AntiCurrent Archive Vol 8: William Elliott Whitmore- The Death Valley Sessions

For the eighth edition of the "AntiCurrent.com Archives", a collection of rare albums I'm releasing through this blog, I'm releasing the third of three collections of demos for one of my FAVORITE artists of all time.  Click here to view all past AntiCurrent.com Archive Albums.

Whitmore Live in Australia

This is my third blog dedicated to the raw material of William Elliott Whitmore, and believe it or not, the well is still aplenty to draw from. The last time I saw WEW was in Sydney Australia at the Annondale Hotel. Now, for those of you who don't know, EVERYTHING is WAY more expensive in Australia. A bottle of whiskey at the store will run you around $80, and a 6-pack can run you into almost $20. No, this did not stop me from buying shots of Jameson at the bar before and during the gig, but it did definitely slow me down to the point of it being the most sober I have ever seen WEW.

Whitmore is famous for drinking with the audience at his gigs, this usually results in his taking multiple shots handed to him from the crowd. Unfortunately, either the crowd didn't know this or the cost of $15 a shot was too steep for them to care because he sat there basically sober the entire time. Whitmore sober is a fantastic player, but give him just a little booze and a little more of the Tom Waitsian emotion pours from his soul. As such, I passed him a few shots of Jameson from the crowd and he called me crazy for spending that much money on him and told me to wait around after the show and he'd buy me a few back. An incredibly sweet offer that I unfortunately didn't have time to take him up on.

If you recall my last blog on the subject of Whitmore, my good friend cried upon witnessing the depth and emotion of his performance, well this night was no different. During the time I my fiance was stranded out in Australia and the only way I could visit her until her K1 Fiance Visa went through was to come and visit, which I did several four times last year (our ordeal is detailed here). As I was set to leave for the States the next day, combined with his lyrics of love and lost, Liv began uncontrollably sobbing. That's how powerful this lone guy on a stage's presence is, he literally has the power to make people sob at his performances.

Front Cover

As to The Death Valley Sessions, once again, almost no information is available about the demo session past the point that he sold homemade copies of it on his 2002-2003 tour. There are a few websites reporting that he recorded this shortly after graduation High School while having a brief period living in San Francisco, but I have seen no real documentation as to this. Regardless, I believe it was indeed recorded in Death Valley. The album is far and away the best quality collection of demos that have leaked thus far from Whitmore, but I have been searching for a real copy of it for years so that I can make a high quality FLAC encode, and not listen to the low quality 128Kbps version that I am unfortunately supplying here.

On top of amazing early versions of what has become staples of his setlist, this album also features the swirling sounds of the desert itself. I highly doubt that such high quality versions of these songs were recorded outdoors, so more than likely someone recorded the exterior ambient sounds of the desert and laid them overtop of the recorded tracks, but I suppose anything is possible. The stand-out songs on this demo to me are the Old Lady Duet's Pt. 1 & 2. I left these titled as such due to my belief that this is how they were labeled on the original CD. Track one is a heartfelt, very melon-collie take on "My Old Kentucky Home" where the slight cracking in the old woman's vocals is as endearing as it is sad. The second is a take on "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" which is again as heartwarming as it is sad.

Back Cover

Once again, this demo album is yet another intimate look at the raw genius that is William Eliott Whitmore. Do yourself a favor and relisten to his song "Lift My Jug (Song for Hub Cale)" off of this demo, then off of the "Jarrett Mitchell Demos" (which I previously published here), and finally to the final version of the song on his studio album "Ashes to Dust". Doing this is an excellent way to watch WEW craft this song from a well written diamond in the rough, into an amazing, absolutely astounding song that is still manages to be rough around the edges in the best of ways.

As always, go and purchase his actual music, see him on tour, and meet the man himself. These releases are not meant to be the only material you take from the artists, but are intended to give you a deeper understanding and appreciation of some of the best talent that has ever been seen musically on this planet.

Download The Entire Album and Cover Art Here:
ZIP Archive

The tracklist is:
1:  Introduction
2:  Instrumental
3:  Does Me No Good
4:  Pine Box
5:  Lord Only Knows
6:  Old Lady Duet
7:  From the Cell Door to the Gallows
8:  Diggin' My Grave
9:  Lift My Jug
10: Old Lady Duet 2
11: Our Paths Will Cross Again
12: Instrumental 2

EDIT (8/18/14):
I was contacted by a nice lady named Bailey who shed some light on the sessions and where they're from. MANY THANKS!!!!

"I thought I would tell ya a little about the  WEW recording you posted on your blog. You can purchase that album. It is apart of a book called after the gold rush by Jeremy Deller. The woman you hear on a few of the tracks is Jennie Olson. You can also purchase the 9 picture disc album for 500€"-Bailey Fryschnormeier

EDIT (5/28/15):
I really dig how much love there is for Whitmore out there. I was recently contacted by a very nice man from London named Martin who further shined information on this session and provided a hand written letter from WEW:

Hand written letter & tracklist

"...I do have something concrete to add to the proceedings with regards to "The Death Valley Sessions", anticurrent vol 8.  As your other poster reported, the album is part of an art project put together by Jeremy Deller, check it out HERE.

Before i managed to source a copy of the book with CD I actually asked William if he could let me have a copy.  Generous as always he sent me a CDR with hand drawn artwork and a note giving track listing and explanation of the project's background.  I've scanned the relevant documents and attached them to this e-mail and I hope you find it of interest." -Martin Nisbet 

Deathlok and I

My desk. Seriously.

I'm an avid fan of the multiple incarnations of the Marvel Comics character Deathlok, so when people I know got word that they are introducing the character into the new Marvel Television (and potentially cinematic) universe, I got flooded with people telling me the news and people asking me what my opinion on the subject is. So I decided to write a little rundown on the character, his history, and my thoughts on this new version. I'm going to concentrate this article solely on the Michael Collins version of the character written by Dwayne McDuffie as not only do I find him the most all around appealing, this new television version seems to be using him as the predominant source of inspiration for this new version.

My History with Deathlok:

Issue 4

In early September of 1991, I was 6 years old and living on Crawford Street next door to my babysitter Katie. She is an amazing woman who is near and dear to my heart to this day, more a family member than most of my family. As such, she would take the money my parents would pay her to watch me and spend a decent percentage of it on toys, gifts, and other things for me. On September 1st 1991, Issue 4 of the second incarnation of Deathlok written by Dwayne McDuffie had just came out, and as fate would have it, I entered the Stop & Go grocery mart, and begged Katie to buy me a copy of it, and being the amazing person she is, she did. That day I got into comics, and in particular, the Michael Collins version of Deathlok. I now have a massive collection containing the entire collection of the Collins Deathlok as well as a 9.2 CGC'd copy of Deathlok's first appearance. I still have that original issue as well.

