New stuff on the myspace!

Hey everyone,

Check out my myspace for the most recent tracks I've played on, including a new one with the Mike Lombardo Trio ("John Says"), and Kerri Elimelick's first single, "Years No Longer Alive For You." Enjoy!

~AR

Expectations and Resolutions for 2009.

I just thought I'd take a moment to share my thoughts and expectations about this year. I made a list of a few specific goals I'd like to accomplish this coming year:

• Continue to exercise in some way, shape, or form at least 30min a day, 5 days a week, minimum, while pursuing better health and nutrition in all areas of life.
• Spend no more than 20% of gross adjusted income on discretionary spending, while pursuing better financial spending and saving habits in general.
• Record and release one album of no fewer than eight original songs.
• Decide on an educational direction to pursue for the remainder of college and maintain a high level of academic excellence.
• Plan and execute a multi-state tour with ML3.
• Create a personal website for the distribution and advertisement of my music and drumming

Aside from these specific areas of focus, however, I think this is really a year in which I consciously need to take steps towards growth and personal development. I already have felt myself becoming a more whole and mature person over the past month or so, and am working on continuing in that direction. I'm going to be 20 in a few months, which I feel is like a watershed point for me. I need to start taking more responsibility for my own actions, financially and otherwise. I need to learn how to stay busy without overloading myself or becoming overwhelmed. I need to start implementing flow into my life in constructive manners. Now I say all this without putting pressure on myself. Having expectations of myself and putting pressure on myself are two entirely different things, and I've learned in the past several months what the difference is, and I see myself doing a lot better from here on out. I'm ready to make a positive difference in my life, and I'm starting now.

~AR

Company of Thieves

I had the privilege of seeing Company Of Thieves at the end of 2008 play an acoustic set in Indiana, and I was truly amazed by their incredible presence and earnest honesty in their performances. The drummer was only playing a cajon and crash cymbal, their guitarist had technical issues with his guitar, and the PA was faulty, but it was still the best acoustic show I've seen in a good while. Then I bought their fully instrumented album, Ordinary Riches, on iTunes.

Now, personally, there are two kinds of albums that make my jaw drop: the kind that are so musically unbelievable that I have to listen to the album at least twice before understanding what's going on (think Between The Buried And Me, Dream Theater, Coheed and Cambria, etc), and the kind that, through simplicity and sincerity, are perfect. This is the latter. Ordinary Riches gets my vote for one of the better albums released (technically re-released) so far this year.

Check out a free download of their single, Oscar Wilde, for the next week or so, and buy the album. It's only $5.99 on iTunes, and they absolutely deserve it. I see these guys going far, at least on the indie scene, and I could see them reaching a status similar to Death Cab or Bright Eyes before we see the last of them. Hopefully, the last of them won't come anytime in the near future, because this band is amazing.

~AR

Someone Else's Train

Don't remember when I wrote this, but I actually really, really like it now that I read it again. It must've been last year at some point. Hope you enjoy!

Verse 1:
I’m riding down a tunnel
On a train, shuffling on
I can’t see where the tracks lead
Close my eyes, I’m almost gone

I fall asleep, my head
Against the window glass
The rumbling of the wheels
Is soothing as we pass

Pre-Chorus:
The places I used to go
And all the ones I know
I left behind, only to find my way

Chorus:
Chasing someone else’s dreams
Through a swiftly closing door
Momentum’s running down
I can’t take much more

I thought I got just what I wanted
That was all a lie
I’m chasing someone else’s dreams
Story of my life

Verse 2:
I left my home behind me
Hopped a plane, moved to the coast
A thousand miles away
From the one who gets me most

Who is all this even for
Cause I know it’s not for me
It doesn’t matter anymore
As the train puts me to sleep, (passing)

(Pre-Chorus)

(Chorus)

Bridge:
How could I leave it all behind?
Not even knowing what I’d find…
How could I leave you far behind?
On the whim of someone else’s mind?

(Chorus)

~AR

City Thoughts

I wrote this in the fall of 2007... enjoy!

Thoughts of you swirl in my head
Like windswept autumn leaves
The streets of Boston call my name
And I can’t help but answer

I walk down the busy streets and
Swear to God that Indy wind
Grabbed your scent and blew it
All the way to this ocean

For a second, but then it’s gone
And all I smell again is cars and
Cheap fast food, city grease
Oil and machines and smog

Skyscrapers soar, obscuring clouds,
Unfriendly faces pass me by,
I’d give anything for a familiar smile,
An inside joke, anything from home

I miss the cornfields
The purple night skies
The cicada drone
The quiet walks at dusk…

~AR

An older offering...

