One of my cousins just graduated from Northwestern University in Illinois, and SHE also has a radio show.
Awesome.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
awesomeness post #9
Bebe is out of the hospital after having a stroke last week and they are treating him for having too many white blood cells. He's doing well and will be performing at the Rhody Fest in Florence.
Awesome.
Awesome.
awesomeness post #8
I filled a 2 x 2 x 2 box with things I own that I know Tam loves and will send it to her for her birthday in a couple of days.
Awesome.
Awesome.
awesomeness post #6
I leaned on our back porch the other day and a splinter the size of Baltimore lodged itself into my hand.
Spectacular. Awesome.
Spectacular. Awesome.
awesomeness post #5
We have tulips growing all around our house. Pink, orange, red, yellow, purple and some variegated ones.
Awesome.
Awesome.
awesomeness post #4
I am back in college to do something after 20 years away from school. (doesn't count the music theory class that I failed or the semester of bass lessons)
Awesome.
Awesome.
awesomeness post #3
I have spent the last year helping to plan a blues festival featuring Back Door Slam, Tommy Castro, and Doc Mongo and Harry Harpoon.
Awesome.
Awesome.
awesomeness post #2
I have a bunch of guitars. None of them cost more than $100. They are all wonderful.
Awesome
Awesome
and don't forget it
Just because I'm awesomeness personified, I'm going to spend a few posts spreading my glow.
My friend Tam is going to have another baby. Her other baby is 15 now. Tam is getting married in June.
Awesome.
My friend Tam is going to have another baby. Her other baby is 15 now. Tam is getting married in June.
Awesome.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Py update
We walked up to the vet so Smart Half could get the skinny on the little guy in a more coherent way than I had been able to convey it. His condition had not improved too much except that his dehydration is improving. The vet brought him into the room so we could see him and he was happy to see us, was doing his rumbly low purr that he does, bumping his head on us (i think I left with a quarter inch of fur covering my sweatshirt). The vet was happy to see him perk up, and said he hadn't moved that much while he had been there. So we cuddled him and pet him and let him leave fur all over us and she explained his situation and the possible treatment options. Then I went to my class and came home and brought a dirty t-shirt (not filthy. just a worn one!) over, just something that smelled like me, for them to put in the boarding cage with him. Vet said that he had actually eaten a wee bit of food when they put him back in his cubby, and then they gave him a little kitty dose of valium and he ate a couple more bites and sipped some water and then crashed out. So that was great to hear. And she said that after he ate, they checked his sugars again and they only spiked a little bit, by about 20 points, so that was encouraging. She will call me again in the morning and update again, and I will probably stop into the office again and see him since it seemed to do some good today. They are giving him IV fluids and electrolytes in as well as antibiotics for his UTI and at least THAT is responding.
Py is my cat, always has been. You know how they are. Or maybe I'm his person. I don't know. He responds best to me and only grudgingly pays attention to Dale, which is why I thought the shirt that smelled like me might be comforting for him to have in his cubby.
I decided, and I think Dale too, that when these four guys are gone we're going to take a pet break for a few months, and the go to Jody (Strayer of the Cat Eyes blog) in Albany for another kitty or maybe two.
Py is my cat, always has been. You know how they are. Or maybe I'm his person. I don't know. He responds best to me and only grudgingly pays attention to Dale, which is why I thought the shirt that smelled like me might be comforting for him to have in his cubby.
I decided, and I think Dale too, that when these four guys are gone we're going to take a pet break for a few months, and the go to Jody (Strayer of the Cat Eyes blog) in Albany for another kitty or maybe two.
Bill Clinton at KCC tomorrow
aaargh. Well, at least he'll be there AFTER my class. I wonder what kind of mob i'll be facing when I arrive in the morning though. Better leave the weed at home. (lol j/k. or am i).
Clinton at KCC
Clinton at KCC
Pril won't eat it, and she'll eat just about anything
One of the guys around here that I have jammed with told me about a project he's trying to put together. He really kind of danced around with it and when he finally got to his point i understood why he danced around with it.
He wants to start a band that plays top 40 country (right about now i ran off to the parking lot and barfed. No joke). He wants me to be in the band on the bass (already barfed once. Nothing left to barf). Everyone he talked to said, and he quoted "There's no fucking way you are ever going to get Pril to play that". Sho 'nuff. I considered it for a few minutes. He said "I want a bass player that isn't older than dirt and has their teeth still". Yah, ok.. I'm that. I mulled some more.
"Ok, my friend. I'm thinkin about it. But! BUT!! You gotta be willing to sneak in some altish-country-ish stuff that I like" because here's the deal- I'm willing to play music I hate, i mean I already do it and I have been doing it since I started playing the bass, but when the person who asks me to play with them totally discounts my opinion and my own musical history, and then expects me to cheerily play crap that makes my eyes bleed, they can cram it as far as I'm concerned. They can find another bass player.
The main reason I'm actually contemplating this is that this guy is a great singer, good musician, and writes pretty good songs. He's very talented in that regard, I have always enjoyed jamming with him. I really only know him sort of superficially. I have been told he can be an asshole, but it seems like its the kind of asshole I can deal with. The fact that he agreed to sneak in some altish-country-ish stuff if I decided to join his project is encouraging.
And once we got going with it I could really finally dump the job. Which I don't actually hate, just find unchallenging and tedious. I did try to quit it a couple of weeks ago but they talked me in to staying on.
Plus, if I could find a rodeo queen outfit, i'd have a place to wear it, and that's a big plus. Totally.
He wants to start a band that plays top 40 country (right about now i ran off to the parking lot and barfed. No joke). He wants me to be in the band on the bass (already barfed once. Nothing left to barf). Everyone he talked to said, and he quoted "There's no fucking way you are ever going to get Pril to play that". Sho 'nuff. I considered it for a few minutes. He said "I want a bass player that isn't older than dirt and has their teeth still". Yah, ok.. I'm that. I mulled some more.
"Ok, my friend. I'm thinkin about it. But! BUT!! You gotta be willing to sneak in some altish-country-ish stuff that I like" because here's the deal- I'm willing to play music I hate, i mean I already do it and I have been doing it since I started playing the bass, but when the person who asks me to play with them totally discounts my opinion and my own musical history, and then expects me to cheerily play crap that makes my eyes bleed, they can cram it as far as I'm concerned. They can find another bass player.
The main reason I'm actually contemplating this is that this guy is a great singer, good musician, and writes pretty good songs. He's very talented in that regard, I have always enjoyed jamming with him. I really only know him sort of superficially. I have been told he can be an asshole, but it seems like its the kind of asshole I can deal with. The fact that he agreed to sneak in some altish-country-ish stuff if I decided to join his project is encouraging.
And once we got going with it I could really finally dump the job. Which I don't actually hate, just find unchallenging and tedious. I did try to quit it a couple of weeks ago but they talked me in to staying on.
Plus, if I could find a rodeo queen outfit, i'd have a place to wear it, and that's a big plus. Totally.
pie charts
with some trepidation i registered for my summer math class today. On my placement test it was suggested I take math 10 or math 20. Ok. So i looked at both of them. math 10 i already got in my head, the whole number math. I don't have issues with that stuff. math 20 it is. I did better on decimals than fractions. Always had a hard time visualizing numbers as pieces of something, and recall very clearly having to make a pie graph to do every stinking fraction problem I ever came across. You know, you draw a circle, and draw a line to symbolize 1/2. Then other lines to cut it down further. Then, adding fractions, two stupid pies and I just was never able to quite get this stuff into my head. I can find the lowest common denominators and work out things like 4/5 + 7/16, it takes a while but I can do it, but yeah.. sigh... math.
Anyway, I'm gonna get a freakin A in my math class. I already decided that. Math over the summer- my own worst nightmare come true.
Anyway, I'm gonna get a freakin A in my math class. I already decided that. Math over the summer- my own worst nightmare come true.
py and the vet. again.
Had to run Py up to our wonderful vet (no, really, she is a wonderful vet. I'm happy her office is two blocks away) because he was acting strangely on Saturday. Walking loopy, whizzing where he should not, not very social, not eating much, just generally looking ill. I noticed the odd behavior on Friday evening and got him in as soon as I could, and it was *sudden* strangeness. Not something that came over the course of a couple of days. Just one day normal, the next day not normal at all.
Py is 11. He has been at the vet since Saturday morning. They had not been able to ferret out exactly what is wrong with him. I just talked to the vet and they were finally able to get a urine sample from him, which showed evidence of a UTI, so they are treating that. But he also showed, when she called me back Saturday afternoon, that his blood sugar levels were sky high (350. Cats have a similar levels to humans, with average being around 150), his potassium was low, and a couple of other things that now I can't remember. Blood cells doing things they should not, things like that.
She thinks he may be diabetic. :( Which brings me and the Smart Half to the question of when do we stop treatment? And when we do, should we let him go naturally, which could be so awful, or have him euthanized before it gets to that point?
So we will be going up there today to see him and talk to the vet and look at options and all that stuff. I would hate to lose him, and we have never hesitated to care for our little four-legged guys, but this could easily and quickly balloon beyond what we can afford. And I would have to wonder about the quality of life for a cat already old and then having to give him insulin daily, which affects some other things apparently. Not that I wouldn't do it, of course, but I wouldn't want him to not feel good or be in pain. I want our guys to be happy and comfy and live to a ripe old age, of course.
We also have two other old cats (one 14 and one 15) and one who is just not very bright and caring for them is also something we have to consider when we're paying for Py's problem.
What to do.
What to do.
I guess I'll start by reading about caring for a diabetic cat and then go on from there.
I'm so sad, though. It's been a rough year for our guys so far.
Py is 11. He has been at the vet since Saturday morning. They had not been able to ferret out exactly what is wrong with him. I just talked to the vet and they were finally able to get a urine sample from him, which showed evidence of a UTI, so they are treating that. But he also showed, when she called me back Saturday afternoon, that his blood sugar levels were sky high (350. Cats have a similar levels to humans, with average being around 150), his potassium was low, and a couple of other things that now I can't remember. Blood cells doing things they should not, things like that.
She thinks he may be diabetic. :( Which brings me and the Smart Half to the question of when do we stop treatment? And when we do, should we let him go naturally, which could be so awful, or have him euthanized before it gets to that point?
So we will be going up there today to see him and talk to the vet and look at options and all that stuff. I would hate to lose him, and we have never hesitated to care for our little four-legged guys, but this could easily and quickly balloon beyond what we can afford. And I would have to wonder about the quality of life for a cat already old and then having to give him insulin daily, which affects some other things apparently. Not that I wouldn't do it, of course, but I wouldn't want him to not feel good or be in pain. I want our guys to be happy and comfy and live to a ripe old age, of course.
We also have two other old cats (one 14 and one 15) and one who is just not very bright and caring for them is also something we have to consider when we're paying for Py's problem.
What to do.
What to do.
I guess I'll start by reading about caring for a diabetic cat and then go on from there.
I'm so sad, though. It's been a rough year for our guys so far.
gathering them up
Spent about an hour last night having a semi-drunken conversation with the publisher of a local newspaper. Not our big one, but the one all the snooty people call a rag. Well, you know.. as it goes... he's runnin a newspaper (with a distribution of about 30,000) and what the hell are you doing?
