The Uglysuit

The song "Chicago" by The Uglysuit made it into my Reception Dinner playlist this weekend. The Uglysuit hail from Oklahoma City, home of my good friend Matt Rees.  I find this melody to be relaxing.  Enjoy.

- Joel

Dallas Next Weekend

Photo: Nicole Whittington

Just got back from a good weekend in Waco.  Since they paid me for my DJ services, does that make me a professional DJ?

Now it's time to look forward to next weekend in Dallas.  You never know what kind of fun will be had with the Dallas crew.  The above photo is evidence of that.  Thanks Nicole for posting that on Flickr.  Can't wait to see you guys next weekend!

- Joel

Twitter

I heard about Twitter over the summer from a consulting company I worked with during my days at the O'Donnell Foundation.  Initially, I thought it was ridiculous and narcissistic.  Tonight, I started my own Twitter account.  Maybe I'm ridiculous and narcissistic.  

Be my friend.  Get a Twitter.  Start following me (and I'll follow you).  Here's my account.  If you have an iPhone, Twitter has a great iPhone app.

- Joel

Other Music News

I'm on a music kick with the latest blog posts.  I need to develop some film or go to an art show (next week in Dallas!) to get something else to blog about.  But here are some other things to check out in the music world:

New Mixtape (Download Free): "Road to Til the Casket Drops" Clipse

New music video: "New York I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down" LCD Soundsystem

New band: Cut Off Your Hands

Worth Checking Out (Download Free): Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit Are The Very Best

- Joel

She & Him

Tomorrow I fly to Waco, TX to help DJ/emcee another wedding.  One of my personal travel assignments, besides hopefully taking good pictures with my Holga, is to listen to She & Him.  This band consists of actress Zooey Deschanel and indie/folk hero M. Ward.  I've had their album, Volume One, for awhile but never gave it a good listen.  Now it's popping up on some year end "Best of" lists, so I need to find out what all the fuss is about.  Listen for yourself.  Zooey has such an "old-timey" sounding voice.  It's cool.

- Joel

Live Indie Rock

Pitchfork posted their "Best of Pitchfork.tv".   There are lots of great live videos recorded by and for Pitchfork.tv.  Check it out.  Below is one of the highlights...Vampire Weekend.

- Joel

More Little Joy

Yep, I LOVE Little Joy. Their debut album is one of my top 3 of 2008. Here's another track.

- Joel

Little Joy

I'm sitting at home, casually watching Oklahoma and Oklahoma State trade touchdowns, still waiting for my feet to warm up from a snowy/rainy seat at the Kansas/Missouri game, happily thinking back on the past three days of Thanksgiving with my family, and looking for new music. I've found a lot of fun stuff, and this band may be the best of what I've found tonight.

They are Little Joy. This quote from Pitchfork's review of their self-title debut album says it best, "Little Joy is not going to stop the world or change your life, but it's one of the sweetest, most listenable, consistently enjoyable records of the season."

Watch the fan video of the song "Brand New Start" below.

- Joel

One of My Faves

Vampire Weekend put out my second favorite album of this year. They deserve all the hype.

- Joel

Little Drummer Boy

This version is by the band Low. I'm usually a skeptical of modern versions of classic Christmas tunes, but I really like this one. The video is a little strange, but the song is great.

Download it here.

- Joel

Fun Winter Song

Check out this song by the band Boy Least Likely To. It's a chill acoustic song called "The First Snowflake." This will be released on December 15 as the first single to their album which won't drop until March. Enjoy.

- Joel

More Traditions

#12 - Basketball at the Sheridan Center - since we no longer celebrate in Dodge City, we've moved it to the North Kansas City Community Center
#13 - Playing Knock-Out (the basketball version)
#14 - Half court shot contest and Dave pays the winner
#15 - Go to a movie as a family
#16 - Hang and knock down a pinata - we almost missed this one this year
#17 - Friday night Mexican dinner - used to always go to El Charo's in Dodge City
#18 - Dave reads the tradition list at the Mexican dinner
#19 - We all eat Atomic Fireballs - almost missed this one this year
#20 - Clogged Toilets - happens every year, I won't name names
#21 - Guys play poker
#22 - Girls play Nerts (a fast-paced card game)
#23 - Celebrate Aunt Mary's birthday
#24 - Do puzzles
#25 - Go to the park - it used to be the park down the street from Grandma's house in Dodge City

More to come...

