swellers - Ups and Downsizing/Welcome Back Riders

MewithoutYou - It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All A Dream! It's Alright!

Owl City - Ocean Eyes

Dear Landlord - Dear Homes

Polar Bear Club - Chasing Hamburg

Broadway Calls - Good Views, Bad News

Chris Wollard and The Ship Thieves - S/T

North Lincoln - Midwestern Blood

Banner Pilot - Collapser

Rx Bandits - Mandala

Tegan & Sara - Sainthood

Cheap Girls - My Roaring 20's

Nothington - Roads, Bridges and Ruins

Cursive - Mama I'm Swollen

Mariachi El Bronx - S/T

Shook Ones - The Unquotable A.M.H.

Manchester Orchestra - Mean Nothing To Everything

Dead To Me - African Elephants

Dave's Favorite EP's of 2009:

The Lawrence Arms - Buttsweat and Tears

Classics of Love - Walking in Shadows

Rumspringer - S/T

Iron Chic - Shitty Rambo

Did I miss anything?

What are your favorites?

Where the hell were the good ska albums this year?

Let me know in the comment section!

Return of the Animated Robot!

The Winner of the ultimate Half Past Two fan is...

This time with more sound effects!

ewwwwwwww.

dr. garcia says that i dont need surgery and that is AWESOME! but there are some problem areas. can you see them? so gross!!

Life isn't all Santa Barbara Roses

Every one has a path, a journey, an endless struggle. Moments of clarity and true contenment can be found in any lifestyle. Find time in the day to get beyond the surface of what we show the world and become what you are (whatever that might be). If your an A-hole, own up to it and be an A-hole. Remember that Socrates said "the unexamined life is not worth living".

The " " part below is from this Minus The Bear song I've had on repeat for two days straight:








Hey. Who knew things would be so hard? Don't worry, I'm here pulling for you. Even when others say its a lie, you'll be happy if only for a few. Back to the depths of an untamed consciousness, eventually I will awake trying to be what is true.
This glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
Take off your prescribed lenses, I don't want glass between us.
Put on your shoes, lets go to the beach around two thirty in the morning, I feel like dancing like me.
"Dont Cry, I'll bring this song to you" and shake our hearts free of this dust.

im obsessed

i bought a new goldfish today. his name is andre, like andre the giant. hes the white one in the tank and anchovy is the orange one. look at the difference in size!!



they're the same type of gold fish, ryukin, so maybe someday anchovy will get as big as andre. I LOVE GOLDFISH!!

xoxo,
tara

Dear Tyler Moore and Robot

It is a well known fact that there is only one robot in existence capable of taking my place in this band. I am speaking of course of Johnny Five, no other machine in the world can produce the same emotion driven songs while keeping the edge of "punk rock" attitude that make HP2(.1) the greatest lyrical band of all time:

So allow me to make this perfectly clear, unless Johnny Five and Johnny Five alone (no Steve Guttenburg, no Michael McKean, no oddly Indian sounding gentleman from Bakersfield) walks into our next practice, you're stuck with me sir.

Sincerely,

Country Dave

Fans Continue To Keep Us Cool

Instead of providing the blog with new content, I'm going to do a recent recap of some amazing things that fans have made for us.

Jake Von Super Fan (@IchBinJake) somehow managed to start a string of baked good themed tributes for HP2. His "timely" cake was given to us at our CSUSB gig a few weeks back and we have yet to reciprocate his kindness with another unreleased HP2 cover. We are still waiting on pics from his HP2 pumpkin.

Melody (@MelodyAnnZ) decided to "kick it old school" and set the oven to preheat on 450 for some Closet Polar Bear themed masterpieces.

And the next development in fan tributes is fan blogs! Skanko (@RudytheRudeBoy) is singing our praises over at his blog Half Past Two! They are Awesomest to Live. The site is quite pink.

Lastly, in case you had any inclination that our band was a thankless endeavor, I would like to present this evidence:

I received this card in the mail a few days ago from the good folks at the CSUSB Women's Center, who were nice enough to have us headline their recent Femme Fair. With email/txting/@twitter replies/myspace messaging/facebook walls/random new eCommuncation of your choice these days, it really means a lot when someone sits down to write you a note. So thanks CSUSB, we really appreciate it.

