Thursday, February 28, 2008

It's Become Somewhat Of A Tradition...

Whenever a new person comes over to visit in my home, they are first and foremost initiated into the fold by being made to watch this video clip:




This comes from an episode of our DVD box set to Buck Rogers, a subversive "space rocker" band named Andromeda that surely must be experienced to be believed. Nertz, I wish this particular clip wasn't so dark, but the visuals are pretty darn special. My favorite is the dude totally getting down in the background, waving his hands over a board of, um.... lights? A theremin? Of the fuuuuuuuture? And how cool is Milt Jackson over there on the right just beboppin' away on the crystals that Superman uses to contact his dead dad?



And this clip comes at the end of the episode, which Mike says sounds like Devo struggling to seque into Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein". And dig that craaaazy dancing the youth of the future bust a move to with the Christmas lights and the bad wedge haircuts and the Gil Gerard chest hair and the AHOY-HOY! My God, I actually used to watch this show.

Anyway, come up and see me sometime. I'll make tea.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Save Me From The Snare


First 20 tracks on my iTunes playlist this evening just coming back through the snow from my old friend Mike's birthday party (emphasis on old, har-dee-har)....

1. "The Future" - De La Soul
2. "Cool Breeze" - Big Youth
3. "Yadnus" - !!!
4. "Daytripper/She's A Rainbow" - Bad Brains
5. "Laughing Gnome" - David Bowie
6. "7 And 7 Is" - Love
7. "Got To Get You Off My Mind" - Solomon Burke
8. "Mind Your Business" - Hank Williams
9. "Typical Girls" - The Slits
10. "The Wedding List" - Kate Bush
11. "Free The Bee" - Melt Banana
12. "Order Of Death" - Public Image LTD
13. "Monk's Point (Take 1)" - Thelonious Monk
14. "Big Hollow Man" - Danielle Dax
15. "Im Gefängnis Zu Singen" - Dagmar Krause
16. "Don't Leave Me This Way" - Thelma Houston
17. "Lifeless Wandering" - Bargain Music
18. "Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea (Take 1)" - Thelonious Monk
19. "Drop" - Meat Beat Manifesto
20. "I Drink Alone" - George Thorogood & the Delaware Destroyers

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

No Quarter

Gunman spotted on Ferrum College campus, school lockdown ensues.

Believe me, I am in no way making light of a situation that could potentially, and luckily didn't, blow up into something disastrous. But when I was a student at Ferrum, seeing a gun in or around campus really wasn't all that uncommon. Franklin County is real, real mountain country. I'd see old farmers, hunters, and Amish standing in bank lines with shotguns over their shoulders. Students had gun racks on their trucks, in their frats, their dorms. I remember pointing out the lake on campus here in my blog and remembering when a deer swam across while several boys chased it with hunting rifles. And it wasn't unheard of to drive through the twisting mountain roads and have your vehicle fired upon from moonshiners hidden up in the woodsy hillsides.

Shotguns and hunting equipment, although not exactly ubiquitous, weren't exactly scarce from what I saw. I never felt, however, in any kind of danger from anybody back then. I suppose if I had seen somebody with, say, a handgun.... hmm, you know it's funny, but I probably would have been more concerned about that person taking their own life rather than the lives of half the campus. I think, in the 1980's, the very idea of some kid going on a random spree was unimaginable. The wildest "spree" I remember on campus in my day was the kid who broke into the nearby fire station in the middle of he night, stole a fire truck and drove it up and down the winding mountain roads drunkenly ringing the siren and wailing "Whoooooooooo!' out the window until the police pulled him over, and he just spent the night in jail.

