southern says...

It's been far too long since this site has been updated. What's happened since my last post? I was married, had a son, and began a career in Home Automation Technology. I got a tattoo of the belt buckle below on my arm. I went to Cuba, South Africa, and Jamaica. Its been a wild ride, and I'm ready to start talking about it again. Stay tuned.

posted by andrew
8:33AM on Monday, April 5, 2010

One day back in college I saw a slide in an art history class of a beautiful metalwork belt buckle. I sketched it in my notes and had it on the brain for years. I remember it being the most beautiful, intricate piece of art I had ever seen. I even contacted my old professor to see if he could remember what it was with a brief description. Nothing. Then last weekend, Rena and I went to the Musuem of Natural History and I FOUND IT. It is a piece from the Vermand Treasure circa 400AD, discovered in 1885. 1885? Yes, doc, 1885.

posted by andrew
5:33pm PM on Wednesday, November 2, 2005

When Michael Jackson was first accused of child molestation, I stood by him. I believed he was innocent from the start and made a t-shirt with his picture on it. As the trial began, I took note of the prosecution's weak case given the accusers lies under oath and previous lawsuits against other high-profile defendants. Did everyone else miss the fact that this family had already once extorted money from a major company in 1997? I didn't and I continued to defend Michael Jackson to everyone I know. Mean while, everyone I know had already hung Michael at the stake, positive that he was guilty of touching a little child for no other reason than Michael Jackson looks weird and hangs with kids. It's a little strange, sure, and he definitely has had a lot of plastic surgery, but he is not a child molester. And then, BANG, early last week he is found innocent on all charges. So right here I get to say to everyone, I TOLD YOU SO. (also, another side note: the movie Almost Famous sucks balls)

posted by andrew
12:33pm PM on Monday, June 20, 2005

I can't believe I wasted an hour of my life watching the Oscars yesterday. What a sad showing, even Chris Rock was terrible. I watched Cops instead for the last two hours, at least that was entertaining. If I had to pick a perfect way to cap off my least favorite month, it would have to be those Oscars - everyone involved should take too many sleeping pills and call it day. I'm officially over hollywood. But I'm still stunned by Senlma's boobs in HDTV.

posted by andrew
1:55pm PM on Monday, February 28, 2005

Just got back from Richmond, VA where RANA recorded a five song demo at Sound Of Music Studios. We had three days, and we spent them well. The first day we set up together in the main studio and jammed for a while. Then we played our songs back to back, like a like set, while our engineer John Morand sat in the control room and recorded the band. We did a few passes of the set and took a break for dinner. Afterwards we picked the best versions of each tune from the various recordings and went to bed. The next day Matt cut his vocals like a champ, I added a few, and so did Scott. The rest of the night, at night, we ended early, ordered pizza and watched Braveheart together. The third day John mixed all five tunes in an amazing fifteen hour stretch. We've all come to trust John with the mixing and we really have little to add to his vision, except when we're going for something very particular. This recording yeilded some of our best work yet and also served to show me just how slammin thing band has actually become. We're playing so well together now and our music is always progressing. There were really weird paintings on the wall of the studio...

posted by andrew
10:32 PM on Sunday, February 27, 2005

Today is beautiful girlfriend Rena's birthday. I'd like to take this (semi) public forum to wish her a great day and let her know I'll be back home soon. I love you baby.

posted by andrew
2:00 PM on Thursday, February 24, 2005

This The Gates project in Central Park is pretty cool. I went to see it on the first day with my parents, and it was filled with people, all smiling, waving and walking. Children & parents, lovers and friends all out for a stroll to see something different. I could not see how anyone would have a problem with dressing up the park during the winter – in fact I hope it snows during this last week, so we can see the orange against the white snow. I took my Segway up there the other morning. That was great, there were no people and I had the park, and The Gates all to myself, a beautiful ride.