In case you were wondering what other past fan presents we've received, check my older blog post Fans Keep Us Cool.

The Shape of Things To Come...

Country Dave, we (Tyler and his robot) are expecting your rebuttal shortly.

UGGGGHHHHH

this cold is killing me, i can't think of anything to write this week, i can't even be bothered with proper capitalization or grammar, so instead here's pictures of my awesome cat boseph:

sibs

everyone should have an adorable (practically) twin sister.



hug your siblings!!

walken

i dont know...

flu shots are stupid.














at the suggestion of some of our twitter followers (whiskkeyace and bigmouth_) enjoy this old music video by fat boy slim featuring one of my favorite actors:



off to band practice!!

Desert Island Question

What is your favorite album of all time? Why?

For me my top 3 are all Jazz albums. Heres a hint for my Number one:
Miles is the front man, Trane and Cannonball complete the horn section.
Give up? Heres a "remix" of one of the tracks off said album.

YOUR Turn. Favorite album?

Liar's Dice

Kids!

Well it's been a few weeks, hasn't it? I know, I know, I'm sorry, but I've been quite the busy beaver as of late.

But that's all in the past, let's focus on the now. And what an exciting "now" it is: it's Halloween night!! In honor of this fine holiday, I've decided to share my second favorite game (maybe we'll talk about my first favorite some other time) and latest obsession with all of you fine folks.

Sidebar: Since it is Halloween after all, I do feel obligated to tie this blog in with the holiday somehow. So be on the lookout...hopefully I'll come up with something by the end of the blog.

Without any further ado, allow me to present you, the fans:

Liar's Dice

Liar's dice can be played in groups of between 4 and 8 people, and the only equipment you need is one large, opaque cup per person and six dice per person (d-6's for all you M:TG/D&D nerds out there).

To begin, everyone sits around a table and rolls all of their dice in their cups, Yahtzee-style. Then, without showing their dice, players flip the cup face-down on the table so the dice are covered by the cup. Players can look at their own dice at any time by lifting up one side of the cup, but can't look at their opponents' dice.

Someone starts the game by calling a bet about the TOTAL number of dice they think are under all of the cups combined. For example, if there were 6 players, (36 dice total) an opening guess of "five 3's" (that is, five dice out of all 36 have 3's on them) is a very reasonable bet. Players continue making guesses in a similar fashion, proceeding in a counterclockwise order, but they must "raise" the guess the previous player made. There are three ways one can "raise" a guess:

1) Players may guess the same quantity of dice, but guess a higher pip than the previous player. (Dice terminology sidebar: the dots on dice are called "pips".)

For example: If the player to my left made a guess of "4 fives", a raise of "4 sixes" would be kosher.

2) Players may guess a higher quantity than the previous guess, but guess ANY pip.

For example: If the player to my left made a guess of "3 twos", a raise of "4 ones" would be acceptable.

3) Combining rules 1) and 2), players may raise both pip and quantity in a guess.

Guesses do not have to move in a sequential order, raising from a quantity of 1 to a quantity of 4 is allowed, as is a pip raise from 2 to 5.

If, during a player's turn, they think that the previous bet was incorrect, they may call "bullshit" (or BS for the PG-13 version) on the last guess. When bullshit gets called, all players reveal their dice and it is determined whether or not the BS-ing player was correct. If correct, the player who called bullshit loses a dice, which gets placed in the middle of the table. If the last guess was incorrect, the guesser loses a dice in the same fashion.

It is important to note that if there are MORE than the guessed quantity of dice, the player who called bullshit still loses. So a guess of "five 6's" is really a guess that there are "AT LEAST five 6's under all of the cups".

A round ends after a player calls bullshit and someone loses a dice, and the next round starts with the person who called bullshit. Play continues until there is only one person left, the winner.

Now, LD is, as all good games should be, easy to learn, but very difficult to master. Maybe next week we'll talk about some strategy. And I guess I'll share the obligatory story (that has a fun little ring to it) of how I came to be in HP2, although I'm sure all of you clever kids out there could probably piece 90% of it together from everyone else's entries.

