i sort of promised myself that I wouldn't do a list this year. I get the impression that no one really cares. And since Johnny went off the deepend, I wasn't even going to take the time. But, since Thad and Mike went for it so will I.

2000:
Death Cab for Cutie
Discount-Crash Diagnostic
Jets To Brazil-Four Cornered Night
At the Drive-In-Relationship of Command
Ida-Will You Find Me
Superdrag-In the Valley of Dying Stars
Radiohead-Kid A
Engine Down-To Bury Within the Sound
Ghostface Killah-Supreme Clientele
Mary Timony-Mountains
Outkast-Stankonia
AFI-the Art of Drowning

Honorable mention:
Coldplay-Parachutes
Travis-the Man Who
Milemarker-Frigid Forms Sell

Disappointments:

Cave In-Jupiter
I'm proud of them for defiantly changing their sound, but frustrated with their refusal to change key. Every song on Jupiter sounds exactly (yawn) the same.

i know i'm a little late on this, but i can't help making lists. my favorite cd's of 2000.
beach boys reissues(sunflower)
the band reissues
death cab for cutie- we have the facts and we're voting yes
hootie and the blowfish-scattered smothered and covered
at the drive in-relationship of command
superdrag-in the valley of dying stars
built to spill-live
richard buckner-the hill
neil young-silver and gold
godspeed you black emperor-lift your skinny fists like antennas to heaven

these are the albums i have listened to over and over from the last year. i don't think that i'll ever stop listening to excessive amounts of springsteen, neil young and the who.
i am, in the new year, looking forward to new albums from radiohead, wilco, and weezer. music is 75% of my day untill the baby is born, at which point it will fall back. though hopefully not far. so i hope that helps you to know me a bit more.

Weekend highlights: Ordered a new G4 on saturday to replace my old 68k that has served me tirelessly for the last 5 years. Should be here on Tuesday. I'll be in digital audio heaven in my own home. Nothing can stop me now.

Was with two friends on ecstacy saturday night. It was a first for one of them. It's one of the few drugs I would ever consider taking, especially after seeing my friends experience. She's such a sour puss most of the time but on x, she "loved all of humanity...well almost all of humanity." There was an interesting article in the New York Times magazine last weekend about MDMA. It's a good article.

Bought some new Rainer Maria, some old Cat Power, I can't spend any more money for the rest of my life.

Crush Story: Still slow, some setbacks (all external to our relationship and interaction, and therfore very frustrating) but still a little bit of hope left for the hopeless.

LIVING ARRANGEMENT: me, my roommate, her boyfriend (even though he's not on the lease but he takes out the trash occasionally so it's okay) and her dog (a super sweet mutt)
BEST BOOK YOU ARE READING NOW: I'm rereading jitterbug perfume - a book I bought based on it's first line alone. (okay now I hope I don't misquote it "The beet is the most sensuous of all the vegetables")
WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD: an aeriel of Edinburgh, Scotland - it came with the cube.
FAVORITE BOARD GAME: Apples to Apples - except you don't play it on a board.
FAVORITE MAGAZINE: National Geographic for it's awe inspiring photography, Bust for my feminist side and Cosmo when I'm at the gym and need a mindless distraction
FAVORITE SMELL: vanilla, my boyfriend's neck, Norinne Altmont's matzoh ball soup
FAVORITE SOUNDS: shelly's laugh, swing music, drive through car washes at night
WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD: feeling like you have nothing to look forward to
BEST FEELING IN THE WORLD: ditto the loving someone who loves you
ROLLER COASTER, SCARY OR EXCITING: I used to think exciting, now I think scary
HOW MANY RINGS TO ANSWER THE PHONE: depends how far away for it I am/depends how long I've been waiting for it to ring
EVER BEEN IN LOVE: yes
IS THE GLASS HALF EMPTY OR HALF FULL: half full
FAVORITE MOVIES: strictly ballroom, like water for chocolate, spice world, armeggedon
LEFTY OR RIGHTY: lefty - and all my life I've used scissors upsidedown
DO YOU TYPE WITH YOUR FINGERS ON THE RIGHT KEYS: yup
WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED: I don't know, I haven't looked lately
FAVORITE NUMBER: anything divisible by 7
FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH: on tv - none, live - basketball or soccer
SAY ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU: now I can't remember who sent this first
PERSON YOU SENT THIS TO MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND: ?? who ever hasn't yet?
PERSON YOU SENT THIS TO LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND: shelly - only because you're moving
FUTURE DAUGHTER'S NAME: no clue
FUTURE SON'S NAME: ditto
FAVORITE FOODS: soup - doesn't matter what kind, I love them all
CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA: vanilla all the way, especially mexican vanilla
DO YOU DRIVE TOO FAST: only when I'm in a bad mood
DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL: not since elementary school
STORMS: I love them - unless I'm on an interstate trying to get home
WHAT TYPE WAS YOUR FIRST CAR: red ford tempo
IF YOU COULD MEET ANY PERSON DEAD OR ALIVE: there are some characters in novels I wouldn't mind meeting
FAVORITE ALCOHOLIC DRINK: red wine, gin and tonics, white russians
ZODIAC: gemini
DO YOU EAT THE STEMS OF BROCCOLI: yuck, no
IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY JOB IN THE WORLD, WHAT WOULD IT BE: have a bookstore/photo gallery/art space on some warm island type place
IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY COLOR WHAT WOULD IT BE: one that could change with my mood, today I feel like orange

LIVING ARRANGEMENT: Share an apartment that is too big to be a 1 bedroom but too small to be a 2 bedroom. I could be moving real soon, just up a floor to a bigger space. a 2 bedroom that could be a 3.

