I think tonight's show at College Hill can only be described as a success for the band. We played really well and people seemed to really enjoy us. It was a great confidence booster. Art from All Night called us the most original band in Greensboro, which is a very nice thing to hear. We were all really pumped up with the praise. I'm still a little loopy.

AND, Upma made a bunch of money to offset the cost of her film.

What a great night.

So I went to a righteous angry girl party last night. The hostess had been dumped player style two days before. These are her words "There was some serious messing around on the dance floor with two skanks right in front of me- in normal life, you don't see that much skin in a public venue unless you're watching Cinemax. Even the easy-going crowd at Nasty's (the dance club) was obviously pretty disgusted to see boobage, everyone thinking,"This is not Studio 54." The real-life playah I was dancing with (initially, for jealousy purposes, but then just 'cause it was fun) didn't think he deserved me, and he'd only known me for 15 minutes." So last night the claws were unleashed. If hell hath no fury, save us a seat. She brought the pathetic email he had sent after feeling up these two girls in public in front of her - it seems he couldn't remember what exactly he had done so was sending a blanket apology. She regaled us by telling us all the stupid things he'd said in bed. He was ripped to shreds from what he wore to what he said to his taste in everything. I hope it was a cathartic experience for my friend. Oh, and there was a lot of chocolate and beer.
It felt out of place to share that I was excited about just starting to date someone. I'm making dinner for the new boy tonight. I hope I don't burn anything.

Happy father's day Thad!

Congratulations one and all for buying cars, graduating, moving on, moving up. Those are all the fighting words I can muster.

June in Buffalo has more or less begun
Julia and I have more or less ended

I'm the cartoon that has wandered past the edge of the cliff with this now sudden realization:
gravity.

On Saturday a group of us got to see Tenacious D in Winston-Salem. If that name means nothing to you, don't worry. Tenacious D definately qualifies as a cult favorite. Basically, Jack Black (from High Fidelity and some other movies) and a dude named Kyle Glass play "themselves" in a HBO show called Tenacious D. It was produced by the guy who did Mr. Show and it was pretty damn funny. The premise was/is that JB and KG are an acoustic duo who are really spastic and everybody hates them. HBO only did like six episodes. The D are pretty funny, actually. That means a lot coming from me, because I generally hate "funny" bands.

They performed every single one of their songs. Every one. That alone was pretty funny.

Jack Black is filming the new Farrelly Brothers movie and flew down to NC just for the show. Its one of, I think, two shows total that they're doing on this "tour". They seemed really, sincerely jazzed to see the sold-out crowd. As the show went on, I began to realize that for them playing a show is really a rare thing. And all the crazed D fans on the east coast were there. Some people drove more than eight hours to get there. I even heard of one person flying in from Colorado just to see the show. Two weeks before the show, tickets were selling on ebay for $75+.

So, I'm glad I got to go. It was tons of fun.

Sunday, I goofed around. Bought some shoes and some pants that don't really fit right. Then I went to work.

On Monday, I did more of the same. John and I sent off about 40 copies of Slave #5 with a brand new one-sheet to a bunch of addresses we got from the guys that do Clamor.

That evening, I told my boss and the other managers that I'm quitting. They took it well, except for my best buddy Wahid, who pretended like he didn't care. Just like a little kid. God, I'm going to miss that guy.

Rob, the GM, said that if I ever wanted my job back--"I couldn't pay you what I'm paying you now, of course"--I could have it. What a class act. Still, I might, part-time, after we get back from the West Coast.

Yesterday, I worked. Johnny turned me on to a book that I'm really loving the hell out of, Edwin Mullhouse, the Life of an American Writer by Steven Millhouser. Its about a ten-year-old novelist. Its a spoof of biographies and kindersleroman, especially Boswell and, to a lesser degree, Joyce. Anyway, its a pretty special book. I'm surprised I never heard of it before Johnny mentioned it.

Then we had a practice for the Thursday (tomorrow) show. We sounded good in the basement. We're trying the problem song (aka the beast) again. Last song. I hope we don't fuck it up again.

I spent most of today in Hickory with Thad and Meredith and Grace. Grace is about two weeks old. She's still adorable and tiny and beautiful. I'm jealous of Thad, but I don't want to talk about it. She took her first bath and screamed in her first restuarant today. I'm a sucker.

