In the past few years, the homeless of Tulsa have seemed to multiply, holding cardboard at almost every highway off-ramp in midtown T-town. Obviously, this is sad and brings to light the devastating effects of the recession. What I don’t seem to understand is how drivers can continue to reward these people for standing at intersections when there are much better ways to get real help.
Being homeless is a very sad and tragic thing to happen to a person, but it’s to the point where if you give one person a buck you end up having to pay a ‘bum toll’ every time you get off the B.A. expressway. Where do people draw the line? Why would someone give a couple bones to one homeless person but not the other 15 they see that day? Would you give to a person in designer jeans and a beanie who looks like he just rolled out of his frat house to pick up beer money? I saw that guy today, and I did not.
I do feel slightly bad for avoiding eye contact as I wait awkwardly in my car for the light to turn green, but seriously… if you need food, shelter or clothing there are places in Tulsa that will be glad to help you out. Go there, do something for yourself. Let other people give you real help.
Also, stop reading my blog if you’re a panhandler.
I’ve been meaning to update this blog more with my thoughts, ideas and immaculate opinions, and also try some new things and start making my online brand felt. I’m a writer, so having a place to get some of my ideas out in the open (and hopefully read) is a wonderful thing. I also love messing around with online tools, multi-media projects and anything else I can use to be creative, hone my skills and sharpen my mind. I have, however, recently been flooded (drowning, gasping, etc.) with school work, work work, senior project writing and life in general, so my beloved ‘Twyler.com’ had to be put on the backburner.
Now that I can see the light of day and have become incredibly pumped up about graduating and chiseling out my future, I can once again put some time and creative juice into this blog. I need some sort of direction about what exactly I’ll be doing with it, but for now I’ll stick with putting up whatever feels right; anything I want to write about, anything amazing I find online or projects I’m working on.
Possibilities include: sections of a yet-to-be-started novel, a Tulsa music podcast, random popular culture topics that get under my skin, graphic design & photography… the possibilities are endless. It’s just nice to have a place where I can vent and show the world how awesome I am.
So please check out some of my stuff and feel free to leave me some comments (negative or positive or apathetic). Thanks!
On October 4, 2009, two of Tulsa’s most promising indie bands performed in an epic battle of creativity and musical innovation. “The Panda Resistance vs. Ptiaradactyl” showcased two of Oklahoma’s most innovative and talented bands in a musical event enhanced by costumes, lights, signs, comedy and a slide projector. This audio-visual experience at one of Tulsa’s hippest bars, the Soundpony, seemed to mark a growing trend within the local music scene where bands are pushing each other to new levels of creativity by being innovative and creating a sense of community, even if bands within this community are engaged in musical and creative warfare.
These two bands are quite different in their sound, style and performance, though both have an indie, artsy feel and both perform with some type of costume – the Panda Resistance wore their trademark panda hats and members of Ptiaradactyl wore lighted headpieces and are known to wear other outlandish getups. The Panda Resistance has an atmospheric, upbeat indie rock feel, with impeccable musicianship and symphonic layering of sound effects and bright melodies. Clay Welch on guitar, Bo Halford on bass and Andrew Bones on drums and percussion are an instrumental trio who sound like a trip-hop group inspired by exotic melodies. With the tightest rhythm section in Tulsa, the group can truly hold down some amazing grooves, and with Welch’s ear for tasty reverb-dripping melodies they can also buildup to incredibly powerful moments through atmospheric layering of sound.
Ptiaradactyl, on the other hand, is much more avante-garde, leaning more towards a punk/electronic sound that is raw and energetic. The band has played at Tulsa’s Dfest music festival, toured fairly extensively and has even garnered some national attention. The group plays mostly instrumental rock-inspired jams that are slightly dark with an obvious punk and indie influence. The songs often change tempo and feel multiple times within a song, creating a sense of orchestrated but raw and energetic musical expression.
This is the type of event that helps a city’s music scene expand and evolve. The epic battle-like feel, the lights and props, the costumes and comedic banter all added to this experience that was unlike any other concert I’ve seen in Tulsa. The broad-ranging musical styles and impressive audio/visual performance was amazing and somewhat unexpected, but Tulsa could use more of these types of events. The very fact that this was promoted and hyped up as something more than a concert with two different bands helped this night stand out for many people, and the actual show did not disappoint one bit.
