A roll of humans in systems is often connector. Like extension cords or power strips. Or those little plastic pieces that connect two phone chords. Zip ties. Duct Tape. Glue. Gravity. Centrifugal Force.
I like other people. I went through a long phase of trying to convince myself otherwise. In the end people just won out. I can still work up some pretty good venom for people, and really convince myself that I hate them, or that I wish them harm, and in many cases I'm still capable of inflicting emotional and even physical harm. I have to admit though, that I know those actions are wrong. If you give me a cool head and some honest facts of a being, just being, then I feel like I can find a point of understanding. I may still have extreme disagreements, but I try now to associate those disagreements with the ideas and the actions, and not the person.
I like people, in my life I hope to convey that more, and to help other people like other people. My world is so much better for all the people around.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Free Along Friendship
Recently Amy was scheduled to travel to New York with her good friend and ex Von, in order to provide company and support on Von's first visit to the big apple, and of course to see the sights of NY. In addition to that, was the added bonus of spending good quality one on one time with an old friend whom she had not seen for years, we'll call this friend Earl. There have been problems between Amy and Earl in the past, and there have been missed opportunities, but over the course of any 20 year relationship, many such things come to pass.
Come departure date the weather on the east coast became increasingly less travel friendly. And the icing on the runway was severe mis-management on the part of Jet Blue, the airline where Amy had her ticket. Hence, just hours before their embarking on the journey, news traveled down that the flight was canceled.
This news really hit Amy and Von hard, leaving them completely disappointed and crushed for the rest of the weekend, and in fact they are still not over it yet.
Matters did not improve when Earl sent Amy an email, that can at best be termed unfriendly. It was obviously disappointment in the circumstance misdirected at the Amy the person, but that is a bitter pill to swallow for someone emotionally invested. 20 years is an extreme investment, and it's understandable that emotions run hot, but it's just sad to see something as silly as a canceled flight lead to damage in a 20 year friendship.
It's had me thinking lately on the value of friends and friendship, and I keep coming back to one thought, that in friendships, the people are in them are not the most important thing, it's the shared experience. Friends may frustrate you, and over the years they may become a person who is a far cry from the person that initially attracted you to them in the first place, but what really matters in a relationship is the shared experience. So years later two people who lead completely different lives still have a commonality that allows them to relate, it's not who the individual is, but what the individuals have shared and experienced together that matters.
I've been thinking about this, and in keeping with that I've had an idea for a bit more blogging. I hope to in the coming weeks post a few entries here and there about some of my old best friends, particularly the ones I've lost touch with. It seems healthy.
Come departure date the weather on the east coast became increasingly less travel friendly. And the icing on the runway was severe mis-management on the part of Jet Blue, the airline where Amy had her ticket. Hence, just hours before their embarking on the journey, news traveled down that the flight was canceled.
This news really hit Amy and Von hard, leaving them completely disappointed and crushed for the rest of the weekend, and in fact they are still not over it yet.
Matters did not improve when Earl sent Amy an email, that can at best be termed unfriendly. It was obviously disappointment in the circumstance misdirected at the Amy the person, but that is a bitter pill to swallow for someone emotionally invested. 20 years is an extreme investment, and it's understandable that emotions run hot, but it's just sad to see something as silly as a canceled flight lead to damage in a 20 year friendship.
It's had me thinking lately on the value of friends and friendship, and I keep coming back to one thought, that in friendships, the people are in them are not the most important thing, it's the shared experience. Friends may frustrate you, and over the years they may become a person who is a far cry from the person that initially attracted you to them in the first place, but what really matters in a relationship is the shared experience. So years later two people who lead completely different lives still have a commonality that allows them to relate, it's not who the individual is, but what the individuals have shared and experienced together that matters.
I've been thinking about this, and in keeping with that I've had an idea for a bit more blogging. I hope to in the coming weeks post a few entries here and there about some of my old best friends, particularly the ones I've lost touch with. It seems healthy.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
rich, complex, undeniable, high resolution, multi-dimensional recording
I was going to note what we accomplished in way of the recording this weekend, but Devin already took the wind out of that sail . I guess I need to get into blogging a bit earlier in the day.
