FilteringCraig

I can’t really remember the last time I went on a diet. I don’t think I have ever really needed to diet. At the same time, I can’t really remember a time when I was a totally skinny guy. I have been basically the same weight since I had my knee surgeries in high school (fluctuating between 215-230), but I decided that now is the time to drop some poundage.

I was eating out too much and eating portions that were far too big. It was a series of moments that got me thinking that now was the time for a strict diet. One moment in particular that made me realize I might need to change my habits is when I was hanging with Deezo a few weeks back. We both got calzones from some local little deli and they were huge. Deezo gave in and said uncle before finishing his calzone as I was packing away the last bite of mine. Deezo is a much bigger dude than I am, (around 6′2″ vs. around 5′10″) and I put him to shame in the eating department on that day. Not to mention the fact that it was a greasy, meaty, cheesy, crust-wrapped pocket of saturated fatty goodness that I pounded down. Needless to say, I was eating the wrong things, and certainly not eating them in moderation.

So anyway, my diet has begun and I am on day five. I am not doing any of those diets with names, but I am paying attention to lots of things from a variety of diets and I am going to see how it goes. Here are the things I am doing.

• I am eating more often
• Eating much smaller portions
• No white bread
• More fruits and vegetables
• No eating after 7 pm
• Drink lots of water
• Drink less coffee
• Drink WAY less beer (I had one beer this week)
• Exercise more (at least 3 times per week up from 0 times in the last few months)
• Eating lower fat items
• Although I never drink it anyway, No Coke, Pop, Soda, Mountain Dew, Sprite, Pepsi, Mr. Pibb, Dr. Pepper or anything else like that under any name you can think of.

That’s it so far. I am sure more rules will be added to the list. I feel like I have made it through the hardest times already. I was starving at around 10 pm the first two nights, and it was miserable. But, it is getting better already and hopefully the band’s promo shots that I posted in the last few weeks will serve as some cool “before” photos over the next couple of months.

“No no no. The best way to cure the hiccups is to put a plastic bag over your head and tape around your neck. They will be gone in 3-4 minutes, guaranteed.”

You just have to respect this level of morbidity.

A new feature on the blog that will appear here at random…

The FilteringCraig Random Out-of-Context Line of the Day

“I call your evolution, and I raise you a theocracy.”

Sometimes I am really dumb. Tell me what is wrong with that quote.

From my email box -

“You had expressed an interest in the domain name, thecompanyline.com

We are pleased to inform you that the price of this domain has been recently reduced!

The original price was $1488.00 and it is now available for $1188.00.

Really?!?!??

Still too expensive.

This little band of ours has played around 6 shows or something like that. We have been paid for two of them. We have been giving our CD’s away as promotion for the band.

We don’t have $1188 for a domain name.

By the way, just to show you what a hypocrite I am, I happen to have a domain name called doubletheblinds.com if anyone wants to buy it. I just reduced the price from $30,000 to $28,500 for anyone who wants to start a poker site.

This “artist” has put up a piece of art in a state-owned building. (click here to check it out.)

This is exactly what is wrong with some dissenters in this country. Even if they have some basis for their opinion, they back it up with their half-assed crappy displays (IE putting a rough sketch of the American flag in a badly drawn toilet with a pair of cowboy boots.) But this guy Pearcy has no execution abilities whatsoever. Really. Look at the picture.

I think Michael Moore is pretty disingenuous when he makes a “documentary” but there is no denying his abilities as a great story-teller and movie director. This guy Pearcy just has no abilities. If he is an artist, he is a really crappy one. (His other piece of “art” was an effigy of a dead US soldier with a sign that said “F*** Bush” underneath it.”) He plays to the lowest common denominator. It isn’t thought provoking. It doesn’t really do much more than contribute to the white noise of blind, angry, self-imposed mental retardation that blinds the extreme wings in this country.

And as long as we are talking about displays in public buildings, can we really escape the parallels with people in the south wanting the Ten Commandments displayed? Those idiots risk their jobs and reputations over their strange need for religious displays in the lobbies of buildings. Is that really so much different than this piece of crap in Sacramento?

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that the Ten Commandments display is defensible due to the separation of church and state, but at the same time, if one argument against the display is its polarizing abilities, how is it that we can have officials choosing something so blatantly offensive (as well as stupid) to be displayed in a building in Sacramento?

I know we have specific rules against linking church and state, but it does seem rather strange to me that at the end of the day, we want to protect some idiot who puts the American flag in a toilet more than some religious people. How are the Ten Commandments more harmful than this rotting piece of dog shit?