He was drunk, me not so much. Anyway, I think I will be having him come on the show, if he remembers what the scrunched up paper in his pocket is all about.
anyway it was nice to run into another person- and I run into these people a lot in KF, actually- who agrees its best to get outside your echo chamber once in a while and observe that people who don't necessarily agree with you aren't the enemy. That the true enemy is the people who tell us it's US vs THEM in our country. US being whatever label you stick on yourself and THEM being the ones who don't share the label.
I don't have an echo chamber anymore. Having a small attention span, the yammering and hollering and airs or superiority got old real fast. I actually enjoy talking to people who don't agree with me 100% on everything.
He was drunk, me not so much. Anyway, I think I will be having him come on the show, if he remembers what the scrunched up paper in his pocket is all about.
anyway it was nice to run into another person- and I run into these people a lot in KF, actually- who agrees its best to get outside your echo chamber once in a while and observe that people who don't necessarily agree with you aren't the enemy. That the true enemy is the people who tell us it's US vs THEM in our country. US being whatever label you stick on yourself and THEM being the ones who don't share the label.
I don't have an echo chamber anymore. Having a small attention span, the yammering and hollering and airs or superiority got old real fast. I actually enjoy talking to people who don't agree with me 100% on everything.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
surrounded!
over the past couple of years i've gotten to find and correspond with a handful of people i knew in high school and immediately after it. Out of probably 15 women who I had as friends, I've talked to about 8. And six of them are lesbians. The friends I most enjoyed hanging out with.
I just thought that was interesting, and their stories of their coming out were fascinating. And I'm glad I was friends with them.
I just thought that was interesting, and their stories of their coming out were fascinating. And I'm glad I was friends with them.
Friday, May 02, 2008
How Puddin is doing or "Ever Fallen In Love"
Wednesday I was playing Puddin with some friends and we were all laughing about pistachio pudding.
Yesterday at the store, I ran into one of those friends at the store. She was buying a mat to sleep on for camping. She got in line next to me and we were giggling about something, when the woman in front of us triumphantly held up a box of pistachio pudding for the cashier, saying "I almost gave up looking for this when I found it" (a funny enough turn of phrase in itself), and my friend and I about died right there in line laughing.
I go five years without seeing, tasting, mentioning or hearing about pistachio pudding, then suddenly get a guitar that looks and plays like the stuff, and then come across someone who was desperately searching for it.
But this guitar, I tell you, it's like being in love. I leave places early so I can "go home and play my guitar". I take it out of its case, look at it, inspect it for the millionth time, play a song on it and put it away, only to do it all over again a couple of hours later. I pine for it when I'm away from it. I would send it stalker-like text messages if I could. Love letters. Dirty messages on its voice mail. I played it at the jam last night and someone said "You and that guitar were made for each other". I can't keep my hands off it if it's out of its case and within sight. I get PISSED OFF if I want to get home and play it and something gets in my way. I daydream about it in my classes and at work.
Yesterday at the store, I ran into one of those friends at the store. She was buying a mat to sleep on for camping. She got in line next to me and we were giggling about something, when the woman in front of us triumphantly held up a box of pistachio pudding for the cashier, saying "I almost gave up looking for this when I found it" (a funny enough turn of phrase in itself), and my friend and I about died right there in line laughing.
I go five years without seeing, tasting, mentioning or hearing about pistachio pudding, then suddenly get a guitar that looks and plays like the stuff, and then come across someone who was desperately searching for it.
But this guitar, I tell you, it's like being in love. I leave places early so I can "go home and play my guitar". I take it out of its case, look at it, inspect it for the millionth time, play a song on it and put it away, only to do it all over again a couple of hours later. I pine for it when I'm away from it. I would send it stalker-like text messages if I could. Love letters. Dirty messages on its voice mail. I played it at the jam last night and someone said "You and that guitar were made for each other". I can't keep my hands off it if it's out of its case and within sight. I get PISSED OFF if I want to get home and play it and something gets in my way. I daydream about it in my classes and at work.
well i never
I can't believe it.
I broke the Ibanez!
Oh nothin serious. Went to tune it last night, I haven't played it in a couple of days, and lo and behold if the E string tuner wasn't just spinning in its enclosure.
So yeah at some point today I will have to remind myself to deal with that. They're sealed tuners. That probably means I will have to buy another one. Worse yet, a whole new set for just one.
Well. Not bad for a bass made in the 90s that takes as much abuse as this one does.
I broke the Ibanez!
Oh nothin serious. Went to tune it last night, I haven't played it in a couple of days, and lo and behold if the E string tuner wasn't just spinning in its enclosure.
So yeah at some point today I will have to remind myself to deal with that. They're sealed tuners. That probably means I will have to buy another one. Worse yet, a whole new set for just one.
Well. Not bad for a bass made in the 90s that takes as much abuse as this one does.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
caught up in all the excitement
a newspaper makes a boo-boo
I read the original article yesterday, which they've taken down, unfortunately, but may still be out there by way of google or something.
The comments are killin me.
It's almost like a big, late April Fool's Day joke.
I read the original article yesterday, which they've taken down, unfortunately, but may still be out there by way of google or something.
The comments are killin me.
It's almost like a big, late April Fool's Day joke.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
what it is
A blog is like having your own radio show. Kind of. Or more than kind of.
Maybe having your own radio show is like having a blog? Just a different medium, but mostly self-indulgent bullshit sent out to whoever might care to look/listen.
Really.
myspace.com/butcherkfo
Maybe having your own radio show is like having a blog? Just a different medium, but mostly self-indulgent bullshit sent out to whoever might care to look/listen.
Really.
myspace.com/butcherkfo
whatever blows your hair back
When I got home I took a couple of minutes to plug Puddin into the big amp. Puddin is it's name, of course. All my guitars have names. It was Pete for a while but we decided Puddin was better.
Anyway. Puddin is a screaming bitch through the big amp. I am pleased to no end.
no no no. I'm fuckin stoked.
What are my guitars names, you ask? Ok maybe you don't but you get them anyway.
'57 acoustic Harmony Archtone six-string: Luna
'63 Harmony H2- Buster
'90s Ibanez GSR100 (at least I think that's the model. I don't have it in front of me)-Thud
undated ancient frankendano guitar- Greenie or JR
'90s Epiphone acoustic (model unknown, never bothered to look)- The Range (as in Home on the...)
The Yamaha I traded for the boots, that was my brother's, had a name for a short time- Yomamaha. Like Djeef's drums.
Anyway. Puddin is a screaming bitch through the big amp. I am pleased to no end.
no no no. I'm fuckin stoked.
What are my guitars names, you ask? Ok maybe you don't but you get them anyway.
'57 acoustic Harmony Archtone six-string: Luna
'63 Harmony H2- Buster
'90s Ibanez GSR100 (at least I think that's the model. I don't have it in front of me)-Thud
undated ancient frankendano guitar- Greenie or JR
'90s Epiphone acoustic (model unknown, never bothered to look)- The Range (as in Home on the...)
The Yamaha I traded for the boots, that was my brother's, had a name for a short time- Yomamaha. Like Djeef's drums.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
two goals
Yes two. !!
I am going to get an A in my math class over the summer. Ok I have never in my life gotten anything better than a C in ANY math class. But I'm going to get an A in this one. There's no reason I can't.
I'm going to start a garden. It probably won't be of any use until next year, but I'm doing it anyway. I'm going to use the square-foot gardening thing. I will start with a 3 x 3 square and see how it goes from there.
Our backyard is long and flat. I could fit something like 10 4 x 4 plots out there if i ever felt that adventurous. It'll be predominantly for food, but I intend to grow some flowers too. Next weekend I'm going out to mark off the spot and go out and see about scavenging some boards.
I already have a compost pile going. It's just that up until now it was just where we threw stuff that fell off the trees and put lawn mower clippings sometimes. I will build a chicken wire enclosure for it and see how that goes. It's going to be behind the garage, and with any luck, will stink like hell and piss off the jackasses on that side of us. haha just kidding. maybe.
Already every scrap of plastic and paper and cardboard goes in our bins. Returnable bottles and cans get carted off to become shiny nickels. I'll just start a new bucket for compostable bits and start adding that to the pile.
I am going to get an A in my math class over the summer. Ok I have never in my life gotten anything better than a C in ANY math class. But I'm going to get an A in this one. There's no reason I can't.
I'm going to start a garden. It probably won't be of any use until next year, but I'm doing it anyway. I'm going to use the square-foot gardening thing. I will start with a 3 x 3 square and see how it goes from there.
Our backyard is long and flat. I could fit something like 10 4 x 4 plots out there if i ever felt that adventurous. It'll be predominantly for food, but I intend to grow some flowers too. Next weekend I'm going out to mark off the spot and go out and see about scavenging some boards.
I already have a compost pile going. It's just that up until now it was just where we threw stuff that fell off the trees and put lawn mower clippings sometimes. I will build a chicken wire enclosure for it and see how that goes. It's going to be behind the garage, and with any luck, will stink like hell and piss off the jackasses on that side of us. haha just kidding. maybe.
Already every scrap of plastic and paper and cardboard goes in our bins. Returnable bottles and cans get carted off to become shiny nickels. I'll just start a new bucket for compostable bits and start adding that to the pile.
Monday, April 28, 2008
pistachio puddin
I played the Danelectro for a couple of hours today through my weenie little 25 watt(I think it's 25?) Behringer v-tone practice amp.
That little amp always surprises me. It gets a lot of neat sounds. Good deal for $70 at the pawn shop.
Anyway yeah. The Danelectro. It is the color of pistachio pudding. Which I love. To eat and just look at. Whatever that means. And it plays like puddin. Just plays super nice. Maybe I'm just used to the extra force necessary for an acoustic guitar, but to me this thing plays like a dream come true.
I played with all the switch settings and fiddled with the different sounds on the amp and it just sounds good through all of them. I really like how it sounds dirty.
Tomorrow, the big test. How does it sound with some watts behind it? I will play it through the 100 watt bass head and 15" ported cabinet and see which neighbors complain first.
That little amp always surprises me. It gets a lot of neat sounds. Good deal for $70 at the pawn shop.
Anyway yeah. The Danelectro. It is the color of pistachio pudding. Which I love. To eat and just look at. Whatever that means. And it plays like puddin. Just plays super nice. Maybe I'm just used to the extra force necessary for an acoustic guitar, but to me this thing plays like a dream come true.
I played with all the switch settings and fiddled with the different sounds on the amp and it just sounds good through all of them. I really like how it sounds dirty.
Tomorrow, the big test. How does it sound with some watts behind it? I will play it through the 100 watt bass head and 15" ported cabinet and see which neighbors complain first.
most gorgeous geet score
Ok well I haven't been able to buy a guitar in a while. In fact, I didn't buy this one, it was given to me. Add it to the collection of pawn shop queens that I have. This is a pic of one just like it. - click here
Mine is not a reissue, though. it's the real deal. Masonite and all. In near mint (har har pun cos of the color) shape, though. I haven't had a chance to play it yet.
But, FINALLY! An electric guitar that works good. I love my old green unidentifiable dano/silvertone thing but I am so frustrated about the pickups on it that just never play it. They're old pickups... older than the Harmony bass has, the pots were dated at '59 on it, and the pickups are just old and worn out and need to be rewound, probably.
Mine is not a reissue, though. it's the real deal. Masonite and all. In near mint (har har pun cos of the color) shape, though. I haven't had a chance to play it yet.
