Swim Thursday: Goodbye to Fernal

While this may not be official, I'm writing this 2 weeks later, and it's getting COOOOOLLD. After returning from Saratoga, we went swimming at Fernal Shores, and it will probably be the last of the year. The water was cold and oddly red (we still haven't figured this out, but we're guessing it's some sort of problem with iron being stirred up from the hurricane), and I think they technically are probably already closed for the season. But we still swam in the red (if we suddenly die soon, you can blame the water), threw the B, and took some pictures. It was nice to be there as always, but sad, since it felt like a true beginning to the end of summer.

It was silver when we got there, and blue when we left, and despite the red water and lack of sunset, beautiful as always. I truly love Fernal Shores, and even though this is a small post, it's deserving. See you next summer, Fernal. You were, as always, good to us.

swimmin' in silver

When we left, we saw 3 loons swimming together. I watched them for awhile, and it was the weirdest thing- it was like they were teaching each other how to swim, dive, and catch fish. They would all go down and come up together. They were following each other in circles too, and making quite a lot of noise- a weird sight. 

footprints and glass

One of my favorite views in the world.

D-Bone Fantasy Camp: The video

Ok, here's the compilation of all the music and videos I took during my week at Saratoga Springs. I officially want to violently murder whoever created iMovie, as I had to re-create the entire video after no matter what I did, every time I exported the video, all of the sound was missing. Thanks iMovie, way to be an easy program that "just works."

There's a good variety of stuff in here. I wanted to try a time lapse video, but instead of having my camera take a picture or video, I selected my own. Then I tried to make it look like I was good at drums or piano. I also, as you'll see, have added nicely to my list of different things I've videotaped with my GoPro. The real treat here is Dustin though- his performance of "Cheerios" is pretty special. Enjoy. 

"A Week of Music in Saratoga Springs" from Mike Alexander on Vimeo

The whole video of Dustin and I performing our horrible cover song is on Shaun's vimeo page if you're interested.

D-Bone Fantasy Camp Days 5-7: Yaddo Park, Musics, Rain

Monday morning, we all woke up pretty dead and ugly- much like it was outside. It had rained pretty hard all night, and weather reports said it wouldn't be stopping until Thursday (it didn't). We decided to go out to breakfast at some classy joint with bullet holes in the window.

The ones from the inside are on the window behind him

The food was delicious though, and the place had that small town diner charm we wanted. Just with some added bullet holes.

We then went to Yaddo Gardens, a very old place where a gigantic and creepy mansion sits atop a long hilled lawn looking over some beautiful gardens and angel statues galore. The mansion is lived in by artists for specific amounts of time, who are there solely to create and be left alone. It's kind of a neat idea, and Truman Capote, Sylvia Plath, and Langston Hughes are just a few of the many on the list of people who have stayed there. It was a real pretty spot, and the ugly overcast skies gave it a haunted, surreal feel. I took pictures (duh):

the entrance

some of these fish were huge, and one bit my finger

pretty flowers

angels (look at the haze around the trees and how some branches stand out and others are barely there- spirits?)

Shaun was trying to have a decapitated head thing going here, but look at where his shoulders are, then look at his head- HOW LONG IS HIS NECK!??!

Dustin and Amanda next to a big fountain

The castle mansion, where creepy artists were probably full of angst and hating us

Dustin and Amanda pose in the tunnel

We then went around town a little, tried to buy some red bull cola (which I have now learned doesn't exist anymore), bought some weird chips and sunglasses, and headed home. Shaun and Natalie headed out, and I got stuck in a murky day funk. Dustin went for a run, then jumped in his white trash pool in the pouring rain. Even though I was warm and comfortable, I said fuck it and just jumped in too. It was, needless to say, freezing and not very comfortable. We then got pizza and watched Hell's Kitchen (which was horrible). In the middle of Dustin fighting with his mom over the phone about how to get her new Mac to work, a lightbulb cracked and fell from the light on the ceiling, hit the table, and exploded on the floor. We both looked at each other and immediately thought it was angry spirits again. He said this wasn't the first time this had happened in his house. Here we go again. 