BEST BOOK YOU ARE READING NOW: "If on a winter's night a traveler" by Italo Calvino I can't believe how good it is

WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSEPAD: a lot of dirt

FAVORITE BOARD GAME: I'm drawing a blank, guess i don't have one

FAVORITE MAGAZINE: i was in love with last spring's super issue of Italian Elle or Vogue or maybe it was Mademoiselle, whatever it was, it was a good magazine

FAVORITE SMELL: first real day of cold winter, first spring rain

FAVORITE SOUNDS: Too many to even start, I mention one and neglect the others, i'd feel guilty for weeks

WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD: knowing you'll never know

BEST FEELING IN THE WORLD: waking up with my eyes shut

ROLLER COASTER, SCARY OR EXCITING: The thought of riding one and the journey and fun that that entails: exciting, actual ride: not as exciting but still fun

HOW MANY RINGS TO ANSWER THE PHONE: one to two most of the time, gotta be quick, after three the voice mail gets it

EVER BEEN IN LOVE: twice today

IS THE GLASS HALF EMPTY OR HALF FULL: depends on if it's mine or not

FAVORITE MOVIES: I think my most favorite movie is still out there. A guilty pleasure: Joe Vs. The Volcano

LEFTY OR RIGHTY: Left

DO YOU TYPE WITH YOUR FINGERS ON THE RIGHT KEYS: for the most part, otherwise things get real messy for everyone. never figured out the numbers (above the letters) though

WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED: aluminum foil (extra wallpaper), most likely some dirty clothes and loose change, I'll have to check

FAVORITE NUMBER: i like most any number

FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH: Soccer or Hockey but i find it increasingly harder to watch an entire game of anything

SAY ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU: in every way that the word is good, beautiful

PERSON YOU SENT THIS TO MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND: I have faith in everyone

PERSON YOU SENT THIS TO LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND: like i said, i have faith in everyone

FUTURE DAUGHTER'S NAME: I'm not quite sure, maybe something french. I like french girl names

FUTURE SON'S NAME: there's a lot of family tradition involved with the naming of the son (especaily the first) so not only do i have to find someone willing to parent a child with me, i also have to make sure the appropriate chromosomes meet up, and then convince this extrememly generous person to accept said imposed tradition. That being said probably John Xavier J.X. for short. I could even stand swithing that to X.J.

FAVORITE FOODS: right now, bread made in my new machine and dipped in olive oil, parmesan cheese and peper, chased by a greek olive.

CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA: Chocolate

DO YOU DRIVE TOO FAST: I don't drive, when I did it wasn't too fast

DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL: No

STORMS: the ultimate sample source

WHAT TYPE WAS YOUR FIRST CAR: Never owned one

IF YOU COULD MEET ANY PERSON DEAD OR ALIVE: I have no shame, Bjork

FAVORITE ALCOHOLIC DRINK: i've sampled a limited few and had unpleasant reactions to the taste of every single one

ZODIAC: Leo

DO YOU EAT THE STEMS OF BROCCOLI: yes

IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY JOB IN THE WORLD, WHAT WOULD IT BE: running a not-for-profit community sound studio and multimedia learning center, like IRCAM except not french and for everyone. this would also be the same space where i lived and composed

IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY COLOR WHAT WOULD IT BE: Dyed it purple, silver would be nice. Green too, but people say that's too witchy.

i mailed my repose to all of you, i didn't read the instuction properly i guess. i did forget to change the question of sign. i'm a gemini.thank you. shelby's about an hour.

> LIVING ARRANGEMENT: 3bed, 2bath, i live with a roommate, rob, and
rent
from my parents
> BEST BOOK YOU ARE READING NOW: i am now reading the hobbit, when i
have
time.it's ok. the best book i've read lately is red dragon.
> WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSEPAD: a tornado.
> FAVORITE BOARD GAME: trivial pursuit
> FAVORITE MAGAZINE: cmj and ice
> FAVORITE SMELL: breakfeast
> FAVORITE SOUNDS: cars driving up my driveway. music
> WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD: alone, not as in no one's here, as in no
one's
coming
> BEST FEELING IN THE WORLD: bed
> ROLLER COASTER, SCARY OR EXCITING: boring
> HOW MANY RINGS TO ANSWER THE PHONE: if it wakes me up i don't answer
it,
other than that how ever long it takes me to get to the phone
> EVER BEEN IN LOVE: yes
> IS THE GLASS HALF EMPTY OR HALF FULL: i hate this question
> FAVORITE MOVIES: In no particular order - the godfather, fight club,
american beauty, magnolia, young frankinstien, any kids sports movies.
> LEFTY OR RIGHTY: somtimes both, mostly right
> DO YOU TYPE WITH YOUR FINGERS ON THE RIGHT KEYS: never.
> WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED: sometimes my cat
> FAVORITE NUMBER 6
> FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH: none
> SAY ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU: your hair
looks
very nice today
> PERSON YOU SENT THIS TO MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND: me i guess
> PERSON YOU SENT THIS TO LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND: johnny
> FUTURE DAUGHTER'S NAME: isobel grace
> FUTURE SON'S NAME: declan julius
> FAVORITE FOODS: potatos, rice, egg sandwiches, carrots, broccolli
> CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA: depends
> DO YOU DRIVE TOO FAST: for me, no, over the speed limit, yes
> DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL: No.
> STORMS: are good like jazz
> WHAT TYPE WAS YOUR FIRST CAR: toyota pickup
> IF YOU COULD MEET ANY PERSON DEAD OR ALIVE: tom waits seems
interesting
> FAVORITE ALCOHOLIC DRINK: i'm dry
> DO YOU EAT THE STEMS OF BROCCOLI: oh yes.
> IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY JOB IN THE WORLD, WHAT WOULD IT BE: my record
store.
> IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY COLOR WHAT WOULD IT BE: i like the
color it
is now.
>

Ah Louise, you know me so well.