But, FINALLY! An electric guitar that works good. I love my old green unidentifiable dano/silvertone thing but I am so frustrated about the pickups on it that just never play it. They're old pickups... older than the Harmony bass has, the pots were dated at '59 on it, and the pickups are just old and worn out and need to be rewound, probably.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Saturday, April 26, 2008
more on multiplying
its not for any ethical or idealogical reason that my smart half and i don't have kids.
I babysat when I was a kid for spending money, kids of all ages, 6-month-olds to second graders. All that pretty much rubbed out any desire for kids I might have had. That desire has never returned.
I see people getting batty about wanting kids, and I guess I'm wired up all funny because I don't understand why. I lack the mommy gene or something.
When I do think about it, having a kid of my own, I come to the conclusion that I would be an inattentive, probably selfish, possibly resentful parent.
I like kids. I like to teach kids stuff, but wouldn't want to be an actual teacher because it doesn't seem like teachers are allowed to teach much anymore. I know a teacher who had a class of fifth graders that didn't know about primary and secondary colors and that red and blue make purple. Raise your hand if you knew that by second grade.
I babysat when I was a kid for spending money, kids of all ages, 6-month-olds to second graders. All that pretty much rubbed out any desire for kids I might have had. That desire has never returned.
I see people getting batty about wanting kids, and I guess I'm wired up all funny because I don't understand why. I lack the mommy gene or something.
When I do think about it, having a kid of my own, I come to the conclusion that I would be an inattentive, probably selfish, possibly resentful parent.
I like kids. I like to teach kids stuff, but wouldn't want to be an actual teacher because it doesn't seem like teachers are allowed to teach much anymore. I know a teacher who had a class of fifth graders that didn't know about primary and secondary colors and that red and blue make purple. Raise your hand if you knew that by second grade.
good thing that shit's not contagious
I swear almost every one of my chick friends is pregnant right now. One just had a baby.
How do you render into text the noise one makes when suffering a deep shudder and saying "bleh"?
How do you render into text the noise one makes when suffering a deep shudder and saying "bleh"?
on the visuals
The phrase "When the shit hits the fan" wandered into my head this morning.
So I explored it, by visualizing such an event.
Damn that's funny.
So I explored it, by visualizing such an event.
Damn that's funny.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
free firewood
oh i almost forgot to mention.
Yesterday morning there were a couple of crews working their way south on the 97 doing some fuels reduction stuff in the KNF. Quite a few nearly dead trees came down, there were piles of stuff, a lot of the trees had their woofhairs trimmed, and a few stacks of neatly stacked, uniformly cut wood rounds were scattered around. Some of what went over in the storms over the winter were cut, too. This was on the southern end of the Mt Hebron summit, but not quite to grass lake.
I also noticed that the load of potatoes that dumped at the 161 and 97 in March has been dwindling.
Yesterday morning there were a couple of crews working their way south on the 97 doing some fuels reduction stuff in the KNF. Quite a few nearly dead trees came down, there were piles of stuff, a lot of the trees had their woofhairs trimmed, and a few stacks of neatly stacked, uniformly cut wood rounds were scattered around. Some of what went over in the storms over the winter were cut, too. This was on the southern end of the Mt Hebron summit, but not quite to grass lake.
I also noticed that the load of potatoes that dumped at the 161 and 97 in March has been dwindling.
a gas price report
My first two stops in Siskiyou are fuel stations, but I didn't notice the prices at either one of them because the sign isn't in my line of sight when I arrive just due to how the lots are set up. They're both in south Weed. Next two stops are in Mt Shasta, though.
Where immediately after coming into town at the central Mt Shasta exit I was totally stoked I had filled up in Oregon. Gas at the central exit area is $4.05/gallon for 87. The cheapest I saw was in S. Weed when I left, at $4.03.
Apparently there was a glitch since I was there in Mt Shasta last. Somehow one of their stores pumps got set to .39 cents a gallon. The manager said people were lined up down the road to get gas when she came in to fix it. Yeah, I guess so. A couple of weeks ago one of the toilets in one of their stores exploded. Yes. Exploded. Probably scared the crap out of the little kid who ran out to report it. (hur hur)
So I paid more attention on the way home.
McDoel Shell- $4.15/gallon. Diesel is close to $4.50.
Dorris $4.17 at the Alliance station, $3.99 at the other one.
Did not notice the price at the Worden truck stop, even though I was there for an hour and a half. They do have Biodiesel there, though.
In town, the cheapest I've seen is $3.59. The one closest to our house has it for $3.69.
Why am I in school? Oh yeah... slightly less than my half of hourly wage buys me a gallon of gas.
Where immediately after coming into town at the central Mt Shasta exit I was totally stoked I had filled up in Oregon. Gas at the central exit area is $4.05/gallon for 87. The cheapest I saw was in S. Weed when I left, at $4.03.
Apparently there was a glitch since I was there in Mt Shasta last. Somehow one of their stores pumps got set to .39 cents a gallon. The manager said people were lined up down the road to get gas when she came in to fix it. Yeah, I guess so. A couple of weeks ago one of the toilets in one of their stores exploded. Yes. Exploded. Probably scared the crap out of the little kid who ran out to report it. (hur hur)
So I paid more attention on the way home.
McDoel Shell- $4.15/gallon. Diesel is close to $4.50.
Dorris $4.17 at the Alliance station, $3.99 at the other one.
Did not notice the price at the Worden truck stop, even though I was there for an hour and a half. They do have Biodiesel there, though.
In town, the cheapest I've seen is $3.59. The one closest to our house has it for $3.69.
Why am I in school? Oh yeah... slightly less than my half of hourly wage buys me a gallon of gas.
Monday, April 21, 2008
everyone else's crazy weather
Not so alarming here, I guess. Last year we had a lump of cold move through in early June, leaving snow over parts of the Grass Lake area and a fresh coat on Mt Shasta. The year before, it snowed over Memorial Day weekend. I know, because I was up at the Running Y trying to keep my bass tuned at an outdoor gig.
(later- changed labor day to memorial day. I always think labor day is in May. Must be the commie in me)
Which is why last year, during the Earth Day celebration, where they had the group of scientists outside in Antarctica playing music, I laughed til I cried.
(later- changed labor day to memorial day. I always think labor day is in May. Must be the commie in me)
Which is why last year, during the Earth Day celebration, where they had the group of scientists outside in Antarctica playing music, I laughed til I cried.
Yesterday's NASCAR
Hey anyone watch the Nationwide series race at Mexico City yesterday? That was a good race!
And then I got to watch part of the Long Beach Grand Prix, too.
Just a good weekend to hole up in the house and fritter away a couple of hours. It was cold and snow-showery yesterday.
And then I got to watch part of the Long Beach Grand Prix, too.
Just a good weekend to hole up in the house and fritter away a couple of hours. It was cold and snow-showery yesterday.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
just have to tell someone
no one else I know would probably be as excited as I am about getting "The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys" album by Traffic, today. But I have to tell someone.
So yeah, I'm thrilled to death. Thanks for being excited with me!
So yeah, I'm thrilled to death. Thanks for being excited with me!
Eat her dust, boys
Danica Patrick is now the first woman to ever win an IndyCar race.
Friggin awesome. I knew she would do it eventually.
Friggin awesome. I knew she would do it eventually.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
crap from the phone's notepad thing
(spelling preserved)
1. Ker bdate 4:24p
2. Metro berlin chord
3. sticjers 4 main and tl
4. minuteman and bedlam r overs 4 robyn
5. Rodney 500 dol boat 1 5 ft w evinrude
6. God is a bullet eind
7. 513572
8. kf hope dope
9. beat keepers union
10. bren eraser
1. Ker bdate 4:24p
2. Metro berlin chord
3. sticjers 4 main and tl
4. minuteman and bedlam r overs 4 robyn
5. Rodney 500 dol boat 1 5 ft w evinrude
6. God is a bullet eind
7. 513572
8. kf hope dope
9. beat keepers union
10. bren eraser
interesting - anyone need work?
While in Tulelake yesterday I and the owner of the store I was working at had a conversation with someone who is involved in one of the local farms.
This is the gist of it. I didn't get to follow the whole conversation because standing around jawing with people doesn't get me out of a store any faster.
Strawberries and strawberry stock are going into the ground right now. RIGHT NOW.
There are not enough workers to do this.
Anyone interested in a job should get hiking over to this area.
Anyone who says "Illegals steal jobs from Americans" has an opportunity to prove it. Anyone who can find one single anglo-American willing to plant strawberries and strawberry stock should be sure and send them this way, or even pull on some work clothes and do it themselves. Oregon unemployment is, as usual, high, so no excuse for a shortage of farm workers, really. REALLY.
Does this make me pro-illegal immigrant? No. Nor does it make me anti. Just pointing out a little real-life issue for anyone interested. I know no one in the bigger cities will give a rat's ass about basin farmers or their issues. That's already been shown over and over, that if you don't live in one of Oregon's big cities, your voice is not worth hearing.
Granted, Tulelake is in CA, but the strawberries are going in on the Oregon side, as well.
Enjoy your imported strawberries, I guess.
We're eating cake, still. Just like we were told to do in the early '90s. By people who love "protecting the worker".
We also have thousands, yes thousands, of acres of sick and dying and dead trees and 30 years of fuel buildup waiting to either catch fire or be doctored, but the doctoring involves cutting, and no.. can't have that. Much better to just watch all the forests, including "old-growth", go up in huge canopy fires and then find someone extraneous to blame for it. And then some poor guy who needed a decent job and got one as a wildland firefighter will burn up with the trees and who can be blamed for that...
Assholes.
"Tourism!!!" What a big fat fucking joke. It's all been a big fat joke.
Oregon- "The Punchline!"
This is the gist of it. I didn't get to follow the whole conversation because standing around jawing with people doesn't get me out of a store any faster.
Strawberries and strawberry stock are going into the ground right now. RIGHT NOW.
There are not enough workers to do this.
Anyone interested in a job should get hiking over to this area.
Anyone who says "Illegals steal jobs from Americans" has an opportunity to prove it. Anyone who can find one single anglo-American willing to plant strawberries and strawberry stock should be sure and send them this way, or even pull on some work clothes and do it themselves. Oregon unemployment is, as usual, high, so no excuse for a shortage of farm workers, really. REALLY.
Does this make me pro-illegal immigrant? No. Nor does it make me anti. Just pointing out a little real-life issue for anyone interested. I know no one in the bigger cities will give a rat's ass about basin farmers or their issues. That's already been shown over and over, that if you don't live in one of Oregon's big cities, your voice is not worth hearing.
Granted, Tulelake is in CA, but the strawberries are going in on the Oregon side, as well.
Enjoy your imported strawberries, I guess.
We're eating cake, still. Just like we were told to do in the early '90s. By people who love "protecting the worker".
We also have thousands, yes thousands, of acres of sick and dying and dead trees and 30 years of fuel buildup waiting to either catch fire or be doctored, but the doctoring involves cutting, and no.. can't have that. Much better to just watch all the forests, including "old-growth", go up in huge canopy fires and then find someone extraneous to blame for it. And then some poor guy who needed a decent job and got one as a wildland firefighter will burn up with the trees and who can be blamed for that...
Assholes.
"Tourism!!!" What a big fat fucking joke. It's all been a big fat joke.
