Mike, it might be Jeff you're thinking of. He's been on tour with Undying for the past few weeks, so if you're still seeing him, its not him.

Speaking of Jeffer, the new Inside Front is back from the printers and looks awesome. Jeff designed the whole thing cover to cover. Makes sure to pick it up when it hits Boston.

I have a friend, maggie, who got engaged after dating the guy for three months. Their wedding is this weekend. I went to her bachelorette party this past wednesday night. Here is the craziness and cheesiness that ensued. Shelly -you've already heard all this firsthand.

14 girls show up in the hotel to go out, about 80% are in black, people take turns doing each other's makeup, stephanie has drink #1. susan (one of maggie's fiance's bandmates' girlfriends) was there, and we bond cause everyone else in the room has known maggie since middle school. and we know music people in common.
We head to Saba (a Tapas bar) - every one at the table orders a mojito (yum, rum and mint). I try calamari for the first time. yeah, now I have fish breath. I have drinks #2-4. (Let me just say I hate this whole bachelorette party ritual and was not looking forward to this night but after many drinks and the peer pressure of 13 other girls - it managed to be pretty fun though rereading what I wrote - it doesn't sound like I had fun -but I promise I did).
Then we go to Fado (an irish bar with way overpriced drinks. I took shelly there once and she told every guy who hit on her that she was a game hunter from Africa). Maggie does a body shot off of a military looking Irish guy. Love those accents. We take pictures and give her a prize. Then we start walking around 6th street.
A band is playing in some bar (I forget which) but they don't charge cover so 14 girls run screaming in. I was running cause I had to pee. I don't know why everyone else felt they had to run. It's frat-a-mania. The guys playing on stage look about 17 and so clean cut. I'm not used to seeing a band that doesn't look like a bunch of alcoholics. After some prodding we get Maggie on stage. Did I mention that she's wearing a sequined zebra printed dress? Right, anyway. She dances and completely upstages the band. Though they do a cover of a Tears for Fears song that gets the whole crowd moving. I think it's cause we all had the Footloose effect. Wherever we went, once we started dancing, the whole crowd would follow along. For her efforts on stage, she got another prize, this time, zebra printed underwear, which she proceeded to put on right then. After that some guy on the street told us Digital "Humpty, Hump" Underground was playing. We head down, but it's a $25 cover. So then we head into a dance club called Cr02. Very cheesy! I'm on drink #5 so I'm dancing on the platform. Dancing, dancing, dancing. I love this night. Some guys come dance around us. One tries to pick me up. I crush his hopes by telling him I need to leave soon to go meet a stripper.
but first we went to the ritz (an awesome pool hall). maggie got some guy to take off his shirt for her. then we made her climb on a pool table and have a guy shoot a ball between her legs. By this point, most of the Ritz has seen maggie's zebra underwear. she gets more prizes from us. I've switched to drinking water.
we go back to the hotel. we're getting so much attention on the street. It's a rainy, slow wednesday on sixth street and I guess enough of us look like hooches that we're turning heads all around. There's some power in being in that big of a group, but it's also a spectacle.
at the hotel, the stripper arrives. CHEESE!!!! and he was the same stripper from their friend dorie's bachelorette party the week before.
rose screams "we don't want you, I've already seen your penis"
classy, no?
and the act begins. he strips down to a neon green g-string. and my what a smooth ass that man had. and he bumps and grinds all over maggie. it goes on forEVER. and then he starts working the crowd. One girl gets the plow. the other gets picked up and bounced. maggie at one point is even lying on the ground as he works over her. it's disgusting yet hilarious. people are waving singles. I'm hiding in the kitchen. finally ann goes "stephanie, you're on the rebound, it's now your turn" and I'm led into a chair. and now I have a tan, and quite tiny ass shaking in my face. he was so acrobatic. bouncing all around. he takes my hands to run over his body. yeah, thanks. it seems to go over forever. do they really expect girls to get turned on by this? he was too rico suave. finally it ends, I can't stop laughing. my friend rachel tells me to be sure to wash my hands. this only makes me laugh harder. he leaves but not before niki has quizzed him all on the life of a stripper, what he does if he gets aroused, etc.
we give maggie more gifts and prizes. she cries cause she loves us all.
I go home. I hear afterwards they went and did rock and roll karoake at club 710 and then only maggie, rose and maggie's sister spent the night in the hotel, and made out with some random guys they met in the hotel bar.

Crimthinc/Slave connections:

The simple answer is Slave and Crimethinc are friends. The Jim Jones of Crimethinc, Brian D, lives in Greensboro most of the time, when he's not on tour. His major acolytes are all here. We know them and we know him and we're all basically friends. Sometimes just "friendly" but we try to do better than that. Three-fourths of my housemates (now on Mayflower St) used to live at a house on Aycock St with Matt from Catharsis (Brian's band). While Matt lived at that house, Brian would stay there off tour. He was there about a year ago when I was staying there too.

When John, Jeff and Dave started Slave they were directly inspired (I think) by Inside Front, Brian's zine. About the same time, Jeff and John, under the name Abaddon Graphics, started designing Crimethinc records and ads and stuff. Eventually, John stopped working on Crimethinc design stuff to do Slave full time. Jeff, however, ended up designing almost everything Crimethinc did until last year when he moved to Boston. He did the new Catharsis record and a bunch of Inside Front and Harbinger layouts. John designed the Zegota record cover. Two years ago, Slave and Crimethinc released the last Kilara record. That's the only thing they've officially done together.

I'm sure most of you are asking, "Who the hell is Crimethinc?"