Obligatory Halloween Tie-In: Oh hey! My roommate and his girlfriend are dressed-up as a pirate and a wench, respectively. Liar's Dice got popularized by its brief appearance in Pirates of the Caribbean II. Nice!

Seeya kids,
Snuggles

Oh yeah, and I was just kidding about the M:TG diss, I love Magic. But I was serious about D&D. Just kidding. But seriously.

The Half Past Two Story: Country Dave Edition

Hey we have a theme going, great because I'm terrible at thinking up blog ideas!

I guess I blame my mom for this whole thing, her and her guitar. When I was a kid she'd get out the acoustic guitar and sing old folk tunes and we'd all sing along. To this day I can tell you all about the plight of The Blacksmith of Brandywine (make it one for Washington and all his gallant men, one for the girl that once was mmmiiinnneee...).

When I got to middle school I figured, "I like singing, I guess I'll join the choir." So I joined, almost sang with Tara, got stood up by some bitch named Katelyn Reynolds one night, and sang "In bridges she burned or the way that he died" solo in Seasons of Love, etc. At the end of 8th grade I actually got an award for being the boy most willing to go out and make an ass of himself in front of people (please ask Tara about I'm Screaming at a White Sheepdog for more info on this subject).

During the summer between 8th and 9th grade my friend (the aforementioned) Doug Carter told me he'd started a band. Instead of telling you the story of what happen with this I'll give you my thought process right after he said this:

Holy crap, a band, I want to be in a band, I could play piano, oh wait Doug's playing piano...I could learn a horn, no Doug says he has a bunch of them already.....GUITAR! Mom does it and it doesn't look too hard!

"Does your band need a guitar player"

"Do you know how to play guitar Dave?"

"no."

"Do you own a guitar?"

"no."

"Sure you can be in our band."

So one chord dictionary/trip to the music store later I was in a band playing guitar!

(free jeff era Dave guitar)

After that band quit my friend Jeff and I decided we wanted to start a ska band, Free Jeff was born. Check out Tyler's post for the links to all that. What's important to remember about Free Jeff is that we held one core value, that ska wasn't just dead, it was Uber dead.

Right after Free Jeff ended I decided, "that's it, ska bands are too much work, too many people, I'm never going to be in a ska band again." A few months later I joined Bad Ash, pre-existing ska band looking for a guitar player and new drummer. This is where I met a man named Dustin Richardson (check out the writing credits in It's About Time to find out why this is important).

(Dave and Dustin, BFFS FO' EVAR!)

Bad Ash broke up (after we recorded an EP that to this day I've never actually heard), and I mentioned to Dustin (the drummer of Bad Ash), that I'd like to start a punk band someday. Out of that idea came the Anti-Fun Society. We wrote songs, put out an album that when back and forth between okay and terrible, played a bunch of pay to play shows, and broke up before album number two was done.

(a tune you may recognize)

FUN FACT: I was at the very first HP2 show in the crowd, Tyler was in it, Snuggles was in it, I figured I'd check it out. By all accounts the first show was not very good (sorry guys), but they had this crazy energy on stage, and I knew I had to be a part of that. After the show I talked to the guys and said, "um.....hey, you need a keyboard player?" The rest, as they say, is history.

half past two: tara

in the vein of hollywood, let me add the side story of myself, tara, to the half past two story. i do think about its randomness all of the time.

it actually starts a very long time ago. i think i was 10 years old. i was sitting at my grandma and grandpa's breakfast table, exclaiming to both of them that when i grew up, i wanted to be a singer. they told me i wanted to be a teacher.

i thought about being a teacher but i really liked singing. i sang in everything i possibly could in elementary school. snuggles (patrick holder) was especially good friends with my little sister, erin. i can still remember his silly hair cut :) then in middle school i joined choir. middle school choir is funny because its such a hodge-podge of students. you had to be a 7th or 8th grader to join and the older kids always got the good solos.