I will though completely echo his sentiments about the work done thus far. the way we are working thus far really has me feeling excited. I'm also pleased to have started with the b-sides to the single first, because we set about working in a direction similar to the process of "Free Alongside Ship", but we soon realized that with a minor change in process, which Devin also referenced in his wonderful little blog, that we could achieve much greater results. In the end I must say that I think we will have a rich, complex, undeniable, high resolution, multi-dimensional recording that will not only give pride and pleasure to the creators, but to the throngs of listeners as well. oh boy!
Tonight is hopefully more SG work as well. The three of us plan to meet at our apartment, where we will be able to bounce ideas for new tunes back and forth, hopefully coming back with some solid outlines of tunes that are at this point hazy oulines at best.
Wednesday we rehearse at Swinghouse studios just down the street from out apartment. It's an exciting place to rehearse because there have been many a famous type to walk those halls day in and day out, but it's not satellite studios by any stretch, I miss rehearsing there.
Thursday Amy and I will have the pleasure of attending an event at the TV academy for the HBO show "the Wire"thanks to Dylan. "The Wire" is my favorite show. I love it and can't get enough. Why is the 4th season not out on DVD yet? I hope to blog about it Friday morning.
I will though completely echo his sentiments about the work done thus far. the way we are working thus far really has me feeling excited. I'm also pleased to have started with the b-sides to the single first, because we set about working in a direction similar to the process of "Free Alongside Ship", but we soon realized that with a minor change in process, which Devin also referenced in his wonderful little blog, that we could achieve much greater results. In the end I must say that I think we will have a rich, complex, undeniable, high resolution, multi-dimensional recording that will not only give pride and pleasure to the creators, but to the throngs of listeners as well. oh boy!
Tonight is hopefully more SG work as well. The three of us plan to meet at our apartment, where we will be able to bounce ideas for new tunes back and forth, hopefully coming back with some solid outlines of tunes that are at this point hazy oulines at best.
Wednesday we rehearse at Swinghouse studios just down the street from out apartment. It's an exciting place to rehearse because there have been many a famous type to walk those halls day in and day out, but it's not satellite studios by any stretch, I miss rehearsing there.
Thursday Amy and I will have the pleasure of attending an event at the TV academy for the HBO show "the Wire"thanks to Dylan. "The Wire" is my favorite show. I love it and can't get enough. Why is the 4th season not out on DVD yet? I hope to blog about it Friday morning.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Kick Em' in the Cute or Best Friends Forever
This is my desk at work... It's a wonder I ever get anything done. The two beings in the picture, who are not me are Coffey and Buddy. Buddy Is the original Shi Tzu desk dog. He belongs to my boss, and began working here at almost the same time as I did, so We are Total BFF.
It took several months for me to figure out how to make the most of our time together at work. We started by just playing constantly, chasing a ball around the office, which later evolved into Buddy picking up the ball and making me chase him around the office. How fun for him! He would always go in a figure 8 pattern beneath my desk and the book keeper's desk.
Buddy would eventually tire from that activity, and I would finally have an oppourtunity to get some work done, but being BFF we really didn't want to do it seperatly. So Buddy would sit in my lap and sleep while I typed invoices or made made phone calls, but if buddy is near any exposed skin of mine, being my BFF, he has to let me know he loves me by licking me over and over again. Until I have no skin left to lick.
Eventually I started setting him on the coroner of my desk. Which would just make him walk across all my papers, spilling my coffee, soda or water along the way, and getting paw prints on all my documents. It was then I decided to make it more comfortable for him, so as to entice him to stay on the corner of the desk, and not cause a natural disaster all over my work. I did so by making a box top into a bed.
From there on out it's been gravy. Buddy Has slept on my desk for part of every day, and usually he just sleeps, and doesn't even bother me with his intense need to lick my bare hand. He's found that he gets attention from everyone that walks by, everytime they walk by, because he doesn't have to bend down. It just works for all involved.