To explain what Crimethinc is would be an extreme waste of my time considering that half of what Crimethinc is about is explaining what Crimethinc is about. Here's the website full of Brian D writings and thoughts. The flash animation at the front of the site sums up a lot of it. I would like to challenge a something that the website seems to suggest. It says that Crimethinc is totally decentralized. This is misleading. Yes, there are tiny mini-Crimethincs in the world (mainly in Europe) but the most of the collective is here in NC and most of it is based in Greensboro/Chapel Hill. Why? Because the two leading lights of the Crimethinc movement are bands who are based out of Greensboro. The first, Catharsis, is Brian's band. Two of the members, Matt and Alexi live here. The other band, Zegota, is based entirely in GSO.

A side note---Both of these bands, Catharsis and Zegota, are AWESOME. Don't miss them if they come to your town. Catharsis is screamy hardcore metal in the mold of, say, Deadguy (before they started to suck). Their shows are good, especially if they've been on tour for a while, but their two records, Samsara and Passion, are really the best way to experience the power of the band. Passion, in particular, is an overlooked gem in a genre that too often settles for the mediocre.

Zegota is another matter altogether. Their record isn't very good but their live shows are extraordinary. The last time I saw them they played five songs in 45 minutes. John called them hardcore's first jam band, but that isn't exactly true. They take the jazz elements of bands like Swing Kids and fuse them with a healthy respect for experimental and noise acts. Most hardcore kids like it loud and fast. Zegota takes that expectation, the sense that the screamy part is just about to start, and the torture you with it. They are so good I can't express it.

There was a flap with Brian/Crimethinc at the end of last year that caused us (Slave faction) to be a little pissed at the Crimethinc'ers. Brian's been staying with our friend Amanda in this giant shitty punkrawk house on Ceder st. The Ceder st kids are either Crimethinc or junkies. The difference is important but sometimes hard to distinguish. The Crimethinc'ers decided not to get the heat turned on in the house, because most of them don't have jobs and like to live as cheap as possible. The junkies just had no money. So they have a huge dilapadated house that is freezing in winter, full of junkies and (recently) knife fights and busted 40s and all that shit.

We, the Slave faction at Mayflower St, went the exact opposite way. We turned on the heat. We live in a nice house with nice furniture. No junkies, no forties, no danger. This is seen by a few as not-very-punk (I've never been very punk, btw; I don't think they expected much from me). Well, the Ceder st gang decided to have some shows at their house (which I thank them for because those shows have been really, really good so far) and wanted to use our PA. We let them, they never returned it, we had to go get it. This happens a few times until we have to tell them they can't have it anymore. We use that PA four or five times a week. This inspired Brian to give some "what the hell happened to those guys, they used to be punk" comments about us, that we thought were pretty out of line. Dave confronted him about it and, to Brian's credit, he totally owned up to the shittalking an apologized. But, the incident was just an expression of an unspoken attitude that has arisen. We're not as punk as we once were. We're old, we're square, we're, gasp, post-hardcore!

Not me, of course. I've never been punk. I'm listening to the goddamn Eagles as I write this.

it was an absolute delight having louise here. company is always a fun way to play tourist in your own town. and it gives me some (not a lot but at least some) motivation to clean the house. anyway i highly recommend weezie as a houseguest to anyone. actually i can vouch for all of you except thad & upma in that regard. hopefully we'll meet soon in person, upma, and you can coach me on your name. i'm still not sure i got the hang of it. hope your project contiues without a hitch.
i have such wanderlust right now. mike you're welcome here in may, or whenever. i'm going to atlanta in early september. perhaps i can extend it for a few days in north carolina? i'd like to make it a full east coast tour and add in DC, Baltimore, Boston, and NYC and state- but a lot of that depends on how i go about paying my grown-up bills. zach, are you still coming this way during the summer?
how does one go about being a travel writer?
p.s. zach, can you explain the relationship/interaction/connection between slave and CrimethInc.

Jane wrote this email about a crazy thing that happened at our theatre about a year ago. I just reread it and laughed and thought I would share. And, no, before you ask, I don't know any more about this than what is included in the email. We never figured out what mad genius was responsible, but wherever he or she might be, I salute you.


This morning when I got to work, I was greeted in the park-
ing lot by Karon (a strange enough experience) who was wav-
ing her arms and shouting (which she does if she runs out
of paper clips or rubber bands or if I have a phone call)
so I waved back and started to enter the building. At this
point Karon screamed louder and I saw that she was waving a
large clear plastic bag filled with goo. She screamed "Do
you know what these are and why they were in the box office
windows this morning?" I was able to respond "It appears
to be at least one octopus, maybe two. Can't tell for sure
until you empty the bag. As to why they were there, I cannot even guess. Exactly where was the bag?" Karon
(shrieking louder): "THEY WERE NOT IN A BAG! THERE WAS
ONE AT EACH TERMINAL ON THE OUTSIDE COUNTER-LIKE THEY
WANTED TO BUY TICKETS. I HAD TO PUT THEM IN A BAG !!!"
When I asked if they were dead, I'm pretty sure she at
least toyed with the idea of smacking me with the bag
and/or its contents. She showed restraint, however, and
proceeded to state that she thinks she knows who did it
and that it is definitely directed at her. Why does she
think this? She made an employee pay for a second guest
on Tues. and she knows he was upset. I had to ask where
a high school freshman might obtain an octopus or 2 in
the dead of winter. Forget school-these guys haven't been
in weeks. Fresh Market seafood? They have to special order
Octopus and it's "too expensive for a kid to purchase it
as a prank, anyway". (I called and asked- trying to assure
psycho girl that she is not the victim of some teenage death cult/ gang- like they would leave an octopus at your
place of employment and come back the next day and kill
everyone.) After I pointed out the fact that her prime
suspect is also a bit dimwitted and this is obviously the
work of a highly creative, unique individual- with a really
unusual sense of humor (or retaliation or I just don't
know what).

