What entertains me now...

In an effort to entertain myself, well, I write this blog. And the subject of the day...

Should it be helpful?

Should it be thought provoking?

How about how your Tivo/DVR effects your psyche. How, you may ask? See, the DVR seems to be a painful balancing act. You go through months of the "regular season". Shows come on at the same time. Some go on two month hiatus. And then something awesome comes up, like say, Star Trek Voyager being aired twice a day on Spike TV. Your DVR explodes with shows of watchable goodness. Then it gets dangerously close to that 100%. And you fear missing an oh so important episode of Smallville you didn't watch yet. Did Lana find out Clark's secret? Will she get hit on the head and forget once again? How can one lose a day's time so many times across six seasons? Why to you hanut me Smallville on The CW?

Wait. That's another blog post...

But the DVR balancing act gets even more hairy when you have two more individuals that have watching needs from the DVR. Often conferences of "have you watched this yet" are all the conversation there is when looking through the plentiful DVR listing between watching episodes of The Shield we have been storing on this box while we awaited the last season to be available. Vic Mackie! When will you learn!

But I digress.

Now, I find myself staring into the empty DVR void. What will I watch? What will fill my time? Work? Career advancement? World of Warcraft? Hell, a crack habit?(possibly confused with Warcraft)

Hello, complete WrestleMania Anthology I never finished. I've missed you...

"This is Sorg's Life Part 3: Up 'till now"

Well, I guess I should finish this blogography concept.

I left Greenville in 2000 as I graduated. Well, not really. I quit my job at the Country Club and got one at the local Greenville Perkins, working weekends as I attended classes during the week at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. While that only last a quarter, I worked as a telemarketing verifier at DialAmerica for a year and a half, going home on the weekends, attempting to maintain contact with all of my friends back home I didn't want to leave. So I semi-commuted for a couple years. Jamestown/Greenville on the weekends. Pittsburgh, staying at my mom's during the week as I did school and work. I was aparently insane. Between the miles I put on my car, The price of gas was just on the verge of exploding, and some caffeine driven rides home. But I was able to hang with my friends, family and future wife, and maintain decent grades. My only regret being unable to take full advantage of my time to do projects and learn. But what do you do?

This went on until one summer when, after my wife had starting doing the Pittsburgh job/home on the weekends thing with me, we were both involved in a car accident. We both walked away, myself sleeping when we got hit, but Missy has had shoulder problems ever since. And received a paltry amount for our anguish. So this changed everything. We quit our telemarketing jobs that had plagued us anyways. We moved into my mother's down in Beaver, attempting to get back into the swing of things. I continued my school, found a job, and she finally found a job with Woomer & Friday, which gave us an in to our own apartment, finally!

I graduated AIP with an Associates, then a Bachelor's in Multimedia & Web Design. We got married the summer after that up in New York on a rainy day, and to a medieval theme. I attempted to work with a couple contacts from AIP, but all lead to dead ends. The contacts where either unscrupulous, or just disappeared out of the blue. Finally, a friend contacted me about logging with this MTS company. I worked hard at it, and replaced good ol' Justin Kownacki when he exited to pursue his web series, and other endeavors.

In the meantime, I had started AIP Juggalos back around 2001. This was a fan site for the Insane Clown Posse, based from Art Institute students. After realizing I wanted to involve some old friends not involved with the school, WesternPAJuggalos.com was born. Over the years, we've held a number of "mini-gatherings" helped plug some local music, even ran a radio server for a bit, which eventually evolved into the Wresting Mayhem Show of today. And I still run this thing.

In 2005, I resurrected an old "backyard bash" back at my dad's in Jamestown, eventually dubbed "Sorgstock". This featured some new and old friends doing music in Pittsburgh and Ohio, Twisted Thoughts and No Clue. And out of nowhere, I called up a friend, who was prone to get drunk and freestyle at parties, and decided I could attempt to write lyrics (with no prior practice, aside from band, musicals, and chorus in high school) and a rap duo named CRAP was born. Today, both the Sorgstock and CRAP are still running strong, just pulling off our 8th event in nine years, and booking shows all summer for the group.

