Tag: the swellers

Sweet Shit Saturday #007 (Singing In The Rain Edition)

It has been a rainy time in Poland thus far, but it’s looking up! Lots of good stuff this week. Watching TV, creating raving fans, passionate living, relationships, creating high quality content, and more …

Minus the singing, plus lots of rain.

It has been rainy (and floody) and cold most of my time in Poland thus far. It’s warming up a bit now.

Hey, I have an idea –> instead of me babbling about the weather like some lame dude trying to pick up some hot chick (or a hot dude, whatever, it’s cool), let’s get right into the …

swt lnks:

Are You Living The Dream or Chasing It? by some dude with a girl’s name that he tells everybody is Karl

“Hey Karol, WTF are you doing linking to your own post here when I already read it on Monday?!”

Wait, wait, let me explain! :) There was a lot of resistance to the tests in this article. It kind of made me sad just how much resistance there was to the no TV watching thing. Originally I made the tests 30 day tests, but I removed the sentence mentioning that before posting. I think maybe that’s where all the resistance comes from. It’s difficult to think about quitting a TV addiction forever. 30 days? No problem. Forever? Youz a crazy mofo dude with the girl’s name!

The point of the article was to get back to basics. To be mindful of how we’re spending time and how we’re wasting time. To be mindful of what is going into our bodies and enjoy the process instead of scarfing something down as quickly as possible. To actively seek knowledge.

I do eat at restaurants, sometimes. I do watch TV. That’s mostly a lie because it’s a rare occurrence, but I can’t state that I absolutely never watch. And I don’t read books every single day. Also rare, but there are days when I don’t actually pick up a book.

You can officially consider the tests 30 day tests. But you will never, ever, not in this lifetime (what other lifetime is there?) convince me that TV is productive or useful. I had an interesting thought about that …

The people who create TV shows spend more time creating TV shows than watching TV shows. Why? Because they’re living their dreams, not chasing them. Thoughts?

How to use Personality to Build a Loyal Audience and Create Raving Fans — with Naomi Dunford by Corbett Barr

I paid for a consultation with Naomi last week. Naomi is not cheap. And I don’t mean that in the sleazy red light district way. Wait … I mean … hmmm … how do I dig myself out of this one? Got it –> You can get some of Naomi’s sweet sweet … info! … frrrreeeeeeee in this interview on ThinkTraffic.

ThatTravelSpark.com by Shannon Albert

Cool new travel tip blog (with video!) that Shannon just launched. She has already added lots of content and is adding more regularly. If you have a family I think this site will be especially useful because Shannon has a husband and 2 kids and has a lot of experience traveling with the whole crew. Shannon and I disagree about cheap ponchos. Does that mean anything to you? It shouldn’t. Probably just check out the site and have a look-see before I go off on more tangents.

Lack of Content is a Lazy Excuse by Pat Flynn

“You should never have nothing to write about.” If you have nothing to write about you’re probably forcing yourself into the “wrong” niche because you’re chasing money or fame or something of that sort. I have about 30,000 words of content in backlog for this blog and it just doesn’t stop pouring out of me. I refuse to post more than 3 times/week though. :)

Passionate Living Guide by Henri Junttila

I interviewed Henri about how he earns money while living anywhere for How To Live Anywhere (coming June 8!). Henri’s an awesome dude who has been known to watch a lot of Los Simpsons lately to practice his Spanish. Damn, I guess TV can be educational. I take back everything I said earlier. (No, I don’t. TV drools, avocado rules!) He just released this sweet guide for $9.95. If you enter coupon code ‘freedom’ you get 25% off for the next week. Booya! (Just doing my thing and hooking you up!) Who the guide is not for: if you’re already living a passionate life, then rock! You’re all good. Who the guide is for: if you’re stuckified this guide can help. You know, you’re just not quite on the path in life you wish you were on. That type of thing. It does not have all the answers. Nothing does, nothing ever will. It’s 92 pages and full of lots of content.