We've been happy these 4 years like this, and everyone knows their place... until the little brown guy in the pictures at right came along. His name is Coffee, and he's a silly new puppy. We've had to adapt to the new circumstance, because Coffey likes to come to work too, he doesn't want to stay home while all the other dogs come to work, but he also wants to put everything in his mouth, so he must be in a cage or held at all times...
Or put in a box on the desk. At first it was crowded, because I tried to put them both in the same box, but now I've added a smaller box, which was meant for Coffey, butbecause they are dogs, and they don't think like us, Buddy decided to take the small box, and Coffey the big one. Even though Coffey is 1/4 Buddy's size. It was tough at first, Coffey wanted to chase my pen or bug Buddy, but in about 2 days time he go the hang of it. I think it's been a big help to have his older brother Buddy show him exactly how to be a desk dog, because he's caught on so fast. They are both fast asleep as I type, it's cute as hell.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Post 300! Some Pix to Boot!
I made it. 300 posts. That really means nothing really, but it's fun to see that I've actually kept coming here and writing things for nearly 3 years. I have kept journals, but I've never written journal type things in them, I've always just scribbled insane semi poetic song lyrics and directives to my personal savior. I do have one journal in which I endeavor to occasionally spill a few personal beans, and I may have mentioned it here before, it belonged to my grandmother on my dad's side, and had apparently been given to her in 1987, by my brother, sister and I. She never got her mind around to writing anything in it, but it's nice to have as a relic of that great woman.
As promised, here is a rather zany series of photos taken Sunday as Amy and I ventured to Sea monster Sounds in Malibu, California. We left weho in the late afternoon, heading south down Fairfax.
Notice the dirty windshield, I've always liked the look of photos taken through a dirty windshield so we stopped in an empty lot and sprayed dirty water on the truck, then we allowed it to dry before heading out, just so the pictures could have that special look to them. Forward and to the right is the famous Eat-a-Pita, where Joel from Brian Jonestown Massacre was filmed in an interview with a plant on his head in the movie Dig.
Just a bit further down the road we passed wonderful Canter's, where Brandon loves to eat. And where it's rumored Kurdt Cobain used to enjoy eating as well. Also it's the sight of the first place I happened to catch a glimpse of Rodney Bingenheimer, who I would later see nearly every day while walking home from the subway, and who would tell me upon my handing him a cd, that we most certainly needed to change our name. I can't help but feel like the Rodney of old would have at least bothered to listen to a band before deciding he had the authority to bark a command like that.
Inside and on the side is the Kibitz Room, where Shitting Glitter played just recently. It was good fun. As I recall the band got free pitchers of beer.
Also here I once met the guy who directed the Nine Inch Nails videos for "Head Like a Hole" and "Down in It"
For these next few, I'll just allow the Pix to speak for themselves, as they pretty much all involve Amy being Amy, and that needs no explanation.
Look! Art!
Whoever is driving must be pretty fun! Looks like the subject is really enjoying these pictures!! I must point out also, that of course the driver was not driving
and taking photographs, that would be dangerous. In typical Hollywood fashion the vehicle was mounted to a trailer, and towed through town on the way to Malibu.
Eventually we got on the boring old freeway, which looked much less interesting than even this photo. For those who need to know, this is the 10 west. Which will become the Pacific Coast Highway in the next shot, or the 1. 
Where the 10 becomes the 1 the brave driver is forced to pilot his vehicle through a tunnel, and as soon as the vehicle makes it's brave exit, the ocean becomes visible. This is one of my favorite moments in the drive to the studio. It makes me feel very possible.
After a spell down the PCH, we turn towards the studio, I always pause at this spot to gander at this view, it's usually a little earlier in the day, so the splendor of this shot is usually even more apparent.
Amy hates the driveway, and though it can't been seen from here, this is a nice view of the sunset from the top of the driveway.
Inside work was being done, here is A shot or three of Amy between takes of Mustache Rides vocals. Hoagie is pictured turning around to inspire and give direction. Notice Amy is chuckling... Something I've noticed I've been doing a lot when recording this time around. Funny how the last album was cut mainly in apartments and closets, often with friends and fun around, but in my mind,
that album was stressful to record. There was a great deal of fun and excitement that went into making "Free Alongside Ship", but in the end it's colored a bit by the extreme effort that went into aspects of it that were not necessarily cruscial to the recording. This time around, we are working harder, but the work is actual going into the finished product in a noticable way, and that kind of work just feels good.
