The Day Blurs Evening

Carrie, who long time readers of this blog will remember from post far too numerous to mention arrived here in Los Angeles yesterday after an absence of several years. In the time that has passed since I last eyed her, Carrie has paid some debts to society and more importantly to herself.
Carrie was at Devin and Dylan's apartment when I got of work last night. I drove home and met Amy and we walked over to their apartment. We popped up and said hello to Dylan and then collected Carrie and were on our way.
We decided to do our catching up at this establishment, Blvd Lounge. This picture was actually taken as we were leaving, and fitting it would be blurry. Nary a one of the three of us had been to this establishment before, but Devin had recommended it.
I'll also be open about the fact that I'm not just indulging myself with this blog, but also my mother, who requested a blog about dinner.
From the outside Blvd. Lounge has always looked like a trailer house to me, but from the inside it's very nice and upscale. The view is nice, it over looks the "Mathew Shepard Human Rights Triangle", sadly I lack the city infrastructure vocabulary to describe exactly what that is. I enjoyed looking out at passing cars, catching up with an old friend.These two fine people arrived shortly after we did. They ordered wine and some sort of martini. Check out the profile on the fellow. That is the stuff that children's book villains are made of.
I'm finding that my cellphone camera has some difficulty conveying light, which sad, because it was beautiful at the time this photo was taken last night.
Here Amy is telling Carrie a story, a story that has left Carrie obviously saying something to the effect of "Serious Dude?"
You maybe can't tell from where you sit, but Carrie is wearing a shirt that says: "Cheesy and Delicious". She's from Wisconsin you know.
Here I am surprised, by just about everything. Life in general, the evening in specific. I'm conveying through this self portrait my complete wonder at where the world takes you, and what it does with you when it gets you there.
I would have never predicted the evening this picture captures in progress, and I'm thrilled to have my world unfold that way.

Apparently the bar was not prepared for us. You are looking at the last three Large Sapporo's in the place. Apparently the fellow that does there ordering couldn't have predicted that we'd stop by for happy hour.
This is a flat bread pizza, with some type of very spicy sausage on it. It was pretty scrumptious.
As we talked along last night and I listened when my mouth wasn't speaking, I was reminded of something that I wanted to mention here, a bit about memory. I've often heard it say amongst my friends, that remembering things can be a real problem, and that it probably has something to do with getting older. I find when I catch myself forgetting something, like a name or the answer to a question I've already asked it's not because I didn't remember it, but because I was paying attention enough to even learn what I've since convinced myself I've forgotten. It's not often about memory, it's about participating fully in the gathering of information. Burgers... I watched the movie Fast Food Nation last night. The burger in this picture may well be my last. That movie or the book, should be required prior to the frequenting of a cooked food on the go establishment. I am reminded again that I should eat ethically. I wonder if I really needed reminded, or if I should have just paid attention.
With this final blurry shot I'll let you in on a little secret about me. When I go to a new restaurant I will always excuse myself to the restaurant at some point during my stay, weather I need to go or not. How someone can go into a restaurant and not check out what the bathroom looks like is beyond me. Also, on the chance the bathroom is what we call a "Onesy" I like to lock the door and take a moment of piece. Outside the conversation is flowing with drinks, and catching up is in progress so it's good to pause and allow the self a moment to reflect and reset.

A Day in a Drive

The map above is a reference guide. The beginning of of the red line is approximately where the pictures begin. The last picture is taken facing the Astral Drive sign, where the red line stops. Handy.

A while back I did a little blog about my drive home from work, which I am really rather fond of, so yesterday while participating in my drive home it occurred to me that I might one day like to look back on parts of it again, so I drove a bit slower than usual on one small section and took 7 pictures. They are placed in order as they appear on my drive.


I feel some people take blogging as some defined activity, that must in some way fulfil a duty of entertainment value to any humble bumbly that might happen upon it, I simply don't agree. I think that blogs are so numerous, that perhaps one should possibly ignore the urge to blog about the new Nine Inch Nails record and instead cover the intensely specific. Such as how the light happened to look one afternoon as one certain individual navigated a white van through a canyon road with a cell phone camera hanging out the window.

I don't take work home with me, I've been quoted as saying that I don't take my work to work with me but that's another blog, and putting forth the extra effort to enjoy a short journey home is a big part of leaving work at work. I like to look for a route to and from my place of employment that packs in the most exciting and pleasing imagery possible, the kind of route where you see something new every day. I connect with sotres and houses and trees and hills, and checking on them from time to time then takes a certain amount of my thought processing power.