Anyway- I know this was not directed at the screaming
nutcase cashier. It may have been directed at the theatre,
management (surely NOT the director of marketing), or some
kids were disposing of evidence that they failed to maintain their dad's saltwater tank while he was out of town. Beats me. Who? Why?

today louise and i found ourselves at the grave of bruce and brandon lee. there was a plant there with a florist's card attached, addressed to bruce lee. i wanted so much to read it. i didn't, although i think we decided it would be ok if i did. and louise commented on the importance of the written word,(i'm paraphrasing badly and i apologize) or rather the (personal) importance of putting things into writing. we spoke of journals and letters which are written with no intentions of being sent. she wondered aloud what she would do if she didn't know how to write. it occured to me i'd probablly be a much better sculptor.

there is a column in the local weekly paper made entirely of notes which have been found on the street. i have a drawer full of these.

today i saw a liscence plate frame which said "if you can read this... you should thank a teacher."

i saw another from which the bottom half was broken off "i'd rather be..."

tonight we saw a 25 year old locally made porno. the director spoke before the showing. earlier we hiked to an enormous waterfall which i discovered was man-made.

Sometime ago AJ asked if I published. It's not a question I meant to ignore, it's just that this blog moves faster than I can most of the time. I feel my delayed responses are almost like thinking up good comebacks now to insults that were dealt a week ago, so I usually avoid them, but tonight everyone suffers. Sweet spontaniety, maybe one day I'll regain it.

But to answer AJ's question, i don't really publish. I write for the graduate student publication on campus, which is just straight ahead events reporting, or often highlighting upcoming events (it's a monthly publication so reviews don't work very well). Most of what's left of my freer writing (the small bit that hasn't been destroyed by the linguistic acrobatics amd trickery that writing in academia now requires) is saved for correspondances, the only other time I really write.

In High School I wrote the same bad poetry that I'm sure you all did, it's just that I did it a lot, and at some point I might have become profecient at putting some words together every now and then. Enough to get recognized for it (albeit at the High School level). I think my real downfall was that I started reading more poetry and prose, and the more i read the more i realized that what i was doing wasn't very good, so i stopped. On the other hand i also started listening to a lot more music, and for some reason the better the music, the more i wanted to write my own. Listening had the exact opposite effect of reading, although I found both immensly powerful.

Not that my haikus warrant or deserve any explaination but I would be remiss if i didn't talk about the first two, if only because they were co-authored. Julia made a simple collage from some old Life magazines she had found: A romanticized illustration of space with two small ilustrated suitcases perfectly placed. She wrote the first two lines and I completed the haiku. The second haiku stemmed from this idea about using words that if pronounced in a certain way had either one syllable or two. Towels fit the bill (towells or tow-ells). I wrote the first line, Julia the second, and the return seemed appropriate if not inevitable. While inspired by Julia, the rest are my own so I won't go into them.

Secondly, even longer ago Upma asked about central standard time. When i was in Texas I hated it. I bring it up only because Upma described time by when TV programs air. In CST it's "an hour earlier" (they actually air at the same time, which I'm sure you all know) and while i was in texas I wasn't really watching TV but everyone else was, dinner is earlier because of it. The early evening (prime time) ends sooner and the later evening starts earlier. It's a comment on how society, culture, our timing is tied to the box and at the same time how easily one's perception about/of time can be altered. The entire time I was in Texas i fealt displaced, like i never really knew what 11 pm meant, where as in EST i know exactly what it means. I feel EST is the most appropriate time for me, it's my home and native time zone. I guess if we had learned to travel faster than we learned to think, things might have been different.

So back to the present. Lately I've been listening to Moby's Play, which I borrowed from a friend. I've been guiltily addicted to the song South Side (which became popular as the gwen stefani remix). I think what fascinates me about the song is Moby's sincere abdication of not so much gangsta lingo, but gangsta mythos (which has been done in a completely different way from all the other songs on the album that are almost purely sample based). While I'm not too familiar with gangsta rap, it seems a matter of course that there is always some narrative about riding/driving, the ageless story of territory, infiltration and escape. The classic movie "The Warriors" also comes to mind, which itself was based on a greek or roman legend.

What makes Moby's version of the story so poignant for me though, is his perspective which can't be described as anything other than outside. He's a character singing a song, he's not trying to convince us he's hard or that he's been there, he's romanticizing that perspective. The song turns a ride around the city (from compass point to compass point) into something along the lines of a Homeric epic. Moby's outsider perspective makes you realize at some level that this is a real lifestyle for some. People who, out of purpose or habit travel through places of serious hostility on a daily or weekly basis. This to me is why the song has also become so popular, not because it glorifies a lifestyle, but becasue it glorifies the simple act of surviving.

