Below are the 50 most recent journal entries recorded in RØB Severson's LiveJournal:

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Sunday, November 22nd, 2009
4:18 am	"Evocative" Can Mean So Many Different Things, Though "There are no three words in the English language more evocative than 'shit your pants.'" --Matt Frederick, 11/15/2009 Current Mood: Pants'd Current Music: Plies - "Becky" (Comment on this)
Saturday, November 21st, 2009
8:53 am	SLIFF Daze SLIFF count: 20 feature films seen in the theatre since last Saturday afternoon. All of 'em enjoyed to varying degrees. Somehow I worked in an appearance on Jeopardy!, a Chuck Berry concert, a trivia win, and bowling league night in there, too. Still to see: 8 feature films and a shorts program before tomorrow evening. Come on out and see a movie with me! The St. Louis Art Museum is a lot of things, and a lot of GREAT things, but it is a TERRIBLE place to see a movie (at least, in the main auditorium there). Or maybe it was the print of Saving Grace B. Jones? I don't know, but the sound especially was TERRIBLE. Why didn't they do that screening at the Hi-Pointe? More seats (it was sold out), better sound, larger screen, cooler theatre, concessions, et cetera. I guess it is possible/probable that the Hi-Pointe does not have DVD-screening ability or something? I feel relatively confident the print we saw was just a DVD. The movie was not even close to among my favorites of this year's festival, and I admit I mostly went only so I could try to get Connie Stevens to autograph my Connie Stevens CD (which didn't even come close to working out because I bolted from the theatre as soon as the movie was over in order to see The Missing Person, which Ryan Samul shot and which I thought was rather tight). Art Museum to Plaza Frontenac in 12 minutes, baby! Wellp, I have a movie to catch at 10AM for FREE! I think today is the biggest SLIFF day yet (five full movies and a short). Current Mood: Gih Current Music: Jim Croce - "Operator (That's Not The Way It Feels)" (Comment on this)
Friday, November 20th, 2009
5:13 am	A Handy Guide To Twitter Posts About Me On JEOPARDY! I thought this was pretty interesting; maybe you people who actually use/understand/pretend-to-understand the "service" known as "Twitter" will appreciate it even more. I tell you what, it is astounding and appalling and hilarious (and sometimes all three, all at once) what people think they can glean from something so innocuous and perhaps even concealing as the mere appearance of somebody on a Game Show. I kinda love it. Anyway I found a bunch of Twitter posts about me thanks to this guy. First there was Danielle "DanniDee" David. I'm not sure who Mr. Bently is but I guess I look like 'im to her. Next, Sydnie "smlane" Lane wonders if I am for real. The answer, Sydnie, is "What is REAL?" Tyler "dino_rider" Shepard pegged me as an '80s novelty act. Is he aware that basically anyone on Jeopardy! is a novelty act from the get-go? It's a game show! He later amended to say he thought it might be more akin to something else (ostensibly he refers to the 1960s TV show version, what with its colorful costumes and such, so we've had '80s and '60s from this same feller in the space of ONE MINUTE), and then "RosaleenOMahoney" counters with another suggestion, which, depending on what version you're referencing, Rosaleen, could put me in the '30s, '40s, '50s, '60s, or '70s, or in the case of the feature film version, the '90s. She did have nice things to say initially, in any case. I was also compared to a character created in the 2000s by Sarah Lien "sarliefin" Finnerty a bit later. (Later still, "tomnicolas" had very little of interest to say, but placed me squarely in the '70s with some authority). Dennis Alan "reazonozaer" C. apparently couldn't handle my outfit, but anyone that'd get physically ill seeing something so innocuous as an outfit probably deserves it. Brian P. "brianpmaguire" Maguire kept it short and sweet (I think). User "crocken" first mistook me for "the third dude" (unless he or she has a strange idea of the Jeopardy! Holy Trinity, always starting with Alex ["the first dude"], continuing with the champion ["the second dude"], and going on from there), and had a comment that I had wondered myself; Jordan "jordanpeeler" Peeler took it a little further, and asked a question of his own that I also wondered, myself. Who DOES oversee the wardrobe department at Jeopardy!? Because I, for one, had to bring 100% of my own clothing from home. I think they're a little busy trimming Alex's next new Perry Ellis number to worry about the contestants there, J.P.! Andrew "FailedProtoStar" Symes had an interesting take (complete with link), and gave an appropriately interrobang-ending inquiry of his own (also provided another link, I like this fellow's thoroughness). I can't be sure if Dave "d_phrase" Fraser is talking about me, or perhaps Chris, or even Alex Trebek. Maybe he's never seen the show before and can't believe all of the amazing facts coming out of Alex's mouth, and has to ask, therefore, if he's for real. You and Sydnie Lane should meet, D-PHRASE. I made some comments in that last entry yesterday about what Brian "bdicroce" Di Croce had to say, but as long as he was having a good time with it, I am happy. Sean "InSeansOpinion" Bailey seemed to agree somewhat. If Monise "EDUCATIONCEO" Seward has ever been, is now, or is ever the CEO of any Education in which I have, do, or will take any part, I am truly regretful of that. Tara "TLynnNews" Lynn either is blind, or perhaps doesn't know the English words for "blazer," "necktie," and "button-up dress shirt." Keep at those ESL classes, Tara, you'll get to these kinds of words in Chapter 6 or so. And who knows, maybe I've got a future wife in Anna "AnnaKarrisa" Medeiros, who had some of her own wardrobe issues upon seeing mine. This might be my favorite of all, though: Arthur "absbos" Smith uses the word "sartorial," making me wonder if he knows the point of Twitter (not that I do, or have ever heard any compelling explanation thereof!), particularly as an institution of economy of language. I mean, uhh, right? Hilarious stuff. ADDED BONUS: My friend Joe's MySpace Blarg with a quick blurb about me and a super-secret Mustardfish video taken at the American Czech Center almost seven years ago. UPDATE: Mr. Bently [sic] appears to refer either to Puffy's old producer Fonzworth Bentley, or a character from the children's show Bob The Builder (indeed in both cases it is actually "Bentley"). I honestly cannot tell which one that first gal meant. Really, they seem to have pretty similar fashion-sense, to me. BUT WHAT DO I KNOW, I FAILED EVEN THE MOST BASIC "WHAT TO WEAR ON JEOPARDY! 101" CLASS, RIGHT MONISE SEWARD!? PLEASE OFFER ME YOUR FASHION TIPS, PLAIN-LOOKING UGLY-WOMAN. SEE WHAT I DID THERE? I MADE A GRANDIOSE ASSUMPTION BASED ON A SMALLER-THAN-VISIBLE SNAPSHOT, JUST LIKE YOU. I AM LEARNING ALREADY! Current Mood: Crackin' Up. Current Music: Jimmy Got Hustled - "Punk Rock Lifestyle" (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, November 19th, 2009
3:54 am	Jeop-Party It is mighty convenient that Jeopardy!'s name lends itself to inclusion of the word "party" so easily. Here's WHO WAS THERE. I guess I don't know everyone's last name, or proper spellings, and there were 3 or 4 complete strangers there who've been described in the terms I best know them, and others that I know, just not their names. I included employees of the joint, because make your own list if you don't agree wit' dat! Agnieszcka Amanda Goldblatt Anchovy Andy Champion Ann Blakemore Ann Hubbard Ann Montgomery Anna Zachritz Ashley Hohman Bekah Wessels Ben Smith Bill Michalski B.J. "Honkey" Lange Brian DePauli Casey Fulghum Chris Richards Chuck Hubbard Dan "Switchblade" McKenzie Dan "Beastor-X" Meehan Danielle Dave Todd Dawn Reissing Dawn's Friend Denny Dyer Eric Herbst Eric's Gal Eric Von Damage Erik Palmore Heather Lindsy Donahue Hillary Jaffa Aharonov Jamie (Ann Blakemore's) Jennie (Sloan's) Jessica Blessing Jessica Hunt Joe Klueh John Holste John Patterson Josephine Josh Boyer Josh Levi Justin Tolliver Karen Czmarko Kathy Hubbard Kevin Stroup Kristen (friend of Danielle/Hillary) Laura (Cuando Greg's) Lauren O'Donnell Lauren Winchester (Laurie) Sloan Coleman Liz Tegart Liz Wolfson Maggie Ginestra Maggie's friend Matt Harnish Matt Wicks Mike Hubbard Mike's Roommate Mike Stasny Mike Steinberg Nicole "Cuando Greg" Madden Ron Warner Rose (Dave Todd's) Sara (John H's) Sara (Josh B's) Sara Oberst Sarah Truckey Shannon Connelly Shaun Morrissey Stephanie Tall Tim That One Other New-ish Gal, Working Tim Rakel Tim's Friend Uncle Bud (Ann Blakemore's) Valentine Ubaldo Well, that is 76 people and potentially counting (plus me). Pretty sure there were more. Notification of specific omissions welcome/encouraged. No offense intended if I forgot you. Was Sara Wooldridge there? I think maybe, but am having trouble remembering. Whoops, she isn't on LJ anymore. Was Jack from the Hibernauts there? I think maybe. Tim Pinkerton and Samantha showed up later, but only to give Denny his spare keys, as he'd lost his main set somehow while there. I think O'Donnell also came later but before the main masses cleared out I think. I have never seen that many people there, which says something because I am there with some frequency and I have seen a lot of people there. I think COOLHAND made like 30 Squidtinis. Stephanie made stickers for everyone to wear (I'll scan one in eventually, I took home all the leftovers). I brought the Alex Trebek mannequin head that COOLHAND and Amanda made for me before I left. Matt Harnish gave me a vinyl copy (allegedly from his own collection) of the Greg Kihn Band's Kihnspiracy (whose first track is, of course, "Jeopardy"). Valentine brought me some amazing cupcakes from her workplace (she explained that they'd been squashed in the process of riding her bike to Newstead and made probably the saddest face I've ever seen). Josephine made these really tight cupcakes each with a tiny pancake on top. The staff were all dressed in Squids colors, Lauren actually wore a just-one-shade-away version of what I wore on the show. It was something to behold, I tell you! Later a few of us went to the Hideaway, this guy Dave's house, Sandrina's, hoooh. Anyway check out some strangers that happened upon my appearance and other JEOP-related links: 1) Some blarg entry Dave Jacobsen pointed out to me that I guess his girlfriend follows? 