(musicals!!)

christmas show was coming up and i really wanted to audition with a solo but i really didn't have the guts to do it, being the shy girl i was. my teacher suggested i try out with a duet, but i didnt know anyone well enough to sing a song with them, she tried to set it up for me. MY FIRST MUSICAL EXPERIENCE WITH DAVID PARRIS. she tried to get us to sing "16 going on 17" from the sound of music together, though it never did come to fruition. funny right? i also met curtis in middle school, but we weren't "friends" :)


(all day choir rehearsals... yuck!)

in high school i was THEEEE CHOIR GIRL! (watch GLEE, i was rachel berry...) I LOVED SHOW CHOIR!! the dancing the singing. i could be loud and rowdy, there was brotherhood and sisterhood, competition and it got me out of class a lot. my senior year, i was show choir president... haha!! i can distinctly remember watching free jeff play behind our PAC, thats how i remember tyler and david in high school. i also can remember seeing tyler and curtis (did patrick and david also do jazz band??) eaaaaaaarly in the morning for zero period when they had jazz band and i had concert choir. i didn't hang out with any of my now bandmates in high school, but i knew who all of them were.


(thats shelby. we're not friends anymore, but she talked me into this whole band thing... i joined the band with blonde hair, haha)

i remember jacob green. is that weird? i never listened to them or anything but i remember hearing about their band. after high school i missed singing so much that i still went to high school choir competitions. one day i was sitting in my room at my apartment with my friend shelby, singing hide and seek by imogen heap under my breath, when shelby said to me "you should join a band." my sister overheard and said she knew some guys from our high school that needed a lead singer for their band and that i should try out.



i got the spot in the band. now im the singer for half past two :) AND not only is half past two my first band, it is also my first attempt at singing by myself. even in high school i rarely sang solos, i wasnt fond of my voice alone (thank you grandma and grandpa for telling me i couldnt be a singer...). now im having a great time!! im singing, so IN YOUR FACE STUPID FAMILY!

i kinda do want to be a teacher someday.

The Half Past Two Tree

Hi Internets,

While I normally like to include some sort of visual or video with my blog posts, my topic for today is so old that it predates YouTube presence. I'm going to cover the roots of the current Half Past Two, or HP2.0 for short.

Actually, I think we're on HP2.1 by now.

Half Past Two exists solely because of an ill-fated third wave band from Los Alamitos, CA called Free Jeff. Country Dave and HP1.99 bass player Giant Alex played in a group called Bovine whose sole existence was to cover Blues Brothers tunes. Country Dave combined his original songwriting prowess with an entity known only as Doug Carter, and their love child was known as the previously mentioned Free Jeff. That's where I entered the picture. Country Dave still claims to this day that he doesn't know how to play the "tall" notes on the guitar (I continuously need to remind them that they are 'high' not 'tall') and brought me in on lead guitar.

High school ended and the seeds of Free Jeff were scattered to the winds. Doug started a Shakespeare tribute band called John-A-Dreams, whose achievements included playing at the Next Generation Remix 2007 concert at the Japanese American Cultural & Center (日米文化会館 for short...or JACCC) along with J-Pop sensation Rusika. The drummer, Kevin Ferguson later went on to found the Friendship Hurricane Society and also collaborates on occasion with Paker Koo Ito. Alex formed The Monkey Wrench Collective as a mother's day present while in Santa Cruz and played bass in the previous version of HP2.

Your writer (Tyler) pretended he was metal for a couple years, foolishly bought some camouflage shorts and started a metalcore band. The results can be found here:

Jacob Greene

This footnote in the history of Half Past Two gets a separate paragraph because it is where Tyler started playing music with Curtis. Curtis is also a member of hotdog enthusiasts Links and has previously played with Jebel and The Scarlet Letter, among others.

Billy has played with a myriad of other groups, but I'll leave that list for him to post. Half Past Two is actually Tara's first band, but she keeps claiming to leave us for a side project called "The Love Handles" with her bff Tess. We're kinda scared.