Where after leaving work one day I might have been tempted to continue to think about a call I ran out of time to make or an invoice I should have typed It's not long before I'll hit an interrupter, such as a new pink wig in the wig store window that I pass. I see the wig and soon I'm thinking "Wow, that would look really cool on Amy." Then I wonder "how much does a wig like that cost at that store."
The idea is to enjoy my free time of mind. To have thoughts that I would have for free. About things that would look good on the heads of people that I love, and stop thinking about things that I should only think about because someone pays me to. If a person has enough things like this in life, and their work is in a basic sense fair, then the transition from someone else's time to your own should be automatic. it goes like this: I'm thinking about work undone, then I see a wig, then I see a tree that maybe had a branch fall down in the high winds of the day, how windy did it get anyway? I bet it would be easy to steel that sign.

The Ivy on the side of this hill grows in solid for nearly 200 yards, it's about 20 to 25ft high. I had been taking this route for several months before I'd even noticed it. Now I wait for it, it's a favorite feature. When I see it I often think that my mother would probably go wild to have a big hillside covered with Ivy next to her house, and that my father would take a great deal of pride in the fact the Ivy is surly the best on the block. I don't even know if it's actually Ivy.

My small document of a section of a drive home and the thoughts it conjured ends here, at Astral drive, but somewhere at the top of Astral drive a trail is just beginning. I think about that trail often when I pass Astral Drive, I've never seen it, but I know it's there because I've seen it on a map. One day I'll have a blog about hiking on that trail, and there might even be pictures.

A Candles Last Gasp

Last night, after rehearsal and a busy weekend spent burning candles at all ends a small group of friends gathered at our apartment to enjoy food, fellowship and dramatic entertainment. We ordered pizza and salad, from Brick dome Pizza on Santa Monica Blvd., an establishment that I would recommend. The evening's viewing was a new Showtime show called "Master's of Horror". I had never heard anything of the show but they have weekly gore-horror shows, of about one hours length.
The show we watched was an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat", with the twist of the adaptation being that it was set as if the story happened to Poe Himself. I write this quick blog in tribute, as Poe was an early favorite author, and because I was shocked to learn that no one else in the room had read "The Black Cat", which I thought to be a fairly common Poe tale.
So for those who have an interest in what I consider to be the hidden nuggets of the Poe catalog, here is my small list. Let it be known, that I really shouldn't be regarded as anything near an authority on any of this, I haven't dabbled in that catalog in many years and I've never found that a great number of people agree with anything I write down... ;)

"The Angel of The Odd" I don't recall a great deal of this story, only the strange phonetic way the Angel spoke, and that part of it happened In an air balloon. I also had the feeling it was set in the future.

"Silence: a Fable" I must have read this one a hundred times. Still Love, and I bet I can find it online... It's short. I'll have a look.

I found it, I'll copy paste it here after my last selection. As a special notice to anyone who might be familiar with the S no S catalog, the title and titular line of the song "sigh One" comes from this piece...

"Never Bet the Devil Your Head" My all time favorite. I just always found it so funny. Faustian if you will. A good ending, just not for Mr. Dammit, your main character with a bit of a gambling problem.

So to end this little tribute, here you go in it's glory:

Silence - A Fable
(1837)
by Edgar Allan Poe
(1809-1849)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Eudosin d'orheon korhuphai te kai pharhagges'
'Prhones te kai charhadrhai.' ALCMAN. (60 (10),646.) The mountain pinnacles slumber; valleys, crags and caves are silent.


"LISTEN to me," said the Demon as he placed his hand upon my head. "The region of which I speak is a dreary region in Libya, by the borders of the river Zaire. And there is no quiet there, nor silence.

"The waters of the river have a saffron and sickly hue; and they flow not onwards to the sea, but palpitate forever and forever beneath the red eye of the sun with a tumultuous and convulsive motion. For many miles on either side of the river's oozy bed is a pale desert of gigantic water-lilies. They sigh one unto the other in that solitude, and stretch towards the heaven their long and ghastly necks, and nod to and fro their everlasting heads. And there is an indistinct murmur which cometh out from among them like the rushing of subterrene water. And they sigh one unto the other.