2) A picture here and also one here that a stranger posted on Flickr 3) Yet another Flickr stranger posted this bad boy. 4) The Jeopardy! Archive record of the game I played (needs some updating as of right this second) and their personal profile of me (has some information but capitalizes my name incorrectly). 5) The Webster University School of Communications Alumni Newsletter (SCAN) blarg entry with some nice comments from Mike Steinberg. 6) The Webster University Twitter entry where some Twittering was done about my appearance. 7) Some kinda list of other people that Twittered about this thing? Someone over at WU seems to think I'm an MA. Fine! 8) Someone at BodyBuilding.com of all places posted this entry in a forum. There's a quick YouTube video in there, even, of me getting a question right (it's a question about Montana, and the poster is from Montana). Note the comments, they're YouTube-tastic! I guess that face I made during Final Jeopardy! is making the rounds to some extent, I saw it originally here but I know Shannon Knox and some others have replicated it for showing here and there...who posted that originally? 9) A thread from reddit.com that mentions me but I can't say for sure what the initial poster is trying to say because I don't know anything about reddit.com. Some pretty sweet comments there, too (a hipster, they call me! It goes to show...). 10) A segment from an episode of Nightline that they were taping the first day I was on set (I didn't get chosen to play that first day). I'm in the video a little bit, Maggie the contestant shepherd lady talks to me about (what else?) what I wore as I'm taking my spot in the studio audience. 11) The RFT is apparently going to interview me (tomorrow?), and whenever they do, there'll be something to show here at ol' point #11. ( SPOILERS about today's JEOPARDY! ) Even my best High School friend Dustin Mendoza found out about it somehow (he's been notoriously difficult to contact in recent years) and E-Mailt me in the wake of the screening. I had E-Mails, IMs, and phone-messages galore about "crap I'm stupid and missed it!" or "good job!" or whatever, when I finally made it back home to my phone/computer. Wellp I did get that Denny's question right, maybe they'll come looking for me for the hot endorsement deal, right? Hah hah. (Thanks to Dave Jacobsen for this) Current Mood: Flarg'd Current Music: Skeeter Davis - "Gonna Get Along Without Ya Now" (18 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, November 16th, 2009
7:36 pm	T Minus ONE Yo dudes, I'm on Jeopardy! tomorrow. If you watched today, you sorta know what I'm up against. Click this picture sometime before Friday or thereabouts to check out a sweet video (in which I am featured) about this week's episodes, as well as individual hometown howdies (including my own). Once the link isn't about me anymore, I will change it to some kinda video upload of my own so you can still see the videos. At any rate, I guess this is conclusive proof for everyone that had none prior, that I wasn't just making all of this Jeopardy! stuff up. And of course watch tomorrow, come to Newstead Tower Public House to join us for the gigantic party. Take a late/long lunch! Current Mood: Popcorny Current Music: The Kinks - "Definite Maybe" (19 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, November 14th, 2009
2:53 am	Brendan Benson @ Blueberry Hill's Duck Room In University City, Missouri; 11/13/09 A Whole Lot Better Don't Wanna Talk Folk Singer Good To Me Eyes On The Horizon Spit It Out Metarie Me Just Purely Sittin' Pretty Garbage Day I'm Blessed Poised And Ready Cold Hands (Warm Heart) Crosseyed You're Quiet Tiny Spark What I'm Looking For American Girl (Tom Petty) (With Corey Chisel And Others) Feel Like Taking You Home We agreed that they shoulda stopped after the amazing energy of the Tom Petty cover. Good to get more songs, but kinda ended on not as crazy-awesome of a note. Corey Chisel (opening guy & his band) was pretty good. I liked the songs and arrangements. I guess Brendan Benson produced part of his newest album, and co-wrote a song or two on there. It does take a lot for me to buy new music at a concert, though. The Muckafurgasons of the world are few and far between indeed! Steve Nagy was at the show, and he got the Corey Chisel CD. I bet it is good stuff! He was the only person there I recognized. I think he was impressed (maybe even a bit incredulous, at first) when Ron and I told him that we'd been fans since 1996. How DID we find out about Brendan Benson, anyway? Just before the Tom Petty cover, they read some names off of this scrap of paper, for people to join them in a monster on-stage jam. So, some people got to shake shakers or play guitars and drums on "American Girl." I guess they were winners of some radio contest? Anyway, they said Pat Weston as one of the names and I was like uhh THE Pat Weston? Later Ron showed me a text message exchange wherein Pat revealed that indeed he had won tickets to the show from 88.1 KDHX (but somehow did not use them!?). Wellp he missed out on not only a great free show, but the opportunity to fopp around (among other things) onstage with Brendan Benson BY INVITATION! OOPS Current Mood: Coze Current Music: Brendan Benson - "You Make A Fool Out Of Me" (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, November 7th, 2009
2:49 am	Centi- / Milli- I just felt a trickling, a tickling, on my arm. The kind of trickling that is unmistakeable for something on you. Something that isn't you, something that isn't connected to you. Not the loose sleeve of your shirt, having fallen a strange way...not the phantom caress of a mysteriously absent source. The sense that, without question, something is CRAWLING ON YOU! I thought maybe it was some kind of fly or mosquito or something, but upon looking down I saw something more like this: Shook that bugger off onto the floor. Shoe poised above and ready to drop...but instead let him go on his merry way. I bet that feller is responsible for killing countless spiders, termites, cockroaches, crickets, silverfish, and whatever else in my house (insert "and/or" between any two of the aforementioned bugs)! Get to work pally, no reason to be a-climbin' on my arm! Now he is kinda taking a tour of my room. PET CENTIPEDE! Current Mood: Centipedely Current Music: Run-D.M.C. - "You're Blind" (30 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009
7:04 pm	Scorecard Rewards: Poll! My debit card, for many years, was accompanied by a rewards program through Scorecard Rewards. A few months ago, I got a notice that they were going to start charging for this rewards program, but you could opt not to do it anymore if you so chose. As I had never, ever used it before a coupla months ago (I got a sleeping bag), I opted to discontinue. HOWEVER, at the time of the notice, it was stated that all members, regardless of how they chose to proceed, would at very least continue to earn points on purchases made through 10/31/09, and could use any points remaining thereafter up until 12/30/09. So I was looking at the four items in my wish-list today, and thinking about what to get. I decided to defer to that most democratic of methods, the LiveJournal poll, for clarity on the matter. I currently have 11,152 points to use on whatever I want. The poll below addresses the items in my wishlist specifically. I think you can go to the Scorecard Rewards website and browse their catalogue if you have further suggestions. Poll #1480954 Scorecard Rewards Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: Friends, participants: 10 With My 11,152 Scorecard Rewards Points, What Item, Or Combination Of Items, Should I Get? A) 3,500 Points - BRAUN Brand Battery-Control Toothbrush 0 (0.0%) B) 6,900 Points - 18-Mile 2-Way Radio (Walkie Talkies) 2 (20.0%) C) 6,900 Points - Sony DVD Player 2 (20.0%) D) 9,600 Points - Torino 3-Person Dome Tent 5 (50.0%) E) Something(s) Else Entirely 2 (20.0%) Remember, the total points I use cannot exceed 11,152. In other words, I can get A+B, A+C, or D alone. Or maybe the ambiguous E, I don't know! I mean, if I have points left over after I make my choices from the above, I will probably try to use them on something. Walkie-Talkies seem cool at a glance, but how much use would they ultimately get? I figure most people already pretty much carry a walkie-talkie around with them wherever they go as it is. Do I really care about an electric toothbrush if I don't have one, and have never bothered with one, at 28 years of age? I guess the same could be said of any of this stuff. The DVD player would mostly be a replacement for the one in the main room, which is sorta flaky at times. The tent would go nicely with the sleeping bag I got earlier this year, and maybe inspire me to camp more (which might, IRONICALLY, make the walkie-talkies useful). Wellp what do y'all think? Feel free to leave comments with the good ol' "Explanation Of Your Opinion." Current Mood: Re(t/w)arded Current Music: Crystal Gayle - "Take Me Home" (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, October 30th, 2009
3:32 am	Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band @ Scottrade Center In St. Louis, Missouri; 10/25/09 Like last year, this was mostly provided by Bill. HOWEVER note Born To Run being played in its entirety there. Wrecking Ball Seeds Prove It All Night Hungry Heart Working On A Dream Thunder Road Tenth Avenue Freeze Out Night Backstreets Born To Run She's The One Meeting Across The River Jungleland Waiting On A Sunny Day Working On The Highway The Promised Land Lonesome Day The Rising Badlands No Surrender For You (Bruce solo on piano) Roll Over Beethoven Surprise Surprise "Detroit Medley" (Devil In A Blue Dress/Good Golly Miss Molly/C.C. Rider) American Land Dancing In The Dark Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) Yeah someone made a sign that just said "Bruce Play Piano" and had this huge three-quarters silhouette of Bruce's face, and sure enough, he did a solo piano version of "For You." They turned the lights all the way up for all of the song "Born To Run," which was unfortunate because last year I thought the punctuations of the "WHOAH!"s with the upping of the house-lights was great, if corny. The guy on trumpet definitely introduced "Rosalita" with a trumpet solo version of "Saint Louis Blues." Yeah man it was tight as heck! RFT review with other notes, opinions, and comments here. Current Mood: Bruce'd Current Music: Bruce Springsteen - "She's The One" (Comment on this)
Thursday, October 15th, 2009