A Synopsis on Michael Collins (Deathlok 2.0*):

Michael Collins Deathlok

Michael Collins was a computer programmer who lived a healthy normal life with his Wife and son. He was a pacifist who was put to work on a program that he was told was to help humanity. In truth,  he was helping design the Deathlok project, the creation of the perfect soldier. When he found out about the companies twisted plan, they killed him and stuck his brain in the Deathlok unit which was comprised of corpses, components, and an artificial intelligence system that was programmed to only obey its commander. Upon discovering that he is now a conscious that is alive inside the cyborg, he then hacks the AI he is sharing a body with, takes control of the Deathlok unit, and escapes the facility. Afterwards he begins searching to find his human body so that he can again rejoin his family.
*Yes technically Collins was Version 3, but John Kelly was in the body for 1/3rd an issue of Marvel Comics Presents #62

A Breakdown of the Book:

Deathlok combined Miniseries

What I love about this book (in particular the 4 issue mini-series leading up to the characters main-series) is it's amazing writing. Collins changes the unit and installs a no killing perimeter inside the machine. You are dealing with the most efficient unit of death that has ever been created, with a pacifist who does not believe in violence stuck inside it. Furthermore, the way in which McDuffie deals with showing the reader how this is happening is a constant witty battling dialogue between Michael and the computer, thus creating a story that is a brilliant amalgamation of the 4 types of narrative conflict all wrapped into one:

"Man VS Man"- Collins VS the person who put him inside the machine
"Man VS Self"- Collins confronting situations where he should kill people to accomplish his goal.
"Man VS Nature"- Collins becomes homeless and impoverished after the event takes place. and
"Man VS Society"-  Collins is literally made of bodies alla Frankenstein, society judges him where ever he goes.

The comic then went on to explore racial, gender, and societal issues that were not tackled by comics at that time, all without being preachy to the reader. I stress the word "explore" because it never told the reader how to feel, but offered up a raw look at the topics.

The Genius of McDuffie:

Dwayne McDuffie

McDuffie was a brilliant writer who went on from this project to have a huge career in comics, and eventually was hired to write on the amazing Justice League cartoon. When it became Justice League: Unlimited he was promoted to story editor and producer and went on to be the guiding force of the series. After this success he was later hired to takeover the same role on the Ben 10 series. His last two major projects was adapting the amazing "All-Star Superman", the only Superman story I have EVER cared for, and "Justice League: Doom". "JL:D" was McDuffie's chance to take a slightly darker spin on his television creation and was a GENIUS piece of cinema. The Blu-ray for which has a far too short career retrospective on him that is highly interesting. McDuffie finished writing "JL:D" just before his untimely death at 49 years old. He was by far, my favorite comic storyteller of all time.

The New TV Deathlok:

Newest Deathlok

Mike Peterson (this new TV version of Deathlok) seems as if he strongly takes from this version of the character since his past encounters on the show have all shown he is a decent man who just wants to take care of his son. He seems to be a good person put in a horrible situation, plus, to be blunt about the subject, he's black and named Mike. Collins has thus-far been the only African American version of him. Remember that so far in Deathlok's history the character has been stuck inside the dead body of another person, that is not the characters true body you are looking at when seeing Deathlok. This fact will obviously have to change as the show will want to display the actors face in part.

My Concern Over The New Deathlok: 

Leaked Production Photo ;-)

Although the show runners have obviously wanted to do something with his character from the beginning, it scares me that they jumped toward Deathlok as their choice out of desperation for ratings. Mike's character arc thus-far has been all over the map. First he was a hero who had his powers given to him via the centipede serum, then he presumably was locked away, only to still be found out to still be a super-soldier who was under SHIELD training, then we watched him get blown up, then he reappears with no arm or leg and ready for the Deathlok treatment. Just seems as if they are trying to succeed by establishing what is not working. A little all over the map for my taste.

Also, if Centipede had been implanting explosive devices inside their soldiers, why didn't they do it to Mike when they initially gave him his powers as they did to EVERYONE else?

Why A New Deathlok Is Ultimately a Good Thing:

Deathlok 1st Appearance (Luthor Manning)

I'm never someone who cries fowl anytime something bad is done with a character I love, nor am I assuming this will be a bad version of him, I merely have my concerns going into it. Do I wish that the long gestating movie rumored to be directed by Paul McGuigan (Sherlock, Lucky Number Sleven) would happen? Fuck yes. But this almost entirely puts the last nail it its coffin. But the thing about Deathlok is that although it is a character inside the machine, the Deathlok unit itself can host ANYONE inside it. This leaves room for multiple versions of the character within the same universe effectively meaning you can reboot the character again and again within the same universe and choose whether or not you acknowledge the prior versions.

As a matter of fact this is the best thing that could happen to the character regardless of how good or bad the portrayal is. If it's good? They will either port the character over for a standalone movie or at the minimal keep him involved in the universe. If he is bad? It puts the character back in peoples mind for a few more years and makes him ripe to reboot within the existing universe. Either way, I shoot my series of shorts and they will be put forth as one cohesive narrative by years end. That put's me on track to do my own original film in 2015, so by 2020 I should have enough projects under my belt to convince Marvel to let me have a go at the character in 2022 ;-). Just kidding.

Well, actually not at all.

A Casting Call of a Somewhat Different Nature....

I know how this will sound, but no, I am not making a porn, I am beginning casting on my first short movie. Now, this film will display no nudity and will be done tastefully, but the subject of bondage is heavily explored in a dark-comedic fashion. Think John Waters meets Jim Jarmusch.

The story is about a young boy discovering that his Grandparents are into bondage, and the awkwardness of coming to grips with your Grandparents sexuality. Thus, this flick is in need of extras within the BDSM community, so I figured this was as good a place as any to post an open casting call for anyone involved this subculture.

The perfect fit for this project is someone who owns their own S&M gear and is comfortable on camera wearing it.

Unfortunately, as this picture is entirely self-financed there is no pay involved, but this is an amazing opportunity to accurately represent your subculture and get your name out there on the big screen! I've been working within the entertainment industry for the last 5 years and the first rule of this production will be to have fun, but rest assured, this is a serious project that will be treated as such. Food and private areas to change will be provided on set. Please feel free to email me with any questions.