Tim Ferriss Scam! Practical Tactics For Dealing With Haters by Tim Ferriss

Man, I really wish Tim’s site worked in Chrome (also known as Better Than Your Browser Unless Your Browser Is Chrome). But then again, there are a lot of sites that don’t. Step up your games people! This commentary has nothing at all to do with this post by Tim, but I had to get it off my chest. As much flack (flak? flaq? flac? Aflac?) as Tim gets, he has inspired many people, including myself. And the dude deserves all the success and acclaim he has received.

Proof You Can Create High Quality Content With No Money by The Swellers

The link above is to a video called Fire Away by my friends and tour mates The Swellers. You’ll notice that the video looks like something that might be on MTV if MTV still played videos. I won’t tell you how much they spent on the video, but let’s just say you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. :)

The key for them was relationships. Over the years they built up a lot of relationships with people and were able to call in favors. Take away: relationships are how you build a business as well.

Language Hacking Guide by Benny Lewis

Benny rocks it. I linked to this on Monday, and I’m linking to it again. I’ve linked to Benny a bunch of times before and I’m sure I’ll link to him in the future. Dude rules. Yes, I get paid if you buy the Language Hacking Guide. If you don’t want me to get paid just go to www.languagehacking.com and buy it and give Benny all those sweet sweet duckets (cash, skrilla, bills, bread, dough, cabbage, you get the point). It don’t matter (how’s my grammar?). If you’ve tried and failed at learning languages before, follow Benny’s advice already. Or don’t. :)

Special shout out to @norcross (andrewnorcross.com) for fixing my Thesis theme (aff) when I upgraded it and it didn’t look quite right about 20 minutes ago. :)

Questions/comments/wanna bake jelly filled donut cupcakes and tell me your deepest darkest secrets? You know what to do …

How To Catch Fire (or “The Doctor Will Be With You Shortly”)

“That looks like a third degree burn. Hey Rachel, does this look like a third degree burn?”

[Looking at the burn.] “Yes, it does, that looks bad.”

“Hmm…we’ll wait for the Doctor to look at it before we send you to the ER.”

It was Monday January 21, 2008 11:00 pm at an after hours clinic in Lake Buena Vista, FL. The nurse didn’t sound particularly delightful as she looked at my hand. I didn’t know the severity of a third degree burn at the time and she didn’t explain it to me. The Doctor would do that an hour later.

How It Went Down On That Fateful Night:

I have a lot of friends in bands. Back when I lived in Orlando, when they’d tour and come through the area they usually stayed with me. This time around my friends The Swellers were hanging out.

Monday was their day off. They went to Universal Studios. I got some work done. When they came back to my place later we went to get groceries to cook up some food.

Their guitarist (at the time) Garrett bought tofu, which he was going to fry with some other foodstuffs.

We got back to my house around 9 pm and Garrett got to work. First, he filled a skillet with about an inch and a half of vegetable oil. Then he turned the heat on High.

I don’t cook with oil so I didn’t think anything of it. Until I looked at the skillet 2 minutes later.

The oil was boiling.

That just didn’t look right. But again, I don’t fry foods so I was a bit out of my element.

I looked at Garrett: “Dude, that oil is boiling. I don’t think it’s supposed to do that.”

His response?

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m just gonna flash fry this tofu.”

When you come at me with a declarative statement like that I’m going to think you know what you’re talking about.

10 seconds later their drummer Jono said: “Hey Garrett, I think this oil is going to catch on fire.”

Garrett’s response?

“Don’t worry man, I’m just gonna flash fry this tofu.”

His confidence eased my fears a little.

Then…

BOOM!

The skillet went up in a 2 foot flame.

That oil obviously hit its flash point.

“FUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!”

Lucky for me I keep fire extinguishers all over my house.

One is right next to the stove in a cabinet.

Another is in the upstairs bathroom.

And yet another is in the garage.

Being that I’d never used a fire extinguisher, didn’t know anything about oil fires, and was solely focused on getting that fire out of my house I didn’t reach for the available fire extinguisher.

Call it panic.

Call it ignorance.

Call it stupidity.

But I grabbed the flaming skillet with my right hand.

As soon as I started walking with the 2 foot flame in hand the fire started moving towards my hand.

Have you ever put your hand inside a camp fire?

Try it if you want to get a sense of the pain I was in.

I got into my hallway and started spilling oil.

A few drops fell on my carpet and proceeded to melt a quarter sized hole in the middle of the hall.