12:28 am	Dinosaur Jr @ The Pageant In Saint Louis, Missouri 10/14/09 Thumb Budge I Want You To Know Imagination Blind Get Me Pieces Plans Feel The Pain Over It Raisans Freak Scene I Don't Wanna Go There In A Jar Forget The Swan Extended solos and between-song jam-outs galore. People were shouting out requests after "In A Jar" and J told us to come to a consensus amongst ourselves between hearing "Forget The Swan," "Sludgefeast," "The Wagon," or "Freak Scene" again (this last was a joke...I think). Then Lou took control of an applause-o-meter style vote between the three options. I guess "Forget The Swan" won cuz that's what they played! Seemed to me like every cheered equally loudly for each of the three. I was shouting out "do all three!" My goodness, but those dudes play LOUD. It's the first show I've ever been to at the Pageant where they had paper notifications as you entered that earplugs are on sale (for 25¢ apiece, as Erik, with whom I hung out most of the show, found out--50¢ for the pair) at the concession stand/coat check. I brought my own. Pat didn't end up going as anticipated. Too bad! It was great. Lou's band The Missingmen had a great opening set, too. Lou can do no wrong by me. I don't have the album of this newest of the Lou Barlow Experience (the catch-all name I've given to his innumerable projects). Most of the songs were unfamiliar, except the last. I couldn't place it, and don't feel like reviewing my Barlow discography song-by-song right now, but the lyric "Number One Disgrace" was in there somewhere, if any of you Lou fans can place that. UPDATE: I checked out a few songs and sure enough it was the song "On The Face" from Sentridoh's 2001 album. I saw Greg Kettinger, Dave Todd, that gal Rose who's friends with Amy Froggpockets, and the one guy from WU whose name I forget, glasses and I think he ran sound a lot for movies and such, wore a lot of cabbie hats. And Jaime Lees, Sarah P., Mark Early, and early on while Lou's other band was opening I hung out with that gal Liz (gosh I hope that's her name, that's what I think it is) down on the floor. Then while leaving I ran into Matt Hartmann! Who is apparently back in town. Later in Halo I saw Thomas from Skarekrau Radio and Jason Hutto, went to hang with Matt a little and he was there with this gal Valerie and Veronica S. from the original Twin Peaks club. Funny that she was a member of Twin Peaks club because she was friends with Jessica but she didn't even know that Jessica had gotten married, or even who Boris was, hah! Veronica's boyfriend and Matt's brother were also there (I had met the former at Atomic Cowboy a few weeks/months? ago, but never the latter). Anna Z. was tending bar, I hung out for a second after Matt & Co. left (oh yeah, it's a WEDNESDAY. "Funny thing about weekends when you're unemployed...they don't mean quite so much." --PRIMUS, "Spegeti Western") watching a seemingly brief documentary on the History Channel about the JFK assassination, then took off. I have to be in Clayton around 9:00AM tomorrow to meet Jessica and Boris to get their paperwork cleared away. Ron and I spent the better part of the day shopping for our Halloween costumes, not because the stuff we have to find is so super specific, but because we wanted to weigh all of our options price-wise and appearance-wise and because hey, why not? We went to: Avalon Exchange (FKA Rag-O-Rama), Loop Foot Locker (It's GONE!), Wal-Mart, Sports Authority, Famous Brand Shoes, DSW Shoe Warehouse, Target, Subway (for lunch, not the costumes), The Galleria (Macy's, Champs Sports, Foot Locker, Urban Outfitters, Hot Topic, et cetera), the costume shop across from the Galleria, Johnnie Brock's, Target (Hampton/Chippewa), Burlington Coat Factory, back to Johnnie Brock's, HOOOH! Lots of places. It should be pretty solid when people finally see it, though. Ended the Tuesday night Squidfall season last night with a pair of victories, I drove in basically a third of our runs in the first game (including a near-grand-slam, whoah), I guess that slump I've been experiencing at Forest Park is a FoPa-only slump. I hadn't played at Lyon for like three weeks! Earlier Tuesday our Squidbowl shirts came in. Now to get them printed and embroidered, hoooh! Also what came in: My set of Bunnygrunt dolls (both of these things had arrived Friday but didn't get dropped off on the porch, but rather held at the U-City post office over the long Government Columbus Day weekend). Apparently Matt Harnish hasn't even received his yet (according to what Jason Hutto said tonight). The dolls are precious. The shirts are beautiful. Both are the same color (green/gold). HHBTM sent me a copy of the new Bunnygrunt CD, which A)I don't think they were supposed to, and B)I already have. SO, anyone planning to buy it anyway (I think it's their best yet, song-wise, and I think that is saying a lot) can have it for the ten-spot (I'm an unemployed capitalist). Monday night went to see Bunnygrunt at the Matt Harnish birthday show with NYC band The Choke. Good times listening to Brett Underwood rant, chatting with Josh & Sara about the casino, trying not to get sick off of Eric Von Damage, hearing Bunnygrunt, et cetera. Current Mood: Dinosaurus Current Music: Dinosaur Jr - "Raisans" (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, October 10th, 2009
11:10 am	They Might Be Giants @ The Pageant In Saint Louis, Missouri 10/09/09 Meet The Elements James K. Polk Theme From Flood Birdhouse In Your Soul Lucky Ball And Chain Istanbul (Not Constantinople Dead Shoehorn With Teeth What Is A Shooting Star? Someone Keeps Moving My Chair Twisting Hearing Aid Minimum Wage Letterbox Clap Your Hands Cowtown Whistling In The Dark Hot Cha Your Racist Friend Women And Men Why Does The Sun Shine? (The Sun Is A Mass Of Incandescent Gas) Sapphire Bullets Of Love We Want A Rock Particle Man They Might Be Giants Road Movie To Berlin Damn Good Times The Mesopotamians (Band Introductions) New York City Drink! Fingertips See, they were supposed to do their album Flood in sequence, and looking at the track listing in full, it is now obvious what happened. They were taking breaks to do a few songs here and there--that first break included "Shoehorn With Teeth" included a little video-screen segment with sock puppets singing and Danny Weinkauf on the hotel bells (in lieu of the glockenspiel--and when they came back from that first break, they came back into Flood later than they were supposed to, having skipped a handful of songs ("Your Racist Friend"/"Particle Man"/"Twisting"/"We Want A Rock"), then Flansburgh realized they'd skipped "Twisting" but not all those others, and slowly throughout the rest of the show this was realized and they'd play whatever they'd missed as they remembered what it was. Basically it just made making out the above set list much more difficult than I expected it to be (at first I was just writing down "Flood, Part 1" and the like, but it quickly became apparent that wasn't gonna cut it). For the longest time in the set (as you can imagine) I kept thinking "I am almost CERTAIN that 'We Want A Rock' appears earlier on Flood, I am gonna have to call Bill after the show is over, if I don't see him here, and tell ask him why they left that one out." I basically just figured for awhile that I didn't know the track listing (in order) of Flood as well as I thought, or something. Admittedly it has been a long time since Flood was getting a lot of play on the Robert Severson music-listening machine. Then sometime around "Women And Men" Danny Weinkauf realized that "We Want A Rock" had yet to be played, and he was telling the band, and eventually they did come back and do it. In any case it was a tight show; aside from the Flood material there was a decent scattering of stuff from various albums (including their newest kids album Here Comes Science and TWO count 'em TWO cuts from Lincoln). I was glad they were able to make such light of their inability to get Flood right after 19 years. It's not like this was a new idea, they've done a lot of Flood shows in the past few years, but I guess when you're popular enough to sell out the Pageant, you don't worry too much about using a set list! After the show I saw Christine and Megan and not many others; I was getting a lame vibe from some dude Christine was hanging out with/talking to so I sorta excused myself. Then I bought too much candy and went to see Army Of Darkness at the Tivoli around midnight! I don't think I'd watched it (in spite of owning a VHS widescreen copy) since the last time I saw it at the Tivoli midnight show, probably five years ago, but I've seen it so many danged times I still knew all the key lines of course. Current Mood: I'm A Monkey! Current Music: They Might Be Giants - "Your Racist Friend" (10 Comments |Comment on this)
10:44 am	Chuck Berry @ Blueberry Hill's Duck Room In University City, Missouri; 09/16/09 Roll Over Beethoven Every Day I Get The Blues (I'm just guessing this is the title of this one) Memphis Let It Rock Three-Quarter Time (Ray Charles) My Ding-A-Ling Around And Around Rock And Roll Music Nadine Rock Me Baby (B.B. King) Sweet Little Sixteen You Never Can Tell Johnny B. Goode Reelin' And Rockin' And PHEW Eric got his magazine signed that time. I got him to sign the new expensive softball bat that COOLHAND and I had bought that day (now known as the "Berry Bomber"). This dude from Louisville was there hanging out with us a bit, and very excited to be seeing Chuck Berry. I later brought it with me to Atomic Cowboy, and later still we were at Tiffany's (I think I left the bat in the car for that). Current Mood: Coldey Current Music: They Might Be Giants - "We Want A Rock" (Comment on this)
Friday, October 9th, 2009