Below is the open casting call as written by my producer and life-mate Olivia Banks:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Greetings BDSM community,

I am writing to you in regards to the latest short film that my crew and I will be producing in late-March/early-April of this year. The main theme that is addressed is S&M and we are currently searching for extras with experience and their own gear. I am the producer, Olivia, and am speaking on behalf of the writer/director Josh Roush and myself.

‘Rodney Redbottom’ is a dark-comedic short that (tactfully and respectfully) portrays a young man’s adventure into discovering that his Grandfather was heavily into  S&M. Our team consists completely of North Hollywood community members which is why we are hoping to collaborate with you!

We are looking for a diverse group of 10-15  volunteers to be involved in non-speaking roles throughout the film. The reason we are approaching the BDSM community is because we feel we can reflect a more honest portrayal of the subculture by using actual members that take part in the subculture. We want our extras to be comfortable with the equipment, costumes and environment. We are also hoping our extras will provide some of the costumes and equipment to increase the realism and diversity of the movie (not to mention ease the budget cost).  The filming will take no more than one afternoon in early April.  It will be a fun and rewarding experience for all, particularly if members are seeking exposure in the film industry.

If you believe your members might be interested in participating, or if you know any BDSM groups, troops or organizations, please contact us on RodneyRedbottom@gmail.com We await your response and hope to work together in the near future.

Regards,

Olivia Banks

Producer 

AntiCurrent Archive Vol 7: William Elliott Whitmore- The Jarett Mitchell Demos

For the seventh edition of the "AntiCurrent.com Archives", a collection of rare albums I'm releasing through this blog, I'm releasing the second of three collections of demos for one of my FAVORITE artists of all time.  Click here to view all past AntiCurrent.com Archive Albums.

AS I said in my previous edition of AntiCurrent.com archives, I discovered William Elliott Whitmore organically by watching him open for The Pogues. Wishing to introduce more of people to him, on May 2nd 2009 I had a close-knit group of my nearest and dearest attend his show with me at The Knitting Factory (RIP) in Hollywood California without having yet exposed them to his music. The opening band, which we also discovered and quickly came to love was Los Duggans, a punk/metal/bluegrass hybrid band with an amazing standup washtub bass player.

By the time came for Whitmore to come on, we were all drunk. My friends were largely in the back at the bar and I was coming and going from the front row of people and them, presumably annoying everyone in between. 3 songs in I went to the back to refresh my drink and I found my best friend at the bar crying. Now, being a punk-rocker himself I assumed the worst. Someone had died, his girlfriend left him, his sister was in a car-crash, something. No. This badass of a dude was SO moved by the performance he was watching by an artist that he had never heard or heard of that he was literally shedding a tear due to William Elliott Whitmore's incredible performance. This is the time of sorrow, joy, happiness, and triumph that the dude can bring just by performing a few of his songs. I never have, and will likely never again see a performer who can illicit such an emotional reaction just by doing his job. It is truly incredible.

About 3/4 of the way through the performance, someone bought WEW an entire bottle of Jack Daniels. He grabbed it from an audience member, and being the eternal badass that he is, took a few swigs and said "share and share alike my friends" and passed it out into the audience for all of us to drink. I of course had a swig, but so did my friend at the time. She had never before, nor never again drank whiskey, but the emotional weight of the gesture caused her to drink it without thinking twice.

Fast forward to the end of the show and Whitmore has just went off stage. Like, he walked off stage into the audience and proceeded to shake every hand and meet every person that wished to do so. My drunken friend then decided that she desperately wanted to meet him so we approached. Although she was annihilated, and I was no shade of sober, he was incredibly gracious at our sloppy praise. We took a picture and she immediately went ill. He asked if she was ok just as she turned and vomited in the trashcan next to him. He laughed and said "Shit, we've all been there before." and shook my hand and left for the bar. We carried her to the car, got in and all recounted our miscellaneous stories about what an amazing dude this was.

Now, from my pieced together history of what William Elliott Whitmore's catalog was before he released his first real album "Hymns For The Hopeless" I believe that "The Jarrett Mitchell Demos" otherwise known as "Born in the USA" and also "Calendar Club of Danger and Fun" was the first of his self-released collections. This is debatable based on what I have read. HERE it states that this album is known as "CCoD&F", however on Wikipedia it states that these two albums are entirely separate. IF I am not mistaken, this first self-release was later followed up by "Legalize Freedom" (Which I previously released), and finally "The Death Valley Sessions" which was demo only available on his 2002-2003 tour. "The Death Valley Sessions" is the next of the AntiCurrent.com Archives that I will make available.

The personal highlight of this album for me is "Gravel Road". Now there are three available versions of this song, but this is the first and by far, most raw. Something about the lack of quality of recording and just a barely in-tune guitar and his growly amazing voice speaks to the very depths of my soul. Live this song is amazing as before he regales you with it, he will tell you the story of packing black-powder under a bowling ball and launching it like a cannon hundreds of feet into the air, only to find it on his property years later.

Somehow WEW turns a sub-par recording, one guitar, and his voice into what is one of the best demo collections of any artist of all time. As always, go and purchase his actual music, see him on tour, and meet the man himself. These releases are not meant to be the only material you take from the artists, but are intended to give you a deeper understanding and appreciation of some of the best talent that has ever been seen musically on this planet.

Download The Entire Album and Cover Art Here:
MP3 Zip Archive

The tracklist is:
1: Grey Skies
2: Marrow
3: Livin' Like A King
4: South Lee County Brew
5: Gravel Road
6: On The Chin
7: The Prairie Yields
8: Diggin' My Grave
9: Going To The Moments
10: Black Iowa Dirt
11: Lift My Jug
12: Let's Call It A Night
13: Have Mercy
14: Red Buds
15: Shotgun
16: Never Forget

A Year Of Hell For a Life of Bliss (How We Dealt With A K1 Visa)

Well, today is the day. My baby finally fucking comes home to me. It's been a long, hard year and I couldn't have made it without my friends by my side. I owe a debt to each and every one of them that I can only hope to one day repay. They all got me through what was easily the roughest patch of my life.

Liv and I

What happened? My incredible life-mate went with only a bag of clothes to Sydney to visit her family at Christmas for two weeks, and was stuck there for an entire fucking year. Most people and most relationships could never weather a storm such as this, but we managed it. In a testament to how big of a badass this girl is, after initially (and completely reasonably) freaking out, she had a job and lodging within weeks of this horrid news. She is the hardest working, most talented, never-say-die person I have ever encountered in my life and will be proud to call her my wife in the coming months. 