"But there is a boundary to their realm--the boundary of the dark, horrible, lofty forest. There, like the waves about the Hebrides, the low underwood is agitated continually. But there is no wind throughout the heaven. And the tall primeval trees rock eternally hither and thither with a crashing and mighty sound. And from their high summits, one by one, drop everlasting dews. And at the roots strange poisonous flowers lie writhing in perturbed slumber. And overhead, with a rustling and loud noise, the gray clouds rush westwardly forever, until they roll, a cataract, over the fiery wall of the horizon. But there is no wind throughout the heaven. And by the shores of the river Zaire there is neither quiet nor silence.

"It was night, and the rain fell; and falling, it was rain, but, having fAllan, it was blood. And I stood in the morass among the tall and the rain fell upon my head --and the lilies sighed one unto the other in the solemnity of their desolation.

"And, all at once, the moon arose through the thin ghastly mist, and was crimson in color. And mine eyes fell upon a huge gray rock which stood by the shore of the river, and was lighted by the light of the moon. And the rock was gray, and ghastly, and tall, --and the rock was gray. Upon its front were characters engraven in the stone; and I walked through the morass of water-lilies, until I came close unto the shore, that I might read the characters upon the stone. But I could not decypher them. And I was going back into the morass, when the moon shone with a fuller red, and I turned and looked again upon the rock, and upon the characters;--and the characters were DESOLATION.

"And I looked upwards, and there stood a man upon the summit of the rock; and I hid myself among the water-lilies that I might discover the actions of the man. And the man was tall and stately in form, and was wrapped up from his shoulders to his feet in the toga of old Rome. And the outlines of his figure were indistinct--but his features were the features of a deity; for the mantle of the night, and of the mist, and of the moon, and of the dew, had left uncovered the features of his face. And his brow was lofty with thought, and his eye wild with care; and, in the few furrows upon his cheek I read the fables of sorrow, and weariness, and disgust with mankind, and a longing after solitude.

"And the man sat upon the rock, and leaned his head upon his hand, and looked out upon the desolation. He looked down into the low unquiet shrubbery, and up into the tall primeval trees, and up higher at the rustling heaven, and into the crimson moon. And I lay close within shelter of the lilies, and observed the actions of the man. And the man trembled in the solitude; --but the night waned, and he sat upon the rock.

"And the man turned his attention from the heaven, and looked out upon the dreary river Zaire, and upon the yellow ghastly waters, and upon the pale legions of the water-lilies. And the man listened to the sighs of the water-lilies, and to the murmur that came up from among them. And I lay close within my covert and observed the actions of the man. And the man trembled in the solitude; --but the night waned and he sat upon the rock.

"Then I went down into the recesses of the morass, and waded afar in among the wilderness of the lilies, and called unto the hippopotami which dwelt among the fens in the recesses of the morass. And the hippopotami heard my call, and came, with the behemoth, unto the foot of the rock, and roared loudly and fearfully beneath the moon. And I lay close within my covert and observed the actions of the man. And the man trembled in the solitude; --but the night waned and he sat upon the rock.

"Then I cursed the elements with the curse of tumult; and a frightful tempest gathered in the heaven where, before, there had been no wind. And the heaven became livid with the violence of the tempest --and the rain beat upon the head of the man --and the floods of the river came down --and the river was tormented into foam --and the water-lilies shrieked within their beds --and the forest crumbled before the wind --and the thunder rolled --and the lightning fell --and the rock rocked to its foundation. And I lay close within my covert and observed the actions of the man. And the man trembled in the solitude; --but the night waned and he sat upon the rock.

"Then I grew angry and cursed, with the curse of silence, the river, and the lilies, and the wind, and the forest, and the heaven, and the thunder, and the sighs of the water-lilies. And they became accursed, and were still. And the moon ceased to totter up its pathway to heaven --and the thunder died away --and the lightning did not flash --and the clouds hung motionless --and the waters sunk to their level and remained --and the trees ceased to rock --and the water-lilies sighed no more --and the murmur was heard no longer from among them, nor any shadow of sound throughout the vast illimitable desert. And I looked upon the characters of the rock, and they were changed; --and the characters were SILENCE.

"And mine eyes fell upon the countenance of the man, and his countenance was wan with terror. And, hurriedly, he raised his head from his hand, and stood forth upon the rock and listened. But there was no voice throughout the vast illimitable desert, and the characters upon the rock were SILENCE. And the man shuddered, and turned his face away, and fled afar off, in haste, so that I beheld him no more."

