Darn That Dream

First 20 tracks on my iPod this morning whilst trying to relieve myself of last night's headache...

1. "Giant Robots" - Berzerk
2. "Sure Shot" - Beastie Boys
3. "(I'm A) Slave 4 U" - Britney Spears
4. "So You Think You're In Love" - Robyn Hitchcock
5. "Disciples Of Funk" - Bootsy's Rubber Band
6. "Hold Me Now" - Elastica
7. "Across The Universe" - Fiona Apple
8. "Between The Lines" - Kathy Diamond
9. "That's Truckdrivin'" - Slim Jacobs
10. "I'd Rather Go Blind" - Etta James
11. "Guaya Guaya" - Notch
12. "Go-Go Girls" - K-The-I???
13. "I Feel Good (Pilooski Edit)" - Jackson Jones
14. "Who Stole My Last Piece Of Chicken" - Organized Konfusion
15. "I'm Mr. Big Stuff" - Jimmy Hicks
16. "Dirt" - Death In Vegas
17. "Right On Brother! Right On!" - The P&J Review Band
18. "Tomorrow Never Knows" - The Beatles
19. "Oliver Square" - Cadence Weapon
20. "Fuck Authority" - Pennywise

Blemmy.

My old friend Just Dave just completed his "new movie".

I don't know why, but this about made me snark my tea all over the monitor laughing. That look on his face. That is just so Just Dave.

Nothing Lasts

I'm hardly one of those broads that go ga-ga over shoes. But blast it all, I wanna pair of these when and if they go on the market. Yes, I'm a trendy hipster chump. And watch they don't make them in my size. Me and my bleedin' hot dog feets.

So it's Memorial Day, or was I suppose. Being in downtown Norfolk yesterday for brunch with Mike and Al reminded me again how much I miss living down there, and how Joe and Goofy Steve and I would throw our annual Memorial Day cookout in our tiny Ghent apartment on our rickety fire escape. Oh, the things we did with food. Like a drunken Ted Dean taking slices of Kraft American cheese and sticking things from my dresser drawers to them like safety pins and metal bottle caps and cramming them into his mouth, and me screaming like some freaked-out mother with a toddler and tackling him with my hand down his throat trying to fish the dangerous cheese from his gullet. And all of us putting food into containers and placing them out in the street and watching cars run over them from the second story balcony, and how that 18-wheeler totally obliterated that Pringles can full of chocolate pudding which sprayed all over the cars parked on the side of Colonial Avenue. And I think that was the same party where my favorite Riot Gal-Pal Monrovia was shooting that pellet gun off the same balcony and shot out the Farm Fresh sign across the street and sent some old lady screaming and scattering back down to the old folks home. Or maybe that was another time. Eh, oh well, enough boring you bastids with memories of the wild and reckless Bohemian mid-90's. I have a question, especially for you homeowners, and for what few of you who maybe still read this (Greg? Hi!) I hope you can advise me.

My air conditioning seems to be working perfectly fine.. downstairs. Upstairs is a whole 'nuther matter. I know that heat rises, but the vents just aren't blowing out at full steam it seems. Or I don't know what it is. At the advice of a friend I tried closing all the downstairs vents to force the air up through the upstairs vents and it's helped a little, and by a little I mean it's now merely hot instead of oppressive stifling surface of the sun choking me in my sleep hot. But it's still not coming out as hard as it should. And now that it's officially summer, beach summer considering where I live, and it's only going to get hotter -- well, I was hoping someone might have a clue as to what might be the problem before I call the AC service man and have him charge me out the wazoo for something I could have probably taken care of on my own. Right now I just stepped out of a cold shower and I feel like I need to get back in again before I hit the sack. Anyway, any advice would be welcome, and pretty much cherished at this point.

Lastly, Charles Nelson Reilly does a Bic Ink Crayon commercial.

Rest in peace, beloved icon of my youth.

Schedule

Mon 28: 11-6:30
Tue 29: 11-6:30
Wed 30: 4-cl
Fri 1: 11-6:30
Sat 2: 3-cl

Singing In The Bathtub...

