Most of my friends, all here on my desk top

The phenom that is IM. I am here, in my cube, working away. Funny that I have these boxes, that tell people I am here, just ready to chat. Some people I call, see, e-mail all the time. Others who live far away, places I've lived, places I've never been. People I drop in from time to time, people I never talk to, just hang there on my screen. Old bosses, but no ex loves. Insane to really think there all these people I know, who I can just chat away with, like I am at the bar at any momement during my work day. Too bad I can't drink and smoke at the desk.

Google Earth – how cool.

Everyone should check out Google Earth. It’s amazingly super rad.

Here’s a satellite picture of my apt in NYC. The red circle is my patio.


Here’s a satellite picture of my childhood home. The red circle is my house.

Just wait until Google buys a Satellite

Information anywhere all of the time.
Opt in Big Brother/1984.

This will signal GAME OVER

I love houses on top of buildings.

This is the house on my block

Yea! I'm Now Hot

Playgirl Magazine says so!

Slow Gin Fizz

I happened to notice that Loretta Lynn was going to be playing the Mohegan Sun Casino in CT. I also found out that you take a bus from china town for $10 BUCKS, so I talked Aaron into coming with me.


Aaron came over on Friday night and we played some Texas Hold ‘em to get ready for the big trip.



We got to the casino and were handed $20 in vouchers to gamble with and $15 for food. We blew both vouchers on the Wheel of Fortune. I made $50. We then went for some drinks.




The $15 put to good use on crappy salads.




So this was a free show, and people started lining up at noon. We made friends with these casino freaks, and they let us get in the front of the line with them at 3:30. We sat there for 3 hours waiting to get seated. It paid off, as we were 15 ft from the stage, maybe 20 from Loretta.

These pictures are either blurry or dark. So much for knowing how to use a digital camera.











The low light of the show is when Loretta brought out one of her cheese ball back up singers (full on with a long blonde perm and leather pants) to do Jack White’s part on ‘Portland, Ore.’ I have video footage of about 2 minutes of this if anyone wants to see.


After the show, Aaron and I got lost trying to find the exit. We missed our ‘assigned’ bus back, so we had to push our way through a stand by line, but thankfully got home. While we were waiting to get on our bus, Loretta’s bus pulled up next to us.

San Francisco hasn’t changed that much…

Check out these pictures from Vertigo - the Hitchcock classic compared with the same locations in 2003. Besides a random Starbucks here and there and the cars on the street a lot of the city looks the same.

M.I.A. in Central Park

Screwed and Chopped? Chopped and Screwed?

Paul Wall, a white rapper from Houston, who is about to blow up has this to say:

That religion's sacrament has been illegally obtained cough syrup (or "sizzyrup"). We're not talking Robitussin but the codeine-laced variety intended for patients with lung cancer. Wall says that screw music evokes the feeling of being stoned on syrup, the same way a pot smoker might get a buzz off a regular cigarette. If you're a "drink man," you go to the syrup dealer, who delivers it in prescription bottles or mini baby bottles. "People mix it with Snapple or Hawaiian Punch," Wall says. "Whatever you prefer. We use Sprite, but I started trying root beer for something different. Or Sunkist. We don't like the new Sprite ReMix, the Aruba Jam."

Anything/Red Wine

Last Thur - I see Sarah on my block. I have a bottle of red. She mentions that Red Red Wine was written by Neil Diamond.
Fri - I go to her club and I ask her to play Dramarama's Anything. She does.
Skip to last night (after a weird night, finally hook up w/ Fay for drinks at Black and White). No David Cross, no Strokes. Thank God.
I'm Not Your Stepping Stone by the Monkees (and written by Neil Diamond) comes on, and in the middle of the song I notice that a part of sounds like the yelling part in Anything (by Dramarama).
We go over to 119 by Irving Plaza after Black and White , and Dramarama comes on thier soundsystem followed by Neil Diamond. What's it all mean?