And as this music thing keeps growing, I remember how much Dr. Espling helped me over this time to get CRAP to be a real thing. So I decided to give some friends with similar dreams a hand as well. These days, I think I've had more time going to Chachi's NES group, and Will's emcee lb project than my own. But they showed they can do this for real, thanks to the last Sorgstock, and we finally have something of a faction that can stick together and do shows, and do something strong with our brand of music in this town.

The Wrestling Mayhem Show is about a year and a half old, as a podcast. We've interviewed at least 10 wrestlers from the local indie fed, to a guy from TNA, and seem to have a pretty rapport with these guys. It started when I met Will at a friend's party and we started talking wrestling and I offered him to come on the little shoutcast radio server I ran out of my house. It became a podcast, then he brought over friends that became ingrained in the show, Steam Machine for a time, Chad the Shad, and Doc Remedy. Now I consider all to be good friends and great to work with.

It seemed that somewhere around 2005, at some point, I looked into a mirror and told myself, "Stop thinking you can't do what you want to do." If you toldme 2 years ago I'd be doing a weekly, internationally known podcast, interviewing wrestlers and rappers, hanging out with wrestlers and rappers, doing music myself, and just all the connections and friends I've made. Just the names I have in my phone's directory is amazing. Everything I'm working with feels like it's on the edge of bursting into something big, that I can stake a living on. And I couldn't have done it without the will, and the friends to back me up.

Well, I hope that suffices as a "blogography". I guess it's kind of my take on the concept. Enjoy.

A Sorgstock Distraction

Yep, taking a night off from my "blogography" multipart article to bring you some video fun...

I've been putting together clips for the YouTubers out there from last Saturday's fantastic showing at Sorgstock...

Scion Promo

Elder Statesman Promo

Doc Remedy Promo

Chad the Shad Promo

emcee lb "Thoughtful Nature of Man"

emcee lb "Wrestling Mayhem Show"

NES "Mega Man"

NES "You Ain't Shit" and "Old School"

MCK "Mind Games"

MCK "Don't Wanna Be"

Wrestling Mayhem Crew

Enjoy those while they last. I have plenty on the way, with up to three episodes of CRAP TV a possibility from the material this weekend net us. As well as the Monkey's debut, and more of our CRAP performance. Stay tuned!

Also, be sure to add the new Sorgstock Myspace Page to your Myspaciness....

"This is Sorg's Life Part 2: the organized answers"

I hope everyone enjoyed Part 1. Of course after I limp through the early part of my life, I find a guideline for "Blogographies" over on Chris Brogan's site. Eh, I enjoy winging it anyways.


The thing most people know me for is…

Well, this depends on who you are. Some know me for my day job doing safety videos. Some know me from my work forming WesternPAJuggalos.com and attending so many concerts and events. Some more know me for the Wrestling Mayhem Show podcast and our related seminars and random violence at local Pittsburgh Podcamp and Bootcamp events. Still more know me as a rapper in our comedy duo, CRAP.

The people I associate the most with are…

I tend to gravitate towards people of a creative nature. From old friends that introduced me to music and were in bands back in the day, to so many I've met at the Art Institute over the years that were always great to trade ideas with. The crew that seemed to happen by accident on the Mayhem Show is a perfect example of getting the right group of creative people together, who have become fast friends in the year and a half we've been doing this thing. Anyone who can get my mind brewing with ideas and keep me on my toes are great to be around.

People who have influenced my life are…

First and foremost, my father. I don't think the guy has a mean bone in his body, and treats people good. I hope I got a bit from that. And he worked hard for his family, I saw.

Everyone that I had associated with that was into music. Friends in bands, rappers, musicians. It came to a point that aside from having fun at the shows, I would start to pay more attention to just what they were doing on stage. So much so that it drove me to call up a friend and go for it with CRAP, even without ever writing a lyric in my life, and almost nothing as far as poetry. That was almost 2 years ago.