I bought a Kiss album. Thad bought a Judas Priest greatest hits.

Mom and I went to visit my grandmother in her nursing home. I think my mom is about the only one who still goes daily. The others are too busy dealing with the emotions of having a ailing and diminished relative to actually go and spend time with her. I love my mother and I am so proud of her for sucking it up and dealing with the hurt and going to see grandma. She needs it.

Grandma is pretty delusional now. She sees lots and lots of things and it upsets her and she becomes very angry if someone suggests that its all in her head. She's had a few episodes recently where she's accused my mom of lying to her. Grandma is convinced of a few things. One, that my cousin Sarah (age 2) is sneaking out of the house and coming to the nursing home. Two, my cousin, Tyler, (age 13) has been arrested and is going to jail. Grandma thinks her brother, Frank, who lives in California is coming to visit. Frank is still recovering from cancer. She's also asking to come home regularly now. That last one breaks my mother's heart.

Today she told me that she was planning a trip to California to see Frank and Irene (a sister). Mom had to tell her that she probably couldn't do that. California is too far to drive. But otherwise she was in a pretty good mood. She got fairly lucid when we were talking about her taxes. Somehow, she can remember exact numbers and figures and I think that perked her up-to be sure of something, numbers and amounts. I was a little surprised because my grandmother has always been responsible, but we never a very finance-oriented person. I can't imagine what inner workings make it possible to remember how much tax she paid on her acreage in the Uhwarrie National Forest, but not remember that Sarah is only 2 and couldn't possibly get the home by herself. Oh, I'm getting worn out just thinking about it.

Mom is asleep. Grandma is asleep. Grace is probably asleep. I should be, too. But, I'm wide awake.

Upma - you are awesome and kick so much ass and it sucks sucks sucks that this boy is giving you the air conditioner treatment - blowing hot and cold. I went through that last week and finally sat the kentucky derby crush boy down and talked. and felt a million times better after. It's good to find out what's going on in someone else's mind so your imagination doesn't do the whole imagine the worst ten times over. so my advice, for what it's worth, is it's better knowing what's going on than fearing the worst. good luck, I hope it all works out.

Blogger is pissing me off. Everything is pissing me off today. But it seems to be fixed.

if i understand then, you're having problems loading the http://www.blogspot
website? i never check that so i hadn't noticed. it is a different (although related) website host than blogger. my guess is that it is overloaded. i'll look into hosting on another free place like tripod or geocities. then maybe i can get some of the features zach and i started working on forever ago to work: bios etc etc. i'll check into it but i don't know how fast it'll happen.

ditto on it being lake effect and not blogger

i'm not having any trouble with blogger. what is it doing to you?

So I have been moved, literally. The car (blue-gray camry) has been bought. I had a talk with the crush last night to find out if we're on the same page with everything. He was all freaking out because he's moving at the end of the summer and didn't know if he wanted to start something if he knew he'd be leaving. Which would majorly suck since we get along really well and have fun. I also don't see the point in not dating just because you know it's going to end. So I think we compromised on a continue hanging out and just see what happens policy. I hope it all works out. Thinking about him just makes me smile. Goofy, I know. Needless to say all that has done nothing to motivate me to unpack my apartment. It is a maze (though getting less so everyday) of boxes.
The stress of this week was lifted a little by some CD shopping last night. I bought an old Aimee Mann, the new Low/Dirty Three album and some Apples in Stereo. A good balance.

Tonight's show at the Ceder St house was mostly a success. Our trouble song, the seven-eight minute one, was a bunch of crap. Other than that, I'm proud of us. We rocked, I think. Krystal had never sung in front of a crowd before, so she was really nervous about that. But, she did great. The one song she sings lead on was, maybe, the best of the set.
The other bands were good, too. The first, the Frenetics, from Montreal, were good kind-of Jimmy Eats World punk-pop-emo-pop-post whatever. Good. Then the Crimson Spectre from our house. the ghoul punks. They were awesome. Dave broke the mic and ended up just shouting and dancing around. the last group, the Trollydodgers, were doing some broke-down Tom Waits thing with a stand-up bass, an acordian (played by the hottest woman I have ever seen) and a clarinet. The had a dirty dude with tattoos rapping/singing. He sang this righteous line: "I'm a garbage eater and a toilet mistreater."