I guess you'd call this a poetic narrative...? Something I wrote maybe a year ago. I like parts of it still.

Boston snow falls gently
as cars rush by
on wet tires, their lights
flashing brightly, briefly.

The streetlights dressed
in wreaths mark every
fifth step or so, and
the snow seems dirty.

I long for my home.
The clean snow over corn's
remains in a field, the
ice on the trees

on my way to your
house, where I could
drink hot chocolate
in a green sweater

and hold your hand
as we lie under a
blanket. Hot breath and
warm lips on windchilled skin.

We'd share a coat under
clear skies and a full moon
on a crisp, snowy night,
our breath fogging away

like the car exhaust
from the taxi driver
that nearly clips me.
I wonder...

Does he have someone
like I have you?
Does he love someone
as I love you?

Somewhere, far away
from him, from here,
is there a girl like you
for him to write for?

Or his he doing it
all for himself, struggling
against hope to make his
American dreams truths?

I hope his Christmas brings
him love like that which
you've brought me. And that

he comes to understand the
kind of joy that
I know from winter love
of foggy breath,
green sweaters, cocoa, and you.

~AR

Cold Smoke

I wrote this a few months ago. This past summer I chose to be much healthier in my life, and have made a lot of great progress, but I wanted to explore (through this narrative) what might have been if I had gone the other way and stopped caring entirely about my health, mentally or physically. Any comments or criticism, feel free to post!

Fuck, it’s cold.
I hate February. Honestly, shouldn’t it only be cold around Christmas? It’s not even snowing. It’s that uncomfortable cold that no one could possibly enjoy in their right mind. Even the fire from my goddamn lighter looks like it’s shivering from the below-zero temperatures. I inhale smoke from my Parliament and blow it away. Shit’s gonna kill me. And it makes me look like such an asshole. Maybe I am. Fuck it, no one gives a shit anyway.
I walk from my apartment, not really headed anywhere in particular. There are so many gorgeous girls in puffy coats and scarves with red cheeks and red noses. I fall in love with them all. They don’t look at me. I’m a shadow as I pass them, unless I trip on the sidewalk, like I just did. I don’t fall, but it’s enough to make two girls look at each other and giggle a bit. I hate how girls can be such assholes.
I toss my cigarette into the street and light up another one. Shit’s gonna kill me.
Fuck, I’m hungry. I stop in the nearest place, a McDonalds. I hate this place. Since I used to work here, I know how bad it is for me, but I can’t help it. I’m fucking hungry. I get the biggest, greasiest burger they have, with a large fries and coffee. I don’t even like coffee. What am I doing? It’s not like I can get away with eating this. My skin is terrible in the first place and I’m overweight… what am I thinking? I grab my food and get out of there. The fucking coffee burns my mouth. Dammit. I wolf down the burger, and start on the fries. Between the cold, my burned tongue, and the cigarettes, I can’t taste any of it. Fuck.
I toss my McDonalds bag into an overfull trash can on the sidewalk, and it falls out. Fuck it, that’s someone’s job. Cleaning it up, that is.
I stop in front of a convenience store to light up another cigarette. I breathe too deep, and start coughing. Shit’s gonna kill me.
I look at my reflection in the convenience store window. I hate the way I look. Pulling my beanie down to mask the acne breeding ground that is my forehead, and zipping up my dad’s leather jacket halfway down does no good. It just makes my chest cold. I zip it back up. I hate the way I look.
I take a deep drag on my cigarette. A couple maybe two years older than me passes; he has his arm around her, and I can tell just by looking at them they’re in love. They look warm, and they have that glow of lovers… I don’t know how else to explain it. I hate them for it. I exhale, and walk back to my apartment.
Fuck it’s cold.

~AR

Hello Blogger!

Hey everyone. I just started a blog on a whim, but I think it's gonna be fun. I'm going to try to use it to motivate myself to write more, so this blog will have everything from journal entries to poetry to song lyrics to essays on it. I'll start off by uploading a few things I've had for awhile now, and we'll see where it goes from there. Stay tuned for more!