blawg :: archives

31 may 02

Week 1

Week 1 is more or less in the books. I seem to have survived so far.

Blame it on the new gig, the shorter commute, or the drugs, but this working thing isn't nearly as bad as I recall. I kinda dig the structure, and I fer sure dig the dough. The waking up before dawn? Not so much. But even that is tolerable. Dodging the self-absorbed yuppie idiots at the gym in the AM I could do without, but whaddyagonnado, right? Right.

And the weekend is here. Word up. Not a moment too soon. What's on tap? Glad you asked. Dinner with the folks tonight, a hike in Redwood Regional Park, and continued work on The Hills Have Eyes recordings. More information (and mp3s) as they become available.

Brief Reviews of Stuff

Insomnia: Great movie with the worst tacked-on Hollywood ending ever. First 116 minutes: 4 pentagrams. Last 2 minutes: 2 petagrams. Average: 3 pentagrams.

Lunch options in Downtown Oakland: It is sooooooooo on. This week alone I have sampled the finest Buddhist Vietnamese cuisine, a taste of the hereafter (best tofu burgers around), and slamming jungle curry. Next week? It's all about Ital Calabash. "An African Jamaican Vegetarian Food & Juice Explosion"? Sign me up. Five pentagrams.

Source Tags and Codes, the still sorta-new album by And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead. White Stripes?? They're sooooooooo 2000. Get with the times, dawg. Pick this up. It will, it will, rock you. Promise. Four pentagrams.

Over and out. Thank Allah it's Friday. ßßß

29 may 02

Eight Things I Learned During My First Two Days of Work

Five-minute commutes are 90 percent better than 50-minute commutes.

It really does take all kinds.

My mother does not work there, and I am cordially requested to clean up after myself.

It may not be the best idea to include a link to this website on my résumé. It seems my reputation has preceded me. Among other things.

When all else fails, there's always Quick Buddy.
Finding all-day, unmetered street parking is a beautiful thing.
I really, really enjoy copyediting.
I cannot believe I just said that. I have reached heretofore unknown levels of dorkery.

The Hills Are Alive with the Sound of Eyes

The Hills Have Eyes recording was going swimmingly this past weekend, when all hell broke loose. Ryan's amp went shithouse, and started emitting noises that sounded like trains running through walls. It was nutty. Recording resumed last night, and we may have ruff mixes of stuff as early as the weekend. So please stay tuned to this station.

If you wanna check us out live, we're playing at Burnt Ramen with Youth Gone Wild and Impeller on Friday, June 7th. Thanks for checking in, and sorry about the relative lack of updates. We'll see if I can't get my act together soon. ßßß

24 may 02

Babylon and On

God bless whoever invented unemployment.

I start my new job Tuesday. I have no idea what to expect, or what will become of my weblog or my routine or anything.

Yesterday was one of the greatest days in recent memory.

Lots of quality time with the wife.

Got called "quietly hilarious" by someone I find equally droll.
Bro'ed down with my bro's at the tattoo shop.
Got recognized in a coffee shop and was told my band rules.
Sat in the sun and read a good book.
Learned a couple of my favorite songs on guitar.
Got one of my longest-held beliefs confirmed.

If every day of my unemployment had been like yesterday, I would have figured out a scheme in which I never had to work again. I think rock-stardom may be just the ticket, but the stars are taking they're sweet time about aligning. ßßß

23 may 02

Things That Crossed My Mind During the Elvis Costello and American Hi-Fi show at Berkeley Communist Theater Last Night

Re. Berkeley: Real-life island of misfit toys.

Re. the amazing tour buses out front: Someday that will be me in there. Oh, yes. It will.

Hey, you: down in front.

Re. American Hi-Fi in general: What a weird freaking gig. You're a burgeoning rock/punk/pop band, weaned on club gigs, and all of the sudden you're opening for Elvis Costello, playing to mostly empty theaters as people file in. The people who are there are sitting down and applauding politely at the end of each song. Sounds like a nightmare. Except for the tour bus and opening for Elvis Costello parts.
Re. American Hi-Fi's "Flavor of the Weak": Oh, it's that band.
Re. American Hi-Fi's "The Breakup Song": How cynical do you have to be to wake up in the morning with the intention of writing a song so generic that it gets played on the radio??
Re. the horrific world-beat funk they played between sets: Please God, make it stop.
Re. Elvis Costello and the Imposters: The Imposters includes Steve Nieve and Pete Thomas from the Attractions, and the bassist from Vonda Shepard's band. He sucked like no one has ever sucked before. He was so fucking goofy that I couldn't even look at him. Must be hard to find good help these days.
Damn, Elvis is short. And round. But he rocks.
Old songs are good and short. New songs are bad and long.
Judging by the amount of material he played from Get Happy!, Elvis must agree with me that it is his best (and certainly his most underrated) album.
Me, to Tracy: "You have any pennies?"
Tracy: "Yeah, why?"
Me: "Just give 'em to me."

I send one toward the back of the head of the girl standing in the aisle, blocking our view.

Girl standing in aisle blocking our view: "Owwwww!"

Standing girl walks away.

Tracy: "High five."
Me: "Word."
Oh, yeah. Now I remember why I'm a misanthrope. People are terrible. Me included. ßßß

22 may 02

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Hesher: 1980

OK, so I found the Gremlin pictures I was talking about, and spent $5.40 to have them scanned at Kinko's. I think you'll agree that it was worth every penny. Best part? Left the originals in the scanner. I imagine some Kinko's employee is having a laugh at my expense. Much as you probably are right now.

Jesus, I don't even know where to begin.

Re. picture the first, with me and drummer Todd Fowler, whose sister, Donette, I had a huge crush on:

First off, the hair. Totally amazing. It's almost precisely the same haircut I have right now, down to the spit curl. Twenty-two years later.
The cross. Before Madonna rocked the cross, there was Geezer Butler. Geezer was my hero. Hence, the atheist kid wore a big, goofy cross.
The Univox Mosrite knockoff bass. This thing had action that was, like, an inch off the neck. It practically took two guys to fret a note. Virtually unplayable, and sounded like shit. But it looked great.
The army shirt with unidentified rock 'n' roll pin. Always a nice touch.
The "guitar" strap. Actually an old shoulder strap from a suitcase, if I recall. I was D.I.Y. before D.I.Y. was cool.
The wrist bands. Bracers, to be more precise. Big bronze/brass things. I told you I was a complete D&D dork. I wasn't kidding.
Todd's incredible Blue Oyster Cult shirt. It's probably been BeDazzled, and is now for sale on Melrose for $200.

Re. picture the second, with me and guitarist Steve Smolinski and singer Dave Madden:

A better view of the bracers, and a great view of the insulation in Todd's attic.
My Levi's. 28 x 28, I'm guessing.
Steve's guitar, a Sears Silvertone (I think, anyway) Les Paul copy, which featured onboard effects like "Whirlwind," "Fuzz," and others. Sounded almost as good as my Univox.
Dave's mic, which you can't really see, but looks like it came from a tape recorder.
The back of this picture was defiled by an old girlfriend, and reads "Ian loves Laurie FOREVER!" over and over. Not so much, as it happens. Not so much. ßßß

21 may 02

Addenda et Errata

I updated my sidebar. I hope you're happy now. I've been debating removing all the weblogs from my sidebar for some time, in order to further distance myself from the weblogging "community," but I finally gave up and added two weblogs (that word always makes me think of Webelo, which I was once) that I've been meaning to add for some time now. They are, in no particular order, JillMatrix.com who, among her many other endowments, has, quite simply, the best tagline of any website ever. Then there's rabbit blog, which has, quite simply, the best URL of any website ever. And it's funny. Damned funny.

List of stuff I gotta do before I return shoulder to wheel next week (revised):

Try and prove to my new employer that I had the chicken pox as a kid and don't want — or need — their infernal vaccine. Wish me luck.
A final farewell brunch at Mama's. And a last draught at Gaylord's.
Waste an entire afternoon hanging around the tattoo shop.
Replace the faulty heating element in my oven.
Pick up mended trousers from the cleaner.

Oh, yeah. This rock star life? Tough job, but somebody's gotta do it. ßßß

20 may 02

Welcome to the Working Week

So I seem to have survived nature's assault on my respiratory system. Will attempt to return to life as we know it today. But this is my last week of freedom, and life as we know it will change dramatically as I reenter the working world next week.

So among the many things I need to do this week before I reapply nose to grindstone are:

Get chicken pox immunization (by order of employer). Luckily I have no irrational fear of needles. I do, however, have a healthy fear of immunizations.

Go to the Big Store and stock up on Boca Burgers and the like.
Go see Elvis Costello on Wednesday.
Record more demo's with The Hills Have Eyes next weekend.
Continue going to Club One, even though I haven't paid dues in four months.
Finish learning how to play guitar.

What will become of blawg when I rejoin the workforce? I honestly don't know. I have no plans to quit it, but neither do I foresee my new employer granting me an hour or so each morning to write it. We'll know soon enough, I suppose.

Be well. ßßß

16 may 02

George Lucas, You Have Some 'Splaining to Do!

Apparently Attack of the Clones opened last night. This should not come as a surprise to anyone: Every news program, newspaper, and website in the world seems to have som

where to?