LIVING ARRANGEMENT: I live on the first floor of 717 Mayflower, the room with two doors that is situated between the kitchen/dining room and Benji's room.
BEST BOOK YOU ARE READING NOW: I'm in a class that is reading the following books: Conrad, Heart of Darkness; Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man; Lawrence, Sons and Lovers; Forster, Howards End; Woolf, To the Lighthouse; Waugh, Brideshead Revisited; Greene, End of the Affair and Amis, Lucky Jim. I'm just finishing Joyce and am proud to report that I really enjoyed it. Heart of Darkness was less enjoyable.
WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSEPAD: www.dell.com Richard Murillo gave me this mousepad when he saw that I didn't have one.
FAVORITE BOARD GAME: I don't really have a favorite. I have a least favorite though. Pictionary sucks.
FAVORITE MAGAZINE: Slave Magazine. cough cough. I also enjoy reading the copies of Q and Mojo that Thad buys.
FAVORITE SMELL: Bananas, smoke, old paperbacks.
FAVORITE SOUNDS: Pianos.
WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD: Sleeping too late.
BEST FEELING IN THE WORLD: Sleeping just enough.
ROLLER COASTER, SCARY OR EXCITING: both.
HOW MANY RINGS TO ANSWER THE PHONE: I don't answer the phone.
EVER BEEN IN LOVE: Not that I'm aware of.
IS THE GLASS HALF EMPTY OR HALF FULL: Half fumpty
FAVORITE MOVIES: In order I think: Die Hard, Planet of the Apes, Rushmore, Raising Arizona, Big Lebowski. Less arty, more farty, right?
LEFTY OR RIGHTY: Righty.
DO YOU TYPE WITH YOUR FINGERS ON THE RIGHT KEYS: urd/
WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED: Rock and roll basement space.
FAVORITE NUMBER: 19
FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH: professional fucking
SAY ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU: Louise is the farthest away, physically, of all my friends.
PERSON YOU SENT THIS TO MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND: Upma.
PERSON YOU SENT THIS TO LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND: I would have said Louise, but she's proven that she knows me better than I know her.
FUTURE DAUGHTER'S NAME: If I had to choose today I would probably push for Frances.
FUTURE SON'S NAME: I think Calvin.
FAVORITE FOODS: Mac and cheese, sloppy joe, vegetable biryana (no onions), tufurky slices, mussamun tofu, egg salad, rice, peas. I also love tuna sandwiches despite the fact that I can no longer eat them.
CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA: whichever.
DO YOU DRIVE TOO FAST: Not as often as I used to.
DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL: I don't sleep with anything.
STORMS: If I'm home they're nice.
WHAT TYPE WAS YOUR FIRST CAR: 84 Honda, eight years and still running.
IF YOU COULD MEET ANY PERSON DEAD OR ALIVE: I don't know if I care to meet them, but I love to hear these persons singing in their prime (not together, of course): Richard Manuel and Gene Autry, both are deceased.
FAVORITE ALCOHOLIC DRINK: sXe. Don't make me get my baseball bat.
ZODIAC: sag.
DO YOU EAT THE STEMS OF BROCCOLI: sure.
IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY JOB IN THE WORLD, WHAT WOULD IT BE: I would write songs. Unfortunately, I have little talent in this area.
IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY COLOR WHAT WOULD IT BE: Red has worked for me in the past.

So is anyone else excited about seeing Sugar & Spice? I loved Bring it On, and I'm sure I'll love this one, too.

The scarf I've been knitting is about potholder size now. I never appreciated how many rows of yarn went into a scarf before. My craft projects always start out so ambitious (so a scarf isn't exactly ambitious - but you know what I mean) but then the hours of manual labor trim down those dreams. I'm hoping to have it done by Valentine's Day - and a scarf seems like a better present than a potholder. Both of my grandmother's are so excited that I've taken up knitting. I think one of them is even sending me a knittig bag - how this is different from any other bag - I guess I'll find out.

I was going to go into a long rant about work - and this nonsense I am currently dealing with from management but it will only make me want to scream - so let me just say - what is up with micromanaging middlemen? no fun. One cool work thing - we had a scavenger hunt yesterday (as sort of a getting to know you for different departments) and my team came in second place which means free movie tickets which means Sugar and Spice, here I come.

Zach - thanks for sending out Slave - I look forward to getting it in the mail. And word on the Wedding Planner - that looks like crap - and I see plenty of lowbrow movies. I've been doing this secret shopping for a movie theater which only seems to get blockbusters. This summer I was treated to Coyote Ugly, Boys & Girls and other steaming piles as I filled out my questionnaires.
Angie - that's so cool that you get to be involved with the United Nations - I can't wait to hear more about that (if you're allowed to talk about it).
Shelly - The second Kiss Offs CD is called "Rock Bottom" and has a photo of Travis' ass in leather pants on the cover. I guess it turned out to be a vanity project.
Upma - What does an Ab-Force do? It sounds painful.

A quick note to let everyone know that I still exist.

Just got paid to watch the Wedding Planner, which is about the only reason to watch the Wedding Planner.

Made vegan sloppy joes.