For those of you who do not know, my fiancé took said vacation home for Christmas last year and was not allowed back in the country. To add to the kick-in-the-ass of this, I had just signed the lease on a house for us so that we no longer had to sleep in my buddies bedroom. This kept me from simply moving to Australia, which I assure you was my knee-jerk reaction. She was out here visiting on the ESTA Visa Waiver program, and our plan was for her to get visit family, get a Holiday B2 Visa and return to me in two weeks time. That never happened. She was denied the visa due to her having a boyfriend in the United States and them suspecting her of traveling over and potentially attempting to marry under false-pretenses. Basically, a bunch of fucking bullshit. Once flagged as "being denied" you are no longer allowed to travel abroad on the ESTA Visa Waiver, basically FORCING you to get some type of Visa if you are to ever reenter the country.

The consulate made their ruling on the fact that we were unprepared for her interview. So for those of you who may see yourself in this predicament, I will outline what we went through with as much clarity as I feel comfortable in doing. Our rationale was that since they denied us, we merely needed to make a stronger case in order to proceed. So she went to work on a plan to come and visit the US on an ACTUAL holiday. We bought her music-festival tickets, were going to take a planned cross-country trip, and it all had the benefit of being legit. Money was spent. However, her being denied once put us on a blacklist and they almost immediately denied her second attempt at the B2 Holiday Visa without so much as a look at her documents. Gotta fucking love America sometimes.

At this point we were fastly running out of options and we began to consider the K1 Fiance and K3 Marriage Visa (K3 isn't ACTUALLY the marriage visa, its a type of expediting a husband/wife into your country, the CR1 is the actual Visa). But this is a HUGE step for a couple and we decided we needed some time to consider it. During this time, we also decided that it would be in our relationships interest if we were to see each other (it had been 3 months up to this point). However, I had just got us a house to rent so I was flat broke. Once again, my amazing counter-part stepped up to the plate and bought me airfare to come and visit her.

On my first trip to Sydney

This was amazing of her, but the three week planned trip didn't allow me the time off work to still cover my bills in my absence from work. Thankfully I have some pretty kickass bosses and we worked out a deal: I was allowed to work extra hours to build vacation time to use during my absence. Throughout this year, I made 4 trips to Australia for at least two weeks at a time. When I wasn't there, doing a freelance gig, or on a movie-set, I was at my desk. Eating, breathing, sleeping, showering, at work. I would work until 2AM, catch a 3 hour nap, wake back up at 5, take a shower, and then guzzle 60 OZ's of coffee each and every day, seven days a week. I did this for an entire 9 months, living under my desk in order to be able to visit my love. This resulted in 6-8 weeks of absolute torture to my body, and occasionally my mind, followed by 2-3 weeks of vacation. I'm firmly convinced that the back and forth has aged me more this year than the last ten years of my life.

32 Page K1 Packet

So in late August I purposed to her and the day I returned from my trip, we filed for the K1 Fiance Visa. The entire packet was over 32 pieces of evidence and forms documenting who we are and every nook and cranny of our relationship. Ever the impatient one, the day we got out NOA1 (stating the government has received your request) I also filed ten additional pages for an expedite based on my money situation. I cannot and will not go into the entire criteria I used to get this expedite, but much of it was claiming a severe potential-financial loss due to my constant inability to be at work. This was true, if I was not at work, it stood to reason I might not be able to make money. It was also true that I was missing out on freelance gigs left and right out here due to the situation.

Many people get upset when you "clog" the system with expedites, after all, everyone wants to be first due to impatience. I suppose this is a valid concern, but here is my logic: Fuck 'em. In this kill or be killed world, I would not fault anyone doing anything they could to procure their significant-others happiness. If that means they beat me to the punch, then I should have tried harder, lobbied more, worked smarter, or just refused to say die. Survival of the fittest in every way, keep up or get left behind. Admittedly a cold way to be, but when the options are sink or swim, failure is no option.

I was checking out our CVC (California Visa Center) receipt number daily which allows you to track the process from submitted to accepted. 3 weeks later our expedite was approved (although looking back at historical averages for visas at the time we probably only saved 3-5 weeks) and we received out NOA2 (stating that the packet had been forwarded to the National Visa Center) about 2 days after. At this point we thought that we were on the fast track to getting the approval for the visa, however, due to issues within the government (I believe the Texas Visa Center had recently sent in an abmormal amount of approved visas to the NVC) we still had weeks to wait.

The NVC instructed me after the 5th time that I called them that I should wait 4 weeks to hear from them and they would tell me as to it's acceptance in their system. Basically the NVC just forwards out approved petitions to consulates throughout the world, but they do so in the order received and no preferential treatment is available. I had them SWEAR to me that they would email me the second it was approved. They told me that they had my email address on file and they would automatically email me when the visa was processed. Well... they didn't. Bastards. They caused me to sweat an entire extra week that our application had been lost so when I called on the third week they said, "Oh yeah, that was sent out a few days ago, we don't always email people when that happens". My recommendation? Call them twice a week regardless of whether they want you to or not. It can be VERY hard to get someone on the phone there, although it can be an hour wait at most times. Why press them? Because you NEED their assigned NVC number as soon as possible for the next step.

This pic personifies our relationship

Next up is the medical screening for the fiance. Now for most countries, there are 1-2 doctors that can perform this per major city and most of these doctors refuse to set up an appointment until you have your NVC number (due to this now being your MAJOR tracking number). The importance on getting then the NVC number is due to how few doctors VS how many applicants there are for the screenings. Wait times can be up to a month and in most cases you CANNOT schedule your final interview without having already passed it. Getting your NVC number to them as soon as it is assigned could shave weeks off of your appointment. Also, receptionists are one of the few human elements in this process. If you pester them enough, or give them a good enough reason, you may be able to bump up your appointment a few weeks if you are selective with your words.... we got ours within the week.

Once you have your medical screening finished, you book your final interview appointment. At some consulates, this can be expedited. At the Sydney consulate we were dealing with, this was next to impossible. We sent emails, faxes, and phone calls to attempt to expedite our appointment for valid reasons. However they didn't seem to even read our correspondence. They went ahead and booked the interview 3 weeks ahead, and two weeks into waiting finally responded to our request saying that we were already booked in the next possible appointment. Lovely, thanks guys....

Initial approval

Have a duplicate of absolutely everything you submitted throughout this entire process with you when you finally attend your date. For us this was about 60+ pages of documentation at this point. Be ready to be grilled about everything from what you will do as a vocation to what your significant-other will be wearing to the wedding. They honestly have to have and INCREDIBLY valid reason to turn you down at this point, so be comfortable with your truth and don't stress. Just answer their multitude of questions and you too will walk out with a little sheet of paper with your name scribbled on it saying you were approved. They will mail you out your visa the following week.