There is much work to be done, and Devin and I will be making this same trip this weekend, to do some of it. I'm excited already.
Okay, so ends the Three Hundredth Post. It's been fun, those of you who read this, that are not me are a very strange lot indeed, and you are few in numbers, let's keep it that way.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Things I've Been Taking In.
The Up Series: By chance I stumbled across this film in Netflix, I had really no idea of the history behind it, or any notion that it was a re-occurring series. Amy and I watched it Saturday, in a particularly open mood. It was shocking and touching to me to watch so much of a persons life course chart in such a short time span before me. The premise is that in 1964 21 children age 7, all from different economic circumstance were interviewed on the subject of their lives to come, their desires and dreams, their feelings about their situation, and just general chat. In addition their their daily lives were filmed, in an attempt I believe to show each person in their actual context. After the first film 7up, there were no plans to make it a series, but along the way, that changed, and 7 years later, 14up was filmed and released. Followed by an update every 7 years, leading till the current edition, and the only one I've seen 49up.
To see the obvious strain that 49 years of a life examined in such an odd public way was really food for thought. It made me think about how dishonest we can really be with ourselves. With no one coming around every 7 years and plainly stating facts of your place in life. The details we all tend to skip when someone asks us how we are, those embarrassing facts that somehow don't get mentioned, even to the people closest to us. My god, I wouldn't blog if they made me tell the entire truth, and I doubt many would either. And then you have the crux of the reality TV, documentary problem, being that in no way are these things the product of non-evasive observation. They directly effect and change the course of the thing they are attempting to document, and often times with out ever bothering to present just how much the effect of the camera, crew, contract, financial compensation, stature, fame, ego all have upon the subject. This was another aspect of 49up that I found fascinating was the fact that they did not shy away from speaking about resentment of the project, or the occasional pride in the project. This really is a remarkable work, I am surprised to have never been told of it. Consider yourselves told. Add it to your Queue. Hoagie, you were the only person with whom I've mentioned this, that had actually heard of them, further more you'd actually seen them, for future reference, lets try and pass this stuff on to people like me, folks are not out there talking about this stuff enough.
Idiocracy: This movie, made by Mike Judge, who brought you one of my favorites, "Office Space", and a couple television shows was another film I took in this weekend. I dropped the ball a bit here, as my brother Devin was dying to watch it with me, and I didn't manage to make that work. I should have seen it with him, it would have been fun. The movie is really a funny look at the way our culture is heading, and I can recommend it worth the watch, but it's not for everyone. The extreme ability to laugh at the shocking reality of our current social situation is a must, and trust me, not many of us have it. It's also not a greatly in depth satire, it's not going to tell you things that you don't know, and it's not going to tell them to you in any way you haven't feared, but to see it come to life on the screen will make you go OMG, everyone I know who isn't breading needs to start, because we got to balance out this whole Jackass, Fearfactor, Carl's Junior world we are starting to become at the hands of other peoples dumb children.
I was also going to say I saw "Little Miss Sunshine", and I guess I just did, but I have nothing really to add about the thing, just that you should see it if you haven't and I'm sure you planned to. It's a good movie.
Bye,
one more till 300
To see the obvious strain that 49 years of a life examined in such an odd public way was really food for thought. It made me think about how dishonest we can really be with ourselves. With no one coming around every 7 years and plainly stating facts of your place in life. The details we all tend to skip when someone asks us how we are, those embarrassing facts that somehow don't get mentioned, even to the people closest to us. My god, I wouldn't blog if they made me tell the entire truth, and I doubt many would either. And then you have the crux of the reality TV, documentary problem, being that in no way are these things the product of non-evasive observation. They directly effect and change the course of the thing they are attempting to document, and often times with out ever bothering to present just how much the effect of the camera, crew, contract, financial compensation, stature, fame, ego all have upon the subject. This was another aspect of 49up that I found fascinating was the fact that they did not shy away from speaking about resentment of the project, or the occasional pride in the project. This really is a remarkable work, I am surprised to have never been told of it. Consider yourselves told. Add it to your Queue. Hoagie, you were the only person with whom I've mentioned this, that had actually heard of them, further more you'd actually seen them, for future reference, lets try and pass this stuff on to people like me, folks are not out there talking about this stuff enough.