Mailed Slave issues 3, 4, and 5 to those of you who asked for them. The lion's share of the work on Slave is done by my multi-talented roommate, John F. Rash. He does all the artwork and most of the business stuff. But, I'm proud enough of my contributions to the magazine to welcome your comments, good or bad. I already know about the spelling errors in issue five. There will never be another spelling error in Slave Magazine.

I've got a lot on my mind. Not bad stuff though. I'll try to write more in the morning after I get some sleep.

i work for carmike cinemas. having my own theater would mean making sure everyone under me did what my boss says. pretty much what i do now as assistant, but with more money and more hassle. i turned it down though. i can't move right now. i havn't been there long enough to have my own theater. though it's kinda cool. it's not as cool as it sounds. the money wasn't good enough. i'm going to be a father soon. it would be less time with my baby and his/her mother. i'm happy where i am. in six months or a year i'll take the next one. besides shelby doesn't have a good record store. i would love to show what movies i wanted, but right a guy from the home office calls every monday to tell us what we're getting on friday. i could choose what theater that movie goes in to. yeah that's power.

i am in the middle of moving too and i can completely understand just wanting to chuck the whole damn load of stuff. especially after living for a year and a half in complete chaos because it was absolutely impossible to fit everything so that it is put away. but i shouldn't surrender to the mound on the floor now when i have only days to go before i have somewhere to put it. should i? but then if i don't chuck it i have to move it. ugggghh! how did i get so much stuff all the way across the country in the first place?

wanna hear somthing crazy? i've been offered my own theater. i've worked with the company for like five months. it's a six screen in shelby. shelby? right. i don't know..... with a baby and all. maybe i'm not ready. i don't know. i'm confused, i need to sleep.

Things here are really busy now so I don't know if I will be able to post more than once a week or so which is honestly a dissapointment for me. It ends up that I'm doing lots of things this semester. Assisting teaching a music appreciation class, maintaining the computer music studios, possibly teaching a few computer music classes when professors go out of town, doing June in Buffalo administrative work, squeaky wheel workshops plus school and maybe starting a band and then there's composing.

But most importantly the crush is working itself out to be maybe more than a crush, it's moving slow but in the right direction so I'm floating, feet barely touching the ground. I need to channel some of my listless romantic energy into doing productive things (see above).

Upma, Your video sounds perfect for the Love + Sex show. I'm not sure if I mentioned it before but all works have to be around 3 minutes or shorter. Anyone can send submissions to:

Squeaky Wheel
Buffalo Media Resources
175 Elmwood Ave
Buffalo, NY 14201

As for June in Buffalo aka JiB send your brother to the website:
http://wings.buffalo.edu/AandL/music/juneinbuffalo/index.html
Probably the most informative stuff will be the history of the festival and possibly the programs for last year and this year (which should be up soon)
If he hasn't heard of many of the composers that are mentioned there (especially guys like Morton Feldman, the festival founder) then he might want to check them out. If he has heard of these guys/gals and he's still interested I can send you more information. Without knowing anything about the kind of music your brother writes or the kind of music he wants to write I really don't know if he would enjoy JiB. I don't mean to sound snobbish or elitist about the festival or any kind of music, and seeing the festival regardless of your aesthetic position is very useful. It's just the difference between going to a week of concerts that you think are worthless, dissonant, intellectualized, experimental crap or going to a week of concerts that sustains your appetite and love for new music for an entire year. It's too late for him to apply to participate this year but if he's REALLY interested in coming I'd be more than happy to put him up and possibly get him free (or at least really cheap) tickets to everything. That invitation extends to any of you who are REALLY interested.

Louise, if you visit, you have carte blanch concerning my hair.

I had a lot to say about the Jazz series but it was pretty much in agreement with Thad and Zach. I heard a critic say that it's interesting that they call Jazz America's classical music in respect to the fact that most people think that classical music ended at the beginning of the 20th century just as Jazz ended in the 1960s (a proportional gap). I was discussing with a friend how it's unfortunate that the last forty years aren't represented. Seeing as this is a documentary by the legendary Ken Burns it would have sparked a lot of interest and validated much of the music to a much wider public (regardless of whether they liked it or not) if it had been included, since it is not, it will most likely have the oppostie effect. It seems that people who watch these types of documentaries often think it automatically makes them experts on the subject.

"The Americans are a mighty people who never give up or get tired or sleep or dream. If these people hate someone, they will kill him by negligence, and if they like or love a person, they will shower him with affection." Kahlil Gibran

So it is in life and art.

I'm going to NYC in a month (love those cheap web fares), and I'm looking for a cool place to stay. Someplace with character - maybe in the Village - any suggestions on hotels?