Now there are fine tales in the volumes of the Magi --in the iron-bound, melancholy volumes of the Magi. Therein, I say, are glorious histories of the Heaven, and of the Earth, and of the mighty sea --and of the Genii that over-ruled the sea, and the earth, and the lofty heaven. There was much lore too in the sayings which were said by the Sybils; and holy, holy things were heard of old by the dim leaves that trembled around Dodona --but, as Allah liveth, that fable which the Demon told me as he sat by my side in the shadow of the tomb, I hold to be the most wonderful of all! And as the Demon made an end of his story, he fell back within the cavity of the tomb and laughed. And I could not laugh with the Demon, and he cursed me because I could not laugh. And the lynx which dwelleth forever in the tomb, came out therefrom, and lay down at the feet of the Demon, and looked at him steadily in the face.

THE END

Paradise Awaits, I'm underwater

We had a good rain this morning in North Hollywood as you can see. It was nice, I was tired so it the grey matched my sleepy feeling. This puddle, a spare yawn and few good clouds are all that remain. The forecast is for more, and I have a feeling the rain will be coming back, and I'm fine with that because I've spent most of my afternoon thinking about going back, all the way back home, to my very first home in Paradise, Kansas.
This time next month Devin, Dylan, Amy and I will all travel back to Kansas to pat my wee sister Adrienne on the back. My wee sister isn't so wee anymore, but when we all hop in that car after our arrival in Kansas City next month and drive west to Paradise I will be able to remember her as a I first came to know her. A little person full of spirit and often ridiculous amounts of joy. Always up for any silly make-believe game you could play. Dad's workshop could be a gas station, or the recliner in the living room a hair dresser's chair (Tammy, your 3 O'clock is here). Some days you just want to put on a slip and a t-shirt and hula hoop on the front walk.
I'm looking forward to reliving a lot of those memories, but more than that I'm looking forward to making some new ones.

Adrienne told me yesterday that she was feeling stressed because she hasn't found a job yet. She's not done with finals. A new life for her is coming up fast, she will find a great job and she'll be great at it. She will add a wealth of new experiences to her already wonderful herstory, and I look forward to being a part of as many of them as I can.

Don't be in such a hurry to get to the next part of your life Adrienne, I want to see you again as a student, and help you celebrate your achievements and your being.

Sometimes it doesn't rain for months, then one day you find your parking lot full of water. The future is in the future, Paradise awaits.

Duct Tape

Congrats to my Mother and Father, On this day in 1973 they made a commitment to one another. There have no doubts been moments of small selfish fits between them, but they've done a good job of not showing it and obviously never letting anything take priority over their union for very long. I am proud of my parents, much love all the way around.

Devin Session

Last night around 9 pm I packed up Vincent Free Sound studio and headed to Devin and Dylan's apartment where Devin was waiting to record keyboard part to a new song we are working on. I mentioned the song last week is possibly titled, Trance Ego, as you can see from the LCD screen on my fostex 16 track recorder. This is the tiny screen I end up staring at a great deal more that I should.
I usually insist that Devin comes to me, because I like to control my environment, and have all my available tools near by. I went to last night to Devin's because he was actually using his Garage band Software as a sound module for his synth. I was happy to oblige this because I wanted to see what it sounded like and to lend the track it's own unique character in the cannon of SG work.
Here is Devin now, listening to his own demo of the song on his computer so as to remember what notes he played. Devin has become quite capable at producing good quality work on his own set up, this means that I'll have to pay extra attention and take special care when I get into mixing this track because I don't want to find my services obsolete.
Devin is a very efficient player, he usually is well prepared and capable. He has excellent musical memory and I think he even counts in his head so he knows where he is at all times, that is useful, I should maybe start doing that. This is Devin playing the keyboard part that is very busy in the second chorus. I am very tempted to use a crazy delay timed to the beat on it, thus making it even busier. We shall see. This blog is probably incredibly boring for anyone that isn't Devin or Brandon. I suggest you just look at the pictures and enjoy.
This is your last picture of the Devin Session. I think this picture has some significance in that you can clearly see him playing his ancient concertmate keyboard that he used in all the Singe songs except "microscope", which has been unanimously voted as the worst Singe song of all time. Here's to squeezing a little more magic from the Concertmate.