Things sure were different then.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Eat That Question

So I did catch a bit of a Death Cough. Not exactly the death-strain, but annoying enough to where I still need to carry around a pocket full of Hall's cough drops when the urge does emerge. If I can just maintain this level and ride it out until the end then maybe it won't evolve into full-on chest-exploding unpleasantry, and avoid another doctor's visit and make it some kind of amazing record time in which I haven't set foot in a doctor's office for one sodding reason or another. Overall it could be worse, and that's what I keep telling myself. As much as I enjoy the beautiful Ashley's company at these affairs I'm slightly relieved that she didn't make it out to brunch this morning since she brought the promise of her 105 (???) degree temperature and sniffles and me back on the salt water again. To which I reply, no thanks. Brunch was delicious, however. I have heard a lot of talk about Brutti's by several locals as being pretty darn scrumptious and I couldn't agree more. And only Alvin, Mike, and Cindy showed up so that means the three of them are invited over tonight for my Oscar Party -- not that we're really big celebrants of the Oscars but it gives us an excuse to hang out and eat leftover Girlscout cookies and clap for the montage of dead celebrities before we get in a game or two of Buzz. And maybe Cindy will wear the velvet pants that we all love to caress. Now that's a party.

Cindy has never heard of The Fall. She was wondering if they were anything as good as The Fixx, to which we replied by falling over and croaking with our feet straight up in the air and giant daises growing out of our chests.

Holy... was that a gunshot I heard out in the street just now? Yikes, I need to go investigate. Wish me luck.

Schedule

Mon 25: 3-cl
Tue 26: 9-4
Wed 27: 9-4
Thur 28: 3-cl
Sat 1: 3-cl

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Waking Life


You think I'd let Tuesday come and go without mentioning the release of Lust Lust Lust by The Raveonettes? Long-time readers might recall my summer of '05 love affair with the pseudo-retro duo (and my undoubtably irritating obsession with Sune Rose Wagner - *drooool*) and their strict aesthetic adherence to a certain style on their first two albums (all songs performed in B-flat minor, less than 4 minutes long, all vocals sung simultaneously, no high hat or ride cymbals). In recent years they've let up on some of those commandments from on high, and although I miss the sheer sonic fierceness of such tracks like "Beat City" and "Do You Believe Her?" I'm still pretty smitten with their charming brand of Phil Spector-meets-The-Jesus-&-Mary-Chain, none of which seems to be lost on this new luscious vinyl piece (yes, had to special order the rekkid from work) from what I've heard so far. Give me a few weeks to soak it in, and then I'll really know what to say about it. Joe offered to give me a birthday back rub while we had a listening party for the new album, but as insulin resistant as I was yesterday I would have slept through the entire shebang... much like I did the lunar ecplise. Shucks. Aaaaanyway...

Here's their latest video to "You Want The Candy". Now I gotta go do my tax returns.


Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Birthday

Huh. Even my old Friendster account that I haven't touched in years still sends me reminders. Thank you, Spidra. I miss you over at Drive We Said. Hell, I just miss Drive We Said.

So here I am, one year away from forty. And I've heard that you know you've reached middle age when you realize you'll probably never get to read Proust's In Search Of Lost Time, so I bought me a copy of Swann's Way the other week. I guess no time like the present.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Darling Fascist Bully Bitch


I'm a bit peeved that we get suckered into purchasing The Young Ones series again when it gets re-released in its Extra Stoopid jubilee edition when it really doesn't have all that much new to offer. Two audio commentaries, one for the pilot episode ("Demolition") and the series finale ("Summer Holiday") by producer and director, who spent more time reminiscing than going into too much detail about the actual episodes. And the featurette on the underground British comedy scene in the late 70's and early 80's would have been fascinating if it weren't presented in such a dull, lumbering manner more full of sound bites and 3-second clips of obviously rare stand-up footage that barely gave us a taste of what we were supposed to be appreciating. And they could only dig up Nigel Planner and Alexei Sayle? Where was Rik, Ade, and Christopher? Where was French and Saunders? Heck, where was the flippin' hamster, for Cliff's sake? Folks, if you already got the Every Stoopid Episode edition, you'll be alright as far as I'm concerned. Still, catching up with these episodes again reminds me of how long it really has been since I sat down and watched them, ever since I was the rabid fan that I was back in the 80's. Now I no longer know every line of dialogue by heart, or can name the episode title two seconds into it with my eyes closed. But dang, Motörhead is still The Shit.
And speaking of quoting British comedies, I'M NOT DEAD! I'M GETTING BETTER! Yes the nostricular angst is finally dissolving, and so far without a sign of Death Cough in sight. I feel as if I'm rising up from the sickbed a vaguely new woman. My eyes are clear. I just got about half my nasty tangled mass of hair cut off. And there are potential new creative projects on the horizon, if all pan out well. So, yay me, for a nice change of pace. G'wan, girl, it's ya birfday. Well no, Wednesday is my birthday. But technically the song says... oh heck, I'm putting too much thought into it.
Blemmy. I'm going to work.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Schedule