if you get in a car accident. go to the hospital immediately whether or not you feel hurt and ESPECIALLY if the accident isn't your fault. i was hurt in a car accident (three cars and a fence). the accident was 100% another driver's fault and was ticketed as such. i didn't go immediatly to the hospital because neck injuries don't hurt right away and when it happens you're shaken up and angry. you have tons of adrenaline pumping through you. the next day i felt like i'd been run over by the car. was told muscle soreness was to be expected. had little motion in my neck at all. started having muscle spasms and visual blackouts. went to the doctor. spent six months in physical therapy about 3 times a week. lost time at work and eventually my job because the amount my car got totalled for was too little to buy another car. i needed the car to get to work (the BR bus system was way substandard especially at night which was when i worked.) i needed the job to pay for the last semester of school. so i had to take a loan to pay for school and live on the money i had saved to move after graduation. i'm still fighting this debt today. the insurance company of the guy at fault in the auto accident has never paid ANY of the medical expenses. i had nearly a year of daily worry over the bills and daily pain and rehabilitative exercises which i'll basically have to do for the rest of my life to keep motion in my neck. i spent hours every week on the phone and fax with the insurance companies. i finally had to get a lawyer and file suit because the statute of limitations was about to run out. if it had i would have been personally liable for all of these medical costs incured from an accident which was 100% someone elses fault. as it was i had to spend over 1000 dollars anyway(which i don't really have to spare) out of my own pocket to keep these debts from going against my credit record. the long distance phone bills and fax fees continue to compile. this and my time (still constant worry and weekly paperwork) are not able to be considered in any legal judgement of funds that would come to me. neither is the cost of any travel which i would have to do to go back to louisiana if it goes to court. it is completely in the insurance company's benefit to drag this out forever. i'll run out of money and energy and time. they won't: they've got lawyers on staff and endless employees paid to do this processing. when i got in the accident i didn't go to the hospital or immediatly get a lawyer. i'd seen the commercials for lawyers on tv with what seemed like ridiculously large settlements. i didn't want to fleece anybody. i thought things would be handled fairly. i mean the accident wasn't even my fault. over two years later still daily dealing with this accident, not only in pain but also in new bills which mysteriously appear and never ending paperwork. those huge settlements seem a lot less ridiculous to me. i hope that you never get in a car accident especially one where you get hurt. but if you do learn from my mistakes. go to the hospital straight from the scene of the accident. get a lawyer right away; a reputable one won't charge you anything unles you win a settlement or case. i wish the syste wasn't set up this way. i wish that i had known.

but nobody beats the duke.ellington is the epicenter of jazz after 1930.

Just to be totally clear. Lots of wonderful music is covered in JAZZ. Valuable insights into African-American history are explored. For those reasons JAZZ is worth watching. My objection is that as a history of jazz it fails to adequetly cover more than forty years worth of music. This is music some of the heroes of the series ended up playing. How can you understand Miles Davis without understand his post-1969 music? You can't. How you understand Coltrane without free jazz? It's like reading half and book and assuming you already know the end.

Thanks everyone for your valentine's day input. Hopefully it will inspire me to actually write something.
Angie - I don't think I'm going home for Jazzfest cause I'll be in New Orleans for Passover (which is a month before).
Spent the holiday weekend in movie bliss. Saw Quills, O Brother (and bought the soundtrack the next day), Crouching Tiger, Save the Last Dance and Miss Congeniality. I still want to see Traffic and maybe State and Main. The weekend took on an unreal quality, spending so much time in cineplexes. I liked all the movies I saw.
I dyed my hair yesterday - a dark red that most people can't tell looks any different on my usually brown headed self. I did have a strong compulsion to buy a hot pink wig at the mall though. I feel wigs are the solution to a corporate working chick with fun hair aspirations.

zach's last post is the reason i am no longer a music major. the musical direcor once stated to me that the only good music writen in the twentith century was writen for stage. this dip shit had written off the last fifty years all together. but he had the onpinion of the text. the last chapter of a second year music theory book went over a hundred and fifty years in fifteen pages. which really isn't odd, as most musical peroids lasted about a hundred and fifty years untill the 1830's when music begain changing rapidly. richard wagner was the first rock star, make it loud and piss people off. to this day "ride of the valkrye's" is the only peice that gets any respect. his opera's are too hard and abrasive. stravinsky caused riots. how awesome is that. rich white people ran screaming and crying from two seperate operas. atonal did not begin in the sixties with jazz. wyton marsalis can kiss my ass. quartal harmony, tone clusters, dissanace. debussy was the first jazz. he was called an impressionist, critics said they were impersonating musicans. the twevle tone technique changed everything. it treated two octives as one and evrything in the middle was fair game. fifths and octives are concidered perfect because the church said so in the fifteen hundreds. it's what they though sounded best. i don't know if any of you have ever listened to monophonic it's enough to make you kill yourself. polytonality was a god send. quarter tones are genius. silence is brillant. i'm angry now and have to stop writing

Angie-I haven't seen enough of JAZZ to pass judgement on it honestly. The parts that I've seen, the reviews I've read and what I know of the "musical director" Wynton Marsalis lead me to conclude two things. One, it is intended to present jazz from a cultural point of view. The thrust is that jazz, a uniquely American (and intellectual) art form, was created by an oppressed people during the height of there struggle and therefore reflects that struggle. In conveying this perspective, the series seems to be a success. The parts I've seen have been fascinating.

Which leads me to my second point. If JAZZ succeeds as a history of "race music" in the first half of the decade, it fail horribly as a history of jazz. The reason? Wynton Marsalis. This man is the Newt Gingrich of jazz music. His firmly held and loudly argued position is that jazz ended around 1961 or so and every innovator since has been robbing the corpse. Essentially, when jazz became difficult, atonal, free-form, funk-rock influenced, experimental, whatever, it ceased to be jazz and became... basically garbage in Marsalis' reckoning. Things are always better the way they used to be. When Miles Davis was playing pretty things you were hearing jazz. When he got the red trumpet and proceeded to destroy every thing he could think of you were not listening to jazz. According to Wynton Marsalis.

For my money, the jazz worth listening too started right where Marsalis places its death. Everybody was playing this sweet little melodies with cute time structures and emotional instrumentation. Then Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane and guys like Cecil Taylor and Charles Mingus busted in and hacked the old shit to death. Coltrane's Ascension is wild and ugly and invigorating. It's the dark corner of music. The part that Wynton Marsalis is afraid of. And rightly so. Cecil Taylor would chew him a new hole. Marsalis wants to protect the "pretty" jazz from the progressive jazz of today. He wants to make sure his baby never sees a boob on Showtime, gets a tattoo or rides a motorcycle. Jazz is perfectly fine stalled in 1961. According to Wynton Marsalis.