Oregon- "The Punchline!"
Thursday, April 17, 2008
friggin GOLD MINE
the station has an incredible amount of oddball shit. I'm like a kid in a candy shop when I go in on Thursday usually, Paul runs it and I go hunting for interesting blues stuff and other goodies. Found in the vinyl today (and making me impatient to learn to run the turntables right) the Transvision Vamp album that has "Tell That Girl To Shut Up" on it. The Trashcan Sinatras. Oodles of Hoodoo Gurus. I generally borrow three or four CDs and make them mine, and then return them. Stumbled upon a Mike Scott CD today. I didn't even know he had a solo CD. Mike Scott from The Waterboys.
Which reminds me, when I had the Wild Irishman on a couple of weeks ago, he was shocked I had heard of the Waterboys. I was shocked that he was shocked. Didn't everyone know who the Waterboys were? Apparently not, as he says I am the first American he had met that knew who they were.
Shit, I could rattle off the words to about half a dozen Waterboys songs and can play at least three of them on the geetar.
Which reminds me, when I had the Wild Irishman on a couple of weeks ago, he was shocked I had heard of the Waterboys. I was shocked that he was shocked. Didn't everyone know who the Waterboys were? Apparently not, as he says I am the first American he had met that knew who they were.
Shit, I could rattle off the words to about half a dozen Waterboys songs and can play at least three of them on the geetar.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
i feeeeeeel nice
I got some feedback about my show finally. I had given a couple of copies away to some people who can't get the station at their house so they could hear it. Yeah, I record them.
"I listened to the whole thing. I have to say I liked about 75% of what you played. There was some good stuff on there."
Which made me feel good. Not one top 40 hit among them.
I also came to an alarming conclusion about what I already have. Ok, I have done four shows now, where probably 50-60% of the songs have been cover songs. I have not had to repeat them at all yet. I still have a ton of cover songs left that I haven't played or can't play because of the FCC. So, four shows at three hours each, with about half those hours being filled with cover songs. About six hours of cover songs. Figure you can probably play about 20 songs in an hour.
There are those who would say that's demented.
"I listened to the whole thing. I have to say I liked about 75% of what you played. There was some good stuff on there."
Which made me feel good. Not one top 40 hit among them.
I also came to an alarming conclusion about what I already have. Ok, I have done four shows now, where probably 50-60% of the songs have been cover songs. I have not had to repeat them at all yet. I still have a ton of cover songs left that I haven't played or can't play because of the FCC. So, four shows at three hours each, with about half those hours being filled with cover songs. About six hours of cover songs. Figure you can probably play about 20 songs in an hour.
There are those who would say that's demented.
more of the same
Smart Half and I were chowin a lunch at Red's the other day. Red's plays country music in their restaurant. I love the food there, but the music is unbearable, basically.
A song came on and the singer's name escapes me. The same chick who sings that song about vandalizing the ex's truck with a louisville slugger. Which I hate, anyway. But this other song had the same structure, vocally and musically. And it occurred to me that the singer is not as talented as maybe some think. She has very little vocal range. Like listening to a female Chad Kroger (the guy from Nickelback).
There's just no escaping shitty music. Doesn't matter where you live, either.
A song came on and the singer's name escapes me. The same chick who sings that song about vandalizing the ex's truck with a louisville slugger. Which I hate, anyway. But this other song had the same structure, vocally and musically. And it occurred to me that the singer is not as talented as maybe some think. She has very little vocal range. Like listening to a female Chad Kroger (the guy from Nickelback).
There's just no escaping shitty music. Doesn't matter where you live, either.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
dammit
I had thought of something interesting driving back from Bend, but apparently left it floating in the air along highway 97 near Chemult.
Ooh Back Door Slam was great, of course. And I got to kind of talk to Davy Knowles and Adam Jones, but they had this blonde piece of duct tape clinging to them when ever we tried to have a conversation with one of them. We'd talk to one, and she'd float up and stick to him, and we'd talk to the other one, and there she came again, being sticky. heh. I did, however, score a promo for my show. wootness!
Ooh Back Door Slam was great, of course. And I got to kind of talk to Davy Knowles and Adam Jones, but they had this blonde piece of duct tape clinging to them when ever we tried to have a conversation with one of them. We'd talk to one, and she'd float up and stick to him, and we'd talk to the other one, and there she came again, being sticky. heh. I did, however, score a promo for my show. wootness!
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Confession #982
I just spilled this in a comment here.
I really dig Neil Diamond. Been a fan since I was a wee tyke. My mom had a bunch of his records. Know the words to most of the damn songs still.
I'm listening to "Solitary Man" right now. I love the low brass in it. The snappy little hip-snap beat. The acoustic guitar over the horns. The melancholy.
The man writes some fantastic songs.
I really dig Neil Diamond. Been a fan since I was a wee tyke. My mom had a bunch of his records. Know the words to most of the damn songs still.
I'm listening to "Solitary Man" right now. I love the low brass in it. The snappy little hip-snap beat. The acoustic guitar over the horns. The melancholy.
The man writes some fantastic songs.
lewser
heh. I just spent like an hour and a half looking through and playing through like 20 duran duran songs.
I just went looking for "Friends of Mine", I swear...
I just went looking for "Friends of Mine", I swear...
Saturday, April 12, 2008
its nice
I have thought, for a few years, that a musicology degree would be awesome, and right up my alley, but also completely pointless. But it is there, on my interests regarding a degree. And I see that UofO offers it as a degree program. Part of me says, "Do it. Get the degree in the commercial art thing and minor in musicology.". Sounds totally reasonable. But then so did quitting a great job so I could do more cocaine, so you see why I often doubt my decision-making abilities.
On the other hand, my friends sometimes call me from various parts of the country to ask me things like "When DID Milo go to college?". "Are Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukenen the same guy?" and "What's the diff between a Chicago shuffle and a Texas shuffle?". And a favorite rolled in about three months ago, from New Mexico, "Can you explain, again, why the old church had such a hard-on about fifths?". Which I love explaining, because it's so totally ridiculous. As is so much associated with the early Catholic church.. and come to think of it, the modern one, as well.
I'm something of an amateur musicologist already. I'd like to complete it somehow.
On the other hand, my friends sometimes call me from various parts of the country to ask me things like "When DID Milo go to college?". "Are Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukenen the same guy?" and "What's the diff between a Chicago shuffle and a Texas shuffle?". And a favorite rolled in about three months ago, from New Mexico, "Can you explain, again, why the old church had such a hard-on about fifths?". Which I love explaining, because it's so totally ridiculous. As is so much associated with the early Catholic church.. and come to think of it, the modern one, as well.
I'm something of an amateur musicologist already. I'd like to complete it somehow.
Bummer!
*cry*
I found out about halfway through my show today that KTEC was off the air. Something is up with the transmitter. So I just finished up the show and left at the usual time. I was recording it to send someone. If its still down next weekend I think i'll go visitin to Coos Bay for a weekend. Tam got a hot tub.
Anyway I had put together this "thing", I know they have names but I can't remember what it's called, about the Damned's song "In Dulce Decorum". The original recording of it had a bit of a Churchill speech at the beginning, but the version I have doesn't have that, so I added a bit of a General Jack Pershing speech in that was recorded in 1918. Then 'splained how the song was inspired by a Wilfred Owen poem, "Dulce et Decorum est", which in turn came out of a speech by Horace. It took me a long time to put it together and dig up the right information, and then NOBODY HEARD IT!!! oh well... I have it ready for next week. Or whenever we're back on the air.
I found out about halfway through my show today that KTEC was off the air. Something is up with the transmitter. So I just finished up the show and left at the usual time. I was recording it to send someone. If its still down next weekend I think i'll go visitin to Coos Bay for a weekend. Tam got a hot tub.
Anyway I had put together this "thing", I know they have names but I can't remember what it's called, about the Damned's song "In Dulce Decorum". The original recording of it had a bit of a Churchill speech at the beginning, but the version I have doesn't have that, so I added a bit of a General Jack Pershing speech in that was recorded in 1918. Then 'splained how the song was inspired by a Wilfred Owen poem, "Dulce et Decorum est", which in turn came out of a speech by Horace. It took me a long time to put it together and dig up the right information, and then NOBODY HEARD IT!!! oh well... I have it ready for next week. Or whenever we're back on the air.
It's time for the grunion!
Grunion run. The name still makes me giggle, because it was always fun to see and has such a funny name.
What is a grunion run?
This time of year in San Pedro, mill-ee-uns and mill-ee-uns of these tiny little fish wash onto the sand on oncoming waves, spawn and wash back out. Crowds of people line the beach to watch. Some are down at the waterline scooping baby-food jars full of them for science projects. I did it in elementary school a few times, for classes and my girl scout troop.
Now, you have to have a fishing license to catch them. Didn't used to. But it didn't really become an event until John Olguin started teaching about it.
30 years ago, Olguin seemed an old man to me. He's almost 90, now. A native Pedroid and born there in 1921. I loved going on field trips to Cabrillo to get learnin' from him. He had an accent, even though he was born here. I don't know where his family was from. But it made it so you had to listen carefully to what he was telling you about, really had to listen because the stuff was so cool. Like, the critters who make little holes in the rocks around San Pedro harbor are pittas. Weird that I would remember it, but I remember more HOW he said it than what he said about them.
To the grunion!
What is a grunion run?
This time of year in San Pedro, mill-ee-uns and mill-ee-uns of these tiny little fish wash onto the sand on oncoming waves, spawn and wash back out. Crowds of people line the beach to watch. Some are down at the waterline scooping baby-food jars full of them for science projects. I did it in elementary school a few times, for classes and my girl scout troop.
Now, you have to have a fishing license to catch them. Didn't used to. But it didn't really become an event until John Olguin started teaching about it.
30 years ago, Olguin seemed an old man to me. He's almost 90, now. A native Pedroid and born there in 1921. I loved going on field trips to Cabrillo to get learnin' from him. He had an accent, even though he was born here. I don't know where his family was from. But it made it so you had to listen carefully to what he was telling you about, really had to listen because the stuff was so cool. Like, the critters who make little holes in the rocks around San Pedro harbor are pittas. Weird that I would remember it, but I remember more HOW he said it than what he said about them.
To the grunion!
Friday, April 11, 2008
LBGP time!
The Long Beach Grand Prix is coming up.
In my late teens and early 20s I knew someone who lived in a tall apartment building in Long Beach that you could see part of the route of the race from the higher floors, and from the roof you could see about the whole thing. Going to spend a weekend at her place for the GP was the highlight of my year for three years.
In my late teens and early 20s I knew someone who lived in a tall apartment building in Long Beach that you could see part of the route of the race from the higher floors, and from the roof you could see about the whole thing. Going to spend a weekend at her place for the GP was the highlight of my year for three years.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Suomi awesomeness
I have had a chance over the last couple of days to give the Leningrad Cowboys album a precursory listen (all three CDs, all the way through).
Their version of Sweet Home Alabama is not on the album, unfortunately. Luckily it can be found on YouTube for anyone interested.
