"I'm in trouble. I'm always in trouble."

Scratch that; I am trouble.

So, while I was being troublesome on the internets here, I came across a band that I've really grown to like in the 20 or so minutes that I've been listening to them. They call themselves I Fight Dragons and their EP is entitled Cool Is Just a Number.

Purchase: CD or iTunes

Or, instead of shelling out your hard-earned cash, you can, for a limited time, simply visit their myspace, join their mailing list, and magically a link to a free digital copy of the album shows up in your inbox. Therefore, even if they had happened to suck, at least they'd still be cool.

Fortunately, they don't suck, but their music leads me to believe that they might not actually be cool. It's pop and it's rock, it's got it's good times and it's bad times, it's got grooves and it's catchy as hell, what with it's loud drums, driving guitars, and numerous NES samples. Yes. Yes. My friends, it is Nerd Rock.

But, like I said, it's catchy as hell and that's more than enough to give this disc a chance. Once you get past the 14-second intro, the next three and three-quarter songs are similar to most anything you'd hear on rock/pop radio, except, you know, showcasing actual talent and musicianship. That leaves you at the end of track 5, No One Likes Superman Anymore, and it's complete 180, somber turn with the lyrics;

'Cause no one wants to know the man who stands for things we've outgrown
He's too noble and too blind

Yeah. Caught me off my guard too. It definitely made the disc a win for me and the last track, With You, is a very sweet ballad... with numerous NES samples. In the end, the music is quirky and a joy to listen to, but when you top it off with a singer who can actually carry a tune (And, not an auto-tune, Spirit) it makes for a package that is very easy to recommend.

See also: Motion City Soundtrack

Post brought to you with the help of Second Wave Music: Chicago's Best Unsigned and Independent Music. Highlights include:

Athens (Who put on a fantastic and incredibly deafening show at Chicago St. this past Saturday)

Calvin Marty and the Sunken Ship

Jessica Sonner

The Rikters

And a special mention for Triumph and Parade who are some former classmates whose current practice space is next door to my house.

Yeah. You wish you were me and you can be, I'm selling myself cheap these days.

When it gets like this, like this right here, the only sense I'll have is the sense of touch.

"Can't they just pick and choose, to see what's best?"

This will be the second time I've mentioned this city and the second time after I took a trip there, but I have an idea. One along the lines of Baconnaise, one they can have... for a price.

Bourbonnais, IL shall henceforth be known not as Bearbonnais, but instead as the birthplace for the idea of the greatest condiment to ever satisfy both the connoisseur crowd and the alcoholic crowd - Bourbonnaise.

It damn near writes itself. But, don't be mistaken, I am talking about a fully alcoholic, 21 and over to purchase, no eating and driving type of spread here. This is an idea that can not be pansified or watered-down, it must be made and released in all of its full glory, and constructed with only the finest bourbons.

It'll be the greatest idea ever, until the great Swine-Cirrhosis epidemic of 2012, but we'll just blame the city for that, it's their damn fault for spawning this stupid idea in the first place.

The sun shined upon me for the first time in months and everything basked in the most beautiful red to ever grace mortal eyes.

"For $7.50, this drink better s**k and f**k me!"

I have a question; What do you think is going on in this picture here?

The problem with the answer is, besides the fact that I don't know it, the book that it comes from doesn't explain it either. It's from something called a tract, this one entitled No Fear and it's published by Chick Publications, a company working with Protestant fundamentalists. And, if you take it with a grain of salt, it's got to be about one the funniest pamphlets on suicide that I've ever read.

But, not the funniest thing I've ever read... not by a long shot.

That's because they've made other ones, on other topics, ranging from homosexuality to Halloween to the Catholic church or "Great Whore" as they like to call it. Each one I come across, with the plot holes, historical inaccuracies, and outright lies, proves to be more entertaining than the last and now, thanks to the magic of the Internet and chick.com (Who clearly aren't in on the joke) I can now provide you with links to not only some of my favorites ones, but every one they've ever made.

Oh. Yes. Every. Damn. One.

Happy Hour: Drinking, heart conditions, and why you should always send a dying woman's young daughter into seedy bars to find her daddy, especially when the dying woman is dying.

Are Roman Catholics Christians?: A lesson on the Catholic Church and how it's Anti-American, related to those evil ancient Egyptians and teaches us that, in one sentence, we don't know how long purgatory lasts, and in the next, learn that Popes have been there for centuries.

