Tennisman's Wharf

Intra Multi-blog Sequence Note

2006-01-22T18:21:00.000-08:00

So I'm starting to get ready for my new band this semester. It's called DISCOVERY, and all I can say right now is that it's gonna be very awesome, and there will be lots of synths, and hopefully lots of sick synth solos. I've been looking back to the 80's for inspiration, and I've gotten really into Steve Winwood. Now this might be old news to some of you, but I got to talking with a friend, Shelley, who told me that Winwood got a couple really awesome vocalists to sing harmonies on the album "Back in the High Life". James Taylor is singing harmonies at the end of the titular track, and Chaka Khan wails out some back up vocals in "Higher Love".

POST WINTER-BREAK-- BLOGS RENASCENT, w/ KYLE'S LASERDISC REDIVIVUS

2006-01-15T18:56:00.000-08:00

Winter break is now over, I'm back at school, and after seeing many of my colleages in the blogosphere showing renewed vim in their desire to create, or no, produce, I felt enough pressure to post again.

I don't have cable in my house at school, so all of the wild boyz, next, cosby show, beavis and butthead and room raiders reruns I was catching up on over winter break, sadly won't be a part of my life at school. But thanks to kyle and his hip family, who hopped on the laserdisc train so fast (fast enough to buy 40 or so movies on the format before it became unprofitable to produce them), that we have a new source of seriously awesome entertainment in syracuse.

Most of you probably know what a laserdisc is, maybe from a friend's post-hippie domestique dad (see internet vibes archives)("it's called... a laserdisc..."), or maybe you were like me... they had them in your chemistry class in high school, and you watched some seriously 'cool' early 90's style science videos. Looks like a hunk of junk right?!

WRONG!

As for chem, imagine watching one of those slide shows in 7th grade biology class, except instead of something sounding like boards of canada, or tangerine dream (more later), theres some muzak keyboard jam, and, of course its in real-time rather than the slide show.

In any case, the laserdisc, which was released in 1978, is intended, of course for movies. But the great part about it is that they are way higher def. than VHS, and they're analog. Thats right, the laserdisc uses frequency modulation to encode the movie, and the soundtracks can be either analog or dolby digital surround. GO FIGURE!

So there were a lot of sweet music laserdiscs released. In our house we've got

Paul Simon:

and Chick Corea (sans keytar) and Gary Burton

But there are hundreds of others (Genesis, Talking Heads, Blondie, etc.)

But what's even more entertaining to me than seeing how many wrong notes Chick Corea can shrug off... (j/k I know he really meant to play it that way), are the classic soundtracks to the classic-or-not movies.

Risky Business, starring a young Tom Cruise has a partially original soundtrack by Tangerine Dream. I NEVER KNEW THAT! The opening scene of the movie is a dream sequence, where Cruise's character, Joel, finds a naked babe in the neighbor's shower. Because of the soundtrack, along with the delicately spoken, but slightly monotonous narration, I was totally taken back to that ethereal biology slide show vibe. I was blown away.

In the middle of the second side (laserdiscs usually have two sides, sometimes "3" or even "4"), Joel's call-girl-turned-girlfriend, Lana, convinces Joel that they should try having sex "on a real train." So right when they're about to do it there's some weird old man staring at them. Enter Phil Collins (on the soundtrack). "In the Air Tonight" plays right at the most pumped up part, the not so sick but super pumped up fill, and they throw the old man out of the train, and finally get to do it. Again, I was blown away.

This post is taking longer than I thought...

Next Post: American Gigolo, Flashdance.

Happy T-giving

2005-11-25T20:49:00.000-08:00

Happy t-giving...

A few things I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving:

I have a few new links on the list; Check them out!

-You can hear a short edit of the song I've been working on in Newhouse Studio 3 on Lance Berzerk's myspace page. Its called 'what did i do (edit)'. In the next week or so, I hope to put up a rough cut of the new version. THEY'RE MIXING IT IN 5.1!!!!

-Some awesome hip-hop: L'homme Run.

-And and awesome Ep, that I was lucky enough to work on this summer with Andrei Padlowski.