The album is pretty good. To be a band and take this grand scheme on the road must have been a hell of an undertaking. It also seems to be a huge cross-cultural mishmash. This is what I mean-
A lot of the album artwork is very Mexican looking. A painting of a skull that's reminiscent of something you'd find on Dia De Los Muertos adorns the CDs. The costuming on the band and backup singers also reminds me of Mexican folk art. Hanging from the sides of the stage are giant middle eastern carpet designs. The band is Finnish. They brought along the Red Army Air Force Ensemble (and these guys are great to watch in the videos on YouTube), UMO Orchestra, Angelique Kidjo, The Wild Magnolias, Jamar and the Galaxy, Johanna Rusanen and Zsar Aleksander II. I don't know who those folks are. Have to look them up. Songs on the album range wide. "Black Hole Sun" (sung by an female opera (maybe? Sure sounds like opera training) singer with a heavy eastern european accent), "Those Were The Days" (yes, that oooold song), "Sweet Home Chicago", "No Woman No Cry", "El Cuarto de Tula", "Keep on Rockin in the Free World" and "Kashmir" (also sung by that opera singer). All of this with full orchestra backup, choir backup, balalaikas and other Russian instruments, regular type band which includes an accordion and various guitars painted and designed in all wildness. So far my favorite song on the album is "Easy Livin". Mostly because I love the song anyway and it's the first time I've heard someone else do it.
Can't wait to listen to it some more and am dying to play it on the show.
Their version of Sweet Home Alabama is not on the album, unfortunately. Luckily it can be found on YouTube for anyone interested.
The album is pretty good. To be a band and take this grand scheme on the road must have been a hell of an undertaking. It also seems to be a huge cross-cultural mishmash. This is what I mean-
A lot of the album artwork is very Mexican looking. A painting of a skull that's reminiscent of something you'd find on Dia De Los Muertos adorns the CDs. The costuming on the band and backup singers also reminds me of Mexican folk art. Hanging from the sides of the stage are giant middle eastern carpet designs. The band is Finnish. They brought along the Red Army Air Force Ensemble (and these guys are great to watch in the videos on YouTube), UMO Orchestra, Angelique Kidjo, The Wild Magnolias, Jamar and the Galaxy, Johanna Rusanen and Zsar Aleksander II. I don't know who those folks are. Have to look them up. Songs on the album range wide. "Black Hole Sun" (sung by an female opera (maybe? Sure sounds like opera training) singer with a heavy eastern european accent), "Those Were The Days" (yes, that oooold song), "Sweet Home Chicago", "No Woman No Cry", "El Cuarto de Tula", "Keep on Rockin in the Free World" and "Kashmir" (also sung by that opera singer). All of this with full orchestra backup, choir backup, balalaikas and other Russian instruments, regular type band which includes an accordion and various guitars painted and designed in all wildness. So far my favorite song on the album is "Easy Livin". Mostly because I love the song anyway and it's the first time I've heard someone else do it.
Can't wait to listen to it some more and am dying to play it on the show.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
seriously, what the hell?!
I woke up to about two inches of snow on the ground and it's still snowing.
again, i ask, what the hell?@!
again, i ask, what the hell?@!
Monday, April 07, 2008
i love the mailman!
cos today he brought me my copy of the Leningrad Cowboys' "Global Balalaika Tour" CD, a freebie CD and a T-shirt. I ordered the shirt too big. Oh well. All my clothes are too big now.
I have lost enough weight that none of my pants fit without a belt, and I'm not even sure what size pants I am now. weee! I'm wearing a pair of junior sizing 12s and they're too big. awesome.
I have lost enough weight that none of my pants fit without a belt, and I'm not even sure what size pants I am now. weee! I'm wearing a pair of junior sizing 12s and they're too big. awesome.
on wine
I really dislike wine. I hate it enough that I can't even pretend to be trendy and get on that wine bandwagon.
One of my friends in Booze Bay kept a couple of beers around for when I came over. She couldn't stand to watch me mix water or juice with the glass of wine she poured for me. The last time I drank wine in any quantity I found out that Merlot stains EVERYTHING when you barf it back up. Another friend up the river has a permanent (small) red spot on her grout from this experience that I had there. Of course, it probably is not so hot of an idea to drink some beers, a couple of everclear shots and THEN a glass of Merlot... but when has that ever stopped me.
If I'm already buzzed, I can enjoy a chardonnay or two. Bottles that is.
I took a local friend shopping not too long ago. He enjoys wine. We were in the wine aisle and he was trying to decide which box o'wine he ought to purchase. He was dissing one kind over another. I had to laugh. I told him it was like watching someone try to decide if they ought to buy Milkwaukee's Beast or Pabst. They both suck. Shut your eyes and pick, right?
One of my friends in Booze Bay kept a couple of beers around for when I came over. She couldn't stand to watch me mix water or juice with the glass of wine she poured for me. The last time I drank wine in any quantity I found out that Merlot stains EVERYTHING when you barf it back up. Another friend up the river has a permanent (small) red spot on her grout from this experience that I had there. Of course, it probably is not so hot of an idea to drink some beers, a couple of everclear shots and THEN a glass of Merlot... but when has that ever stopped me.
If I'm already buzzed, I can enjoy a chardonnay or two. Bottles that is.
I took a local friend shopping not too long ago. He enjoys wine. We were in the wine aisle and he was trying to decide which box o'wine he ought to purchase. He was dissing one kind over another. I had to laugh. I told him it was like watching someone try to decide if they ought to buy Milkwaukee's Beast or Pabst. They both suck. Shut your eyes and pick, right?
boing
spring time.
The time of year that I feel if I bend my knees just right I can jump 50 feet in the air, maybe higher. I am wound up. I don't know how to unwind this. I just keep getting more and more wound up as the season progresses. I go full-tilt through spring and summer and take my crash in the late fall.
Some of my friends get spring fever in the form of "need to clean the shit out of my house". Mine is "need to get the hell away from the house". Need to play certain songs. Need to learn new stuff. Need to write. Need to take pictures. Need to draw.
Need to go out and irritate the crap out of the buzzkillers. The boring people content to tell everyone else what they need to be doing. I keep running into these assholes, everywhere I go. When I tell them they should shut the hell up and bother someone else, they get upset. I don't know why. It's ok for them to tell me what I should be doing, but not for me... ?
Need to get a shirt that says "Fuck you and your opinions". Because your opinions are just as stupid and useless as mine, right? Just big round nebulous thoughts, based half in fantasy and half in reality.
Yeah I'll pick that one up right after my "Fuck the OLCC" shirt. Which i still need to have made.
The time of year that I feel if I bend my knees just right I can jump 50 feet in the air, maybe higher. I am wound up. I don't know how to unwind this. I just keep getting more and more wound up as the season progresses. I go full-tilt through spring and summer and take my crash in the late fall.
Some of my friends get spring fever in the form of "need to clean the shit out of my house". Mine is "need to get the hell away from the house". Need to play certain songs. Need to learn new stuff. Need to write. Need to take pictures. Need to draw.
Need to go out and irritate the crap out of the buzzkillers. The boring people content to tell everyone else what they need to be doing. I keep running into these assholes, everywhere I go. When I tell them they should shut the hell up and bother someone else, they get upset. I don't know why. It's ok for them to tell me what I should be doing, but not for me... ?
Need to get a shirt that says "Fuck you and your opinions". Because your opinions are just as stupid and useless as mine, right? Just big round nebulous thoughts, based half in fantasy and half in reality.
Yeah I'll pick that one up right after my "Fuck the OLCC" shirt. Which i still need to have made.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
hausaufgabe
I did some of this today.
Every time I say "I have homework" I giggle. It just seems ridiculous.
Every time I say "I have homework" I giggle. It just seems ridiculous.
like a weasel
Sometimes I marvel at how fortunate I have been to get to do the things, however small they are, that really make me happy. The radio show? Damn this is the coolest thing ever. Playing music? No one I know imagined 12 years ago when I bought my busted up 1963 Harmony H27 bass that I would keep at it, and not only keep at it but keep learning, and learn other instruments on top of it, and holy shit, step on stage and play and get paid for it.
Some people look at their teen years as the best ever, some have loved their 20s, but my good time started in my late 20s.
Last night I went to the other open mic in town that runs once monthly. I had been nudging The Warthogger and The Smith to get up on stage and do some songs sometime soon. We did it last night, the three of us. Our first two songs went really well, but the last song we did, we always have a problem with it somewhere, and last night it fell apart on the last verse. So we laughed our asses off, thanked everyone for listening, and sat back down, to wild applause. I floated off to the ceiling. Warthogger and Smith analyzed what went wrong. I didn't care! I got them to get up and play some songs in public!
I am nearly ready to sing and play three songs I've been working on in front of an audience of both my music peers and total strangers. I get all worked up about it, and then I tend to chicken out when I get an opportunity. It's the singing part that I wig out on.
Singing is like being naked. Singing with other people, I do ok. Alone... might as well ask me to show up in just a thong.
Some people look at their teen years as the best ever, some have loved their 20s, but my good time started in my late 20s.
Last night I went to the other open mic in town that runs once monthly. I had been nudging The Warthogger and The Smith to get up on stage and do some songs sometime soon. We did it last night, the three of us. Our first two songs went really well, but the last song we did, we always have a problem with it somewhere, and last night it fell apart on the last verse. So we laughed our asses off, thanked everyone for listening, and sat back down, to wild applause. I floated off to the ceiling. Warthogger and Smith analyzed what went wrong. I didn't care! I got them to get up and play some songs in public!
I am nearly ready to sing and play three songs I've been working on in front of an audience of both my music peers and total strangers. I get all worked up about it, and then I tend to chicken out when I get an opportunity. It's the singing part that I wig out on.
Singing is like being naked. Singing with other people, I do ok. Alone... might as well ask me to show up in just a thong.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
somethin's creepin' in
The title is a line from a Therapy? song i tend to start playing a lot in the spring time and through the summer, and then it gets put away in the fall. It just has that kind of feel to it. But yeah I started playing it again last week and taught some friends how to play it.
But I think another summer song is going to be "Alone Again Or". I have never heard the original, as far as I know, but have heard (and enjoy) both Calexico's version and the earlier one by The Damned.
And today I just learned to play it.
Well, someone who can really play guitar would probably laugh uproariously through my labored, yet exuberant, playing. But it's recognizable and holy mackerel I can sing it too.
For anyone wondering, I use a combination of cheater chords, cowboy chords, parts of cowboy chords and sheer fakery. What I do apparently looks difficult, but it's just me being a crapass guitar player.
And I think I will share my mad skillz (yo) at the acoustic open mic at Mia's and Pia's tonight. Much to the detriment (say that with the french pronunciation) of the patrons of the establishment.
But I think another summer song is going to be "Alone Again Or". I have never heard the original, as far as I know, but have heard (and enjoy) both Calexico's version and the earlier one by The Damned.
And today I just learned to play it.
Well, someone who can really play guitar would probably laugh uproariously through my labored, yet exuberant, playing. But it's recognizable and holy mackerel I can sing it too.
For anyone wondering, I use a combination of cheater chords, cowboy chords, parts of cowboy chords and sheer fakery. What I do apparently looks difficult, but it's just me being a crapass guitar player.
And I think I will share my mad skillz (yo) at the acoustic open mic at Mia's and Pia's tonight. Much to the detriment (say that with the french pronunciation) of the patrons of the establishment.
squeeeee!
