I’ve heard that phrase aimed at me once or twice. I sometimes find it amusing – it’s ironic because i don’t have an overly crude sense of humor, yet I am riddled with illness! (as I wrote that, I heard it in my head being said by a television game show host, as if announcing the winner of a consolation prize. weird.)

Which brings me to the reason for this post. Many, many people have asked me over the years, “why are you sick so much?” At my most impatient moments, I give them a terse response like, “my parents dropped me.” If I’m in a disclosing mood, i give them the real full story. The latter will be contained within this post, mostly because I am lazy and growing more tired of the repetition.

Ok, so here’s the deal: we are giving away 25 “Smoke & Mirrors” DVDs and 150 autographed NTTC CDs this month. The first 150 people to follow these 4 steps will be getting a package in the mail from meeble land.

1. Sign up on this blog.
2. Sign up on our mailing list (be sure to use your real address and check your email!)
3. Request us with the “Eventful Demand” widget below.
4. Post a comment in this thread notifying us of steps 1-3.

May the best 150 people win!

It’s been a few weeks since I last wrote about Mexico City. The memories are fuzzier, but I thought tonight that if I don’t write them down now, i may never. Anyway…

The next day K and I went to the Chapultepec Castle, which is an atypical museum on the top of a large hill in the center of D.F. (which was the site of Niños Héroes - 6 teen age boys who died defending the city against the American army in 1847.) There I read a lot about the history of Mexico, the revolutions, the European powers, and the beginnings of Mexico’s grand tradition of racism.

Well, another live show is now behind us.  We played outside of The Lost Leaf in the middle of the First Friday art walk, which is quite a spectacle these days.  As exhausted (physically and emotionally) as I was, I felt really good about the show (both during and afterward).  I want to send out a big thank you to all of you who came down and played a part - whether in the audience, on the stage, or behind it. I apologize for not being more available to talk to you all after the show.

i thought it was extravagant, the whole idea.  ”sure i’d love to see Radiohead, but we just can’t afford it right now…  and in Mexico City?”  i tried to explain this to Karina, but she stood firm.  deep inside, the trip appealed to me - the younger, more impetuous part of me.  a month later i found myself on a plane to Mexico City (which is called the big DF by those who live there.  and the people who live there are called chilangos by Mexicans living in the north.)

I ran across this blog post and it made me laugh.  (not out loud)

LINK: 6 Reasons Why I don’t like Facebook

I’ll add my own reasons for not liking Facebook below:

1.  It sucks as a platform to promote music.  When I send 20 or so friend requests, Facebook warns me that my behavior is suspicious and that my account could be blocked or deleted.  Talk about WAY too sensitive.  Do a search about this on Google, I’m not alone.

So, i have spent a few days actively promoting my Twitter page, and I am doing a decent job amassing followers.  Currently at 656.  I am sure that with a little bit of work, I could get 5,000 followers, but WHO CARES?

Virtually all of those 5,000 people don’t care about me - they care about Tweeting on about their product, their life, and their agenda.

Yesterday I stumbled upon an interesting blog about Twitter, deflating some of the hype.

And here’s another blog about what Twitter is and isn’t.  And another.

Hello folks, 

So now we have two remix contests that have launched, and one that will be starting on April 2nd. The three contests are as follows:

PREFACE: this post is targeted primarily at musicians/bands/producers/etc. 

We all know that the music business is in flux. Record labels are dying, physical CD sales have plummeted, nothing that used to work works any more, and we as independent artists have to keep adapting to have any chance to find some level of success. Yet, there are still tremendous opportunities at our fingertips. 

I have been thinking a lot lately about how much potential there is for us helping each other gain more exposure, traffic, hits and eventually, fans. Does this sound attractive to you? If so, read on. Now, these ideasI’m writing about aren’t exactly original or new - in fact I have read about them on the web. So the concepts already exist - but they usually fall flat in practice. 

Most of these link to the original review articles - let us know if you find any others out there. So far, only one has been fairly negative, I highlighted it in red. If any of you happen to be decent writers, we’d love to have you write up a little something about the album. don’t be shy or polite - let us have it.

For those of you who don’t know, you can buy the CD at Amazon.com and CDbaby.com. High quality mp3s are available from iTunes and directly from us at the meeble.com store.

Mr. Meeble

Never Trust the Chinese

Flying in the face of earthly convention, Mr. Meeble issues a warning to everyone who checks out their indie debut album: Never Trust The Chinese. Between its title and content - this Phoenix based trio’s sensual and soulful pop meets dark electronica record is bound to drop jaws, turn heads and offend, oh, maybe about a billion people.

But it’s nothing personal… well, except for the one nameless female who inspired this collection of songs that tell stories of the denial and despair of lost love, personal accountability, remembering, mourning and finally, just maybe, a glimmer of hope.