A Slow Whirling Wind Pt. 2

I left work yesterday at 11:45 and walked to there corner of Vineland and Sherman Way where I waited about 7 minutes for a bus. The bus took me to the subway station in North Hollywood, once there I walked into the large familiar hole in the ground and walked onto a waiting train. Less than 20 minutes after leaving work I found myself back on my turf, in Hollywood proper. As I waited for my final bus of the day I had time to acclimate, to look around and appreciate the fact that I don't normally see my world at this time of the day. Any other Wednesday and I sit in an office, looking at the very computer screen which I am looking at now. Alas yesterday I had the touch of life that comes to land upon the shoulder only occasionally, and I was out and traveling about, doing exactly what I wanted to do.
I boarded a metro bus number 217, which winds through the pretty part of Hollywood Blvd before turning to head down Faifax towards the farmers market and before that, my apartment. I sat in my favorite seat and looked out the window, my eyes felt fresh, seeing people that obviously work a different schedule than me, or don't work at all, they all looked fresh as well.
I stopped and grabbed some Sushi from Whole Foods, not hardly even pausing on the walk home to take notice of the absolute ridiculousness of it all. The thoughts that don't always cross ones mind seem to be as important as the lucky days we all get, for without going back sometimes to acknowledge what we may have missed, those lucky days are surely numbered.
Arriving at home I consumed some of my consumable consumerism and then sprang into action, gathering all equipment necessary to show up in a room and play a full shitting glitter show using only electricity borrowed from someone else, for you see, I was on my way to play live music on cable tv and they had provided us with only the warning that we should bearing "everything" that we just might need.
Soon my brother arrived, followed shortly by Amy w/ the truck. We all took our turns walking "everything" back and forth to the truck, and once loaded up we were on our way to a television studio in Burbank. The drive was odd and nervey, but fun and thrilling. We talked about things as the three of us have often done, having been forced into so many situations together all varied and unique.
The studio itself was interesting, I am farm boy, I've been around a few blocks but I can say that I had never actually been in the nuts and bolts side of a Television Studio before, so I had a bit of the ah shucks awe factor to contend with. We loaded in quickly and quietly, finding out that we rather predictably did not need "everything". Just my amp and our instruments and in we went, setting up around the house band and off we were on sound check.
The network that had invited us to play was called QTV, a brand new Queer station not yet picked up by all that many cable affiliates. The set was beautifully shiny and predictable modern post mainstream gay. Glass and hard surfaces everywhere, not a great deal of acoustic treatment. The sound had been checked, and the sound was quiet, possibly 1/4 of the volume that an average club gig contains, this though is not a problem for a band capable of rehearsing in an apartment at a volume similar to that of a K-mart stereo.
After the check we scuttled our equipment out of sight and mind and ventured to the green room to dress. While preparing our outfits and listening the check of another artist on the monitor it became scarily too familiar, we knew that voice and that voice belongs to Paul Lekakis. EW!
There is something so wrong about Paul lekakis, I won't go into here because if it's not readily and mind boggling apparent to anyone reading this then you are here reading this ranting only by accident, or you are fortunate enough to know nothing about Paul, and in that case I'll not give you the displeasure. Let it be said that we shared a small amount of time in the green room with him, and had many laughs later at his performance.
We played near the end of a 2 hour live broadcast, sitting in a pile of nerves and jumbled excitement while we waited for our 8 minutes of fame. We were not certain if Dylan would be able to leave work in time to appear as CoCo Ono, luck though was on our side and he showed up a full 40 minutes before we were slated to perform.
As the time drew near I felt some butterflies, but not all the bad kind, surging through me was a type of energy that comes only so often in my experience, usually on the approach toward the leading edge of a challenge. We were summoned to our challenge by a small man w/ a clipboard and headset, who walked us through the passageways and onto the set. While the broadcast went to commercial we promptly plugged everything in and checked to be certain that it all made noise.
The moment full upon us came as a rush of relief and pride. I was certainly unsure of my ability to rise to the occasion of performing quietly in front of the cast and crew of ON Q Live, but the experience showed me that my balls have grown a considerable amount since I last checked up on them proper.

