New and Old School

New Stuff

Genius! Tag Team is currently working on a remix.




Old School

When Bubb Rubb and Lil Sis demo the whistle tips for the camera, how close to that pickup do you think they got? And note the stop sign they blow through during the demo.

Tap That Ass Like Gregory Hines!

The irrationality of a thing is no argument against its existence, rather a condition of it.

--Friedrich Nietzsche

I did have a great holiday, and thanks for asking, J. Interesting how a certain someone couldn't be bothered to pick up a phone and call a certain someone else on Xmas, nor send that someone, say, a jovial text on New Year's Eve, or proffer a nice fruit basket on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, but okay, sure, why not, I'll let bygones be bygones. No need to expect what's clearly foolish to expect--like perhaps that a certain someone could be halfway civil to another certain someone, pour exemple.

Moving on. Yes! There has been a distressing lack of posts here at Tag Team Back Again, and yes, I feel absolutely terrible about it. But all has not been an empty void! There has been a reason! There will be payoff! For there have been scurryings and happenings, as they say, "behind the scenes"--for beyond this thin veneer of a screen, of pixels, of a hastily constructed blog, and past, into the wild lawless land of zeroes and ones that make up Cyberspace, there have been murmurs, rumors, whisperings of something coming, something coming to Tag Team, something that will change everything, that will remake not only this blog but all blogs, that will be looked back on as a Moment. It is too early, too early by far, to say more--but be aware, dear reader, friend, that it is coming--and that when it does, J. and I will stand triumphant and unified, while all others cower and gasp, their mouths held open by awe.

Perhaps I should rephrase: This thing, this thing just mentioned--well, it shall happen if a certain someone finally gets off his lazy ass and actually does something to help another certain someone, with this second certain someone feeling at the moment like he's doing all the goddamn work for this stupid fucking blog and like he's just about ready to throw in the goddamn towel already, just to clarify things.

An appropriate response

I wanted to wait until after the yuletide season to respond to Erik's last post. Sorry about the lack of posts recently.

In his last post, Erik alluded to a recent disagreement we'd had in very vague and disarming terms ("There have been some, shall we say, "issues" between J. and I over this blog. Yes, already."). I assume this was a premeditated, preemptive move that he hoped would position and couch these "issues" we've had in an innocuous light in all of your minds. My hopes were that the nog, sweaters (with bells on them) and the voracious over-consumption that comes with the holiday season would in some way reveal the path of forgiveness, help me forget about these "issues," or, at a minimum, help me craft a civil, appropriate response.

Unfortunately, since Santa doesn't exist (that's right Erik...you fucking baby. That guy whose lap you plop onto every year whining about the newest PSP firmware update and Hello Kitty backpacks is just some drunk dude in a suit), my hopes for such a gift were not delivered. So, it is my decision to simply talk about it no more. I am moving on. I accept your apology Erik, so go ahead and keep it to yourself; I don't want to hear it, so don't bother. That is my preemptive action. What's done is done.

For all you (2) readers out there, I am sorry about this. Since this appears to be the only way Erik and I can seem to communicate with one another these days, I guess this is what it has to be.

...

Hope you all had great holidays!

Music and Passion: Always in Fashion.

His name was Rico
He wore a diamond
He was escorted to his chair, he saw Lola dancing there
And when she finished, he called her over
But Rico went a bit too far
Tony sailed across the bar
And then the punches flew, and chairs were smashed in two
There was blood and a single gun shot
But just who shot who?

--Barry Manilow, "Copacabana"

Introductions out of the way and intent(s) clearly stated, let's get this bitch rocking--and like the bumper sticker says, "If this van's a-rockin', don't come a knockin'." Good advice, trustworthy advice, advice that was coined by the one and only J. Glerum. Sure, he'll try to be humble and pass it off as an old truism--"some dusty old chestnut that's been banging around for decades," he'll claim--but trust me: I was there when J. coined it, and I was there in the years following, as that statment's impact began to be felt.