- Joel

More Traditions Accomplished Today

Tradition #5 - Thanksgiving Day 5K - my cousin Eric ran a 15:41 and placed 5th (this just officially became a tradition this year because it's the 3rd year in a row to run the 5K)
Tradition #6 - Cinnamon rolls & Coffee Cake for breakfast
Tradition #7 - Thanksgiving meal
Tradition #8 - Name Cards at every place setting - it's always a surprise where you sit
Tradition #9 - "Nut Cups" - little baskets with nuts and candy at each place setting
Tradition #10 - Men of the family do the dishes after the Thanksgiving meal
Tradition #11 - Frisbee golf (this also officially became a tradition this year)

More traditions to come!

- Joel

Thanksgiving Traditions

More traditions have been upheld tonight. These are in no particular order or importance.

Tradition #2: The men of the family play the card game Hearts.
Tradition #3: Electronic games. This years it's Madden and Rock Band on XBox360. Back in the day it involved bringing Nintendo or other systems to play on my Grandma's old TV in Dodge City, KS.
Tradition #4: Chex Mix. We always have homemade Chex mix. My aunt brings her spicy homemade mix from Odessa, TX. That arrives tomorrow.

- Joel

PS - Here are the two ovens.

Thanksgiving Night 1

Above is a picture of my new scarf. I bought it last weekend at Standard (Daniel's store). I plan to wear it every day of Thanksgiving break.

In the Thomason house, Thanksgiving has started off with a bang. My mom went to cook dinner tonight and found our oven to be broken! Not a good thing. So we are replacing the oven the night before we need to cook the turkey (and we'll have almost 30 people at the celebration). But all great holidays involve some sort of adversity. This is ours.

In the meantime, we are missing Tradition #1 - Wednesday night before Thanksgiving Chili Supper.

- Joel

One More

© Joel Thomason

Greg Gillis is in the mask. Hipster girls love him. After second thought, a few other shots from that night turned out ok. You can see them on my Flickr page.

- Joel

Girl Talk Photo

© Joel Thomason

Unfortunately the title of this post is not "Girl Talk Photos." For a multitude of reasons - I'm not a great photographer, I was distracted by dancing, it was dark, I'm not a great photographer and didn't pay close attention to apperture/shutter speed - only one photo really turned out from my trip to see Girl Talk over a month ago. Yep, it took me forever to get the photos developed.

But stay tuned for lots of Thanksgiving pictures, as well as a running tally of my family's numerous Thanksgiving traditions. It starts tonight!

- Joel

Reading List

I just finished Blood Makes the Grass Grow Green by Johnny Rico. It's a soldier's memoir of his time spent deployed in Afghanistan. I finished the book tonight and still need some time to digest it before I decide what I thought about it. As of now, I'm neutral.

Here's what is next on my reading list:
Animal Farm by George Orwell - an allegory on the dangers of communism
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee (photographs by Walker Evans) - a journalist's narrative on lives of three sharecropping families in the Depression-era Deep South

- Joel

Stream Kanye

You can now stream Kanye West's new album, 808's & Heartbreak, on his blog. Like him or love him, you cannot deny that Kanye is a creative force in popular culture these days. I've only listened to a few tracks, and I'd give it a so-so rating - too much auto-tune (which I could say about most hip hop these days). The underdog, College Dropout Kanye fresh off the car accident was a lot more likeable than the modern day Kanye. I'll probably still buy this album (sigh)....

- Joel

Creative Writing

Check out this website called Da Font. You can download really cool fonts for free. Another shout out to Cassie who told me about the website. I think it's going to be addicting. They have over a thousand to choose from.

- Joel