Julia has been in LA for a week, I miss her. Work, and dreams and thinking of her, this has been my means of survival.

i'd like to speak for a minute aboue grits. grits are the purest southern food as they know what sweet tea at time up there, they have no fucking idea about grits. grits should be eatin' with as much butter as will fit in the bowl and alot of pepper. i was once asked by a very good northern freind, "i heard you put peanutbutter in them, is that true?"
NO!!!!! that is not true. grits don't go bad. just put more water in them. grits are infalible. i know a girl who set a pop-tart on fire, maybe she can mess up grits.

i love the waffle house for the selections on the juke-box about the waffle house. they their own songs, not song, songs.beautiful. if you ask for a paper hat they'll give you one. listening to lynyrd skynerd in the waffle at two in morning eating grits, hashbrowns(scattered,smothered....so on and so forth) drinking the most god awlful greatest coffee in the world is an feeling unmatched. you go to bourbon st for the new orleans feeling. beale st. and graceland for memphis. any waffle house for the south. as an added bonus i know where al green's church is. you can tour jerry lee lewis' house. if music isn't everything we have the worlds biggest chair to boot. i don't know what that last bit has to do with anything, but there you have it.

Angie Joe, thank you for bringing up sweet tea. Sweet tea is the south's distinguishing feature. If you can get sweet tea, REAL sweet tea, you're in the south, even if you're not. If you can get sweet tea by ordering "tea," and not specifying that it be sweet, then you're some place special... Dixie. And that, friends, is how you know where you are. Not geography... sweet motherfucking tea. If you can't get the sweet tea, you better be visiting cause the good life is over.

The worst thing a waiter/waitress can say to a person:
"Can I have a sweet tea?"
"We've got regular tea and sweet and low."

Sweet and Low is the worst garbage ever. You can never have sweet tea by adding sugar or sweet and low to unsweetened tea. PUKE! What the hell is going on when somebody thinks that actually works!?

I'm getting all worked up. Louise, we will drink some sweet tea. Bet your bippy.

if you need to know more about the waffle house here is

a shrine

a faq

and probably most informative, clips of a bunch of songs about waffle house.

"special lady", "844,739 ways to eat a hamburger", and "waffle do wop" are my favorites although "raisins in my toast" is a runner up.

from the Waffle House,
to the Krispy Kreme and the
Cracker Barrel, huh?

my two cents on said
Waffle House: late night order
EAT! waffle of fame

must get the hash browns
scattered covered smothered diced
never chunk'd or topp'd

go! gulp coffee, smoke!
middle age punk rock waitress
will call you dawlin'

Krispy Kreme DOOO-nuts
northerners love them because
they CAN'T make donuts

Krispy Kreme there ain't
none in Lou-is-i-ana
or not while i was

Mc Kenzie's was ours
but good donuts a' plenty
we know how to fry

beth says that my search
for a good northern donut
is only hopeless

she exeunt new york
alas! her southern bagel quest
futile as a grail

elusive donut
i will love you from afar
order blueberry

o' cracker barrel
i hear of you, far and near
but i've never been

and did i mention i love smores? i love smores.

AT LAST my computer has been set up. in the meantime, i've been loving my life and loving where i live. the weather has been schizophrenic, sunny and beautiful one day, frigid and raining the next, but it should only get better as the season (SPRING!!) progresses.

i've also recently had a sensory overload. and have been inspired and overjoyed to begin finding people. not just people i could hang out with in a friendly way (i've met tons of nice people here) but people i think i can talk to.

i went to the 50th birthday party for the wife (whom i'd never met before) of my 84 year old painter friend bill. it was quite fun. i liked dena and i'm told she liked me. not only is she a dancer of all sorts and a chef but she did a lounge singer act with the band since that was something she'd always wanted to do. the food was delicious. the atmoshere was festive and full of interesting people. the band was good but especially since everyone was dancing. from dena's teeny tiny dance babies to a belly dancing troupe which performed. it was also delicious. there were party favors including a rubber chicken lolipop holder.

a woman artist that i work with from time, Zanetka, to time asked me if we could hang out sometimes. YAY!! i really like her and always work with her when i can. she's a sculptor from out of town too and deals with some of the same studio space issues that i've been having. i'm in total crush mode. i hope i like her work. she's going to come over and we're going to share pictures including mine of italy where she's going to spend 3 months in another 3. and as the new soccer season starts our teams are going to be in the same division. hooray for artist friends!

another woman sculptor that i met a while back got in touch with me. a month or so i met Lauren and her husband Masao, a painter. i gave her all my contact info since she didn't offer hers and i was so psyched to meet another woman sculptor in the area. she called me!! and we had tea and i brought st. joseph's day style cookies(do you guys who aren't new orleans folk know what that is? mike, you're in a heavily catholic city, do they make a big deal over it in boston?) and i got to see her studio. wow i have SO much work to do.

my soccer team went to the championship game (a first). we played in hail for the first time, so that makes sun, darkness, rain, snow, and hail. we lost the game to a team that i didn't feel bad losing to. they were better, but we played well.
we went out to eat and get a drink after the game at a nearby pub. i had brought some mardi gras beads at the request of my teammates. they were spread along the table and after my teammates had taken their fill of mardi gras beads we passed them along to the unusually excited bar staff. they said they'd wear them for st.patrick's day.