Also, the raw footage of Vampire Weekend, a movie that I made with a bunch of dudes, has been recovered. Its about a dude who's dad gets killed by vampires and tells his son to avenge his death, by killing "AS MANY OF THEM AS... POSSIBLE!" Walcott, the son and main character battles one vampire ON THE B-BALL COURT! Editing has begun by Ezra, and there are some MUST-SEE stills up on his blog, internet vibes.

My Drive-By Experience

2005-11-22T13:33:00.000-08:00

Before I begin, I think I should lay down THE FACTS:

First of all, Syracuse is a city; a normal, dangerous city. Not a particularly dangerous city, perhaps, but like most cities (except for Amherst, NY apparently) Syracuse is not a city in which you feel great about walking by yourself after dark. According to the FBI, in 2003, Syracuse fell somewhere between New York and Philadelphia for violent crimes (about 300 per 100,000 people).

But I have to say, from living in the city, I would assume much worse. Besides the fact that Syracuse University sends an email to me everytime there is a mugging or robbery in my neighborhood:

(the weekend of halloween there were atleast 7 armed robberies, and one kid was pistol whipped! The next week there were more state troopers and straight up cops on my block then there had been probably on my whole street the entire year)

I've heard plenty of stories from friends living in more dangerous parts of the city too: Desira told me about seeing some violent crime going down in her parking lot, involving a baby! Also, kids have been shot at, and apparently, someone was robbed on the actual quad of the campus last thursday. I could go on and on, really... Shit! THIS PLACE IS SCARY!

Personally, I've been hit by eggs, water balloons, etc.; my bike was smashed last year as I sat unknowingly in the Library.

People have various defenses/weapons that they think might work too:

-My friend Stone never walks at night without a full cup of coffee.. less than likely that someone would target a dude that's 6'5 to begin with, but if it'll get him to class...

-Once I was on my way to a Logic review sesh at night, and when I closed the door, the knob came off. I carried it to campus.

-Desira runs

Which brings me to my next point...

MY DRIVE-BY EXPERIENCE:

Last night I was walking home alone after having dinner at Stone/Caro/John/DJ's house. They live at the bottom of a huge hill, and over the top of the hill is my house, the dogg house. Anyway I usually run up that hill to stay in shape, and just because it takes too long to walk up, but last night I was too tired, and full of mushroom soup to do any sprinting up hills. About half way up the hill, I noticed a car, some oldsmobile or something, going suspiciously slowly down the hill that people usually do atleast 45mph down. I should have known something was up, but I'm much too confident in my own luck to act on suspicion. I immediately thought of the ridiculousness of the idea of a DRIVE-BY where I was the target. "That would be too crazy!" I thought. And just when I walked into the middle of a driveway, where there was no protective railing...

-click-

-pssst-

CRACK!

The only words that could come out of my mouth were pathetic,

"Hooo, shit!"

-I've been hit, WTF?! My leg! What is it... BB's? Wasn't a bullet... Doesn't hurt like BB's... Strange-

I looked for the car, which strangely enough continued its confusingly slow pace, to get a liscense plate, but the car was too far, and the thought of getting hit in the face as I chased after it was enough to make me cry with self-pity.

I looked at the back of my right leg and saw it was covered in some black ink...

-Are they going so slow to turnaround?-

A slingshot?

-Fuck, whats this car?!-

Some kind of air rifle?

Bingo!

Paintball! I was hit by a paintball, in the back of the leg.

But I wasn't angry, I was just confused. Why would they pick some random ass dude to do that too? Why in the leg? They had pretty good aim... Why so slow afterwards? maybe to hear if I would curse at them... Why didn't they shout anything at me afterwards?

I got home and was so confused, I didn't even understand the joke that my roommate Adam made.

"Jeez man, maybe it was an octopus."

"What the hell's an octopus?" I said, not even really listening to either of us.

"What do you mean, Wes?"

-Shit, I have to pee-

It came to me as I was in the bathroom:

My leg: I'm glad they didn't go for the head, or fuck up my jacket... Just a bunch of idiot kids.
Paintball? Such precision! Monday? 7:45 PM?: Probably some local teenagers in a shitty gray cutlass, maybe somebody's dad's. Probably not students at SU.