The +44 signing actually went a lot better than I anticipated. And it seems like it went really quickly, but then again their management kind of did want them in and out within an hour and a half so that they could play with Fall Out Boy that evening in Hampton (Fall Out Boy I hear was signing somewhere down at Oceana but for only 30 minutes and it wasn't advertised so I can't image how well that went) so the lines passed through pretty quickly. Thankfully I got out of line duty and just did my usual work around he floor, although Miranda and Kevin and I started trying to stir up a little mischief, knowing that Travis Barker (seated, far left) used to date Paris Hilton we were trying to scrounge up these really skanky looking Paris Hilton stand-ups that we used to sell back in our warehouse and either lay one out on top of the conference room table (our makeshift "green room") with a note that said "Look Familiar?" or open up all the Hilton stand-ups and line them up like clones and make Travis run the gauntlet between them to get back to their tour van (I'm sure he's had nightmares similar to that in real life). But alas, I think the last of our Paris Hilton stand-ups have been recalled, so no going. But anyway, that's the guys up there (with one of our fake street signs that we sell in the store) with some of the staff, and they were all very nice guys although the only one I ever got a moment to say anything to was the one that I think was former Transplants Craig Fairbaugh (seated, far right) because I dug his Buzzcocks shirt, although I think all that came out of my yap was something along the lines of "Duh-hut... ah likes yur shert." but he seemed very pleased that I acknowledged it and thanked me.

So as per usual, right when I have the least amount of money on my person to work with is when they sprang inventory on us last weekend so naturally I had to empty out my hold bin and take some used goodness home with me. Among said items were:


The German import of John Cale's Slow Dazzle, which I think was his first album with Island Records and he was still going through a bit of that avant gardy rock thing. Spooky version of "Heartbreak Hotel" and a tribute to Beach Boy Brian in "Mr. Wilson". Still need more time to explore this disk further.

The Go-Betweens Liberty Belle And The Black Diamond Express. Australian band that I've always liked but never owned enough of. Only have a few songs previously, including my lovely bouncy "Lee Remick", and now I have, well, more than that. Haven't had a chance to hear it yet, so I may report back with more on it later if it makes an impression.

Oh, man. One of my strongest memories as a kid was going into the record store every weekend and passing over D.O.A.'s Bloodied But Unbowed, The Damage To Date: 1978-83 in the skimpy punk bin and having my curiosity grow exponentially each time. I really wasn't very familiar with punk or hardcore back then, and I remember how the shockingly bloody album cover felt almost too gross in my hands to touch, but at the same time I was possessed with an irrational desire to hear what kind of music came out of this. Punk seemed so frightening to me at the time, and yet the thrill I had to learn and understand it was almost sexual in it's intensity (I may have mentioned before that when I was 16 years old I used to masturbate in the empty bathtub with all the bathroom lights out and Bad Brains and JFA blasting on my Walkman). Later in college I got into D.O.A. but never found this album again, until recently where it was just released onto CD in the last few weeks. I bought it new. Like I should have then. And yes, it makes me want to masturbate in the bathtub for old times' sake.

Lastly! Wheeee! I will officially have Kevin's baby now for finding me this spiffy Stiff Records Box Set which I think is actually out of print these days. Gobs of Stiff hits, most of which I don't own save for the Nick Lowe and The Damned and, well, maybe one or two others. But still! Stiff, people! Outta print! $38 used! HOLY CATS!! I'm so excited!! I think... I think I AM gonna go masturbate in the bathtub now!!!

Zzzzzzip!*

May My Heart Stop Beating

We have that +44 band doing an instore signing tomorrow. Well, technically today, I suppose. I figured it would be lousy with screaming teenyboppers what with the whole Travis Barker-y thing going for it (is that the guy's name?) but I was surprised by how few people have been asking about it in advance. Maybe they will all show up tomorrow in shrieking hoards anyway, and it will still be my duty to play human barrier for the few hours that they'll be here. I'll need to bring all the big boss me I can wield.

