Do you remember Midnight Oil? I loved that band! I first time I saw video footage of the band, I was mesmerized by Peter Garrett's odd dancing on stage and haunting, jittering voice. I loved it. I was in 5th grade. And it really was Midnight Oil that drew me towards punk music.

But that really has nothing to do with the title of this post. It is now after 3am and I'm still up. I have found over the last few months that I get the majority of my school work done between 10pm and 3am. It's not ideal but that's just the way it is. There are a few reasons.

I've vowed to be around and available to my kids. Even if my nose is buried in books a lot of the time lately, I do my best to give them as much attention as I can. And Brooke deserves the help. She works hard at taking care of our children and I do my best to help her when I am around. So, until everyone else goes to bed, I've not found a ton of time to study some weeks. Hence, the "burning the midnight oil."

There's a few survival techniques if you're going to try and pull off this stunt:

1) Be a person that doesn't require a lot of sleep. If you do, life's gonna suck. I don't require a lot of sleep. If I can get one night of a solid 6-8 hours, I can pull off 3-4 the rest of the week usually. But now that I'm closer to 40 than ever before, we'll see how long that lasts.

2) Don't eat a heavy dinner, no seconds. I eat almost every dinner with the family and we eat vegetarian at the house most of the time. So, this works for me. Otherwise, you get sluggish and nothing's gonna keep you up!

3) Coffee. The key is planning your coffee. If you start drinking it too late, you'll be up the rest of the night. I start at 9pm and that way I'm wearing out at about the time I finish what I've scheduled for the night. Tonight being an exception... I started drinking coffee at 10:30pm... and I'm still wide awake... which is why I'm blogging at this ungodly hour.

4) Gum. I prefer spearmint. It helps keep me focused and awake for some reason.

5) Loud and fast music. This is a must! When I do homework is when I listen to the loudest and fastest music I've got. Really intricate, experimental, avant garde stuff I can't focus with. So, while I love listening to bands such as Radiohead, Fugazi and Refused I can't listen to them while I study. Because I just want to listen to music and appreciate the art. Nope. Can't have that. Lately, I've preferred Cancer Bats, Hour of the Wolf, The Bronx and It's Casual. The only exception to this rule is if you know an album inside and out and nothing ever surprises you about it. I'm obviously easily distracted by music. I used to rely on online radio stations but I've gone back to my own catalog usually. Lala.com was great, but it is going away. Last.fm loads too slow and Pandora picks some weird matches every once in awhile... I actually get offended by Pandora sometimes: "How dare you think I would like that?!"

Okay, I'm starting to get tired now. Good night!

My daughter gave me an early Father's Day gift this weekend. Local folk-jazz singer, Miss Erika Davies is starting to get some attention 'round here. Davies played last night at the grand opening of Make Good in our neighborhood. Her crooning is reminiscent of Billie Holiday yet her instrumentation brings to mind much of the modern folk bands that are all the rage. Either way, it was a treasured gift and a worthwhile listen. Check out her music here.

My buddy Matt, tweeted the other day that I taught my kids how to hardcore dance. To set the record straight, a) I couldn't dance like that to save my life and b) here's the story:

The kids were holding their own dance party in the family room when Brooke said, "They look like they're hardcore dancing!" To which the kids said, "What's hardcore dancing?" Yes, it's true my beautiful, gentle, handcrafting wife is keen to this underground scene of hardcore punk. Hardcore shows were actually a frequent weak attempt of mine at "dates" before we got engaged. And the pit was often just as interesting as the show, plus you had to be aware of what was going on or you could get a boot to the face. It seems not all was lost though.

If this is all completely foreign to you, this Sick Of It All video explains it all.

Stoked to hear that Walter Schreifels has a new album coming out. Certainly isn't Quicksand but the guy's a good song writer still.

Thanks to my friend, Jon for linking to this artist, Tinashé. Wonderfully syncopated guitar riffs and drum beats. Beautiful voice. Great drummer (with a cardboard box for a kick drum!?). Proof that sometimes the simplest approach works best... this is what Jason Mraz wishes he could do.

I met Daniel Dixon several years ago while he was on the road with my friends, The Cobalt Season. Watching him play live, I was thoroughly impressed by his musicianship. And as we sat on my kitchen floor, talking late into the night, I was impressed by what a decent human being he is as well. His most recent release, Night Watching, features well what Daniel is capable of artistically. His music transports you somewhere. Here he communicates more with instrumentation than most accomplish with lyrics. Eat your heart out, Sigur Ros. I choose Dixon over your gibberish.

When I was in 6th grade, I loved INXS. This song in particular is still a great song. And Fruit Bats do it justice. I especially dig the slide on their version. Check it out.

If you enjoyed The Grey Album (a mash up of Jay-Z's The Black Album and The Beatles self-titled "white album" by Danger Mouse) than you'll dig this. Not as genius as The Grey Album, but still...

Who claims Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, Astor Piazzolla and Dimebag Darrell all as influences?! Well, Rodrigo y Gabriela do. Personally, I hear some Django Reinhardt too–but that's just me. These two are amazing guitar players! Rodrigo's got some fast fingers but Gabriela's incredible percussive capability while still strumming notes cannot be understated. Check 'em out on this NPR Tiny Desk Concert clip. Spellbinding!

Note to those who watch the video, crank it up in order to Gabriela's work better. She wasn't mic'ed as loud as Rodrigo in this recording.