In All Fairness

I've been confused lately. I haven't been able to decide whether 2009 sucked as bad as I (and evidently everyone else with an internet connection) thought it did, or maybe 2006 through 2008 were so tumultuous and fucked up in general that I just couldn't get over whatever tiny hurdles came up in '09 (not that they were that tiny.. but the ones in say, 07, were way bigger.)
The thing that makes me cast this doubt is that 2009 actually had some really cool stuff for me... and I started to feel bad as I thought about this, because I'd been slagging last year and not really talking about the good things that had happened... I started to feel ungrateful.
So let me take care of that real quick...

The Things in '09 That Didn't Suck for Chris Buckridge

1.Played the same music festival as Mudhoney. Yeah, Willie Nelson was there too, but I didn't buy a Willie Nelson shirt when I was 15 and daydream about playing open air festivals with him a la the Year Punk Broke. No, that was Mudhoney.

2.Went to New Mexico with Mo and had an AMAZING time. Discovered the smell of burning pinon and how amazing the desert is in February.

3.Toured with the Ne'ers and Balthrop, AL all over the country. Saw old friends in the process. Made new ones.

4.Worked on my studio with Mike, taught myself to solder cables.

5.Got a Jazzmaster.

6.Joined the Y.

7.Saw Dinosaur Jr play more than a half dozen times, got to know Lou Barlow a little better.

I'm sure there's more stuff than that, but those are the things that pop up pretty much immediately, and I don't want to force it...
Interestingly, I noticed when I went to start this blog that the last time I felt I had anything of note to post here was pretty much exactly a year ago, doing a recap of 2008. I'm too tired to decide now whether I think that's lame or not, but I'll think about it and let you know.

2008 recap

here's some awesome dirt 2008 kicked at me, let me wipe it on you....

toured with Balthrop, Alabama, during which i got to do the following:
see the smokey mountains (AMAZING)
witness the insanity that is pigeon forge
smoke in Memphis
hear andrew vladeck read washington irving aloud
watch mike o laying about
meet awesome people
see awesome bands
hear lauren scream
a bunch of other stuff

play a sold out show a joe's pub
become better friends with jon
have an amazing time in VT
obtain not one, but two awesome new guitars
put a new ne'ers record out
have the most romantic getaways EVER with mo, to montauk
meet and work with jim smith
buy some amazing records
get more into flipper
read about witchcraft
play gigs to wonderful people
see hotchacha play

and a bunch of other stuff. i'll add to this later, but there's a basic idea...

6 something election night...

...whereupon i am struck with the urge to start showing people pictures of me as a young person. actually, i think i just want to see them for myself. see if there's a difference, if i look conspicuously older now. i feel sometimes like i have that wisened look an old dog gets when the wind blows past its nose, maybe just that we're both stubbly.
i'm not old, i know i'm not. i'm not suffering some "woah dude i'm 30 now i gotta get my act together" bologne, it's just that quitting smoking kinda left me feeling like i'd started something new in my life, or returned to something else. like i get to put the smoking person away now, like there was an angry smoking chris and now i can go back to normal.
it's obvious i'm blogging in lieu of a shrink, isn't it? sorry..
at any rate, quitting smoking, changing that thing in my life (and some other life changes of late) made me want to keep going. do something new.
of course, the sad part is i'm lazy. whoops!

Stopped

Today is day 4 of not smoking. I quit after 15 years, for my 30th birthday. So far the deprivation is hurting my muscles, playing with my head, and there's other things going on that may or may not be attributed to me getting sick as well (sinus weirdness? frequent urination?)
I dug around online today for some soup recipes, I'm pretty stoked about all that. Gonna make some vegetable stock tonight, that should make the house smell AWESOME.

Gratuitous

Every once in a bluest of moons I get the notion to prattle on about something that's not music related... or is music related, but not related to music I'm making. And by prattle on, I mean blog. Thus far, my only bloggerly venues have been either the Ne'ers blog or the blog on my MySpace page. Neither venue seemed right for a web rant on such enriching subjects as where to get good donuts, or why Sarah Palin isn't as much fun as Dick Cheney but maybe more frightening, or remember Rent A Center? No, those pages seemed like they should be reserved for little dialogues from "Chris Buckridge: Artist" (big quotes, folks, big big quotes...)

All that is changed, bros and broettes.

Sadly, we'll have to kick things off more in depth at a later date, as I honestly have nothing to say. OH, except that Cleveland has the best bands. I saw Mystery of Two and Hotchacha play tonight, two of 5 great bands that played the Exit Stencil CMJ showcase at Spike Hill in Williamsburg. Both bands blew my mind, especially Hotchacha, who this was my first times seeing. i'll have some pics to post later.