A Slow Whirling Wind pt.1

Saturday morning Amy and I came roughly into the waking hours and quickly prepared ourselves and our equipment and other personal effects. Having loaded the truck with our gear we drove a block or two to Devin and Dylan's, where we added to our pile, their pile of gear and personal artifacts. From Devin and Dylan's we traversed another few blocks to the our good friend Marc Loren's, where we added a few of his personal necessities into our pile, thus packed we hit the road for San Francisco, final Destination: Folsom Street Fair.
Our Drive was a brave and speedy thing, filled with talk of music and all things that go pop. I was a selfish road pig, and relented the wheel to no one, preferring to trust my own instincts when the speeds surpass the hundred mile an hour mark.
Arriving was glory, we happened to enter a city already headlong into festivities, the love Parade which in the past took place in Berlin was now happening state side. We saw brightly colored freaks, some on stilts. The scenery was all the more wonderful when we found that our hotel on Market street was deep in the thick of it.
We tooled around a bit that evening, taking in drinks, some of us kicking ourselves and some of us kicking each other a bit that we had not brought any further... er... Preparations...
Sunday morning the sun was out in a big way. We had iced coffee drinks in the lobby of our lodgings, then I took, off on foot to scout the path to our stage, which turned out to be around five block or so. I had a nice feeling being out there in the city walking towards a festival and stage, where we had been chosen to entertain. As I rounded the final corner and our stage came into full view my good feeling bloomed, it was large and filled with powerful speakers.
I walked back to the hotel room and joined the others in personal decoration, once completed everyone in our little party grabbed handles of equipment and swag, falling in a line we marched like we meant it to our stage.
Playing the show was interesting and exotic, and enjoyable. I enjoyed very much watching a naked man in face paint smile while jumping up an down, his tiny penis flopping in beat, growing ever so slightly erect. Seeing our recently resigned drag king dancer in the audience, singing along to more words than I thought she knew. Seeing a past bass player watch the future of a band he never fully believed in. Feeling the volume of the PA, knowing that some of those vibrations bounced for many minutes off a city that I love, bathing it and us in our arts labor. I enjoyed all those moments and still have the memory of their feeling.
The rest of the day was a bit of a blur, I can say that the festival was strange and naked, but e a little less exciting than I had hoped, or possibly for me nothing could top the performance, the rest was just a wind down. Or perhaps I had made in adequate... er... Preparations...
The blur lessened some as our party took in a strange meal at the all you can eat, or all you'd want to eat folk look buffet, followed by a brief passing out at the hotel room for Amy and I. We were awoken at 1:30 a.m. when our fags came back from their shenanigans. We needed more of the night and we rushed to take a three drink last call night cap at a strange place called the hole in the wall. After the rush of a patron shot and beer we ventured to "the end up" and all night venue, where we had a bit of a scuttle based upon a misunderstanding standing of quandary. 4 am brought about the end of our night, sinking fast and deep into the land of sleep.
Monday morning was a reaffirmation to my love of San Francisco. We checked out, loaded up and had brunch at ti couz, a wonderful crepe delight! I love this restaurant, and sitting at the table with Devin, Dylan, Marc and Amy felt like a reward for a great deal of living in a short period of time.

Tell it Iron Mountain and No Words are Safe

Last night due to my brothers day job we were invited to attend a party for the business improvement district for the Hollywood Media....er... District... It was held high a top Iron Mountain, a large film storage facility in the heart of Hollywood. You can't miss Iron Mountain, it looks less like a storage facility and more like a HUGE grain elevator pickup in a Midwestern twister and smacked down in the middle of movieville with HUGE Ipod signs stuck to the side.
I have always wanted to go to the top, I don't imagine many people ever have, fewer of which have ever had the pleasure of swilling free good beer, eating great free food and listening to their nervous older brother try their hand at public speech. I loved every moment of it, from the time I got off the subway at Hollywood Blvd and Highland, walking the few blocks south in awe of the structure I would finally conquer, to the last click click of the elevator ride down. I am proud of my brother and the way he's living his life, and I'm totally thankful for the free nosh.

