The Good Life Is Out There Somewhere

Easy Rider

2009-03-18T15:06:00.000-07:00

Amidst growing up, we rarely get to see all the multi-facets that made our parents who they were before they became solely identifiable to us as mom and dad. As far as my father was concerned, I knew that he was a rugby player for 20 years, traveler, concert bouncer, and motorcycle owner.

The rugby player in my dad has been visible for the past twenty one years. His former teammates are my second family and I've heard every story from those glory days at least forty five times. They are all good people. Rugby gave my father the opportunity to travel extensively, and finding his old passports when I was a kid gave me a chance to see his evolution through the pictures that graced them. The first, a fu manchu and long hair, and several different hair lengths and facial hair styles to follow. And I'd heard the stories of him meeting CCR and James Brown when he worked their shows in Riverside. But the riding motorcycles era, all I'd ever known about was a bad crash that kept him out of a year of high school. I wanted to know more!

Since I'm a bit of gear head I couldn't help but have some curiosity. I mean, motorcycles are cool right? My dad was cool? Still is cool? Difficult things for a child to ponder! Story spun quick, my dad opened up to me about the motorcycle days. About how from the age of 16 to 22 the only vehicles he had were bikes. About the accident that kept him in summer school for two years. About how much he loved bikes and missed riding now. I expressed an interest in learning to ride, and my dad offered to teach me!

Fast forward three weeks, and we've been out riding (by the kindness and graciousness of my uncle for letting us borrow two of his dirt bikes) three or four times and it's been a very precious experience. I say this in the most sincere of ways because when your seemingly grown up finding ways to bond with your family becomes a really cool thing.

Now, members of my family and myself are looking into buying bikes. If you have a bike for sale, get at me! Or any of the Grove's.

Wait, what?

2009-02-09T21:44:00.000-08:00

I have the shortest attention span known to civilization. I wish I could increase the list of things that captivate my mind for more than 30 seconds, but it's a dwindling number. The soapbox on which I sit gets higher and higher from the ground until it's a bit of a princess and the pea situation. Very tall, get it? I'm not very good with metaphors so give me a break. Point is the more cynical I get, the harder I find it to be genuinely interested and that list that ignites my captivation gets smaller and smaller. With me homes?

What was I talking about? 30 seconds I tell you, and that is on a good day. Great Scott it's February! Okay, I'm not that distracted most of the time. At least there is a list of things that will always keep me interested: Film, art, music, the endless conquest for vinyl, anything printed i.e. comics and books, all the usual crap. And a few things that I will leave untold to give me a little mystery. I love being mysterious these days.

I'm sure this made no sense really.

Here's to...

2009-01-01T20:00:00.000-08:00

Last year is officially dead. No coroner's report required. The house has fallen from the sky, the Wicked Witch of the East has passed, and Dorothy has claimed the ruby reds. We are now some hours and minutes and seconds and fragments of time into a new start. Do I feel like I took last year to my full advantage? Did I use it like it so desperately wanted me to? I'm not one hundred percent sure.

Like a lyric from a band I quote far too often in my writing, I'm so much better than I used to be. And incredibly modest! 2008 was a year of personal growth of great bounds. My angst was at an all time high, but with the year ending I feel that the troubles I had are at least somewhat resolved. I'm also more of cynical dick then ever, but on the road of life we win some and lose some. I know I can't change the world, but I can at least make the most of my time on this planet. Everyday is a journey, and with a higher level of personal awareness it's finally time to get out there, experience, and fully enjoy.

I hate to say the cliched "I've done so much growing up this year..." But I did A LOT of growing up this year. Fuck. Even with the turmoil and heartache that follows us, I feel at peace now. Having said so I've inevitably jinxed myself.

Maybe I'll be looking at 2009 twelve months from now like the Wicked Witch of the West, but I possess a slightly higher expectation. Goodbye 2008. I'm glad you are gone.