after the mardi gras debacle in seattle i didn't want to be around for st. patrick's day, another big bar holiday. so after i got off work on saturday we left town for La Push, Washington. there are so many different kinds of beautiful places near me. i love finding them especially since the landscape here is so dramatically different from what i grew up around. jt, you need to see this place. anyway, la push is out on the olympic penninsula so the fastest way to go is be ferry. so we packed way too much stuff for one night and hadn't been told by the people who invited us that there was a mile hike from the road to the campground. so we carried as much as we could
(dan has a broken arm) and left the rest. we had arrived near dark and though the landscape appeared to cast impressive shadows i'd have to wait till morning to tell for sure. we climbed over the several hundred feet of driftwood made up almost entirely of tangled logs that had been enormous trees. the logs were slick and treacherous but it was the only way to get to the camp. past the logs was the beach and beyond that small rock islands and mountains and the pacific ocean. we climbed back over the logs further down the beach and back into the woods to set up the tent (which was borrowed and we therefore didn't know how to use) in the dark and rain, of course. then we went to the huge campfire which was already going. it was made of enormous driftwood logs and was hot enough to evaporate any nearby falling rain. most of the people there were drunk and or tripping on acid or shrooms and since i didn't know most of them very well, conversation was considerably less than it could have been. it somehow consisted mostly of shrieks about white rabbits and glow sticks and fisting. people kept adding wood to the fire and it got huge and very smoky from the wet wood. i decided to bed early. away from the fire it was darker than any place i've ever been and i'd forgotten a flashlight. i was quite snug in my tent once i maneuvered my way around the tree root i missed i the dark. the next day i could see how stunning the land we'd come thru was. the trees (HUGE!) and calla lillies were blooming and the ocean was stormy. late in the day we got the traditional tent-camping weather, a rollicking storm (we were near rainforest territory) which covered everything in mud as we tried to take down camp quickly. of course everything that had managed to remain dry became soaked on the mile hike back. at this point we were glad we had overpacked as we stripped on the side of the road to put on dry clothes that weren't coated in mud. it was so cozy to be in a warm car hurtling through the rain. after a warm meal on the road i had the epiphany that this afterglow is probably the reason people go camping in the first place. not because camping itself is especially fun but because afterwards is, being so exceptionally comfortable: warm, dry and well fed sleeping on a soft bed. at least that is how it is for me.
of course when we really got home i had to drape all the wet smoky muddy stuff all over the apartment in an effort to dry it, and that is less than fun right now except that the apartment smells like beef jerky, which is sort of amusing if disconcerting.

the next two weeks are fairly slow job wise for me so hopefully i'll finally finish unpacking and get my studio in real order to get some work done. i'm taking a page out of the book of angie joe and writing a fan letter to a woman sculptor whose web page i found. she lives in washington on the olympic penninsula and does stuff that looks amazing, including sculpture made out of fungus which she cultures into the shapes she desires. i hope she'll invite me over so i can see what these sculptures feel and smell like. check out her web page.

as always my ideas surpass my accomplishments and my travel plans exceed my budget. louise, when are you coming? it feels so good to be excited again.

Upma - I was inspired by your SXSW recap to add one of my own.
WED: tried to get into the Dressy Bessy show at Emo's - turned away. Instead went to see friends' band at the Loft.

THUR: went to see Revolution OS, a documentary on the Linux open source code revolution. So informative. Though I didn't always laugh when the crowd did, leading me to believe there is still much more I don't know, I had a great time. Embrace the geek within. That night I went to see The Comas (a Chapel Hill band) and Swag at the Continental Club. I really enjoyed both. The Comas were pretty indie and mellow. Swag is made up of members from Wilco, Cheap Trick, The Mavericks and one other band I'm forgetting now. They're poppy and Beatlesque.

FRI: called in "cough, cough" sick to work. Went to the Merge showcase at Emo's. Upma - I was there, but I didn't see you. Saw the Rock*a*teens, I love that band, even if they did just play new stuff. Also saw John Vanderslice. Whatever. And Deathcab for Cutie. They are GREAT. And Spoon - and since I love their new album, I didn't mind that that was mostly what we heard. I also ran into about a million people I knew and all my old newspaper friends (mostly the ones on the entertainment staff). Got invited to the Spin after hours schmooze party but gave the laminated invite (everything at SXSW with any power must be laminated) away later that night at the New Pornagraphers show, earning good karma. I had run into another reporter friend who was wanting to go to the Spin thing and I was able to whip out the invite and go "here, is this what you wanted?" feeling like a bad ass for about .2 seconds. Anyway, that night I saw the Atomic Numbers - a ROCK band from Detroit. They had choreographed jumps at the end of their set. They ran around stage a lot. They made me smile. The New Pornagraphers went on next and Ray Davies even came out at the end to sing one song with them. After that I went to see my friend's midnight movie, Frontier, but the sickness I had been putting off all week, after seeing bands for 12 hours straight, had caught up with me. I started coughing in the movie, and coughing and coughing. Could not stop. Finally I had to excuse myself. And I spent the next two days in bed. I ended up giving the wristband to my friend stephanie so she could see Gillian Welch that night. And now I'm back at work, still a little sick but realizing that I really should go see live music more often.

Waffle House, Krispy Kreme and Cracker Barrel. Ooookay. Whatever you want. I can't get over the idea that there isn't a Waffle House at the end of every offramp, on every interstate across the country. The first time I ever met Shelly was at a Waffle House. Generally, Waffle house is a late night establishment. Five to ten high school kids will be hanging out giving the waitress hell. Drunks, regulars and perverts. The food is lousy, the service is lousy, but at least the atmosphere is disgusting.

Krispy Kreme, on the other hand, is not exactly a southern thing, despite the fact that they are mainly located in this area. What I mean is, Krispy Kreme is patronized sporatically by southerners, but religiously by damn yankees. Every single person I know from the north is nutty about their doughnuts. The entire Krispy Kreme corporation is kept afloat by the business of transplanted northerners.

Cracker Barrel is a little more reasonable. Still, its full of a lot faux-good ol' boy imagery like hayforks and corncob pipes.