Mon 18: 3-cl
Tue 19: 9-5
Thur 21: 9-4 (tentative)
Sat 23: 3-cl

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Vex Humana


First 20 tracks on my iTunes shuffle trying to figure out what steps I need to take a significant chance with my future...

1. "The Motor Booty Affair" - Parliament
2. "I'm A Man" - Bo Diddly
3. "Tommy The Cat" - Primus
4. "Get Down, Get Down" - EBN
5. "Woke Up This Morning" - Alabama 3
6. "M'Lady" - Sly & The Family Stone
7. "Double Trouble" - The Roots
8. "Mr. Pitiful" - Otis Redding
9. "Black Betty" - Ram Jam
10. "Storm Returns" - Prefuse 73
11. "Gypsy Love Songs" - Richard Thompson
12. "Rainbows" - Cranes
13. "Army Of Me" - Bjork
14. "Mr. Chang" - Cobra Killer
15. "Jamboree" - Naughty By Nature
16. "The Street" - The Stooges
17. "Being With You" - Smokey Robinson
18. "Untouchable Face" - Ani Difranco
19. "It's Your Thing" - Booker T. & The MG's
20. "Sex & Drugs & Rock 'n Roll" - Ian Dury & The Blockheads

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Please Understand

My favorite new video of the moment. And no, it's not just because of the Maggot Brain reference. Although it goes without saying it gets points.





Sorry folks. Still a bit under the weather. Just dropping a line out there to let everyone know I'll be back online more again once I stop falling asleep every other minute.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Schedule

Mon 11: 9-5
Tue 12: 9-5
Wed 13: 3-cl
Thur 14: 3-cl
Sat 16: 4-cl

Saturday, February 09, 2008

Wind Power

So yeah, I've been sick. Or more like warding off the Death Cough with every means at my disposal. The cold itself isn't so bad as the fear I have of getting the Cough, and in fact other than the usual fever and sore throat and congestion it's about as pedestrian as colds go. Be that as it may, I've taken the preventative measures that I discussed with my doctor last time, and have bombarded my system with Mucinex twice a day, followed by prescription strength Singulair and two shots of prescription strenght Flonase up each nostril. And twice a day (shudder) I snort warm salt water up my nose in great heaping gulps. Which could not suck more. But! It really does seem to work, and here on my third day of the cold I already feel like I can breathe a thousand times better than yesterday alone. And I've been sleeping a lot. I took two days off from work to stay home and remain in a perpetual Nyquil coma, in hopes that rest, as my doc is quick to remind me, really is the best cure for most common ailments. I admit, I did a bad thing tonight and went for a quick 30-minute walk around the neighborhood with Joe's iPod, which in my state and this chilly weather might open me up to possible bronchitis. But I was going stir crazy in that house and my body was screaming for exercise. I canceled dinner with Al and T-Bag last night and Levi's birthday party at the Tap House tonight just so that I could stay home and battle this thing and avoid becoming Patient Zero to everyone else in my social circle. I guess I'm still going to breakfast with everybody tomorrow. Hopefully by then this will all be on the wane. And better yet, No sign of Death Cough in sight.

I know I'm being a nellie about all this, but people who know me know that, when I get a cold, I get post-nasal drip. And post nasal drip brings on the Death Cough. And after last summer's bout of crippling, chest-burning, bladder-releasing, wrist-slitting painful wracks that I've gotten nearly every year since I was 13 years old to which no doctor can determine the cause, I'm willing to go through any ridiculous lengths to not go there again anytime soon. I spent so much time in bed, gained so much weight, and cried so many days from the relentless agony of the condition -- yeah, yer durn tootin' I'm gonna snort salt water up my nose if it does the trickeroo. And so far, the prognosis looks swell.