This past week has been a matter of rush and recovery. Early in the week we did vocals for a Folsom Street Fair only release of a brand new song "No Safe Words", backed with a B-side of "Happy Birthday" by Altered Images. Last night and Wednesday I spent mixing them. NSW turned out well, it features my programming on the verse and Devin's on the chorus and the break, still it manages to gel well. The cover recording is a bit of a stylistic departure, I can't explain why it works so different, but I enjoy it.
More on this next week.

Is it Empty or Full?

Last Sunday night Amy and I had the pleasure of being barbecue guests in the Malibu home of the fabulous task master who is finishing our cd. The home/studio over looks the pacific in what must be called nothing less than breath taking. The food was delicious, there were small children running around speaking w/ glorious English accents, behaving themselves in ways we are lead to believe children cannot behave.
The highlight for me came from the depths of their long empty swimming pool. In the deep end they had a band called "lives of the saints" perform. These are not your average guitar Joes, they've worked with the likes of Eno. They perform using all sorts of effects and delays, and a foot controlled boomerang sampler. They make beautiful ambient music with just two guitars and these amazing effects racks.
Taking a clue from the pillows and blankets lying in a heap on the shallow end floor Amy and I crawled in and laid flat on our backs. Looking up and seeing stars while swimming in thick fluid sound was just what my little tired heart needed.

Lesbos! Leave this room to us.

Last Friday night we had a show at a club inside of the Seaport Marina Hotel in Long Beach. Sound check was slated for 6:45. Amy does not even get off work until 5:30, and leaving Los Angeles for Long Beach at 5:30 on a Friday is much greater time investment than an hour and fifteen minutes. Thus we all left work about half an hour early hoping that would do the trick. It of course didn't. Even with careful planning and rushing about we still did not manage to get on the road until 6... By then traffic was horrid. To make a long story short it was a hugely stressful drive until we hit the fabulous 110 freeway, from there it all opened up and we were allowed to feel like the happy band of a band that we are. We arrived about a half hour late, which was fine because we had told them that we would. Our sound check made me nervous, They had the hardest time even getting sound coming out of the monitors, in fact we spent so much time just trying to make it all actually make sound that very little regard was given at all to how it sounded. Finally after a very frustrating half hour we managed get on stage a volume and sound structure that seemed at least comfortable, but I had a nagging suspicion that once we left they would change everything for the acoustic guitar girl who was opening.
We decided to get a room in the hotel to make matters easy for ourselves and after sound check we headed to the room to get prepared for our show. The room was nice and everyone had a good outfit ready to go.
Earlier in the week my annoyance with a certain now resigned Drag King go go dancer had reached a peak, and rather than deal with extraneous drama in my life for the sake of drama I just let it go and took a day long communication break. I was not sure how my laspe of speaking had treated my feelings, but when I walked into the room and saw her I felt better, I didn't feel as strongly as I had I was aware that my good feelings for this person were once again stronger than my negative feelings, in short I let it go. A problem arrived when she asked me why I had been ignoring her. I thought for a moment weather I should tell her or not, but deciding I didn't want to gloss things over for the sake of it, and since it really is only fair I told her. In short it got a little dramatic in our hotel room, and she felt bad and not prepared for what unfolded, to this I say don't ask questions you don't want answers too, but that is over simplified. We tried our best to put everything back in place, but time would show that it wasn't.
A nice cherry on top of the entire event was the show itself. When we climbed onstage what I feared may happen did happen, the sound people apparently not knowing that you should take notes of all settings used during sound check, otherwise there is NO POINT IN DRIVING DOWN TO LONG BEACH FROM LOS ANGELES DURING RUSH HOUR TO SOUND CHECK AT ALL. The sound was completely different then what we had decided on during check and some the keyboard was missing completely from the monitors. This flustered me and Devin a bit, but we recovered. For our part we performed well, but for the crowd not so much can be said. As we played we watched in shock as they slowly song after song filed out the door, in the end leaving just one table of Lesbians remained.
I could rehash all the thoughts that I went through, but that took me all night, and I'm not in the place to do so any longer. My mind feels fine about what happened, after initially feeling like maybe our band actually sucks and that our songs are not good enough I came to a different conclusion. I remembered watching the audience during the opening performer, looking at them, every one of them rapt with attention as one woman with an acoustic guitar belted out the same same exact same old that they have belted out since woman kind has stood up and shouted "I am Lesbian, hear me folk!" This was not my target audience, these people do not have record collections I want to be stranded in, they are not seeking something new, they want something else from an entertainer, and that is fine, more power to them, there is absolutely nothing wrong with knowing what you like... I'm not going to feel bad if you react negatively to our music, in fact I'm now taking it as a sign of accomplishment. We are not aiming anywhere near safe, and Friday night I feel like we must have hit pretty close to our bull's eye.
Monday morning upon arrival at work Devin forwareded me an email, it was a very kind and proffesional letter of resignation from Daddy Wild. I'll miss the fun we had wish her luck in future endeavors. As for me I'm more excited about the future of our band than I've ever been and I feel like certain things happen exactly when they need to for all parties involved, life makes of relationships what it will, it's up to each person to make of their life what they do.