In conclusion,

..

the process of change
ideal maturation doesn't exist
remember






want a free youtube to mp3 converter? It is more powerful than that:

http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/download/FreeStudio.exe

Plight of the Lyricist

the words must grow up

but kids clamor for same old

no we don't want more

Fans Keep Us Cool

I wanted to give thanks to a couple of fans who really do a lot to show us their support. First is Rudy the Rude Boy (I'm not going to use real names, @RudytheRudeBoy hasn't yet consented) and the video he made for our Bon Jovi cover. It really shows how we could use an updated photo shoot...

Secondly is Jake von Super Fan, aka @IchBinJake who found this awesome site to make us some custom merch. How can you say no to these:

Or a custom tie, design courtesy of Bhakti.

The more you guys give, the more it makes us want to give. And trust me, we have archives full of covers just waiting for the light of day.

Until next time (hopefully not as belated),

busy busy busy

lately i feel like there is way too much on my plate. my job as manager now requires all of the extra attention i promised to devote to the band, with all of the new paperwork and meetings every week, and threats of loosing out jobs if we dont comply, i have no choice. and i dont have time for my voice lessons on mondays anymore because of it.

then with the band we have two practices instead of one, so my days off usually have a practice in them and since its new music there isnt anything for me to do. i cants bring my work to band practice, that is rude and its really loud. i might start taking voice lessons ever other monday with my teacher and then wednesdays during the day with another teacher... eesh...

also i got a part in a movie so i have to make time to memorize my scripts. rehearsal for that is every sunday, so i have to go to band practice in the day and to movie rehearsal at night. im so tired.

working 40+ hours a week, while trying to have a career in music and movies is so scetchy. JANKY even.

but as greg says, "got to make that scrilla!!"

plus, its a lot of fun :)

presocratic Thought

Greater _ _ _ _ _ _ win greater destinies - Clement

What do you think the answer is? Reply.


On a lighter note: HP2 has a front woman, this band has 5

I can't believe no one has posted these here yet:

In other news I can't stop listening to Bayside and Owl City, this now officially makes me a 15 year old girl.

Metal on Metal

STOP! Before baking Tara's delicious cookies.. run to Blockbuster and pick up the story of Anvil. It's one of the best rock doc's I've ever seen! Now Go, get baked, and watch Anvil.

glub glub glub

this is all i want to blog about:

Absolutely the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter flavored shortening
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons Mexican vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter flavored shortening, brown sugar and white sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition, then stir in the vanilla .Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually stir into the creamed mixture. Finally, fold in the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until light brown. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.



YUM!!!!!!!!!! quick, make me some cookies... pweeeeeeeeze?!

Belated Tyler Tuesday

Internet,

So I had this totally cool post idea in mind involving the intro drum beat to "Radio Song" and remapping the beat to fart noises...but I'm still a novice with iMovie and couldn't get the snare just right. That will have to wait for next week. Until then I decided to share with you a very important google search!

Googling Tyler Moore

Yes, googling my own name comes up with mostly references to the comedienne Mary Tyler Moore. I have suffered through jokes since kindergarden involving Ms. Moore and have since developed rather thick skin towards all insults comparing me to a celebrity.

Uncanny resemblance? I thought not.

Checkered Past

Spin Magazine put out a 2 Tone article this month... heres a playlist of the videos for the section "you already know the hits. Now hear these eight other classic tracks.":


How did they know HP2 Covered The Bodysnatchers?

Wow, how do you follow a post like Holder's.

Only one way I guess.

Prove that he's right.

I can't draw my way out of a paper bag.

>

The Economics of Half Past Two: Consumer Theory and "It's About Time": Part I

Oh hi, internet, Patrick here!

As you may have read last week, we here at Half Past Two have decided to step up the blogging duties...a lot. In fact, you will be hearing from each of us once a day, everyday of the week. And I'm your man for Saturday, so let's get to it!

Now as much as I appreciate everyone else's blog entries, (Bhakti's July 30 entry comes to mind) what have we accomplished through all this blogging? How is this veritable goldmine of musical-cyber-tiddlybits known as a "blog" really benefiting the world?

Glad you asked, because today I am going to tell you how YOU can improve the state of the US Economy in One Easy Step:

1) Buy the Half Past Two album, "It's About Time"

Now you're probably thinking to yourself, "Self, how in the hell is buying a CD going to possibly help us out of this economic mess we have created, and even if it COULD, why is Half Past Two so darn special?!"