One challenge I took on and overcame was…

What hasn't been a challenge in this life.

My early years, before you probably got to know me were…

Well, I suppose I covered this in Part 1I'll get to more in Part 3.

You might not know this, but …

At a party several years ago, I got drunk and started wearing an oven mitt. I had two cans of Moon Mist, one with vanilla vodka mixed, one normal. The oven mitt indicated the "bad hand" with the vodka mix.

I’m passionate about…

My friends. Music. Video. Wrestling. Things of a creative nature that keep my mind going.

In the next year or two, I hope to…

Have that break out "thing". I really want to make what I love to do, well, what I do for a living. Whether it be with the music, the video, the podcasting in some fashion. When asked what I wanted to do for a living, I always told them in college, "something I can wake up in the morning and want to go do". Now, I have some directions on where that could take me. It certainly isn't where I'm at. But there's no way I'm not going to get there. I have a hunger for creative things and performing in front of people. That will definitely bear me some fruit someday.

Well, there's some form to this. I'll go back to randomness for Part three as we enter, the 2000's...

"This is Sorg's Life Part 1: The Homeland"

Well, I see Chris Brogan and Justin Kownacki had embraced this concept in the same day. Thought I'd take a stab at it.

Well, I guess the story starts in a small town of Jamestown, PA, where I was born and raised for my entire childhood. First, I recall living in a literal half of a house that my father was building, but stalled for years for some reason I don't recall. But along with our half a house, including the living room, bathroom, and washroom, we also had an "attached" trailer at this one point. So it was an interesting living arrangement, to say the least. I recall going through school as a bit of a dweeb. Or at least that's how I felt to the other kids. Needless to say, I didn't have much for friends to have play time with outside of school when I was in the single digits.

I recall the highlights for me always being coming home for that small hour block of cartoons (since there was no cable) that consisted of He-Man, Transformers, then Ninja Turtles for whatever period of time. I would often walk to my grandparents' down through my cousin's junk yard/garage area. And of course my aunt lived on the other side of the grandparents. It was great having such a close family in the area. Especially when my sister officially moved out at a very young age. I'd sit in the wash room to watch WWF Superstars on Sunday mornings, always after Robert Shuller's Hour of Power from the Crystal Cathedral.

High School came and I tried so hard to get out of my shell. I befriended a fellow named John and he introduced me to Nirvana, The Doors, and a few other key music acts. I met a girl from Greenville that threw my world upside down, in part causing me to pull some strings and go to Greenville High my Junior year on, simply because I was sick of the atmosphere at Jamestown. Somewhere around here is where the parents "seperated" and it seemed like they were better off apart, even though it never happened so simply. After a year and a half, and scores of new friends, I break up with my girlfriend at the end of Junior.

Greenville ended up being great to me. My relationship had introduced me to many new friends, some still with me today. I got into Media class, enjoyed a bigger, more robust chorus, rejoined band late in my senior year, saw trips to Virginia and Toronto through the school. The summer before senior year has often been referred to as the "Summer of Mirth". This was an insane time of working at the Country Club with Chachi, then eventually Adam and Peewee, all night cappuccino nights at Perkins, and random road trips at 2 AM with Matti. All the people we packed into cars over the summer. Chris, Deist, Matti, Peewee, Adam, Yvonne, lil' Missi, Missfit, Doug, Chachi, Jered, and shit who knows who else. This was a great time. Adam and Peewee had started a band called LYNT, and I started to put some time into supporting them, being my friends and feeding my developing love for music.

When I had broken up with my girlfriend that end of Junior year, something broke in my head. I mean that in a good way. It was like right there, I decided how I was going to live. I had found myself for years growing up wishing I was more assertive, wishing I was better liked, wishing I was able to break out a bit more. All at once, I started not caring and just having fun with life.

I met my wife about September of '99. More or less a chance meeting through acquaintances. And a little slow to start, but we grew together pretty quick. Of course, she was a Junior at Theil College when I was a Senior in High School.

