old bands...a post from portland.

I played a one off show in portland tonight with a band from seattle. in a "nice" hotel in downtown portland...nice in that it's cool but "" because i got the cheapest room available..i.e. shared bathroom down the hall. i could have paid the extra 35 dollars from the privilege of my own toilet and shower, but why bother. of course, outside of staying in hostels when traveling in my 20's OR on tour with the band...this would be weird, but it's actually okay.

anyway.

that is is not the point of this post. the point of the post is that the show tonight got me to thinking about ALL of the shows i've ever played...where they were at...what they meant..who they were with, etc...the shows i've played with my old school music friends from the past...the kevin, the tim, the alex, the tommy, the matt, the steve s, the phil v(not the phil e..that's for the seattle post..), the lance, (old school: tim o, dave m, jeff w, andy j, and people that i can't even remember anymore...) and all other folks since then that i've jammed with or had some musical connection, if only for a random moment. i'm excluding the current band, cause well, i still play with you!

All i'm trying to say is that i've played a lot of songs with a lot of different people and they've all added to my musical life. when i play guitar now, at the ripe age of 35, homeowner, internet career guy, midwest transplant, married/secretly married, dog owner/servant, and all 'round nice guy, i benefit from all of those shows...some keys ones:
- party ?- 89
- Shawnee - 90
- Kevin's loft in spfld - mice not men - spfld - 90 (jimmy the door of the bathroom)
- ato frat house - 91 - yes, i once knew khow to play alice in chains songs
- 1st v popes show - 92 u of i huge part...100's of people...my addiction to the performance of guitar started that night... thanks lance!
- jimmy's - 92 - music of the moment, for the moment. we should all be lucky to at least once in our life to be "of" the time.
- the inferno - 91? - same same. the house is gone. we were one of hundreds of bands to play that basement.
- davey byrnes - what kinda rock show has a classical guitarist start it off? WE DO! that was a night of firsts. still have a recording of it. (hi lynn!..i DO remember you from that show...couple months later...i drove your el camino...)
- ill. entertainer -chicago - 93? - only time the sears van made it out of town..thanks tommy!
- party - ? - 93 - g set it up.
- the gallery - 94 - finally. may have been the last show. timmy on the roto toms.
...then the chicago years. more music consumed than created. i was working on my form so to speak...
and then: SEATTLE
that post is still being written. check back in a few years.

AA

A Job Well Done

Zack's done delivering presents for the year. Also, he's done being humiliated.

Merry Christmas!

You spin me right round, baby, right round...

a huge shout out to mr. hersted for sending my a needle and cartridge for my turntable (once his of course...actually i think everyone reading this blog has a stereo component that scott once owned...) while my other one (that was once his too) is being retipped.

This is the first time in two years i've been able to listen to a record...and god damn...they sound good. thank you scott!

and why am i listening too? why i'm listening to The Best of Ornette Coleman...that scott gave me.

This post was not paid for by Scott.

Working

This morning at breakfast, Aa and I were talking about Christmas and the fact that I'm working full days Monday and Wednesday, doing things that I have to actually be present and in the studio for. He said, "I kinda can't believe you agreed to do this. It's actually been bugging me a little." Honestly, it's kinda been bugging me too. Its our first Christmas here together and I agreed to work. I really like work, and it'll be fun, but damn. I wanna stay home with my Aa and my Zack tomorrow and make sugar cookies and stuff.

This morning, I was waiting for my bus. There was guy at my bus stop, drinking something from a paper bag and yelling into a cellphone. Mid-phone call, he stepped around behind the bus shelter and peed. Then he came back to the bus shelter.

"I wasn't always like this!" he yelled. I glanced over. He wasn't on the phone anymore. He was talking to me. "I didn't always drink, you know. I had a wife for 25 years. And two little girls". I made a vague sympathetic noise. I wasn't sure what to do. "Once I was sober for 14 months", he said. "It was the best time of my life". I smiled. He stopped looking at me. "I don't know what happened", he said. Then he walked away.

boring

i'm sure it is exciting for all of you to know when i run...and when i don't run.
i ran on saturday. i am running today.
whew.
okay. you can now relax and enjoy your life.