To be honest, I get just about as excited on Saturday mornings about doing my radio show as I did anytime ML went to play a gig anywhere. Reverting to childhood expressions of glee, in fact, over it. Impossible to sit still for hours before, light-headed and giddy, i do the weird thing where i rub all my fingers with my thumbs ( i don't know how to explain that, except that I know I was not the only kid who did it, and i often still see kids up to 10 doing it), can't keep a song (or a thought) in my head.
Today Wild Irish Gerry is going to pop in. I don't know what from there, but I told him if he comes by to bring his favorite music with him to play. He said he might bring his guitar, too. Wondering if I ought to bring mine, then we can play "Dirty Old Town" together. Tonight he's doing the open jam at Mia's and Pia's and I may finally go to one. I just keep forgetting about it, and he'll remind me about five times, tehrefore, there's a good chance I'll remember it tonight.
Today Wild Irish Gerry is going to pop in. I don't know what from there, but I told him if he comes by to bring his favorite music with him to play. He said he might bring his guitar, too. Wondering if I ought to bring mine, then we can play "Dirty Old Town" together. Tonight he's doing the open jam at Mia's and Pia's and I may finally go to one. I just keep forgetting about it, and he'll remind me about five times, tehrefore, there's a good chance I'll remember it tonight.
Friday, April 04, 2008
meanwhile on the thursday blues show ..
yesterday i brought out the pre-war blues stuff i had found on archive.org for the 4-7 show that the blues society does on KTEC.
Now, when I am playing the tunes, I usually do it with a MP3 CD and I go through and pick songs out, write the song down as I play it and then remove it from the playlist, and then go back and tell about them after a handful, or sometimes just one... but anyway,
I looked down the list of songs I had to back-announce and the guy doing the show with me laughed. songs by- Blind Alfred Reed, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Willie McTell and Blind Blake. Prior to that set i'd picked a few blues women like Ma Rainey and St Louis Bessie. Picking songs by five blind guys wasn't intentional, and apparently when dealing with old blues, not unusual.
Also played recently was some Peg-Leg Pete. Who really has a Peg-Leg.
Now, when I am playing the tunes, I usually do it with a MP3 CD and I go through and pick songs out, write the song down as I play it and then remove it from the playlist, and then go back and tell about them after a handful, or sometimes just one... but anyway,
I looked down the list of songs I had to back-announce and the guy doing the show with me laughed. songs by- Blind Alfred Reed, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Willie McTell and Blind Blake. Prior to that set i'd picked a few blues women like Ma Rainey and St Louis Bessie. Picking songs by five blind guys wasn't intentional, and apparently when dealing with old blues, not unusual.
Also played recently was some Peg-Leg Pete. Who really has a Peg-Leg.
For the lady who was 20 on the day Martin Luther King was shot
That was the title of a poem I wrote for my mom on her birthday in.. hmm.. 1993 or '94.
So, yeah, today is my mom's birthday. I will be calling her later when I am done stuffin muffins for the day.
My mom and I have had some differences, but she's always been right there to back me in whatever bizarre plan I was cooking up. She is totally thrilled I have a radio show. She's thrilled I'm involved in the Blues Society thing and I am hoping I can get her to come up here for the festival. I think she's thrilled I made it through my 20s in one piece and with all my brain cells intact. She's thrilled I'm back in school. I miss her a lot. But of course when I go to visit we drive each other bananas and we are both relieved when I'm gone.
My mom gave me my sense of humor. Best. Gift. Ever. We were recently discussing our favorite house that we lived in on Gaffey St in San Pedro, across the street from Ft Mac. In a gorgeous two-story built in the 20s, with wood floors, built ins, a solarium, a service porch, giant gas range, giant kitchen, breakfast nook... we loved that place. It's an art gallery now.
So mom, I don't know if you still come by here to my little mostly-unknown-blabbering-place, but..
Hippo Birdie Two Ewes!
So, yeah, today is my mom's birthday. I will be calling her later when I am done stuffin muffins for the day.
My mom and I have had some differences, but she's always been right there to back me in whatever bizarre plan I was cooking up. She is totally thrilled I have a radio show. She's thrilled I'm involved in the Blues Society thing and I am hoping I can get her to come up here for the festival. I think she's thrilled I made it through my 20s in one piece and with all my brain cells intact. She's thrilled I'm back in school. I miss her a lot. But of course when I go to visit we drive each other bananas and we are both relieved when I'm gone.
My mom gave me my sense of humor. Best. Gift. Ever. We were recently discussing our favorite house that we lived in on Gaffey St in San Pedro, across the street from Ft Mac. In a gorgeous two-story built in the 20s, with wood floors, built ins, a solarium, a service porch, giant gas range, giant kitchen, breakfast nook... we loved that place. It's an art gallery now.
So mom, I don't know if you still come by here to my little mostly-unknown-blabbering-place, but..
Hippo Birdie Two Ewes!
Thursday, April 03, 2008
gold mine
I came across, somewhere, archive.org. I think I was looking for a file of the original "War of the Worlds" broadcast so I could clip some bites out of the parts toward the end.
Found the file. Found that it is too big to manipulate on my computer and I'll have to do it on the Smart Half's.
Also found some great historical recordings. Things like Thomas Edison's first recording from 1887. What is so amazing is that the recording was made over 100 years ago. There was great excitement about those wax cylinders and lily-shaped horns, needles the size of Saguaro spikes. That was state of the art in 1887. Old blues recordings from the teens and 20s (later made on amberol cylinders, and then to wax and amberol platters, which in turn went later to more durable vinyl) are fascinating to listen to, especially when compared with modern blues styles. I really DO love the old, old blues. The one-guy-or-lady-singing-with-a -single-accompaniment stuff. On the archive.org site is a recording of Blind Willie McTell's "Statesboro Blues". I'd never heard it. I'd heard everyone else's version of it, and I enjoy playing it, but now I can hear how it really went.
I have a CD of oddball sound clips and I used one of them for the end of my show last week. It's an incredible one, I think. A recording of the crash of Soyuz 1, in which you hear Soviet Mission Control (the name escapes me. I know it starts with a Ba sound) and Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov talking back and forth, and then Komarov's realization that he was fucked and was going to be fried in his descent to earth, and then the sound again of the beacon beeps. beep. Beep. Beeeeeep. end of show. hehe.
Well, really, I don't know what people can expect of someone raised on Dr Demento, KXLU and the wild and woolly radio of Los Angeles in the 1970s and 1980s.
Found the file. Found that it is too big to manipulate on my computer and I'll have to do it on the Smart Half's.
Also found some great historical recordings. Things like Thomas Edison's first recording from 1887. What is so amazing is that the recording was made over 100 years ago. There was great excitement about those wax cylinders and lily-shaped horns, needles the size of Saguaro spikes. That was state of the art in 1887. Old blues recordings from the teens and 20s (later made on amberol cylinders, and then to wax and amberol platters, which in turn went later to more durable vinyl) are fascinating to listen to, especially when compared with modern blues styles. I really DO love the old, old blues. The one-guy-or-lady-singing-with-a -single-accompaniment stuff. On the archive.org site is a recording of Blind Willie McTell's "Statesboro Blues". I'd never heard it. I'd heard everyone else's version of it, and I enjoy playing it, but now I can hear how it really went.
I have a CD of oddball sound clips and I used one of them for the end of my show last week. It's an incredible one, I think. A recording of the crash of Soyuz 1, in which you hear Soviet Mission Control (the name escapes me. I know it starts with a Ba sound) and Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov talking back and forth, and then Komarov's realization that he was fucked and was going to be fried in his descent to earth, and then the sound again of the beacon beeps. beep. Beep. Beeeeeep. end of show. hehe.
Well, really, I don't know what people can expect of someone raised on Dr Demento, KXLU and the wild and woolly radio of Los Angeles in the 1970s and 1980s.
what i think so far
My first class on Monday I was confronted with very, very old behavior. So old that it took a minute for me to identify it and wiggle out.
These teachers do not know the family history. There is no reason to get the hackles up if one doesn't acknowledge something you say or ask right away. There is no reason to feel confrontational upon first walking into a class. They are not making note of your every move and sentence to report back to their fellows about "Springer's kid". A pink slip is not going to arrive half way through the class to go listen to the Dean go on about how your dad got away with it (over and over and over) and that a close eye was going to be kept on you, which results in a tardy or absent for the next class, thereby chipping further at what little reputation you have as "smart" or "bright" even more. If you raise your hand to ask a question, you will not be pointedly ignored.
What happened when I was in high school was damaging, and it had little to do with bullying from other students. Bullying and picking on, I could handle with aplomb. Having the faculty and administrators riding my ass for something my dad did while he was faculty at the school I went to... not so great actually. But it's weird to have that stuff resurface NOW, when it didn't at SWOCC or LAHC.
So I just have to be aware of when that kind of thing crops up in my head. On top of all this organization and scheduling stuff they are trying to teach me. Truly, the hardest part of school (ok life in general) for me has always been keeping organized, and I made a lot of attempts to get it together, but somehow managed to get out with passing grades with zero concept of study skills, organization or time management.
These teachers do not know the family history. There is no reason to get the hackles up if one doesn't acknowledge something you say or ask right away. There is no reason to feel confrontational upon first walking into a class. They are not making note of your every move and sentence to report back to their fellows about "Springer's kid". A pink slip is not going to arrive half way through the class to go listen to the Dean go on about how your dad got away with it (over and over and over) and that a close eye was going to be kept on you, which results in a tardy or absent for the next class, thereby chipping further at what little reputation you have as "smart" or "bright" even more. If you raise your hand to ask a question, you will not be pointedly ignored.
What happened when I was in high school was damaging, and it had little to do with bullying from other students. Bullying and picking on, I could handle with aplomb. Having the faculty and administrators riding my ass for something my dad did while he was faculty at the school I went to... not so great actually. But it's weird to have that stuff resurface NOW, when it didn't at SWOCC or LAHC.
So I just have to be aware of when that kind of thing crops up in my head. On top of all this organization and scheduling stuff they are trying to teach me. Truly, the hardest part of school (ok life in general) for me has always been keeping organized, and I made a lot of attempts to get it together, but somehow managed to get out with passing grades with zero concept of study skills, organization or time management.
target acquired
sometimes... people from a particular oregon city are so smug, condescending and nannyish I just want to punch them and then laugh about it.
We don't hate you because you're beautiful, we hate you because you think it's your job (handed down to you on high, no less) to tell everyone else how to live and think, and that people who aren't in line with your idea of "right" are somehow less than you are.
BTW I hate this about many Christians, as well, so don't go thinking you're any kind of special.
With that in mind, take your new religion and cram it in there with the old one.
We don't hate you because you're beautiful, we hate you because you think it's your job (handed down to you on high, no less) to tell everyone else how to live and think, and that people who aren't in line with your idea of "right" are somehow less than you are.
BTW I hate this about many Christians, as well, so don't go thinking you're any kind of special.
With that in mind, take your new religion and cram it in there with the old one.
Monday, March 31, 2008
update on inconvenience store "outrage" lol
The disheveled-looking guy got a ticket for... standing around, I guess. He probably won't ever pay for the ticket he got. In fact, eventually, the city/county will pay for him to stay the night and have dinner
Meanwhile, the dumbass cops missed out on an easy $200+ for the city by ignoring the jackass parked in a place he wasn't supposed to be.
That certainly explains a lot.
Meanwhile, the dumbass cops missed out on an easy $200+ for the city by ignoring the jackass parked in a place he wasn't supposed to be.