The next 2 days were spent fiddling around with drums and music, and then seeing my hosts at night for dinner and some tv. It was nice, but I realized how stupid it was to have really nothing worth recording that I could make anything happen with. Next time, I need to come with stuff already recorded that needs drums, or at least ideas and a desire to actually make them happen. But it was fun to play again. Very fun. 

the set up once I moved my computer

drum tracks! I need more mic stands to utilize all 8 mic inputs. 

I then spent like 3 hours packing everything up and putting it back in my car (in pouring rain, awesome) for the nearly 5 hour drive home. I said goodbye to Amanda, left a sweet drawing on their fridge for them to find later, stopped at D'Andreas (duh) for the 3rd time, and started the drive home. 

chicken bacon ranch mmmmmm

The drive took me on a ridiculous route through Vermont, and several times I would look over at a river next to me and realize that it was at exactly the same level as me- if there was one more big rainstorm, every river in VT would have exploded I think. I rocked a great and very varied soundtrack on the incredibly long 5 hour drive, unloaded everything, and settled back into normal life. Thanks Dustin and Amanda for letting me live the D-Bone lifestyle for a week. It was exhausting and fantastic. I love you and I love Saratoga Springs- I just wish it/you was/were closer. I'll be back in mid fall to actually record a lot of music if you'll have me- back to Saratoga Springs, the mysterious and wonderful land of horses. 

currently listening to: Death Cab For Cutie- Codes And Keys

D-Bone Fantasy Camp Day 4: The Track, The Delukes, The Racino

I somehow woke up before everyone but Dustin the next day, and after everyone got up and we had some eggs, bacon and toast (thanks again Amanda), we did something I decided I HAD to do when I was in Saratoga- go to the TRACK!

We rode bikes of course, and I took more pictures while riding. 

We also got to ride by this guy- a local that Dustin sees all the time and understandably laughs about- tye dye shirt and roller blades, every day. The dog got excited and he almost ate shit. I felt bad for him, but it was also pretty funny, I mean come on, look at him. 

The track was nice. 

If you don't already know, Saratoga Springs is known for pretty much only 1 thing- horse racing. It's been the heart of the town forever from what I can tell- everything there is based around horses, and judging by the amount of people here, it's all people care about. This whole trip was a learning experience, and as Dustin grew up here and had been to the track a bunch growing up, he showed us pretty much everything.  

Right when we walked in, we were stopped at a gate for horse crossing. Good lord are jockeys small. 

Shaun showing his class and clearly saying something along the lines of DUUUHHHHH

Here's a few things I learned about the track:

1. Yes, the rich people actually dress in the ridiculous clothes and especially hats that you see on TV:

2. So many people come to gamble that unless you pay for the expensive seats, you can't see anything. This is the best view we got, which was great, but still, we got lucky to get this view, and we saw the horses for 2 seconds and then had no idea who won. 

3. People have accepted that they won't be able to watch, and just go to bet. This is big. Huge. Way bigger than I ever imagined. Surrounding the entire enormous place was just giant lawn after lawn of people sitting in fold up chairs, watching TV coverage of the races just so they could bet. It blew my mind. I kept saying, "why the hell don't these idiots just watch this on tv?!" Obviously, they want to bet, and this is the only way they can.

there were thousands of people doing this

4. There is a whole language to betting, and a whole world of things to look at to consider bets. Dustin basically narrowed it down to the obvious things- odds, the jockey's record, the jockey's reputation if you know it (he actually knew names), the experience of the horse, the size of the race, placement in the race, etc. And there's actually a section where they bring the horses out to walk around and people can look at them to see what to bet on- a horse can look calm and have a strong stride, while another can stumble or look crazed. This could mean a quick burst, but if it's a longer race, you may want to bet on the calmer one, even if the jockey has a less impressive record, blah, blah, blah. There's a thousand things to consider. And then you can bet on a thousand things. Horse 8 will win, horse 12 will place, horse 2 will finish (1st, 2nd, 3rd in normal language). Horse 2 and horse 5 will get one of those, so I'll bet that they'll get something, etc. This is about the only things we considered, and I even messed up what I wanted to say when I went up and n00bed it up hard. 