Doesn't seem so bad now...

Mid-Winter '03-'04

2005-11-17T00:07:00.000-08:00

I couldn't sleep. Sitting at my desk I stared into a black lamp above a pile of paper, one stick of Burt's Bees Wax, and earplugs across the computer desk from 103 cents I ment to exchange with a crips bill. I couldn't help but think of earlier that day.

I heard a friend proclaim facetiously, "having fun is so much fun!"
I ached for a more serious sense of humor...

My computer screen turned off. The screen saver (as it still does today), read "Insert text here." I'd never told anyone that I had changed it back to this after a friend had once done just that.
"I love ERK."
It remained until three and a half hours after she left for New Jersey on a sunday morning. She never saw my computer, or my screen saver again.

The stereo let out a click, and at that moment I realized the coffee I drank at 9 PM must have kept me up. It was a depressing thought... The feeling that I had did not come from anything meaningful; not from my eerily lonely walk home alone in the middle of the normally busy main street of Syracuse, not from the start of the winter or the snow itself, not even from the 6 minutes I stood still in the middle of the intersection closest to my dorm watching the lights change, uninterrupted by automobiles.

I became tired and remembered about a calculus exam the next day, and my ill preparation for it. The emptiness I felt was quickly replaced with fiery frustration.

I counted the hours I'd be able to sleep...
"Not good... for getting over a cold..."

2005-11-10T12:17:00.001-08:00

Well its been a long time, hasn't it...

A number of things have happened since my last posting:

1. Rusty James, my fish:

Has still not gotten back to normal(he's been spitting food out any time i give him any), but he's strong, and has proven to me that he will not die, even though he doesn't eat the food that I give him.

2. I sold a t-shirt:

3. Also, as you can see from that pic, it is now fall, which means, of course, that winter is coming soon. Soon ice will cover from Onondaga lake to the highest crest on Clarendon St. Snow will illuminate the entirety of Syracuse City, and I will wake up every morning with the mass bi-daily migration of crows from the valley where the dead rest to the tops of the trees outside my window.

4. I've been decorating my room:

I found this gem at books and memories, the awesomest bookstore in the whole city (I imagine). Kate Bush Ca. 1985. What bookstore has that?! Also, some really awesome 45's:
a. breakfast club
b. berlin
c. elton john
d. toto

5. I just cleaned the drain with my roommate, Kyle.

6. The dog house (504 Clarendon St.) Had a few visiting dawgs last weekend, Ezra of Internet Vibes, and New-kid-on-the-block, Andrei P.

7. I ate lots of pizza
a. Tonight (1 slice sicilian, Johnny's Pizza)
b. Friday night (5 slices, some black olives, Dominoes, with visiting + local dawgs: des, pete)
c. Had lots of brie on nice bread on monday, and afterwards, I felt like i had just eaten pizza.
d. Probably will eat pizza tomorrow, clint says...

8. I learned its hard to make lists on blogspot...

9. Registered for classes next semester, including:
a. Tennis
b. boring...

10. Gonna go to maine tomorrow to shoot the rest of Kyle's film, working title: 2-B.

11. I have a radio show.... NOW!

werw.syr.edu

be seeing you...

In your eyes

2005-10-27T20:17:00.000-07:00

The light the heat in your eyes... i am complete I'm still in the midst of adapting my v-drums picture to t-shirt via silk-screen:

The recording sesh went well, we passed the doobie to cool down (j/k i don't smoke weed), then jammed out to some ethereal synths courtesy of the Korg Poly-61.

Apparently the beats that my buddy Clint and I made were a little too *extreme* for the guys in the booth. They had been recording local punk rock bands for a few weeks, and couldn't tell what we were going for.

"The whole song is based on subtle differences," I said, when the guys in the booth said how they couldn't tell the difference between the chorus and the verse... I was trying to emulate Talking Heads in almost every way.

This tuesday we'll have finished the recording...