Wanking the Academy

This post should have appeared sometime around September 12 or 13th, whenever the vicious hangover actually subsided, if memory serves that would have been about halfway through the 13th.

My brothers boyfriend works for the Television Academy, due to this we were allowed to attended the Creative Arts Emmy Awards. The Creative Arts Emmys are used to get out all the awards that would really bore the folks at home, thus making the regular Emmys even harder to watch. They are held each year one week before the actual Emmys at the same venue, so you get all the Emmy excitement minus some celebrity munching and hassle, plus according to those in the know, a better meal.
We didn't much care to see the show, we mainly wanted the free food and open bar so we showed up for only the last 15 minutes of the show. What little we did see of the actual ceremony was nice, having never been inside the Shrine before I was rather impressed with it's grandeur.
Rapidly the show ended and we found our way to the Governor's ball. The food and drink really hit the spot. And the drink continued to hit the spot all night long. A highlight for Amy and I was being told by an Emmy nominated costume designer that we had the best outfits there... Imagine me in my 5 dollar suite and Amy a/ pink Mohawk and tie the best dressed in the lot... Amy maybe.
The night was fun, we talked to many different folk and had many different drinks. In the end we met a nice condescending couple who wanted to take us home and do terrible things to our person, we had to decline. Looking around in those last precious ballroom moments I realized that the entire event was over, and once again as it goes with open bar events, Amy and I were the last to leave.

Some to come

I've been in recovery land for a spell. There is blogging on the way. Topics include: I'd like to thank the academy, clearing the room of lesbians, a day at LACMA and music from an empty pool.

Last night and this morning it rained in Los Angeles for the first time in months, Walking towards my bus I was shocked at how gross the run off is. The dirt, grime and oil just sticks around all summer long waiting to be washed away. Sadly for human kind I don't think there is such thing as "far enough" away...

Lazy Repost

I wrote this for a message board but I'll post it so I remember it...not for your pleasure.


I had a fun thing happen to me last Friday night. I was killing some time in a dog park near my house, playing with other people's dogs when I struck up a conversation with a guy wearing a Brian Jonestown Massacre shirt. We talked for a while about BJM and the Dandy Warhols, then he asked me if I liked Catherine Wheel. I happen to LOVE Catherine Wheel as a matter of fact, and I told him so. He went on to tell me that his name was Hugo and that he was Playing drums with Rob. Apparently he played some percussion at the 2 Hotel Cafe shows and that he is slated to play the 11 or so dates coming up on the East Coast. He wasn't sure if he would be playing with Rob any more after that because it seemed like the producer wanted to bring in a friend of his.
I asked how the he came to be playing with rob and he said that he was at the Lava Lounge one night about a year ago and Rob came up and asked him for a light, to which Hugo said something to the effect of you're Rob Dickenson, and apparently Rob was rather surprised that he knew who he was. During the course of the conversation something about his being a drummer must have come up and they exchanged email addresses. He went on to tell me that he didn't hear from Rob until 6 months later when Rob out of the blue emailed him and asked him to play the shows at the Hotel Cafe.
We also talked a bit about a rehearsal he had been to with Rob on the previous night, where they worked on some of the tracks for the new album, apparently this was sort of Hugo's audition in a full band type setting. He said at the end Rob asked him if he knew any Catherine Wheel songs, which he did, apparently he know most of them. He said they played "Gasoline", "Black Metallic" and "Balloon".
All told it was a fun thing to have happen, and I enjoyed hearing some first hand info about someone I have dug for a very long time. There is always the chance that I just met a very good liar who happened to get lucky in what to lie to me about, but the odds of that are rather slim, and the motives for doing so are nothing short of mind boggling.