money being lost

5. You can know nothing and just bet on a horse with a cool name and still win. 

Before Dustin taught me everything, I liked horse 7 in the race we were looking at- "Heart of Destiny." What a name! After Dustin's tutoring, he said that that was actually a good horse to bet on, even though the odds were 10-1. He considered horse 7 and horse 10 and 8 I think. I decided after looking at the horses walking around that I would bet that 7 would win, 11 would place, 10 would finish. After watching the race and rooting for 10 to fail so I could win my bet that she would come in 3rd, (and being disappointed that she came through and placed 2nd), I looked up to try and see what my other horses did, and while watching the replay, saw that the videotape they were reviewing to see what horse had won by an inch showed that that horse was 7- MY horse. My HEART OF DESTINY. The odds had increased to 15-1 (they change- I had no idea), and my 2 dollar bet got me like 36 bucks and change (I somehow won a little bit for me being close with horse 10 too). Woo! Thowing my arms up in celebration felt great. 

The beauty of the whole thing was that I was going to skip this race, but kept saying to Dustin, "dude, 7 is gonna win- she's got this." He said "dude, don't do that. If 7 wins, you're gonna be so pissed that you didn't bet." "Nah, it will be neat, cuz I called it." "You'll be pissed." So, at the last second, I basically ran over to get the bet in on time, and won. And Dustin ate his words in sweet irony, since he would have bet on 7 as well. SUCK ON THAT DUSTIN. 

Then I bet again and blew it. Oh well, I still left up 21 bucks. 

We rode back, showered up and went off to dinner with Dustin's parents. On the way there, we drove through some of the ugliest skies I've ever seen. There had been threats of thunderstorms for the whole weekend, and it turns out all of the possible ones all combined to form one huge one which even sent a pretty massive tornado through some homes, about 5 minutes from the Deluke household. I tried to catch some lightning pictures with my phone, and learned what phones do to pictures when lightning strikes:

quite artful if you ask me.

 I might consider it odd to visit friends you never see and then just go eat dinner at their parent's house, but Dustin's dad is completely out of his mind, and the dinner was pretty hilarious (I'm working on a video that will be posted soon and well worth the wait). 

Carolyn and the myth, the legend: Lloyd. 

We ate chips and salsa and talked while Dustin and Carolyn prepared quite a feast- sausage, peppers, a summer squash-esque dish with tomato sauce, rolls, potato salad, regular salad, and apple pie. It was all pretty delicious. Dinner conversation was both normal and completely retarded. 

Their house was absurdly nice and fancy, and there was a gorgeous piano sitting under a chandelier in the living room. I didn't even realize that Dustin's mom played, so he asked her to oblige us with something. She was, as I guess I should have expected, incredible. 

I took a better picture, but this one rules

She then forced Dustin to play. Dustin is pretty phenomenal. Since I've known him, he's always been able to destroy a piano. He started out playing dark classical sounding stuff that was all over the place.

But luckily, he was in full blown tard mode, and epic classical music turned into songs about cheerios and him singing like Pee Wee Herman.

cheerios

We all enjoyed it. 

We even did a duet together, with me attempting to sing a song I've never heard before called "Bess, You Is My Woman" or something. Just wait for the video compilation, it'll be good. It was quite the interesting night of unique performances.

We then tried to make the day even better but instead butchered the shit out of it by going to the RACINO. I like gambling. In small doses, blackjack, casino war, roulette, and texas hold 'em can be a blast. The first time I went to a casino, I just played slot machines, and they were horrible. I then learned what is actually fun. For whatever stupid reason, Saratoga is only allowed to have slot machines, and you can't even imagine how horrible of a place this was. There were 2 tables each for craps and roulette, but it was all computerized. This place was sad. 

In most cases, we didn't even get to pull the lever you see on TV- it was just pushing a button. In 1 game, Shaun put a dollar in, pushed a button, and that was it. He just sat there, desperate and confused like a child who had candy stolen right out of his hand: "wait... that was it?" It was awful.

Shaun and I proudly displaying our winnings- $1.15 combined. 

None of us ever even figured out what we were doing. I somehow lost like 9 dollars in 5 minutes of misery. Scratch tickets are a billion times more fun. I can't figure out how there was this many people here. I guess they had somehow won something. Dustin won like 10 bucks. But other than that, we were all huge pathetic losers. 

demon blur face is a high roller

Our trip to the Racino was pretty much us making variations of these faces for the entire time:

HUH!?