What the hell is up with blogger?

Thad - that's so amazing - I'm really happy for you. How momentous.

I moved this weekend, had a date with my crush, ate lunch with Angie Joe and am so in love with living alone. It's been great. Of course the place is still half in boxes and I keep having to go digging through all those boxes when I get a bee in my bonnet that I need xyz right NOW.
Angie - it was so fun seeing you - hope you had a safe drive back to Houston and didn't spend too much money at Waterloo.
I also watched the season finale of ER - damn if that wasn't suspenseful. Creepy creepy at the end.
The new car should be bought today.

Grace Arden Collier
born at 10:10am on 5\18
8 lb 10 oz
20 inches

she is the most beautiful girl in the whole world. daddy is such a great feeling.

i'm not really mad. just being feisty. and my ride for soccer showed up. but i DO NOT watch survivor. i'll talk to you guys later.
it was fun talking to upma. and i hope we manage to catch zach & weezie at a better time. will you still be there on sunday?

what a lot is going on right now! i'll be corny for a moment and say that i'm really glad you're all a part of my life. i hope that helps make up for the fact that i told a couple of you to go to hell.


CONGRATULATIONS THAD!!! oh a baby girl. a baby girl. i want to make songs with her name. does she have one yet?

angie, i can relate a tiny bit to your situation. i spent nearly a year at an advertising agency. i don't know how you've managed for so long. it nearly drained my life away. good luck. if any of us find the magic fulfilling career/ bill paying job, be sure to share, please.

yesterday, i found a handpainted plexiglass flag leaning against a trash can. i carried it around the rest of the day. mike bought a huge warm chocolate chip cookie from a girl on roller skates. then mike got us invited to a house breaking party. some punk rock kids who are evicted and wreaking revenge on the landlord in the form of a 5 day party. that was about 5 minutes of our day yesterday. the straightedge party is tonight. today i prepare for my party tomorrow night. dim sum tomorrow morning.

later some gross old dude told me i was nice to look at and he bet that i was a kind person and had a good heart. i told him that i probably didn't. in fact that my heart was probably so evil that it is a black hole and he better get away from me quickly before i suck him into the recesses of hell along with me,
he didn't go away.

i love you all.

Thad has baby girl, born at 10:10 AM, May 17, 2001. No name yet. I'm an uncle. A pretty damn excited uncle.

I think Shelly believes that I choose to watch ER (the season finale!) over talking to her. This is not the case. I said clearly that I would talk when a commercial came on.

What? Dr. Greene was afraid that Elizabeth have been shot. And, frankly, I was afraid too.

You guys watch Survivor.

So there.

Mike here. Me and Shelly just got off the phone with Upma (with an umlaut, like Husker Du), which was pretty rad.

Got invited to a crusty punk eviction/destruction party today. And there are some shows: free show by this band the A-Frames at a record store Saturday, and a member of Thirty Ought Six has a new band that is playing tomorrow night, as is Zeke.

Shelly is talking to Zach right now. Crazy, dude!

Mom says Thad's baby is on the way. more when I know more.

Seattle is the dope jam. But you knew that already. Me (Mike) and shelly walked all around town, caught a Mariers game (they won), ate some food, and are currety waiting for a pizza to arrive.

Soon: the EMP, the U district, a Dan clowes/Chris Ware art show, and perhaps some local band doing an in-store down the road a spell.

I bought a Smiths t-shirt today at Hot topic.

If you're over 25 and have a skateboard, you can join the club. We skate around Allston when we're not busy falling.

Friday: My 10,000th day on Earth. Crazy, huh?

i've had that same epiphany, upma & louise. i think angie has too. it is how we bonded in fact. good luck to you.
i could talk about the role my sikh friend's parents have in trying to marry her and her sister off even though the parents themselves were a disapproved love match. but i don't have the energy to type it all out right now. perhaps later.
mike is here. visiting is fun.

I heard in a class that statisically speaking arranged marriages last longer and are happier than love matches. But statistics are never romantic. Also, a tv show I was watching the other week quoted Winston Churchill about democracy (excuse my possible misquotation) "Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms" and then the show made the correlation that marriage was the same - the worst form, except for everything else.