“You know Pterodactyls lived during the Cretaceous period right?” Hallford asked the crowd during a song break. “You know what they didn’t have during the Cretaceous period? Music lessons! …Or showers!”
Hallford and the Panda Resistance really got into the battling mindset during the show, projecting slides on a wall at the side of the stage while they played with drawings of a Panda beating, threatening and degrading a Pterodactyl, followed by cheeky comments, jokes and digs at the other band between songs. It was all in good fun, though, and the whole aura of a musical battle seemed to make both bands play better and allow the crowd to become more of a participant in this crazy, over-the-top musical experience. There was an even a point towards the end of the night when a huge Chinese-dragon-like Pterodactyl was paraded in front of the crowd with the help of about a dozen people. This concert was more like musical theater than just two bands playing music… the visuals, costumes, crowd interaction, the undercurrent of two great bands locked into musical and creative warfare all added to this imaginary mystique that made me feel like I was witnessing something special. I still feel that way, and Tulsa should have more bands doing things like this.
There should be more Flaming Lips style enthusiasm in the local scene where the circus atmosphere and incredible visual experience forces everyone in the crowd and in the band to have a good time. These aspects may seem like gimmicks to some people, but this is the type of event that can truly excite people and get them involved in the increasingly creative Tulsa music scene. A Flaming Lips show wouldn’t be the same without the mass amount of confetti, the blinding lights, the props and the hamster-ball contraption that Wayne Coyne always opens the show with by walking out on top of the crowd. These things create an experience that makes the music that much more powerful and emotional, and bands that can pull this off are always on people’s list of must-see concerts. The whole point of going to a concert is for an experience, and when all these aspects are combined in a creative way, fans can have an almost spiritual sensation that makes music unique and powerful like nothing else. This epic battle was on a smaller scale than a Lips show or a festival-type show, but these two Tulsa bands really know how to create an amazing event rooted in fresh, original music and artistic expression.
So I’ve never really written about politics, and I don’t like talking politics… but I’ve recently had some politically-driven ideas that I’d like to write about and work at. One idea (that I’ll get to later) is regarding the archaic and obviously inefficient idea of the two-party system. I mean come on America, do you seriously expect everyone to take one side or the other? Is there some definitive line that pushes you right or left? Why would you let one or two issues decide and predetermine your entire political beliefs?? There are over 500 facebook groups with some form of the words ‘hate’ and ‘Obama’ in their titles. Really? Sarah Palin… Really?
Ok so maybe I really shouldn’t write about politics, especially if I’ve had a drink or too. I guess I have a lot of pent-up things to say when it comes to the crazy, irrational world of ‘politiks’. What I really meant to write about today was the North Korea issue with Bill Clinton going all the way over there (and posing for pictures?!?) and walking out with the two Current TV journalists who were captured. It’s a little strange that it was Bill Clinton who got this done, when his wife is the U.S. Secretary of State… although maybe not? I don’t know all that much about the situation or Clinton’s previous dealings with the crazy lil Kim of the North.
Anyway, back when I paid way too much for DirectTV I used to watch Laura Ling almost every day on Current. She was great, and that TV station/website is doing some great things, especially with their ‘Viewer-created content’ and all of their breakthrough journalism. I really respect what these people do and although they obviously got into something that was a little too ‘in-depth’ or ‘over their heads’ or whatever, it’s an amazing thing to see them come back alive and alright. Their situation would be one of the scariest things you can imagine, and it’s all because they believed in what they were doing.
I don’t want to be in a position where I might get captured by N. Korean goons by any measure, but I do want a job that I can believe in and I truly appreciate what these people did (although I sadly don’t get Current on Cox). I do, however, get free cable thanks to the installation guy.
