Killing The Blues – Video

We’re twenty minutes into the “Invention of Everything Else” recording session when we start hearing a loud, arrhythmic clicking sound in our headphones. Travis stops rolling. “Ok,” he says. “Who’s got the bum cable?” Chris and I aren’t plugged in. Tony protests. “I checked everything before we started,” he says. “Battery?” Chris and I are…

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Superman In Reverse

That was some serious Clark Kent shit. I left the Santa Monica office at 5:43, pointed my Nissan towards Temescal Gateway Park (as I’ve done so many times before), and reasoned with myself the entire way there. “If I get there by 6:30,” I thought, “I can run ’til 7:00. That’ll leave me an hour…

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Inventing Everything Else

Nine songs in eight hours. Not bad. Whether it was nerves, or a lack of sleep (probably both), I was sick to my stomach all day. I dashed out of the office around five o’clock, and hopped the NR. Stepping out of the subway at Prince & Broadway is a little like stepping into a…

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Breathe In (Live) – Video

Like I said to Tony before the everyone showed up for rehearsal, “If you’re gonna’ be ambitious in a big way, you gotta’ be prepared to fail in a big way.” I’ll be honest. It wasn’t our best rehearsal ever. Which is only slightly alarming given that we’re recording a new album tomorrow. I don’t…

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Giving Up The Ghost (Live) – Video

There’s a lot of hope in the Music Building. The place is semi-legendary, at least to those of us who grew up watching Behind The Music. The 42,000-square-foot building located on Eighth Avenue between 38th and 39th — catty-corner from The Port Authority Bus Terminal — is eleven stories of rehearsal space: 70, 350 square…

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Oscar Awesomeness

My day job includes oversight of MTV.com Movies (hence last month’s sojourn to the Sundance Film Festival). Our movies coverage was an outgrowth of our news. Chris Connelly’s “The Big Picture” had long since established MTV News’ presence in the movies space on television in the late ’90s, as MTVNews.com was hitting a stride in…

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Here Comes Your Man – Video

In the fall of my sophomore year, I hung three fliers that read: Seeking: Bass, Guitar, Drums Influences: REM, U2, Police Call: Ben 315-412-8735 The advert was posted on three key bulletin boards on campus: The Schine Student Center, Crouse College of Music, and School of Visual & Performing Arts.The boards were selected for their…

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