AA

Today In Arcane Deities

Today’s arcane deity is…HESTIA! (I spent 6 hours baking cookies today, that’s why)

Hestia is the Greek goddess of the hearth, the home, and domesticity. She was also supposedly a virgin (because how’s a lady supposed to keep the gee dee house clean if she gotta look after some kids?). Hestia and ten of her eleven brothers and sisters had the confusing and nasty experience of being eaten, and then later vomited up, by their father Cronus. She was Cronus’ first child, but the last to be upchucked. So she holds the odd distinction of being considered both the youngest and the oldest of Cronus’ twelve kids. (Zeus, the head honcho god, is Hestia’s brother. He was born last, but never eaten. In fact Zeus was the one who tricked Cronus into throwing the eleven other siblings up. See? Christmas with your family won’t be that awkward. )

So, Hestia’s virginity. Apparently, not one but two of her brothers were interested in, ahem, getting to know her better (Poseidon and Apollo). Hestia was not down, however. She appealed to Zeus, and he said she didn’t have to marry any of her brothers if she didn’t want to – she could tend to Zeus’ hearth instead. (that’s not a euphemism for having secret sex.) It actually turned out to be a pretty good deal – as goddess of the hearth, she had a place of honor in every other deity’s temple with an altar hearth or flame. She also had a place of honor in every public building with a fire burning as well. Obviously she had a special place in every home too. So that meant she didn’t have a lot of temples dedicated solely to her. She didn’t seem to mind, though. When she's brought up at all in myths, she's generally described as refreshingly level-headed and modest, pretty uncommon for Greek gods.

Baking! Christmas! Cookies!

You know what makes cookies so good? Butter.

Little Tree / House / Dog

Monday night, Aa made pizza and we decorated our wee tree.






And Zack watched, bored.

3 chords and the truth

exercise update: the week is going well. ran again today. 45 on the treadmill. good stretching afterwards. feels good to be back in the gym again. the ipod was in my favor today and played exactly what i needed to hear. well...ornette coleman wasn't exactly the best thing to run to...but an excellent distraction.

If you can talk to a 37-year old woman

Job listing for a radio station with perhaps the world's smallest audience.

let's get physical. PHYSICAL.

okay. i went to the gym for the first time in a long time.
i'm going to post here everyday that i do.
that way...you and I (whoever you are) will know that i'm stickin' to it.

that is all.

oh...and i WILL get around to answering those questions from last month...so back off.

Aaron

General Hospital is on in the newsroom. I have some questions.

WTF - why is Luke in the hospital? Why's he talking about "I know you want me to live, but you can't control what happens on that operating table, nobody can"?? And why is he saying that to Tracy Quartermaine? And why is she crying about it? Are they like dating now or something? Argh I have to quit my job so I can figure out what the sam hill is going on.

Also, this is another show, but still - what the hell happened to Bianca? There's no lesbian on All My Children now? Lame. And! One time I saw Livia Frye in Mexico. It's true. I was visiting my cousin Paul and Livia was almost impossibly large with pregnancy. I shit you not.

Thanksgiving 2007: The aftermath

We had 18 people and 3 dogs total in the Minty this past Thanksgiving. We didn't take any pictures because we were too busy entertaining. It was pretty great. But cleanup sucked some serious ass (many thanks to Jon, who took off his shirt, got in the kitchen, and drunkenly starting washing dishes while comparing the cleanup to Hercules' fifth trial. Also big thanks to Renee, who backed Jon up by re-cleaning the dishes he didn't quite clean enough.)

These pictures offer only a wee glimpse into the terror that was post-Thanksgiving at the Minty.

Things have been happening

Got lots of stuff to post about - like Thanksgiving, when we crammed 16 wonderful people and three wonderful dogs into the wee Minty, and like our visit to Portland this weekend. But it's cold and I'm sleepy, so I am gonna get in bed, cuddle my dog, and read a book instead.

Here is an excellent, excellent thing to look at though: this blog a woman is writing about raising a coyote pup she saved. If the pictures alone don't make your heart break, there's something wrong with you. And I'll tell you, the similarities I see between Charlie the coyote and Zack are disconcerting. I haven't met a dog I dislike yet, but my dog looks so much more like a wild animal than any other dog I know. Like he'd be perfectly ok if we dropped him back in the savanna tomorrow.

Book, bed, little wild animal dog are all waiting. Later.