How to show up for the show

After work last night I caught all my mass transport on time, getting off my big red bus at Fairfax and Santa Monica precisely 5:40. I didn't see him, but apparently Dylan saw me getting off my bus on his way home, had I seen him I would have taken that as a fine omen of good things in store for my night.
I had a nice stroll down Orange Grove, as always admiring the palm trees. I met Amy as she parked her car and at once we turned back up Orange Grove, walking to Kung Pao Bistro, or as we like to call it "Chinese Lido". We had a nice filling dinner and a couple of large beers, talking about all things work and then some what not. On the way home we stopped by a thrift store to see if there were any inspiring outfits for the show, there were none.
Once home I was pleased to find that I had ample time for a pre-show indulgence, a nice warm bath. I find my center in a tub of warm water, and I love to center myself before a show. I thumbed through a mail order music gear catalog and relaxed my mind.
After toweling off I selected a pair of jeans for the show, deciding to wear my favorite dark blue type 1's. I called my brother to check on his progress, he had apparently just left for a jog. I spoke to Dylan for a bit, we decided that we should leave our house no later than 8:30. I had originally wanted to leave earlier, but in reflection, this was the perfect time to leave. While speaking with Dylan on the phone I learned about the omen that I had missed, now taking it into account I decided to accept it and apply the goodness of it retroactively.
I tossed through the closet, looking for the best costume for the day. I complained a bit about having nothing to wear, but much less than I normally do. Since the show was in fine and wonderful Downey, CA I was a little less conscious about my outfit, and I mean no offence to the fine people of Downey, CA when I say that, in fact, that is a compliment. Also taken into account was the venue itself, "The Anarchy Library", having played there many times before I had a pretty good sense of what to expect. I finally decided on wearing a sleaveless pastel purple shirt, with two small flowers over the left boob. I added to the shirt a faux leather belt w/ metal studs and matching faux leather wrist band and shazaam, the perfect outfit for the day....
Next up i had to hassle with the equipment. I had a small conversation with Devin earlier in the day and it had been decided that our preference, if we could manage, was to pile the four of us, Devin, Amy, Dylan and my self plus all the equipment, into Amy's Ford Escape. So in the loading of the equipment I new I had to take into account four people and more equipment than usual, Devin usually drives himself and his keyboard gear in his own car.
Fist thing I always load my guitar amp, because it has wheels and I can use it to push one of the large speakers we use for the electronics. I rolled the guitar amp with the speaker on top of it down the walkway from our front door to the stairs, from there I hoisted the large and heavy speaker, walking backwards down the steps, I have never counted but I would approximate a total of 14 stairs make up the flight. Upon touching down I gently set the speaker out of the way and ascended again, to retrieve the guitar amp. The guitar amp is always a bit of a challenge as it weighs close to 90 pounds, but I used the railing and stepped cautiously backwards down the stars. When I completed the steps I set the guitar amp down on the sidewalk and stacked the other speaker on top of it, from there I had just a short push and roll to the car. I stuck the guitar amp in the rear driver side of the escape, adjusting the rear passenger seat a bit in order to hold the amp snug in place. On the other side of the vehicle I placed the Speaker, adjusting the seat in front of it upwards, to allow more room. Behind this large speaker and after another walk up and down stairs I paced the other large speaker, there is just enough room for both of them to fit and snap the door close. More trips up and down were made, in the middle of the area of the truck I place the large metal suitcase which contains our sampler/sequencer, piled a top of it are the many bags which contain cables and power chords. In the rear passenger area I placed the power amp, my guitar and the container with our cds for selling.