3:22 am	Wild Summer Nights! I Mean, Fall Nights. It has been raining more or less non-stop since almost 24 hours ago, with only brief interludes of non-rain. It has been great. Maybe it will put a "damper" (wocka wocka!) on our Saturday Squidball tournament, but I say we party in the park regardless of the field conditions. Play a little catch with the Cannonball, do a little batting practice with the Berry Bomber, and even do some tournament action wherever possible (on the grass or whatever). Tonight Kevster and I took top honors at Newstead Tower Public House (Tenacious) Trivia. We were in 1st place after both the first and the second rounds, then after the 3rd we had slipped to 3rd place, then after the 4th we had slipped again to 4th place. Round 5 put us back on top with 90 points to 2nd place's 76 or something like that. Nice work, two-man-team! Apparently those dudes from "Bodemicon" or whatever really hate our guts? Which I don't really understand, I mean they win as much as we do, and you don't see us even so much as rolling our eyes about them. Yo Bodemicon dudes, if you're reading this, either A)get real or B)take it to Lemmons trivia, where that kind of bad attitude is appreciated/celebrated. Speaking of Lemmons trivia some gal at Newstead recognized the Squids name from our Lemmons days (practically two and a half years ago, now); I guess she knew BILF, her name is Jamie. Anyway I really am enjoying (for last week and this, so far) the Newstead Tower Public House trivia followed by the Squidbowl league circuit. It works out so nicely! I get it all done in the same fun-filled night! When trivia ended, I took Kevin to the Central West End Metrolink station so he could get home and I could go bowling without having to take such a detour as would be required by going all the way home. I bowled the greatest game of my life, by one pin. My new high score is a 199 (up from 198). Dang! I think our whole team is improving at bowling. It is exciting, we are gonna win this league I CAN JUST FEEL IT. We will probably even overtake the Pinstrike Turkeyballers (yet another wholly-owned subsidiary of Squidball, Inc.). Maybe the few games of practice that Von Damage and I did last night at North Oaks paid off. Then we were kinda hanging out just outside Saratoga in the rain (Heather Lindsy, COOLHAND, Eric Von Damage, and I) and this dude walked by with an umbrella, I could only see the lower half of his face cuz of the umbrella but I thought it sorta looked like SAK. Then after he'd gotten just beyond us (looking at him from behind, I also thought him to be sorta SAK-like) COOLHAND was like "is that SAK?" so we started calling out, SAK! TURNS OUT it was SAK indeed who had been at whatever place El Scorcho turned into (or wherever they do the trivia that they used to do at El Scorcho) and then went to the Deluxe thereafter and nearly walked right by us without a word (of course he was sorta head-down style on account of the rain and whatnot). IF THAT ISN'T CRAZY ENOUGH then as it turns out, Eric Von Damage (who for all intents and purposes has never played Squidball but of course is a Squidbowler) and SAK (who for all intents and purposes has never Squidbowled but of course is a Squidballer) KNEW EACH OTHER FROM SOME JOB THEY HAD TOGETHER AT A PONDEROSA STEAKHOUSE IN JEFFERSON COUNTY LIKE TEN YEARS AGO! What craziness. I could not stop laughing about it in my car (first that we ran into SAK, and then that he and Von Damage shared that history). Two dudes that hadn't encountered one another in ten years, both Squids for some time now. The Squidball connection. Then the five of us went to Atomic Cowboy, where we ran into Alex Petrowsky (Petrovsky?), Jerry Yu, and some other familiar faces. What a wild night. My lord! As discussed at the Atomic Cowboy tonight, there needs to be some roller-skating and ice-skating this fall/winter. Maybe when Amy and Jenn get their skate shop together I will even invest in some quad skates. Maybe I can get some sexy custom kelly green numbers with golden (athletic OR sparkly) wheels. Since we're on the subject of the green 'n' gold, those bowling shirts are on their way to me, then we get them embroidered and then we get them printed (or the other way around?), then the sexiest bowling shirts in history shall abound. Current Mood: Pantsy Current Music: Peter Tosh - "Ketchy Shuby" (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009
8:04 pm	Blast-Minute Mike Benker put out a MySpace bulletin several days ago seeking local acts to open for The Conformists and IFIHADAHIFI. I looked up IFIHADAHIFI and liked the video I watched, and was also otherwise sorta like "okay!" but he sounded like he probably had something else (I told him I didn't have a draw or think I was a particularly good match for the show with my pop songs poorly-performed using too many instruments), but then he was like, the show is yours if'n ye want it! Anyway so I have some last-minute show this Friday evening at the Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center. It's probably $5 and starts probably around 9:00PM. I'm performing second, I think. I have a sweet new recitatif about some events that occurred earlier this week, and maybe a few new surprises, and probably plenty of old non-surprises. Maybe I will rap again, that was a pretty good time the other week at LNAC! Current Mood: Need That Ice Cream! Current Music: Maximum Happy - "Sometimes" (Comment on this)
Saturday, August 22nd, 2009
9:12 am	USA #1 I rode my bike/took the train to Atomic Cowboy last night to see the Trigger 5 release show, ran into TY CRAFT there YA KNOW!? It was nice to see him, it has been too long, I hope that we hang out sometime. He got married around the same time as Matt Smith (earlier this spring/summer) and his wife was there, too. He told me Bob and Tara (Sullivan) are expecting a baby girl, dang! Sara(h?) Tupper told me Alex and she were coming up on 12 years together. Alex's High School drama teacher was at the show and I vaguely remembered her from that ITS trip to Fulton (I maintain it was at Westminster College, but Sara[h] thought it was William Woods...HMMM!). Then later on the train-ride home some dudes were taking a picture of me and I posed for it, I think they were a little shocked but seemed to be into it. Man, I have been failing the ol' LJ for awhile here. I have been playing shows, I hit a triple-feature at Keller 8 on Thursday (X-Men Origins: Wolverine>>Star Trek>>Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian--a fourth part, an eleventh part, and a second part of a series, respectively; the first two of which were prequels) on a whim (all of 'em were tight), I've been biking to and fro (about to bike to ToGro for the big end-of-season Squidball bash), I've been Squidding (Squidball is sorta ending its summer session and Squidfall is sorta coming together; Squidbowl ended Wednesday and our new league starts in a few weeks), geocaching, playing Heroes Of Might & Magic III, jetting to Texas for my sister's wedding, neglecting the DVDs I checked out from the library (and racking up fines accordingly), reading, taking the train when possible (gotta make the most of this August Metro-pass I got through work, don'tchyaknow), partying, staying up late, sleeping in, getting up early, filing for unemployment (which seems like a full-time job sometimes--wocka wocka!), talking to old friends on the telephone, listening to Persistence Of Time--you know, the usual unemployed-man stuff. Things I have NOT been doing but should: Cleaning up/finishing 48HFPs from years past, editing Toof Hurty, exercising, traveling. Paul and I went geocaching two days in a row while he was in town and we found basically all of the geocaches in U-City one day, then basically all of the geocaches in downtown St. Louis the next. We also picked some wild mushrooms, something he has recently taken an interest in. Some of 'em are pretty DURN GOOD. I spoke with Lise Johnson on the phone the other day (385 state-to-state minutes on my calling card translated to 14 Missouri-to-Belgium minutes, hah hah--luckily she offered immediately to call me back, because also that connection was terrible. That half-minute phone call cost me about 35 minutes in state-to-state calls), she is coming through town with her mother and boyfriend/husband(?) in late September on her way to Boulder, Colorado, where she is moving. For awhile at least...that Lise always seemed pretty nomadic. Man if we got Lise to go to some Squidgame that would be the tops, ask 1996 me if 2009 me seems like a possible outcome, he'll say no in many cases. I have a stack of some 35 CDs next to my computer of stuff I need to import/acquaint myself with, much of it still has the wrapper on and has never seen the inside of a CD player. Much of it is local stuff, much of it is not. Gladys Knight & The Pips, The Ottomen, The Humanoids, Amo Joy, Lyle Lovett And His Large Band, One Happy Island, Woodbox Gang, FANTASTY FOUR (YES I FINALLY GOT THE 18 UNRELEASED RECORDINGS AND SOMEHOW I HAVEN'T LISTENED TO THEM YET), X, Ween, AC/DC, The Hunger Artist (NKA Humdrum), some compilation of '60s Pop Hits I won at a Trivia Night, Samuel Locke Ward, Miracles Of God, Music For Smart People, Rats & People, Tom Waits, Bad Folk, Tenement Ruth, Resoldered, heck even that "Stoked" CD I got at Carrie's wedding back in November of last year. And now, to add to all that, the Trigger 5's Heartbreak And Regret. They played the album start to finish last night, and it is soundin' SOLID. WELLP time to get to ToGro for the pizza-kegger-park-party! Maybe afterward I will stop by Maggie's chapbook shop AND/OR that Apop Records/Binge&Purge concert/party-b-q. Current Mood: GIT Current Music: Ruth Brown - "Lucky Lips" (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, August 13th, 2009
3:47 pm	Chuck Berry @ Blueberry Hill's Duck Room In University City, Missouri; 08/12/09 Roll Over Beethoven Memphis Carol >>Little Queenie Let It Rock Mean Old World Maybellene My Ding-A-Ling Rock Me Baby (B.B. King) School Days You Never Can Tell Johnny B. Goode Reelin' And Rockin' The set was a little bit longer this time, and he actually did do the duck walk--across the stage and into the backstage room. Eric Von Damage had a copy of St. Louis Magazine that featured Chuck Berry on one side of the spread and Bunnygrunt on the other that he wanted to get autographed but Chuck went back to his room before our part of the line could get up to him. Dang! Karen did get her birthday card signed, though (it was her birthday). The opening band, New Soul Cowboys, were a riot. I loved it, they owned their set so hard, they were wailing super-tough and had sexy black leather/cowboy hats and the like, and their set was introduced by an audio montage of soundclips from movies and music all about cowboys. Also at some point in their set was an audio montage of Ennio Morricone's The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly score with some lines from Dirty Harry. Then Joe and I tossed our bikes in Coolhand's car, my bike seat came loose and nobody had the proper tools to re-tighten it. We went to Atomic Cowboy, where Quiche and Bill Parmentier and Matt Wicks and all these gals we bowl with were hangin' out. Later a handful of us (Anchovy, Adela, Coolhand, Joe, Karen, me) went to Courtesy Diner and Ann took me home cuz my bike was still janky. I reckon we are going back next month to check out Chuck again and try to get Eric's magazine signed! Tickets go on sale this Friday and I won't be around to get 'em but I reckon someone else will (Eric, Karen, et cetera). EDIT oops, I had "Mean Old World" on that setlist twice. Maybe the set was about exactly as long as it was last time...still, Chuck seemed more on top of things this go-'round. Current Mood: Hangin' Over Current Music: Chuck Berry - "Let It Rock" (1 Comment |Comment on this)