Idiocracy: This movie, made by Mike Judge, who brought you one of my favorites, "Office Space", and a couple television shows was another film I took in this weekend. I dropped the ball a bit here, as my brother Devin was dying to watch it with me, and I didn't manage to make that work. I should have seen it with him, it would have been fun. The movie is really a funny look at the way our culture is heading, and I can recommend it worth the watch, but it's not for everyone. The extreme ability to laugh at the shocking reality of our current social situation is a must, and trust me, not many of us have it. It's also not a greatly in depth satire, it's not going to tell you things that you don't know, and it's not going to tell them to you in any way you haven't feared, but to see it come to life on the screen will make you go OMG, everyone I know who isn't breading needs to start, because we got to balance out this whole Jackass, Fearfactor, Carl's Junior world we are starting to become at the hands of other peoples dumb children.
I was also going to say I saw "Little Miss Sunshine", and I guess I just did, but I have nothing really to add about the thing, just that you should see it if you haven't and I'm sure you planned to. It's a good movie.
Bye,
one more till 300
The Approach
Okay. Here we go... It's Monday morning and I'm already blogging. This is good, usually when I blog on Monday, I tend to blog with a fair amount of frequency throughout the rest of the week, so, as long as you are willing to admit that me blogging is a good thing, then you should be in agreement with me, that it might be a good thing that I'm blogging today. I was inspired to blogging today by my sister, who just last week took the plunge into her own bowl of alphabet soup, and I must say, she is once again being a little show off, what with her fancy drinking games and all her business there at the state capitol. Still, I'm older... oh wait, that is pretty much not a good thing anymore. UG! It was so important when I was 7 and she was 5. Why? Oh why do the tables turn?
Back to the approach. I'm coming up now, finally on 300 posts. And since it's only Monday, I can only guess that I'll actually hit that 300th post this week. This should be an occasion of sorts, even though some of the posts in that 300 could hardly be said to count, like the one sentence number late one evening on my birthday a few years back. I feel though, that it's important to note such achievement. So i will.
We are approaching many projects in SG land. The single, has been a very interesting thing to work on, as it's really seen a good deal more work already then I think anyone really considered, but this is good. I'm finding now with every trip to Sea Monster Sounds that there are huge areas where my abilities lack, but it's nice that I feel that I'm learning in a way that doesn't exclude me from being able to learn these things. Or to say that rather then feel like I'm encountering things I can't do, it's that I'm encountering things that I'm not yet able to do, and that knowing that I can't do them, I can't start now to see how I can learn to do them. Get it? Tricky approach.
Also, though it won't come today, "the approach" does have a photo blog component. Yesterday as Amy and I traveled to Malibu to work on the single, we snapped many road photos, They will soon be compiled and blogged about here. I've been planning to try and document the journey we take to get to Sea Monster Sounds Studio for some time now, because it's been really an interesting aspect of working there, and I enjoy it, so you dear reader will soon be let in on that joy.
Happy Monday. Let's all try to have a good week k?
Post Script: I almost always mis-spell Interesting.
Back to the approach. I'm coming up now, finally on 300 posts. And since it's only Monday, I can only guess that I'll actually hit that 300th post this week. This should be an occasion of sorts, even though some of the posts in that 300 could hardly be said to count, like the one sentence number late one evening on my birthday a few years back. I feel though, that it's important to note such achievement. So i will.
We are approaching many projects in SG land. The single, has been a very interesting thing to work on, as it's really seen a good deal more work already then I think anyone really considered, but this is good. I'm finding now with every trip to Sea Monster Sounds that there are huge areas where my abilities lack, but it's nice that I feel that I'm learning in a way that doesn't exclude me from being able to learn these things. Or to say that rather then feel like I'm encountering things I can't do, it's that I'm encountering things that I'm not yet able to do, and that knowing that I can't do them, I can't start now to see how I can learn to do them. Get it? Tricky approach.