More than Zero

Check the Odometer, Zeros And Ones. A central theme of the brand new Nine Inch Nails album, "The Year Zero". I'm just this second listening to the last dying notes of the album, as played from start to finish and I must say I'm thrilled stunned and more than a bit confused. The thematic content of the record is very strong, and at times not very easy to deal with when its taken as a back drop to the violent times we are being so frequently reminded that we live in.
There is beauty hidden under the layers of distortion and rapid not runs and slides. The active panning is massive. I get the feeling that square wave synths and smooth wave synths represent different sides of an essential conflict on this record. WOW. I'm pretty stunned free of coherent thought. I like.

Busy Bugs

This weekend was perty fun, and perty busy. Friday we attended Friday's off the 405, an event at the Getty Center that was really quite fun, if not over all together too quickly. There is a DJ who spins in the main museum area and there are a couple bars set up for your enjoyment. It was really enjoyable. I hope to attend again only hopefully leaving a bit earlier. The views are astonishing and the parking is free, gotta love it.
Saturday was a restful day. Amy and I watched something like 12 episodes of Sports night and ate Los Tacos.

Sunday was another busy fun day. We attended a Death Hag Gathering at Grandview cemetery, which was marred a bit by over-reaction, on the part of a select few folks who probably specialize in over-reaction. Still fun to look around a cemetery in the news. Amy snapped this fab pic of me reflecting in a mausoleum window.

After the Cemetery fiasco cooler head headed over to the HMS Bounty, where drinking had been planned. The Bounty is always a good time. I noticed the had a postcard from Pitcairn Island, my favorite Wikipedia bizzarrity. The post card exists in the bar obviously because of the link between the name of the bar and the ship of mutineers that settled the Island.

Sunday evening we traveled to Malibu to hear progress on the tracks for what is now being called the Sidesaddle Sweet Talk ep. I'm very excited now to have them finished and be able to show them off to people.

This weekend we will be checking out what I hope will be a drummer we can utilize when needs be. I'm very excited about the prospect. Also the Electric 6 is coming to town, and since Amy has now struck up a friendship with their lead crooner, Dick Valentine, we will be hopefully having a little more fun than usual at their show on Friday! Super YAY!

Front Door Weather

Yesterday was a nutty windy day in LA. I stepped out my front office door and snapped this picture when the wind began.

If you haven't noticed, I like pictures of weather taken from the perspective of the front door. For some reason it always please me. I thought there was going to be some serious deep philosophising going on with this blog, but there's none. It's just not here. I've gone to the well, and the well is dry.

Here are more pictures. This first one was taken by Amy, right near here work.
She works in a beautiful neighborhood above Wilshire Blvd. so it really makes us sad to see it lose a tree like this.
This one was in the valley by my work. I snapped it on the way back from the bank. The valley is too ugly to lose anymore trees, so it's sad for that reason.

It's the weekend. Buck out.

Dischief Roundup & Re-occurring Dreaming

Here is a photo taken through the window of Mel's Diner on Sunset. I'm using it because I had it in my phone and it seemed like a pretty way to start this post.

Last night was good. Devin and Marc came over. We worked on a new song called "Trance Ego", it's a very electro type tune. I'll work on it some more tonight while Amy is off getting a massage and Devin is busy seeing Grindhouse. The Tune was originally called "Dischievious", which gives this round up post it's name. It might in the end be called "Trance Libido"

Yesterday at work was good too, I managed to tackle a few things I haven't yet been able to tackle, leaves me feeling good about today.