Of course, spilling oil on the ground also meant I was spilling it on my hand.

Have you ever had oil splash back as you were, for example, sautéing onions?

Now imagine that pain multiplied and constant.

As I spilled the oil on my hand again I thought for an instant of dropping the pan and letting my house burn.

The pain just wasn’t worth saving my home and its contents. That’s what insurance is for anyway, right?

But I held out for a few more seconds until I got to my front door.

I opened the door and slammed the skillet on my front porch.

Immediately a massive flame sparked up the side of my house.

I made a run for the garage fire extinguisher. It was the biggest one I had.

Total run time: 15 seconds.

I got back to my porch and thankfully my house wasn’t on fire, but the skillet flame was holding strong.

You know the famous Jimi Hendrix picture where he’s kneeling down by his burning guitar?

The scene on my front porch was similar.

I quickly pulled the tab on the extinguisher and let it fly. The fire was out in seconds.

My pain, however, was at an all time high.

Even with all the adrenaline pumping through my veins I was in pain that I’d never felt in all my years.

My hand was no longer on fire, but it was soot black and oozing clear liquid.

I dropped a barrage of F-bombs as I ran to the bathroom to clean off my hand with a little soap and water.

That solved the soot black hand issue.

The pain and oozing liquid, however, were not so easily taken care of.

When you’re young you’re taught to put ice or cold water on burns.

For some reason I felt that just wasn’t right.

I’m glad I stuck with my instincts in this case because I later learned putting ice or cold water on a severe burn can cause permanent nerve damage.

Looking at my hand I wasn’t sure I didn’t already have nerve damage. But I digress.

It was now 9:30 pm and I asked somebody to find out where the nearest after hours clinic was. Lance, The Swellers bassist (at the time), found it. But it was 25 miles from my house in Lake Buena Vista. Right by Disney.

Why go to an after hours clinic instead of the Emergency Room?

I’ve never been to an ER, but from the stories I’ve heard the wait is very long. I didn’t want to wait and I also didn’t want to pay the $500 immediate ER fee. I do have health insurance, but ER visits are $500 straight away.

I got the address to the clinic, grabbed my keys, and headed for the door. Somebody said “Hey, Garrett’s gonna drive you.”

“No he’s not, I’m driving myself.” :)

I didn’t trust anybody at this point, especially not Garrett.

So Jono decided to hop in the passenger seat.

Should I mention that the clear liquid oozing out of my hand was dripping all over my house and now my car?

I sped down the highway at 90mph and got to where the clinic was supposed to be. It was, of course, nowhere to be found.

I drove up and down the street a couple of times then had Jono call back to my house so somebody could give us the clinic’s number.

During this whole time the pain had not subsided and it still felt like my hand was on fire.

We called the clinic and apparently it was about 100 feet away from where we had stopped. We’d driven by it already, but their sign was NOT lit up and the driveway had a literal forest surrounding it. The clinic was not visible from the main road.

It was now 10:30 pm. We ran inside and I filled out forms with my left hand which I’m sure nobody could read.

They called my name a half hour later. As thanks for making me wait I left the clinic a puddle of my ooze in the waiting room.

The nurse looked at my hand and said it was a third degree burn. She called over another nurse who said the same thing and that I will probably need to go to the ER, but to wait for the Doctor before making any rash assumptions.

My thoughts were somewhere between “Oh sweet, all this and I have to go to the ER anyway. Sounds amazing!” and “MAKE THE PAIN STOP!” Although maybe a little more vulgar. :)

I was led into my last waiting room. Jono joined me in this final resting place.

“The Doctor will be with you shortly.”

30 minutes and another puddle of ooze later, the Doctor comes in, looks at my hand and drops this gem on me:

“Oh, no, that’s not third degree. If it was third degree you’d have to amputate your fingers because they’d be useless.”

I looked into his eyes and shouted “Shut the fuck up!”

Then we all laughed.

I don’t remember his name, but this was the best general practitioner I’ve ever met.

This was good, but they weren’t weak burns by any stretch. A 2nd degree burn that two nurses think is a 3rd degree burn is a pretty horrific burn. :)

The doctor gave me 3 prescriptions. An antibiotic, a burn cream, and Vicodin.

