Money and Time

A Poetic Hobo

2007-11-07T11:05:00.000-05:00

In American though the notion of the loner, the rambling man is as ingrained in our culture as that notion of the American Dream. Melville "Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and brining up the rear of every funeral I meet...the I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can" to Kerouac "I'd often dreamed of going West to see the country, always planning and never tkaing off" to Dennis Hopper's line in Easy Rider "What the hell is wrong with freedom? That's what it's all about", Americans long for the expanse before them. To no longer be trapped in cubicles and subway commutes but rather to see the open road. Yet this open road is nothing more than a collection of corporate America. I quote the musicain Guy Forsyth "I remember hearing songs about trains and feeling the rush of wonder that the world was both infinite and accessible all at the same time. Then is was songs about highways and born to be wild and little red corvette and the road went on forever in my mind. But not its clogged with stinking SUVs and two story pickup trucks that can climb over anything but the two story pickup truck right in front of it. Now even the Highways look the same, Starbucks and 7-11s and Wal-Mart’s line the feeder roads" It is against this backdrop that we find our young hero, Kenneth Flannery, who, burdened with debts from student loans from a college that promised him the world and credit card debt came about through the speculative excesses that accompany both wall street and online poker. He is the embodiment of the "Get Rich Quick" ethos that is the hallmark of our generation. Now embittered by corporate America's rigid structure he sets forth to conquer the world one couch at a time, hoping to prove that one can, as Thoreau so eloquently wrote so many years ago "When he has obtained those things which are the necessary to life, there is another alternative to obtain the superfluities; and that is, to adventure on life now...I do not speak to those who are well employed, in whatever circumstances, and they know whether they are well employed or not; but mainly to the mass of men who are discontented, and idly complaining of the hardness of their lot or of the times, when they might improve them"

Switch to hobo

2007-08-04T22:13:00.000-04:00

So I've been neglecting this personal blog for a while, it's purpose has been replaced by twitter and the hobo site, purpose being to stay in touch with everyone and give quick mass blasts out to everyone I care about and care about me. I've just been busy.

As I type this I'm sitting on a kayak in the middle of a remote lake out in Wyoming, Leigh lake, where I'm camping the night, picture included. Life is good, as far as what I'm spending my time doing I couldn't be happier. Money coming in will really depend on how the hobo site does and my latest internet venture, mobubble.com, which is set to launch soon (in the real soon kinda way, not in the music slice soon kinda way).

I haven't told too many people about mobubble, but in short it's a means to post pictures and video from time to time about the goings on in your life from your camera phone, and I instantly sent to the phones of your friends who also have mobubble. Really cool. If you're interested in being a beta tester let me know, I'll be sending out private invitations this month.

Good times, I'll let you know if you have t switch completely over to the hobo feed, and those of you on facebook will see the change instantly.

Hobo Code

2007-07-27T18:45:00.000-04:00

Days have been jam packed with rafting, hiking, programming, video editing, eating ice cream cones, and other good stuff. I've made some great changes to Hobo2.0Lifestyle.com to go along with the latest episode here in Jackson Hole.

For you web nerds out there, it's been a dive into php and the Google Map API to get it where it is now, but the results are great. Each episode now has a whole experience, not just the video. Now it's all on one page, a big map showing markers of where I've been on the trip with all my photos geotagged (pinpointed in the exact location they were taken) right on the map, and of course the video that pops up right on the same page. It took some figuring out to get it how I wanted it, but good times are rolling now.

So what's next? A couple more weeks in Jackson Hole, a visitor to look forward to, progress with MoBubble (another site I'm working on, details coming later next month), and some traveling ahead of me. I'm trying to get to Vegas in mid-late august, anyone think they can get me a ride? I'll be in Wyoming and Montana a bit, and I can always catch part of a ride east bound if it means landing in a spot where someone can head back west towards Vegas. In September I'm going to Sacramento. That's the story so far.

Hobo on The Road

2007-07-17T14:23:00.000-04:00

Here's the latest episode from Hobo 2.0 Lifestyle, "road trip - episode 4". Also check out the map from the trip to see my route and stops.

You can easily subscribe through itunes or youtube to always get the latest episodes. If you use a different podcatcher/reader then you can subscribe here (I recommend Google Reader if you're not using anything yet, it works with your gmail or google account).

Road Trip

2007-07-12T00:01:00.001-04:00

So I've been ignoring this blog in favor of working on and updating www.Hobo2.0Lifestyle.com a lot, but hey, it's all good times, I'm back now. You should go check that out though, I'm about 3 episodes deep with the video podcast, and you can subscribe to that through itunes with just one click from the hobo homepage, then you can check it out on your little ipod you apple freak. You can of course just watch them online or subscribe through You Tube too.