3:46 pm	The Breeders @ Blueberry Hill's Duck Room In University City, Missouri, 08/07/09 Hoverin' Little Fury I Am Decided Walk It Off Divine Hammer Night Of Joy No Aloha Do You Love Me Now? New Year Cannonball Saints Happiness Is A Warm Gun Iris We're Gonna Rise S.O.S. Fate To Fatal Huffer Bang On Safari The She Overglazed Drivin' On 9 Fortunately Gone It was packed in there--I later found out that it sold out and they had to turn people away at the door, but at least Karen got to sell her ticket, she wasn't feeling so hot after she got there. It seemed more populated than the Pop's show in May of last year, but that's probably because the space is much smaller than Pop's. It seemed more crowded in there than either time I saw Chuck Berry this year, but I think the sell-out for Berry might be set at a smaller cap than other shows. Anyway it was tight, those Deal sisters were all smiles, I knew lots of people there, AARG had a strong showing, it was mega-sweet, the end! Current Mood: Woozee Current Music: The Divinyls - "Bless My Soul (It's Rock-N-Roll)" (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, July 24th, 2009
5:52 pm	Julying As Man Oh my a grand weekend awaits! I am going to get new glasses tonight. They will be IN ADDITION to my current ones, and actually pretty similar to them, so DON'T YOU WORRY. Then I may do some preparation for Sunday's barbecue/party/concert at my house (which you should attend), and/or some TV-watching. At most, I'll go see DEAD GIRL at the Tivoli at midnight, but I have to wake up somewhat early tomorrow, to let in the exterminator, hopefully to do a few more around-the-house chores, and most importantly to go to CAVEMAN BARBECUE! I have been waiting for this day since last year when Beth first posted that entry. I think Shannon and Ann are going too. After it's over, I know about a birthday party at the Skatium, a show at Iron Barley, a show at Lemmons, and of course DEAD GIRL is showing then, too, but it all depends on how tired I am or how much preparation I feel like I still need to do for Sunday. Sunday is the barbecue/party/concert at my house/in my garage, come on over anytime after 3PM and we will be grilling, et cetera. BYOG&D (Grillables & Drinkables), I will also have some stuff there for everyone/anyone. Bring a dollar or two or five for the touring band and/or to help pay for whatever grillables and drinkables I provide for the community purpose. Music should start around 5PM and should be tight, The Climax and Cocktease McKenzie are performing. Well, Dan's only performing if he completes his Squid-Ball.com review by then...just kidding. OR AM I? No, I'm not. Or maybe I am. Psych! PSYCH ON THAT PSYCH! Crap you don't know what to believe anymore, do you? I finally finished a book that I had been reading off and on since February, today. The thing was super-interesting and only like 205 pages, man I am really out of the reading loop. I should start taking the train to work again. I am getting a little reading done during workouts, of which I did four this week. Only in the last two weeks or so have I re-started the ol' "3-5 workouts per week" regimen. Current Mood: Reclined Current Music: The Staple Singers - "Washington We're Watching You" (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, July 20th, 2009
12:40 pm	Sonic Youth @ Live On The Levee In St. Louis, Missouri; 07/17/09 No Way Sacred Trickster Calming The Snake Stereo Sanctity Walkin Blue Poison Arrow Malibu Gas Station What We Know Antenna Leaky Lifeboat (For Gregory Corso) Hey Joni Anti-Orgasm Massage The History The Sprawl 'Cross the Breeze Shadow of a Doubt Death Valley '69 I did get video of "Anti-Orgasm" and "Death Valley '69," and after this latter was done I just kept it rolling on the fireworks until the video was 10 minutes long, so that'll make a sweet addition to YouTube at some point. Current Mood: Sonic Current Music: Nirvana - "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" (10 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, July 16th, 2009
9:43 pm	Chuckberry, Thebreeders, Dinosaurjr, Tmbg, Sonicyouth By and large, this is a re-post from E-Mail and MySpace so FEAST YER EYES ON'R! FIRST: I'm gettin' outta work early tomorrow, goin' to Blueberry Hill to pick up those tickets for the Chuck Berry concert of Wednesday, August 12th, 2009. I will have legions with me to enable us to get multiple tickets. So far we have a group of NINE going. This is your last chance. Get a hold of me before 2:00PM (call, E-Mail, comment here, et cetera) on Friday if you are interested in joining us for the Chuck Berry Amazing Fun Hour. I can front the cash, but I gots ta know you will pay me back! THIRTY BUCKS, a small price to pay for any amount of time spent with the Father of Rock 'n' Roll. SECOND: I'm then sashaying down the boulevard to the Pageant in order to purchase some tickets for They Might Be Giants (Friday, 10/09/09) and Dinosaur Jr (Wednesday, 10/14/09). If you want me to pick some up, again, I can front the cash if you wanna save some service fees and you promise to pay me back promptly. THIRD: Heckfire, I tell ya what, even though I already have mine, I will get a Breeders ticket (Friday 08/07/09) for you while I'm at Blueberry Hill. I hate service fees so much, and like YOU so much, that I'm willing to front the cash, if you promise to pay me back promptly. FOURTH: If you're goin' to Sonic Youth tomorrow, meet up at my house beforehand (5:30PM? 6PM?) for some drinks prior to the carpool/caravan/group Metrolink down to the Archgrounds. RSVP or just get to Pancake Productions Headquarters, duh. Current Mood: Coo'f Current Music: Mike Watt - "The Boilerman" (Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
4:30 pm	Prediction For What Percentage Of His Obituaries Will Contain The Word "Bulbous": 100% Dang! Karl Malden, basically the oldest living movie star, is...well, no longer living. RIP Karl! Too bad you had to sorta die in the shadow of the death of basically the most famous person on earth. Current Mood: Rushed Current Music: Megadeth - "Reckoning Day" (24 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, June 19th, 2009
2:52 pm	Triple-B Pancakes (Quintuple-B If You Want) Back in March, I had taped an episode of the popular web-u-net TV show Vegetarian Librarian with my good friends Jason & Kelly. NOW the episode is complete and available for all to see! The triumphant return to the second season of V.L. Waste no time in seeing me divulge all my greatest secrets of pancakery: Indeed it is part cooking show, part tourism video. It was the first episode they did outside of the Chicagoland area. TRAVELOGUE! BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! Be sure to peep this super-special supplemental video. I'd hate to find out that anyone used Aunt Jemima or Log Cabin or Mrs. Butterworth or any other (clearly inferior, as they all are) "brand" of maple syrup on my beloved pancakes recipe. Those are for the birds! This is what you gotta do (it's SUPER-easy): Tell yer friends, make some pancakes, et cetera! Most importantly, ENJOY! (Meat-eaters'/Booze-drinkers' note: Now I usually make QUINTUPLE-B pancakes with bacon and bourbon in addition to what is featured in the video!) My personal favorite split-second is the face I make after the story about getting the pumpkin from Soulard Market. (Mostly re-posted from a MySpace bulletin.) Current Mood: Pancake'd Current Music: T. Rex - "Left Hand Luke" (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, June 12th, 2009
1:15 pm	Discussion: Moe-Nay! How much money do you think you'd have to win/inherit/come into/steal without repercussion/have in order to live the rest of your life without having to work? I guess what I'm trying to do is establish a standard for this, which is probably impossible, given how differently different people live their lives. Some people might win $300K and blow it in two hours, another person might be able to invest wisely and make that last for the rest of his life without having to work. I guess my question is, given wise investment and "reasonable" spending habits (nothing EXTRAVAGANT, maybe a few trips a year or something--somewhere between "comfortable" and "extravagant" I guess), how much would you have to win (assuming you won it right now) to live the rest of your life on it? DISCUSS! Current Mood: Ri¢h! Current Music: Three Days Grace - "Riot" (14 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, June 5th, 2009
9:53 am	"Shut Up" Is The New "[This] Is The New [That]" Man, I believe Rockin' Gators Thursday night karaoke might be the summer replacement for the Tuesday night Hideaway winter tradition. I arrived around 7:15PM, Stephanie was there already. We ate gator. Around 8:30PM, karaoke started. By the time I left, before 11:00PM, I had sung seven songs: "Honky Tonk Women" (Rolling Stones) "River Deep, Mountain High" (Tina Turner) "Hold The Line" (Toto) "9 To 5" (Dolly Parton) "Burnin' Love" (Elvis Presley) "Whiskey Girl" (Toby Keith) (THAT'S RIGHT, YOU MISSED ME SINGING TOBY KEITH!) "I Put A Spell On You" (Screamin' Jay Hawkins) (Intentionally blowing out my voice before I left) Yes, seven songs in under 2.5 hours. That is an average of one song around every 20 minutes. Quite a far cry from the Thursday nights of yore at Blueberry Hill (like seven years ago) where you were lucky to get in two songs within a three-hour period. I mean, if Stephanie and I (and Bill, for a little while) hadn't been there, this one guy Skeet and the karaoke DJ and maybe the bartender gal woulda been the only people singing (toward the end as I was the only person remaining, another guy joined in with some Counting Crows). As it was, the DJ (Tim) had to pull the old "play a regular version of a song between karaoke tracks just to fill the time or keep someone from going twice in a row" trick here and there. I really think there was a point at which Stephanie turned in a song and before she had gotten back to her seat she was being called up there. Anyway, the reasons to co-opt Rockin' Gators on Thursday nights are as follows: I) Gator-meat menu items. They don't have a gator burger like I thought, and the brain sandwich is now off the menu, unfortunately. BUT they