A nurse also administered a tetanus shot, smothered my hand with said burn cream, and bandaged me up.

Does the story end there?

Almost.

It’s past midnight, but my pain is no different than when I first caught fire. It would mellow for a few seconds and then come shooting right back like some sick torturous game.

So now we had to find a 24 hour pharmacy. Nearest one? 30 miles from my house in the opposite direction of where we were. i.e. 54 miles away.

Back in the car. Back to speeding. Got to Walgreen’s pharmacy around 1:30 am. Got my prescriptions at 2 am. Downed the Vicodin at 2:01 am. Felt great at 2:30 am.

5 days later I flew up to Michigan to go snowboarding at Boyne Highlands with huge blisters on my right hand. The first run down a hill I fell on said hand, the blisters all popped, and my glove got soaked in blister ooze. I hope you weren’t just eating lunch. ;)

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This happened exactly 2 years ago today. I mentioned in my Best Of 2009 article that I’d be posting it for pure entertainment. Hope you enjoyed it. And I hope you learned a few things. Most important: don’t put cold water or ice on a severe burn.

The Iron Mind

Don’t read this article. The Iron is too powerful for the masses.

The title to this blog post is specifically vague to detract most people from actually reading it. It’s too powerful for the masses. The Iron Mind is for doers and action takers not for hopers and wishers.

In other words, The Iron Mind is for Ridiculously Extraordinary People.

Tangent (those are getting common, huh?): Sitting on this couch, with an oversized mug of green tea at my side and a little bit of Creedence Clearwater Revival blasting through my headphones, I have an ear-to-ear smile on my face while simply thinking about writing The Iron Mind. My hope is that it positively affects you as much as it positively affected me.

Several months ago my friend Nick IMed me with a link to an article. I was busy at the time and told him I’d try to read it later. You know, because sometimes I’m an asshole.

An hour went by, I finished what I’d been doing, and I remembered the article.

I read it and, to put it lightly, freaked out. I IMed Nick with something that boiled down to “holy shit!”

This article turned out to be one of the most life affirming pieces of non-fiction I’d ever read.

I became obsessed with it. I talked about it with anyone who would listen. I Tweeted about it regularly. I couldn’t get enough.

I read it daily, absorbing it to its very core and 6 months later I still can’t get enough.

Has anything ever made you want to scream, smile, cry, fuck, fight, and say thank you all at once?

This article does that to me.

It’s like a hit of heroin coursing through my veins. I get a little, then I want just a little more. But a little more is never enough. I fiend for it like a junkie in line at the methadone clinic. Thankfully, I can’t overdose on this drug. This drug can’t kill me. This drug can only make me stronger and wiser.

This drug is The Iron.

The Iron was written by Henry Rollins, former Black Flag vocalist, current spoken word bad ass, prolific author, actor, radio host, TV host, and documentarian. The article in question is from a 1994 Details magazine but it’s posted all over the Web. You can read it here: http://theiron.tumblr.com

In The Iron, Henry describes himself in his formative years as being a weak kid who was constantly picked on. Then a phys ed teacher took Henry under his wing and told him he was going to get whipped into shape.

Reluctantly, for fear of having to deal with his teacher’s repercussions, Henry purchased a weight set and meticulously followed his teacher’s instructions.

Working out not only sculpted Henry’s physique but sculpted his formerly weak confidence. Specifically, he gained the confidence to be himself, and to form his own thoughts and opinions instead of striving to be like one of the herd.

In the article Henry discusses The Iron in mostly literal terms as far as what working out did for him.

It took me years to fully appreciate the value of the lessons I have learned from the Iron. I used to think that it was my adversary, that I was trying to lift that which does not want to be lifted. I was wrong. When the Iron doesn’t want to come off the mat, it’s the kindest thing it can do for you. If it flew up and went through the ceiling, it wouldn’t teach you anything. That’s the way the Iron talks to you. It tells you that the material you work with is that which you will come to resemble. That which you work against will always work against you. – Henry Rollins

While I take The Iron literally when working out, I also took The Iron metaphorically, as a symbol for the road blocks I run into when striving to reach my goals.