So, "musical director" of JAZZ, the film, Marsalis writes the stuff he dislikes out of the history of jazz. There is no mention of Charles Mingus on the JAZZ website. No mention of Cecil Taylor. No mention of Sun Ra. No mention of fusion in Miles Davis' bio. Disgraceful. Coltrane's late period receives this one line: "Coltrane turned to increasingly radical musical styles in the mid-1960s."

Ornette Coleman is handled in this way (on the website): "While working as an elevator operator in Los Angeles he studied (on his own) harmony and theory textbooks, and gradually evolved a radically new concept and style, seemingly from a combination of musical intuition born of southwestern country blues and folk forms, and his misreadings or highly personal interpretations of the theoretical texts." Misreadings! Can you believe this? The Ken Burns' JAZZ team gives Ornette Coleman an F for misreading the texts!

Ha, there is a mention of fusion on the website: "Fusion was named after the blending of jazz with rock (with a more than a dollop of funk thrown in), a mixture that eventually hit a brick wall. The rhythmic bases of the two styles were incompatible, but there is no denying that many creative musicians found the genre enticing."

Oh my god...

i hate poeple who didn't like a movie because they don't know what's in "the box". castaway "i hated the end, i gotta know what was in the box". no you don't. it doesn't matter whats in the fucking box. the one guy i know who saw barton fink wants to whats in the box. fuck the box. "what was the movie about"? i can understand. don't anybody ever ask me what was in a box. after barton fink how can your only question be about what was in the box?

i also like arty pony-tail pete townshend from the eighies. also a bit i learned at work from the girl in the box: the rolling stones can't be the greatest rock'n'roll band ever because they're old. metallica has been around for, like, thrity years. maybe it's metallica.

My roommate Dave is in Atlanta for a few weeks. Today he sent this rumination on New Orleans (a city near and dear to a couple of us) while discussing his day.


I found a little coffee shop and got some of those square powdered donuts like
you can get in New Orleans. (I've actually had some of those donuts in New
Orleans when I went there with Rita a couple years ago. New Orleans, man, now
there's a Southern city! None of this Post-Southern City/Yankee Embassy ass
shit that Atlanta is sporting. N.O. is the real damn deal my friends and plus
they have mimes. You can't beat a city that has the first recorded history of
articulated labor unionism AND fucking mimes!)

GENERATION GAP
or Jokes My Brother Will Enjoy
a play by Zachary Mull

starring
Zachary Mull, age 25
Jessica Love, age 16

Zachary: I think I might go to Borders tomorrow. I'll got some money I want to spend.
Jessica: What are you going to buy?
Z: Probably an album called Unit Structures by this guy Cecil Taylor. (Cecil Taylor is an improvisational jazz pianist who gets shit-talked by Wynton Head-Up-His-Own-Ass Marsalis in Ken Burn's JAZZ.)
J: What's he sound like?
Z: Have you ever heard "the Streak" by Ray Stevens? It's like that but with horns and stuff.
J: Oh... who's Ray Stevens?

later...

J: I know a girl named Mikell but I never make fun of her because my dad's name is Mike.
Z: (not listening) Uh huh.
J: Actually his name is Stuart Michael Love but everyone just calls him Mike.
Z: Oh really... (a pause) Wait a second. Your dad's name is MIKE LOVE? Like the Mike Love?
J: Who's that?
Z: From the Beach Boys. Mike Love. Surfin' USA. (Blank stare.) You know who the Beach Boys are, right?
J: I know who they are, but I've never heard anything by them.
Z: (Sounds of choking.)

My first week back in buffalo has been a hectic, exciting nerve racking one etc. A majority of it was spent doing work for June in Buffalo (the anual music festival that's held here every June). I had to "personalize" the acceptance form letters for participants and send them out. One of the participants (students) is my old composition teacher from ECU. That is sort of weird. But the worst part is that the head of the composition department at UB and also the artistic director for the festival is on sabatical in Florida so I had to forge his name on all the acceptance letters. It creeped me out all 24 times I had to do it.

Most of the rest of the time was spent at the Squeaky wheel hanging out with the artisit in residence, Julie Murray, an experimental filmmaker from new york. Her films are great and our aesthetics and views on a lot of issues line up. We've been trading works, recordings for videos. And dying my hair at the squeaky wheel too, which could be described more as a silvery lavendar than purple. Manic panic and a little luck. I'm very pleased with the results. We made it an unofficial learn analog editing and/or hair dying night at the squeaky wheel. I guess I should document the color. I usually have curly hair, upma, although i know your question wasn't directed at me. But i've never had any frustration with my curls (only my parents do, the curls come with length) but with the bleach i used it's not quite that curly now.

I'm going through a little crush crisis myself as of late. Met a really great girl, she met me, we have secretly crushed on each other for about a month or so. I found out this week that there's mutual crushing going on. The catch, because of course there's always a catch: She very very recently got out of a long term relationship (three years long) so..... we'll move as slow as ships, icebergs, glaciers but at least there's hope. I've been in a heightened state of infatuation ever since I was given this new information and listless, because she can't know that i know. at what point do patience and optimism go from virtue to vice? Maybe soon i will know. Advice is welcome and encouraged.