Hm, that's a little lengthy already. How about we break this up into parts. So there you have it, "This is Sorg's Life Part 1: The Homeland"

Stay tuned for future installments!! Same Sorg time, Same Sorg Blog!

emcee lb in action from Sorgstock

The first of the Sorgstock vids. Here's emcee lb in his first performance.

The first Sorgstock Footage...

"Wrestling Mayhem Show" Theme


"Thoughtful Nature of Man"

Sorgstock Wrap Up

This Saturday was another chapter in the long history of Sorgstock. Eight 'stocks have now passed, and this is the first I recall that we've seen rain. And we had been prepared and threatened with reports of rain in the past. Of course this time, we get snookered by the weather reports and have no preparation.

I guess we'll start off earlier in the day. Everyone was working together real well and getting everything setup, barring some people getting semi-lost, of course. We had a few locals show up. Already drunk, aparently. And almost two hours early.

Either way, we got started off with the RWF matches, first the Mexican 4 count match, which saw Sweaty Snatch, Mexican Jew Lizard, RoShamBo, and LuchaThingie squaring off for a get out off the country free card. After a few minutes of bad dancing, Spanglish, and kicks to the cahonies, "Sexy Time" RoShamBo pinned the Sweaty Snatch for the victory.

Next up, the Big Orange Kid had another run in with Psychopathic J in a DCW feature encounter which saw Psycho J bloody and bruised.


Then the RWF Tag Gold was on the line as DoS fought challengers, Weekly Features. The action was relentless, with the crowd firmly behind the champs, till that chump, Assault from MCK, ran in with a cone and help the Features get the pin, and the stolen belts. Better watch out, MCK...

Last was a war between Scion, Doc Remedy, and Chad the Shad for the remaining RWF belts. First was a regular pin match that saw Doc Remedy win the European strap. Then, in frustration, Scion drives up in a car. With a trunk full of weapons, thus helping him retain his Hardcore belt. Last was the ladder match for the RWF belt. Scion was taken out of action after some mean shots to the head. Remedy and Chad battled with "the Shad" eventually climbing to the top for the win.

At this point, it was starting to sprinkle a bit. After a slight scare, we gathered some spare tent poles, a tarps, garbage bags, and some duct tape to fabricate something to keep all the important electronics dry.

Finally, we got things rolling, and got things kicked off with some projects that I've been helping get together. First was NES: Nerds Eating Shrooms, featuring 8-bit, known to most as my old friend Chachi, and Playa 2. This was their first try at a live show as a group, and need to work on some stuff, but they deffinately showed some promise. People seemed to really dig "Old School" and "Mega Man". I think Chachi finally found that intensity I've been looking for in the studio.

Next was another good friend, Will, no known also as emcee lb. I had the pleasure of helping out as a hype man, because I think the hardest thing to do is get on stage by yourself and carry a show. Few can do it to good effect. We started off with the entrance to the Wrestling Mayhem Show, which we've used since November, and did to the same beat used on CRAP's "Diarrhea of the Mouth" on our album. Next was the first solo track we threw together, "The Thoughtful Nature of Man". He seemed to get a really good reaction, and pulled it all off, despite being beat up in three matches earlier.

Then MCK stepped up and took the stage. These guys are rocking in t-shirts, soaking wet, and not giving a fuck. Their boy dressed up like weird Al or something in suspenders and sported a Darth Vader "cape" for a bit. A lot of people were introduced to these guys that night and they won them over all around.

Finally, my group, CRAP took the stage. It's still raining at this point. But fuck it. We did our set. Our mic dies at the beginning of the set, so we do a song and a half tossing a mic back and forth. We finally get the mic back (thanks for the quick work, guys) and keep rocking. We were definitely just interested in having a good time at this point. We got some beers onstage. (I never drink before/during a show). Toilet Paper was flying. Three people got wrapped up with he stuff. We had plungers in hand (thanks, Matt). And we introduced the monkey during "Monkey Fllings Poo". He starts throwing TP and running around. Then Girdy from No Clue starts chasing the thing with a plunger. It was so ridiculous I fucked up some words laughing so hard. Amazing.