Also, though it won't come today, "the approach" does have a photo blog component. Yesterday as Amy and I traveled to Malibu to work on the single, we snapped many road photos, They will soon be compiled and blogged about here. I've been planning to try and document the journey we take to get to Sea Monster Sounds Studio for some time now, because it's been really an interesting aspect of working there, and I enjoy it, so you dear reader will soon be let in on that joy.
Happy Monday. Let's all try to have a good week k?
Post Script: I almost always mis-spell Interesting.
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Catholic Carnival, A lost and found message board post
brandon's10-08-2003, 05:05 PM
Catholic Carnival
So here is an interesting tale of a bizzare gig that didn't quite come to pass.
The gig i will tell you about actually occured prior to my joining but they were all my friends so i was along for the ride.
a little background about the band because it's necessary to understand just how bizzare the situation really was:
the band name is Shitting Glitter, an all queer band fronted by a lesbian with songs about such family topics as strap-ons and mustache rides.
After a performance at the first ever Los Angeles valley pride parade a gentleman approached a few members and asked them if they'd be interested in playing a catholic church carnival. would we be interested in playing your church carnival? of course! sounds like a great time!
contact information was exchanged and the man was on his happy church going way. the band had a great chuckle about this... "shitting glitter live at saint mary's catholic church carnival"
after the initial gut laugh wore off a few questions began to pop up...such as did you tell them our name? do they know we are a bunch of athiest degenerates with drug habits?
no one was really ever able to come up with an answer to these questions. theories abound that maybe they were trying to lure us in to perform a group exorcism, or maybe just a neat old fashioned group stoning, but an actual reason why a band such as ours would be booked to play a catholic carnival never came to light.
a few days later the contact for the church called and left a message with the time slot and date on the singers voicemail. she later called back and confirmed.
saturday of the show arrives and shitting glitter decends upon the catholic carnival. it was held in what appeared to be a school parking lot complete with booths, carnival rides and a rather small stage. security was extremely lax so we were able to bring in plenty of beer, hate to pay those inflated sin tax prices! the evenings entertainment seemed to be of a rather diverse nature because the act on before us was a nice young man singing karaoke! he was explaining to the audience how he'd be prasing the lord this summer from the deck of a cruise ship that was kind enough to hire him as entertainment.
we carted all the gear (and hidden beer) to the side of the stage and began searching for our contact. at the sight of us the cruise ship karaoke boy grew visiblely nervous.
the contact was located but there was a slight problem. upon spotting us he trotted over. "shucks guys, to bad you missed your slot last night." he said looking at his schedule paper.
"last night? you told us tonight."
they insisted we had been scheduled for the night before, dissapointing really, as they so badly wanted to see shitting glitter perform.
we offered to play them the message they left on our voicemail, but they would have none of it.
my guess is they thought about it a little bit or maybe ran our name past the priest. i would have loved to see that meeting...
"father benson, we have a great evening of entertainment lined up for you. we have the choir to kick off the festivities, followed by father thomas playing the spoons, then young jeremy performing uplifting karaoke, and then to close the evening we have a band of degenerate queers from hollywood! it's going to be a wonderful day father..."
no amount of arguement from shitting glitter could force the good catholics to honor their word and allow a performance, but the band refused to take the day as a total loss. equipment was carried, compensation must be reached. the singer amy has a brilliant idea. she pulls the stage manager aside and tells him it will be accepted as a mis-undestanding provided they kick down a few hundred carnival ride tickets. seeing a way out the good man jumps at the oppourtunity and tickets are presented.
shitting glitter being a good fun loving band was off to the carnival portion!
the evening almost ground to a halt when the guitarist and i accidently had a beer over flow from the top of the ferris wheel. apparently a small amount of the foam over landed upon the operator. rather then kick us off he stops the car when we are on bottom, looks at us, makes the drinking symbol with his hand while tilting his head back and then sternly shakes his head and finger "no"...
eventually the tickets ran out, probably a good three hours after our welcome and we went home feeling spiritually fufilled.
i still don't understand what the guy who booked us was thinking
Catholic Carnival
So here is an interesting tale of a bizzare gig that didn't quite come to pass.