All my friends are vegan and as such might abandon you and I, Louise, on these outings. Upma will probably go with, because she is a heartless carnivore and that will be nice.

suitcases in space
with laughter, they break open
to reveal more space

towels, towels, everywhere
towels, towels, everywhere
towels, towels, everywhere

syllables, they say,
(and without too much worry)
lie within the mouth

why do i have you,
"left-handed" desk calendar?
to remember days?

on the eve of spring
snow, to bury the corpses:
old grays of winter

romance memories,
that's what sigmund freud called dreams
last night, it was birds.

Get this - my boss just came by my cube and gave me a SXSW wristband. This is so awesome!!! I can't wait to use it.

Mike - what I've learned about Survivor - whoever they try and convince you is going to be booted in the first 50 minutes, is going nowhere in the last 5. Poor Kucha.
Upma - I tried to get into Dressy Bessy last night. I was at Emo's two hours in advance but my non-wristband, non-badge having self was turned away. I ended up at some bar called the Loft where I was friends with 4 of the 5 bands playing. It was like being at a party since I knew 2/3 the crowd. I still plan on going to that free show on Friday afternoon. Do you think you'll be there? How have the screenings been?
Angie Joe - they're showing that O, Brother film here during SXSW. But I haven't gotten a chance to see it. Damn work, getting in the way of my playtime. I plan on being "cough, cough" sick tomorrow so I can catch some more stuff.
Shelly - are you back yet on the internet consistently?

no haikus for me.
I had dinner with Upma last night (hi upma! - hope the films at Dobie were good). And went through the SXSW listing to plan out my week. Too many things to see, not sure if I'll get into any of them. Oh, Upma, tell Rebecca the free Rock*a*Teens show is Friday afternoon at Emo's.
So this month has kind of sucked so far. Broke up with the boyfriend, had my car hydroplan into a curb requiring two new wheels, and work is super insane crazy busy until I feel like standing in the middle of my cube and just spinning and spinning around.

Upma once told me that I pronounced her name correctly, which I took as a great compliment, so I will impart my wisdom. Say "up", like the direction "uhhhp" and ma, like in "mug" and smash them together. That's really close.

JT and others-a group you might be interested in. text is 3/4 of the band Refused. but, they don't sound that much like Refused. They are the arty side of Refused set free. The whole album is available for download on the website. try 1, 2, or 6. But all are worth a listen.

pick an airline that
goes where you want it to go
frequent flier miles

even better if
you got yourself credit card
dollars equals miles

internet tickets
get too many lay overs
too many red eyes

i think that i need
quite a bit more practice at
this haiku thing-y

hey upma, can you give us a phonetic pronunciation of your name?

ok, my computer at home will be re-set-up one day, if i ever manage to unpack. in the meantime, due to the joys of temping i should be online most of the day today.

weezie, i will be here at the end of april and i'll have the sofa bed waiting. i haven't made it up to vancouver etc. yet so depending on which days you go i'd like to tag along if i'm not working and you're game.

two days before we left town it snowed. the first time since i've been living here that it stuck to the ground. six to eight inches. i happened to be driving (which i almost NEVER do)the night it happened because i couldn't get a ride to my soccer game. at first i though it was just like driving in really heavy rain which i know how to do (thank you louisiana). driving was a bit nerveracking but then i had to drive uphill in the snow. well louisiana doesn't have hills so i'm not sure if the comparison holds true there but i started sliding very slowly from one side to the other. a small nervous breakdown later i was home. happily it is much more fun to play in than drive in. since it doesn't snow often here it was a festive atmosphere. spontaneous snowball fights with strangers and snowmen on every available surface.
as it melted and turned to gray slush the next day i was glad that snow is an infrequent occurence here.
the night before we flew to louisiana was jacob's annual big company party, thannukkus. in an attempt to be non-denominational and save money and avoid a party smack in the middle of their busy season the holiday party is delayed until february or march. jacob had dyed the front of his hair candy apple red and i wore the huge velvet and brocade dress with embroidered upside down crosses.this was also supposed to be the dress i was going to wear to the plantation wedding that jacob was standing in in louisiana. i had the sneaking suspicion he had dyed his hair specifically to annoy the bride but used thannukkus as an excuse.(the bride fortunately didn't fall for the hair ruse, perhaps thankful that it was the only mischief jacob caused at the wedding) . anyway the party had a las vegas theme and after the food there were casino games as well as dancing and karoke.
we got in around 4am, packed and caught the cab to the airport, that was a pretty good indicator of the pace of the next two weeks. we spent a lot of time driving back and forth from kenner to baton rouge to houma (actually gibson, la), to metarie to vacherie to kenner to houma to new orleans to vacherie to houma to new orleans to houma to baton rouge to kenner. there wasn't much time for sleeping. henceforth i think people should plan their weddings to my convenience. so keith and candi got married and becky and ryan and jenny and dave got engaged. i was asked to be a bridesmaid in backy's wedding in atlanta in six months. i hope this works out better than last time i was supposed to stand in a wedding (and didn't becuase of a big misunderstanding which almost cost me a friend). i got to see beth and the baby that was a result of said wedding and mending fences was good.
the trip home was fun- mostly. i had to deal with the fact that i don't find the drink till you puke mardi gras experience all that fun and never ones to miss an opportunity (when jacob who was getting sick succombed and fell asleep)i got lectured by my parents for various offences including not being married. i went to a wedding which was excruciating but will have beautiful pictures. (you should never hold any event in south louisiana out doors at dusk on the water even if you think a plantation and oak trees on the river are the perfect setting. the mosquitoes will eat you alive.) i was house sitting for the happy couple since my parents can't allow me and my living in sin boyfriend to sleep in their house. all of their pets were natural enemies, one of them apparently an enemy of mine. they had fish and doves which were originally to be released at the wedding, and a cat. i confirmed i am definitely allergic to cats in spite of the fact that i like them and they seem to love me and or rubing on me and my stuff while i sneeze and cry and cease breathing functions through my nose.so a portion of the trip was a lesson in things which are only fun in theory. also a disturbing amount of my friends are beginning to marry and spawn.
good things:
1 i got to see a lot of friends and family though i missed a few and didn't see anyone for very long
2 i fogot how wonderful a sunny 70 degree winter day can be
3 lightning storms
4 fried soft shell crabs
5 boiled crabs
6 shrimp poboys
7 dusk on the swamp (viewed from a car window)
8 enormous oak trees
9 gumbo
10 beignets

