DevinRitchie.com

New Years Eve 2011 was alright, definitely low key, just drinking with a few friends at a party here in Sac. I don’t like to blab about my resolutions, I like to brag about my accomplishments. That being said, I’m working on bettering myself, and for a few days I really was.

Stayed in, watched LOST season 2 ate right, and didn’t drink…..

Then….

I got offered a trip to Las Vegas with Danny and Hector (from slaughterhouse). They were going anyways and said I could ride with em and stay. Now, I don’t have a lot of money and honestly I should have been going down to SoCal to help my mom and bro move the rest of my Grandmas stuff into storage… But I make bad choices.

I ran off to Vegas for a quick weekend of debauchery, drinking, and fun. Vegas lived up to all of my expectations since the last time I was there for my 21st. I was trying to do the trip on a really tight budget, I gambled and won some money, and then blew everything. I went to the ATM and took out money I had no right taking out. Long story short… I came back with 3 times as much money as I left with in my pocket. AMAZEBALLS. Roulette and Bill’s Gamblin hall done me right! My boys and I all got a 3 foot long drinks. and then drank quite a bit more all night. I got so drunk that I decided not to go to a club with them and walked back to the strip from the Rio(like a mile!) and later I hitchhiked… yeah I know… I know. But it turned out well. My consciousness fades while I was playing roulette at Balleys ______ then it gets a little hazaay   _____  I regain consciousness around the time I realize my room key doesn’t work and after complaining to the front desk for about ten minutes and the concierge not being able to help me… I realize that I am in Caesers Palace… I’M STAYING AT THE RIO! THAT’S NOT EVEN CLOSE! It was 10am and I needed to take the shuttle back, instead I went to bill’s gamblin hall and won more money and drank more

it ended something like this…

I’m fully aware that going to Vegas on a whim and no money is rarely if ever is a good idea, and my mom was pretty pissed, and then shocked that I was able to pay her back after all is said and done. Last weekend was not fair, I know, and am thankful. But now I’m back to real life.

Blithe Spirit is rehearsing and going well. SO MANY lines and SO MUCH crazy blocking. This is going to be hard. I’m glad.

I’m single and lovin it.

Winery is going great, articles in the newspaper, we were on the news, and the tasting room officially opens next weekend.

oh and BRITNEY HAS A NEW SONG OUT!

It’s a pretty good fucking year so far.

I want to start by saying the I love Lady Gaga, truly. But lets be honest here. I cannot deal with the legions of people who praise the ground she walks on and thinks she is an artistic genius. Yes, she does make good music, push the envelope, and does make people raise their eyebrows, and for that I am glad. But that’s all its doing.

Her songs are simple pop songs all with the same formula. Staccato repeating multi-syllabic chorus over a sick beat. (”da da do do just dance” “po po po poker face po po poker face” “my my my my telephone” “ally ally jondro ally ally jandro”  “papa paparazzi” and of course “rah rah ah ah ah roma roma ma ma ga ga…” you get it) I love all those songs, but lets not pretend most of them are going to stand the test of time. It’s just flash in the pan pop music. So what do they do? Crazy videos! Make it higher concept than most of your fans can comprehend. Brilliant. Oldest ways in the book to seem cool and prentencious: wear sunglasses all the time and claim that people don’t “get” you. I’m all for high concept videos, and frankly anything that makes people interested in videos again I am for, but overall that’s not what Lady Gaga is doing. The video for Telephone for example is an epic 10 minutes about breaking out of jail and going to kill Beyonce’s boyfriend. …hmmm about that, the song is about your phone ringing while you wanna party. I realize how boring a video about needing to turn your phone off might be, but this?!?!? And Alejandro, A lot of people acted like this was a great political and religious message, and with those lyrics how could it not be? Alejandro isn’t ground breaking. She dances in front of gorgeous ripped tan men who are scantily dressed. WOW, this is crazy! and she kisses them! oh wait, it’s interesting because they are wearing heels…? It’s a cheap Madonna homage rip off trying to be controversial. Kissing black Jesus in the mid 80s with a song called “like a prayer” that’s legit. The fashion can be cool, but its so you will talk about her. If she dressed like Jessica Simpson all the time, no one would fucking care.

Again, I do love Gaga. She has really only put out ONE album. 6 number one hits is nice, but talk to me when you have 6 number 1 CDs (caughBRITNEYcaugh). And we can not just overlook when she puts out legitmately terrible songs and videos…..

Inversely, I think Bad Romance is probably the best video I have seen in a long time. Hopefully my next blog about Gaga will be more positive. haha sorry, usually try to stray from the negativity round here.

P-P-P-PEACE