So that's it. An entire year of both our life's were completely put on pause in order to be with one another. The entire visa process took 4 months with expediting, a far cry from the typical 6-8 months. Did it suck? Fuck yes it did. At times we both went through bouts of depression, anxiety, paranoia, severe sleep-deprivation, etc. But it was worth it. We both now know how incredibly committed we are to each other, and have came out stringer as a result. I love this girl and am firmly convinced that no one in the world could have handled this ordeal with as much dignity and grace as she has. Today I am whole again.

A Guaranteed Way to Get Around Local NHL (& Other Sports) Blackouts

I live in Los Angeles, work nights, and am an avid Anaheim Ducks fan. Due to the extreme hours that I keep at work, I am generally saddled behind a desk during damn near every NHL game. In addition to my normal job, when I'm not behind said desk I'm traveling around on shoots. This makes my ability of catching a Ducks game on a local broadcast nearly impossible. This also makes NHL Gamecenter an amazing alternative. For $20 a month, all games the NHL has to offer will be sent to the screen of my choice? I'm happy to pay to see my team, I'm not trying to cheat anyone... hell, sounds amazing! Well, amazing unless you happen to live next to the team you root for.

Being about 30 miles from Anaheim and living deep in Kings territory means that anything actually broadcast can't make it to me. However, I live so close that I still fall into the "local blackout zone" for the Anaheim Ducks. This makes it impossible for me to legally view a game without visiting a local bar that will allow a Ducks fan to watch a non-Kings game, a heavy task to say the least. This has forced my hand to view games at any cost... even if it is... well it's NOT illegal, but it's against certain BS "Terms and Conditions".

Enter Port-Forwarding. Port-Forwarding allows you to take your computers IP address (the service that tells the provider where your computer is physically connected) and push your signal to anywhere in the world. To put this in layman's terms, you could be sitting outside of the local sports arena and they would think you are coming from Hawaii, Canada, New Zealand, etc. This tells your internet-sports provider that you are outside of the blackout zone and allows you to watch to your hearts desire.

Now there ARE port forwarding programs that are free. In my experience they work like shit. The interface is horrible, you get kicked off connections every few minutes, and the list of available connections is miniscule. I've dabbled with a few of the paid ones as well and they greatly vary in quality as well. The best of these, thus far, is a program called "Hide My Ass" or known by its kinder, gentler title, "HMA". For a $60 flat rate you can get 6 months of their kick-ass service, just enough to get you through your season. (This service can also be used to download things untraceably for those of you who are unscrupulous enough to do such things ;-) ) Additional uses for port-forwarding also allow you to browse different store-fronts to purchase material from places like I-Tunes or watch things on Netflix that haven't yet came out in your country.

If you do INSIST on free port-forwarding, I have heard DECENT things about the Google Chrome Add-On "Hola Better Internet". Simply download it from Hola.org and install it into Chrome. I have had little time to mess with this program, but to me it appears slow and clunky. Connections don't last, speed is sluggish, and it is based on ad-generated revenue which I find fucking annoying. Take my advice, spend the money and purchase an actual service.

So there you go, just connect to HMA, open up your normal web-browser, and the program will forward your signal to anywhere you desire. As of now, I have not had any trouble with GameCenter "Locking me out". I assume that not only do they monitor where your signal is coming from, but they probably keep a log of it. If they so desired, they COULD lock you out if your connections are "suspicious". So perhaps its better to always log on to one location. Just food for thought....

AntiCurrent Archive Vol 6: William Elliott Whitmore- Legalize Freedom Demos

For the sixth edition of the "AntiCurrent.com Archives", a collection of rare albums I'm releasing through this blog, I'm releasing the first of three collections of demos for one of my FAVORITE artists of all time.  Click here to view all past AntiCurrent.com Archive Albums.

There are only a few select bands that I have ever discovered organically. I define that term "organically" as coming across music you have never heard nor been shown by your friends, but that you actually discover in its native environment. It's like they did back in the day, you show up to a gig for a certain type of music, and you experience it for the first time in the real world, rather than via the internet or word of mouth. William Elliott Whitmore is the best example of this for me.

I went to a Pogues show in Anaheim on October 28th of 2007 and the beginning act wasn't stellar, I had expected quite a punch from anyone opening for the Pogues and that band (I shall not name) did NOT deliver. So I sat in the back, ordered a drink at the bar and was prepared to be disappointed when the next guy went on, some dude with just a banjo. Before the end of the first song I was in front of the pit watching this guy work and yes, it was WEW. After what was easily one of the top 10 performances I have ever seen in my life, I ran back, ordered another drink and approached his merch table (of which he was splitting with the other said band). Unfortunately he only had a few pins so I purchased those immediately and went and watched the Pogues knock it out of the park. When I got home, I went straight to the internet, got on some file sharing site, and downloaded everything I could find of WEW.

I have since seen him live 8 times (Hell, I even made it plan a trip to Australia once and see him), and since I have 3 albums of his demos I am planning on releasing here, I will relive one of those amazing stories in each of the coming WEW AntiCurrent.com Archives I publish. Go and see this man. Purchase his actual albums. Buy him a shot of whiskey and give it to him on stage (he will drink it, trust me) Purchase his merch. After you do this, walk up to him after the show and thank him. The dude is salt-of-the-earth and is one of the most grateful people I have ever met. I have seen him 8 times, I have shook his hand 8 times.

Not much is known about Whitmore's demo albums (at least not that I've found) but the next time I see him, I will ask him and post the results here. I believe this to be the first... I'll let you investigate this album yourself as I believe most of his music begs, but I will leave you with this: "Legalize Freedom" has what is one of my top songs he has ever done. "Trespassers Will Be Eaten" is fucking genius. A slow melt banjo jam that explodes into energy, coupled with aggressive lyrics talking cruel threats to anyone that approaches a man's property without authorization. I love this track and it summarizes everything about his amazing presence perfectly.

Download The Entire Album and Cover Art Here:
MP3 Zip Archive

The tracklist is:
1: Old 49
2: Trespassers Will Be Eaten
3: Forgive me
4: Diamond In Your Pocket
5: Lonely Walk
6: Run Johnny Run
7: Shogun
8: Whatll You Do
9: Oh Susanna
10:  One Glass At a Time
11: Evening

AntiCurrent Booze & Grub Review #2: Despaña: The Best Breakfast In Sydney

Once again, my admittedly limited taste in food, but tremendous taste in atmosphere and humans landed me in yet another amazing restaurant. A few months ago on what has been one of my numerous trips through Glebe (a suburb of Sydney) I was checking out a menu in the front of a restaurant when what I assumed was the waiter came out and had a very pleasant conversation with my fiance and I. After a few minutes we decided that regardless of how the food was, this was obviously a place that at the minimum, wasn't judgmental over the fact that I had tattoo's, piercings, and (to most people) appear to dress straight out of Mad Max.