Spent the weekend in a blur. I went and shot a race for my roommate (she was the race coordinator and could only pay me in restaurant gift certificates - no prob with that). Then I went to a pool party and won a raffle there (more food gift certificates). That night I had some wedding party work thing. The next day I spent packing - how do I have so much STUFF. I thought I'd have enough boxes; I was far off. Angie Joe - that would be so awesome if you were in town this weekend except that I'll be moving. My phone is supposed to get set up on Thursday so I'll email you the number once it's confirmed.

still, marriage based on love, is probably a silly idea.

I think a Toyota Camry.

Angie Joe - I don't know when I'll make it to Houston. My next few weekends go something like this: this one: buy car, next one: move, one after that: memorial day picnic, after that: my sister's in Austin, after that: going to Mexico for my birthday, after that: going camping in Fentress and tubing down the river, but maybe the next weekend (now I'm sounding like you :)
I'm not sure where to suggest shopping in New Orleans. I'd just walk down Magazine street and check out all the cool stores there.
And I love your sappy shit. That's great. More people should take risks like that.
I'm going to see Willie next week. Should be a great show. Mike - I saw the Champs here about two years ago. Pretty entertaining.

I am in dealership HELL. I keep getting told one thing over the phone, then when I go in, it's a different (and more expensive story). Probably because I'm a young girl car shopping on her own that I'm getting jerked around. I'll be so glad when this is all over.
Upma - the Jetta is sweet. The last guy I dated drove one, and I loved it. Great design and fun to drive. And much better color selection than other places.

It's been entirely too long.

Just as school was over June in buffalo madness began and is still going strong. I'm heading to DC today for about 5 days. My brother is graduating from Upma's alma mater, Virginia Tech. It should be alright, haven't seen the family in about 5 months, it requires getting a hair cut but that's OK, It's finally getting warm around here and after dying my hair a few times the damage has already been done. i think I might start wearing wigs for a while instead. On the upside I might get a day in the city to check out the Museums, at least all of the free ones, well maybe not all the free ones, there are a lot of free Museums in DC, that's what I like about it.

While May 5 isn't such a big holiday here in Buffalo, this last weekend marked the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Pan American Exposition. You know, Tesla lights up buffalo with AC Power from Niagra Falls, edison gets pissed about it and electrocutes an elephant, Mckinley gets shot in front of the temple of music, the beginning of the end for Buffalo.

There were a ton of openings including a Squeaky Wheel benefit that Julia and I volunteered at, as well as designed a small light installation for. We basically put our peeps on a record player with a christmas ornament sized disco ball in the middle, put a box over the whole thing, cut out some "peep" holes and supplied the following text:

REFLECT-O-SCOPE or GREAT EQUALIZER?
While many people believe that the feud between Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla erupted over AC vs. DC, the real cause for dispute can be traced to a much smaller, yet equally awesome project, the only collaborative work undertaken by the two inventors.

Known to intimates and close friends as the "Reflect-O-Scope" (Edison) or the "Great Equalizer" (Tesla), the important device was to be unveiled at the Pan American Exposition of 1901 at a special event commemorating the Greek myth of Apollo and Narcissus. Due to poor publicity, the event was only attended by 33 people, none of whom could remember exactly what took place in that darkened amphitheater.

It would take 70 years for the powerful instrument to resurface, albeit in a distorted form, in the Americas. Based on limited available documentation, a scale model has been created in an effort to imagine what it must have been like for those 33 people who were fortunate enough to have witnessed the beginning of an era before it ever happened.

*********

There were a lot of great installations there including one by Tony Conrad. I still think that guy is so great. I think he's performing sometime soon, maybe in about a month.

Glad to see everyone is doing well, buying cars, going to rock shows, playing in rock shows, spring crushing, travelling the world, that kind of thing. Buffalo is a very pleasant place at the moment. It will probably remain that way for the rest of the summer, enough so that I will even recommend it to any of you wayward travellers, my doors are open. at some point I imagine I'll have more time to write.

oops - that's dealerships - not dealerhips - but that's kind of funny.

I hate car dealerships. I hate car dealerhips with the burning heat of a thousand suns.

