A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men

With election day right around the corner it seems as though many of us get carried away with political fervor. Thinking straight and logically weighing the stances of different politicians, we tend to fuss over all kinds of ideological boundaries. It can get very overwhelming. And if you ask me, it's so not worth the stress. "But Sam!" you may say, "This is your future we're talking about! Have some sense!" And I will say to you, "Never!" Indeed. The only good sense is nonsense.

And it is now, during this age of such geopolitical turbulence, that nonsense needs to be celebrated unabashedly. Seriously, people need to stop taking things so seriously. "It's all the same, despite the difference," right?

So here are two links (assignment two *cough *cough wink ) detailing the benefits of nonsense. Two of the infinite reasons you should stop worrying about politics, and religion, and education, and....well, worrying in general. Let your mind slip. Embrace the discord. For even shlagortumblinskovech is a mental armchair compared to the headache of our government.

For people who like facts:

http://blog.bioethics.net/2009/10/nonsense-its-good-for-you/

For people who like poetry:

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=182689

For people who like nonsense:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyXs6SsxSgg

Enjoy!

Fantasy World Domination

So, this Saturday Los Festingos were reunited again when Rancid Prostrate took the long and arduous journey from Penn State back to his small rural town of West Grove. It was a good time, with much jubilation and tomfoolery. We worked out a few new songs and played a few old ones for the hell of it. And nothing is like playting with the full band assembled. Peace and brotherly love were flowing through the air.
And that's when it hit us.
Los Festingos should rule the world. After we get famous as rock stars, we'll take over the world. And everyone will be happy.
We worked it all out. A reign of nonsense and good feelings. All the countries would be ruled by one of the festingos. Every once in a while we would hold presidential elections, but the only candidates would be the four festingos. So theoretically you could change your ruler, but you could never escape the clutches of Los Festingos. Basically the elections are just population contests so we can see who's the crowd favorite.
But how would we decide who owns what countries? Well that's when we instituted the world domination fantasy draft. You know people have fantasy football drafts and what not?
Los Festingos have world domination fantasy drafts.
Or at least we will. Soon. So if anyone who reads this, (As if anyone reads this) has any good ideas for countries I should put at the top of my list, let me know!

Ambiguous

Ambiguous: lacking clearness or definiteness; obscure; indistinct.
If you know the song, my hat comes off to you, dear festingo fan. If you do not know the song
EDUCATE YOURSELF!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnsPfGM8_Ko

Written in December of 2009,The Ambiguous Song is arguably the most popular festingo song ever composed. It is also one of my personal favorites because of its tremendous power and emotional energy. And the crowd goes crazy over it. But do they really know what it's about? Most Festingo originals are pretty straight forward (Sasquatch is about the struggles of a modern sasquatch. Pirate song is very much about pirates.) so that people can relate and easily access the fun. The lyrics to Ambiguous, however, are hazy, confusing and....ambiguous. And that's the point.
Like most songs we write, this one started as a joke. Drummer, Chris Ruffini was known to throw the word around like candy. "My you look ambiguous today!" He woukd say. "I'm feeling pretty ambiguous right now."
It didn't make any sense, and it was hilarious. Especially when people didn't know what the word meant. We were working on a beautiful new chord progression at the time, but no one could figure out what to write it about. (You can hear one of the first run throughs of this progression during the intro of our 2009 Christmas Special on youtube!). And so Chris Ruffini, being the comedian that he is, said it should be about ambiguous. We laughed at the idea, but then started fooling around with some possible lyrics. And they stuck.

We start each morning with the setting of the sun,
can't say when it's over, but we all know when it's done
Take it or leave it, it's all just the same
we can either win of lose in this God forsaken game

CHORUS: But don't you know life's a bit ambiguous
We'll never know what will become of us
And don't you know life doesn't make much sense
It's all he same, despite the difference

Walking the distance, destination not in sight
they say that life's a bagel, so let's all just take a bite
Smoke in the distance, and fire in the sky
we can only ask ourselves why? why? why?!
(CHORUS) (SOLO) (CHORUS)

We end each day with the rising of the sun
Can't say when it's over, but we all know when it's done....

The lyrics don't make any sense. Waking up when the sun goes down? Going to sleep when it rises? What's this about smoke in the distance? Who says life's a bagel?
Exactly.
It's written to make you confused. It's written to be ambiguous. The lyrics describe the title. But why? The chorus explains the verses. What does it matter what the words say, we don't know anything anyway. It's existentialism at its finest. Life doesn't make any sense, so why should we?
If the world opperated on simple laws and cycles, and everything was predictable than maybe our music would be too. But honestly, nonsense is way more fun.