There will always be something trying to hold you back. You can either take care of it or not. You always have a choice. The easy choice is not always the right choice. The difficult choice might be the best choice you ever make.

Lift the fucking weight off the floor or drop it. It’s all there for you to do or not do. – Henry Rollins; page 32, paragraph 2 in “Smile, You’re Traveling”

If you’re having trouble sticking to a healthy diet, use The Iron Mind.

If you respect The Iron, The Iron will teach you what you need to know and inspire you to keep going in the face of adversity.

The more you lift The Iron (literally and figuratively), the easier it will be for you to lift The Iron.

If you tell yourself you’re going to eat healthy and then go out to eat fast food, The Iron wins. But The Iron will be happy to give you a rematch. Lift it or don’t. The choice is always up to you. The Iron doesn’t judge.

The more you drop The Iron, the more difficult The Iron will be to lift. Eat fast food once, okay, everybody slips up. Eat fast food every day and the momentum of eating healthy will be all but gone.

If you’re trying to start a business and keep hitting walls and setbacks, use The Iron Mind.

Did you lose your ass on some PPC ads? What did you learn from it? Pick The Iron back up off the floor and get back at it. Do more reps, place more ads, acquire more knowledge. Or quit.

Have you launched a blog and maybe aren’t getting as many readers as you thought? (*Ahem*) Too bad. Get to work and keep at it. Or quit.

Want to travel but don’t have the money right now? Don’t tell yourself you can’t afford it, ask yourself how you can afford it. Make it happen. Or quit.

The most important thing to remember is The Iron wants you to succeed. The Iron wants to work with you, to help you, to talk you through it. If you fail The Iron, it’s because you let The Iron beat you. If you beat The Iron, it’s because you worked your ass off and proved to The Iron you deserved to win.

To this day Nick and I regularly quote pieces of The Iron to each other. It was so influential Nick named a song on the new Swellers record The Iron:

“We either do this now, or we don’t. We need to do this right now, or we won’t.” – The Iron by The Swellers

We use The Iron as motivation. As inspiration. It’s a way to let ourselves know that whatever success we want is ours for the taking. Nobody will hand us a thing and we don’t expect them to.

We can’t blame anybody for our failures except ourselves.

What’s holding you back?

Where can you use The Iron Mind to make drastic leaps forward in your own life?

Are you going to lift the fucking weight off the floor or drop it? The choice will always be yours.

What It’s Like To Tour With A Rock Band – The Swellers Record Release Edition

Going on tour with a rock band sounds like all fun and games. No holding back, here are the dirty little secrets of touring…

This post is in honor of my friends The Swellers getting signed and releasing a new CD today.  Go buy Ups and Downsizing by The Swellers on Amazon (not iTunes, iTunes sucks! ha!) right now. ;)

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We arrive at our home for the night somewhere in the middle of Illinois.  The floor is so filthy I’m positive it hadn’t been cleaned in a handful of years.  There’s mold in the kitchen.  The dogs are barking and running wild.

I throw my sleeping bag down on an empty spot of carpet.  Empty insofar as there was no physical obstacle in my way.  The dirt was visible in low light from my standing position.

This is now known as Dirt House #3.  Not the first, and probably not the last.  I learned the best course of action in these situations is to fall asleep as soon as possible.  And try to cover your face so as not to breathe in too much dirt.

I wake up at 6 am.  It’s Winter.  I haven’t showered in days.  We have to leave soon to make it to the next venue so I head straight for the bathroom to get clean.

I turn on the hot water yearning for some warmth.  As is the case with most old houses in the midst of a Midwest Winter’s wrath I know it’ll take a minute for the water to warm up.

I check every 30 seconds or so and the water is still cold as ice.  This isn’t looking good.  I decide I need to get somewhat clean so I turn off the water and hop in the shower.  I turn the water back on just long enough to rinse my body.

I can’t handle the frigidity enough to actually lather up so I immediately dry off and get out.

Well, at least I’m fully awake now.

Touring, Like Long Term Traveling, Can Be Rough

To be blunt: touring is a lot of hard work for almost no pay. (In that regard, it’s not at all like long term traveling, since travel shouldn’t be hard work.)

If done right (i.e with friends) touring can be the time of your life as it was for me.