I walked in and was immediately smitten by the place. Fishnets hung on the top of the walls with wine corks, homemade lights made from wine bottles adorned the area above the tables, and the place looked and felt like I had always imagined Spain to be. It was immediately apparent that this was not some mere Spanish style Tapas joint like the ones I had frequented so many times before, this was the real deal.

Amazing Mocha

Upon sitting down in the restaurant we continued our conversation with the incredibly colorful man who then introduced himself as Kezra, the owner of the establishment. According to him they had not been open long, but were beginning to build a reputation as one of the premiere Tapas restaurants in Sydney. I was skeptical as this is an ENORMOUSLY huge claim in an area that has three such restaurants within a two block radius. It being late-morning, I was ready to sit down and enjoy lunch when I discovered that they still had their breakfast menu in full swing. I ordered an astounding tasting mocha while I studied the menu.

I am a sucker for breakfast. Much to my fiances displeasure, if a restaurant offers breakfast as an option, I will choose it nine times out of ten regardless of what time of day it is. This occasionally makes it hard for her to split meals with me, which is something we enjoy doing, but being a tremendous creature of habit, I perused the breakfast menu. That is where I discovered the absolute wonder that is Catalan baked eggs.

Catalan Baked Eggs

This little known (at least in this area) monument to breakfast consists of three eggs, Catalan sauce (a creamy, olive-oil and tomato based sauce) manchego (an absolutely stunning cheese),  and your choice of chorizo, mushrooms, or salt-cod. The eggs are cooked over-medium and still have their yolk in a mostly runny consistency. When this is combined with the Catalan sauce, it makes for pure amazingness. The accompanying homemade sourdough bread is best utilized by using the yolk and sauce as a dip.

So we ate, I gushed over how amazing the meal was to the owner, and I have such returned over 2 dozen times. Now, yes, they are primarily a Tapas place, but based on my perfect experience each and every time, it is my new favorite breakfast joint in Sydney, and dare I say the world. In my many visits I continually promised Kezra I would come in for an actual dinner. Unfortunately it took me months to actually follow through this. After all, there are dozens of amazing places to eat diner in the area. When I finally did? Yes, it was spectacular, but....

I could go on and on about the greatness of the restaurant's dinner menu, but it well documented at this point by blogs 100 times my size. There are indeed many, many restaurateurs, newspapers, and magazines officially declaring Despaña THE best Tapas joint in Sydney. Personally, I agree, and it is amazing dinner food of which I completely recommend and attend often. However, I will leave those reviews to the people who will continually spout the same deserved praise to what is in my opinion, the absolute best and most over-looked breakfast in all of Sydney.

Breaking Down the Age Old Argument: Analog VS Digitaly Encoded Music

I've done a few blogs now on how to make a DIY Hi-Fi system, and adjusting a lower end record player, so I thought I should also break down the in's and out's of Analog VS Digital Media.

The argument of digital vs analogue sound has been around since Phillips and Sony debuted the Compact Disc format back in 1982. The core arguments of both sides are still very similar and it all ultimately boils down to this down to this: quality of product VS ease of accessibility. Vinyl (analogue) offers a 100% accurate reproduction of the original sound recorded, but is big and bulky while the digital market offers music that can be stored as data, but loses much of the source quality through the encoding process and as a result of what is being called the “loudness wars” plaguing digital media. This issue of low quality sound and high portability has been exponentially exacerbated with the advent of the internet and mp3s.  In this article, I will boil down the pro’s and con’s of the analogue vs digital debate not in an attempt to uncover the preferable format, but to allow the reader to decide where they fall on this issue.

For most of the 20th century, LP’s were the predominant way to distribute music to the home consumer. Originally formed out of shellac, and now polyvinyl chloride, people took great care of their music collections and spent tons of money on record players. However, in the late 1980’s the compact disc made it’s debut and within a few years became the new vehicle in which people enjoyed their music at home. Cassettes came and went, but were largely regarded as merely a way to enjoy music on the go, not for normal household enjoyment. This lasted until the late 1990’s when a hacker bought encoding software with a stolen credit card, widely spread it as freeware, and began the popularization of the MP3.

Before we compare and contrast the various mediums of audio delivery, it is first key to understand a few terms. The most important of which when speaking about digital music is the bit-rate. Essentially this is the quality of compressed digital audio. In digital, the analogue signal is sampled, taking bits and pieces of the audio rather than the entirety of it as a whole. The bitrate is the amount of data that is captured at any one second of the audio. These can range anywhere from low level MP3 encodes that start at 128 kilobits per second to 1,411.2 kilobits per second on CDs. With this, more data produces a better sound, but also produces larger file sizes. A standard 128KBPs encode will take up only a few megabytes of space, while a lossless cd track will take up between 30-50 megabytes. Lossless digital audio exists, but is accompanied by large file sizes. Analogue sound on the other hand, due to it being a complete reproduction of the source cannot be quantitated like this in regards to bit-rate.

Records, or LP’s, contain grooves in which a physical waveform (a direct reproduction of the source sound) is contained within the formed plastic. This waveform has a needle ran overtop of it in which a barely audible, completely authentic reproduction of the sound is played. The sound then transfers into an amplifier and out of the speakers generating a 100% authentic reproduction of the source material. This is lack of encoding and sampling the music is the prefered way to listen to music by “audiophiles”. The argument being that something sampled can never sound as good as an original reproduction.

However, vinyl has negative sides as well. It is big, bulky, and easily breakable. Also, although technology is readily available to have an amazing experience playing vinyl, due to it’s lack of popularity it is expensive to purchase the technology to properly utilize the format. There is also an audible sound with the needle dragging over the crevice, if a record is not completely clean, it will be filled with hisses and pops. This becomes even more of an issue due to the fact that you are essentially dragging a sharp instrument over a delicate surface. This means each time you play it, though it may be by an incredibly insignificant and minute amount, you are causing damage to the record. Additionally, a true hi-fi setup includes needle priced anywhere from $80-$5,000, direct drive motor, tube preamplifier, amplifier, and speakers. This can quickly total alot of money and is not a likely purchase for your typical consumer.