If I wrote song lyrics...

Here is one, for the digital lovin' emo kids. Please feel free to use this in one of your songs:

'You would be so much easier to forget, if there was no such thing as the Internet'

Nothing to say today

9th day of suga free...feeling better...

bagels are the devil. Give them up now if you can.

The best 5 rock records, according to me.

A real High Fidelity moment. As much as making lists are lame, they are fun too.

Built to Spill ‘Perfect From Now On’
I could’ve have said ‘Keep it Like a Secret,’ but I went with this one instead. The lyrics, song structures, guitar tones, all amazing. This is for when your heart meets brain (a kind of nasty place to be).

Iggy and the Stooges ‘Raw Power’
Sex, drugs, destruction. This is full on raw living. No heart, no brain.

Wilco ‘Yankee Foxtrot Hotel’
So introspective yet somehow psychedelic. All heart inside the brain. For most people, almost too much.

Neutral Milk Hotel ‘In the Aeroplane Over the Sea’
Pure raw emotion. Living on the outside of relative sanity. This record connects with so many people. Almost too many.

T.Rex “Electric Warrior.”
Sexy, simple yet still complicated. I was watching ‘Born to Boogie’ w/ Miss Alia the other night, and we both came to the conclusion that Marc Bolan did it all when it comes to rock. Jimmy Page and Slash both crib from Bolan’s style sheets. And while he did an amazing job with the whole pop image thing, he actually had great songs to back his shit up.

I don't have anything to write today.

I just got out of an all day meeting. So I leave you with this pretty picture.

Oliva Tremor Control and marzipan.

Yes, the rumors are true, and yes Faycat and I had our 2nd Jeff Mangum sighting.

Faycat came over for a carb free dinner. Bubbly water just doesn't beat a bottle of red, BUT bubbly water does more to insure I will leave the house than a nap inducing bottle of red. I tried making this carb free desert (what the f?) of skim ricotta, almond extract and cinnamon. We each had about two bites (after the blackened chicken and grilled asparagus I did pull off) and decided uh, thanks but no thanks. Let's hit to road and get our Elephant 6 on.

The opening band with an old British dude screaming at the audience, just totally wasted our standing around waiting for the headliners to come on energy. I wasn't sure I was going to make it.

But there we were, close the front, as the 10 piece OTC tweaked their instruments so that they would sound just right.

It was cool enough to see OTC, leaders of the Elephant 6 movement, in their reunited psychedelic southern sloppiness. One totally hears some of Brain Wilson’s worst trips blended with the beauty of the Thirteenth Floor Elevators. Given my history with other E6 bands, most notably Beulah and Dressy Bessy, I was happy to see the god fathers of it all last night.

About 5 songs in, out walks Jeff Mangum. I’ve said it once on this blog, and I will say it again, he made one of the best records of all time.

Overwhelmed by the crowd, and not into the songs I was heard, I decided to break the rules and go downstairs for a glass of wine. Sitting at the bar, alone, I look up and see Ira and Georgia, just hanging out at the Bowery Ballroom. Good times.

Shawn says I need to update this everyday to get an active readership

So I will try.

I am trying to kick sugar as part of this program for my current project. Something to goal set against. Something to have control of. Something to track progress on that actually means something to me and only me.

Supposedly (according to this book I have) we are addicted to sugar. Everything has some type of refined carb (= sugar) in it. Bagel for breakfast = sugar. Sandwich or pizza for lunch = sugar. Mash potatoes with dinner = sugar.

I started to monitor my sugar/carb intake 5 days ago. The program says to go sugar free for 2 weeks to kick the sugar addiction. So that means no carbs, no booze, no fruit and then after 2 weeks, they can be reintroduced. As for booze, only red wine in moderation.

I'd give myself a B for my efforts thus far. I am really dizzy and in turn cranky. Hopefully this will pass after 2-3 more days.