I've been having a strange re-occurring dream, which I have been reluctant to type here, because it's odd and it might get me branded an enemy combatant. So let me state this again, this is a dream I had, not like the kind of dream you have where you envision yourself one day doing what you've always wanted to do, but as in "I was asleep and played no real conscious part in the movie my mind was showing me, dream"
Here is what happens in this Re-occurring dream:
It's only a dream:
I'm living with my brother in a small town with a family that is not our actual family. We are apparently back in High School of some kind, but we seem to be the age we are today. We have a mother who is not our real mother, and a sister who is not our real sister, and a grandmother who is nothing like either of our real grandmothers. Grandma is running the show, we are a family of guerrilla revolutionaries and we have a major beef with the government (Again, this is a dream, I love government). We live on a quiet residential street, it's tree lined and green. There is an elementary school at one end of our street a block or so down. The only odd part of the school is that there is a large 2 story McDonald's in the front of it.
The dream begins with some casual planning and what not around the house, but it's mainly what I consider dream exposition, but it really starts every time when I pull my old Mazda Mx3 into a parking space across the corner from the school, and promptly lock the doors and walk away. I walk causally back home and wait for what I know is coming.
The Car soon explodes, it's amazingly loud. Once I had the dream in a fairly lucid state, in that I was aware that it was a dream but I wasn't in control of the events, in that version I was also wondering if the explosion would sound right or not, thinking there was no way that a dream could pull that off, but it does, it's HUGE and loud and sounds like what I might imagine a car bomb sounds like.
Debris flies everywhere. The MacShack is pretty well toast but I'm happy to know the school is fine. I'm sure the children in my dream are rather scared, but non of them are harmed, I'm still a nice guy even when I'm having a strange violent dream.
Soon the block is covered by police and and fire trucks, soon there after major media vans.
Sometimes the dream ends because the explosion wakes me up. Odder still about this dreams re-occurrence is that when I fall back asleep I usually fall back into the same dream, in the correct time line. If the explosion wakes me, I will fall back in post explosion in the aftermath.
The aftermath always has the family circling the wagons, preparing for the onslaught of investigation we know is to follow. In the meantime we can't be bothered to stop our anti-government ways. We are planning more attacks. The last part of the dream is always Devin coming back in the house saying he was pulled over with some type of explosive in his trunk and that they have impounded his car but set him free. After this my memory of what happens either fades or I wake up.
The last time I had this dream I woke up when Devin botched the explosive transport job but when I fell back asleep I entered the dream again, only this time before the explosion and instead of from my point of view, it was from my pretend sister's POV, who was a plant inside the actual McDonald's. Why she was planted there I'm not sure, but she is an employee and she had a safe zone in the restaurant where we had calculated she would be safe during the explosion. I am not actually her in this version of the dream but I'm observing as if invisible and elevated above her, but sometimes I'm seeing her direct perspective.
In this part it begins with her taking orders in a very busy rush. At one point in the middle of taking an order at the register she looks at her watch and then excuses herself to the back room. She positions herself behind a large cement wall with a sink and waits... BOOM! She sees fire rip through the ceiling and all sorts of holes appear in the walls around her. She is relaxed and confident she will not be hurt. Then the dream faded for a bit and I pick up my memory of it a bit later in the street.
A young man is coming home to the chaos on his block to find his house and his neighbor's house are completely destroyed. I get the feeling he is in a band and he's upset that all their equipment is gone. End Dream.
I've had this dream at least 5 times, all different versions combined and I'm closer to 10. I don't know that it means anything. I think it reflects what's going on in the world and that's just sad. I chose to chronicle the dream here because I don't want to have it anymore, I'm hoping that works. Why do the good ones never re-occur?
I don't want to end this round up post on such an ugly note so I've provided this picture that I snapped of the historic "The Lotus" apartment building in west Hollywood. It's just below Sky Bar on La Cienega Blvd..** I'm not sure why it is an historic building but I think it has something to do with the Gardens surrounding it. I tried googling it with very little luck. I snapped the picture on our way to eat at Mel's and isn't this where we came in?



**Did you know La Cienega was built to 1940's freeway standards as part of the never completed Laurel Canyon Freeway which would have extended the 170 freeway south passed the 101 over the hill and smack through West Hollywood. How that would have changed things around here.

Baby, you are gonna miss that plane

I remember a specific conversation I had once with my mother, it happened in a car when we lived on a farm in Western Kansas. I would have had to have been under 11 years old. We were listening to the radio and I was a premature angry young man, I made the comment that I hated popular radio because all the songs are about love. I then proceeded to prove my startling point by counting how many songs in a row appeared to be about love. At that time I had no interest in romantic love, at all.
Years later I remember a series of conversations that I would have with many of my friends late one night. I was living in Kansas City, KS, and it suddenly occurred to me that more than anything in my life, my dream and desire was to be madly in love. I proceeded to then call many people I knew and proclaimed as much to them. I was no longer such an angry young man.
I was thinking about these two separate versions of myself because last night I viewed Richard Linklater's "Before Sunset", which is a sequel to "Before Sunrise". A movie, which I might be moved into admitting maybe helped me open up to the appreciation of romantic Love.
I saw the First film sometime around my Junior year in High School, about the time I somehow lucked into having a real relationship with an actual female. This would have been around 1996-97. I was instantly moved, and I will admit to having watched the film no less then 5 times. "Before Sunrise" is about a young American man who meets an female French student on a train from Budapest to Vienna. The American Man, played by Ethan Hawk, is disembarking the train in Vienna in order to catch a flight back to the States. The French student played by Julie Delpy, is staying on the train en route to her home in Paris. They meet cute and a notion takes hold that she should get off the train with him and they can continue to keep each others company until his flight the next morning. The movie ends with an impossible promise to see each other again in 6 months at the same train station which begins our movie. No last names nor phone numbers are exchanged, the fate of their love rides on one big promise. The story in Before Sunset picks up 9 years after the story in Before Sunrise with the same two characters, and with an explanation of what has happened to them in the time that has passed, they have changed in some ways, but also have essentially remained themselves.
It was very interesting for me to realize that I've lived 9 years since I saw the first film and last night when I saw the second. I've now lucked into a real life relationship with a real life woman. I can remember some of the things I used to think and the way I think about those things now. It's really remarkable to experience a time line that effectively. It had me thinking about the 7up series of films which moved me so completely, and how the possibility for that type of life long work is set up with these two films. I hope so, I think it would be of value for me to look back on my life with films this good as a window of examination, it could be solidly helpful, and might help prevent me from becoming a bitter old man.

Park Anywhere You Like

Friday night as I neared my home I saw this lovely parking job at the Whole Foods Market by my house. I couldn't help but laugh. I'm not sure where they thought they were going to put that thing once they got into the parking lot anyway, A person can't even fit a Geo Metro in the parking spaces at Whole Foods. I drove by several hours later and it was still stuck, at least this time they had a tow truck there too.

Friday Nights gig after this was okay. We played well I thought, but the crowd could have played a little better than they did. They were busy eating I guess, which always annoys me. I don't like to see people eating when I'm playing.

Today I've been running a Craigslist ad to hire a drummer for LA pride. Many good responses so far.

Buck Out.

End Work Week

Nice! It's a pretty happy day for me. I've accomplished a whole bunch at work, and I've listened to some great music while I did it. This is important, let us never forget that listening to music you like while doing anything you maybe don't, makes it all the more tolerable.

After yesterdays post about Roger Clyne and The Arizona Peacemakers I decided to check the progress of their new album and wouldn't you know the have a myspace page with new songs! I really really like the 4 songs previewed. Makes me happy.

So tonight we travel to Long Beach where we play a really cool pizza place. We've played there twice before and It's always a great time. I think tonight will be no different. Here is the Flyer... I'm outta here...



Tonight At:





Cover: $8. Show will start at 7:45

ALL AGES Show ALL NIGHT LONG!


DiPiazza's, 5205 E. Pacific Coast Highway Long Beach, CA 90804

***Shitting Glitter is on at 10***




405 Fwy North or South take the 7th Street off ramp, Right on PCH, Go to Anahiem St.
Click on photos for more info!


I blogged every day this week. ;)

I did roger harmonica

Roger Clyne Released the album "Sonoran Hope and Madness" in February 2002, I was lucky enough to see him and His band "The Arizona Peacemakers" shortly there after. This would be my second time seeing them live at the same venue, "Davies Uptown Rambler's Club" in Kansas City Missouri.
The way I see it I owe Roger for a couple of things. The first one is for his music, and that it basically taught me to play guitar and sing at the same time. I told him that much and he laughed and said "that's cause my songs are easy!" I think he meant that more as a dig to himself than to me, but you can take it how you'd wish. For that I feel I've been pretty generous, and that I've paid my debt and then some by buying albums, spreading the word and keeping the music alive.
My other debt, and the real reason I was thinking about writing this, is not as easy to pay off. Nope, it's worse, it's a 10 commandment violation, and no, I never coveted his wife. I stole his Harmonica, which I believe is commandment number 5. It was a shitty thing to do and I will use the excuse that I was wasted. Really wasted. I could prove how wasted I was that night if I could somehow conjure pictures of the beast I ended up making out with at the close of the set, but that would be far to unpleasant for all of us, and I need not admit all my sins in one blog.
The set was over, I was excited, I saw it sitting on a monitor and I grabbed it. Horrid Behavior. This is an indie band, not a major label band. It's okay to steal from major label bands. Thou Shall Not Steal from Indie Bands is the third Commandment, I broke 2 in one shot.

My point is this, I owe Roger a Lee Oskar F# Harmonica, and I've decided next opportunity to pay it back with a brand new one. And the other thing I decided was that if I stole it I had better learn to play it. I sort of did at first, I would play it and I learned a few songs, but since then I've sort of slacked, until last week. Last week I found it and one other at my house, and I decided to take it up again. But when do I have time you ask? On the way to and from work. It only takes one hand to drive, and the was I see it, one hand to hold the harmonica. Sure I can't do any of those fancy blue's traveler type things, but I can play a few things. In fact, here's what I've figured out thus far.

"The Red River Valley"
"Good Night Ladies"
"Wasting Away" by the Brian Jonestown Massacre
"Mary Had A Little Lamb" - which doesn't really count because it's part of good night ladies
"Swing Low Sweet Chariot"
and I'm so close to learning "Pink Flamingos" by Electric Six.

I should also note, that this very month in 2002, I was hard at work on an album for my solo project, S no S, the album, "May April". On that cd there was a small snippet of Roger Clyne's Harmonica, played poorly by yours truly. The Song was called "A taunting re-occurrence"... And it is.

Again, Roger, I'm sorry.

Days End

This are gonna work out. I'm certain of that fact. Today is drawing to a close, I'm very okay with that. I'm a bit tuckered out. Tonight we will go look in on Marc's kitty and fishes. They are lonesome with no one there. I really don't know what it was that made me log back into Blogger. I have no real thoughts. Maybe I've got a picture some place. I'll look. Damn... Nothing.

I've not written a poem here in a while, and while it is inadvisable to do so when inspiration is at the dry end of the bucket, I'll try one anyway.

Don't expect all the surprises to come when you're not looking
sometimes they are already on the line
don't get up early if you went to bed late
it's simple math and a stupid mistake
be weary of warnings, impulses and proclamations
try to wear clothes with pockets or at least carry a bag
let the room be dark when you sleep, or put something dark over your face
don't eat it if you are just going to regret it

cars can go a lot further on empty than they tell you
there must be a reason for that
don't fuss
don't get ruffled
carry on and out
it's easy
people don't live long enough to really regret things so don't let that be the thing that guides you
let the fact people don't live very long be the thing that does.

as opposed to a bed resting on the floor

I'm listening to Peter Gabriel today. I never really bothered before, If it was on MTV or the radio I would just kind of brush it off because it was just Peter Gabriel. What a dunce I was. In listening today for the first time with real attention, I'm stunned, Loving these sounds.

Yesterday, for unbloggable reasons started bad and stayed that way for most of the day at work. I got home and slowly things got better. It culminated with a fabulous pick up from the craigslist free section. Check it, a new bed frame, head and foot board.

For free! Woah! What a world, seriously. A person puts up an advertisement on this Craig guy's list and then you write him, then before you know it he calls, he lives less then 5 minutes away, and he just gives us this great head and foot board, also a fan, and we are then on our way. Lovely!


Notice the unfinished paint job on the wall, we are getting goofy artistic in there. I like it.

There is really something about raising a bed off the floor that adds to the sleeping experience. Of course it adds a bit more spring action, but psychically it seems to provide a rest from the pull of gravity. Does gravity lessen by any degree the furthur a person gets from the earth, even if it's only a few feet? I should check into that. Would it then mean that sleeping in a high rise would amplify that effect? Lets all think about that.

Do you think Henry and Arthur were pleased with the new bed? Does this psychic gravity relief work for them too? It would appear so. Really though, less than one hour after getting the bed set up and ordered and these two kitties who normally prefer to play the game we call "let's kill each other" are wrapped up in each other sound asleep.

I had a thought last night about Cellphone Camera's. They are often put down as being practically useless, but I on the other hand have really come to embrace them as usefully practical. People get really caught up in the amount of megapixle gigabyte doo dads in technology, and those things are important, but there is also a great deal of value in an item that has managed to incorporate itself into availability in daily life without obtrusion. There is nothing gained by having a higher resolution to a picture you couldn't take because you didn't have your camera handy. So while your camera may be better, my camera is ready.

Get in the booth