posted by andrew
11:34 PM on Saturday, February 19, 2005

A few days ago I saw The Rundown starring The Rock & Stifler from American Pie. This was a surprisingly good movie, I must say. It is a total 80s madcap, adventure/action clip, and The Rock is mesmerizing. Netflix that shit, because youll love it. Its also playing this week on HBO.

posted by andrew
2:43 PM on Wednesday, February 16, 2005

In the past, I have said that the fall and winter months are my least favorite here in the city. But this year I am announcing a new approach, and with it a new attitude towards cold weather. This year I look forward to bundling up. I eagerly anticipate smell of moist leaves on the ground, and the bitter snap in the air minutes before a snowfall.

I hope this new philosophy will serve me better than my old one. That was more of a ‘stay-in-bed, and watch-TV-all-day, cursing-the-world’ type approach, which made me depressed and irritable the day the temperature fell below 60 degrees until May.

Like the caterpillar changes into a butterfly, I will alter my person, this season and begin to enjoy the fall and winter in new ways. Anyone know a good sledding hill in Manhattan? Tell me.

posted by andrew
2:43 PM on Monday, November 8, 2004

For my money, the best show on television right now IS NOT ‘The Apprentice 2,’ but rather ‘American Chopper.’ A reality series about a father and son who build custom motorcycles for upwards of $60,000, each episode follows the commission, design, fabrication and completion of a single bike.
The basic allure of the program is watching these skilled mechanics put together a cool looking bike while explaining the process to the camera. Also, the father, Paul Sr. fights with his son, Paul Jr., constantly. He’s always pressing his son to meet deadlines and work harder, and Paul Jr. just lets it roll off his back. The two of them have such a unique way of communicating with each other. They act as thought the cameras aren’t even there which makes for great TV.

posted by andrew
2:43 PM on Sunday, September 26, 2004

Today I trekked around mid-town Manhattan on a Segway. These things aren’t illegal yet on the city streets and sidewalks, though I bet they will be by next year. It was a joy to ride, partially because it is such a cool new form of transportation with no noise or pollution, but mostly because of all the attention it gets. I must have talked with 40 people about how the Segway works, how much it costs, where I got it and so forth. People are so interested in it, it was like having the nicest car (Ferrari) and then cruising around on the sidewalk with it so people can talk to you about it.

The Segway was a one-day rental from Rena for my birthday (Sept. 9th). She arranged it with Bernard from GlideNYC.com, who leads Segway tours around the city. Bernard is the man to talk with if you want to ride a Segway before they are banned in NYC – and bring some friends because he’s got eight of them!

The Segway could be the future of transportation. Many argue that the invention doesn’t yet have a place in the city; is it meant for the sidewalk or the road? After my adventure today, my opinion is they shouldn’t be allowed on the sidewalk but perhaps permitted on the sides of the street. Eventually, on street vehicle parking could be eliminated (only in parking garages) and the resulting street width should be allotted for Segway lanes. This will both limit the amount of cars in the city and make room for this new kind of transportation.

posted by andrew
2:25 PM on Tuesday, September 14, 2004

While the rest of the country debates about the war in Iraq and how best to combat terrorism (these are separate issues, of course) I have fallen under the spell of the infamous turkey meatball. This culinary breakthrough combines the sheer delight of the classic meatball form with the fat free turkey meat function. The result is a ‘diet’ meatball – which means you can totally eat more of them. Once drenched in tomato sauce, I would challenge anyone to tell the difference between the ground beef and the ground turkey meatball. I for one have made the switch big time.

posted by andrew
2:15 PM on Monday, September 13, 2004

For those of you who have not seen The Warriors, I urge you to do so. It is one of the coolest movies I’ve ever seen – and probably for all the wrong reasons. The movie is about a small Coney Island gang that is falsely accused of killing a rival gang leader. They are chased by other gangs and the NYPD through the boroughs of New York City returning to their home turf.