I took a few moments and enter the bathroom to sloppily apply eye-liner and Mac Studio Fix. I checked out Amy's rather awesome costume for the day and complimented her on her fine choices.
Devin and dylan arrived then and we managed to stack the keyboard on top of everything in the extreme rear of the Escape. His keyboard stand is shoved vertically between my guitar and the door in the rear passenger seat.
We pile into the car and we are off. I drrove, even though I didn't actually know anything about the freeways we need to take. Luckily everyone in the car was kind enough to drive from their respective seats in the vehicle. There was much chit chat on our way down to Downey, CA and I believe a fun time was had by all, I even caught myself feeling pleased that we all went in one car for maximum enjoyment. After a brief detour towards being lost and a long drive we finally pulled up and parked behind the club.
We milled about in the club for a drink, and to caught a bit of the first band Kingshead. Kingshead finishes right on time at 9:30, how lucky that we actually had time to set up without rushing. While they loaded out we unloaded the truck and placed our gear by the door. I found the bag which contained my over-drive pedal and opened it up. I had remembered earlier that I wanted to change the 9-volt Battery inside of it, I performed the task just in time to haul everything into the club and onto the stage.
Set up was very simple, there is a large drum riser behind the front portion of the stage which we were able to use as defacto speaker stands. I placed the Two P.A. speakers on the outside corners and my guitar amp just inside the Speaker on stage left, that way I was able to hear the drums and my guitar clearly, and to allow my guitar to mix inside of the electronics better for the audience. There were no problems at all during set up, so I was able to maintain a relaxed and comfortable mental state. I did some brief fooling with levels and finally settled on an appropriately loud volume.
Amy then came on stage and off we went.
We began the set with R.S.O., a song that is difficult for me to start on because the chorus takes a little bit of warm up time. It proved to be a fine choice to begin with, and in looking out I could see that we had the attention of nearly the entire bar.
Next up Amy decided we should do Geurilla, a song I am much more comfortable with, It goes over just as well.
Our third song was Iw6, followed by Mondo Di Corpo, which got a very good response.
Amy's fifth choice of song was Static Cling, I miffed a few lines in the verse but still felt very pleased with the performance.
Amy was then ready to end the show with Guaranteed Used, butI loked at the clock and told her it had only been 20 minutes, could we maybe do Slut Buffet next? She agreed which was nice, but there was later some talk amongst the band the the instruments were too loud during that particular number. After Slut Buffet Amy announces guaranteed Used as the last song, and we bash through it, once again it was not my most technically wonderful performance but I did feel I conveyed the emotion. At the close of Guaranteed Used the crowd, or at least the people in front were pretty adamant that we play one more, I wanted to do dichotomy, but Devin and Amy chose instead to play Mustache Rides, the Mosey version.
Good times had by all.
I realize this post is rather annoyingly written, but I'm feeling rather annoying today, but I'm happy about it and I'm not going to let a little thing like readability get in the way of more good times.

