I Am Whitehouse

Today at work I am taking an existing website from 2001 and making it editable and standards based with Wordpress 3.0. I have a lot of experience with Wordpress, but the new 3.0 update really does make a lot of creating a website a hell of a lot easier. The biggest thing is figuring out what all the new code does and how I can use it for my clients.

I wish tumblr wasn’t so snippet centric or else I would use it, because I do love it’s toolset. But as a tool, it’s too enigmatic for corporate site.

Ah well.

For anyone who knows me from improv, you know that I used to be all over improv like rhinestones on Elvis, but over the last couple of years, my focus has changed a lot. I still take classes, still perform and coach. For anyone who knows me from podcasting, you’ll know I used to podcast a lot and have not been doing much for the last 3 years, but I still squirt out the occasional show and they are usually pretty fun. For all my friends of the last 5 years, you know I have fallen off the map and have mostly been absent from everything.

This is why I am missing the DCM, life is calling me back in a big way and I have to keep improv in perspective with my happiness. So instead of DCM, I’m going to Boston to visit my college friend Mike Cardinali and take pictures with him.

That’s it. I’m not pissed I’m not performing at the DCM. I think this year will be as wonderful and sweaty as it’s always been. I will miss all the the wonderful performances by my friends and hope all of you attending have a wonderful time.

Give my love to Del if you see him.

Boyfriend by Best Coast on Crazy For You (2010)

This is my summer album. Wonderful and low-fi 50-60’s infused and reminiscent of Kim Deal Pixies stuff and early Amps.

If I didn’t already have a rock n’ roll girlfriend, she could have me. Don’t tell my girlfriend.

(MP3 via theswami) (Buy it from eMusic)

The closer and closer Eliza and I get to moving to L.A. (less than a year) the more I worry about finding work and making a home out there. As a boy who grew up in New York City my whole life, I have the distinct advantage of always being very close to “home” and the safety it provides. This has been good and bad. Good in that I’ve had the opportunity to spend time with my parents and sister more than most people get to spend with their families. Bad in that I’ve never really been totally independent from my family.

So while I’m nervous, I’m also super excited to get that perspective. To finally live my life the way I want to and to experience another part of this country to boot.

Also the weather in New York really sucks at the moment and I would rather have palm trees than what they call trees here.

Ah, so work right? Well it’s been rough. Hired an assistant. Hired another assistant. Let go first assistant. It’s been busy. Good news is work is starting to slow down.

Bad news is - work is starting to slow down.

We’ll see what happens, but keeping our fingers crossed that something amazing comes in soon.

Every girl dreams of her big day! All her life, from the time she was a little girl, she has been planning all the details in her head. What is her big day, you ask? Why, her wedding of course!

[record scratch]

Except me…

Happens to be the bride I plan to marry.

Rocks Off by The Rolling Stones on Exile on Mainstreet (1969)

As a kid I grew up listening to the Beatles. Perhaps it was the naiveté of my ears, but the 3 part harmonies and pop sensibilities of the Beatles just struck a nerve. At some point I decided I was a Beatles fan and NOT a Rolling Stones fan. Why I thought I had to choose? Not entirely sure, but now in my 30’s I am rediscovering a trove of amazing Stones music that I had previously written off. My latest obsession is the reissue of 1969’s Exile of Mainstreet, of which this is the first cut off the album (notice my hip 60’s terminology.) It’s a jangley rock song with some real swing.

If you enjoy it, be sure to check out  Don Was Revisits ‘Exile On Main Street’ on All Songs Considered. Absolutely fascinating look at the album.

Sitting on the Dock of the Bay Track Dissection on Tracks Up The Tree

The Dock of the Bay (Takes 1 & 2) by Otis Redding on Remember Me (1992)

There are three facts about Otis Redding that I find amazing.

The first being that Otis Redding died in a plane crash on December 10, 1967 when he was only 26 years old.

The second fact that I find amazing is that Otis Redding wrote (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay, 3 days before his death, after listening to The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band of which he considered Dock of the Bay an extension of what the Beatles had done.

Lastly, Otis Redding whistled the last verse to Dock of the Bay with the intention of replacing it with a final verse, which he had yet to write, on his return to Memphis. Unfortunately his plane crashed on the return flight, ending his life. His producer and co-writer Steve Cropper left the whistling in the final song and it now stands as one of the most famous whistles in music history.