Send good vibrations, my friends.

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Hips Tits Lips Power

You don't know how long I've been looking for this.

Do they even show this in schools anymore? When I was in 5th grade I was attending a private collegiate school and I remember we gals got to sit in our desks and watch this filmstrip on the projector while all the boys had to go to the gymnasium and do sit-ups with the principal. And if I remember correctly, the film presented more questions for me than answers. Um, especially that scene with the girl riding the horse. And my first, innocent glimpse of a naked, nippleless cartoon girl in the shower. Oh, the nascent stirrings. Oh, the nightmare fuel.




So for all those budding young lads all over Red-Blooded (that's right eww hee!) America that missed out on seeing one of the most important Disney films of the 20th Century, may I finally present to you The Story Of Menstruation from Walt Disney productions, circa 1946. Put on your thinking caps, boys! And be prepared for some good old-fashioned edumacation. And maybe a little trauma. It might make you wanna run and go do a bunch of sit-ups after all.

By the way, that woman narrating sounds annoyingly familiar. Anybody got any idears?

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Monsoon Of Perfume


Seeing as how they are famous for generally not making any of their music available to download online, and maybe I was the only nitwit out there that didn't know, but was that new Radiohead In Rainbows album that was available to download online for whatever price you desired meant only to be a temporary thing? Because a few weeks after Joe downloaded it the tracks came up on our iTunes with little exclaimation points next to them, as if they were corrupted files. What the hey-hey? I never even had the chance to hear it, assuming that I would always have it, and I hadn't even burned it to disk, because -- well! I didn't think they be gankin' it away from me again, the rat bastids. Anyways, I got it now, AND a vinyl copy (see above my forehead) which actually came through our non-vinyl havin' lame-ass store. I suppose if they're gonna be a total nellie about me actually downloading the album that they clearly made perfectly downloadable then I reckon Thom York is gonna have kittens if he discovers me posting a temporary song file on my blog to, God forbid, encourage folks to buy the album, which is now in stores. If the Karma Police start banging down my door within seconds of posting this, then I guess we'll have all the answers to every burning question we've ever had. Oh, and I'll be dead, for sure.

Jigsaw Falling Into Place M4a file. available for 7 days.

Buy In Rainbows here.

Oh, and what else did I pick up along the way these past few weeks:

Renegade Space Rock by The Mad Conductor, the latest in ska/hip-hop/dance music endeavors from some kid that, according to Adam from Volume Records, was formerly in a band that sounded nothing like this just a few years ago. He was playing it in the store while Joe and I were shopping around and we both fell for the track "Reactor Number 4" and bought a copy on the spot, since I think the band was actually scheduled to play in the store that afternoon so he had a few on hand. The rest of it sounded okay, but that one song was kickin', and worth the full price.

While I was there, I did manage to pick up this used copy of Dengue Fever's Venus On Earth. Because Cambodia rocks... my flippin' socks, that is!


A nicely rare, out of print used copy of The Ghost Of Cain by New Model Army that came into our store recently, which brings back more memories of what I was listening to in the 80's. Then again every damn band these days sounds exactly like what I was listening to in the 80's. I suppose every high-topped, feathered-hair generation really does get the music that it frickin' deserves.



A used copy of Discipline by King Crimson. Round about when Adrien Belew joined Robert Fripp on guitars and gave it a newer, funkier, slightly new waveier texture. Yeah, again with the 80's music, I know.