If you didn’t make it out to this show this weekend, you really missed out. No, I am not talking about my own performance. Brent Kirby, J Johnstone and Guggy really broke out their best performances. Great songs by everyone.

We each took turns playing songs. Brent played one, handed it off to me. Guggy, then J. It was a lot of fun and an interesting way to play a show.

I haven’t played much acoustic in the last six months or so, and I was really worried after a less than stellar practice in my basement on Friday night, but it worked out just fine. My fingers still hurt today, but what the hell. That’s what I get for not playing much acoustic.

Here is my set list:
The Sea and the Rhythm (Iron and Wine cover)
Mental Taxes and Tariffs
So Far Gone
Disparate Lives

(with the other songwriters)
The Weight by The Band
Free Fallin by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

We actually got called for an encore and so we did Free Fallin as a spur of the moment type thing. The audience was great. The owners of Town Fryer were awesome. We all had tons of fun, and I would love to do a show like that again some time.

Thanks to Brent Kirby for thinking of me, and putting this show together.

FOR MORE ON MY BAND CLICK HERE FOR
WWW.THECOMPANYLINEROCKS.COM

Look at how skinny he has gotten. I thought you were supposed to be skinny when you were ON the drugs, not after you cleaned up and quit using them.

Come on out to this event and get yourself a free Company Line CD. It was a last minute thing for me, but I would love to have a couple people there.
In other news, I have been invited to play on a special “Songwriters in the Round” on Saturday night at Town Fryer in Cleveland. I am looking forward to it, but I have a lot of practicing to do. I am going to do four originals, one cover and then the four of us are going to do one special cover at the end, which you will all know. You will have to show up to find out what it is.

Saturday, July 23 8:30pm-? The Town Fryer 3859 Superior Ave Cleveland OH 44114 (216) 426-9235
Brent Kirby hosts the very first but not nearly last “Songwriters in the Round” Series at the Town Fryer. Featuring outstanding local singer/songwriters Guggy, Jason Johnstone, and Craig Lyndall. The “Round” consists of four writers sitting together, trading, sharing stories and playing songs for each other and the audience. It’s FREE and starts at 8:30 and will finish when we think we’re done. Come out and eat, drink and be entertained at the Fryer!

I know it is just too convenient to say something like, “Don’t you have something more important to do?” and that isn’t really fair. Persecuting a video game company isn’t mutually exclusive with other government work. Multi-tasking is possible. So, instead, I am going to say, “Way to go getting that extra year added on to the rating for GTA!” Instead of “Mature” 17 and older, the game is now given the “Adult Only” 18 and older tag.

But wait. If the game had a mature rating until you found some kind of material that shouldn’t have been there, wouldn’t it go right back to being a mature rated game if you simply removed that content? I am guessing yes.

So, let’s recap this thing.

You got a game off the market long after it was released (and bought millions of times over) since October of 2004.

You have cost the gamemakers’ shareholders value to be in jeopardy.

You gained an Adults Only rating for the game (temporarily in my estimation.)

And finally, you made all those mommy voters feel really good about you come next election season.

So, congratulations on all your wonderful success.

By the way, in case you hadn’t seen this angle, I am guessing that the real hatred of this game stems from the overall violent nature of it, and the sex was just an excuse to finally mount your attack.

The original will be back. The sequels will be coming. They will be rated M. Kids won’t be able to buy them. Kids who are under-supervised will be able to get their hands on them just like HBO and Cinemax.

But really though. Good effort.

This is one of the better shots of the band from our promo photo night. That doesn’t say much for our photogeneity (is this a word?)

In other news, I have been invited to play on a special “Songwriters in the Round” on Saturday night at Town Fryer in Cleveland. I am looking forward to it, but I have a lot of practicing to do. I am going to do four originals, one cover and then the four of us are going to do one special cover at the end, which you will all know. You will have to show up to find out what it is.

Saturday, July 23 8:30pm-? The Town Fryer 3859 Superior Ave Cleveland OH 44114 (216) 426-9235
Brent Kirby hosts the very first but not nearly last “Songwriters in the Round” Series at the Town Fryer. Featuring outstanding local singer/songwriters Guggy, Jason Johnstone, and Craig Lyndall. The “Round” consists of four writers sitting together, trading, sharing stories and playing songs for each other and the audience. It’s FREE and starts at 8:30 and will finish when we think we’re done. Come out and eat, drink and be entertained at the Fryer!