The gig i will tell you about actually occured prior to my joining but they were all my friends so i was along for the ride.
a little background about the band because it's necessary to understand just how bizzare the situation really was:
the band name is Shitting Glitter, an all queer band fronted by a lesbian with songs about such family topics as strap-ons and mustache rides.
After a performance at the first ever Los Angeles valley pride parade a gentleman approached a few members and asked them if they'd be interested in playing a catholic church carnival. would we be interested in playing your church carnival? of course! sounds like a great time!
contact information was exchanged and the man was on his happy church going way. the band had a great chuckle about this... "shitting glitter live at saint mary's catholic church carnival"
after the initial gut laugh wore off a few questions began to pop up...such as did you tell them our name? do they know we are a bunch of athiest degenerates with drug habits?
no one was really ever able to come up with an answer to these questions. theories abound that maybe they were trying to lure us in to perform a group exorcism, or maybe just a neat old fashioned group stoning, but an actual reason why a band such as ours would be booked to play a catholic carnival never came to light.
a few days later the contact for the church called and left a message with the time slot and date on the singers voicemail. she later called back and confirmed.
saturday of the show arrives and shitting glitter decends upon the catholic carnival. it was held in what appeared to be a school parking lot complete with booths, carnival rides and a rather small stage. security was extremely lax so we were able to bring in plenty of beer, hate to pay those inflated sin tax prices! the evenings entertainment seemed to be of a rather diverse nature because the act on before us was a nice young man singing karaoke! he was explaining to the audience how he'd be prasing the lord this summer from the deck of a cruise ship that was kind enough to hire him as entertainment.
we carted all the gear (and hidden beer) to the side of the stage and began searching for our contact. at the sight of us the cruise ship karaoke boy grew visiblely nervous.
the contact was located but there was a slight problem. upon spotting us he trotted over. "shucks guys, to bad you missed your slot last night." he said looking at his schedule paper.
"last night? you told us tonight."
they insisted we had been scheduled for the night before, dissapointing really, as they so badly wanted to see shitting glitter perform.
we offered to play them the message they left on our voicemail, but they would have none of it.
my guess is they thought about it a little bit or maybe ran our name past the priest. i would have loved to see that meeting...
"father benson, we have a great evening of entertainment lined up for you. we have the choir to kick off the festivities, followed by father thomas playing the spoons, then young jeremy performing uplifting karaoke, and then to close the evening we have a band of degenerate queers from hollywood! it's going to be a wonderful day father..."
no amount of arguement from shitting glitter could force the good catholics to honor their word and allow a performance, but the band refused to take the day as a total loss. equipment was carried, compensation must be reached. the singer amy has a brilliant idea. she pulls the stage manager aside and tells him it will be accepted as a mis-undestanding provided they kick down a few hundred carnival ride tickets. seeing a way out the good man jumps at the oppourtunity and tickets are presented.
shitting glitter being a good fun loving band was off to the carnival portion!
the evening almost ground to a halt when the guitarist and i accidently had a beer over flow from the top of the ferris wheel. apparently a small amount of the foam over landed upon the operator. rather then kick us off he stops the car when we are on bottom, looks at us, makes the drinking symbol with his hand while tilting his head back and then sternly shakes his head and finger "no"...
eventually the tickets ran out, probably a good three hours after our welcome and we went home feeling spiritually fufilled.
i still don't understand what the guy who booked us was thinking
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Stoke Up
K, I've been busy, and a lot of irons are waiting to get in the fire. My time is going to be getting scarce in the coming months. I have much to do. Above you'll see a cell phone pic of Hoagie of Seamonster Sounds in Malibu taken 2 Sundays ago. Hoagie was creating a cozy environment for us while we discussed the plans we have regarding our upcoming dance single and the new album which will follow. There have already been many hours poured into the recordings, and it's just the begining.
We are going into these recordings with the right idea in mind, if you ask me. There have been agreements made on the process, ideas kicked around, intentions stated.
I want to really delve inot this deeper, but for the moment time is getting rare.
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