On the opposite end of the spectrum of vinyl are MP3’s. The average MP3 ranges in quality from 128 kbit/s to 320 kbit/s. While a 320 kbit/s is listenable to the normal everyday consumer, even the least trained ears can hear the obvious difference between the two extremes on the scale. MP3’s only take up a few megabytes of space on a hard drive, are quickly ripped (encoded) from a CD using the even the most primitive of computer systems, are easily shared, and contain the information about the artist, album, and even a small thumbnail of the artwork within them. This is the highest quality of portable music for the smallest amount of size. These are also largely popular with the public due to the fact that most online stores sell them for .99 cents a piece.

One of the major problems that stems from the popularization of MP3’s is the multiple-encoding that sometimes arises from them. Basically, this is the unfortunately popular practice of taking an encoded MP3, burning it to a disc, giving it to a friend, and having them re-rip (encode) it to their system, resulting in a complete and total fidelity loss for no reason whatsoever. Although an MP3’s file size is incredibly small, so is the quality of the sound. Despite these drawbacks, the consumers have spoken and ease of use and portability are what today’s general customer crave the most.

This huge cost and lack of portability is what largely drove consumers to CD’s in the first place. CD’s offer a mid to high quality level of sound while providing a very small delivery vessel. CD’s are also harder to damage than the traditional LP, and most of the time the damage is able to be repaired. Being a physical format it is immune to hard drive crashes, and unlike records it causes zero wear and tear when you use it each time. CD’s have a relatively high bit-rate of 1,411.2 KBPs, meaning that they have much more depth and clarity than MP3’s, but oddly enough, CD’s greatest asset is not being utilized in the least...

Technically speaking, a CD’s low-end dynamic-range is greater than that of the LP. This means that a CD can technically produce more low end frequencies than that of even a vinyl. Now on the outset, discovering that CD’s have a lower potential dynamic range, but they are in fact inferior to a wave-form may seem complicated, but it’s not. Yes, a CD designed directly from a professional mixer can in fact have audio levels that are not possible with an LP. However, due to what are being called the “loudness wars”.

The record labels are understandably in a competition to have their music heard over those of their competitors. This has resulted in labels pushing CD producing plants and digital distributors to make their music as loud as possible through what is defined by  Scott Metcalfe, the director of recording arts and sciences at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University as “the range from the loudest notes being played to the softest notes being played”.

This practice effectively removes the peaks and valleys of a waveform making the entirety of it to sound as if it is louder as a whole. Unfortunately, this removes much of the character and subtlety of music, or as Bob Dylan puts it “You listen to these modern records, they're atrocious, they have sound all over them. There's no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like—static.” Although this affects CD’s and MP3’s, this is one of vinyl’s main draws for many people as record producing plants are not able to perform excessive compression with vinyl due to its physical constraints.

Based on all of the positives and negatives of each of these formats, the consumer seems to want portability and ease first, and quality second. Enter the FLAC file. FLAC is an acronym for Free Lossless Audio Codec. FLAC encodes at the maximum data rate of which humans can hear, but does not compress the audio, it compresses it as a file. For instance, with zero quality loss, FLAC zips the file to make 40-60% smaller with absolutely no quality degradation. The file size ends up being around 40 megabytes, more than small enough to fit on today’s 8, 16, or 32 gigabyte phones/players.

FLAC has a lot going for it. You can create a FLAC file out of your CD with just a burner. With just a little experience with audio, you can even rip a copy of your favorite LP’s and output an identical FLAC file that is just as clean as the original vinyl. This allows the portability of a vinyl collection and the ability to create a backup of any of your audio to keep for years to come. Most importantly, FLAC has one thing going for it that other lossless formats do not: It is entirely free to use. Is FLAC for everyone? No. Many people cannot differentiate the difference between a 320kbps MP3 encode and a CD, for them, they will go with MP3. But for those who care about audio quality AND portability, FLAC seems to be the best option around.

So what does this mean for the future of the record industry?  Which format will prevail? Well, records and vinyl have been steadily selling more each year since 1998 and appear to be on an upswing that is not going away anytime soon. CD’s certainly are suffering dimension sales and do not appear to be a long term solution as they are quickly falling out of popularity. MP3’s are still reigning supreme at the moment, but with the cost of affordable, high quality audio equipment coming down each year, that may not last. One amazing idea that has been prevailing among indie record labels is selling vinyl copies with a CD or download voucher with it. Sometimes even both. This allows the user to choose their experience and how they want their media, essentially taking the power out of the hands of the labels, and putting it where it truly belongs…. in the users hands.

The Gunpowder and Acid Incident (Part 1 of the Josh was Dumb in School Saga)

In the course of my so-called academic career at Madison Public Schools, I learned something at a very young age: It doesn't fucking matter. Until the 6th grade, I worked my ass of and several times was vocally refereed to as the "head of my class" by authority figures who cared to measure such things. However, with a school-system that was hesitant to teach evolution, and only did so as one of "multiple options you can go into yourself", 90% of what they taught was either bullshit, or far, far below anyone with a brain. As a result, I grew tired of their system and began to rebel against it (I went into detail some of the schools issues in this blog). For what it's worth, my grandfather (father's father), the once superintendent of the school system attempted to make this broken mess into something. This story is the first of three blogs I will be publishing about my major dealings with the powers that be during my Middle to High-school years.

Personal issues at home that I have spoke at length about in other blog posts combined with my having zero respect for such a laughable fucking school resulted in a heavy amount of early, outward rebellion from myself. Many people in these days were shocked by my disregard for the establishments rules and regulations, I however then and now, maintained that I was just ahead of the curve.. an early bloomer if you will. Anyway, this lead me to be very "experimental" at a young age, hence some of my many adventures.  One of the first major things my group of friends and I (more about them here) got into were explosives. We, as many other teenage boys at this age, greatly enjoyed occasionally blowing the shit out of stuff. Some of the gang would steal bottle rockets and such, but I always brought the gold as my Grandpa (Moms Dad) was a bit of a gun nut and thus, had plenty of artillery.

My Grandpa and I never had much in common. He drank alot and occasionally just wanted to argue about meaningless shit. He did love me, but being a battle-hardened, slightly crazy war vet, we really had fuckall in common. That is until the day I watched him blow up an old stuffed rabbit with a homemade artillery shell. Instantly we had what would be a lasting mutual interest in something... blowing shit the fuck up. Nearly every weekend we would cram some innocent toy and stuff it full of highly explosive materials hooked to some sort of detonation device and blammo! It was launched into a fiery oblivion. He introduced me to bottle-rockets, M-80's, black-cap, fuse, and most importantly... black powder.

