raising heller

that’s the question we asked ourselves. and through semi-thorough video documentation, i think we’ve found the answer.

we present the evidence, you be the judge.

post script – i feel it important to note that the heller family.org in no way endorses lame theme music, and that the music used in this video serves a specific purpose. mega bonus points goes out to the first person who can identify the origin of this music. it’s not tough. post your answers here.

doogie belle from stevelucky on Vimeo.

videos

there is a new tune in the heller family tunes section called “i’m hopeful”. i just wrote and recorded it a couple of days ago. it’s really simple (hence the short production time) but i think it’s nice. you be the judge.

words

these songs are by weezer.

okay, so i don’t think i was the only one worried that the new weezer album “make believe” was going to be a total stink fest. after the last two fiascos that were the green album and maladroit, i think there was good cause for concern. well, i bought “make believe” and was, at first, mildly happy with the results. but only mildly. then, after repeated listens, i became very pleased with pretty much all of the songs on the album. one exception being the “hit single” beverly hills. it’s an okay song but nothing special in my opinion. the rest of the songs on the disc are prime weezer. my one complaint would be that the witty lyrics that i’ve come to enjoy seem to be dumbed down a bit. but, the hooks are there and that’s really what weezer is all about.

Read more…

music of the week

jana had her ultrasound yesterday. the place was really cool. the place that did our ultrasound for lily in california sucked. but this place was very nice. the lady who worked the machine was very courteous and professional. she made me want to fill out a comment card, but we were short on time. plus, i didn’t see any comment cards.

well, through her astute observation, she conluded that we were having a…

baby! no, just kidding. well, i mean i’m not kidding, we are having a baby. but as it turns out we will be having a baby boy on or around november 6th, 2005. is that crazy, or what?! she said that this picture was of his junk. i’m going to have to take her word on that one.

the challenge to decide on a name has now begun. jana was so convinced that it was going to be a girl that we haven’t even discussed any boy names. what do you think we should call him? we’re casting out the net. reply to this with any cool names that you think would be a candidate for baby boy heller. we’re counting on you.

words

this song is by arco.

i guess since finding out that we’ll be having a boy, the whole baby thing feels a lot more real now. it made me think of this song. arco is a really great band. they’re very mellow, not too intrusive, just plain good. just listen to thing song and you’ll know just what i mean.

[audio:Arco-Babies’Eyes.mp3]

music of the week

so, me and a buddy of mine just got scuba certified. it was really fun. i highly recommend it. we on;y went down to about 50 feet, but it was pretty crazy. it’s a whole ‘nother world down there. in the course of two days of diving, my friend brady got attacked by a crab, we both almost blacked out making an ascent too quickly and i got stung in the face by a jelly fish. diving is the coolest!

here’s a few pictures of us.

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words

and who could blame her? with its crunchedy goodness, no one can help themselves! well, lily helped herself. to my last box of honeycomb without my permission. and jana just stood there and took pictures.

photos

embrace – live at the crocodile cafe 16 june, 2005

last night, jana and i had the pleasure of seeing one of our favorite bands, embrace at the crocodile cafe in seattle. for the uninitiated, embrace are one of the best bands to come out of the jolly old u.k. since the beatles. how coldplay has made it so much bigger in the states than embrace escapes me. embrace are the reigning champions of the epic, stadium swaying mega anthem. lyrically, it seems as if every line from every song could be its own song title. “there’s nothing you’ve got i want”, “we tried for so long to reach eleven on a scale of one to ten”, and “learning how to live with how it feels” are all lines taken from the same song that could have just as easily been the title. they went with “dry kids”. killer song.

seeing them in a quaint little cafe with maybe 150 or 200 other people was definitely cool. it reminded me of when we got to see coldplay at the mayan in los angeles as they were about to make their break into the states. but still, even as i was hearing the songs that i’ve come to love, i couldn’t help but think that these songs were made to be heard in a stadium. their music is totally stadium rock, that hurdle notwithstanding, they put on an incredible live show. they mostly played songs from their new album, out of nothing (available in stores now!), which is incredible.

for those of you wishing to give the band a try, i would start with their first album, the good will out. start to finish, it’s amazing. their second album, drawn from memory, faltered a bit in my opinion. they seemed to forget what they were good at. but maybe i just need to listen to it more. by the third album, if you’ve never been, they were back in fine form and put out an album that we’d all been hoping for.

check out their website, embrace.co.uk to see if they’re playing any shows in your area. i can promise you that you won’t regret taking time out of your incredibly busy schedule to see this band. first of all, i predict that if you don’t see them now, by the time that you are in love with them, everyone will be and they’ll be playing the u.s. stadium circuit as they already are in england. don’t miss this chance. the second time that jana and i got to see coldplay was at the hollywood bowl. i can promise that seeing them at the mayan was a much better experience. so, see embrace now while you still can without having to make your way down an aisle to seat 79 in row KK. but i can tell you that when they do come to town 2 years from now and the only ticket that i can buy is seat 79 in row KK, i will gladly make that purchase.

below are some pictures and the song that they closed the show with. well, the album version anyway.