Anyways, the reason I'm so deep into that is because... road trip! I'm in Kansas at the moment, on route to Wyoming. Just a few days of travel has already given way to the spirit of it all and what I may be missing. As far as my stuff goes, I have more than enough... way more. I knew that going in, and over the next month I'll be getting rid of most of it until I have a nice tight pack of the essentials.

I don't know how much I'll be writing here compared to the Hobo blogs, so I suggest you check that out too while I figure out some kinda balance and distinction between personal and hobo. A lot of overlap... or total overlap... it is Hobo LIFESTYLE... whatever, good times.

Nathans Hotdog Eating Contest

2007-07-05T11:26:00.000-04:00

I went down to coney island and watched one of the most intense sporting battles of my life. Here's a video I took of the event.

Wild Flying Thing

2007-07-03T23:24:00.001-04:00

A little more action from the outdoor starbucks jam, here's a fresh video.

Trip to Assateague

2007-07-02T01:29:00.000-04:00

Last week I went to Assateague in Maryland camping. Good times, I filmed the second episode for Hobo Lifestyle and took a bunch of pictures.

Starbucks Outdoor Jam

2007-06-24T02:00:00.000-04:00

We jammed outside Starbucks on busy Steinway street for about four hours last thursday. It was pretty relaxed and a great time, especially cool feeling to be surrounded by people enjoying you play, many taking videos on their phones, and even seeing people stick their heads out the windows of nearby apartment buildings trying to get a listen and some pictures. Some of the best video is coming soon, I just have to get it from other cameras. Here's a small taste of what went down when the saxaphone made an appearance.

Flashy Marine

2007-06-13T03:18:00.000-04:00

My brother just got back in town on leave after spending time in Iraq and other spots around the world with the Marines. It's great having him around, here's a video of a "welcome home" he received on the ride back from the airport into town.

The Proof is in the Jam

2007-06-08T01:16:00.000-04:00

Wednesday's past jam session was one of the best we've had, so it's a good thing that we've been recording instead of broadcasting the past few weeks. I took two samples, each around 10 minutes long from the 6 hour night. It's cool to listen back to how the songs started themselves and grew into what they did.

Both jams include Jay on guitar and vocals, Sean on bass, and Esau on Sax. "Angela Open" is me on drums, and Alex on Harmonica. Alex dropped the harmonica and took the seat at the drums for "Kelly Crackdown".

You can listen to or download both tunes on Cyderobin.com under the "Jam Night" tab, or just download them directly here, Angela Open and Kelly Crackdown. Enjoy.

Fresh Music from Cyderobin

2007-06-06T04:32:00.000-04:00

Who knew that Starbucks would be what motivated some progress on the music front? Their little contest (which I know nothing about) is what spurred the past week's recording sessions here at the apartment with Mark and Sean, aka Cyderobin.

I started mixing the 3 songs last night after we were done recording, and finished mixing and mastering them tonight. I just uploaded them and decided to redesign the cyderobin.com site Sean's been working on, adding a working music player so you can enjoy some good tunes. So go listen to the new music, you can download it too if you want to rock it out all over the place.

Bursting out the Bubble

2007-06-01T03:18:00.000-04:00

The past week has really been a blast, good times on every front. Good people, good times, and plans for future good times have dominated my time. As I write this I'm working on a solid 36 hours without sleep and still not feeling too tired, there's just too much fun to be had.

I've spent some great times with old friends and new alike, and even doing things with old friends that I should've been doing more of a long time ago, like recording some songs with mark and sean. I'll post those as soon as I finish mixing them, in the meantime you can always check out the latest video of a recent jam session.

I got around the city throughout the week, and even got down to Coney Island for a day at the beach and to enjoy Nathan's hotdogs, god I love those. As much time as I've spent with friends hanging out or playing music, I've some how made a ton of progress on the website front. The Music Slice redesign looks awesome and slick, plus we've set a new launch date, June 14th. I haven't even posted that to the official Slice blog, so consider yourself privileged to that information.

I've also made significant improvements to the Hobo 2.0 website, making it run smoother and adding some new videos, blogs, and other good stuff. I'm also starting to get requests (demands?) from some friends to put them on my route once I set off on that great adventure.

Another semi-secret site I'm working on involving photos is also getting pretty close to being ready, I'll actually fill everyone in on that pretty soon, but it's really cool.

I uploaded a couple new photos to my flickr account, like me in the bubble above, and also just uploaded a video of me battling a 3 year old at the rubix cube, so enjoy those if you'd like. Until the next time, have fun.