Sooo (Un)Pathetic

2008-12-31T01:43:00.000-08:00

This spring my friends in The No-Goodniks made a video for their song "So Pathetic." I photographed and did sound for the shoot. A handful of Sacramento punk scene locals and myself also have mini guest appearances. This was an incredibly fun little project to be involved with.

From a past we left in a place we knew too well.

2008-12-15T23:42:00.000-08:00

I love the look of headlights through the fog. It resides on a list of my favorite images stored in my memory. The fog is as thick as peanut butter tonight, and would be a cue for most to stay in. But I'm not normal.

I run to my car because the cold is almost unbearable and sit in it for ten minutes as the ice melts off my windows. Then something wonderful happens. I venture down the first street and see those headlights. Soft and dreamy, I'm put into an almost celluloid state as I pass down the streets that overlook the Redding lights. Familiar places seem ghost-like and eerie with this cloud cover and cold. I drive by the graveyards, half expecting to see the dead crawling out of their graves and wandering discretely down the streets like I am.

The music that radiates out of my car speakers and travels through the spaces in my mind is slightly muffled and everything begins to feel like a dream. Blurred corners, soft light, and familiar places in an unfamiliar state are everywhere. The harsh cold is subsided by a warm feeling in the pit of my stomach. It slowly moves to my heart and I begin to smile like a renewed Grinch.

My adventure out is nearly over as my street sign nears. I pull into my driveway, exit my vehicle, and the warm feeling is gone. It's twenty degrees again and the fog is gone. I sit down in front of my computer wondering where and how I can get that feeling again.

There's no place like home.

Sorry Padme

2008-12-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

This man was a part of the entire Team Silver Sprocket's Comic Con experience. Whether we wanted him to be or not...

And the time goes where exactly?

2008-11-30T22:11:00.000-08:00

Excuse me, but, where did November go? Where did October and September go for that matter? I feel rushed out of the present all the time because the world likes to hurry me out of the moment and into the future. In this fast paced world we live in, why are we always worried about what hasn't happened? Planning for Christmas when we haven't even reached Halloween, worrying about the last cookie in the package when we are enjoying one from the top of the bag, and over-analyzing tomorrow when we haven't even made it through today. Shit's exhausting.

From now on, I challenge you as I challenge myself to totally and completely live in the now. I know this sounds like some new age bull shit, but let's be serious. Make small steps everyday to enjoy your day a little more. We wonder why we all turn into stress freaks, emotional wrecks, and anxious over worrying people. The key is letting it all go, and appreciating the moments that we have to cease... in the present.

Are you up for the challenge?

When you find yourself at your first Comic Con

2008-11-30T21:57:00.000-08:00

I never had the opportunity to share my stories from Comic Con in San Diego with the Silver Sprocket Bicycle Club earlier in the year. And to avoid writing pages and pages of jibberish that only makes sense in my memory, here are the links to my photos from the trip and the Silver Sprocket Blog which Mickey and Eoin updated for us all on the trip.

http://flickr.com/photos/14238386@N07/sets/72157606452857424/

http://www.silversprocket.net/blog/

I must say some of my personal highlights were getting to stay with my long lost sister Amber Glossine for an entire week, the trials and tribulations of ten mile bike rides on bumpy San Diego streets, and getting to nerd out with the raddest people at the Con, the Silver Sprocket Bicycle Club. Oh yeah, and getting a ton of free stuff, having geek overload from all the "famous to me" folks I met, and just the experience of being present at one of the great shining beacons of geek culture. It was more incredible than I could have imagined and I feel so lucky to have gone.

Can't wait for next year.

Killing With Style

2008-11-28T21:40:00.000-08:00

It's Friday night after one of the blackest of days and it's time to update this blog! I hate going for too long without writing. It leaves me with a guilt that I assume a cheating spouse might have. Life is my mistress and it likes to take me away from the things I am most fond of, at least one of them.