Once again, I'm glad you asked. Without any further ado I present to you, the internet:

"The Economics of Half Past Two: Consumer Theory and 'It's About Time'"
by Patrick Holder

Now the first, and many would argue, most important Macroeconomic implication of Consumer Theory is how the Marginal Propensity to Consume affects the aggregate wealth of a nation. Though it may seem contradictory to assert that spendthrift nations have greater aggregate wealth, the higher MPCs for many nations result in higher aggregate demand, and thus lower inflation and unemployment rates, and provide a stronger push towards technological innovation on the supply side of things.

But what in the world does any of this have to do with Half Past Two? Well, countless studies have shown that middle class consumers in the age range of HP2 members typically have the highest MPCs, meaning that every dollar you put into the pockets of Half Past Two is going to work much harder to bolster our economy than those hot-shot major label bands, who consume at far more conservative percentages than us folks. Secondarily, unlike CDs you buy in those pesky stores, Half Past Two album sales are completely under the table, and are, thus, completely tax free, raising our consumption multiplier by another 8% or so.

For the next element of our discussion, we will have to recall the lessons of the late great David Ricardo, and his revolutionary developments in the theory of Absolute and Comparative Advantage. Now, many musicians are multitalented, dabbling into fields far outside of music and still making impressive achievements. Brian Eno, for instance, is not only a musician, but a visual artist, speaker, and businessman, and has been fairly successful in all these endeavors. Not so with us Half Past Twos!! Seriously, have you ever seen David try to draw something? I have (ah "Barreling Along" album art). It's painful. Outside of our musical element, we are the most talentless folks you'd ever meet. But, and this is important, we are MASTERS of our musical realm. We're talking unheard of levels of Absolute Advantage. That Bhakti kid alone can shred on more musical instruments than I can name. If David Ricardo has taught us anything, all of society has benefits to reap from the awesome Comparative Advantage of our employment in music.

Now at this point I know you're all saying to yourselves, "But Patrick! The Ricardian Model assumes perfect competition, and doesn't take into account competitive monopolies, such as yourselves!!" And this is a very valid point. Unfortunately, my response, and the exciting conclusion to this analysis will have to wait 'til next week, as I'm out of time.

I'm sure you all THOROUGHLY enjoyed the time we have spent together, and closely followed along with every word. So be sure to come back next week for "The Economics of Half Past Two: Consumer Theory and 'It's About Time': Part II"; same bat-time same bat-channel.

Seeya kids,
Patrick

cupcakes.

i totally forgot to blog yesterday on my day (wednesday)! well, actually i remembered but then on my way home from band practice last night, i pulled out of the parking lot and noticed that my car felt funny. i pulled over and discovered a flat tire... YUCK! no one was picking up their phones so i called AAA to come help me change it. i would have attempted to change it myself but i was in a bad neighborhood at midnight; didn't think it was a good idea... now i have to buy some new tires (its about time for a whole new set) with money that i definitely do not have. oh life!

so my friend and i tried to see kylie minogue the other night. i spent a pretty penny on tickets (i deserved them!) and got dressed up cute to go. but after that part, i really had some bad luck. first i could not find StubHub in downtown LA! we were so lost. i think we passed it like 5 times before we made it into the parking structure. then we forgot to print out directions from where we were in LA to the Hollywood Bowl (...idiots). when we finally got there i couldn't find an open parking lot. we drove around for 15 minutes when i finally waved down one of the lot guys.

"where can i park?" i asked
"there are all full," he said, "and the show is over in 15 minutes so there isnt really any time for you to park and get to the Bowl."

WHAT?! we totally missed the show... there goes $135... instead we went bar hopping in Hollywood. it ended up being a lot of fun!! way to turn the situation around.

i want a cupcake.

Ode To Sound Guys

One of the less appreciated members of any musical group is the sound guy. After doing JavaSka for just short of a year, I really started to develop an appreciation for all the abuse sound engineers get put through. People will spill all sorts of drinks on your cables and equipment, spit in your microphones, complain about the mix, and demand to know why everything is taking so long.