[audio:Embrace-TheGoodWillOut.mp3]

words

in an effort to better my health, save some money, and lose a couple of lbs, i have undertaken a rather interesting challenge.
you see, working for myself poses an interesting dilemma. in order to make this business the best that it can be, i put in a lot of hours. often i don’t come home until 10 or 11 o’clock at night. while this is great for the business, it hasn’t been so great on me. coming home late causes me to seek food sources other than my home. a random sampling of said sources are illustrated below.

i’m fed up with the pain that fast food is causing me. it’s a burden on my body as well as my wallet. i’ve put on a little (some would disagree with my definition of little) unnecessary weight and feel that my life would be much better off without the monkey of fast food on my back. so here is the challenge: entirely give up fast food for one year, starting today. no longer will i be a partaker of the world of quickly prepared death. and what would a challenge be without a reward? if i successfully complete this task, i can buy a new guitar amp costing $1000 or less (it won’t be less).

i will be updating all visitors to the heller family.org of my progress on a monthly basis. i am excited about this new quest and know that i can make this happen.

the details:
a) there will be no consumption of fast food for any reason. in the event that i am really hungry and am out late due to work, i will be allowed to go to a grocery store and get a sandwich or a salad, provided that i call jana first and confirm the contents of the purchase that will be made.

b) if we are out and about and the in-laws want to buy us some lunch at a fast food restaurant, i can order a salad and a beverage.

the starting measurements:
hips (i say it’s my waist but jana swears that my waist is about 6 inches higher): 40 inches

gut: 43 inches. (it’s embarrassing).

weight: 203 lbs.

the game is afoot.

words

these are songs that don’t necessarily fit into the scope of what i would call “heller family music”. these songs were either from previous bands that i was in (such as t.a.n.g., project i.p., or sir jackson and the longride) or maybe just songs that i didn’t deem up to heller family standards. anyway, enjoy. or as it quite likely to be the case, endure.

t.a.n.g. – t.a.n.g. is here to save the day (we’re on our way hip hip hooray).mp3 – lyrics
i think this was the first song that we ever wrote together as a band. at least it was the first one that we were really proud about. this is also the only real “studio” recording that t.a.n.g. ever made as a band. we recorded this in the garage of our drummer, stephanie’s, house. it’s pretty rough and you can’t hear the vocals that well, but it really brings back some great memories from me.

[audio:T.A.N.G.-T.A.N.G.IsHereToSaveTheDay(We’reOnOurWayHipHipHooray).mp3]

t.a.n.g. – temporary restraining order.mp3 – lyrics
this song was written to be played in t.a.n.g, a band i was in a long time ago. i think we played it twice but never really got it down. i recorded it because i thought it was cool. i was listening to a lot of the muffs at the time.

[audio:T.A.N.G.-TemporaryRestrainingOrder.mp3]

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the following t.a.n.g. songs were all recorded live at a band practice in our drummers garage. be aware, the sound quality is really bad. the vocals are almost non-existant (click the “lyrics” link for further clarification). at the beginning of each song you can hear dan, the brother of brad the bass player, shout out the title.

t.a.n.g. – lazy eye.mp3 – lyrics
i actually had a girlfriend at the time that i wrote this that had a lazy eye when she was a child. i wasn’t thinking about that when i wrote it, and when i told her about the song she got kind of offended, i think. it was pretty funny.

[audio:T.A.N.G.-LazyEye.mp3]

t.a.n.g. – mom’s my biggest fan.mp3 – lyrics
a funny story: we got asked by a friend to play at his wedding. we were stoked beyond belief. well, when we announced that we were going be playing ‘mom’s my biggest fan’ a lady shouted out, “how about mom’s my only fan!” it was one of the funniest things i’ve ever heard. anyway, the sight of t.a.n.g. playing a wedding is indelibly etched onto my brain, as well as those of some very shocked wedding-goers.

[audio:T.A.N.G.-Mom’sMyBiggestFan.mp3]

t.a.n.g. – super-man-eater-death-machine.mp3 – lyrics
this song started as just a song title. it was written after a groovie ghoulies show. a title of one their songs gave me the idea for the above title somehow. and together, t.a.n.g. made the magic happen.

[audio:T.A.N.G.-Super-Man-Eater-Death-Machine.mp3]

t.a.n.g. – in the family.mp3 – lyrics
we had it all figured out that we were going to write this 7 or 8 song rock-opera about the mafia or la cosanostra. it would be called, “this thing of ours”. unfortunatly, we only got two songs completed and this is the only one that we were ever able to play live (which i think ticked a lot of people off because it was almost 5 minutes long). the other was ‘scarapone’. we had titles for the others which included, ‘hey, what’s up with this horse head?’ and… well, that’s the only one that i can remember. the world really missed out on this genius piece of magic.

[audio:T.A.N.G.-InTheFamily.mp3]

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directions to download music: right click on the link(s) and select “save target as…”, then select a place to save the mp3. now, as long as you have a program like windows media player, or winamp installed (i’m sure you do) you just need to double-click on the file that you just saved and it should play.

steven's side project