That certainly explains a lot.
escuela
yay today is first day at college all over again #2. I have an afternoon class. I have my books. I have my notebook with pockets and holes and the necessary amount of lines on the paper. I have my swell little school-issued "dayplanner and everything else we think you'll need" book. I even have two pens and two pencils, which I will lose by tomorrow morning.
I have a goal this time around and registered with it in mind. For someone who sets goals usually five minutes in advance and then fails to reach them due to poor planning and ooh! a shiny!, that's really saying something. I'm not going to save the earth, but I will have a piece of paper that says I spent all this time and money to not just learn stuff, but prove I learned stuff and that I'm a productive member of society and have been properly indoctrinated in the ways of prevailing higher education thinking. This will enable me to draw/paint/photograph/etc pretty pictures for a living, somehow. Or so they tell me. I am suspicious, as always.
My friend The Warthogger is 10 years older than me (10 years and 11 days to be exact) and this will be her last semester on a 4-year business & marketing degree. She has been and will be my personal ass-kicker.
I have a goal this time around and registered with it in mind. For someone who sets goals usually five minutes in advance and then fails to reach them due to poor planning and ooh! a shiny!, that's really saying something. I'm not going to save the earth, but I will have a piece of paper that says I spent all this time and money to not just learn stuff, but prove I learned stuff and that I'm a productive member of society and have been properly indoctrinated in the ways of prevailing higher education thinking. This will enable me to draw/paint/photograph/etc pretty pictures for a living, somehow. Or so they tell me. I am suspicious, as always.
My friend The Warthogger is 10 years older than me (10 years and 11 days to be exact) and this will be her last semester on a 4-year business & marketing degree. She has been and will be my personal ass-kicker.
september 14
That's the day after our blues festival. I'm dying for September 13 to get here, because it's going to be a good time, but the 14th is when we will all be able to say, "HELL YEAH!!!! WE did it!"
So yeah, Back Door Slam is headlining our festival. Tony Castro will, as I understand it, be here as well. I don't know who else we have booked right now. But it's all going to rock. Two beer gardens both full of locally brewed beers. On a lake. The weather here in September is usually awesome.
Time will drag until then. Then, it'll be Sept 11, and there will be a whirlwind of crazed, nervous activity until the morning of the 13th and then I will explode with joy to have been a part of it, even though it's a small part. And I will drink until i barf. Or I will barf until I can drink again. Not sure what. I'm sure there will be barfing involved somehow... and drinking, but the order they arrive in may not be set in stone yet...
So yeah, Back Door Slam is headlining our festival. Tony Castro will, as I understand it, be here as well. I don't know who else we have booked right now. But it's all going to rock. Two beer gardens both full of locally brewed beers. On a lake. The weather here in September is usually awesome.
Time will drag until then. Then, it'll be Sept 11, and there will be a whirlwind of crazed, nervous activity until the morning of the 13th and then I will explode with joy to have been a part of it, even though it's a small part. And I will drink until i barf. Or I will barf until I can drink again. Not sure what. I'm sure there will be barfing involved somehow... and drinking, but the order they arrive in may not be set in stone yet...
Sunday, March 30, 2008
This morning at the inconvenience store
City PD officers rushed in to the parking lot, presumably to ticket the truck full of guys, obviously not handicapped, who were parked in the handicapped spot.
But no! They were there hassling a disheveled-looking guy standing next to the parking lot.
Having already learned my lesson about the consequences of questioning the activities of an officer, I shut up, but I did call the PD and tell them.
But no! They were there hassling a disheveled-looking guy standing next to the parking lot.
Having already learned my lesson about the consequences of questioning the activities of an officer, I shut up, but I did call the PD and tell them.
comment on a cd
I was going through some of the CDs the station has, and found a Lunachicks one. Written across the face of it in black ball point pen was "This music is HORRID".
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
did you vote?
better have. If you didn't, you're an America-hating commie that wants the terrorists to win, you're a devil-spawn lib'ral baby killer, and a granola chomping hippy. Ruminate the wheat grass!
what
is it about being a winger (right or left, honestly) that makes some people into such humorless fascists? Jeebus on a stick, I hope if anyone ever caught me taking myself so seriously they'd throw a friggin pie in my face.
another lol
but this one you must click on and vote on. MUST. Because I say so. And if you don't, you love GW Bush and hate recycling, and must drive a Cadillac Escalade and enjoy wasting the gas and running over poor people on the corners with their "Will Hump Your Leg For Food" signs.
Enter the Make Ur Lolcat Famous Contest
Enter the Make Ur Lolcat Famous Contest
Monday, March 24, 2008
Another thingie
I jumped in headfirst last night.
In the past, I had only given select people copies of my "#1 hit song". I posted it here and there, maybe once or twice a year, and if you got it then, good for you, because it probably wasn't going to reappear again for a while. Ah, yes, and for good reason, right?
It occurred to me a couple of nights ago to give myself a kick in the ass and get something off the ground. So I opened a new myspace thing up, dropped my song on it, wrote a little bit, threw a picture at it and some "be my friend" things.
So this new myspace thingie is my way of pushing myself to get more of my stuff recorded. It's not like it's a big issue- I have the four-track and I have the way to move it from tape to digital without any big hassle. What i tend to neglect to do is THE WORK involved in recording stuff. I will play my goofy ass shit live for anyone who asks. But record it? That is my brick wall.
We all know I can't sing, and my guitar playing is pretty basic. Neil Young can't sing, and neither can Bob Dylan, so no point in laughing at me because of that. In fact, no point in laughing at me at all, cos i just don't give a shit.
In the past, I had only given select people copies of my "#1 hit song". I posted it here and there, maybe once or twice a year, and if you got it then, good for you, because it probably wasn't going to reappear again for a while. Ah, yes, and for good reason, right?
It occurred to me a couple of nights ago to give myself a kick in the ass and get something off the ground. So I opened a new myspace thing up, dropped my song on it, wrote a little bit, threw a picture at it and some "be my friend" things.
So this new myspace thingie is my way of pushing myself to get more of my stuff recorded. It's not like it's a big issue- I have the four-track and I have the way to move it from tape to digital without any big hassle. What i tend to neglect to do is THE WORK involved in recording stuff. I will play my goofy ass shit live for anyone who asks. But record it? That is my brick wall.
We all know I can't sing, and my guitar playing is pretty basic. Neil Young can't sing, and neither can Bob Dylan, so no point in laughing at me because of that. In fact, no point in laughing at me at all, cos i just don't give a shit.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Take my money, already
Big sort of unpleasant surprise at the station this morning. Threw me off for a good half hour before I could get it all working mostly right, and then all was smooooov as old scotch. Unfortunately, no recording exists to share my righteous "winging it on unfamiliar equipment but not wrecking everything" radio show, because that was part of the problem and it had to be dealt with by the station's software engineer.
Next time...
But then, i came home and proceeded to pay bills. I had 9 bills. I was able to pay 5 of them without any trouble. Found that two have to wait until Monday. One of them I waited in line for 45 minutes (big surprise, at the Sprint store) only to be told I would have to call some other number to take care of it. Already after spending a half hour on the phone trying to deal with it. The last one went was unpayable over the phone or online so I headed to a pay station, and then the fun began. I forgot the PIN on our card, and then maxed the retries... two hours later the damn thing was paid but it took an unreasonable amount of brainpower to do it. So yeah I left the house at about 2:30 and got done giving money away at 6PM, and then had to do grocery shopping for another hour and a half.
Well, I was looking for "I Hate Banks", but this is damn close enough.
Next time...
But then, i came home and proceeded to pay bills. I had 9 bills. I was able to pay 5 of them without any trouble. Found that two have to wait until Monday. One of them I waited in line for 45 minutes (big surprise, at the Sprint store) only to be told I would have to call some other number to take care of it. Already after spending a half hour on the phone trying to deal with it. The last one went was unpayable over the phone or online so I headed to a pay station, and then the fun began. I forgot the PIN on our card, and then maxed the retries... two hours later the damn thing was paid but it took an unreasonable amount of brainpower to do it. So yeah I left the house at about 2:30 and got done giving money away at 6PM, and then had to do grocery shopping for another hour and a half.
Well, I was looking for "I Hate Banks", but this is damn close enough.
Friday, March 21, 2008
winter gets the last word
Came home from the jam a little early last night, just before midnight.
It was snowing.
It was snowing.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
we want the airwaves baby
Today I'm just pushing buttons on the KBS show for half of it and then someone else will come in.
But I'm also preparing the songs for Saturday's Ear Candy show.
Last week's "loose theme" was St Patrick's Day, of course, and so I played some songs by Irish bands, songs about Ireland, and some songs that just kind of sounded Irish. Played some Therapy?, "Celtic Aggression" by Tonic, "Hot Asphalt" by Bedlam Rovers, a few other songs.
This week, it's politics. Mostly because the rumor flying around is that Obama is coming to Medford. I have some real gems for this one. "Rappin Ron Reagan". Anyone remember that? Released during Reagan's second race for pres, it's screamingly funny. "Politician" of course, by Cream. "Map of Your Failure" by Big Chief. That's not officially a politics song, but it has a line about "Kissing hands and shaking babies til I turn gray in the face". So therefore it has to be in there. Plus, it has a fantastic groove.
And for The Halfway Point, I'll be playing some songs by my bro Rudy in Ontario. You can hear some of his songs
here
But I'm also preparing the songs for Saturday's Ear Candy show.
Last week's "loose theme" was St Patrick's Day, of course, and so I played some songs by Irish bands, songs about Ireland, and some songs that just kind of sounded Irish. Played some Therapy?, "Celtic Aggression" by Tonic, "Hot Asphalt" by Bedlam Rovers, a few other songs.
This week, it's politics. Mostly because the rumor flying around is that Obama is coming to Medford. I have some real gems for this one. "Rappin Ron Reagan". Anyone remember that? Released during Reagan's second race for pres, it's screamingly funny. "Politician" of course, by Cream. "Map of Your Failure" by Big Chief. That's not officially a politics song, but it has a line about "Kissing hands and shaking babies til I turn gray in the face". So therefore it has to be in there. Plus, it has a fantastic groove.
And for The Halfway Point, I'll be playing some songs by my bro Rudy in Ontario. You can hear some of his songs
here
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
On the Air!!!
Jesus, that shit is fun. I don't know how many listeners there are on a college campus at 9 am on a Saturday, but I kind of don't care.
The Ear Candy show already has something of a structure to it. A good song to wake up to (like Slayer's "South of Heaven"), halfway through do the recordings of regular people playin and singin, something of a theme every week with music to match it (not a crushing theme, just probably ten songs sprinkled in that adhere to it somehow), and the final station ID and heading out with a couple of cover songs. Throw in a little talking with someone, happening soon, and it's good clean fun.
I slipped last week. heh. I let two songs go that had words in that we aren't allowed to say. One had "shit" in it ("suppose... I accidently got my shit together") and another one that had "fucking" in it. What's weird is I listen to these two songs fairly often and the words just didn't even register til I was playing them on the air. lol!
I listened to KXLU and 91x a lot as a teenager. KROQ didn't come in where I lived, but the San Diego version of it did (91x). KWVE, out of San Clemente, was also in there and had a great late night show full of crazy music, but then they went to Christian programming at some point. So those are my radio influences. I loved the KWVE show. There was always a surprise to listen to. Drifting off at 1 am on a school night to Freur's "Doot Doot" song...
