Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
Fear of the Underdog
Sunday
July 29, 2007
"The thing that I tell you now
It may not go over well
And it may not be photo-op
In the way that I spell it out"
-Spoon "The Underdog"
Note: this column is even more self-absorbed than normal. Deal with it.
There have been some great songs that I've been privy to catch well ahead of the U.S. pop culture curve in the past year, everything from "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse to "Nothing Left To Lose" by Mat Kearney. To my discredit, I've not written about these songs with the earnest they deserve (especially early on), despite having what I consider to be a good ear for music that has breakthrough potential.
So let me be the first to tell you about a great song called "The Underdog" by the band Spoon. It's not rock enough to get even a sniff from active rock, it might be too quirky for Contemporary Hit Radio (what some call Top 40), and might not be pop enough for Hot AC (though it has a little bit of a Billy Joel vibe to it.) But whatever the case, it's a great song, and it's receiving airplay on Sirius' Alt Nation. Check it out if you can.
I first heard Spoon through the old WOXY/Oxford, OH (which still exists in internet form and actually is making a comeback via a non-comm station's HD sub-channel, but that's another story for another time), and I'm happy to hear them get a push. We'll see how far it goes.
A quick recap of the past three weeks or so:
|  | Boys 502, Girls -5. Owned!
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Work has kept me busy, but in a good way. While my job encompasses enough different things that it's tough to quantify (part researcher, part building manager, part IT specialist, part schedule-maker) in an industry that is tough enough to explain in the first place, I enjoy what I do and where I work. So no worries there.
My friend Amy has developed an uncanny ability to read me in Texas Hold 'Em poker. If you've ever seen Hold 'Em on TV, sometimes the elite pros can read what their opponents have with amazing clarity. Most of the time I can fool my opponents, but Amy has this odd way of getting a read on me that is borderline clairvoyant. The next time we have a Hold 'Em game here, I'm wearing my oversized Mississippi State hat (for the "cranially endowed", which I am, as I have explained in the past on this site) and the silver shades my friend James gave me a few years ago.
Speaking of cards, the Boys 502, Girls -5 score from the Dustin/Lou vs. Jenna/Amy spades game remains posted on the fridge for all to see and enjoy. Rightfully so, I might add, not too far from the mini-magnet printout of Troy Aikman grinning while holding a large J.C. Potter sausage.
Amy did not appreciate me describing the bratwurst that Dustin cooked up for a get-together we had here on Friday night. She made the mistake of letting me find out that she didn't the way they looked, so I took the liberty of describing how plump and juicy the brats were cooking up. "She doesn't like them because they're so thick and so curved," I quipped.
|  | Spicy V8 is delicious.
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Despite this, one label I don't like is being called pervy. How did I jump from immature to pervy without any middle ground? It's like in Fight Club when the guys are waiting outside to be given admittance and are all either too old or too young, no matter what their age. To point, I only joke about Quagmire from Family Guy being my hero. Any similarities between that character and I begin and end with our oversized heads. I swear.
Three months in and I'm still very much enjoying living in Smyrna. Matt and
Dustin are fun roommates to have. There are no punches pulled when it comes to busting chops, all in good fun, but still our weaknesses are all on the table (Matt with Spicy V8, Dustin with tuna fish and mustard, and me with pickles) and are often used as ammo.
If you don't know me, or if you've never seen me in my true setting (e.g. not at work acting professional) you might not realize that I have a zany side to me. Maybe a little borderline crazy, but whatever -- I keep it entertaining, or at least I attempt to do so. Like Jenna was saying last weekend, she's never met anyone like me. Impromptu singing (almost always poorly done), inappropriate comments, making light of anything and everything (not canned jokes, which almost always annoy me) in the spirit of humor, you name it. Life is too short to not have fun with it.
Today, for example, I started singing a song I made up on the fly called "Coasters" to the tune of "Woman" by Wolfmother. I even had Mary Beth laughing, and I had put her in a sour mood earlier by repeatedly calling her new cell phone from mine during the big family dinner at my parents' house. When I told her to cheer up after the meal, she told me to quit being a jerk, which I in turn took and ran with. "I am not a jerk!" I told her via text message, paraphrasing Richard Nixon.
Though, to be sure, I'll take zany and crazy over brooding and angry. Better to be happy than to spend too much time on the dark side of the moon, if you follow me. Mary Beth told me that I laugh too much, like a hyena. How judgmental! But I think that was just her trying to deflect the heat that Matt and I sent her way. She thinks I single her out to be picked on, but it's only because she's smart enough to be able to talk her way out of most things (it's an inherent trait she's had since she learned to talk as a young child), which in turn piques my curiosity. I love a good challenge. Oh, and then there's the often hilarious reactions that such interactions provoke. I can't forget that.
It's not always laughter time for me. Sometimes I lose my cool (like during a now-infamous game of Rummy a week ago tonight where I flipped out over the bullshit stupid "Rummy on the board" rule that was in effect.) You have to realize that, while I try to no-sell it, I'm incredibly competitive. And when my competitive juices are flowing and the tide turns against me, I can lose it sometimes. You gotta take the good with the bad me; it's a package deal, just like it is with everybody else.
You should hear me when things take a turn for the worse in NCAA Football 08 (which is a fun, but flawed, game for the XBox 360.) Actually, you're probably better off not hearing that.
Matt pointed out recently that I have a tendency to overuse parentheses when I write. It's almost enough to make me self-conscious about it, but when I write I end up going into a bit of a trance, so if parentheses make their way into what I write, then so be it.
I've been working out like mad, hitting 30 minutes on the Precor machine at Fuel Fitness every day as often as possible (sometimes making it 7-out-of-7 days in a week.) There's a buzz you get from exercise that's unique, an adrenaline rush that feels great. It's the opposite of eating a candy bar, where it tastes good and every bite satisfies but you feel fat and disappointed immediately afterward.
I'm not immune from injury, though. The long shadow of 30 is getting longer and longer (I turn 30 next month), and the realities of that can be a challenge at times (and this won't get any easier for me as time passes.) I tweaked my left knee and had some pain in it this time last week, though the Precor machine has such a relative limited range of motion as to minimize the impact of the exercise on injuries, so I managed to work through it. But after how sore tennis at Rock Island last month made me, I've come to grips with the realization that being sore and working through pain is something I'll just have to do.
I've been doing a great deal of work with the Karg Boys, my friends Rich and Andy's band. We're preparing to hit college radio with a limited run release, which should be good. Luckily I learned a thing or two about college radio from my tenure at WUEV in Evansville, IN (1995-1999) and I hope to use that experience to help get them some airplay. They have great talent, but the music business is brutally tough and you need every edge you can get to make it.
My newest favorite music website is AmieStreet.com, where I've discovered a wide variety of very talented artists. Independent artists selling their digital music to an international audience: that's what I like to see. Take that, RIAA! I'm hoping to get the Karg Boys involved with that in the near future, so stay tuned.
My new USAA Checking Account is turning out to be a great thing. Not to give too much info out about that online, but if you are a USAA customer, you really owe it to yourself to join in on it. The downside is that there is only one bank branch, and it's located in San Antonio, TX. The upside is that the bank covers ATM fees for literally any ATM in the United States (up to $15 per month, I believe) and offers free mailing to send in checks. If you're running on empty this may not be the best way to go (for example, if you need the deposit *today* you might end up in a bind), though I retained my Wachovia account to allow for an out in such situations.
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