we saw the seattle mardi gras "riots" on the news and since i wasn't there i'll refrain from commenting on the seattle police crowd control skills (again). the next day was the earthquake. we called and everyone we knew seemed to be ok. no one else had a key to the place we'd just bought so we figured we'd see if it was still standing when we returned and hope the insurance was already in effect if it wasn't.
we were lucky the damage was really minor on our place. the heaviest damage was in the oldest parts of town near the water on landfill, pioneer square. the earthquake retro-fitting program seemed to work pretty well. george w. had proposed cutting that program out of the budget the same day the quake happened. huh.

when we left snow was still on the ground. when we returned to seattle, spring had come in our absence. things are blooming it has been sunny and warm. (drought and hydroelectric power shortages are predicted) but in the meantime it is lovely days.

CATS
my neighbors have five cats. the men who used to live in our place had three cats. they were accustomed to leaving the doors and windows open for all of the cats to come and go as they please. the remaining five cats seem to be mystified as to why my apartment is no longer part of their domain. they perch on my window ledge and look in and meow in the most adorable way. one accidently mistook a closed window for an open one and jumped into the glass with one thump then another as he hit the ground. he seemed to be ok. i was trying to clean up and unpack when i heard a thump behind me. another cat stood in the middle of my living room looking quite triumphant and proceeded to strut about. i tried to shoo him out of the front door before he could rub aginst any more of my furniture creating an atmoshere in which i can't breathe. he began to dart from room to room as i shut doors behind him finally rustling him outside again. i saw the mail had come and closed the door over as i went to get it since the cat still looked very intent on exploring my apartment. at that point i realized i was locked out. fortunately jacob doesn't work far away and i had shoes and somewhat presentable clothing on (excluding the broken straw cowboy hat). i'm sure that cat invited all the others back in my window and had a party while i was away.

Wheez. there's a real chance that I may be out of town 7-15th of april. I'm sorry. I know I told you I would have the week off and I still might. Tell me when you want to come, I'll work something out. When are you leaving?

---

Wahid, another manager at the theatre, said something really weird tonight at work. To get the affect of how he talks pause after every second or third word.

Wahid: Za-tree. (He calls me Za-tree)
Me: Yes?
Wahid: I heard that you got intimate with a beast that was half-satire (his word for centaur) and half-goat. Is this true?
Me: Who told you this? yes, it is true.
Wahid: You are very ramchu.

---

We had to call the cops on a drunk guy tonight. Eventually, he lunged at the officer and got flattened. So, right in the middle of our lobby, a cop is holding down and cuffing and a screaming drunk. It was funny to see other customers have to walk around the melee.

upma - crooked fingers is playing sat. night I think. Also, I'm definately going to see this film called Frontier. Some guys I know worked on it. It's playing a few times next week.

upma - here's my saturday so far
2pm - croquet party (not SXSW related - just friends, beer, nice weather, fun)
6pm-9pm - party at an exes' house - more beer, hanging with friends
after that - bring on the rock - show downtown - not SXSW related either, some friends' bands - Silver Scooter and Aden. that's all so far.

upma - I can't wait to hear from you. I already know of a party and some bands I want to see saturday if you aren't overplanned.
thad - I think I'd like a copy of the sad songs tape as well. It should be coming in handy real soon.
shelly - good to talk to you yesterday - nothing new to update - still waiting for the call back.
I mail off my job application for Maine today.
angie joe - I love your journal idea. It reminds me of something I did in second grade called "soft, warm, fuzzies" - each week someone in the class' name was picked and then every student had to write a "soft, warm, fuzzy" to them. They're really funny to read (of course, I still have mine!) since in second grade they run along the lines of "you're a really really really nice girl" repetition takes over when creativity runs out. But it's something I'll never throw away.

You guys remember that part in High Fidelity where the rock critic asks Rob his all time top ten records and he says something like, "I've waited my whole life for a woman to ask me that." Well, it wasn't a young woman, it was Benji who ask me one of those kinds of questions the other day. It was the kind of question that finally puts to use all the time I've spend thinking about worthless rock trivia. He was telling a story about how his dad was convinced to give his life to Jesus when a ex-Sabbath singer spoke at Benji's high school. Benji couldn't remember the guy's name so he asked me to name all the lead singers of Black Sabbath. I did (Ozzy, Ronnie James Dio, Ian Gillian, Glenn Hughes, Ray Gillen and Tony Martin---Hughes was the offending Christian) and was extremely satisfied with myself for the rest of the night. If any of you want to know the real names of all the members of KISS (ALL of them) or who played the guitar solo on "Hand of Fate" by the Rolling Stones or anything else like that, I'm your man.

"My Girl" is happier than walking on sunshine. But, "Mannish Boy" is the happiest song ever, regardless of the fact that its a blues. Did you put "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" on your sad tape? And "Tears of Rage?"