E. COLI FEVER!!!!

2005-10-24T15:46:00.000-07:00

Early Autumn Bacteria:

Last weekend we had a water advisory in Syracuse:

The Onondaga County Health Department has issued a boil water order until further notice for the southeastern portion of the City of Syracuse, which includes both Syracuse University's North Campus and South Campus. The order has been issued due to test results received today identifying the presence of E-coli bacteria in water samples.

My house was right smack in the middle of the affected area. It had been raining for a week straight, it was cold, and I had been wearing my gigantic Irish cardigan with zig-zags on the sides.

I sat on the blue chair in my kitchen and waited for the water to boil one morning/late afternoon. Not that having to boil water before you drink it is so devastating -they have to do that everyday in some places- but I still couldn't help but feeling like the world is in a state of proto-apocalypse. Ezra recently explored this vibe in more depth in his blog 'internet vibes', so I'll leave the 'vibing' to him.

But more corporally, my friend John was hit pretty hard by some sickness, however, he claimed to have gastroenteritis (a food-poisoning-type illness that I experienced 3 years ago after eating some 'cheese sticks'. The symptoms are suspiciously similar to poisoning caused by e.coli), and another acquantaince claimed to have gotten sick, although I don't believe him.

I just barely made it out of Syracuse alive. I hopped on the luggage level on some bus that was leaving for Manhattan last friday morning, and saw some awesome art over the weekend. I hit up the Neue Gallery on saturday, and checked out the work of Egon Sheile, whom I really wish I could have met.

But now the weekend has come to a close, and I must return to work, music, and sleeping.

Tomorrow I will go to newhouse studios to record a crazier, more full length version of a new wave song I wrote last winter...

...I'll post the rough cuts later this week

And finally, I fixed the comments, so that you can comment even if you dont have a blog.

Dark...Dark in the Daytime

2005-10-16T22:37:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went on a trip back to the windmills with my friend Desira... It was pouring, as it has been this entire week, but we had thrown on some non-dress-uppy clothes, and we spent most of the time lying on the wet grass. I looked up at the giant windmills and imagined that at the zenith of the blades' slice, was a basketball hoop...

It was dark in the sky, and really, really green on the earth.
'If we were on the moon, we could probably dunk that high.' I'm sure Desira would have agreed if I had said it outloud.

The rest of the week I kept thinking about how many space-men could fit on a t-shirt. Horozontally, and vertically.

Last week I finished this shirt...

There's 12 on this one.
3 rows of 4
4 columns of 3

but I think I can fit more.

Imagine a stack of space-men high enough to reach the top of a windmill.

I'M AN OR-DI-NA-RY GUY

2005-10-06T22:39:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Tennisman's Wharf

...this is me:
My roommate, Kyle, took this picture yesterday afternoon. Kyle and I had been cleaning up the gigantic shrub in our backyard, and I found the vine from which I made this sculpture. It had fallen from the fence between my house and our neighbor Dick's house. Dick is a nice guy with two dogs, and a funny voice...we dont know his girlfriend's name, so we call her Mrs. Dick. Thanks for the pic, Kyle!

My name is Wes, but friends often call me 'wes-man'. I live in Syracuse, NY where I'm studying to become a windmill technician. J/k, but seriously, I study physics, and I'd love to work on helping the world move towards renewable energy, even if it WERE through being a technician on windmills.

Up here in Syracuse, we have some serious windpower being generated, at Fenner windfarm. One of the biggest windfarms in America:

Thos are my buddies: Clint and Stone. Can you tell how big those windmills are? Well, they are very big... over 300ft tall big; all 20 of them.

Anywho...

What I really wanted to say was that I make t-shirts up at Syracuse, like the one that my friend Ezra showed a picture of in his awesome blog just earlier tonight. Props to Ezra and his awesome blog: INTERNET VIBES. I have a link on my page, so check it out!

I'll be periodically posting my t-shirts, music, and various art on this page... If you want a shirt, or 'just wanna talk?', send me an email:

sirmiles@gmail.com

-wes man

Welcome to Tennisman's Wharf

2005-10-05T10:50:00.000-07:00

Wed, Oct. 5 2005

Welcome to Tennisman's Wharf

Wes Miles