But the funny thing is, after not doing sound JavaSka for a while...I kinda miss it. Weird, but there is certain satisfaction in knowing that without your contribution the band would sound like a really loud amp and lots of buried horns.

So please sincerely thank the sound guy after your next show and no, I don't have any updates on the JavaSka Live compilations.

New Videos...

New Videos are coming eventually. New gear is gonna take some playing with. New Half Past Two Songs. New directions? Wait and see.

Everyday is Sunday!

Well it's Sunday, which means of course it's Country Dave day! Woo! Blogging! Good times!

It's October again which means it's time for me to start getting super depressed. It's not the cold weather, it's not the clouds rolling in, nope, a bunch of my favorite bands are throwing a huge party in Gainesville and I can't go. Oh well, maybe I'll save up and head that way next year (I say this every year and it has yet to happen, stupid awesome fest!). I could just pretend and throw my own one man fest, but something tells me throwing on a Jawbreaker shirt, getting really drunk and bumping "Bastards of Young" just isn't the same, damn.

We're writing again, which is getting kind of hectic. Where is the halfway point between Minus the Bear, Def Leppard, Chicago, and the entire Lookout! catalog, TUNE IN AND FIND OUT!

Alright I'm going to go write some words to the aforementioned songs, toodles.

xoxo,

Dave

Keeping The Scene Alive + New Bloggage

Hello, Internet! We're starting this new thing where each of the band members have a specific day to Blog, and MYDAY is FRIDAY, ha.
Last night I was out in Canoga Park @ the scotland yard, checkin out my buddies band, called the Simple Citizens, they're a sick Reggea / hip-hop band. Then I wake up about 20 minutes ago to find out that Thom Yorke and Flea are playing a show tonight at the Echoplex, which is right down the street from my house. Ofcourse it sold out in 30 seconds and tix are now going for 3,000$ on Ebay. Now getin' tix to see Minus the Bear in Nov.

I think everyone should start going to more shows and supporting Local bands. We could help stimulate the music scene, and help more new bands get off the ground. There are a lot of free shows these days if you look. Detroit Bar or La Cave down in OC, and Spaceland, Silverlake lounge, and the Echo always have great bands in LA. If you're in a band go support your friends bands. Everyone will start seeing a full house more often! My 2 cents..
Everyone Have a Great Weekend! Peace, CurtyTron

October 1st, 2009 - Tara

I want to live my dreams so badly that I refuse to get enough sleep, hoping that being awake will somehow instantly become a walking sleep. I love singing. I get so much joy out of singing! I'm very much a music idiot; I don't feel like I know a thing about it, but I like that other people feel so attached to it. I like hearing others say that that music is what makes them tick, it's what gets them up, puts them to sleep, makes them dance, etc. I truly appreciate that about musicians, I'm supremely jealous of that! All I know to do is READ about what being/becoming a musician is about. Maybe I need some music lessons. Something besides my vocal lessons. *le sigh*

Currently Listening to: The Noisettes - Don't Upset the Rhythm

and currently leaving for work. bah...

I never work on Wednesdays!

I worked today, which I never do. I really wanted to go to Disneyland this weekend so I switched with someone. I love Disneyland :) No one shops on Wednesdays...



These are my beautiful friends, Jamie and Megan. I got to work with both of them today! I asked them if they wanted to be a part of my blog and... and here they are! Work is so much better when you get to be with people you get along with. SOOOOO much better.



I went to Subway for lunch today where I saw a "large" man with his fly down. I was so sad for him! He was one of those religious missionary guys that stand on the sidewalk and ask for money. They always look like sick, homeless men, so everyone just walks right by them. But I started thinking about how his pants zipper had probably been down for hours and no one had told him. How could he ask for peoples' donations with undone pants?? Greg thought I was being silly for wanting to tell him to examine his zipper, but I really hoped that someone would tell me if I was in that situation! So I told him. He was really grateful and I felt really good about it. DO NICE THINGS FOR STRANGERS! Seriously :)



Help me name my goldfish! He needs a name really bad. Ok I'm off to band practice! Rant over :)