I reckon I better wear the big tits tomorrow.

Brutalist

I guess it's time I wrote something, huh? Believe me, it sucks that I barely have time to blog these days, let alone have something of substance to natter on about. The more I blog though the better I feel in general, and I need to feel a lot better, ah, in general. Whether this is counterproductive or not remains to be seen, but I have decided not to worry so much about work anymore. It's just not getting me anywhere, and it's pretty fruitless to begin with. I'm just going to revert back to my former mind space where I resolved to do the best that I can, and if that still isn't good enough, then hey, nobody could ever say I never tried, or did my best. So I'm hoping this new outlook changes things for the better overall in my life. Keep me from loafing around when I'm at home feeling overwhelmed, and most importantly get me back on track to taking care of my health again, and reverse the damage done to my body. And be more sociable again, despite my general lack 'o real-life friends... no jab intended at my dozens of internet friends, whom I love tremendously and keep me busy, which is a good thing. But you know, sometimes you really need that, that tactile friendship of someone you can hang out with and do things with and... boy, how I miss doing things. I went to a party this past weekend thrown by some of the kids I work with and it was remarkable how much I missed being in the company of people in this venue. I've never been a party girl, and all I had to drink that night was one Jell-O shooter and half a glass of sangria (homemade too, with all the real fruit, mmmm!) but it really was such a blast just rolling on the floor with Stefan and Miranda laughing hysterically and none of us remembering why (well Miranda and Stefan were drunk, but I had no excuse). Anyway, I think I need a lot more of that right now. The whole remembering that I'm alive thing that other people can really help you keep up with in that way. And a lot more rolling around on the floor laughing.

Anyway, I saw THIS over the last two weeks!

This is a Region 2 DVD collector's edition of Spaced, the 1999-2000 British TV series starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz) as well as comedy writer Jessica Stevenson as a small group of twentysomethings living together and trying to achieve their goals in life with as seemingly little effort as possible, with Stevenson as a writer and Pegg as a comic book illustrator. Countless upon countless pop culture references abound, and like in the spirit of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 the references are often so obscure that the DVD provides an option where subtitles will appear at the bottom of the screen Pop-Up Video style and point out the movie/television/music reference they are satirizing. Stevenson works briefly at a small Mexican restaurant where the kitchen and wait staff's relationship with their dragon-lady supervisor resembles scenes from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, complete with silent Native American sweeping in the background. And Pegg's character (much like his real life persona) is obsessed with Star Wars and loses his job working in a comic book store from belittling a child's love for Jar Jar Binks, only later to get a job at another comic book store and promptly quits by belittling his new boss's love for Babylon 5. Like Joel Hodgson once said of MST3K, not everyone will get it, but the right people will get it. This show is a lot like that. And oh hell. Funny. Just. Funny. Yes.

Schedule

Mon 7: 11-6:30
Tue 8: 3-cl
Wed 9: 9-5
Fri 11: 11-6:30
Sat 12: 11-6

So it's my first time that I've been able to get on this damn thing since whenever the last time was that I blogged, what with blogger not letting my password access and all that. But I guess the glitch is gone. And what do I have to show for all my pains? Diddly, apparently. Well, I guess some things have been going on, but I'm about to run back out the door again here in a second so I'll post more when I can. I was supposed to go to this 5th De Mayo party this evening but I get the feeling it's been cancelled. Heck, first party I get invited to in eons, too.

Anyways, to tide you down, enjoy the wacky webshow called The House Between, a spooky sci-fi/horror/comedy thing loosely inspired by old Twilight Zone and Outer Limits episodes, and stars one of my oldest friends Lee Hanson who plays Travis, the bastard sexist lawyer asshole who is trapped in a house with a few other people where no one is able to leave or phone for help. Anyway, I've known Lee for close to 17 years now and believe me he's nothing like the character he's playing, which makes it all the more personally amusing to me. And he gets all the best lines, cuz he's, y'know, a bastard sexist lawyer asshole and all. But he gets me in free at movies so it all evens out on the big karma scale of things.

Be back soon-ish...