Boo!: "@!!!**! I forgot my chainsaw!" Makes a lot less sense when it's Satan talking, and he's wearing a Jack-o-Lantern on his head, and has a pet snake on a leash. Yeah. It's about Halloween.

Hard Times (Adapted for Black Audiences): I guess that means racist cartoons and very little reading. Also see: The True Path (Adapted Especially for Native American Readers)

Baby Talk: Starts with redneck wife beating and ends in an argument about abortion, probably wrote itself.

One day these things will be collector items, so, make sure to keep your eyes open anytime you visit a store that a Protestant fundamentalist would shop at. (Actually, that probably narrows it down to just Wal*Mart.)

"I'm no devil, but it depends on who you ask."

Something simple before work here; Mark June 9th down as a date for opening your wallets. It's the official release date for Aimee Allen's new album, A Little Happiness.

For those of you unfamiliar with her, Aimee's been around the block, so to speak. Originally a solo artist with a punkish vibe, she was ready to drop her first album, I'd Start a Revolution if I Could Get Up in the Morning (Free Zip Download Here), with tracks produced by Mark Ronson, in 2003 on the Elektra label. She had a music video for the title track and was even doing a promotional tour of Universities for a music network (This is how I came across her, thank you Western Illinois University), if this were any other industry, things would have seemed to be starting off great.

Too bad she got into the music business.

Elektra goes bust, her album gets shelved, and she, for arguments sake, drops of the face of the earth (Actually, she was acting, scoring a part on MTV's Undressed), probably never to be heard from again. Thankfully, she found love.

That came in the form of Scott Russo of Unwritten Law fame, and their often turbulent love affair produced one of my favorite albums, Scott & Aimee's, Sitting in a Tree. Here we still see signs of Aimee's rock and rebellious side, sometimes even turned up a notch with the addition of Mr. Russo. But, some tracks showcase a mellow, more island feel to Aimee's repertoire, really letting her voice shine through and really adding to a much better album experience.

However, the album goes pretty much nowhere, but Aimee doesn't. Her song from her first album, Stripper Friends gets reworked by Tila Tequila for her God-awful dating show, and, on a brighter side, she gets a song, Cooties, on the soundtrack for the movie Hairspray.

And, then it gets worse.

While working on this new solo project, Aimee was assaulted in a random gang attack outside of an L.A. recording studio, putting what seemed like a permanent halt to the record. But, not for this girl.

She completely reevaluates her life completely changes her sound, producing an acoustic guitar driven, reggae inspired album that includes some old songs reworked, some brand new ones, and a fantastic cover of Sublime's Santeria. (Available for listen via her MySpace)

Regardless of the success of this album, the story behind it should be more than enough for people to stand up and take listen. So, you. Yeah. You. Take listen, you shouldn't be disappointed.

So... this is the future.

Yes. I've finally moved on from an old HP desktop, what with its 60gb hard drive and mind-numbing 128mb of RAM. My future, it comes in the form of the HP tx2627cl Tablet Notebook.

Oh, sure. It was a display model, but I'm good enough with this crap that it doesn't worry me at all. Besides, the 12.1" swivel touch screen, 320gb hard drive, and 3 gigs of memory, more than make up for the purchase price. Which, by the f'n way, was only $500 bucks, that's nearly half off the original, so I couldn't pass this up.

In other news, it's baseball season! Yay. I now have two weeks before the White Sox piss me off so much that I can't watch them.

Righteous Hillbillies - Soon.

Deconstructing Jim - R.I.P.

Hope the reunion goes soemthing like this:

Some have been saying that the devil has passed on, but has he?

The answer to that question shall probably be answered in song tonight, for it is St. Patrick's Day you truckers.

Since it's an official holiday in my head I'm going to keep this short and tell you about the realization I had while watching the weather channel.

I realized, thanks to official record keepings, that to prepare for March 17th in Chicago you have to prepare for temperatures that range from 0 to 74 degrees Fahrenheit. Those are the record temperatures for today.

And, you wonder why we drink.

Kind of a drag...

It wasn't a good day, thankfully St.-my middle name Day is fast approaching, so I have no worries about it getting better.

Unlike the person in the story located here.

Don't feel like reading? Fine, I'll sums it up for ya.

Man + Sex toy + Saber Saw Blade + Woman = I'm never having a sexual experience in Maryland.

Everything, including the medevac ride I assume, was consensual, anything going forward, I assume, will rip the sutures across state lines. There's a lesson in all of this, and one not related to anything any of us could consider a bad day, and not just because she was getting laid.

Probably something to do with not being stupid... or something.