I'm not going to lie, here: There have been some, shall we say, "issues" between J. and I over this blog. Yes, already. Call them growing pains, call them inevitable skirmishes, call them mere kerscuffles hardly worthy of mention. But they have to be acknowledged, and they have to be dealt with. J. wants some things out of this blog that I'm neither prepared for nor comfortable with, and I daresay vice versa--but this is no insurmountable impasse, friends! This is a mere speed bump on the road! A mere fleck on the glass, that, with a quick spritz of metaphorical Windex, will be banished forevermore, relegated only to memory! We will pass it, and Tag Team Back Again will prove worthy of its promise, will justify its great potential and hype.

Friends, it is Christmastime, that time of awkward greetings and forced social situations and uncomfortable hugs with creepy, malodorous relatives, and we are spread across this country--across this world--like butter scraped over too much bread, as a certain Tolkien character might posit. But let us allow Tag Team Back Again to bring us back together, to pull tight the thread that binds us. For whatever squabbles and tiffs might besmirch this vaunted enterprise, they shall be mere footnotes--if that!--in the grand history of our notable lives!

(See, J.? Now that's a fucking blog post. Jesus Christ. Get your shit together already.)

Ladies and Gentlemen...

Not normally one to toot my own horn (like a proverbial horn, or some real horn... like a rusting cornet or something I might have come across at a pawn shop and bought, only to later toss it carelessly on my heap of dusty, long-forgotten musical instruments purchased in failed attempts to develop a "creative" side (see also my: harmonica, TR-808 drum machine, Celtic harp, guitar (both acoustic/electric and electric, and two amplifiers), and a didgeridoo), it's pretty hard to overstate the importance of this new venture in my life. I am speaking, of course, of the Tag Team back again blog.

Not to wax poetic too long about how much fun this is going to be for me personally, and hopefully for you all as well, but I think we all know what a joy it is to read Erik's writing. I miss the days in college when we would sit in the Coyote office and bullshit for hours on end (and play with lightsabers purchased on the Coyote's dime). Those were good times. I guess, more than anything, this blog will be a way for me to get back on that wavelength with him, and hopefully with all of you as well (please use the comment feature - don't be a blurker). Sure, Erik is in Portland now, and sure he has a "job," and sure he and I haven't talked as much as I wish we had over the last few years for this reason or that, but now is...NOW! Now is different! Now is good.

So, with each of our individual introductions now out of the way, let's bring on the random, frequently offensive and always friendtacular blogging!

Party On, Party People--Let Me Hear Some Noise!

Oh, I know it's been a while! I know. But guess who's back? Erik and J., baby! Yeah, you read that right: Erik and J.

I won't bore you with the details--let's keep this svelte, smooth, shaven. A few days ago, J. and I were talking (of fine art, of women, of sonatas), and we realized: We should have a blog. Yes, sure, J. already has one, and I contribute regularly to one for my job. But fuck those, man. Those blogs, great as they are, are the equivalent of my Alzheimer's-stricken grandmother: shaky and old and boring and rambling and reeking of stale Werther's Originals. This, on the other hand? Oh, shit yes! This is, as the Fresh Prince would say, "the new hotness." Can you handle the new hotness? Yes! You can! Probably!

What's this blog going to be all about? Pretty much everything. But mostly it'll be about friendship. J. lives in Boise; I'm in Portland. And while distance might have separated us from our halcyon collegiate days, mere miles can never diminish our friendship. So now, with this combined blog, we shall join forces once again. I can't tell you how excited I am to be kicking it with J. again, even if only via the internet. J.'s a great guy--smart and kind and full of both mirth and booze--and I enjoy his company so. This blog's going to be a blast for us to write, and hopefully it'll be a blast for you to read. You see, if the iron-clad bond between J. and myself has taught me one thing over these many years, it's that nothing's more important than friendship. The friendship of me. The friendship of J. The friendship of our friends--and that means you, dear reader. So let's think about that. Let's think about friendship.

Now... how about J. and I get this party started? Eh? Eh? Who's with us? Will it be you... friend?