Wednesday Jam Session Video

2007-05-25T04:49:00.000-04:00

Instead of broadcasting our last jam session as we usually do every wednesday night on WatchWhatIdo.com, we just recorded some of it instead. This is a video of a few minutes with mark on drums, jay on guitar/vocals, domer also on guitar, sean on bass, and alex on harmonica.

Sweet Birthday

2007-05-22T00:44:00.000-04:00

Above is a photo of the chocolate beer and s'mores I had for dinner at this place called Max Brenner with Mark, Sean, and Carolina, it's right by Union Square. The place itself was a chocolate factory, with pipes running overhead filled with nothing but chocolate.

While that was pretty good times, it's tough to beat out the Shake Shack, which is where I went to lunch just a bit earlier with Carolina before trying to find a good Barnes and Noble to sleep at. Double Shack Burger, cheese fries, and a Concrete Jungle - the ultimate meal.

And now I'm remembering the cigar Sean got me that I never got around to smoking... tomorrows always find a way.

Visibly Drunk Episode 1

2007-05-21T12:21:00.000-04:00

Mark and I's show is now aptly titled and ready to go, welcome to "Visibly Drunk". Here are some funny outtakes from the most recent episode. We had a special guest on the show, and these are our attempts to catch her face on camera. You can check out the Full Episode here after if you'd like.

Wednesday Jam Session Sample

2007-05-20T01:08:00.000-04:00

So we finally got around to recording some of the jam session, I cut out a few minutes for anyone who wants to check it out. Pretty sure this is Sean on bass, Jay on Guitar, and Alex on drums at this point.

This is the direct link if you'd like to download it as well.

If you don't know what jam session I'm talking about, it's the one we have every wednesday at our apartment here in Astoria that everyone is welcome to play at, sit and watch, or watch live online as we broadcast on WatchWhatIDo.com.

Trip to LA

2007-05-15T18:36:00.000-04:00

Just got back from LA, it was a great trip. I went with my mom and little sister, who's sole motivation was to meet Dylan and Cole, which is the poor man's Mary-Kate and Ashley from the "Suite Life" on Disney. We did eventually go to a taping of the show where she got to walk around the set, and then she got to meet them, I took a short video of the encounter.

We did a whole lot of driving all around LA and checked out everything. My favorite drive was most definitely up the Pacific Coast Highway, which goes right by the ocean and can't be beat when you're in a mustang with the top down, good times.

We even drove down to San Diego, and beyond to Coronado. Traffic is pretty nuts, a 5 lane highway and it's packed, go figure. Janet always found a way to go shopping whenever she could, and got plenty of clothes. Myself, I picked up a tiny camera to better capture videos and pictures on my Hobo travels, as well as a couple harmonicas to make some music along the way.

I liked LA though, everyone is pretty laid back for the most part, there was a whole lot of street music, even more so than new york as there were certain spots you could go that would just be packed with different styles. Things are generally pretty expensive it seemed though, and a lot of "image" stuff going on. The only other downside was how spread out things are with a lack of public transportation. I'd rather not have to deal with a car.

Oh yes, and In-N-Out burger, now I see what everyone has been talking about. Definitely the best 'fast food' burger I've had, and at a fast food price. Still can't compete with the Shake Shack of course, but they're in two different burger classes anyways.

You can check out all the photos I took in picasa web albums here, or just check out my favorites I posted on Flickr here. You can also check out the other video I took of the one man jam on Santa Monica Pier.

Santa Monica Pier Ferris Wheel

2007-05-10T21:36:00.001-04:00

Santa Monica Pier Ferris Wheel
Originally uploaded by ken flannery.

Pretty chill spot, not a whole lot though but some rides and a one man jam - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F-yPxH32Hs

Founders Day

2007-05-05T22:44:00.000-04:00

I went down the tracks with Mark and Sean to Poughkeepsie to meet emma for her school's founders day, aka a beer festival.

Good times, there was even electric swings and tea cups to ride on. Sean may have had a beer too many, and spent some time in the EMS tent.

If you don't die, when do you go to heaven?

2007-05-03T23:59:00.001-04:00

So I met up with the missionaries again, who this time planned to bring others with them, including 'elders'. The first two to arrive were the two girls who I'd met originally, and they said that Anthony was right behind them, and surely enough Anthony appeared... but it was Anthony... as in the Anthony I know from Starbucks and had partied with just a couple weeks prior. Classic.

The girls giggled at the "new york" moment, and I started shooting the shit with Anthony. He disappeared for a moment, and when he came back he handed me his phone which had a message on it that basically said "they don't know I drink, they know my mom, don't say anything". Classic.

The two elders came in, looking like a couple classic cult members probably pretty close to 30, give or take. I wanted to see how long I could keep the conversation going without bringing up jesus talk, and I'd say I did an awesome job. I had them talking about everything from the lakers game, myspace vs facebook, hobo 2.0, music, and programming with JavaScript.