Shelly, I'm glad you're back. And safe. And at the mercy of superintelligent animals.

i hope to finish it......maybe today. anyone who would like a copy, tell me a place the send it.
a happy album would be really hard, i'll try though. the happest song ever is, oddly enough, been in discussion around here. i say it's "my girl" other seem to think it's "walking on sunshine". anyhow let me know what you think.

hi. back from louisiana. missed the riot and earthquake in seattle. was relatively undamaged by that and the visit home. the weather is beautiful. i feel like a weight has been lifted. i'll get the internet set up at home soon. have computer access right now due to the relatively ridiculous circumstance of being locked out of my place by my neighbor's cat. i have so much to tell you!

i haven't finished the saddest album in the world yet. when i do i'll post the songs to see if you agree. i found a willie nelson song called "can i sleep in your arms tonight" it makes everyone i've played it for cry. it's on red headed stranger if you want to listen to it. i need about three or four more songs if anyone can think of more. i think my goal in making this is pretty twisted. i want to make my freinds cry. i'm thinking of it as an experiment in the power of music.

Louise, I had a dream about you last night. I don't remember much of it, but everyone was sitting around in my living room (you included) and everyone was calling you Kainui.

I have the second week of april off (until friday night), but I have reasonably flexable schedule if you give me little notice. I don't know how long you're planning to stay, but the mayflower house (mine) will be happy to put you up as long as you like.

Some recent things:

It snowed a great little snow last night. The coast was supposed to get clobbered, mostly NYC and Philly. Buffalo got a lovely four inches of perfect powder. It was the glittery kind of snow, it sparkled in the street lights as it fell.

I was supposed to move upstairs today but with the scare of snow my landlord cancelled on me, so tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. I've sort of been putting all my stuff together and unlike most of the time when I'm packing I can't believe how much stuff I have but this time I'm pretty happy with the amount of stuff I have. This could be because I'm moving into a bigger place and there will be room for everything. But all in all, I've kept my material possesions to a minimun. An expensive minimum though, for instance, my wonderful G4.

Right now I'm at my friend Jana's house taking care of her cats, Lila and Hector, while she spends spring break in Florida. They are both almost completely black. Lila has a patch of white on her chin and Hector a patch of white on his belly. Lila's the stoic, Hector's the jesture. They don't always get along. I keep getting interupted to watch some trick Hector needs an audience for, that's when he's not walking over the computer keyboard. If my roomate weren't allergic to cats I might have one. I'm not completely a cat person, I like dogs but there is no way I could really take care of a dog being at school so much, they need time and space. Cats would have you believe they need nothing. I like cats though, and they seem to like me which I always find surprising.

Things with Julia and I are going so well. I don't want to say too much about it for fear of jinxing it all.

This being spring break I thought I might actually get a chance to get some real creative work done, but with the move, even though it's only up one floor, I'll probably just manage to keep my head above water.

I finally finished Italo Calvino's If on a Winter's Night a Traveler. It's so good. I could almost read it again. I was going to share certain parts with you guys but decided against posting lenghty paragraphs written by somebody else.

I got to see Weezer and the Get Up Kids last night. My friend Stephen bought me a ticket like two months ago and I totally forgot about it. So, it was a nice surprise when he reminded me a few days ago. The show was in this run-down old basketball court (Grady Cole Center) that was/is totally unsuited for rock and rock music.

We got in line to enter the building and I remembered that I brought my knife. They were doing very through searches for people at the door. Jennifer Furches offered to hide my knife in her purse, thinking the security guys never really go through purses. So, we tried it. She gets stopped, has to empty her purse, the metal detector is buzzing hte whole time. Jennifer, cool as a criminal, simply leaves the knife in the purse. The security gives her a look and tells her to throw away her pens because they're afraid the walls will get marked up. So she managed to sneak in a three-inch searated-blade knife, but got busted on a couple of felt-tip pens.

Inside Stephen show some girl he knew. I never got formally introduced, but I think her name started with an "M". Michelle, maybe. M. latched on to John Rash. She sweated him non-stop the whole time we were there. Arms on shoulders, she laid back on his knees once, phone numbers exchanged, everything. John was so uncomfortable. He was trying to be polite. I think he was looking for an excuse to mention his girlfriend, but never found a natural way to do it. This girl had never meet him before. She was planning their wedding after two hours.

Get Up Kids were good, I guess. They played a lot of songs. I don't think I'll ever see them again, though. John said, "I think their days of being a really fun band to go see are over." I agree. But, I'm still a fan of their records. I think they've got a lot of good pop, I'm just not sure I ever want to see the singer with the Morrissey hair say something like, "Charlotte, North Carolina, can you count!? Count with me... 1, 2... I can't hear you! 1, 2, 3, 4!" again.

Weezer rocked out. The crowd are rabid for them. Their popularity has grown so much in the last few years. Except for three news songs (and one from that promo xmas cd I gave you, thad), the audience sang every single word. I'm usually too selfconcious to do that but eventually I caved and sang myself. They had a big light up Weezer "=W=" sign and shot confetti at the end of the show. It was pretty fun, all in all.

I think she was still in New Orleans when they happened, but I haven't heard for sure.

So I know my last post was all about how I didn't want to leave Austin - but today I've changed my mind. Not to move for the boy but to move for this job - a summer position in Maine helping with photographic workshops. It sounds like so much fun. And I could always come back to Austin after. The thing is I haven't applied for a job, worked on my resume et al in over three years. I'm feeling a little behind on the whole process.