Before I complicate myself with metaphors that aren't that good in the first place... I asked the great Cary Rodda (who I'm sure is one of the few readers of this page) for some writing prompts or anything that might inspire a word or two. This MIGHT be one of those prompts.

I have realized in the past five years how terribly in love I am with Italian films and Giallo as a genre. I know most of my friends are film nerds and I'm just preaching to the choir, but really... Italian film makers, buono lavoro!

Having an unusual taste for everything blood soaked and suspense filled from a young age, Giallo was sure to find me eventually. I remember finding Dario Argento's Suspiria at age 14 with no way of knowing the degree of cinematic gold I had my hands on. I, obviously, have been hooked since that day.

Even if you aren't a horror fan, Italian films will not dissapoint you. They are full of striking cinematography and there is absolutely NEVER a shortage of beautiful women to look at. And instead of continuing on about how much of a nerd I am...

Italian Directors you should look up on Netflix: Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci, Mario Bava, Riccardo Freda, Antonio Margheriti, Umberto Lenzi, Ruggero Deodato, Joe D'Amato, and Gualtiero Jacopetti.

And now I'll watch Le Notti del Terrore for the 57th time.

Arrivederci!

November Sky

2008-11-12T22:43:00.000-08:00

I like this time of year, and contrary to popular belief... cell phones take decent pictures.

"You're miserable, edgy and tired. You're in the perfect mood for journalism."

2008-11-10T21:43:00.000-08:00

Something very unusual has happened to me. I, for the first time in a very long time, am at a loss for words. Words are a large part of my life. I read them generously, I speak them with care, I write them in anger, or astonishment, or confusion, or inspiration, or boredom. As of late, it's been difficult to formulate the chaos that is my head onto paper or into an Internet blog such as this.

I am now trying to end this stagnate on translation of internal dialogue.

And here I am, writing words, doing just that.

Word word word...

Oh.

I'm more than excited for Halloween 08'

2008-09-22T12:17:00.001-07:00

If I was young, I'd leave this town.

2008-08-31T23:18:00.000-07:00

As a full weekend comes to an end, I sit with sleep deprived eyes and a pocketful of smiles and inside jokes I wouldn't trade. It feels really good to be making friends with genuine people and making older friendships stronger.

It's refreshing when people still have the ability to surprise you, and they have.

When I thought the fire season was over...

2008-08-26T13:10:00.000-07:00

This has been my morning and afternoon. Another fire, and I'm being evacuated... again.

Everday you must say "How do I feel about my life?"

2008-08-23T11:00:00.000-07:00

It's been too long since I've written on this. There hasn't been a void of melodrama or curiosity or travel... but there has been a void in myself. I feel recluse, and have almost been in hiding via the inter webs. I will say there has been no shortage of full days, adventure, or good people.

Last month was another year and another anniversary of my great grandmother's death, and things always seem to change from mid-July, early August onward with that anniversary.

Instead of the typical new years resolutions most make in January, I make mid year resolutions of sorts. If you can even call them that. They usually resemble vows to myself that I will start living my life a little better, a little fuller, and that I'll get out there and experience more.

I am currently working on this.

By Monday I will have seen two of my best friends move mulitiple hours away. My last days with them were everything I'd want them to be. I hope the rest of my days are this way as well. Full. Period.

Back from Comic Con

2008-07-30T13:12:00.000-07:00

Holy hell, I'm surprised my head didn't explode.

So much cool in the span of 5 days...

I'll post about the trip soon.

B Movie Benefit Art Show!

2008-07-16T15:19:00.000-07:00

The lovely Queen of Trash has put together this art show as benefit to a town in Franklin, Indiana which is being severely flooded. Many of us in the Scary Art Collective are contributing pieces to this show. Please stop by, buy some rad "B Movie" themed art, and help with a good cause. A total win win I'd say.

6.9 on the Richter scale!

2008-07-16T12:10:00.001-07:00

Yes, they put this on a t-shirt.

Where is my mind?

2008-07-15T20:49:00.000-07:00

It greatly interests me as to what muses creativity. What is it that sparks perpetual fire in a mind to drive change, art, or any equally intriguing combination of the both? Is tantalizing stimulation the cause? Maybe I'm just thinking out loud but this idea of what makes us tick is something I don't always understand or am able to wrap my head around.

Maybe the question I'm really getting at is what is it that drives us to do what we do? Be it creative or completely non affective, it amazes me as to what drives us towards our actions. Even more, these reasons are totally unique to each individual.

I know these things that "get us going" increase the level of activity in our brains. Sometimes my mind feels like it's whirling around in my skull at an alarming pace before it violently punches out of my forehead with what ever ideas or plans of actions it's prepped me to carry out. I surprisingly enjoy this storm that brews in my head when I'm intrigued or taken back.

Is there nothing more refreshing then new and enticing sources of stimulus? Ideas that make you think, drive change, and want to better yourself. People or places that captivate you. The promise of excitement, adventure, or the thrill of seeking out exactly what you want. Mind candy indeed.

I know I question more and more these days, as the tally of question marks in this entry would imply. But questioning is one liberty we are given in this strange little world.

Friends, what sparks you?

Scream Greats: Tom Savini

2008-07-09T11:35:00.001-07:00

Thank you Fangoria. Once again PaulKuk's youtube channel saves me from hours of boredom. This time a feature on the horror effects master, Tom Savini. Part 1, Enjoy!

Transformation, Unlike the Undead

2008-07-08T14:14:00.000-07:00

I sit on this Tuesday afternoon in a room of my house trying to beat the 112 degree temperature with a ceiling fan and semi-functioning air conditioner. This heat isn't giving me a migraine, exhaustion, or causing me to function slightly faster then a slug. Relaxation, I feel it today. Though surprised I'll try to appreciate the fact that it's calm and not laziness. Afternoons with nowhere to go and nothing to do are something I grow more fond of.

In resemblance to most of my time at home, a horror movie is playing in the background while I wait for a pot of black tea to brew. My now iced chai is really hitting the spot as I watch Baroness Meinster rise as a new vampire while Dracula's Brides do their bidding.

I'm antsy to write and give my brain a rest while I get the thoughts that bundle and trouble out of my mind. I guess that's one of the reasons I started this blog. Writing it all down almost makes me feel like the late Baroness.

No, I haven't joined a bloodsucking cult since the last saw time you saw me. I just mean I feel change and transformation in myself. Documenting it all and writing it out here helps me view and understand it while covering the bases.

Most older friends and family tell me every chance they get, and maybe they're right. I'm growing up, though I'm not really sure what that means. Truthfully, the idea of "grown ups" frightens me. I guess I'm changing, evolving into something better. I hope.

This Sam Grove version 2.0 isn't jaded, or looking at things with a large chip on her shoulder. She doesn't have the most worldly eye nor has she experienced everything there is to see, but she is out there experiencing and learning. She may be more realistic now with a sprinkle of cynicism, but she hasn't lost all hope. She's evolving to the point where she refers to herself in third person. Oh, classy.

I'm not really sure what anything means lately, but... if anything means anything, then this means something good. For now.

Enid Tells It

2008-07-08T00:28:00.000-07:00

Also...

I excite like a school girl for new issues:

Fairly ridiculous. That's me!

Thrash Is A True Friendship Builder

2008-07-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks have been extremely nostalgic. It's strange to think that I'll actually miss some aspects of Redding when I'm finished making the move to Sacramento, but none the less I'm certain it will happen. The two things I'll miss the most: friendships and the odd music projects that spawned from those friendships.

When I got back into town last week Miles Claiborne and Ethan Purvis called me to try to schedule some type of hang out time. It is known by a few, but Ethan, Miles, and I originally met and bonded while starting a Misfits cover band called Teenagers From Mars a few years ago. We quickly realized we were all a bunch of skater music nerds with common interests and have been the best of friends since.

Now the one thing we bonded over the most, was a love of really fucking fast music. Call us short attention span youth, but there is nothing better then a song, set, band, etc. that blitzes through a set at record speed. This love for music that was ridiculously fast birthed a side project called Trash Can Adventure Kids (T.C.A.K.). By the time I'd met Ethan and Miles they'd already been jamming out really aggressive thrash but needed someone to sing and write lyrics. Upon finding out a shared interest, I quickly joined T.C.A.K. Since it was a side band for all of us we only played a few shows with the material we wrote and a few live recordings surfaced. We'd made the plans to record an EP, but with all of us having different bands, college, and commitments elsewhere, it was hard to make time for it.

My friends, we finally made the time and recorded. Fuck...yeah! It only took an entire year, apologies to the 3 people who remember our shows from last year. The EP will be released in the next month and we finish recording it tomorrow. Everything is DIY down to the recordings in Redding, a fact about the music scene here which is really fucking awesome. Miles is a genius with recording so we've set up camp with his home recording equipment. The EP will contain 4 or 5 originals, a few covers, and a few live tracks.

The recording process and looking back on all the songs we wrote in the past years has been so incredibly fun. It's great seeing how much our friendship has evolved, I fucking love those guys. Spending time with Miles and Ethan, talking about all the good times, the music, all of it... has been another bitter sweet and precious memory of living in Redding.

Friendship is a wonderful thing. And now I'm getting all sentimental... *punches self in head*

Rather, I'm gonna put on some Dropdead, thank my lucky stars for having great friends, and reflect on all the good times.

Tasty Insomnia, Tastier Celluloid

2008-06-29T01:33:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I forget how much I like being an insomniac. Don't re-read the last sentence, I did say I DO enjoy not sleeping most of the time. Any time I begin to doubt it I am quickly and steadily reminded of all the reasons it actually rules. One of those reasons being I get to see all of the obscure programing on in the unusual hours of the night. And boy, obscure is thee most delicious and satisfying of late night treats.

I'm not sure if those in charge of picking programming on the movie channels I have are telepathically zoning in on my brain waves, or if they are actually playing decently good documentaries and movies that I want to watch. It's almost mind numbing.

Showtime and Encore have had decent programs lately, including: End of the Century (Ramones), Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream (interviews with many of my favorite film makers), This Filthy World (John Waters), a special on the evolution of martial arts films, a special on slasher films, a special on vampire films, Masters of Horror, all of the Warhol films, a selection of David Lynch films, really fucking good kung fu movies (A LOT of Sonny Chiba), a night dedicated to GOOD noir flicks, and many others. HBO still gets a good note in my book for having shows like Deadwood and Flight of the Conchords. I'm eagerly awaiting the next season of those kiwis.

Coming home every night there has been at least one good show on to engage my restless and exceedingly short attention span. Sometimes I have to battle myself to pick what I should watch. Yes, I know I'm that much of a nerd.

Now if you'll excuse me. I have to watch some Romero, or read Phillip K. Dick, or rearrange my geekness, or do whatever it is we insomniacs do.

Danger Fire

2008-06-27T08:38:00.000-07:00

Say hello to the "Motion" Fire. Burning near Shasta Dam. Shasta Bali (also burning) in the background. There are over 300 wild fires burning in Shasta/Trinity counties alone. And from my house, there are multiple fires burning wild within twenty miles in every direction.

New Frontier

2008-06-25T23:33:00.000-07:00

This is me breaking my brand spanking new blog spot's post cherry. Though it seemed fitting, I really hate that expression. Let's see, we'll try: this is me testing the waters of the blog spot world? Yes. A little less naughty, a little more nice. Though naughty isn't necessarily bad.

Hello blog spot world. I think this is going to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.