And lastely but not leastly a brand spankin' new copy of the long-awaited release of Spider Baby on DVD, which I had to special order just to get into the store. One of my all-time favorite movies, although I dislike this cover, as it makes the film look gorier than it really is -- almost like they are trying to cash in on the Japanese horror wave covers like Audition and Pulse. Not that Audition and Pulse weren't great movies, just... you know. Well, maybe you don't, if you haven't seen it. Just that Spider Baby is more humor than horror, and you'd never get that from the cover, I would surmise. It's wacky, zany good fun, is what it is, and I highly recommend it if you like your horror more like a sitcom directed by Luis Buñuel which, I gotta say, sounds far more intriguing to me than the whole goofy Saw movie scenario. And remember kids, Ralph is allowed to eat anything Ralph catches!

Okay I think I'm officially sick. Joe's been sniffling all week, and now I feel it coming on. A cold I can handle. But please. Sweet Jesus please, no Death Cough this time. You made merry sport of me last year as it was so please give me one break this year. Uck. My throat hurts like the dickens. I'm going to bed.

Sunday, February 03, 2008

Shirts Versus Skins

So I went ahead and did it. I deleted my xpeeps account. A full year after I activated it, last Superbowl Sunday.

And what did I learn from the singluar experience of showing my breasts on the internet?

Well, I've learned that people will take your photos and use them as their own on other websites and give you such mortifying names as "Supertits", not to mention claim that you are from Indiana (almost as mortifying). I learned that 1,592 people wanted to be my friend, while only about 300 wanted my friendship on myspace without ever knowing that I had an H-cup chest. I learned that guys are far more interested in what you have to say, so long as your holding your naked boobs in your hands while saying it. I learned that a lot of men have very interesting sexual proclivities, and very little sense of humor when it comes to sex. And I learned that apparently having an xpeeps page means I owe every single person who friended me a blowjob, or at the very least, my IM name to give them a virtual blowjob. I learned that I developed an instant distaste for the IM, one that I already had to begin with, and my hatred of being stalked online. Angry emails from men telling me that the two minutes I had where they watched me checking my xpeeps page before I went to work that morning were two minutes I could have been over on the IM with them jerking them off before they went to work. I learned that my patience had limits after all.

I learned that there are a lot of lonely people in the world. So lonely, in fact, and sometimes in made me really and truly, physically cry for them.

But I also learned that there could be some wonderful people on that website. Sweet girls and perfect gentlemen, folks that I could talk to that didn't require grunts and dolphin hand signals. People that didn't pressure me, didn't impose on me. People that I'm pleased to call my internet friends outside of that website. Those people were few and far between. But in a hilarious twist of fate, if I hadn't of shown them my breasts, they would have never even known I existed. A fact of life, I suppose. But those people know who they are. And they know I enjoy their company.

Mostly, when I look back at those pictures of myself, a somewhat more shy, nervous, and considerably leaner woman than I am now, I kind of get a little sad. Sad because I'm not that pretty girl anymore. That girl they all gushed over in hundreds of photo comments that I would have never received in my lifetime. But in a way, it really helped teach me not to be ashamed of my body, no matter what I may look like, or most of all, what I think I may look like. I still like who I am, basically. I'm still relatively happy with my life. I honestly have nothing to complain about. I may not be the sexy young thing I was in those photos anymore, but I am happier with who I am now more than I was at the time of those photos. And I'll take that over everything else, thank you.

I think that from here on out, I don't need any more validation. It was an interesting experiment, and daring to say the least. I guess if anyone still wants to see them they can ask (nicely!) and I'll shoot them an email. But that may be the last of the exhibitionism outta me for awhile. How girls in that line of business endure the pressure. All I know, sister, that it ain't for me.

Thanks to all who wrote, who were nice to me, and most of all, who still stuck around even after I didn't. I owe you all pictures. ;-)

Fat Girl Comin' Through

Joe and I had a rather alarming time warp back to the early 90's when we drove out to the Colley Cantina for Randy's surprise birthday party last night. We used to live down that way from about 1991 through 1997 and neither of us had probably stepped foot into the cantina, a popular hang-out spot for a lot of the old music crowd I used to know when I was in my 20's, in I suppose a decade or more. And it's funny how little things have changed.