The Warriors has every element of a standard bad movie: the fearless leader, the dissenting henchmen, the ‘kid’, the love interest/whore and a pointless chase. But the artistic license that director Walter Hill took to portray New York City in the late 70’s is so extreme and off-point, that the plot and imagery works perfectly and sells itself.

They say there is going to be a remake of The Warriors with production beginning early next year. I can’t imagine it will surpass the original (what remake can?) but I’ll be interested to see how the campy world created in the first film will be interpreted by contemporary film makers.

posted by andrew
1:07 PM on Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Last night I went to the Regal Cinema at Union Square to watch Phish play their final concert on a closed circuit broadcast. This band had once meant the world to me: I went to every show I could, I met the band, I loved their music and their attitude. Between the years of ’94-’98 they were on fire every night. I started playing my own music partially because of their influence. When I stopped going to shows a few years ago, it was unclear to me who had fallen out of love in our relationship. Was I moving further towards traditional ‘rock and roll’ archetypes living/playing in NYC or were they just putting on less enthusiastic shows?

Watching Phish play their final song, The Curtain With, I tried to remember where I was when I first heard them, what song it was (Contact) and what made me decide to go see my first concert at the Mann Music Center. I’m so glad I did that. They gave me a lot of happiness, and I am only sad for those who never got to experience the whole thing – but I am certainly willing to let them go now.

posted by andrew
8:45 AM on Tuesday, August 17, 2004

This past Saturday, under a partially cloudy sky, I jumped from an airplane 2 miles above Long Island! With my girlfriend, Rena, celebrating our 6 Month Anniversary we both checked off another box on our ‘Top Ten Things To Do In Life’ list.

The experience was no less than profound. The flight up to 10,000 ft. in their beautiful silver Cessna felt full only of my nervous energy peppered with cheering from Rena. Before I knew it my girlfriend disappeared below the plane with her instructor. Within 10 seconds I was sitting at the edge of the door, looking down on patches of farmland and the Atlantic shore. And then I’m falling, very fast, with the ground growing bigger with each breath. They say it’s a 45 second freefall, though you could’ve told me afterwards that it was 2 seconds or 2 hours, time seemed to blur. And then the chute opens, POW! silence. And we begin to glide to earth. My instructor, Brian, handed me the reins of the 200 sq. ft. parachute and I steered it back toward the airstrip. The landing was quick and smooth and I met up with Rena as soon as I landed where we collapsed together in the sand.

We met some awesome people at the Long Island Skydiving Center - props go to Bryan, Joy, Brent, Jimmy, Brian and Jason – they made us feel like jumping out of a moving airplane was safe, fun and, for some at least, an everyday thing. These guys are the best in the business and THE PLACE to go if you are thinking about doing this...

posted by andrew
6:46 AM on Monday, August 09, 2004

Summer time, it’s my favorite time of year – each summer for the last ten years or so I’ve done some excellent things. I went to summer camp in Maine for three years in grade school, I worked at a day camp for another three years, then I got a summer job working with an arborist, dropping trees and hauling brush. That was the hardest work I’ve ever done. More recently, the last two summers have been spent on tour with my rock band RANA. This summer I plan on taking full advantage of this city.

An older family friend told me once that she lived in New York City solely to take advantage of all the free events offered in the summer time. She claimed it offset the high cost of living here, particularly if you go to a lot these events: movies in the park, music in the park, museums, art openings, readings, parades, festivals and carnivals. And it’s true, there are a lot of free things to do in NYC in the summer time.

Hopefully I’ll finally get a chance to check out the Ferrari exhibition in Rockefeller Center and go see a taping of Late Night with Conan O’Brien. I also plan on checking out the Hayden Planetarium, that thing is incredible, I heard David Bowie played there or owns it or something. Anyway, I bet it’s a great place to go on a Wednesday night…

posted by andrew
8:49 AM on Thursday, July 01, 2004