After the set, everyone hang out for a little bit. Jeff was drunk as shit, proclaiming himself as a new wrestler, "Sweet Ass Toad Dick" or something, hanging with he Wrestling Mayhem Show/RWF crew. The Monkey molested Girdy some more. Eventually, people started taking off. A few people stayed and slept in their cars, or tents. There was still a fire burning. I ended up chilling in Girdy's fresh Audie with Tweak and Jeff, bullshitting about stuff, sipping some old ass whiskey. We ended up at Perkins for a bit, served by my ex, no less, and ended the night about 4 AM.

In the end, it was an amazing night, regardless of the rain. Everyone's determination to make this happen and run smooth as possible was astounding. From the RWF guys, to my family, Missfit on the grill, to the MCK not just packing up and going home. Everyone made this work, and that is what made this Sorgstock the most amazing, and fun. Rain is the last thing that's going to stop this.

Now, I have almost four tapes of footage to sift through. So expect many YouTube vids to come. I'll try to post anything new on here. You can view some pictures from all the action right here.

I'm a Blogger!

You may ask yourself "But Sorgatron, you have been a blogger for at least 8 years." And I tell you "NO SIR!" For I have not been a blogger until I have signed up to a nifty little applet bloggy thingy like this here blogger.com dealy. Yes, I said dealy. No longer to I manage my own blog! I have embarked on the niftiness of Web 2.0 and the "let someone else take care of the details" mentality.

I've linked all of the old archives from as far back as 1999 (so there's a lot of late teen and tired college night dribble in there, to be honest.) I've been "blogging" technically since that time, starting with a Geocities, eventually graduating to Tripod, and my own server.

Also linked as a sort of "legacy site" is the History Book. This is a collection of pictures, mainly from my high school years. (so long ago) I've also recently started adding some videos from the same time period that are ripped from DVDs, that were made from aging VHS, that were recorded from glorious 8mm tape. Yeh, they've been through hell. And now that hell is youtube.com. Have fun with those, and my early works as a video editor in High School Media Class. Many recommend the glorious "Dew Witch Project" as the jewel of the collection.

So, enjoy the new space, and continue to read up on your Sorginess.

Dear Comcast, we must part ways...

Dear Comcast,

You and me have had a rocky relationship. First, it was a relationship of fondness, as I was humbled by my lame Adelphia service. Then excitement when you provided me with fantastic internet speeds and user friendly On Demand services that helped my Deadwood addiction.

But there have been many times you have failed me. First in memory was our ordeal with the internet. You would be down for hours at a time as I attempted to run my endeavors from home. Then we find you had provided me with faulty equipment it took two visits to replace.

Then you buy one of my few television loves in my short life. TechTV. You bought it, assimilated it with the stale, misdirected, G4, and killed off the most loved parts of it. For what, the viewers it once had? At least you kept my Morgan Webb wet dream alive. And the cast offs from TechTV have gone on and return to my life via the internet that is our lifeblood.

Ups and downs. DVRs and PPVs, we finally have met our last straw. First, you keep me from buying a wrestling PPV, TNA Lockdown. This hurts. I attempt to actually watch the wrestling I report on my Podcast radio show, the Wrestling Mayhem Show. This leads to me watching the event in delay, and through other channels I'd rather not explore. Because you wouldn't let me buy it. 5 minutes into the preshow!!

Then we sit down to enjoy WWE Backlash. All fine, except for several glitches during the Last Man Standing match between Undertaker and Batista. Frustrating.

Finally, we sit down for TNA Sacrifice. sit through the preshow. Halfway through the first match, an X-Division Title encounter, we get a glitch. And it stops. After a call to Comcast, I realize this is ridiculous and ask to cancel the PPV buy for the evening.

Now, I look to explore the greener pastures of satellite television I so enjoyed back home when it was my only option. I will research some issues (HDTV, DVR, installation, local channels) and plan to order this week or so.

So in closing, good riddance, old friend.