Nathan, still looking exactly the same, greets me at the door with a hug. I really hadn't seen him in in just about that long. Dave Allison, who I just ran into and talked to for the first time in years at Volume Records last week, was there DJing -- with vinyl, no less! -- stuff like the Gin Blossoms, They Might Be Giants, The Who, The Buzzcocks, and T. Rex. I hardly recognized Billy Bagges, still haunting the place after all these years. And I think we both identified either Ronnie or Ritchie Comia dashing out the door from the sea of Saturday night revelers crowded up at the bar. What made it all the more strange is seeing this place, hearing this old music, catching up with the old gang, and the only thing different from all of that was the vision of people sitting with laptops and chattering away on cell phones, two pieces of technology that hardly existed in ubiquity as they do today. In a funny way, the music, the people, were exactly how I left them when I moved to Virginia Beach eleven years ago. Only the landscape had changed.

Anyway, it was a nice night, making Randy happy and all, especially since he's planning to move back to Austin, TX this summer. And I got to meet a sweet friend of his named Tricia Martin who is involved in the Norfolk art scene, making horror dolls and such, and working for the Virginia Opera house. Makes me all so nostalgic for Ghent life again, reminding me of just how stagnant I've become since taking myself out of that creative circulation for so many years. It's actually a little depressing, having nothing really to show for myself in all those years I've been away from the scene -- no art, no music, not a ruddy thing. Nathan and Dave and Billy and a bunch of those people are all still there, as one big community family I once belonged to back in what felt like an eon ago. Not only does the music still run through their veins, but each other as well. It hasn't been since I started going to brunch with some old friends from the scene every Sunday that I really started to remember, and apperciate, that sense of community I used to share with my fellow music peeps. After losing so much in the last few years, it feels exhilarating to be gaining something back again.

Ironically, a guy sitting at the party table was telling that I looked so familiar to him, wondering if maybe he's seen me at one of Dexter Romweber's parties, or hanging out at the Tap House or something. Turns out he knew me from several weeks ago, when I was helping him special order several obscure CDs in my store. I guess, in a way, I still have my musical connections after all.


Anyway! I'm enjoying my new cell phone. Never thought I might actually say those words, hating cell phones as much as I do. But I suppose like everyone else, I've grown to rely on them, much to my own chagrin. Last night I was entering in friends' numbers and after I put in Steve Holmes' number I decided to send him a text, since I never really was able to text before on my old phone. Seconds later he called me back asking who this was, and I just remembered that Steve has my home number, not my new cell number, so he had no idea what weirdo it was texting him... whoops! But once he figured out what weirdo it was we had a laugh over it and chatted a bit before I had to bolt to Randy's birthday party. He did text me back after the call, "Thank you and big kisses!" Aw, mama's lil' perv.

Saturday, February 02, 2008

I Just Slept For Ten Hours...


First 20 tracks on my iTunes this morning still wishing I had my beloved iPod back...
1. "Are You Ready?" - Salt 'N Pepa
2. "No Way Back" - Adonis
3. "Br Hymn" - Pennywise
4. "Blitzkrieg Bop" - Ramones
5. "Chick Habit" - April March
6. "Of These, Hope" - Peter Gabriel
7. "Debt" - Face To Face
8. "My Drawers" - The Time
9. "So Hard (David Morales Mix)" - Pet Shop Boys
10. "Lucille" - Little Richard
11. "I Don't Need God" - Greater Than One
12. "Barkin' Up The Wrong Tree" - James Young & The House Wreckers
13. "Electric Avenue" - Eddy Grant
14. "My Goddess" - The Exies
15. "Planet Earth" - Prince
16. "Those Rules You Made" - The Schema
17. "Don't Stop Me Now" - Queen
18. "Takin' It To The Streets" - The Doobie Brothers
19. "Childhood" - Dusted
20. "You And Your Folks, Me And My Folks" - Funkadelic

Friday, February 01, 2008

Schedule

Mon 4: 9-5
Tue 5: 3-cl
Wed 6: 9-5
Thur 7: 9-5
Fri 8: 9-5

Conqueror Earworm

This pleases me. It pleases me very much indeed.



Thank you, my darling Lee, for getting me into this show.