The legend of the lost footage

One day, Bucky Kellorgg was sitting in his apartment, trying very hard to procrastinate like any good Festingo ought. Sam had gone home for the weekend so there wasn't any real chance of fun. But lucky for Bucky, a young purple dragon knocked on his door.
"Buckminster Forest Kellorgg. Slayer of solos and master of mayhem. I am here on this very boring saturday to thank you for slaying my older brother." (listen to the Epic Song by Los Festingos to hear the whole story of the slaying of this dragon's brother.)
"You're welcome," He mumbled very politely (as Bucky is wont to do).
"In dragon society, we must present a gift to whoever slays our older brother. And it just so happens that you were the slayer of my brother, Giacomo."
"Well that doesn't make any sense to me, didn't you like your brother?" inquired the guitarist.
"Yes actually I did. I loved him. He taught me how to blow fire and how to fly. He taught me the magic of being a dragon. He inspired me every day of my life, and still does today. I would give anything to go destroy a few more castles with him, just one more time. But in dragon society, it's approproate to thank your brother's murderer. Don't ask me why, I don't know. But it's been that way for thousands of years, and I'm not going to try and change it."
Bucky blinked and thought for a few silent seconds before the dragon spoke up again.
"Well, I guess that's it. Here's a token of my gratitude for killing my brother." And he handed Bucky a purple and gold flash drive and disappeared. But Bucky felt pretty torn apart inside. How could he accept this gift? Disgruntled and confused, he put the drive in his computer and opened the files. In it was lost Festingo footage from the Brotermination 2011 summer tour! Precious moments of Festingo history preserved in almost perfect condition for all the children of the future! Elated by this amazing discovery, Bucky soon forgot his interior struggle over silly laws of dragon society. He decided to share his rare find with all of the world by posting a video almost every week on the festingo facebook page. So go check it out! Like Los Festingos on facebook right now!

What's new in the world of Los Festingos?

I'll tell ya what's new. For the first time in a month, all four bandmates were reunited and played an excellent show last saturday. It may not seem like that big of a deal, but for Los Festingos, a month is a freaking long time. We invaded Penn State University and caused some mischief on Friday night to retrieve our beloved bassist, Rancid Prostrate.
"What? Who's Rancid Prostrate? And why is his name so disgusting? And whatever happened to poor old Tim?"
Relax. They're the same person. Bucky and I just decided that Tim Gould wasn't quite a cool enough name. I mean, it suits him well, but it's not "I'm in a freaking rock band" enough. And so, Tim Gould is henceforth Rancid Prostrate. He's cool with it. Don't worry.
Anyway, after much mayhem and madness, we retrieved Rancid, hit up a Goodwill to shop for gaudy suit jackets and sweater vests, and made it home an hour before we were supposed to be playing. We didn't really have anytime to practice, which would have been problematic for any other band, but we're Los Festingos, so we weren't to worried. Or at least, I wasn't. Bucky was kinda worried. Anyway we rocked that funeral party like nobodies business. Yeah, that's right. It was a funeral party. It was awesome. We put the 'fun' in funeral party. It was the first gig I've ever played without knowing anyone in the audience. Totally fresh crowd. And they loved us!
Anyway, after that raging success we were all weary from travel and playing, and Rancid had a headache, and my voice was fried, so we all went home.
Sunday was national Chris Ruffini day. We told him we were heading back to the studio to work on some vocal tracks. You see, we've been working on our first official album at Cedar Street Studios in Philadelphia, and it's been going really well. Our sound engineer is a genius. Hopefully it'll be out by the Holiday season. And with that cd release comes a cd release party. Anyone reading this right now is preemptively invited.
Well Chris was the only man on the planet who actually believed we were going to the studio on his birthday. But when he came by my house to pick me up Sunday morning, we all jumped out and surprised him. He had always wanted a surprise party, you see. And until that day he never had one. A good time was had by all.
So, what's new with Los Festingos?
-We invaded Penn State
-Tim Gould was renamed Rancid Prostrate
-We went shopping at a Good Will and got some nasty knit sweaters
-We played an amazing party to a totally untapped crowd
-We're working dilligently on our professional album
-Chris Ruffini turned twenty
And...am I missing anything?
Oh yeah
-Me and Bucky got chased by a jedi knight on second street.