As for Valentine's Day, i'm pretty much with shelly. Things i like about it, it's become a fairly non-denominational holiday, seperated almost completely from the faith it came from, associated now with lust, desire, infatuation, sex and occasionally love. I think it's a great opportunity to do silly but affectionate things for people, anyone you care about other than your significant other and it does provide some people to get up the courage to actually ask someone out that they otherwise wouldn't. The drawback is 1) it is a horrible obligation/expectation for most people who are dating 2) if you don't have a partner of some sort there is almost a required self loathing for being single associated with the holiday. At ECU, I did go to a party that was anti-valentines day. Singles only, or if you weren't single you had to leave your partner behind, no hooking up allowed although that was probably the first rule to go. It was possibly on Friday the 13th right before V-day. It was a good time, very gothy, but i've never minded gothy.

The Squeaky Wheel is doing a Love + Sex show on Valentines Day. It's an open call for works: DV, video, 16MM, S8 about love and sex if any of you got something or want to put something together, you can show it in buffalo. i got an idea, but i need some fresh snow to pull it off.

Finally, about my fame, or lack there of. I've met some relatively famous people (almost completely within the academic music scene) and becasue of my position and disposition have had great conversations with them. I've talked to pulitzer prize winning composers and avant, ground breaking musicians. I measure other peoples fame on degrees of seperation from Andy Warhol, so of course Tony Conrad wins everytime since he actually hung out at THE FACTORY on occasion. I honestly think I have about as much potential of being famous as any of the rest of you. I've always tried to surround myself physically and virtually with people who are better than myself, capable of great things including fame, present company included.

Louise-I've got few connections with Hostels International in Hawai'i, so I think I'll be alright for a place to stay. But, I've been talking up the fact that you live there and could at least show us around. I'll keep you informed. Also, I got your card. It's so effeminate that it made my beard fall out. Thanks a lot, jerk.

stephanie already knows this but i'll share for the sake of the group. it may also help excuse my long absence. i hate, HATE, almost all holidays. without getting into too much baggage, the expectations get pumped so high they inevitably fall short. also most holidays are enforced family time. which is nothing but a recipe of extreme stress for me. i'm trying to recapture fun holidays now that i'm an adult. i tend to prefer neglected holidays like groundhog day. the ones with fewer expectations where i can make my own traditions. as for valentine's day, i think it is a bit of a cop out. it is pretty uncreative for a guy to show up in a dinner jacket with candy and flowers once or twice a year on the appointed dates. i'd rather be surprised some other time of year with something (more personal than flowers or candy)that shows he actually thought of me. not something so generic that shows he cares only on days greeting card companies are pressuring him to remember. as a rule i've tried to ignore valentines day on the romantic front. although i think of myself as a romantic, i've been told this makes me very UNromantic. i do think valentines day is a fun day to make silly gifts and appreciate your friends.

While everyone is on the subject of summer travel, I want to throw out my plans. At the moment the plan is to travel with Evan (roommate) to San Francisco. We'll stay in SF for a week or so and then move on to Seattle with Audrey and, maybe, Lisa. the big plan after that, the real maybe, is to get a standby flight to Hawai'i. I've always wanted to do it and I can't think of another occasion I'll have to be on the west coast. Of course, all of this is subject to change due to cost or time restraints.
And I don't have a set time frame. Thad's baby is due in at the end of April (right?) and I definitely want to be around for a few weeks following that.

I've decided that I'll probably quit my job on May 1st. (That is, of course, if I don't have to quit Wedsnesday when I see what kind of raise I got. Less than fifty cents, I walk) Two reasons. One, its right around the time I want to go on my trip and I doubt they would give me all the time I would need. And two, I like the symbolic value. I got hired on May 1, 1998, so I'll be quitting exactly three years later. Also, its May Day and, really, what better day to quit a job you hate?
I have mixed emotions about quitting though. I hate the job but I like the friends I have there. I'll really miss Wahid and Andrew and some others. Ce la vie.

The bands thing is working out okay, I think. I got a little turned around by it all. My feelings are really close to the surface when it comes to music stuff. Its my only outlet, you know? I don't paint or crochet or exercise or anything. The Boss has written two pretty good originals so far. I've got to come up with some words. Mike, I'd give you some song titles but I've got to come up with some myself.

I shaved yesterday, which means I don't look like Carl Wilson anymore. I'd like to think that inside, however, Carl and I are much the same.

my family (excepting my mom) and all the people i grew up around all said where y'at in greeting and went to make groceries (this one is more common in areas with lots of cajun ancestry and has some relation to the grammatical constructs of cajun french in translation.) i didn't pick up any of those linguistic quirks though. i never really consciously avoided them either though.

the only difference between condos and apartments that i know of is that apartments are usually owned by one owner who owns and manages (or pays someone else to manage) the whole building or complex. condos are owned by individuals who are members of a homeowners association which holds the common land in trust and maintains common areas of the building or complex with dues collected from the home owners. the owners may live in their condos or rent them out to others depending on the rules of the home owner's association. condos and apartments can look about the same.

i saw a pbs documentary about indian immigrants to california and the predjudice and immigration laws they encountered from the 1920's onward. the specific focus was on the community formed by Indian men and Mexican women and their families. (the immigration laws prevented the men from bringing women from india and the mexican women were more similar in looks and culture than the white american women.) the white people called the whole community hindus but many were in fact moslem (muslim?) and sikh. my friend suneeta is sikh also.

So I just saw tickets from Austin to New York for $89 on Vanguard Airlines. Have any of you guys even flown with them? That seems too good a deal to be true.

I wanted to work on a new piece for magnetandsteel.com for Valentine's day. Do any of you guys have fantastic/horrible Valentine's day stories to share? (Yes - it's a bit early to be talking about this - but the editor already sent me two emails asking about new stories).

I can't speak for Shelly or Angie and not to dis the Travel Channel, but I spent 20+ years in New Orleans and never once said "make groceries" or "whereyat." But then again, my parents grew up in the Midwest.