Of all of the shady people I knew, James was the only one of them seemed as if he wasn't a total piece of shit (again, went into detail about him on this blog). James often bragged about his exploits with the older kids and one day in music class he made the mistake of talking about his experiences with acid. As soon as I caught wind of this, Nash and I immediately hit him up to get some. He quoted me a figure of way more money than I had access to at the time, but then asked me what I had to trade. The M-80's I had immediately came to mind. Unfortunately, he had a few already... but he did want something bigger. That's when I remembered my Grandpa's stash of black powder in the back of his closet. Nash and I then bartered 4 hits of acid (one for each of my friends and I) off of James for one full cup of pure black powder, and the exchange was set to take place the next week.

That weekend, I went to my Grandparents house with a much different plan than usual. Normally on these weekends I would wait till they were asleep and steal a few Miller Genuine Drafts from my Grandpa's drawer in his fridge, this time however, was different. I went to the cupboard to find a container with a top so as not to spill any in transport, but all I could find was my little cousin's sippy-cup. So making do, I grabbed it, went into his closet, filled it halfway up with black powder, and hid it away in my bag.

Seeing as how I lived in the country, did not have transportation, and lived 10 miles from him, I took the sippy-cup filled with gunpowder to school that Monday morning. In the middle of the day I quietly gave it to James and he hid it in his locker, promising to bring me acid the next day. As far as I was concerned that was the end of my involvement with it. It had left my hands and I assumed that he was smart enough to handle himself with it... boy was I wrong. What I didn't know was happening on his return from school would drastically change my life.

Somehow, the seemingly street smart dude dropped this container on the floor of the bus on his way home. Furthermore, he must have told at least a handful of people as to exactly what it was, but not necessarily what it was capable of. As the story from him goes, when it hit the floor on his bus trip home, a decent amount of it spilled out and a mutual friend of ours, Shawn, gathered it in a piece of paper and folded it up. Although I trusted James with this powder, I knew better than to give it to anyone with Shawns reputation, and he should have too. As soon as he got off the bus, a few of the "bad kids" all gathered round as Shawn put his face a foot above it and lit the paper.... thus igniting it directly in his eyes.

Now Shawn didn't sustain any permanent damage due to this, but he burned the shit out of himself and it effectively removed any and all hair he had on his face. To make a long story short, the ambulance came and treated him, the cops at the hospital made inquiries, Shawn rolled on James, James rolled on me, and the investigation officially began. Drug dogs made a sweep of the bus and positively identified there being residue of explosives. The cops intercepted James at school, made their formal arrest, put him in the car, and then came looking for me, ironically enough, in music class where the whole damn thing started.

They interrogated me for two hours with the assistance of the principle, the whole time of which I denied it... until they brought James out. James walked into the room, eyes swollen with tears, and he told me that it was over and that they knew nearly everything. The cops gave me one last chance to come clean, and in return, they would let my family collect me and not pull me out of the building and book me for the entire weekend. Fine, fuck it, I did it, I confessed. But with James standing there, I figured I'd do us both a solid and alter the storyline while I had him in the room. I explained to them how I sold the gunpowder to him for $20, and I saw him nod in approval, after all, why complicate this situation with the unnecessary addition of drugs.

They hauled him to jail and my parents hauled me away to the house. I was expelled, but seeing as how there was only two weeks left in class and I had A's, they went ahead and passed me with a C+. At home I endured the entirety of my family railing on me about what I had done. My Mother’s side of the family were more disappointed that I stole from my Grandfather than anything else, a fact of which I agree and am ashamed of. What really sucked is hearing my Father and his side of the family preaching to me about destroying my Grandfather's legacy (he had long since passed) and "ruining" the good Roush name in town (something they repeatedly did WAY better than I ever could a few years down the line, but that story is for another time).

I got a call a few days later and the court date was set (about a week and a half after the incident). My mother and I agreed it was best if I was represented by a capable attorney, so much to my father's disappointment, she called up the man that had represented her in their divorce. The man was damn good, and based on their prior experience, even agreed to represent me for free. Even though this good show of faith, my father refused to speak to the man or shake his hand. That was my dad.

I arrived in court with lawyer in tow, and we sat down in the cramped waiting area. We noticed the other families that were involved with this incident present as well. I darted my eyes a few times to avoid Shawn's scorched face, but eventually got up the balls to go and awkwardly apologize to his family. James' family and lawyer were also in attendance, though he was oddly absent (I later learned he had been in custody the entire time). Also gathered in the all-too-small area were a handful of miscellaneous witnesses to various pieces of this incident and their families. After several intensely awkward hours, we were all finally put before the judge.

We all had our time in front of the judge, Shawn got off completely due to the fact the judge decided he had learned his lesson. When it was done, his family got up and walked directly out... that's when I witnessed something that made me cry. James was brought before the judge in cuffs, his mother wailing hysterically, and his father shooting me a look of death. It was a terrible, horrid sight, which was made worse when it was all said and done. See, this wasn't James first offense.... nor his second. James was then scolded and sentenced to two additional months in Juvenile Hall, and I broke down when I saw this tough man walk out sobbing.

Then came me. My name was called, I raised my head up high and sat down next to my lawyer. I wasn't a tough guy, at least not yet. But be damned if I was going to let them see MY emotions. I sat down like a man to that table and expected to be carted off right after James. My lawyer got up, made my argument, stated this was my first offense, and made one king hell of a noble effort. Between the good lawyer and my clean record I got dealt 400 hours of community service and yelled at by a judge. It could have been much worse.

The judge then asked me if I had anything I would like to say, so I did. "I deeply regret my actions, and shall not do them again." I honestly told him. Then I continued, this time lying through my teeth, "I now have one hurt friend, and one jailed directly due to my actions, for that, I am deeply sorry as well."

Now, why was I lying through my teeth? Was I not emotionally impacted by the things that had happened to these two boys? Of course I was, and I was damn sorry I had to go to court because I stole from my Grandfather. But MY actions did not put them in their predicament, my terrible judgement merely enabled them to make bad decisions. Shawn was a nice kid, but at the end of the day he stole something he knew was dangerous and used it in a retarded way. And James? Well to quote Quentin Tarrantino, "He should have fucking better known better." He rolled on me, and although I hated to see an otherwise alright guy be put away, at the end of the day he still turned me in. Hell, it didn't even take him much coercing and he still got busted for the same crime at the end of the day.

THAT is the lesson I took away from this situation: What little you gain by rolling on a friend is nothing in comparison to what you lose within yourself.

Next time, The Marijuana Incident (Part 2 of the Josh was Dumb in School Saga)