have a variety of gator offerings still (including gator pizza or just plain ol' gator-dipped-in-some-honey-mustard). It does NOT taste like chicken, but it does taste MORE like chicken than it does like, say, pork or beef. This shouldn't be surprising or even noteworthy to anyone with even the most cursory knowledge of animal biology, though. It's really good, in any case. The decor, also gator-themed, is pretty unstoppable as well. II) Wireless microphones on karaoke. Why hasn't every karaoke place adopted this yet? I'm pretty sure the setup that Tim had was like some crappy $40 mic rig. It really wasn't that great of a wireless, but it sounded fine and allowed one to travel all over (and even outside) the joint with ease. They have a big screen TV showing the lyrics to the karaoke that essentially is viewable to the entire bar but NOT a person singing karaoke in the traditionally-designated spot. HOWEVER if you take advantage of the wirelessness, and do some walking around the bar, this much-larger monitor is fully availed to your karaoke purposes. III) The largest catalogue of karaoke songs I've ever seen, by far. Seriously, they have a 3.5-inch-thick binder of songs, and then you realize that's just half the alphabet. There was a whole page (so, like, between 30 and 45?) of ROXETTE songs (let's have a contest, how many Roxette songs can YOU name without looking them up? I got TWO), large sections of "Jewish" and "Gospel" music, and even two Joe Tex songs for crying out loud. Del Shannon was represented by like 10 songs. The guy's setup was such that you didn't even need some fancy number, just the artist and song title names. If a song has ever appeared on commercial radio, you can pretty much guaranteed just walk in there, write it down on the slip, sign yer name, turn it in, and in (almost literally) no time you'll be singing it (if it's a Thursday). El Scorcho is a joke by comparison, I think their entire catalogue is like an inch and a half thick. I was pretty disappointed by their selection the other week, and pretty much figured Talayna's was the way to go. IV) Like I said, we were a group of 2 and we essentially owned the joint (Fridays and Saturdays, when they also do karaoke, are a different story, but points I-III do not change on those days). Seven songs, I did! What if we got even the low-end of our average Tuesday Hideaway crowd numbers in there? It could be most righteous. V) It's sort of a combination of III and IV, but I've sorta been making multiple points in several of the outline bullets above so I don't feel too bad about making this a separate one: It's basically a place you can go to shamelessly try out new karaoke cuts. Of the seven I did, three were ones I had never done before. It's easy to experiment and not feel too bad if you fail when you can get in a song every 20 minutes (or at a rate better than one song every two hours or whatever). I even got a sweet (orange) koozie and (coral? Salmon?) T-Shirt from Rockin' Gators. I haven't written off the Hideaway or anything, but it's true that I stopped going 2 or 3 weeks ago, and I haven't been back since I stopped going (and I hadn't stopped going since I started back in early December). Al is a skinflint (which means a lot coming from me, I think) and Bob apparently refuses to learn any new (even if they're old) songs. I expect/intend that we may well hit the Hideaway again, perhaps multiple times, on the post-Squidgame circuit. But boy is Rockin' Gators lookin' fine on the Thursday night front. Maybe just 1-3 times a month. THINK ABOUT IT! Current Mood: HEARTBURN Current Music: Johnnie Taylor - "I'm Just A Shoulder To Cry On" (10 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, May 28th, 2009
9:39 am	RobERT I think the pinky injury I sustained the other week basically rendered my pinky too large to wear one of a very few, and certainly the most meaningful/important, of family heirlooms I possess. This gold pinky ring (also visible as userpic): The swelling has long since gone down, and while the finger is not 100% healed, the lower (closer to the hand) knuckle is too large for the ring to fit over. My right hand pinky is too large to fit the ring as comfortably/at all. Dang. Current Mood: Knuckled Current Music: Dolly Parton - "Heartbreak Express" (13 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
12:10 pm	Album Shufflin'--That Funky Shufflin' I did mention a few weeks ago that I'd been listening to music using the "Album Shuffle" function of the Apple iPod, which has continued to this day indeed, and will not likely let up soon. Granted it's not a completely random shuffle (by album) of my entire collection, but whenever I want to add (or remove, but I haven't done that yet) something to the mix, I just toss it on the playlist, and then it's one of the albums that gets shuffled in. One interesting thing about "Album Shuffle" is that, if you have more than one album by the same title, the iPod sort of thinks that it's all the same album (even if it is clearly able to differentiate separate artists). Luckily, this doesn't happen so much (ever, so far) with albums where it's really important to listen to all the tracks in a row (hence the reason for Album Shuffle in the first place, ostensibly), but more with compilation-style albums that have titles like "Greatest Hits" or "The Definitive Collection" or "Gold [Disc 2]" or whatever. I'm trying to think right now, and the only non-compilations in my collection that I can immediately call to mind are Jesse Irwin's and Nazareth's Hair Of The Dog. SO in the current playlist, I have the Greatest Hits albums of Del Shannon, Pat Benatar, Ricky Nelson, and The Band--all called, simply, "Greatest Hits"--so whenever I hear the opening strains of "Runaway" I know that I'm in for a sort of collated version of these four compilations. Each album's first track will play in succession, in what I believe is alphabetical order by artist name (The Band being categorized as a "T" rather than a "B," and all solo artists being ordered by first name rather than last), then each album's second track, and so on. At first only Del and Pat were in the playlist, but then I tossed in Ricky Nelson and later still The Band, not realizing that they'd be thrown into the "Greatest Hits" mix (so when I first heard Ricky Nelson follow Pat Benatar, rather than it going back to Del Shannon, I was a little surprised). I wonder for what other artists in my collection I have an album entitled simply "Greatest Hits." Current Mood: Shufflin' Current Music: The Band - "Acadian Driftwood" (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, May 8th, 2009
8:15 am	Crow Bowl My Bowling Self, not to be outdone by my Darts Self of the previous night, felt the need to bowl his best game ever last night: a 198. My last roll hit nothing and left 4 or 5 pins standing. I had 5 strikes in a row and a few others overall. It was mighty impressive, but boy how I long to bust that 200 mark wide open! It was also the best game played by anyone on our lanes all night (among 7 people, one of whom consistently bowls above 200). HOWEVER of course my third game was the WORST game played by anyone on our lanes all night, and indeed the only sub-100 game. Pretty WEAK! That's BOWLIN' for ya I guess. 155-198-92. Hyuck! At least it's above average. Eric Von Damage had the best average of the night with a one-sixty-somethin'. Overall we trounced that other team though (and they are cool dudes), and I played almost all of the songs from The Big Lebowski soundtrack on the jukebox. Then as I was leaving, Jimmy (the owner) told me that some tall blonde gal of average build had been in at Saratoga the previous night claiming she was bowling with me this summer when he tried to encourage her to sign up for a league. Well this is both NEWS and A MYSTERY to me, because we only have one gal bowling with us, and it's Karen, and she doesn't have blonde hair by even the most marginal standard. So either someone was talking about another Robert, OR mistaken about bowling with me this summer, OR Jimmy is just plain CRAZY! OR PERHAPS THAT IS ME, THE CRAZY ONE Non, non non non, pas le bifteck This weekend is nigh upon guaranteed to wail PRETTY HARD almost no matter what happens. Current Mood: Turkey-Dance Current Music: The Icons - "Sunday" (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, May 7th, 2009
10:23 am	Who Darted? I played the best game of 501 of my life, and perhaps the best game of darts in general of my life, last night. I don't know how many of you even know the rules to 501 (in a quick sentence, you start with 501 points and you have to be the first to work your way to zero, but you have to hit zero by an exact count, and the last throw you make to win must be a double), but my opening throw was a 120, I also had a 98 and a 128 in there. I was at 152 points, and I threw the 128, so I had 24 left--basically I had to get a double 12 to win. First dart I threw on the next turn was the double 12, and I won the game in like a total of eight throws. Incredible! I think I have this darts thing figured out. It was the third game of a best-two-of-three singles match, for the win. We only lost one game out of 9 last night. We will probably have four bowlers tonight, and for the rest of the season (which ends next week), which is a bit of an "it's about time." Unfortunately both Eric and I will probably miss the first two weeks of our new season of bowling that starts on the 20th. I'll probably pre-bowl for my games, but I may see if Tony or CoolHand (or any of you) wants to SquidBowl during that time to take Von Damage's place. I am apprehensive about this Saturday night bike ride. I am going to be in a lot of pain for a few days as a result of it, of this I am pretty sure. I guess it's one of the weaker/shorter rides of the year that the FBC does, but I am no biker, nor have I been for many a year, nor do I have time to get into ship-shape before the event. YEEKS! To answer my own question, yes there's a bike rack right in front of Blueberry Hill's main entrance. I stopped at Tar-jhay and got a U-Bar and cable lock for my future-bike (and I guess for my present-bike, too) on the way home, as well as a new bell for good measure (my old bell was stupidly-designed, my new one has a sticker on it that says "I [HEART SYMBOL] MY MOM"). Current Mood: Lay Down, Breathe In Current Music: Puerto Muerto - "Orange Foundation" (36 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009