The Dirty Version is us.

In "Up On Cripple Creek" the live version, by the Band, all the singers in the group, sing this line together: "I guess I'll call up my big mama!" I don't know why but I just listened to it twice, just for that. It's fun to sing.

Our washer died a spectacular death. It started oozing green oil and leaking puddles of water. So, I went down to Suds and Duds to do my laundry. I've decided I kinda like going to the laundrymat, especially on a quiet afternoon. I got a lot of reading in and, I don't know, the whole thing seemed quaint. Apparently, cute girls come there too. A girl with a tough forearm tattoo was hanging out, but she was with a guy. And even if she wasn't...

Then the band had possibly the worst practice ever. All my new lyrics seem weird. And everyone was playing badly. Our newest song, the one I had new lyrics for, is about seven or eight minutes long, which is great when we play it well, but, goddamn, when it's bad it's bad for eight minutes. Benji wanted us to play it twice in a row. It was putrid both times. We were miserable. We gave up early.

John made a flyer for the show at Ceder St. I'll try to find some way to post it. If I figure it out, i'll post some pictures of Thad's baby (when it comes) and anything else you guys want.

In the last day and half I've eaten six Smart Dogs (with mustard, ketchup, and sweet, sweet relish), i'm going to die.

Man, I have nothing at all to write to you folks about. I got new checks. John bought the Monty Python dvd box set. My life is pretty slow these days.

i was held up at gunpoint a few years back inside my friend's house. i hope you are ok, thad. it really screwed up my head for a while. i'm not entirely sure that it wasn't a finalizing factor in moving me FAR out of the south. not that violence can't happen anywhere but...

at about 2:30, i and a co-worker, was robbed at gunpoint. all they took was the deposit from the theater and noone was hurt. it's odd because i never thought "oh shit i might get shot" all i thought was "this isn't how i thought it would be". the gun didn't look sinister. it looked kinda small really. the other guy, doug, really freaked out and doesn't really remember much. i caught alot of really odd detail. like i think he was short because his pants looked like those of a short person. that sounds absolutely insane.i can't remeber his hands, but i can remember his chin. it's just weird. i feel like should be able to talk about it all night. i can't explain why i'm so calm about it. they just wanted the money. at first i thought it was a joke. i was about to beat the ass of someone who thought this would be funny.

i wish meredith would have the baby.

Carrboro and Chapel Hill are basically the same place. Most of the rock clubs there are located in Carrboro, but it's all two skips from Franklin Street, which pretty much is Chapel Hill. From Greensboro, you can be at Cat's Cradle in about 45 mins-1 hour depending on the route you take. From Hickory (where Thadder is) it would take about 2 1/2 hours.

I finished seeing one of the lousiest house shows ever. The first two band were so-so. the last band, Malabaster, were playing their last show and had this look of smugness, because the house was so packed, that I couldn't stand much of. Plus, they're really not that great. And the house was hooooot. And all the indie rock alcoholics were out. I need a shower.

Saw the Mummy Returns and have nothing to say about it, except that Rachel Weisz is the love of my life. She puts a little light into my wretched, lonely emptiness. And I guess that's really sad.

I'm sorry you're feeling homesick, Louise. I get that feeling whenever I'm away too. Just keep busy, remember that you're going home eventually and enjoy yourself.

jacob sold our car finally. i sprained or dislocated or something, my big toe while playing soccer.

So I think the crush has moved to friend status. Oh, well, that was fun for a few days while it lasted.
Went to a three hour Survivor party last night (congrats Mike - your girl Tina won). Ate rice and drank Australian wine and groaned and celebrated in a room with the same people I've been watching all the episodes with.
Am still stressing out over all things car. I need to decide in the next two weeks what to do since my car lease will be up. Car dealerships give me the creeps, but Austin isn't a non-car-having friendly town. I don't know what to do. Everyone I talk to gives me different advice.
But besides that, I have a super fun Kentucky Derby party to go to tomorrow. Tonight I plan on decorating a straw hat with minature plastic horses with numbers on their back and maybe some fake mint sprigs.
Angie - congrats on the Boston boy. Yeah!!
Upma - congrats on being done - you should treat yourself to a spa treatment or massage or something to unwind and start the whole first day of the rest of your life thing.