The Ear Candy show already has something of a structure to it. A good song to wake up to (like Slayer's "South of Heaven"), halfway through do the recordings of regular people playin and singin, something of a theme every week with music to match it (not a crushing theme, just probably ten songs sprinkled in that adhere to it somehow), and the final station ID and heading out with a couple of cover songs. Throw in a little talking with someone, happening soon, and it's good clean fun.
I slipped last week. heh. I let two songs go that had words in that we aren't allowed to say. One had "shit" in it ("suppose... I accidently got my shit together") and another one that had "fucking" in it. What's weird is I listen to these two songs fairly often and the words just didn't even register til I was playing them on the air. lol!
I listened to KXLU and 91x a lot as a teenager. KROQ didn't come in where I lived, but the San Diego version of it did (91x). KWVE, out of San Clemente, was also in there and had a great late night show full of crazy music, but then they went to Christian programming at some point. So those are my radio influences. I loved the KWVE show. There was always a surprise to listen to. Drifting off at 1 am on a school night to Freur's "Doot Doot" song...
Thursday, March 13, 2008
2 down
KBS Blues show #2 on KTEC is in the can. #1 was in the can, until I accidentally deleted it. So, beat me severely about the head and shoulders with damp macaroni til I scream, because we now have no record of the first show, and it's all my fault.
Also, Lady Low's Ear Candy Show will have it's inaugural broadcast either this saturday from 9 to 12 or next saturday from 9 to 12. It's supposed to be crapass snowing this weekend so my trip to the coast may be postponed, and if it is, I'll do the LLEC show instead.
LLEC promises to be interesting. I have a couple of fun people lined up to come on and tell us all about it.
Also, Lady Low's Ear Candy Show will have it's inaugural broadcast either this saturday from 9 to 12 or next saturday from 9 to 12. It's supposed to be crapass snowing this weekend so my trip to the coast may be postponed, and if it is, I'll do the LLEC show instead.
LLEC promises to be interesting. I have a couple of fun people lined up to come on and tell us all about it.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Toyota takes two!
I watch NASCAR with my Smart Half and with one of my friends. It's not my favorite racing series. I really enjoy GT and open-wheel races, but no one else likes to watch them with me so i tend to not watch them much.
But yesterday I got to holler and be goofy, because Toyota cars took first and second at Atlanta Motor Speedway. I got to yell "Wooooohoooo! Big Three got FACED!!!!" at a Chevy maniac. And even though my friend's driver, Tubby Stewart, got second, it was in a Toyota and I had to give miserable props for it.
Now, my guy in Nascar is Montoya. He's so wonderfully arrogant and he drives car 42, which we all know is the answer to life, the universe and everything. He didn't place as high as I would have liked yesterday. Last year he was in a Toyota and this year he's in a Dodge (aka MOPAR aka Move Over People Are Racing). He should go back to the Toyotas.
But yesterday I got to holler and be goofy, because Toyota cars took first and second at Atlanta Motor Speedway. I got to yell "Wooooohoooo! Big Three got FACED!!!!" at a Chevy maniac. And even though my friend's driver, Tubby Stewart, got second, it was in a Toyota and I had to give miserable props for it.
Now, my guy in Nascar is Montoya. He's so wonderfully arrogant and he drives car 42, which we all know is the answer to life, the universe and everything. He didn't place as high as I would have liked yesterday. Last year he was in a Toyota and this year he's in a Dodge (aka MOPAR aka Move Over People Are Racing). He should go back to the Toyotas.
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Mother
Maybelle Carter... sit through the interview and you can see her do the famous Carter scratch on the geetar.
Ok that's it for this week i think. Food's on!
Ok that's it for this week i think. Food's on!
from 611 & The SOS in 1985 to this...
Calexico... Joey Burns singing, whom I had a huge crush on when I was a sophomore at Palos Verdes High School and he was a senior. Still love his music, too.
A little Gordie Johnson...
Gordie was the guitar player/vocalist for Big Sugar. This is him performing one of my favorite songs by them. One I'd actually been trying to learn for a while, and now I see why I was never able to nail it... capo... hehe.
I'll reserve Sundays for bombarding the world with this stuff...
I'll reserve Sundays for bombarding the world with this stuff...
80
Coming up on March 12 is the 80th anniversary of the failure of the St. Francis Dam
The Santa Clarita Valley history site has about all the information about it you'd possibly care to look for, from links to poems and songs about it, to pictures and interviews with people who survived the flood.
The Santa Clarita Valley history site has about all the information about it you'd possibly care to look for, from links to poems and songs about it, to pictures and interviews with people who survived the flood.
moremoremore
sharing my perversions...
Therapy? Die Laughing. I play this song a lot, I have an acoustic version of it that I jam on, love singing it, blah blah blah... adore Therapy?
Therapy? Die Laughing. I play this song a lot, I have an acoustic version of it that I jam on, love singing it, blah blah blah... adore Therapy?
riding away into the fog
Off to visit much missed friends again this weekend.
This means you, Wyrd. And Tam. And The Bone. And the Hoov, too.
The Blarney Bros are a-playin and since I have missed them at every St Patrick's Day deal, it's time I went and supported THAT friend, too.
This means you, Wyrd. And Tam. And The Bone. And the Hoov, too.
The Blarney Bros are a-playin and since I have missed them at every St Patrick's Day deal, it's time I went and supported THAT friend, too.
hope i'm done
having been sick since Christmas, with being hit with one cold after another, several times while the one cold was still very much active. The last one rolled through last week. I gave up on cold medicine. While it often helped, it was getting to be an expensive habit. My ribs and sides are so sore from coughing I feel like I've been kicked.
People are asking me if I feel alright. I feel better than I did yesterday, or last week, or even in the middle of January, but I am not yet back to normal. More than once out in public some friend or another has said, "Jesus! You look like crap!" Thanks! Just what a girl needs to hear. I'm so effing tired, too. I'm down five more pounds, which is okay, I just didn't lose it by eating well and exercising. But I have got to buy some new pants sometime soon.
People are asking me if I feel alright. I feel better than I did yesterday, or last week, or even in the middle of January, but I am not yet back to normal. More than once out in public some friend or another has said, "Jesus! You look like crap!" Thanks! Just what a girl needs to hear. I'm so effing tired, too. I'm down five more pounds, which is okay, I just didn't lose it by eating well and exercising. But I have got to buy some new pants sometime soon.
Back Door Slam in Bend again
On April 14. Going to try to make it up there again for this one.
I saw that the Subhumans were going to be in Bend. I was overjoyed! I started figuring out how I was going to be able to do two shows. Then I checked. Bah, it's just the UK Subhumans. While I like them, I'm not as excited about them as I am the CA Subhumans.
I saw that the Subhumans were going to be in Bend. I was overjoyed! I started figuring out how I was going to be able to do two shows. Then I checked. Bah, it's just the UK Subhumans. While I like them, I'm not as excited about them as I am the CA Subhumans.
Saturday, March 08, 2008
OK since the last one worked...
One of my !!!FAVORITE TOADIES SONGS EVAAAAAAAR!!!!!
The ones I really adore aren't on the site. They mostly came from the "Feeler" album that was not ever released... but I have it for some reason?
I have always loved Todd Lewis' voice. I love HOW he sings, his inflections and weird little yeahs and heys. He just has a really slippery voice and I love it, I love singing along with it. It makes me practice my growls and all that.
The ones I really adore aren't on the site. They mostly came from the "Feeler" album that was not ever released... but I have it for some reason?
I have always loved Todd Lewis' voice. I love HOW he sings, his inflections and weird little yeahs and heys. He just has a really slippery voice and I love it, I love singing along with it. It makes me practice my growls and all that.
tryin somethin new
This is Davy Knowles, the guitar player and singer in Back Door Slam.
We are just about peeing ourselves about having them come down here.
We are just about peeing ourselves about having them come down here.
Freakin Overjoyed
We got em. The Blues Society got Back Door Slam for our headlining act at our Blues Festival this year. These guys are SO AWESOME. Go check em out.
Back Door Slam
Back Door Slam
Thursday, March 06, 2008
whew
Just successfully did the blues society's first radio show, along with Paul, one of our guitar players. Didn't say much because we were getting the hang of all the buttons and everything, and there was only a little bit of dead air.
We recorded the show and I suppose over the weekend a recording will be available :)
We recorded the show and I suppose over the weekend a recording will be available :)
papers and pencils
Now officially a college student again. yikes.
I did really well on the reading and writing part of the placement test. I sucked on the math part. Put it this way- I scored 94 and 95 in reading and writing. The leftovers between 95 and 100 is right around what I got on the math part.
damn that's funny.
I did really well on the reading and writing part of the placement test. I sucked on the math part. Put it this way- I scored 94 and 95 in reading and writing. The leftovers between 95 and 100 is right around what I got on the math part.
damn that's funny.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Three is a magic number
Today I sent my transcript requests off to the two colleges I attended previously. Which is pointless, because although I was never on academic probation, I failed miserably. But, they said I had to do this. So, it is done.
Thursday I will take my English and Math placement exams.
The local college does not have a degree in what I want. But they have an AA. They also have this thing called Technical Studies, which appears to be a sort of build-your-own degree, but I'm not sure because, really, the language describing it doesn't actually SAY anything. Just a bunch of big eduwords strung together and taking up a page in the catalog. If I was at all interested in paramedical services or health care, I'd be in a great place. It isn't my thing at all though. I suppose I just don't really have enough empathy to work in that industry. Or maybe it's too much empathy. Whatever.
We're falling further and further behind, and I'm just going to have to suck it up and get financial aid to do this. It's hard to find good full-time work when the Help Wanted page is all of a column and a half.
I will start my first semester here in the spring. Taking one class, the college success one. Obviously, I need it. Second one will be summer, and I think I will shoot for a little less than full-time.
I'm scatterbrained and disorganized and suck at math and I have GOT to find some way to overcome this whole issue of being easily bored, daydreaming in classes, disregarding deadlines and being totally unable to keep my shit together. You know, in other words, having the attention span of a common housefly.
I am both excited and terrified. I don't know if I can do the whole deal. How can I make myself work for me?
Thursday I will take my English and Math placement exams.
The local college does not have a degree in what I want. But they have an AA. They also have this thing called Technical Studies, which appears to be a sort of build-your-own degree, but I'm not sure because, really, the language describing it doesn't actually SAY anything. Just a bunch of big eduwords strung together and taking up a page in the catalog. If I was at all interested in paramedical services or health care, I'd be in a great place. It isn't my thing at all though. I suppose I just don't really have enough empathy to work in that industry. Or maybe it's too much empathy. Whatever.
We're falling further and further behind, and I'm just going to have to suck it up and get financial aid to do this. It's hard to find good full-time work when the Help Wanted page is all of a column and a half.
I will start my first semester here in the spring. Taking one class, the college success one. Obviously, I need it. Second one will be summer, and I think I will shoot for a little less than full-time.
I'm scatterbrained and disorganized and suck at math and I have GOT to find some way to overcome this whole issue of being easily bored, daydreaming in classes, disregarding deadlines and being totally unable to keep my shit together. You know, in other words, having the attention span of a common housefly.
I am both excited and terrified. I don't know if I can do the whole deal. How can I make myself work for me?
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