Once Again Anarchy

Tonight we head down to Downey to play another show at the Anarchy Library, with so much swirling around my head it seems to make sense to take a short break from it all and play a show.
This week itself has been subdued, filled with early to bed ethics that cover a way over-extended weekend. Friday night Amy and I chilled with Devin and Dylan and Myles in the the Romain Towers. Fun times. Amy and I ended the night with a long walk through West Hollywood, Dipping far down below Melrose and then up Larrabee To Sunset, Finally returning home to over sleep.
Saturday Devin had to make a real racket in order to wake us up for rehearsal at Satellite. Rehearsal itself was excellent. We played a few tunes we all know, like Mondo di Corpo, Slut Buffet and dichotomy, but for the most part we spent our time chasing down new ideas. We worked "No Safe Words" a great deal, touched on many ideas that have no names, brushed against a new song that might be called "Idiot Light", and reworked "Nutragen" a bit also.
Saturday night we spent hanging with Roy and keeping things chill. It was nice to fall deeply asleep at 3 a.m. with no chemicals in the blood to fight.
Sunday morning was charming, waking lazy, finally around noon getting up the nerve to go to new favorite Joey's Cafe. Devin and Dylan joined us for a nice slow paced brunch. Sunday afternoon we spent drinking Mimosas and recording a nice demo of "No Safe Words". I was really surprised at how well it fell together. There will be some touch up done to the track and the hope is that we can do it and a version of Altered Images' "Happy Birthday" as a limited edition single sold only at "Folsom Street Fair".
Sunday night Myles Matisse came through in a big way, taking the entire Sg crew, minus Wild plus Marc Loren out to a fab dinner at Falcon. Scoring the reservation itself was a minor miracle considering it was the rather triumphant return of Fuse promoted lesbian night. Our table of too many boys tucked in our little corner did well to keep our waiter busy.
Sunday night ended at around 7pm on Monday, after Amy and I and the boys spent way too much time at the "Oldcoast". I have vague memories of trying to watch an old movie through heavy eyelids at a new friends apartment, followed by fat burger in the park and deep rewarding sleep.
As stated above this week has been sedated. I've enjoyed doing a lot of resting and recovering, while putting some things back in order. Last night I spent several frustrating hours on "Happy Birthday", finally scrapping any hopes I had of coming up with a new part in favor being very true to the original. Sort of.

Bodies Without Life

Headless talking heads
past the point of pointing
bodies turn to sludge and stinking
all the while all is sinking

Figures figure
toll rode
cryptic commercials
selling sold

All the aching life

I am sick to my gut this morning, flipping through all the news all over this internet. I hate seeing this president of ours standing in front of rescue and relief workers, making a shitty political photo op speech, when those people behind him could be out getting someone off a roof top, or handing someone a fucking sandwich.
I feel gross. I am dieting because I'm carrying a few extra pounds, while people in New Orleans wait days for food and water. I'm am uncomfortable because the air conditioning in the office where I work is too cold. I feel embarrassed to be Human, I feel ashamed to be an American.
How has our world come to the state that it is in?
I see no leaders anywhere, I see power hungry opportunist that take with one hand and kill with the other. Greed and confusion reign supreme. People are not even aware of the indifference.
I have not been a very good person.
We have not been good people.
Fingers are pointing in all directions and everyone catches rubber bullets in the cross fire.

Smoking Joints

Last night was work, Amy and I had a ass heap of put of laundry to do. We treated ourselves to a dinner of Salmon Salad and Steak at La La's on Melrose, then headed home to load up all the laundry. I really dislike laundry. In the midst of the whole mess I got a call from a good friend back in Kansas, he was not all that happy. He has recently discovered that his ex-girlfriend is pregnant, and that all signs point to the likely hood of it being his, he seems very confused by the whole situation. I feel for him.
After the laundry was finally finished and put away we both took nice showers and crawled into bed on clean sheets. Fantastic.
Tonight we play at the Joint, we play early, like 9:00. I like to play the Joint, the sound is nice and loud and now it's twice as big as it was before. I hope we do well, it is a last minute show and we have not played together since the last show we played, that always makes for an interesting performance.

SG Undead @ El Cid

Today on the Shitting Glitter website we posted mp3's of a live performance at El Cid. I have always had a special place in my heart for live recordings, going back to the first bootleg cds of Nine Inch Nails shows that I was able to acquire. I loved the sound of those shows live, the cool part about the Shitting Glitter shows I have live is that due to similarity of instrumentation they have a similar sound to them, it makes me feel warm and gooey. This particular show is great fun, we were all very angry at the bands before us, they dicked around a really pushed the principal of "how long can we put off playing so we get the biggest possible crowd" to it's full potential. During the course of the evening every single person who performs in our humble outfit expressed the desire to just leave, I said no, and I had good reason, Hoagie Hill, who is doing a fine job of mixing our album, was in the audience for the first time ever, I figured if he was willing to wait it out to listen, then we should be willing to wait it out to play, and wait we all did. The show itself felt great, I felt the electricity, I felt a HUGE release from all the tension and anger that comes from believing in something and having peers disrespect it. It felt very much alive, and there it is, the songs live.