Shelly - I can't wait to come and stay in the condo; it sounds awesome and colorful.
Upma - So are you going to do anything about this crush? One of my friends played the practical joke of registering at eCrush.com and sending out crushes to everyone she knew - now's she's being contacted by the site to talk to reporters about her successful "crush stories." backfire.
Angie - Everyone at my work has been so damn cranky lately as well- I think it has something to do with post holiday blahs. I hope.

The Blogger page lists everyone's email address in the "Team" section at the top of the screen.

so, jacob and i bought a condo. i won't get into the process because it was painful trails and trials of paperwork. and now i fear i will be perpetually poor. i feel slightly guilty because it is a condo. and all the cool stuff in this city is getting torn down to be replaced with condos. including my favorite bar.

i console myself with the fact that the condo i'm moving into was built in the early 1950's placing it into the older half of buildings in my neighborhood, (the oldest being from the 1920's). it is a pink stucco with a garden courtyrd and right down the street from where i live now. the best part is that it is a two bedroom and the note is less than rent on the two bedrooms around here. so i finally get a studio!! it needs a good bit of cosmetic work which is why i could afford something in my neighborhood in the center of the city. (we could have gotten a huge house further out for around the same price, but then we would have needed a car, which would have been a more expensive lifestyle for us, plus i'd have to live in the burbs.)

so the past month and a half have been spent wrangling paperwork and now we're trying to fix it up as much as possible before we need to be out of our apartment at the end of the month. suneeta was here in the middle of it all. she spent a long weekend visiting and interviewing for the residency programs here. it was great to see her, although i was less than an exemplary hostess with all the premove chaos. you should all come visit. the living room is mediterranean blue. the kitchen is orange and green. the hallway is red like a cheap mexican restaurant. the bathroom is navy and gold. the bedroom is green. the studio is white, with maybe a pink ceiling. the doors are purple, red, green, yellow, and black. it isn't done yet so i don't know if all of that will look good or simply....interesting. i'm already planning parties. i still want to take my cross country trip but now will have to do it really cheaply. you should all visit me on your treks. i wonder if i can hold off permanent employment until the summer.

as for the rest of my life; my soccer team has been winning and my ankle seems strong enough to play again. i've gone from not having any books i wanted to read to having more than i have time to read. i'm reading a carl sagan book right now. my xmas thank you notes are long overdue (as usual). i've decided i should look for a more permanent job since i have a mortgage to pay even though my w2s seem to support the decision that full time work doesn't pay (or at least not enough to merit working full time.) i'll email anyone who needs my new address but the old one works till the end of the month.

i love you all. thank you. good night. it is actually morning.

Slave issue number five is back from the printer. Any of you who send me your mailing address can receive copies of 3, 4 and 5 gratis. I'm really proud of this issue, so I definitely would like for you guys to see it. Just email me your address.

Michael - you have awesome pet names. The cat I'm taking care of is just named Kitty.

i didn't mean to disappear. i'm moving. tonight i'll take advantage of my insomnia and write it all down.

I was without computer access for a while. marooned at my parents house, a place I have a lot of trouble calling home anymore. Got into DC once. Saw the warhol exhibit plus stuff at the national gallery and the Hirshorn Sculpture Museum. Good stuff, lots of walking. Saw Crouching Tiger with my brother. I thought he was going to kill me when he saw the subtitles, (what had his artsy-fartsy brother gotten him into) but ended up enjoying it regardless. Clear proof that it's not just a chick flick.

Got into Buffalo on Monday. Things looking good, and by that i mean snowy. My hair is purple again, that happened last night. I feel luxurious.

School starts next Tuesday for me. Lots of prep work. it's so good to be back in the mix.

Stephanie: Say it isn't so. I found that I usually run out of cheese before i run out of desire for said cheese. "You never know what is enough until you know what is more than enough"
A william blake paraphrase. See Proverbs from Hell

Louise: As long as I'm in Buffalo, which will be for a little while, you're more than welcome to stay at my place. That is if you ever leave NC after visiting. There could stil be snow here in March, maybe april

All this talk about traveling makes me want to quit my job or at least go visit travelocity. The most I have on my travel plate is a trip home to New Orleans in April.
Interesting things I've learned recently:
My hairdresser has a toaster that imprints Hello, Kitty into her bread (bought in Chicago).

If you go to your boyfriend's house where you've been cat sitting, open the door, and say "Hello, Kitty," no one will laugh but you.

It is possible to eat too much cheese.

If you go and take blurred, out of focus photos with your cool new russian spy camera and take the film into Eckerds, don't be surprised when your film returns with a handout on "How To Not Take Blurred Photos" - speaking of, I am so excited about this Lomo. I can't wait to see how my simulated drunk photos from New Years turn out (I was at a few parties where I'd just swing the camera around the room while holding down the shutter for a long exposure).

This weekend is big time movie going for me. Crouching Tiger and O, Brother... finally open here. I'm going to see Quills tonight, and I'm afraid I may get dragged to Save the Last Dance tomorrow night.

Louise, I find the prospect of your visit not only tolerable, but exciting. If you make it here, you'll never want to leave.

Nathan (drummer in the Boss, my Springsteen cover band) is downstairs playing in a new group with my roommate John. Listening to them play, after only three or four practices, I realize that my band is done for. How could Nate find the time for us when these guys sound so good? He says that he's committed to both, but I know how these things go. We're fucked. The worst part is for about fifteen minutes two weeks ago, I was going to be their lead singer. I don't know what happened to that. I guess they had meeting and decided to never mention it again. I never even got to practice with them.

I'm really bothered by this.