Steal a Base, Steal a Taco

So TB & MLB teamed up to make this deal: if anyone steals a base during the World Series, everyone in America gets a free taco. Tuesday, October 30th, 2-5pm, one taco per person. Pretty awesome. But how does that work, though? How will they keep track?

That's what I wanted to know. And what started as an innocent, legitimate free taco quickly escalated into a dangerous obsession. I couldn't help myself. The notion of free tacos was just too sexy to ignore. Here's my eventual quest, via Google Maps.

My grand total was 10 free tacos. 4 of those were at the same restaurant which I hit up (1) drive-thru, in a T-shirt and cap, (2) drive-thru, in a hoodie and shades, (3) in-store, in a hoodie, beanie and different shades, and (4) drive-thru, but in the passengers seat of a friend's car.

They say that nothing in life is free. And that's truer now than ever. Because although I may have gotten 10 free tacos, I paid a heavy price...in shame. And probably in weird number 2's.

Pumpkin Earth

On the advice of a few friends, and because I've Googled the crap out of "pumpkin jack'o'lantern earth globe" and come up with absolutely nothing, I have decided that I may, inexplicably, be the first human being to ever make a globe from a pumpkin...which is impossible, but hey...The Google doesn't lie.

So here is an extended cut of the soon-to-be-famous fruit, with my song "Photographs" as an appropriately dark and pensive soundtrack.

M&T Music Promotions Interview

Q&A with Dave Madden

Which of your songs is your favorite and why?

Songs are like children: even if I had a favorite, I could never let them know, for fear of hurting their feelings. And besides, sometimes the songs that don't seem to be special just need a little TLC, some extra rehearsing, an interesting arrangement, the right stage, the right crowd; they can flourish, they can mean something to someone.

Who or what inspired you to be a performer?

I'm not really a performer; I'm a musician. Playing music is what gets me off. The great thing about music is that it brings people together, that it has this gravity to it. You start playing music, and people gather around to be a part of it.

If you could have people learn one thing from your music, what would it be?

Just one thing? This is a question I could write about for days and pages. Whole volumes. But if I can only say one thing: Love.

Are there any sacrifices that you have made to pursue your career?

Other people might look at my life and point out sacrifices that I've made, but they aren't sacrifices to me. There is nothing else that I could be doing with my life, no alternative. I work hard to achieve my goals, and like anything else, there are bad times and good times, and a rainbow of shades in between. It's important to realize that you are one, complete person, not divided up into "the student", "the friend", "the employee". It's all just you. The more you realize that, the more you realize that the sacrifices you've made are just a part of your experiences, both good and bad.

What is it like to have people sing the words to your songs while you're performing?

I know it's cliche, but the crowd, the fans, YOU, are seriously so important. I learn that more and more every day. Art is a conversation, and without you participating, coming to the shows, singing along, I'm just a boy singing to no one. That being said, if you really want to blow my mind, learn how to sing AND play my songs for me. I would freak out.

If you could perform with any artist out there, living/non-living, who would it be?

Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows. I've followed that band forever, and they're a huge influence to my songwriting, especially lyrically. Every record they make is a new, ground-breaking sound. So, yes, I've love to perform with him, but I'd rather just hang out in NYC with him for like a month, picking his brain. Maybe he would dread my hair.

What message would you like to send to all of your family, friends & fans who support you?

Thank you. I couldn't even count how many times I've needed the support of family and friends to keep going. I absolutely could not do this without you. And that definitely includes you, Megan and Tamara!

Count Me Among the 73%

The Onion hit the nail on the head.

(click here)

Q-tip Sin

Many, many years ago, one of my older brothers showed me a comic strip in which two characters were having a discussion. I forget the exact wording, but it was something to the effect of, "You know that great feeling you get when you clean your ears with a Q-tip? Well, since it feels so good, is it a sin?"

Okay, so that was poor delivery. I forget the witty wording, but the point that the cartoonist and my brother were both making was, "See? Isn't religion stupid?" My brother's reasoning was rightfully childish, but I don't know what the cartoonist's excuse was. Sin is subtle. Cleaning your ears is no more a sin than drinking alcohol, or watching football or chopping carrots. It is when something -- anything -- begins to dissolve your relationships, with God, with other people, with yourself, that you have a problem. Theoretically, given the right conditions, anything at all could infect your soul, but some activities tend to have a higher success rate of screwing with you than others.

Moses provided a practical Top Ten list, saying unto the people, "Check out these ten things. Don't do them. For real, just don't. They're all sins, and if you do them, you'll be sinning, and therefore you'll be a sinner. And sin is bad. So. Don't sin." But I don't really think that's the point. Those ten actions are, in themselves, to various degrees, destructive and unlawful. But on a deeper level, they are more means to a healthy lifestyle than they are an end in themselves. Don't kill people, because, on the one hand, that person will be dead, and that's bad. But perhaps just as bad, you yourself will be disfigured. Why? Because that's how you were built. You were built to not kill people. You were built to not lie and steal. Sure, you can handle it for a while, about as much as a Honda Civic can handle off-roading: fun for a while, then stuck in the mud.

This whole topic came up, strangely, while talking to my other brother, and my mom, about living a healthy lifestyle regarding diet and exercise. What a polluted industry. Meal plans, food groups, exercise machines, gym memberships, spinning classes, low-carb this, non-fat that, personal trainers, ipod armbands, computer shoes, antioxidants, omega-3, all meat, no meat, all raw, no bread, drugs, pills, vomiting, see results fast free easy easy easy.

Bullshit.

"People don't want to exercise. They don't want to eat healthy food. They don't want to stop drinking; they don't want to stop smoking; they don't want to stop having dangerous sex. They want to take a pill. Well, good luck."
-Richard Veech of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

All of those things that I listed above are perfectly capable of contributing to a healthier lifestyle. The problem is that we view them as little pink pills that will fix everything. My personal litmus test for living: if something hasn't been around for 30,000 years, beware.