I’ve been on two 3 week tours of the US with my friends’ bands (the aforementioned The Swellers and another now-defunct band, Alucard).  Not as a musician (although I am), but to help run the show.  That is, I’d mostly help with loading/unloading gear, selling merchandise, and partying.

While doing a rock tour sounds glamorous, most bands touring the US right now are living hand to mouth.  Tour buses, catering, and road crew are for the select few.

Going On Tour Is Like Traveling On A Backpacker’s Budget

The similarities are numerous:
– You eat many meals offered by kind strangers.  In this case, sometimes the venue (small club/bar) will provide you with a meal.
– You sleep anywhere and everywhere.  Van, hotels, couches, floors, and department stores (not a joke) are all fair game.
– You pack light. There’s only so much room in a van full of 5 or 6 people.

The Deep Down Dirty Secrets About What Really Happens On Tour

An average day of an underground touring rock band looks like this:

– Wake up, get ready to go.
– Drive 4-8 hours to a new city/state.
– Get to the venue.
– Unload gear and merchandise.
– Set up gear and merch.
– Play show.
– Sell merch.
– Hopefully make enough money to buy gas and some food.
– Pack everything up and load it back into the trailer.
– Head to the night’s accommodations.  Hopefully a friend or fan offers up their home.  If not, it’s sleeping in the van (likely) or paying for a hotel room (unlikely).
– Repeat.

If it sounds rigid and boring that’s because I left out the best parts. Details…

The Drive

Driving hours upon hours in a van with a bunch of guys might not sound appealing to you, but the drive is actually a really good time.

Why?

1) If you didn’t sleep enough the night before now is your chance.
2) Because of constantly changing circumstances/locations the conversation is usually interesting and free-flowing.
3) It’s a great time to read.
4) And my favorite part of the drive, assuming you’re not sleeping you get to see parts of the country (or world) that most people will never see.  It’s really scenic out there on the open road.

Sometimes you get to see some crazy things.

For example, have you ever driven through the black smoke of a burning big rig in the middle of the Arizona desert? Check it…

The Shows

You get to meet new fun people every single night. While I didn’t make any lasting friendships with people I met on tour I had a great time with everybody.

The Aftershow

Depending on the type of venue you’re playing the aftershow might start before the show. :)  And by aftershow I mean party.  I think this is one aspect of rock life that doesn’t depend on the number of records you’ve sold.  Whether straight edge or dope fiends, I’m going to bet that  pretty much every touring band parties in some capacity.

It’s a chance to let loose and relax with friends old and new.

We would do everything from singing songs on the streets of Chicago, Illinois to scootering around Billings, Montana to playing flip cup at an Omaha, Nebraska house party.  Anything is fair game.

Lessons Learned

Many of the lessons learned from tour can be applied to any regular long term travel .

– Shower whenever you can because some days you won’t be able to.  Bonus: truck stop showers are fair game!
– Bring your own towel.  As you know from my light packing list, I prefer the PackTowl.  It doesn’t take up much space and dries quickly.
– There will be conflicts.  Close quarters for weeks on end has been the killer of more than a few relationships. Get over conflicts quickly or your time will be miserable. Roll with the punches…
– Fatty fast food day in and day out will make you feel horrible.  Eating healthy isn’t easy, but it is possible.  Stop at a grocery store and stock up on bananas, apples, and other fruit that will keep well in the van.  Raw almonds and cashews are also a personal favorite.
– Work out daily. Even simple jumping jacks and pushups will do you wonders.
– If you’re staying at somebody’s house be respectful. Clean up after yourself and offer to help clean the kitchen or any common area even if you’re normally a filthy slob at your own home.  I’ve had bands stay at my house only to leave a mess for me to clean with barely a “thanks for letting us use you!”  No, they weren’t allowed back.

Thanks to touring I’ve been able to:
– sleep on couches/floors/parking lots in 25 States.
– see some of the most amazing scenery in the United States (seeing the Rocky Mountains on I-90 crossing into Idaho from Montana is some of my favorite scenery; Northern California mountains; the vastness of the Arizona desert)
– become better friends with some awesome people.

For another view of what touring is like, check out this tour video I put together from the last tour I did with The Swellers: