endless mike and the beagle club

there's a band i've been listening to for a while now that is so good, i can't even take it. the songwriting is so far superior to just about everything else that it's really inspired me to try to be even half as good. so you should check them out. they're called endless mike and the beagle club, from johnstown, pa*. their official site is here, and you can hear some of their music here and here.

when you're done wowing at that, i have a few favors to ask of you. ok just one. join the mailing list. i swear, i send out maybe one thing a month (in may there were zero) but it would mean the world to me just to know you care.

actually i thought of a couple more favors. comment on this blog once in a while so i know you read it. you can do it anonymously if you're shy, i'm down with that. just don't call me an a-hole. and if you do the myspace thing, let's be friends. you'll find the link for watched pots at myspace up to the right.

*springsteen sings about johnstown in 'the river' so you know it's a cool fucking town.

and that frankly will not fly

it's really hard being a guy who likes to write songs and record songs, but not being a guy who can play lots of instruments or has a band. i attribute the fact that there've been no new songs posted to my frustration with my lack of ability to play the following instruments: the piano, the drums.

i recorded "a viking's funeral" the other day on acoustic guitar, and just wasn't happy with how it came out. it needs piano. i am stymied. now, eventually, i can usually find a creative way around my inabilities, but this time i'd really like to just have some skillful piano playing, instead of some crazy shit i come up with on a radio shack keyboard through some effects pedals.

in other news, i had an eventful weekend. i partied at the waldorf-astoria, hurt my back, saw some old faces (accompanied by new faces, emo), and saw batman beat up some ninjas. also, i recieved a mix cd this weekend, which marks the first time in years that somebody's taken time out of their day to put together songs for me...and it was right on. which is nice.

trashbag

all play and no sleep make mikey a tired boy. it's only wednesday night and already i've woken up still drunk twice this week. t-r-a-s-h-b-a-g. but, i guess i wouldn't be telling you about it if i wasn't a little proud on some level. maybe i feel like if i continue to be this self-destructive, it'll make me write good songs. or piss blood.

the bottom line, though: i'm a lucky guy to have the kind of friends that i do, because without them none of this kind of week-beginning tomfoolery would be possible.

thanks, dudes and dudettes. you know who you are.

oh yeah, and i almost forgot. (this is totally lame). i made my first (and probably last) entry at urbandictionary.com. and for some reason, i'm really excited about it. check it out yo.

join the mailing list at the right or i will drown in a sea of my own tears.

who's the big winner?

so yeah. i just got back from las vegas. i went there with my ex-girlfriend (!). it's a long story, but i'll sum it up for you: she got me a trip to vegas (in june) for christmas. then we broke up at the beginning of may. then she begged me to still go to vegas with her as a "last hurrah." then i agreed because i misunderstood what that meant.

here are things that happened there (these may someday become song lyrics and when i'm touring stadiums you can impress your friends with this rad trivia. what? that'll never happen? fuck you.):

1. i lost a buttload of money. and when i say buttload, i mean buttload.
2. she started sneaking phone calls to her new dudefriend before we even got on the plane. emo.
3. the stewardess and i had the following conversation on the plane:

"is she your fiance?"
"hah. no. not really"
"why not?! she is beautiful. don't let her slip away."


"i'll have a coke. thanks."


4. i gave her a really hot backrub for like 45 mins. i got no backrub in return. no sex either. although to be fair, i didn't ask for a backrub. completely platonic.
   
5. i lost a buttload of money. BUTTLOAD.
6. we saw some crazy cirque du soleil stuff. pretty awesome.
   
7. the fountains at the bellagio dance to celine dion's "my heart will go on." wtf.
   

all in all, vegas is a rad city. my ex isn't such a bad chick even though breaking up was totally the right move for both of us(god what is happening to me?). i gambled and lost a large sum of money which i'll never see again. and now i've been to vegas. so i've got that going for me.

oh yeah, and i did record a demo of that song i promised i would, but then i misplaced the recording. when i find it, you will find it.

a viking's funeral

i have a song that's really close to done and i'm hoping to demo it this weekend. it'll be called "a viking's funeral" and it'll blow your friggin' mind.

when i say i hope to demo it, i mean i hope to play acoustic guitar and sing it and let you imagine what it might sound like fully produced someday.

so yeah...i figured if i posted this today, i might feel compelled to hold myself to it and sit down and record it this weekend. we'll see how that ends up going. wish me luck...

oh yeah. and sign up for the mailing list. and tell your friends to. and your moms.

intellectual property

today's mail brought greetings from the united states library of congress. that's right, i was bullshitting y'all before when i said those lyrics were copyrighted, but now they are for real. seriously. so go ahead, write a hit song out of some of those shits, and make lots of money off it so i can sue you for all of it.

in all seriousness though...copyrighting is cheap as hell and totally worth the piece of mind. in my book anyway.

oh, in other news, monty's fan club (which is a totally rad band from providence) has a record coming out soon and i don't think they even know who i am but you should check them out anyway.

who'da thunk?

this weekend, i had the kind of weekend that people usually only have in hugh grant movies. i'll spare you the exactities (<-- i'm suspicious that's not a word, i just didn't want to say 'details') and just say that i head into this week with many less demons than i left last week with. and i have a girl (gasp!!!) to thank who i'm not sure will ever read this, but who in a simple gesture really turned me on my ear.

if you're wondering how this will affect any songwriting efforts on my part, i am too. I'm tempted to think it'll be good. evolution and all that, you know? there are plenty of things to write about other than demons, and maybe you don't even really need many demons to write about them. besides, somedays i think emo has been done to death. and all the guys who write the best emo refuse to self-apply the term, anyway.

basically, i wouldn't worry too much if i was you*. i'm not having a baby or getting married anytime soon. those are the things that really make people write shitty songs.

* the realist in me fully understands that nobody is worried about this.

busy

you may have noticed i've made some changes to the way this site looks. that's essentially because i've been feeling lame for not putting any more useful things up here, so i figured at the very least some sort of facelift was in order. so now it's centered, and i made the news page an actual blog. whoop-dee-doo.

seriously though, i've written a few new songs, but i'm having a hell of a finding a free weekend to demo them properly.

all good things will come with time. until then, start doing things like commenting on my clever news articles, telling your friends to join the mailing list because watchedpots.com looks like a golden pillar of radness, and getting watched pots tattoos*.

love mikey

ps: i got dumped. which if nothing else, is good songwriting fodder.

* please please please don't tattoo yourself just because i told you to.

vrooom...

(later in the same day): so i guess posting about how lazy i am motivated me to be less lazy. i put a rough version of a song up today at the pulverradio site. it's called "triple deke" and i recorded it "live" in my apartment in queens (listen close for the motorcycle solo).

know a problem gambler?

so it turns out i'm addicted to internet poker. maybe i'll write a song about that. maybe i won't. either way, that's why i've been slow updating this page here. also, i've run into a bit of a snag with the new recording setup, which has severely hampered my effectiveness in providing some new stuff to put up here. however, there will be new stuff at some point, because watched pots are currently working together with a very good friend (who shall for the time being remain nameless) on remaking a certain song. you will be kept informed on a need-to-know basis.
love mikey.