12:20 pm	"There Is No Next Time, Only Every Time" --Donruss Squidball is back, baby. Current Mood: Finger-Broken'd Current Music: Doris Day With Les Brown And His Orchestra - "Sentimental Journey" (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, May 3rd, 2009
11:58 am	Q: Who Won The Kentucky Derby? A: I don't know, some horse. Current Mood: No TIME! Current Music: Babe The Blue Ox - "Home" (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
2:01 pm	Bob P. Man I was doing some reading about Robert Pollard/Guided By Voices and came upon this amazing passage: GBV’s collective athletic skills came in handy when the band played The Beastie Boys and Billy Corgan in a pickup game of basketball. “We fucking smoked them — it was unfair,” Bob said in a Magnet interview. “We were hanging around with Kim and Kelley (Deal) and The Flaming Lips — that was our group. And Kim and Kelley were like our cheerleaders, and Steve Drozd was riding his bike around the whole time. We were like a circus.” Hah hah...tremendous. Current Mood: Tap Tap Tap Current Music: Guided By Voices - "I Am Produced" (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, April 25th, 2009
4:15 pm	Chuck Berry @ Blueberry Hill's Duck Room In University City, Missouri; 04/22/09 Roll Over Beethoven School Days "So Long"? I cannot find, nor do I know, any information about what this song really is. Sweet Little Sixteen Carol >>Little Queenie Around And Around Memphis Mean Old World Nadine You Never Can Tell My Ding-A-Ling Reelin' And Rockin' Gosh was it ever sweet. Check the comments of the last entry for a slightly more in-depth review! I have video of the 9½-minute-long final song that included inviting lots of ladies up onstage to dance. Current Mood: Squidded Out! Current Music: Chuck Berry - "Dear Dad" (Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
10:20 am	My Curiosity Runnin' Wild 'Twas over four years ago I last saw Chuck Berry. I reckon there is that aspect of "it is something to do before he, or you, dies"--he did invent rock 'n' roll (not singlehandedly, of course, but at least as much as anyone, and more than most), after all. I have already seen him once, though; I am just some Chuck Berry fan YA KNOW? Even if I wasn't a fan of the music, he is an interesting character--scandals and all aside (or perhaps not), he always seemed/seems to do stuff on his own terms, not-givin'-a-crap-style. It is crazy to me that the dude toured the country in the '70s and '80s just solo-style in his Cadillac or whatever, just relying on local bands to back him up at each stop. I am going next month, too, if anyone's interested (or even if they're not). Tickets go on sale this Friday at 5PM and I'll probably go snag 'em after work. Current Mood: Brown-Eyed, Handsome Current Music: Chuck Berry - "Tulane" (10 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, April 16th, 2009
11:17 am	Breed On Oh yeah, that Breeders video (mentioned in a previous entry) whose shoot we attended on Valentines Day (who was there? roark and miss_sneffany and insides and nastyboots as well as Keith, Jennifer, Jaime, Sarah P., Sara O., Lindsay R., Tim D., Jaffa, et cetera) is done, and RollingStone.com has released it: "Fate To Fatal" - Amy Whited is the first person you see in the thing, and I actually get some recognizable face-time in it (like half of one second, combined, over the course of two non-consecutive shots in the second half...still). There are links floating around out there on the internet, but I think the link provided above circumvents the obligatory commercial beforehand. Current Mood: Cake'd Current Music: Cars Can Be Blue - "Sun Blows Up" (2 Comments |Comment on this)
10:51 am	My Aim Is True? Man I just listened to that Elvis Costello song "Alison" and I feel pretty confident that I have never heard it before in my life, or at least never recognizably so. That is, I couldn't have even guessed at its tempo or any lyrical hooks or anything stylistic about it if asked to, but sure, maybe it was in some movie(s) I've seen or something. I skipped darts last night in spite of my intentions. It seems like I will let any one small thing convince me to skip darts. I can talk myself into it all day, and then let something like "figuring out my taxes" (truly a 15-minute job or so) deter me from going to darts. It's not that I don't like it, cuz really I enjoy playing darts, and all the people on the league are great, but: *It's smoky at Blueberry Hill *It lasts all gosh-dang night (starting at 7:30PM and ending anywhere between 10:00PM and 1:00AM) *Tuesday and Thursday are usually drinking nights so I don't feel like drinking (physically or financially) on Wednesdays *I just have a ton of other junk to do *Tuesday and Thursday are also "hang out in smoky joint" nights, so it's nice to have a night off of that in between, especially since 3 of my 4 regular teammates smoke *There are enough people on my team without me *I've gotten used to going late or not at all I felt especially bad because Karen said she was going and I just basically flaked 100%. I am not usually such a flake as it seems like I've been for several months now. Well, darts is almost over I guess. I will have to seriously think twice about doing it again soon. Certainly I'll hold off for the duration of the Squidball season (Darts will end approximately when Wednesday bowling starts, there might even be some overlap?). Current Mood: Schloof Current Music: T. Rex - "Telegram Sam" (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009
10:19 am	Forty-Eight Aitch Eff Pee All righty then, I went ahead and registered a Pancake Productions 48 Hour Film Project team. I think I E-Mailed most everyone that I thought would be interested (but probably didn't); however, if anyone in LJ-world that didn't get that E-Mail is interested in helping out, it's June 5th-7th. The last coupla weeks in short: worked a craft show, played one of the worst Mustardfish shows yet, went to the Blues game, went to a foosball tournament, saw an amazing sketch comedy show of sorts, did lots of walking, Fish Frys every Friday (now over), barbecue at work, Squidfesten MMIX, watched Leprechaun and drank vodka tonics with Switchblade, went to the Silver Leaf for the first time, got the Bluefin Tuna back, bowled crappily, tried that ice cream place at Grand & Arsenal, played one of the best Mustardfish shows yet, spread the word about jenkem, another Squidball practice, slept too much, helped Beastor-X record the Shitty Friends, got rained out on our first Squidball game of the season, got back into the workout groove, registered for the 48 Hour Film Project. "There've been good times. There've been bad times." Current Mood: Tuesdin' Current Music: Sister Rosetta Tharpe - "Up Above My Head I Hear Music In The Air" (17 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, April 10th, 2009
10:04 am	Operation! It seems she's been on the wait-list for that Dalek operation since the 1990s! Current Mood: Jckajckajcka Current Music: Brenda Lee - "You Always Hurt The One You Love" (11 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
9:35 am	The Bush-Mallard Of Wellston I was making my way from one side of the Wellston Metrolink station to the other this morning, walking by a row of bushes that separates the drop-off lane from the parking lot, and was startled by a DUCK jumping out of the bushes as I passed. It took me a second to comprehend what had just happened; at first glance/scare I thought it was a pigeon or something but a split second later I was befuddled to see it was a duck. It took a few steps, didn't move too much. I passed it by and kept looking back, it seemed pretty confused. Aren't ducks supposed to be hibernating, or south for the winter, or something right now? He slowly stumbled around but seemed pretty disoriented. I wonder if he lives in those bushes or something? Current Mood: Duck'd Current Music: Tina Turner - "I Might Have Been Queen" (12 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, March 20th, 2009
11:02 am	Live From Culver City, California I just need Jeopardy! to call me. Then, I need to win big. That's all there is to it. (Since I never did [yet] do that 2008 recap, I should clarify in case you don't know, that I'm in the Jeopardy! contestant pool 'til this December--I'm not just idly waiting around hoping that Jeopardy! will call me without rhyme or reason. Basically sometime before December, they may or may NOT call me, but if they do, it will be for no other reason than to say "come to L.A. and let's tape a show with you.") Current Mood: Bar-B-Q Anticipatory Current Music: Irma Thomas - "Without Love (There Is Nothing)" (26 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, March 6th, 2009
12:31 pm	Gas On Up I haven't bought dang ol' petroleum in over a month now! I could get used to (have already gotten used to) this takin'-the-train circuit, at very least for work. All that said I hope my car is ready soon. Current Mood: Soupy Current Music: Brenda Lee - "Dynamite" (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, February 28th, 2009
10:07 am	St. Ferdinand WORST Fish Fry I've ever been to, by far, for a lot of reasons I may go into later. Had a good group, though (Karen, Keith, Ken C., Bill M., Randi B.). I knew it wouldn't meet the hype, but I figured it'd still be a sweet fish fry to hit. NOPE. Fish Fry Club (which Karen wants to call "Squids" and for which we might get team KOOZIES!) will NOT be returning next year, or ever again, at any time. In fact I am peeved because I realize, the lenten season is short, we should have saved the spot given to St. Ferdinand, which we could go to any time of year to check out, for one of the many we will not be able to hit this year just due to availability. I went to Novak's for the first time last night. Today I'm going to try and find pieces of a Bill Haverchuck costume for an '80s-themed Trivia Night, and renew my long-overdue-for-renewal SLCL card. Megan Harper and her boyfriend Gabriel are in town and we prank-called Kyle Mayer and Coire Reilly last night, hah hah. Current Mood: Woozlee Current Music: Pokey LaFarge - "Where I'm Gonna Go" (10 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