"PLAY AND WIN!? MY ASS"

What an interesting, full day.

currently listening to: Pierce The Veil: Selfish Machines

D-Bone Fantasy Camp Day 3: Mountain biking and fiddlers

Saturday morning, I got up fairly early after another awesome night of sleeping. Dustin was already raging to some awful music when I walked into the kitchen. Amanda made us pancakes, and everyone but Natalie (get a mountain bike!) went out for a big ride at SMBA, the enormous mountain bike trail system that's just a few miles from Dustin's house. This means we rode there too, which is a good way to get warmed up, but also a good way to get hot and sweaty before you even start the ride.

Riding was good- I predicted that I would be a full on boat anchor and be way behind everyone, but I kept up surprisingly well. The last time I rode there, I didn't like it very much, but I've gotten better and the trails have been ridden in much more, meaning it was much faster and easier to ride. There were a few parts that were pretty hilarious though, as Irene had beat the hell out of the place. Did that phase Dustin? Nope.

It's ok to get off the bike Dustin. (picture and some others stolen from Shaun)

It was a great ride. 12.5 miles (nearly half of that was riding to and from the woods though). I was pretty exhausted but had fun. These trails are (at least in my book) very technical at times, and can be exhausting. There are lots of sections that are just enormous rocks covered in enormous roots. This kind of stuff kills me after awhile.

ABMM: Always be mean-mugging.

Thankfully, you don't have to ride up this- but it's also too scary to ride down.

Shaun and Amanda riding down Swamp Pass (get it!?)

We then had a swim in Dustin's ghetto pool. I don't know how I didn't get a picture of this thing, but it was pretty hilarious and also ruled pretty hard. It cost like 180 bucks, and is only probably 4 feet deep, but it's pretty big and nice for something that cost 180 bucks. For reference, it's the pool that kept breaking in Bad Boys 2. Jumping in this (which you shouldn't do by the way) after a long bike ride was quite glorious. We then had some awesome burgers, corn and salad (thanks Shaun and Natalie for buying everything). 

the miserable/sleepy couple

Then we made Natalie freak out by repeatedly saying "moist" and "tender" (words she hates), 

STOOOPPPPIIIITTTTTTT

and took off to a hilarious and awesome bar that was at the top of a never-ending hill in the middle of nowhere, next to a lake called Lake Desolation, that was full of middle aged and older townies watching pretty much the only band that could be playing at a bar like this: The Sun Mountain band, a group of 4 old guys and 1 youngin, led by a crazed and hilarious fiddler. Every song sounded the same, and every one was about beer or weed. The 60-70 year old singer likened a hurricane to really bad and prolonged sex, and said that he wanted everyone to come back for Halloween, where "all the women can dress up like whores and all the men can dress as accountants." Have you ever ended up in a situation like this? It rules. Sometimes the best bands and best times are at the weirdest places with the weirdest bands. 

I think my favorite part of the night was after we all joked that the bassist looked like a crackhead, the leader of the band introduced a song written by him as a "song written by a man who loves 2 things: country music and crystal meth."

he's on the left

the bar had animals painted on it!

We met local lunatic/hero Keith there too, as he was the one who told us about this amazing spectacle. Keith is a pretty rad dude who knows everyone in Saratoga and loves 3 things: beer, weed, and mountain biking. I'm surprised we didn't meet him at Plymouth State. Here's a picture of all of us taken by some horribly drunk dude I nicknamed "random guy at bar." He stared at us a lot and loved us all. We thought he was sketchy and possibly a problem, but learned after talking to him way more than any of us thought we would, that he was just a super friendly and VERY drunk townie. I think it's fitting that the picture is blurry- that's how he saw us. What an artist.

off-center too!

Oh yea, actually, my favorite part of the night was when this happened:

Amanda giggles when she gets checked out by dudes at the bar: "OH YOU ANIMALS!"

This happened so fast and randomly- all of a sudden, a dog was at the bar, with his paws up, like he was ordering a drink. I think he even grabbed money. It was some trick taught to him by the owner of the place. It collectively blew the mind of everyone at the bar. I think I've only seen bar dogs twice, but I will say this: they rule. Any bar with a dog= better than any other bar. 

P.S. "random guy at bar" is behind the dog. His name is Cory. 

We drove home, Dustin and I once again stayed up later than everyone acting like 8 year olds downstairs, and I settled in for another night of horrible sleep. 

currently listening to: My Chemical Romance: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys