Belle & Sebastian

Belle & Sebastian played last night at the Pageant in support of their new album Dear Catastrophe Waitress.

I had to work late to cover for a vacationing coworker so I left directly from work to go to the show as it seemed too much of a hassle to drive home just to leave again. We got to the place and bought our tickets and drove a couple blocks down to dine at Seki's. Seki was really not in the budget but since we were practically right new door we decided to go.While we waited for the door to open for the show we dined on sushi, soba, and tempura.

At the Pangeant once again we had Mina with us so we got the obligatory stares as we entered the venue. After hassling us for an extra two dollars for a "minor surcharge" this guy came buy and rattled off something about "protecting little one's ears" and gave me some earplugs lest the ear splitting din of violins and cellos and acoustic guitars harm my daughter.

Rasupitna opened for Belle & Sebastian. They were very much a novelty two cello, one drum three-piece. Their songs were reminiscant of Tori Amos. And just like Tori the in between song batter and schtick grew old quickly. In the beginning it solicitating forced laughter but toward the end people just stared. As far as opening bands are they weren't bad. They held their own and were at least interesting to watch aswellas provided nice background music.

As Rasputina finished the place was filling up. The girl the next table over commented on how surprised she was to see this many people for B&S. I rolled my eyes at the comment. Yes, Belle & Sebastian are less well known than say Britney Spears but they are not shrouded in this bastion of indie obscurity that a lot of these kids would wish to assume. Sorry, listening to Belle & Sebastian no longer makes you different and cool.

We got Mina a Belle & Sebastian sticker by her request. She's saving it (and others) for a guitar case she says.

Belle and Sebastian took the stage and filled it to capacity. They had a least twelve people playing and suddenly the $25.00 ticket price became understandable. Everytime a new song started it seemed that new band members were popping in and out.

I came to Belle and Sebastian late so I do not have a lot of their albums. I only have a couple and some EPs. So out of the two hours that they played I only recognized a few songs. Beautiful, Photo Jenny, Judy and The Dream of Horses are the ones that come to mind. But it didn't matter, all the songs sounded wonderful.

The band started the set kind of stuffy but gradually they loosened up a bit. A girl tossed her bra onstage and Stuart picked up and said, "It's brown. How indie of you." They also did this bit where they invited someone from the audience to come up to the stage and sing a cover song (they called it a "party piece") with them. They hauled this girl named Amanda off the floor and she suggested they do Abba's Dancing Queen. After a few minutes of deliberation they decided to give a shot. The band did admirably at playing that song on the fly. My cynical self would normally conclude that Amanda was a band plant but. 1.) she didn't have accent. 2.) She couldn't really sing. It was fun and got lots of applause. I wonder if they do this often and what other songs have come up.

It was great show and was only marred by a drunken idiot in the balcony who kept screaming out his request, namely Century of Fakers, over and over and over again. What I find more annoying is the people who yell back, "they can't change the setlist for you!" and "let them play what they want." (Amanda if you are reading this that second actually came out of someone's mouth....again.) They come across so whiny.

After only one encore (sadly) the show let out and we stepped outside to get drenched by the cold November rain. We drove home to get what little bit of sleep we could salvage before waking for work and school.

Peppers

I had some chipoltle peppers leftover from my meatballs so I marinated chicken breasts in them. Last night I attempted fajitas with the chicken. I usually add onion and red bell pepper. But, since I only had an onion I had to improvise. I substituted red chilis for the missing red bells. If you check the Scoville heat scale you see what a terrible substitution this. The fajitas were hot. Not just burn your mouth hot; but, puke your guts out and scald your esophagus in the process hot.

Today a coworker brought in some peppers that he called "pepper peckers". He was only being mildly obscene. There proper botanical name is "penis pepper". They get the name from their uncanny resemblance to the male phallis. They are supposed to be pretty good. I might attempt a salsa or something with them and see what happens.

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Last night Brandon came over and we started working on a new song, "video vertigo". I liked the title of one my journal entries I decided to incorporate it in a song. It's funny how many songs develop from a cool title. I've been waiting for my opportunity to incorporate the Konami code into a song and the time has come. I might even name-drop Justin Bailey.

With Brandon's approval I put another song up on 6a2. It's called album filler...er...rather...Dividing Sight. The song isn't that great but I love Brandon's vocals and (starts patting his own back) my guitar outro is awesome! I don't know how in the world I did it. I was just screwing around and somehow it came out. I doubt I could duplicate it.

Television

This weekend went by super fast and nothing really of note happened. We have a lot of money tied up in seeing bands over the next few weeks so we didn't have any cash to go do anything. It was pretty much just time to loaf around the house and watch TV.

I caught the season opener for The Simpsons, my favorite TV show. As for the episode, there's been better, there's been worse. I'm glad to see this series keeps going on.

I watched Saturday Night Live for the first time in a while. I think this season might be one of those really bad seasons that almost gets the show cancelled. As much as the show wants to tout itself as having "not ready for primetime players" it really works on the star principle and all the stars have left. As a sidenote, Maya Rudolf is cute. I think I saw her live in concert when she was with the Rentals but I'm not quite certain.

I checked out "Viva La Bam" a spinoff of "Jackass". It is has a lot of heart. Primarily it's about a kid, Bam Margera, driving his parents, Phil and April, crazy. However there is this subtext of love between the family that is endearing.

I got caught up in this show on the Discovery channel that was supposed to be a historical analysis of Mary, the mother of Jesus. I don't know why I bother to watch these programs when they just irritate me. They start from the standpoint that the Bible's account it just this big inflated fairy tale and then do whatever they can to present a completely opposite patched together guesswork account of their own. They kept sighting these supposed contradictions in the Bible where there were none. It was only accounts where the Bible contradicts the well known Christmas tale and where it contradicts the Catholic apocryphal version of Mary. The one point that it did make which might be valid is that Mary may have been young when she married Joseph as was the custom. The show guessed that she was twelve years old; however, I think twelve is really a stretch for child-bearing age even today when puberty begins much sooner. Sixteen or so may have been feasible.

Two Publishers

There was this weird guy at our hall, John Lynch, that had recently become a publisher. It always bothered me that even though he was a publisher the friends never really dignified him by referring to him as "Brother" Lynch. Well last night they finally did so when they announced that Brother Lynch had died. I only really talked to him once. Out in service we talked about the director Ed Wood. John had thrown out some reference to Plan 9 From Outerspace and I picked up on it. He was surprised. I really don't mind death but it's kind of a bummer that he wasn't able to get baptized before he went.

And on to another publisher, Prince. If he is serious about the whole thing that's all well and good, no harm, no foul. If this is another "change your name to a symbol" type-stunt then...then what? I know some people get all excited when celebrities become Witnesses as if that adds a level of legitimacy to our religion. The bad thing is that in the truth there is no room for celebrity. These former-celebrities will have a hard enough time adjusting to being meek and mild without the friends giving them celebrity attention. (In retrospect I probably shouldn't even have wrote this.)

I can't believe it's Friday already!

Video Vertigo

I used to be a hardcore video-gamer. As a kid I have fond memories of getting a new game and playing it nearly 24 hours a day, not even stopping to eat, trying to negotiate a nintendo controller and bowl of cap'n crunch.

My video gaming has curtailed somewhat. I still buy the new systems but only tend to play with them when really exciting games come out--in a nutshell new installments of the Final Fantasy and Zelda series I loved as a youth.

And then there is Tony Hawk - Pro Skater. I love, love those games and when I saw the commercial for the latest installment Tony Hawk's Underground I knew I had to make a trip up to Blockbuster and check it out. I rented it and played it for an hour last night until motion sickness set in and my thumb felt like it was ready to fall off.

This morning we locked the keys in the house. I had to borrow a ladder and send Mina in through the tiny bathroom window. What an ordeal!

That's A Spicy Meatball

Last night we had snack night at the book study. I made chipoltle flavoured meatballs. This provided the opportunity to use my food processor in new and exciting ways! I fired up the Cuisinart and ground my own pork. The meatballs were a hit and that made me very happy.

It was the highpoint of a bad night. I found that I was inexplicably depressed and on the verge of tears. I hate it when that happens for no reason.

Found out some good news. A second Kristin Hersh show has been added in Chicago on the 15th @ 10:00pm. So now Rebekah and I can catch the Aislers Set at the House of Blues at 7:00pm and then cruise over to the Old Town Folk School to catch Kristin. As an added bonus we got front row center seats for the Kristin show. As a super added bonus Mina is being watched by her aunt that weekend. Here's to good music and staying out late and getting falling down drunk (all except for the last part)! Rah! Rah!

Irritation

Sunday at the meeting this older sister comes up and asks me (straight-faced), "Are you one of those little people?". I soooo wanted to reply, "I prefer the term midget!". But, I didn't. I played the role of the mild-tempered brother and shrugged it off with a smile. Here it is Tuesday and it is still irritating. I hate how people feel they can make any comment about a man's physical appearance that nobody would ever make to a lady. How many times have you heard someone comment to a guy about him not having hair? How many times have you heard someone say, "it looks like you're gaining a little weight"? Arrrg.

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Last night Brandon came over and we worked on the new song. We added a cheesy organ to the mix and some sin swoops. It sounds like 60's garage rock or something. Wild.

MP3

I downloaded my first album the other day and then another and then another. I'm no stranger to .mp3 downloads. Once upon a time I used Napster and when it went away I switched to alternatives. However, I would just download a few songs and if I liked them well enough I would go out and buy the CD. From what I hear of the RIAA presumably I was the only one who bought a CD based on an illegal download.

MP3's to me do not seem substantial. The album art is so much a part of the music experience that I do not get the same feeling from a CD-R with the band name scrawled on the cover with magic marker. Perhaps this is the reason some people hang on to their vinyl for dear life and turn their noses up at CD's?

But I signed up for this service called eMusic; because they were offering a free 50 song download tryout when you signed up for the service. I really wanted the Mates of State's albums and am out of money so I decided to give it a shot. I burned a CD-R and then used the office color laser to print out some cover art to decorate my otherwise naked CD-R. Still I would rather have the official CD--but it's hard to argue with free.

--

This weekend was dreary but it was the perfect weekend to lounge about on the couch in sweatpants, drinking hot-cocoa, and watching cheesy TV. Nothing much happened of note. We cleaned the downstairs "studio" in preperation for moving some band stuff over to my house. Brandon and I determined that my house was a better setup for practicing and recording. So if the other two (members of Mostly Minus) agree we'll pull everything over to my house--drum kit, PA system, multiple amps, guitars, and many, many cords.

Rebekah and I have been working on a new song called "a(l/t)titude"--another rocker along the lines of ATMOS 206 but more fiesty. It is pretty hot and very fun to play. Brandon will come over today and we'll try to match it with a lead synth. If it works it'll be a new 6a2 song. If not it goes back in the Anthony and Rebekah other band bin.

Notes

Last night at the meeting we had the big convention review. It is always fun to revisit your notes. Ours always start out good but the quality of the note taking decays over the length of the convention. Sunday's notes left me scratching my head and wondering what an ink sketch of the extremely fat brother in the disabled section had to do with "Give God Glory".

Our congregation was giving a lot of good comments in answer to the questions in the KM. Most of us know to hang on to our notes for these Service Meeting parts. However, when we got to the question, "What scenes from the drama standout in your mind?" nobody raised their hands. The question induced silence and blank stares. Maybe the drama was not very memorable. Or perhaps since nobody thought to takes notes on the drama an answer couldn't be given.

Metrosexuality

I'm just waiting for the metrosexual trend to get big enough to solicit comment from the Watchtower. I better go get my unibrow waxed while I still can.

The oddest thing to me about the whole gay thing that is happening right now is that Gay men are more prominent and visible in entertainment then the women. Television shows about gay women have little do with their sexual escapades and the whole lesbian thing is sort of played down. The guys are flaming. For the longest time I assumed that gay women were more palatable to people then gay men.

I'm reading a lot about restoration period england. Liza Picard has an excellent book on the subject, "Restoration London". It seems back then that lesbianism was tolerated, but buggery was a capital offense.

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Best line from last night's South Park: "Get with the times. That is soooooooooo September 10th"

Monday, Monday, Sha-la-la-la-la

Shonen Knife was playing at the Creepy Crawl last night. I didn't go because:

1.) I'm broke.
2.) The Creepy Crawl is a dive.
3.) 6a2 was getting together.

But it was all good because:

1.) It was hamburger (mmmm...burger) night and I had some bacon (mmmm...bacon) to slap on mine!
2.) 6a2 was getting together.

So we fired up the new Juno and worked on the new song. I want to call it "album filler" but we decided that "divisive sight" is probably a better title. This is probably the first song that we are writing more or less together as a group instead of one person coming up with something and the others embelishing on it. Rebekah says it has a "soul vibe" to it. It reminds me of "Three's Company" for some weird reason that I cannot comprehend.
The new synth is working great! I love it! When we go back and revisit our other songs for the album I'm sure it'll get stuck in there.

I finally got around to putting up our last song paid_program up. I've been sitting on it for some time. This sucker was hard to do and was a great learning experience. I'm not 100% happy with it and sure that it'll be changed for the album but I was soooo ready to move on. To me it has a jazzy, hip-hop feel to it.

I've got more to say about more interesting stuff but I'll spread it out over the week...

If its tangy and brown you're in cider town

Friday - I finally got the diagnosis handed down.. Hiatal Hernia. Nothing too bad. My options are:

1.) Ignore it...
2.) Treat it with medicine...
3.) Fix it with surgery

I'm going with number 1, since it isn't too bad. Everything seems to looking up finally. I'm having movements but the colour is off. (taupe)

Saturday - Went apple picking. Boring. I got clocked in the head with some apples and nearly busted my lip. Alas I did not have some Newton epithany when it happened--I only felt pain. Rebekah thought it was funny.

At the riverfront they were having this frontier thing festival. It was so disgusting. Everywhere I looked there was some hairy, pimply butt cheek poking out of some fat guy's buckskin loin cloth. The dumb part was that it was frontier times so I understood the cowboys and indians. But there were dudes running around with kilts on. I think I even saw a pirate and a gypsie. But even in the frontier times white trash is still white trash. Hoosier's were pouring Bud-light into pottery jugs to add a level of authenticity to their drunken revelry.

When I got home I tried to get a hold of someone to go out to a show with me but I didn't. I went ahead and went to the Rocket Bar in St. Louis by my lonesome. Since I was going to be a loner I decided to try to dress to impress so I wouldn't look like too much of a loser. So I put on my vintage corduroy cowboy shirt with the pearl snap buttons. Bad move! It is polyester and as we learn on Queer Eye it doesn't breathe. I was suffocating the whole night. I almost broke down and bought a band t-shirt to change into. I didn't because I hate it when people are wearing the band t-shirt, especially when they just bought it. So I suffered in silence.

I Am The World Trade Center - Interesting. The guy had a Roland 808 and he just hit a button for each song. That was the extent of the playing. After that it was just jumping around on the stage and singing through a vocoder. The girl played the tamberine and danced and sang. It was dance music so I danced.

The Thermals - Not my kind of music but they weren't bad. Probably better live than on CD. While they were playing I hung out by the entrance to catch the breeze coming in and try to cool down.

Mates of State - Pretty good. I definately could see buying their CD down the line. The gal had this awesome organ, yamaha yc 45-d. It sounded so good. The songs were interesting and nice. With just an organ and a drumkit it could get old really fast but they kept a nice pace and changed it up quite a bit. Neither one of them had an exceptional voice but they sung together sweetly.

Analog Roam

Mouse Planet finally got around to posting my trip report from February. It is pretty boring and rife with errors and omissions so please do not feel compelled to read it. Mouse Planet runs those trips reports as a travel aid to those suckers (like me) that choose to go to Disney World.

....

We got our newest eBay purchase in the mail, a later model Roland analog synth. We got a good price on it and found out why when we hooked it up. Two keys did not work at all, one key fired too loud, one key went in and out. So I did a little Internet research and downloaded instructions on how to clean the connections. Hesitantly I grabbed a screwdriver and opened the instrument. The inside was pretty dusty as could be expected from something 18 years old. We cleaned up under the keys and managed to fix it! I can't believe it.

Plague & Fire, Reading & Writing

Last night I went to the library in hopes of grabbing the last available copy of Michael Moore's new book, Dude, Where's My Country?. It was onhold when I arrived so I grabbed some books off the shelf that will be needed as I research for my next novel.

The beginning of my next novel is to be set in London during the 1660's. (Since I will be ripping off Chaucer, Dickens, and the life of Joseph Merrick in this novel it seemed appropriate have the story in England, and centered on London.) So I started reading about the plague and the london fire that swept through the region. It is really fascinating reading and I've already began to get great ideas about where my characters will fit into this world.

Rebekah has finished reading my first novel and I drained an inkpen on my grammatical mistakes. More importantly she has provided insight as to where my timing might have been vague or innacurate or where certain events and motivations may not be so clear. I knew she would hate the end of the novel because it is purposely obscure to allow for the sequel if I would ever choose to write it.

From what I gather, she hates the story and questions whether or not it would have any chance of being published. However, she does believe that it is well written and interesting. Those are all my feelings exactly.

Playstation 3

I read this neat article regarding monkeys that could use their minds to move an electronic arm to play a game. Scientists implanted a chip in their brain to allow them to interact with the electronic arm by pure thought. The article then goes on to cite the possible applications in humans such as artificial limbs.

To me the obvious application as in next generation video game systems. Forget redesigning the controller! Throw the controller out the window and just start doing chip implants. Who needs hand eye coordination when you can just have eye-mind coordination. That would be cool! Or what about for pilots? Imagine if they could control fighter craft via their mind? That would be so neat.

And Now For The Punchline ...

A Now For The Punchline...

Come to find out I was just full of crap! Who knew? My CT scan didn't show anything remarkable save for an intestinal track packed fuller than a Tokyo rush-hour train. The pain in my side was just muscle strain from trying to get it moving. A viscious circle. 12 hours on the stool and enough laxatives to unclog an elephant and I'm a new man. I literally could see my bloated belly reducing in size before my eyes.

Violence

I saw a violent movie last night because I heard it was good. Now I don't believe that I'm any lofty standard when it comes to entertainment. If there ever was a weak spot it would be that. However, I just don't enjoy violence for the sake of violence. This film was simply about violence and the story was just an excuse to go from one violent episode to the next. It glorified it. As a rule I will not see any movie that has a gun displayed on the theatre poster (the exception is Star Wars of course, lasers being different than bullets). But I saw this movie because the poster only had a sword and Crouching Tiger was super cool. It left a bad taste in my mouth but the soundtrack sure was awesome!

Smooth Move

Ex-Lax. She gave me ex-lax.

So I was wrong. Best case scenario is still constipation, hence the ex-lax, but the worse case scenario as it turns out is cancer. There are a hundred other things in between. My grandmother just died of colon cancer so there is a huge red flag up. So I had to get some x-rays taken and if there is no change by Monday she wants me to get a cat-scan on my gut and I may have to have a video camera rammed up by arse or something for them to get a closer look at whatever is stopping me up.

The doctor kind of looked worried.

This weekend is the circuit assembly..

Crap

You never really appreciate what you have until it's gone. I woke up today and I couldn't move my bowels.

Yesterday, I had a sharp pain between my groin and my gut. I just kind of ignored it and hoped it would go away. Today I can't ignore it. I feel blocked, pinched, and backed up.

I made an appointment for the doctor tommorrow. Best case scenario she tells me I'm just constipated and gives me a laxative. Worst case scenario I have a hernia and will end up under the knife.

I don't mind seeing the doctor; but, I don't like having to drop trou in front of her. I just noticed today that she isn't an "M.D." but a "D.O.". I'll have to ask her is she can recommend a real doctor for me to start seeing. Maybe not. She kind of has this crazed stare that is disturbing.

Junk Shops

Yesterday on my lunch break I dropped in on some antique stores along the river in Alton. I'm kind of obsessed with looking for a combo organ and figured I might get lucky and find one stashed away in one of these shops.

These stores give me the creeps. They are in these old industrial buildings that are falling in on themselves. The buildings have been crudely sectioned off for antique dealers. So it's old run down items inside old run down buildings sold by old run down people.

Some stores are nice and organized whereas others are simply piles upon piles of refuse. Sometimes these piles provide a hedge-maze affect where you turn a corner and are suddenly at loss about how to find the exit. One shop was heavy into the religious memorabilia and I turned round to find myself staring face to face with a chipped wooden statue of St. Christopher and baby Jesus, St. Agnes and child Mary in porcelain, and a bleeding heart oil painting of Jesus nearby. It was kind of eery.

I never did find anything useful as I am into mod-items from the 60's and 70's and these stores tend to not have anything that "new".

--

Rebekah is reading my book right now and discovering error after error that my eyes simply do not see. I read right on through. It's always errors of omission. I tend to leave out words like "the", "a", "of". Almost like ASL or something.

--

Brandon has been giving out CD after CD of 6a2 music. If it were up to me I wouldn't; but I don't terribly mind. One thing is clear everyone seems to like "Trendsetters" the best. I told him when we recorded it that it would be the stupid novelty song that everyone likes. Pee-diddy. Poo-diddy. Har Har. It is my least favorite song. I think I may hate it. The token novelty song never does any band any good unless you are prepared to just do albums comprised of only funny songs, like They Might Be Giants. I am not but I can be a good sport and go along with it occasionally... Maybe I'll even join in. My next song is officially titled, "Poo-poo, wee-wee, smelly fart" ... or not

Hair

Every now and again I feel the need to reinvent myself--dimestore makeover.

I can't help but to notice that the current hair styles are pulling from the late seventies-early eighties. The emo look if you will. So I thought I would try to grow my hair out. I needed a hair cut two weeks ago but I resisted and resisted but I don't think I can hold out any longer. My hair is just a mess and uncomfortable. The dandruff that I always get in fall doesn't add anything.

I'd rather be unstylish then to have a mop of hair sitting on my head.

Parent's House

We went to my parent's house this weekend. Truth told, I could've done without it. They should be thankful for Rebekah because she always twists my arms until I consent to visiting. I am not a very family oriented person.

So we went down on Friday after I got off from work. It is a two and half hour drive which was made tolerable by the new Club 8 CD I got in the mail.

In order to get to my parent's house you have to descend down this windy rock road that weaves through thick trees. They have this country house with a creek that runs by their house.

Saturday I woke up and drove into the nearest town to waste time because there is literally nothing to do at my parents. Rolla is a college town; however, unlike other college towns there is absolutely nothing going on. No coffee-houses with psudeo-intellectual ramblings. No rock clubs. No record stores. No anti-war protesting. It's weird. I suppose because it is an engineering school that the majority of the enrollment is foreigners who stick to themselves and do foreign things after-hours and on the weekend in their little foreign communities.

In Rolla the only thing to do is to go to Super Wal-Mart. In all honesty there are hicks that take their girlfriends on dates there. Since it is hunting season practically everyone, man, woman, and child had their camouflage on. As if to suggest that they had to blend in and be ready lest some twelve-point buck jumps out from behind an underware rack.

I went to this pawn shop and Rebekah and I found this case which said 'yamaha piano' on the price tag. We tried to open it to see what was in it but one of the latches wouldn't budge. The 16-year old granddaughter of the owner came over and spent a good fifteen minutes trying to jimmy the latch open until finally it clicked.

It turned out to be a Yamaha CP-30 electric piano. It was neat and would've looked awesome on stage. The price-tag said $250 which was more than I had to give for it. However the owner told us we could have it for $150. I'm really looking for a combo organ or string-synth right now but the price made me consider getting it. We probably would've but the the thing weighed 100lbs and was much too big to fit in our little car so we opted out of it.

The girl was pretty nice and made me jealous when she said that she had a lot of guitars at her house. That her grandfather just let her take home whatever she liked. Rebekah asked whether or not she was in a band. She said that she didn't play guitar she just liked to hang them on her wall.

My brother and his wife were coming over for a weiner roast that afternoon so we went back to my folk's house. He is into indian artifacts and was hiking up to a nearby cave to sift for arrowheads. Mina lamented that she never gets to see "feather indians" just "dot indians" which was comical. I went with him for part of the way with Rebekah and Mina. The walk to the cave takes you through a big pasteur with woods on one side and a bluff-face on the other. It felt like Lord of the Rings and I could just imagine these big epic helicopter camera shots as Rebekah and I ran through the field recited lines from the movies and dodging cow crap. It's easy to be geeky when you're in the middle of nowhere.

That night we had a fire. Rebekah made the chili I mentioned a coupled days ago. I discovered how versatile it is. I ate it as chili-mac and then used it on a campfire hot-dog and then used it as tortilla chip dip. Mmmmmm chili. We rented the "Mighty Wind" DVD and I enjoyed watching it again as well as the deleted scenes.

Sunday I woke up and went to their meeting. There was a chinese sister there named "Ang Lee" and everytime she got called on I laughed because I kept thinking about the movie director. They have a chinese study group at the hall because they get a lot of interest from the chinese student community. Most of the kids are atheists and they study simply to learn English.

After the meeting we went to my brother's house for chicken and then back home...

Bling, Bling

"When the money keeps rolling in you don't ask why." - Evita

We got a couple of rebate checks in the mail at the beginning of last week for some paint purchases last spring. It was nothing special, just twelve bucks. But it was unexpected so it was neat and ended up being an omen.

a bit later Rebekah found work and I got a raise. All in the same week! We've been on a budget forever and always living check to check with just a little bit left over for extra things. And by extra things I mean a new CD or book every now again, nothing extravagant.

It'll be weird to have extra money each week. Extra money that is not tied to bills. Extra money to just blow. I've made more money before and it seems like we just ate out more. I'd really like to use the money for something more worthwhile because there is no telling how long it'll last.

Maybe a few home improvement projects. Perhaps some new furnishings. New clothes? So many possibilities. Maybe we'll just save it for the big expensive Tokyo trip I've never been able to do yet. I don't know. For some reason I'm not materialistic so I have trouble picturing what we could buy. We've been strapped for cash for so long I don't even know.

But first things are first... take care of debt. We owe the other half of our property taxes and then we owe my mother-in-law for some money we borrowed from her. Then we have to pay off the remaining balance on our upcoming vacation package but after that....

I'm Gonna Drink Bacardi Like ...

It's my birthday. Please do not fear that I'm celebrating it. I hate it! I turn 27 today. I really feel like It's all downhill after 24.

Things I like about getting older. Getting smarter and developing my skills.

Things I don't like about getting older. Getting fatter and being out of touch with what is hip and youthful.

To quote Winterson, "Time is a great deadener."

My sister used to do a comic strip and three years back she drew this:

Freaks

I love freaks but I cannot really appreciate them like people once did. There aren't any real "freak shows" any more where human oddities are on display. You have pretenders like the "Jim Rose Circus Side Show". I'm sorry but a guy dangly lead weights from his testacles is not the same as a boy with flipper feet. Human oddities are delegated to spot appearances on Maury Povich. It gets them exposure but it hardly provides a living like it once did.

It is early October and the radio is filling with ads for haunted houses. If I had the time and money (I have neither) I would like to have an old fashioned carnival freak show during the Fall season. I want carnival barkers in top hats luring in passersby. I want dog faced boys. I want living skeletons. I want pickled punks, mummified mermaids, and pinheads. I want to have geeks biting the heads of chickens. It would be splendid!

There is quickly coming a time when such huge variations in humanity will be erased. Is it wrong to appreciate them while they are still around?

--

Unrelated: I burned a ream of paper and printed out my novel. Being able to hold it and feel its weight makes it seem more real then when it had existed as a Word document. I'm going to let Rebekah read it and give me her 2 cents. I'm dedicated the novel to three people. One has read it, one will read it soon, one may never read it. In her column this month Jeanette Winterson talks about how it takes a while to become detached from a book you have written. During the writing you invest so much of yourself it is hard to look at it objectively or see it as something seperate from you. That's where I'm at now. It needs to be edited, badly, but now is not the time. I really need to look at it again in a few months and see what I think.

Mummy the Peepshow

I was just looking over Mummy The Peepshow's 2003 USA Tour Diary last night. It's cute in that engrish sort of way.

I even made it in one of their pictures...kind of, sort of. I'm stage front, right in the middle.

Food Addiction

From time to time I find myself addicted to certain foods. Right now I'm addicted to these Pilsbury chocolate-chip cookies. I almost hate to buy them because I cannot control my eating of them. However, I gave in last week because they were on sale and I couldn't resist. Saturday my dinner consisted exclusively of milk and cookie while I watched "The Two Towers" on pay-per-view.

Rebekah's addiction is the chili 3-way from Steak 'n Shake. When we go out to eat and I ask her where she wants to dine; she always wants Steak 'n Shake. To which I always make the same lame double entendre "I believe I'm in the mood for a 3-way too." She tried to make this fabulous item at home using the canned (yuck) Steak 'n Shake chili that they sell at the supermarket. It didn't quite work. Her sister made this awesome chili at the family reunion which was a real close match. So I suggested she attempt it again last night using that recipe. It was about a 95% match! I think if she just used less cumin and we ground up our own steak it would be dead-on.

--

This is not really related to the topic. Rebekah and I started working on what I thought was the next 6a2 song. However, it is way too mellow and breazy to fit in on second thought. ATMOS 206, our last song, barely fit the 6a2 style. And then we have other songs which won't work as 6a2 songs as well. So I suggested we record them and set them aside for something else. We'll probably just use a temp drum track to keep beat and then sub in my sister on drums when she has the chance to come down and record (you are reading this aren't you?). This project really needs to be guitar, bass, and drums with slight embellishments of other instruments here and there. The plan (right now) is to have a theme EP (or record depending on our productivity.) I'm stingy with the details because I always fear they'll get swiped up.

--

This isn't on topic either. I'm about ready to lay my novel aside for two months as per a suggestion by Stephen King. I don't really see him as any ideal to reach toward however this one bit of advice made sense. After you are done with writing put the book away for a while and then look at it later with fresh eyes when you are going to start the edit. So in the meantime I'm gearing up for my 3rd screenplay, working title is "Mental Note". When I set out to write a script I usually try to write it so that if I had the time and means later I could film it. Well this story involves a girl with down syndrome and two spider monkeys so it's immediately out of the realm of possibility for a future production. The genre is dark comedy along the lines of Solondz "Welcome to the Dollhouse." I'm hoping it will be a fun write. The novel has been such a long, dreary chore that I need something refreshing.

Excert

At about eleven o’clock we stopped at a dim diner. A little greasy-spoon affair with truckers winding down and moonlighting housewives pouring coffee thick and black like used motor oil. Smoke hung in the air and had stained everything nicotine yellow. Everyone fat, everyone slow-even the flies could only mange a precursory float, barely hanging, drifting on the air like bloated zeppelins. Christopher and me walked in looking like lithe aliens. We took a look. We took a booth-ripped of course and hastily “repaired” with green duct tape.


Christopher surprised me an ordered the entire menu like a death row inmate on his last night. Granted it was only a worn single page (yellowed of course) but it was still impressive. I raised my eyebrow quizzically. He shrugged it off.


“I’m hungry. I haven’t eaten since…. this morning?”


“Yeah and even then you had mine too.”


“You’re not hungry are you?”


The secret is that I am hungry. I could snap at any time. I could eat the layers of grease off the griddle in this pit. Every second is a fight against flesh.


“No Daddy, I’m not hungry. Although I could go for some gum I didn’t think to pack a toothbrush.”


“Drink some coffee.” He nudges a mug toward me and the content seems to jiggle like Jello.


“This late? I need to sleep.”


“There’s still a long drive ahead of us.”


“Where are we going?”


“The City.”


“Why?”



“To find you a place to stay.”


Christopher has been beating around the bush ever since we left the church in the morning. I’ll all for adventure but I’d at least like a handle on my destination. I think he senses my apprehension.


“Don’t worry, I think I know of place where you can hang out for a while and clear your head. You know, get your wits about you and prepare for your ministry. Kind of like me. When I got out of the seminary I spent a year wandering around Europe. Even Christ needed his forty-days away in the mountains.”


I smile for his sake and shrug off my wandering mind. “I just wish I could’ve went home for my toothbrush.”

Art

Mina's art teacher is impressing me. Somehow I pictured Kintergarden art class as construction paper and paste turkeys or something. However, Mina is coming home and talking about perspective and horizon lines and such. So school isn't a complete waste of time.

She was playing "artist" last night. She did this neat little mixed media piece with clay, water colours, and Christmas stationary.

Arbitrary Thoughts

Rebekah's always good for an interesting thought now and again. She was talking about how white trash people have a similar look that goes far beyond mullets and acid wash jeans. She believes that their skeletal structures are similar. She talks about such things as eye shape and placement and stubbiness of fingers. She theorizes that even when a person gets the glamour treatment that can't shake the "white trash" look they were born with and goes on to site Sheryl Crow as an example. I don't guess that it is too far fetched. If over time enough people breed within a select group they'll start developing characteristics that are unique to that group. That's how we got all the "races" in the first place. And if you mix the degenerative effects of alcohol and drug use during pregnancy you seal the deal.

--

Belle and Sebastian are coming to St. Louis in November ... on a meeting night ...

--

Mina wants to go on a picnic. Once upon a time I would say "no problem" and grab a ratty old blanket and a plastic grocery sack full of cold cut sandwhiches and go to the park. However that "Queer Eye" show has me convinced that I need a picnic basket and picnic china if I want to call myself a man.

--

The company I work for just secured a 3 million dollar contract. If there was ever a time to try to get a raise it's now.

--

Recently I've heard several people mispronouncing bestiality. It's "best" not "beast", people! Another commonly mispronounced word is menstruation. It's "menstrOOation" and not "menstration". And don't even get me started on "propitiatory". 99.9% of all JW's butcher that word.

Food Woes

When I get my first paycheck of the month we usually set aside $400.00 to cover our food and gas expenses for the next four weeks. The goal is $100.00 a week which we usually end up fudging the first three weeks leaving us stretched thin on the fourth week.

So on the fourth week it's time to get creative. Time for oodles of ramen noodles. Time for government cheese.

Time for deep discounts. We picked up three of these incredibly discounted Red Baron pizzas at the grocery store. Mind you, incredible discount does not equal incredible taste. I think they were practically giving them away to see if there was an interest in obscure flavours such as tomato and bacon, ham and pineapple, three cheese and garlic.

Time to scour the cupboards and pantry and pull out the unlabeled tins hiding in the back. I had some black beans and tortillas hanging around so I decided to make some burritos. Chicken, chorizo, and red pepper. Black beans, jalapeno, and onion. Roasted salsa. Here is the part where my tear ducts get tortured. First by the onions. Then by the roasted jalapeno peppers. Then by a habenero. And finally by chorizo. And here is the rub. Literally. Scrub all you want and the accumulated oils of it all will not come off your hands. So throughout the rest of the night and on into the morning everytime I rub my eyes I'm lit up all over again.

We've just got to make it to Friday...

Family Reunion

I went out in service Saturday with a Benadryl hangover. My year-long allergies start to perk up upon the onset of fall so I spend most of the autumn months in an antihistamine haze. We were working in the nice, new suburban neighborhood (of the we already have our paradise right here we don't need yours, thank you, variety) and along the road I saw a paper grocery bag filled with dead birds. Weird and eerie.

Afterward I ran home at noon to go to Rebekah's grandmother's house for their annual reunion. Needless to say these are generally a waste of Saturday. But, it's important to Rebekah so I go along. Her family is not very sociable. No one talks to each other. It's basically just sit around and drink beer, eat dinner, sit around and drink, build a bonfire, sit around and drink beer.



They rolled out the Sponge Bob pinata which I allowed Mina to beat with a clean conscience after reading that new Awake article. Rebekah's Mom butchered the cartoon characters name and kept calling him "Sponge Job".



I relax with beer #2 on the hammock.



This is Rebekah's cousin Tony with his two kids and his friend Krista.



Mina's feet at the end of the day.

Updates and Mic Hass

So we figured out the deal on the peanut incident. The cookie I ate was a chocolate cookie with chocolate icing. However when the sister made the icing she put a spoonful of peanut butter in with the icing. It was hidden and concealed. So when I took the initial bite the levels were too low to alert my peanut sense. It was only after I ate the entire cookie did the levels accumulate and throw my system into a frenzy. So now all my archenemies that read this know how to kill me.

Last night at the meeting I'm dozing because I couldn't find my Circuit Assembly notes so I really have nothing to contribute to the last part. So in a stupor I barely hear them announce my name for concluding prayer. This was a surprise. Usually I check the schedule and know about it weeks in advance; but this one slipped by me. My heart starts beating frantically and I spend the song trying to calm my nerves. I walk up and give a quick prayer thanking Jehovah for his creations and just barely get through it.

I caught the Folksmen on Comedy Central's repeat of Conan O’Brien yesterday evening. I like how they kept up the continuity of the the Mighty Wind movie going. The bass player was still dressed as a woman like the movie left off. After they played a song Conan did a brief interview with them. They stayed in character and Conan was tripping up trying to talk to them. It was the most awkward interview. Mighty Wind comes out on DVD in a few days and I will definitely be buying it. If it is anything like Guffman or Best in Show it will keep getting funnier with each viewing. (Waiting for Guffman is still the champ in my book.)

I woke up today and fired up the Mac and had six Spam e-mails containing the new "Swen" worm. Since my Mac is immune to such nasties I simply deleted the annoying e-mail messages. However, I started worrying about my network at work.

Television news is almost too comical at times. I watched it just a bit while waiting for the Simpsons to come on. It was ridiculous to see all these news reporters standing in the middle of some hurricane getting blown all over the screen and wind whipped and soaking wet. It's so over-the-top but I guess it makes for exciting TV or something.

Seeks Interesting Videos!

Well I'm working on having an event in October or November. I've been thinking of what I want to do with it. I haven't thrown a party since I was 16 and had a grad-party. I want to do some sort of video installation for atmosphere. I have access to the company Video Projector so I want to have some neat visual images projected on a wall. I was thinking something like these:

Lemongrass
Piano
Happy

So what I'm looking for will be merely decoration, no sound. So if anyone knows of where I could get a hold of a DVD (or even VHS) of some experimental/art film project or maybe even something else (obscure educational films, ancient home movies, cartoons, ? ? ?) to play, please comment or e-mail me. Any other ideas? Thanks!

Bible Study

One thing I've observed about the organization is that a bible study with your child is given less importance to a bible study with a random person you meet at the door. It's not so much an official stance as it is the attitude of some people.

Like when they throw out a statistic like "x amount of people come into the organization each day". I get the feeling most folks view that x as people outside the congregation. But it seems to me that a good portion of those "coming in" were already in as children of JW's. All organization figures that are given only take into account active publishers (baptized or unbaptized, they don't differentiate). The majority of children of JW's become publishers, maybe around age 10 or so. They may not go on to get baptized and make a commitment but they usually become publishers. I speculate the bulk of statistical growth is being provide by the progeny of Witnesses.

When asked to give a reason why "the end" hasn't come yet, some will point out all the growth that is still taking place. But if the growth is underage children of Jehovah's Witnesses wouldn't these skirt by destruction any way under the merits of their Witness parents? There is still tremendous growth but it may not be quite how people picture it.

So I'm not trying to dimish the importance of making return visits and conducting bible studies with outsiders. We conduct studies with people we meet in the ministry and maybe one a year become a publisher in our congregation. It still works and is necessary. I just think that bible studies with your children should be held in the same esteem. Perhaps they are viewed as easier so it's not as impressive or something. Or maybe they are so common that they lose there perceived value.

I guess the whole thing was brought on by the service overseer who visited our book study last night and pointed out that our bible study rate was "technically" with the national average. But he went on to say that if we didn't count the bible studies with our children then as a group we wouldn't have any studies. Why compare apples to oranges? The national average takes into account bible studies with children of JW's so it would seem right on target.

Not-So-Sweet Dreams

I really hate it when people tell me about their dreams. It bores me silly. So it is with great hypocrisy that I state the following:

Last night I dreamed that I visited an old teacher of mine who was afraid that I was there to kill her. "Why else would you return?" she asked me with tears in her eyes. I dreamed of being in the deep, dark service tunnels of the NY subway system where vagrants had made their homes and turned into silent shadows who tried to rob us. I dreamt of offering drugs to an addict and being chased up a flight of stairs and beaten. I dreamt of being in the rebuilt World Trade Center and was berated by a security guard when I didn't pay proper respect to the memory of the terrorist attack. Werewolves and vampires had chased me up a tree as my situation was being discussed on an alt-science AM radio show. And there were super heroes flying through the hi-rises fighting for domination.

And between each little scenario I awoke and stared at my alarm clock. The digital readout glowed bright read in near blinding luminance.

--

Growing up I regularly used to suffer from sleep paralysis. Somewhere between wake and sleep I would become paralyzed and unable to move. This was accompanied by a sinking feeling as if my brain was a bathtub drain and all my thoughts were water funneling down inside. I would become aware of an evil "presence" just outside of my field of vision. During these times I would try to fight it believing that if I could just move my foot I could break the spell. I would also pray frantically. It only lasts a minute but it is the most awful feelings I know of. In the aftermath I would be so terrified I couldn't go back to sleep for fear it would happen again. Fortunately, these episodes have diminished to maybe once a year. I used to think I was being attacked by demons (or aliens) and that horrified me. Now that I understand that it is a "natural" bio-chemical experience it's not so bad once the episode passes. But it still leaves behind this feeling of dread that is hard to shake.

--

I've often given thought to why we dream. As far as I know science hasn't provided a definitive answer. I speculate that perhaps it's our mind's way of organizing our mental hard-drive. Perhaps the brain is reviewing the day's experiences located on the desktop and moving them into to various file locations throughout the disk as well as chucking some of the events into the recycle bin.

Graduation Party

Lacey had her graduation party at Hartford park. I made a Potato and Chorizo Egg Custard with New Mexican Chile Sauce which is the only thing remotely "potluck" that I know how to make. I avoided all cookies like the plague not wanting a repeat of last weekend. I played some bocce until the brothers broke off for baseball so I retreated to a remote area of the park with my laptop and did some writing and editing on my novel. My father-in-law bought me a new cowboy hat after listening to me bemoan the loss of my original one some years ago. So I've been sporting it again new depression style. All the young boys had their skateboards out. Fresh off a viewing of "Dogtown and Z Boys" I grabbed one and tried to emulate those 1970's skate moves just about breaking my wrist in the process.

The whole day was kind of a downer because the band was supposed to playing until we couldn't get approval. It suckes to practice and practice and not be able to do anything. I talked to Brandon about renting the Wood River Round House for a night so that we could play before we start getting rusty again. I've been wanting to rent it anyway to have a dance party so I guess I'll just combine the two and do something in October. I might check around and see if Mikey Ramono wants to do a DJ set and then I could do one and then Mostly Minus could play. Rebekah can work the NA drink bar. It could be fun...but I always worry that some kid will do something stupid and their parents will get all hot at me because it's my event. I don't really know any of the kids around here to know who to invite so I'll end up just relying on giving the girls in my hall some invitations and telling them to pass them out as they see fit. That's scary.

ATMOS 206

To an extent our new song is done. I think I could tweak it some more; but, I'm ready to move on to other things, at least for the time being. It is definately my favorite so far as it is closer to the type of music I listen to. To sum up: girls and guitars. Rebekah gets to share the writing credit because she came up with the melody and really helped me to lay out the whole thing. Plus she kills the vocals. All of them. I have a big smile on my face.

Kool-Aid

After seven years of marraige you run out of things to talk about to your spouse and end up debating the minutia of pop-culture in effort keep the lines of communication open. In my relationship Vh1's "I Love The 70's and 80's" series have been a godsend for this reason.

Last night we got on the subject of Kool-Aid. Some families live and die by Kool-Aid. You open their kitchen cabinets and the little packets spill out from overflow. They are seldom without a fresh pitcher in the 'fridge. The children's upper-lips are always decorated with a Kool-Aid mustache. We are not one of those families--12 packs of pepsi to the point of overflow but never Kool-Aid.

I grew up on Kool-Aid. So did my friends. Each family had their favourite flavour. My buddy Casey always had lime. My sister's friend Laquina always had what was referred to as simply "red" as if the colour indicated the flavor like my least favorite, "orange." At our house it was usually lemonade.

So why no Kool-Aid now? I can think of two things that make me cringe dealing with Kool-Aid. Bad memories that provide a critical Kool-Aid impasse. First, the ghetto girls in grade school that used to carry around baggies of Kool-Aid powder and sugar and spend the day dipping their immortally stained fingers therein and sucking them with an unnerving slurping sound. Disgusting.

The other event was when I was out in field service once. This lady invites us in by yelling from her living room bed. It is a basically a "Gilbert Grape" scenario with this chronically obese, bed ridden woman in a thread bare nightgown that revealed too much laying and watching Soaps. She looked like a puddle, a pancake, a flounder. Her fat son walks into the room and interupts, "Mama. Look I found a packet of Kool-Aid!" He waves it about gleefully. "Now I can dye my hair!" The mother proceeds to tell (yell at) him that they need to save it to drink and the son is protesting that he needs to dye his hair Kool-Aid green. Disgusting.

--

Rebekah helped me work on our new song last night. It's turning out to be a catchy pop-rock song like the later Lush albums. We even got the rad two-part vocal harmonies in there. I'm really happy with this one I can't wait to share it.

I had an epithany with my book. Yesterday I woke at 5:00am and the ending that I was struggling to weave together from various plot threads had materialised in my brain somehow overnight. The book is done. I just have to finish getting it down on paper.

Early Graduation

This article relating to early graduation on CNN sparked my interest because I graduated shortly after my junior year. It wasn't nearly as easy for me as the school in question is making it. I think during my Freshman year I got to looking at the school rule book and started working the credit graduation requirements and deduced that if I played my cards right I could get out after my Junior year. I didn't love school and couldn't wait to get out.

I ended up taking these brutal 7:00am advanced science classes for extra credits and barely awake, barely skated by with D's and low C's. I skipped the basket weaving classes in favor of the core requirements, reading, riting, rithmatic. By the end of my Junior year I had numerically met the credit requirements but I had to pick up a summer school government class to meet the academic requirements.

Afterward I entertained the idea of going ahead and doing my Senior year. The way I looked at it I could only go to school one day a week and still graduate after having met the requirements or I could just go to school for fun and fail all the classes or do an entire curriculum of home economics. But in the end I just decided to write a letter to the School Administrator asking for permission to graduate early. I was perceived as bit of a rebel at the time due to my publication of a pissy little journalism rag so I think they were probably glad to give me the stamp of approval that sent me on my way.

At the ripe old age of 16 I graduated out of public high school.

Picnic in the Park

Our Congregation was giving a going away party for two of our pioneers who are moving at the park. Mina is still sick so I was going alone. Today was such a beautiful day I decided to ride my bike the eight miles to the park.

Food was served and I had the misfortune of grabbing a cookie containing peanuts in some form. I have bad peanut allergies. Usually when I eat peanuts accidentally there is just a little discomfort or maybe I throw up. Nothing too dreadful. Well today was not normal. I started feeling really bad, really fast.

I jumped on my bike and rode back home which nearly killed me. My chest was tight and my skin was itchy. My heart was pounding furiously. Finally, I made it home and grabbed my emergency asthma inhaler and took some puffs hoping that it would go away. It didn't.


Rebekah decided to go out shopping with her mother so I found myself home alone and quickly feeling worse and worse. So I called Rebekah to let her know I was driving to the hospital. I should have called an Ambulance; but it felt like overkill. I could barely drive and almost hit a pedestrian and then ran a stop sign and almost hit another car.

Upon making it to the emergency room my face had turned ghost white and my arms were bumpy and red. They checked my breathing and rushed me to the back where they started an IV and fed me some benadryl and some epiniphrine They plugged me up with some O2 and administered a couple albuterol breathing treatments.

I've had this allergy all my life and the only other time it landed me in the hospital was the very first incident as a small child. Usually it's no big deal; I can't fathom why this time was different. Usually when I bite into something I can tell it has peanuts in it and spit it out. This time it was only after I had ate the whole cookie. But even when I've had experiences like that it didn't almost kill me.

At 6:30 I was released from the ER and Rebekah came and took me home. I have insurance but I'm still set back $75.00. But I guess $75.00 is worth it to be alive? There was a couple seconds when I was worried that I wouldn't get to finish my book.

In retrospect it would have really been nice if they shoved a breathing tube down my throat. I still have to write something like that for my book and it's so much easier to use real life experience over what you read about. I don't like to fake it. The good is that I got a nice ER experience in my head for a couple of parts. I was sleepy because of the drugs they were giving me but I still tried to pay attention to the sights, sounds, smells, and feelings.

Mostly Minus; September 14 @ Hartford Park; 7:30p

An ode to hip-hop

I grew up in the ghetto. Rephrased: I grew up outside the ghetto where the white people lived. So at that point in my childhood where I developed musical tastes seperate from my parents I turned to hip-hop or rap as it was commonly reffered to. I think this might have been because it was what I was exposed to. Or maybe I was just trying to be down so that I wouldn't get shoved in the lockers. Maybe not.

I started with the crossovers like DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince and M.C. Hammer and RUN DMC who were getting pop radio play. But it soon lead me to the greener pastures of groups like Tribe Called Quest and Brand Nubian.

Back in that day there were no JW rock bands going around but there were rap groups. In a neighboring congregation a couple of [physical] brothers (one being Brandon who I play with now) were rhyming over pilfered beats. (Back then when you bought a rap cassingle the b-side was usually just the music so you could rhyme over it.) Their cassette started working its way around the circuit and by the time I got my seventh-generation copy the sound quality was so bad I had to turn my stereo up super loud to hear it. But it was cool none the less. I still remember some of the choice lyrics such as "when it comes to dresssing, I'm not in the middle. Put on my best suit and tie my tie like Brother Little."

My first attempt at making rap records was a nice failure. I didn't know what a sampler was so I was manually creating loops with old disco records and a cassette deck. Me and my friend Derek were going to try rap over it but ended up just giving five-minutes worth of shout outs. "I'd like to give a shout out to the carrot! Yo carrot you taste good." My first time performing was when we started rhyming at these teen parties under the moniker of Tone Def and D-Wreck. Usually one cover, Das EFX "They Want FX" and then one original.

Meanwhile Ice-T and NWA were getting media attention because of their songs "Cop Killa" and "F*** Tha Police". Rap's days were number as far as JW's were concered. When the governing body dropped the blade on rap they also sliced in half my musical ambitions. I gave it up and didn't look back like Lot's wife. I can't complain at all because when I left hip-hop the alternative thing started happening in the mainstream which lead me to Belly and then to Throwing Muses.

Now I look around and Witnesses kids are listening to hip-hop again. I knew it was only a matter of time before it started becoming acceptable. If you look at old magazines you'll see that both "the twist" and Disco dancing were at one time outlawed. Now these are JW wedding reception standards. Even the elderly widows are out there doing the twist--hip replacement and all.

The problem is that mainstream rap hasn't become any better. The violence/gangsta element isn't as prevelant as it used to be; but, it's been replaced by an emphasis on sex, drugs, and partying. The materialism (bling, bling) is still there as well as the self-centered attitude and boasting. (I know that there are exceptions to this but they are exceptions and not the rule.)

I don't have any hip-hop CD's anymore. I got rid of them shortly after that first article came out. But lately I've been downloading some of those old tracks. I really like that jazzy hip-hop like Tribe and Digable Planets.

Me and Brandon both have a common musical background even though what we listen to today is different. We both grew up on hip-hop. I guess that explains why the hip-hop beats keep creeping up when we start working on songs. Brandon almosts raps in his new song. Awww shucks it's almost old times. That got me thinking about all of the above. I'm almost coming full circle. I think we have both outgrown hip-hop for us to come out with something that's just straight rap but at the same time I don't think we can shake the elements of it. Case in point is Brandon's new song trENDsetters. (As a whole I don't really like this one that much just bits and pieces therein.)

Autumn. Long leaves of bright undress.

It feels like Fall no matter what the calendar says. I love this time of the year. I like that slightly cool edge to the air and wearing jackets and going to bed with the window open creating a nice little chill. Sam Adam's has their Octoberfest seasonal out right now which is also really good.

This time of the year also finds me at my most creative for some reason. I've really been too lax on my book and need to renew my efforts to finish it. Over the past couple of weeks I've just been writing a paragraph here and there when I'm inspired or think of something cool to put in. I've already wrote the ending. Write now I'm just trying to fill in the little pieces that get me there.

Mostly Minus has been shut down by the law again. We won't be playing at the Park next Sunday because we are not "nice, quiet jazz band". After our brush with the police the last time we played out we thought we should check before hand this time altough since the park is really isolated we didn't think there would be a problem. I've said it before I know but playing out is the only redeeming thing about being in the band and so far it hasn't really happened. It's my turn to write the next 6a2 song. Rebekah's helped me out quite a bit. I'm calling it ATMOS 206 right now. It's shaping up to be really cool and fun.

Our local grocery store just got really ethnic. They have a nearly a whole half-isle for Mexican foods. We are starting to find a lot of Mexicans in our territory so I guess that makes sense. What doesn't make sense is the new large section of Asian foods. They've always had the token Chinese items but they added Thai food and most surprisingly Japanese. I can't even imagine the white trash in our area attempting sushi! I picked up a couple packets of Udon--basically a much better ramen noodle soup.

There's more going on but I'll save it for another journal entry....later today BOCCE!

Random, Inexplicable Hatred

I was stopping to think last night about just how I could develop a downright fear and loathing of the colour purple. I'm not talking about the book or the film (which I kind of like) but the actual colour. I cannot stand it. And not in the sense of simply not liking the color or prefering others but downright hating it. If you look around my house you will not see one purple item. I wouldn't even buy my daughter a purple bicycle. I love red and blue but I'm fundamentally opposed to their integration. I'd tried to trace it back and the only thing I could come to was a bad experience with grape bubblegum getting stuck to my shoe. I don't know. It's just hard to fathom why I should hate a color. It makes absolutely no sense. And even though I cannot admit to it as being stupid I could not change it if I wanted to.

More Pop

As a bit of continuation from my last posting: Last night I was in a bad mood so I started taking it out on my guitar. I cranked the gain up on the amp and was hammering away to this super-goth-beat I had made up. And the weirdest thing happened. By the time I was done for the night I had the basis for the pop song that was eluding me. Do you know how some annoying songs stick in your head? Well that's how this was. I was trying to sleep and the chorus to my song was on infinite loop inside my brain.

baby I wanna dance.
baby I wanna dance
baby I wanna dance
because this is a pop song

The lyrics are deliciously inane I can't wait to see how the song turns out. So that's the whole trick then to writing top-40 music. The ironic twist. You have to be angry and mad at the world to write cheery, bubblegum anthems.

Pop Rocks!

Brandon and I were talking about how our last three songs have been a perpetual/progressive downer. So we are making a conscious effort to make our next two songs a little more fun or upbeat or something. We've been alternating working on each other's stuff and B is next up to bat with what he calls our novelty song. Look for "trendsetters" soon. It has an old-school hip-hop vibe going on. And me? I've been content just to reach in the pool of years worth of unfinished bits or chord progressions or what not and wrangle a song out of it. However, now I have to come up with something poppy. And it's hard! I've been listening to non-stop pop music in an effort to figure it out. Last night I bought Papas Fritas' new greatest hits/unreleased tracks/dvd compilation, Pop Has Freed Us. Now those guys can craft a pop song! And they make it sound so easy. What's the formula? Hand claps? Assorted Oooh's and Aaaah's? I love pop music. The Carpentars. Abba. Beach Boys. Simon and Garfunkle. Brilliant. I'm just in awe because I don't have it in me.

I do know one thing that makes a pop-song. Flagrant use of the word "baby". Don't believe me? Just turn on the local top-40 radio station and count how many songs have the word in there. At one time it was like 2 out of 3.

So I went to Radiohead last night, although I never did find a fourth to the party. As a little background the first time I ever saw radiohead (and the only other time) was when I was 15(?) and my dad took me to see Belly. Radiohead opened and at that time just had the one song on the radio, "Creep". I didn't know that there was the radio version and the album version of the song. So they dropped the f-bomb a couple of times and I was so worried that my Dad was gonna say "come on son let's go." and that I would miss Belly. We didn't leave; however, the next time I went out to get a new CD my dad said, "I hope it's not that radioman band."

Steve Malkamus and the Jicks opened up. I used to like Pavement but the Jicks just didn't do it for me. They sounded too jam-band, like an indie-phish. Then Radiohead came out and did their thing which at this point in their career is basically experimental noise rock. It's weird that they've retained their popularity from where they started to where they are at now. Perhaps they are similar to the Beatles from "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" to the white album. (Not bigger than Jesus though). They are still one of the few groups from that came out at that time that are still around. (Trying to think of who else is still around in the mainstream from that early-alternative time period: Pearl Jam and STP and ? ? ?) When I see experimental bands I always sit back and think "wow, that sound was neat" but as a whole I'm not moved.

As the night progressed Thom Yorke took shots at the venue, Clear Channel, and the VIP boxes in between songs. Thanks guys! I deserve to be booed because I happpen to work for a company that happens to own a box for shows like Alabama and happens to give me the leftovers. And then as I leave I pass their merchandise booth where a radiohead t-shirt will cost you $35-$45 I suspect that they must not be too anti-corporation/money.

Music

We worked on "Trendsetters" last night and had a pretty productive evening down in my basement. I twisted Rebekah's arm until she came down and recorded the chorus. She nailed it and it sounds so good. Not so much the music or anything but her vocal delivery is so on. So the song is about 90% done, just little tweaks here and there and a better mix. I even managed to work in a little nod to Wesley Willis which was fun.

It's cool to be producing music, even the shoddy, dimestore variety we generate. I'd much rather spend an evening working on something original then trying to learn to play the latest modern rock single like I do with our other band, Mostly Minus. Mostly Minus was starting to get interesting for a bit. They had come up with some original material and the plan was to start playing out. Nothing spectacular, just playing at the local pizza parlor or sub shop. Well the guitarist is 18 and lives at home and his dad shut us down. He didn't want his son playing out for whatever reason. So of course we had to support that. We are not about to go encourage out and out rebellion. Well the grapevine rumor is that the guitarist is moving out on his own. And if that happens then we might start playing out again. That at least is something to look forward to even if the music sucks.

As for playing live as 6a2. I'm not ruling it out. It's been a background thought as we have been making the songs. We want them to be natural as possible without them becoming too dependant on the computer. I think we have been successful to some extent. The only thing is my vocals. I have that low-fi fem voice going on Vincent and I reused it again on the new song. As a singer I think I do better with a girl voice than a guy's. Really as long as I get a vocal effects unit of some sort with pitch shift I think it could happen. Tentatively we plan to play out toward the end of the year. I really, really want that to happen.

My sister is coming down briefly Friday night. I really wanted to record her playing drums. There is an old, old song that we did together once upon a time that I want to resurrect. The drum beat would be near impossible to produce with the drum machine. It's too involved and she's too talented. It's just this neat epic song that I miss playing. But she is not going to be around long enough for it to happen. That's dissapointing.

Old People

The old guy across the street from me died, which sucks. I've watched him work to fix up his house over the past couple of years. He's slow but the house has really been shaping up. So he makes improvements to it and dies and can't even enjoy it. The other old guy down the road came over to tell me. I think he was just itching to start a conversation. His whole life is spent under the tree in his front yard. He just sits and waits. I'd talk to him more but his milky eye is kind of creepy. I need to try to be more compassionate. I really do. I only love two people. Should I love more? Could I?

Music

I have an extra VIP ticket to Radiohead this Sunday if someone in the St. Louis area wants to go.

Rebekah got me a Cardigan's CD she found in a thrift-store. So now after all these years I finally own my very own copy of Lovefool. Cool.

First Day of School

I took an extended lunch break today to go with Rebekah for Mina's first day at school. It was basically an hour for her to find her classroom, meet the teacher, and for the teacher to lay down the law. So we went over how hitting and firearms are not tolerated, how snack day works, and the method the teacher will be using to help them learn the alphabet (I guess the ABC song set to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star is ineffective in this age of the Internet). If there was a soundtrack for the morning it would be "White Trash Moon" by Kristin Hersh. I think Mina got put in the stupid class. One of her fellows is a eight year girl who has been held back twice. I was one of the few Dads present. (To my pride I was the one with a full set of teeth.)

We need to set a time to go over the whole pledge, holiday, birthday issue with the teacher. Little did I suspect we would have to hit it so soon. Tomorrow (the first full day) is a classmate's birthday and her Mom is bringing in treats! Hmmmmmmm.

Indie

I'm a fan of independent cinema. I like some music groups that are categorized as being indie. I wasn't aware that there is this whole subculture of people that are classified as "indie". I don't get it or maybe I'm just out of touch. So "indie" is short for independent. So if a person is independent they dress in matching uniforms of bargain basement flood pants and low-top converse all-stars? And that makes sense...

Forget making sense. The part of it that I found downright repugnant is the posturing that goes along with it. Sure I enjoy Belle and Sebastian but I'm not about to take that leap wherein I feel that listening to them elevates me over my fellows. How can one determine that the more esoteric a band is the better they are? There are some people that if their favorite indie band in the world suddenly became popular they would cease to like them. (Or if they lent their music to a commercial.) It's not about the music it's about the accessibility of it.

To be fair this form of elitism spills over into other areas of life. Wine snobs. Film (celluloid) purists. Denae who only reads "Whitman".

And where am I? Balanced hopefully. Yeah, I appreciate acquired tastes. Solondz. Winterson. Chimay. However, I'm woefully in love with pop-culture. Case in point: I enjoy Avril.

Weekend Related Things

I swear it must have been 90 degrees when I woke up in the morning Saturday. I rallied the troops and we headed out in field service. Nothing too fruitful came out of the morning except that Richard offered to loan me his copy of Seven Samurai.

After service Brandon came over we started working on our new song. I had already had a nice 909 beat with a 303 bass line I had worked up so it didn't take long for me and Brandon to add guitar and keyboard tracks. Topped off with a sample swiped from Kristin Hersh it seems nice. One more vocal session and it should be done.

Rebekah and I watched Seven Samurai in its entirety. I do mean "entirety". The film was over three hours long with a 20-minute intermission.

Went to sleep satisfied...

And today? Not much. Went to the meeting. The guest speaker was from a rural congregation so he had all these redneck illustrations that flew over our heads. "Now of course we all like our possessions. But if we had to choose between our four-wheelers and fishing boats or the truth, what would we pick?" He was a lively, good ole' boy that kept a nice pace and me from dozing. What more could I ask for?

Afterward we went grocery shopping for the week. Came home grilled some burgers. Played around with T-Racks.

Score 1 for Creation, er Nature

Once again creation has trampled over mankinds' latest and greatest. Scientists have identified a sea sponge that has been doing fiber-optics longer and better than us. They are now studying it to figure out how to make our fiber optics as good. I think this will be a long time in the making considering their track record at trying to duplicate the created world. I enjoy how they are all eager to give credit where credit is due. "It's such a wonderful example of how exquisite nature is as a designer and builder of complex systems," said Geri Richmond, a chemist and materials scientist at the University of Oregon. (italics mine) Once again nature becomes a surrogate placeholder for that three letter word that science cannot utter -- "GOD".

Sick as a Dog

Yesterday at work I started getting mentally sick and then by the end of the day I physically sick. Throwing up, out, over. I couldn't decide if I had the flu, or food poisening, or was just wigged out over a bad situation at the office. By the time I went home my body was in extreme pain and the only thing that helped was soaking in the bath tub. I took 3 baths last night.

Today I woke up feeling exhuasted but better. I'm so fatigued. For my hour lunch break I climbed in my car and fell asleep. I can't wait to get home to my bed. I feel miserable. I would've called off today but it would've had the appearance that I was ducking out of seeing my boss after yesterday's fiasco. So I showed up. I want to go home.

Chicago

Our Chicago weekend flew by and we had some good fun. Our first stop was Ikea. I had my eye on some stools on their website but the shipping was outrageous. We decided to take the opportunity to just pick them up. I couldn't believe how big that place was! From the scant amount of items on their website I couldn't imagine that it was a three-level shop the size of a small mall. There we met my sister and her friend from Madison, WI, Carrie.

That night we went to see what will probably be one of the last performances of Throwing Muses. David the drummer is calling it quits and Kristin and Bernard are reforming as 50'~ (Fifty Foot Wave). We ate dinner at the Abbey Pub until the doors opened and then staked our claim at the front of the stage. It's funny how no matter where you see Throwing Muses there is many of the same people. We saw Jason and Christine Mitchell and the annoying Jon Lovitz lookalike that was in San Fransico in 2001.

The show got started at about 10PM. The opening bands were ho-hum; but how could they compete with our favorite band in the world? The Throwing Muses show was killer. Musically the band was so strong and Kristin's voice was awesome. Rebekah was really dying for them to play her favorite, Mania. She got it during the 2nd encore. So she was happy. The show concluded at about 1:30AM. We left satisfied but a little sad that we probably wouldn't get to see them again.

So it was back to the hotel. Our hotel was screwed up so that they didn't have two double beds that we requested on booking. The idea of sleeping four of us on a king size was not an option so I grabbed the floor. I was so tired that it didn't even matter and it wasn't the first time I had fallen asleep on a hotel floor (it was however the first time sober). I woke up under the desk and I was glad that I didn't jump up instantly in the morning or I would've been in for a serious concussion.

The next day we just spent shoe shopping at some of the stores along Halstead street and the surrounding area and headed home.

I Loathe the 80's

First off on band names. Monocle was already taken so I tried Narwhale which was already being used so I settled on SixAfterTwo or 6a2 or 2:06 or whatever for me and brandon's little songs because I already had this domain name. So we were supposed to record our new song tentatively titled "Vincent" last night but the drummer of the rock band we are in decided he could play for the first time in 3 weeks. Plans changed much to my regret.

Playing loud obnoxious male rock music is fun but it is not fullfilling. I go home feeling soiled. The lead (and I do mean LEAD) guitar player was showing off his new guitar which he remarked was very "Pantera". So we bounced through some sloppy renditions of the songs on our setlist and spend time learning a new original (very Blink 182) and a cover of "Send the Pain Below" by a band called Cheffelle or something.

The best part of the evenings are just sitting around and chatting with guys something I rarely do any more since my friends of old have left. We were talking about how 80's style is making a comeback. The hair. Outlandish colours. Brandon even mentioned that he saw acid washed pants with elastic leg and waste bands in a catalog a young sister had. I hate 80's fashion I hope it's a brief fad.

Produce

I tried to grow tomato plants this year but my black thumb had another agenda entirely. Not that they're dead but merely stunted. All I have is these little plum sized green tomatoes on plants that are on only one and a half feet tall. So I have been relying on the kindness of others as their tomatoes are coming in. Last night someone brought some huge ones to the Kingdom Hall. I grabbed this super large bulbous one that bore an uncanny resemblence to Joeseph Merrick's (The Elephant Man) head. We brought it home and turned it into salsa and guacomole. YUM.

It seems we are having more and more parts regarding foreign languages on the Service Meeting. In our area the foreign language population is directly tied to the number of Mexican restaraunts that are open at any given time. So apart from the occasional spanish-speaking fajita chef we don't really have to deal with it. It's weird though the different languages you'll run into. I came across this lady who only spoke Macedonian. Folks in the cities might not think this odd; but, here to find someone speaking Macedonian in a rural farming territory seems bizarre.

It looks like Chicago is going to happen this weekened. How weird that I live in Illinois but have never been. When I go to a Throwing Muses show I'm always torn about whether I should watch the shown or tape it for posterity. You can't really enjoy the concert when you are viewing it through the viewfinder of a camcorder.

Down to my Last

Eek! I'm getting down to my last few tabletas of Clenbuterol that I bought while vacationing in Mexico. They've really worked on my asthma but unfortunately the FDA will not approve the drug for sale in the US. I'm going to see if I can get my doctor to prescribe it and I can buy it over the Net from Canada or Mexico. If not I'm either stuck with stupid inhalers or will have to make a trip north or south of the border.

Concerts

So last night I came within inches of skipping out on the book study to go see Liz Phair. (What a terrible, terrible sentence.) But just as I was ready to commit that terrible travesty the show sold out. Last year I was offered tickets to go see Allison Krauss (one of my guilty pleasures.) but I refused because the show was the night of the book study. I must be slipping.

But that's OK that I missed Liz Phair. There are a ton of great shows it seems coming up. First and foremost THROWING MUSES this weekend at the Abbey Pub in Chicago. My boss gave me his VIP tickets to Radiohead in a couple of week and Steve Malkmus is opening up. (What a coincidence practically the only two guy singers I like are touring together.) Then in September it was announced that the Aisler's Set will be touring with Yo La Tengo. (The Aisler's Set being one of my new favorites.) Then Julianna Hatfield & Some Girls will be starting their tour. They haven't announced an STL date yet. If they don't I might try to catch them in Madison, WI where my sister lives. Then Kristin Hersh should be starting her solo tour.

In other more important goings on the gap between true and false religion is widening or at least becoming more visible.

Krispy Kreme

More developments in the Krispy Kreme story. Friday night I e-mailed Krispy Kreme regarding the profanity used by their employee. My e-mail was more fueled by a desire to try to get a coupon for some free dougnuts then some sort of righteous indignation. Well yesterday the manager of the North County Krispy Kreme called to apoligise to me about the cursing incident. I hate talking on the phone. That's the reason I e-mailed my complaints in the first place! So I kind of stammered and stuttered for a bit and then hung of the phone. Well tonight the regional manager called me to get some information and to offer his apologies. ARRRGGG! I was only trying to get some free doughnuts; I didn't want to deal with this. Tommorrow the president of Krispy Kreme will probably call me.

My friend from Southern Illinois called me up out of the blue. He only calls when there is an assembly or convention coming up so he can bum a place to stay. Well it turns out his convention is this weekend. Surprise! Surprise! I had to break it to him that we are going to Chicago this weekend for the last Throwing Muses show EVER! He'll be scrambling for a room now.

Brandon and I finished our second song and the first recorded on the computer. I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out. We are recording under the name Monocle as a tribute to Mr. Peanut or Col. Klink. Here is Rival The Sun

The Zoo

Yesterday we took Mina to the St. Louis Zoo. The Zoo is really one of the shiny points of an otherwise lackluster city. I can't think of any other free zoo that can compete in terms of scope and execution. To that end I always cringe when I hear people complaining about having to pay $2.00 for soda there. Don't they realise that a zoo like this would cost them at least $15.00 a head elsewhere?


They recently added a new house for penguins and puffins that I was eager to check out. It must be popular because there was line to get into it. I've never seen a line for anything at the zoo. The cool (literally) thing about it was that inside they kept it at 45 degrees. It was like a meat locker. Along the pathways that had these transparent swimming tanks for the birds. You could reach out and touch them if you were so inclined. (Prior to entering the Zookeeper warned against it because they bite.) The designer must have taken a lesson from Walt Disney World because you exit right into a gift shop.


Animals in zoos really have it made. In his book Life of Pi, Yann Martel's character Pi argues against people who would like to view zoo animals as prisoners. He laughs at people who picture lions in the wild sitting on the African plain admiring the sunset or planning a vacation. Zoos, as he explains, provide food and water as well as a secure environment, free from predators. Animals, he says, prefer the familiar. The small environments zoos give them are better suited for their phyche. Zoos are doing for animals what humans have done for themselves for a long time--supplying all their needs in a condensed environment, or home.