10:06 am	Bad Schedulin'! Crap-doodle, dudes, I'm in a real bind! The RFT Music Showcase, which was by far one of the best days of 2008 (perhaps the best, hands down), and which I have pretty well promised myself I'd never miss again, coincides with the final day of the 48 Hour Film Project, for which Pancake Productions has perennially put together a team, and which itself always ends up being a stand-up time. Yikes-a-roonie! What to do? Part of me remembers the past coupla 48HFP years wherein I didn't do too much on the Sunday thereof besides hang out with the editor and say how certain things should go, and then later, turn in the tape, but of course I don't want to make myself unavailable in the event I should prove more necessary than that. After all, the 48HFP is all about not knowin' what's gonna happen next! I RECKON THAT TIME WILL TELL Current Music: The Monads - "Man In Town" (13 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, February 7th, 2009
8:08 am	Schma-ha-ha-hap...DOT COM Has anyone ever heard of, or used, Schmap.com? It appears to be a tour guide service for various cities around the world, complete with pictures (drawn largely or exclusively from Flickr, it seems), featuring attractions, restaurants, events, hotels, parks, neighborhoods, and so forth. They had contacted me potentially interested in using a Flickr image of mine for their Chicago article on Hot Doug's, and then just yesterday they contacted me saying indeed they were using it. I think that you can go to this specific Hot Doug's link to see my picture (which makes no sense unless you enlarge it), or just visit the original at its Flickr home. I really have no idea how much prestige comes with this, but hey, someone liked my picture well enough to use it to make a place look appealing on the internet. Ice cream for breakfast here shortly! Current Mood: Schmappy Current Music: Baby Teeth - "Taste The Wine" (Comment on this)
Thursday, January 29th, 2009
1:42 am	Dang, You Missed It Took 2nd place in Trivia at Newstead but not second to the team that'd been beating us all along. Didn't go with my gut and say definitively that John C. Reilly was in Days Of Thunder so we didn't get the maximum number of points we needed (by that same token if we'd guessed and gotten it wrong we woulda been in 3rd so NO BIGGZ). AFTER THAT to the Hideaway, I figured it'd be a slow night but once again I was proven wrong, Krysta and her friend Tim brought some friends and Sara(h?) P. was there with her friend whose birthday it was. Ron drove Lauren and I there and Randi came later. Anyway Piano Bob had been sent home at 9:00PM because Al didn't think anyone was coming in (Hey Al, remember how we come in at 10:30PM, and pretty much never before that?), so the jukebox was playing upon our arrival. HOWEVER Al let me play the piano and sing, HAH HAH! So (most of) you missed it, I was the featured pianist/singer at the Hideaway for a night. Yes, I played "Motor Away" by Guided By Voices (but my dream is still to get Bob to play it and have me sing it). Yes, Ron joined me for some Mustardfish classics (Concrete Blonde's "Joey," REM's "Orange Crush," The Exciters' "Tell Him," Eskimo Village's "I'm On Vacation," Al Martino's "Spanish Eyes," Beck's "Bogusflow"). Yes, I kept playing 'til they closed the bar (so, for like an hour and a half, maybe even closer to two hours). Yes, I even figured out "Easy" by The Commodores. Tuesday night Hideaway nights are UNSTOPPABLE. Not even getting into a car crash and otherwise nigh-unnavigable streets could stop that train, apparently. Believe that. Current Mood: Cold Water Current Music: Faith No More - "Easy" (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, January 23rd, 2009
4:09 pm	Songs I Wish I Wrote #2 Charlie Rich's "Love Waits For Me" from The Fabulous Charlie Rich (1969) I didn't know if I'd ever do one of these again, but what the heck? Here I am. This song is tight mostly because of its lyrics. It's on the more ballad-ish side of Charlie Rich (like all Charlie Rich, I guess, pretty much, more or less) but the subject matter is pretty priceless. Unfortunately it is the ONLY SONG from The Fabulous Charlie Rich whose lyrics I could not find online. I also can't find a YouTube video or anyplace where you can hear the song, and for that I am truly sorry. However dudes this song is about some bus driver, who looks forward every day to picking up this one lady, who waits for the bus at the corner of 7th and Broadway. Dude was a southerner through and through (Arkansas represent), even if "Broadway" and being a city bus driver in general do evoke images of New York City (and, it is just a song). Plus, it was written by Dallas Frazier, who also wrote that song "Alley Oop" that the Argyles, AKA the Hollywood Argyles, turned into a #1 hit back in '60. More in the "Love Waits For Me" vein, he was known for writing "There Goes My Everything," a Jack Greene tune from '66 that Elvis later covered (and which I sing almost every week at the Hideaway, incidentally). Frazier is still alive, a music industry expatriate and minister of some kind, apparently. ANYWAY the tightest part of the song is this crazy crescendo where Charlie Rich starts singing about how he was daydreaming about this regular passenger of his bus route, and HE CRASHES INTO SOME OTHER CAR (EDIT: A taxi, to be exact!). Yep, in the middle of some schmaltzy country love song, Charlie Rich gets lost in his thoughts about the oh-so-beautiful bus-riding patron and CRASHES HIS BUS. Crashes the bus! And there is a SONG ABOUT THIS! I almost want to write a sequel to this song, from the vantage point of other riders on the bus when the crash occurs; or maybe from that of Charlie Rich's boss who finds out about the crash and wants to fire the driver but dang he's a really good driver, just somewhat of a dreamer sometimes; or maybe even from the gal that Charlie Rich has a crush on, maybe completely oblivious to his longings or maybe even repulsed by him. I am gonna admit, I don't even think this song is that spectacular, but I am 100% in love with the idea of writing a song that includes a bus driver crashing his bus cuz he's thinkin' about some lady. And that gels a-plenty with the title of the column, such as it is. Anyway if you can find it, listen up. If you really wanna hear it, I can loan you the CD or play it when you come over to my house. Maybe if I ever do more of these I can make a CD of all of them for distribution to anyone that cares. I'd say "listen and discuss!" if it wasn't so danged hard to find a copy of this song on the web-u-net. Oh yeah, and if you wanna read that other one of these I did, it is over this-a-way. Current Mood: J Current Music: Charlie Rich - "Love Waits For Me" (Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009
1:35 pm	I Command You To Rise From Your Grave And Rescue My Daughter. And while I'm at it, Zeusing around, I command you also to rise from your grave and purchase this zine that features an article I wrote about the classic arcade/Sega game, Altered Beast. It's like $3, just goph'r. I wrote it a long time ago, and I'd do it differently nowadays, but it is still mega-tight (it is about ALTERED BEAST, after all). There are some other tight articles, stories, imaginary interviews, and more in there. You know, awesome zine stuff. WELCOME TO YOUR DOOM! Current Mood: Zine-ey Current Music: This Little Girl Wailing On "Carry On My Wayward Son" At An Organ Recital (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008
4:35 pm	A New Years Memory 01/01/01 - Late at night, traipsing through the streets of downtown Brussels (Belgium) with Koji and Nils and Ron and probably a bunch of (other) strangers, shouting "Bonne Année" to everyone and no one, loudly and obnoxiously. Later we went to some second-story Greek restaurant. The recent rain glistened on the cobblestone streets and walkways all over the city. Earlier I danced atop a bar full of strangers at a place called JJ's for three hours straight. I wonder if I'll ever see Nils and/or Koji again, or what circumstances would surround that, or if they'd remember who I was (probably not on all counts, but who knows?). I think Ron and I had (at least some of?) our luggage with us cuz we were supposed to go to Thomas's the next morning. We set up in the foyer of a Fortis Banque in the early morning hours to keep warm, I passed out on some table in there while our wet socks hung over the radiator coils and we waited for Thomas to wake up or come home. Dang, here is a patented jabberwocky-epic-length entry all about it (and more)! Current Mood: WISTFUL! Current Music: Dudes "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" Has Been On Repeat All Day. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008
2:30 pm	I Can Play That "Happies" Game... ...And I guess I sorta have been, what with that Climax video yesterday and all. Today, there's this incredible comic that is phenomenal on a regular basis, but today's is a pretty hilarious "Night Before Christmas" parody. See'z y'all at the Hideaway tonight, no doubt. Current Mood: Happzy Current Music: Darlene Love - "Marshmallow World" (Comment on this)
Monday, December 22nd, 2008
8:52 pm	Christmas Eve, Eve In case the notice got buried on your friendspage, under all those band-related MySpace bulletins, or just in the last LJ entry I made: Join me for cheap drinks, hot dancing, and beautiful music, courtesy of ourselves (you and me and anyone else that wants to come--the more the merrier!) tomorrow night (Tuesday 12/23/08) at the Hideaway, 5900 Arsenal (JUST east of Hampton). Bob (the feller who plays piano there Tuesday nights) likes to let us sing, and it always makes the regular patrons happy when nice younger folk populate the place as such. If I get drunk enough quickly enough, you can assume I'll probably be buying rounds of Manhattans for everyone, strangers and otherwise. We're likely to bust out a lot of Xmas songs ('Tis the season after all), but we/you can sing whatever you want, as long as Bob knows how to play it (his repertoire of the hit songs of yesteryear is staggering, and if the song is simple enough, I bet you could give him a chord progression and he could rock it easy). Bring a lyrics sheet, we won't judge. Heck, we'll have some of our own there for the general use. I'm thinking 9PM. Get there, bring yer friends, and usher in Xmas with me, Bob, and whomever happens to be there that night! Current Mood: Whole Lotta Shakin' Current Music: Quief Quota - "Love Christmas" (4 Comments |Comment on this)
3:12 pm	The Climax - "Coyotes" Here's a small sample of what I saw on Saturday night. This is just the tip of the iceberg--it's a cover (of sorts), after all. I was sitting just to the right of the guy operating camera, so you might hear some of my guffaws and/or singing-along in there. Gosh I love basement shows: This dude is seriously one of my favorite performers on planet earth. Current Mood: Climax'd Current Music: The Climax - "Coyotes" (Comment on this)