Eventually, maybe an hour deep, last weeks little bet came up. This would be my prayer for a smooth jam session, and if the jam session went smooth, as prayed for, then god must exist. I alerted them that having not gone smoothly, it was clear that the notion of god could now be brushed off. They didn't agree.

This resulted in a conversation you might expect, them explaining why prayer is still good, me explaining the lack of a correlation between the success of those who pray and those who don't, and them left with little to say other than what was already said and de-bunked.

They tried to explain that life is god testing us, preparing us for the afterlife. They explained that prayer is a way of guiding us and giving us answers. I explained that I knew high school delinquents that liked open book tests too. They explained that god has a plan for everyone, so its not so much asking for favors as it is asking god what it his he wants for you. I explained that I can make my own path and take ownership of the results, as millions have before me.

The one underlying theme in religion is contradiction and logic that eats itself. I thought one of the funnier moments was when I mentioned that people who don't believe in god or pray have achieved great success, just as some who do believe. I was then asked "did those non-believers die?", "eventually yes, of course" I responded. With a straight face and a smug look he replied "well then"... A bit dumbfounded, I replied... "um... Religious people die too". That threw him way off, it's like he temporarily forgot about death or something.

They finally took off seeming confused and frustrated. I look at it as a way to further understand the craziness of religion, as I'll probably have to use these people for food or a roof once in a while come my hobo days. Thank god for that.

The Hobo and a Few Slices of Music.

2007-05-02T13:37:00.000-04:00

I've spent the past week living in weeks yet to come. My vision for Hobo 2.0 is becoming abundantly clear, and this summer it will become a reality.

I've set up the site, Hobo2.0Lifestyle.com, and it's just waiting to get filled with tales of my journey as I move through the world. It's become even more real as I now have a replacement room mate to take my place when I leave so Mark and Sean aren't left hanging, and an initial ride across the country to get it started.

As slow-going as Music Slice appears from the outside, it's actually moving fairly quickly and with blistering excitement. Music Slice and my new Hobo lifestyle will go hand-in-hand as I move through the world. My backpack will be just one room in the virtual Music Slice office, and how better to spread the word to musicians and fans then to show up all over the country?

Cyderobin, the band in which I play the drums for with Mark and Sean, will have to go on without me. I'll still be on the other end of wednesday night jam sessions watching on WatchWhatIDo.com, and I look forward to the days of coming in as a guest jammer, because after all, I'm not so much leaving New York as much as I'm going everywhere.

In fact, I intend to pick up some type of pocket instrument, the harmonica seems like a good choice, so perhaps with the help of Music Slice's technology I won't have to leave the band after all, just change instruments. There's still plenty of time before I set off on my journey, and tonight is a Wednesday jam session that I can still enjoy live and in person. Good times.

Jesus puts girls in the missionary position

2007-04-26T01:13:00.001-04:00

What would you do if two cute girls showed up at your door looking to spread the word of jesus? Well I wasn't too busy, so I ended up talking to them just over an hour about their lives, the whole god thing, and how google compares to god as far as getting answers.

Turns out these girls are in from utah for 18 months to help spread the word of Jesus to queens. According to this guy gordon (who gets direct messages from god or jesus or both), they're not allowed to drink or even use the internet as long as they're out here. I had some music playing in the background, I found out even this was spoiling them.

I was looking for some kind of explanation as to why one would go with the whole god thing, but I eventually got them to admit that there was in fact no correlation between the success of those who believe and those who don't, and they started talking about how everyone goes to heaven if they want anyways, but you can gain better ranks by listening to gordon.

At the end of it all I got them promising to grab a burger in a couple weeks to discuss our little bet. I said I'd go forth with god if he answered my prayer (see the image for their prayer instructions) to have our show go off without a hitch. Seeing how most people didn't show up and the audio cut in and out, it's pretty clear that god isn't for real. Finally we have an answer to that age old question, I look forward to sharing this with the girls so they can take a load off and go grab a beer with me.

The Music Slice Playground

2007-04-23T14:48:00.000-04:00

While the real Music Slice developers are plugging away at the really complicated code to get the site up and running, I decided to create a little playground for myself to put up some quick and easy ideas for the site in the meantime.

MyMusicSlice.net is where you'll find my playground. What's the first toy I'm sharing with you? An awesome music search that'll find your favorite artist or songs on YouTube and other video sites, shows, news, blogs, and even their myspace and other home pages. Enjoy.

Mark Tubridy and Ken Flannery Experimental Show #2

2007-04-20T15:56:00.000-04:00

This is our second experiment episode making a show about nothing in particular. There's maybe 8 seconds of black silence before the video starts... my bad.