The track by the Move (www.myspace.com/themoveband) was recorded on July 2nd at the Colony and is one of our best recordings, i think. The drums are especially tasty. The 1st track is a remix I did of a song by my friends in the Moai Broadcast (www.themoaibroadcast.com). You can check out another remix at my new project’s site (www.myspace.com/mrTeaparty)
I haven’t posted or written anything in a little bit, and I apologize. I would really like to get into some heavy writing this summer, and maybe even start on the ever-elusive ‘book’. I don’t really know what I’ll write about, but I’m thinking something along the lines of a semi-angry, ‘what is wrong with you people’ rant about all the awful realities of our current situation. Not necessarily us as Americans, but kind of. And not necessarily my specific situation, but a little bit… mainly just my take on these crazy, confusing and infuriating times. How did we let these stupid, egotastic people ruin our way of life and take all our money as bonuses for doing such a ‘great’ job? And why do people seem to keep getting dumber and multiplying? It’s like the movie ‘Idiocracy’ is coming true, only faster than we thought. If you’ve ever read any of Hunter S. Thompson’s articles or letters, that’s the kind of tone I’m going for… and I think it fits really well with these end-times.
I don’t know, maybe I’ll just end up writing a mystery novel or start doing films and scripts. We’ll see. If you have any ideas for an article, project, video, or book please let me know. As you might be able to tell, I’m not completely sold on anything but I feel the need to work on something. (It’s a slightly burning sensation)
Thanks.
ALSO: Check out some videos from Memorial Day weekend and subscribe to me at: www.youtube.com/MoveTyler
I’ve been thinking a lot about the inherent nature of cars… how powerful they are, and how it’s weird that we take this for granted. Also, some lady recently t-boned my car by running a red light. So naturally I’ve been having weird flashbacks and driving really slowly…
… (this isn’t what happened, just a little narrative) …
I’m driving down the highway at around 69 miles per hour. The car is running on cruise control, allowing me to control the car solely by moving the steering wheel. I can feel the power of the car run through my fingers as the engine automatically accelerates to meet the speed I set it to. I begin to wonder what would happen if I dozed off (or randomly jumped out of the car)… the speedy, powerful little sedan would simply continue to barrel down the road at a high rate of speed, not caring that its controller has become incapacitated or unaware of the machine’s momentum. Or what if the cruise control went haywire and simply refused to let up, thinking it was simply doing its job by continuing at this high rate of speed? The human inside (me) would be powerless against this brutal electronically-controlled mass of steel and potential carnage.
These are strange questions to ask (I suppose) and strange feelings to have, but am I wrong? My car has at one point stalled slightly when I tried to disable the cruise control, giving me a gut-wrenching feeling of helplessness, although I only had to hit the brakes a couple times to get it working again.
I just feel like we drive to work everyday (some people commute for hours!), cutting people off and screaming at other people through closed windows, not even thinking about how powerful and potentially dangerous this is – of course until you get in a brutal wreck. I’m a great driver, and it’s really not that difficult, but some people REALLY need to learn how to drive. People of Tulsa, please, please learn how to drive correctly. Not only because I just got my car totaled… I see people everyday who simply refuse to use their blinker or are just idiots when it comes to really simple things.
Don’t talk on your cellphone or text, and if you do, just don’t drive like you’re not even watching. And don’t drink and drive. Thanks.
This video and song are amazing. Matisyahu and the Crystal Method have a new song and they’re blowing up Twitter and every other social network promoting it. You can download the mp3 for free and watch the video in HD, so I’d say that’s a pretty great way to market your new stuff. It also seems like everyone loves it (including me) so that’s even better…
I guess now I’ll have to go buy the new Crystal Method cd. And if things go as planned I’ll see Matisyahu this summer at Wakarusa. It will be SO amazing and I can’t wait for a huge, relaxing vacation. Ah summer, you are so close.
Goodnight.
I wish I could do something like this… I probably could, but I don’t have enough free time to figure out how. Maybe someday…
You can check out more of these at www.thru-you.com
I especially like the theremin / dancing kids part around 2:50. I really want to buy a theremin someday, there isn’t a lot you can do with it, but it would be fun to play around with.
In the past few years, the homeless of Tulsa have seemed to multiply, holding cardboard at almost every highway off-ramp in midtown T-town. Obviously, this is sad and brings to light the devastating effects of the recession. What I don’t seem to understand is how drivers can continue to reward these people for standing at intersections when there are much better ways to get real help.
