Follow me on twitter for JUICY tour gossip...like what I'm having for lunch. twitter.com/jusajus Jus

there is a great new interview up with some embarrassingly old pics:
aroundhawaiiinterview

miss Angel Taylor just released her debut record on itunes. i am a friend and a fan and you will be too! go buy it!

also, the biggest bears trade in my lifetime happened yesterday...it was huge and i am excited!
BEARS...

The Bears are out of the playoffs and I've been trying to play here for the entire 21st century....So don't miss it!

Shout out to Kyle @ HiLife Clothing for allowing us to incorporate the bonsai tree/hawaiian islands design into some of my gig flyers etc. I've also been sporting a fat sticker on my guitar. There are some really talented people in Hawai'i making great stuff. Check out HiLife here

Also mahalo to butigroove. They've got sweet Hawai'i Obama gear that I've been sporting.

Support Hawai'i artists!

Hosted By: justin young
When: Friday Nov 21, 2008
at 9:00 PM
Where Senor Frogs
2201 Kalakaua Ave 313
Honoluu, HI 96815
United States
Description:
justin young

Click Here To View Event

hi all!

FYE. today colbie's "Coco: Summer Sessions" came out. AND just in time for summer!...wait, what?

anyway, it features unreleased tracks, collaborations and two live songs- with us band geeks. included is "turn your lights down low" in which i get to do some singin'. you can find it on itunes now...

jy

somewhere on this plane there is a life lesson for me. somewhere between mexico city and paris, between the chicken and fish, the first class cabin and coach, the carry-on bags and the overhead space - there is more. more than frequent flyer miles to be redeemed from this. you see, despite the high-mileage skywise traveler that i am, despite my leg-room deserving length and my ASSIGNED aisle seat, i find myself folded up somewhere BETWEEN two other dudes.

it is not your fault mr. aisle and mr. window. i'm sure you weren't thrilled when all 6'5 of me wedged between you two at the last minute, groping around for the stray seat belt which somehow found its way in your ass. i'm sure you already had plans to expand your territory into this empty border town before i came in to occupy it. i know all of this, but i am still mad at you- and i am sorry. i'm sorry i'm mad at you and i'm sorry that i have an ongoing debate in my head as to which one of you i'm smelling. is it the large gentleman pushing over my armrest or the hippie coughing up a lung? you both make a strong case. perhaps it's just some sort of free-love union of the two scents. way to come together. most of all, though, i am sorry if you are squinting over my contorted "thriller" zombie arms, reading this as i type. just know that it is not personal and that i get no joy from this self-pity turned rage. i know better. and mr. aisle and mr. window, i'm doing my best to redirect this anger towards the right person - towards myself.

when you travel for a living and spend many hours confined and in postures strictly defined for you, a small increase in comfort goes a long way. a good book or dvd, a fully charged laptop or ipod, an exit row or an aisle seat can make a 12-hour flight less guatanamo and more like house-arrest. i've been trying to be a smarter flyer, to work the system a little better. this flight is the first one that i've had both the awareness and capability to check-in online ahead of time. the only real advantage is being able to pick my own seat - which as you can see is pretty HUGE. so i did. i logged on, put in all my requisite info and checked out my seating assignment. they had me in an aisle seat with an empty seat next to me. this is great! BUT is there something better? i scanned the whole plane and found a section with an entire row vacant. this could be better right? although, with 24 hours before the flight, it will probably fill up. hmm. a row to myself would be nice. on the other hand, if i take an aisle seat with both seats next to it that are empty, a couple flying together are likely to take that. however, if i have one empty seat next to me, nobody is going to pick a middle seat until everything else is full. i mulled it over and went for the high-risk high-reward - never content until i know i have the best that's available.

as i made my way through traffic onto the plane - row by row - towards my hand-picked seat, it was clear that the flight was full. but nothing lost - i still have my aisle seat. oh justin you're so skywise! at last i arrived at 49J, triple checking to make sure my ticket and the seat and the number above corresponded.

"um, excuse me goldilocks, but i believe you're sitting in my seat, eating my porridge that is the aisle. okay, you want to switch places so you can sit next to your boyfriend? oh wait, your seat is smack-dab in the middle of the other two bears?" i was taken off-guard. surprised that someone would offer a stranger such an inequitable deal and expectantly await their answer already the resident of their seat. i stammered, looking again at the insulting middle seat offered up, assuming one of them would realize the lunacy in their request. i thought about saying "no". sure, it would have been reasonable, but it just didn't fit me.

i agreed and bitterly maneuvered into my new seat.

here i am.

"too nice" is too kind, "push-over" maybe too harsh. i have this quality, for better and worse. i think the distinction between "nice" and "doormat" is probably whether you do something because you want to or you do it because you feel an obligation. it can be an obligation in a social sense or even just an obligation to please people. i know it's so much better to sit next to your significant other, especially on a long red-eye and part of me is absolutely happy to do that for goldi and boyfriend. the other part of me, that's bitchin' up a storm in my head right now, really has no right to complain.

i chose to say "yes".

seems to me that goldilocks is the type of person that would both ask for that trade and say "no" to it. while i admire her assertiveness to say "no", i'd never want to be the guy asking for that. i guess there's an equally dangerous line between using a backbone to stand up for yourself and using it to club people with.

so, was it my greed for the "best" seat that got me here? or was it my "mr. too-nice-guy" wimpiness? six more hours to figure it out. flying is always better when you carry on less baggage and you keep your overhead compartment open - ever ready to fit in a few new things.

03.01.2008
the screen in the head-rest in front of me says that we are currently over western siberia. yup. the scent floating around from a few rows back is telling me that some brilliant person brought a cup-o-noodle on the flight, had the flight attendant hook-up some hot water and VIOLA! genius.

on the way to osaka from paris. finally played a show last night. i think we all were ready, having not played for four days. paris was nice! the hotel was ridiculously posh. we didn't have room keys, we scanned our fingerprint in the door to get in. a bit over the top, but fun to pretend you're working for the CIA, which i may or may not have done several times.

sushi and sake for a week...

jy

03.03.2008
tomorrow....BULLET TRAIN TO TOKYO!!!!!!