|
|
 |
 |
Friday, January
09, 2004 at 16:45:45 (EST) |
 |
Rockin' Pneumonia
We're finally having band practice after a long hiatus due to
illness and the holidays, which will hopefully lower my blood-rock
levels, which have been building up like cholesterol in my system.
Tonight I'd really dig seeing a loud rock band, but I can't
seem to find any shows that'd be a good bet. No matter, I'm
sure I'll get it out of my system, so that by midnight I'll
be ready for The
Moonlighters show at Tonic.
The band features former members of Helmet and the Pain Teens,
but the music is described as "Hawaiian swing." This
can only mean one thing: ukuleles! That is so punk rock.
Posted By Jimmy Legs
| Non-PermaLink
|
 |
|
 |
| |
Comments
[
] |
|
|
Thursday,
January 08, 2004 at 23:28:58 (EST) |
|
About a child who now has gone
Yay! Phoebe
Gloeckner started a blog.
If ya don't know, she's a medical illustrator and comic artist
who grew up in San Francisco and now lives on Long Island, I
think. She has authored some of the more consistently disquieting
work I have ever had the pleasure to wallow through.  Check
out her collections,
if you are so inclined. Of course, her most famous illustration,
from an edition of Atrocity
Exhibition, depicts fellatio as though it was the subject
of a medical textbook. Creepy.
Not only that, she's a sucker for a stray
cat, just like somebody else I know. Instead of her stray
having kittens, it got attacked
by one of her other cats and had to have its leg amputated.
But he seems to be dealing with it well. At least I know somebody
who'll have at least as much trouble unloading a cat as me.
Posted By Jimmy Legs
| Non-PermaLink
|
|
|
|
| |
Comments
[
] |
|
|
Wednesday,
January 07, 2004 at 23:53:45 (EST) |
|
The story of the Hairy Call
Just saw the reading at Happy
Ending. I should have promoted this here on the site, but
it was already too crowded anyway. I got there early and barely
got a seat (right between Jonathan Ames and Stephen Glass' table).
For the overflow they herded people into the basement lounge,
where they could "hear everything but not see anything,"
thanks to a PA hookup. I got a front-and-center seat which was
great to watch the readers. It's not always necessary (or advisable)
to see the people who are reading. I just had a conversation
about live readings, remembering all the great authors I've
seen who are horrifying readers of their own work. Some people
just can't do it. I've never been great at it. The best complement
I ever got after a reading was "That was succinct."
But tonight all the authors were very good readers. Girlbomb
read a great story about wayward teenage girls living in Covenant
House; Whitney
Pastorek played a bunch of 80's tunes to the guilty pleasure
of the audience (I resisted her set until she busted out "Dead
or Alive," don't ask me why). The "notorious"
Stephen Glass (yeah, that
guy) read a story about Hebrew School that dredged up frightening
repressed memories of my own painful experiences in shul.
It was surreal to actually see him (let alone have him trip
over me as he went to the mic). This guy, so shamed, so maligned,
but he's just a nebbish. He can cause so much trouble?
 But
it was Jonathan
Ames who stole the show. That's who I came to see, and
from the audience's reaction (a larger than average crowd
according to Amanda
Stern, the organizer), I suspect most people were there
to see him. Maybe I'm wrong, but he gave an amazing reading.
He didn't so much read as tell a story, one that I had read
before. As is the case with oral recitation though, he added
some things that weren't in the previous version to great
effect. For those who know his work, it was the Christmas
story (told, he said, because "Christmas is coming up")
in which he visits a tranny bar and smokes crack in a transient
hotel with an attractive she-male. It was both a laff-riot
and melancholy, one of my favorite tonal combinations. He
ended with his "Hairy
Call," his childhood vocal distress signal, which
he uttered thrice. This was a nice bit of public self-flagellation
that seems to be sorely missing from most literary spectacles
in this city these days. I need to see more bizarre vocal
tricks and fewer 80's songs.
Posted By Jimmy Legs
| Non-PermaLink
|
|
|
|
| |
Comments
[
] |
|
|
Wednesday,
January 07, 2004 at 12:08:48 (EST) |
|
You might sleep but you will never
dream
 I
need to work on my sleeping. I'm just no good at it anymore.
I've done it nearly every day since I was born but recently
I seem to have forgotten some basic tenets in the skill of falling
and staying asleep for a period of time. My problem seems to
be my internal clock is set for night-owl behavior; I seem to
be the most awake after midnight, and I can't seem to fall asleep
before 2:30. I actually don't mind this in of itself. The only
downside is when morning comes, I have quite a bit of trouble
waking up at any reasonable time. Telecommuting means I can
get away with this indefinitely, which is exactly what my brain
tells me every morning:
"Sure," my brain says, "You could get up now.
But why should you? You don't need to start working until
9. At least. And then even after 9, who will notice you're
not working until, say, 10? Look, go back to sleep now and
I'll let you have that dream about the hot lady DJ again.
You know what I'm talking about ..."
And I invariably reply, "Oh goody! Sleep is never sweeter
than on a bed of rationale."
I guess that's not such a problem; the worst thing that's
happened is oversleeping past a conference call. And even
then it didn't really matter. Nothing does with this job.
But that's why I love it.
So keeping with my trend of looking up health-related tips,
I read up on sleeping problems. Here's a short list
of what not to do:
- Alcohol and caffeine in the evening hours
disturb normal sleep patterns
- Spend a specified time daily to deal with
unresolved issues, new problems/conflicts, and to plan your
next day's activities. Leaving these thoughts for bedtime
will only create "mind racing",decreasing your
ability to fall asleep and experience quality sleep
- Utilize your bedroom for sleeping and sexual
activities only. By using it for exercising, studying, watching
TV, etc., you are giving your brain the message that the
room is a place for wakeful activity, even stress
- Tobacco will interfere with sleep so it
is advised to reduce its usage and/or develop a plan to
quit
So I'm basically boned on this one. But I am not alone. In
fact, I'm not sure I know anybody who sleeps like a baby every
night. Of course, you don't usually hear about it when people
are sleeping well; that might foment contempt in less-successful
sleepers.
Posted By Jimmy Legs
| Non-PermaLink
|
|
|
|
| |
Comments
[
] |
|
|
Tuesday, January
06, 2004 at 13:33:15 (EST) |
|
All I've got is a photograph
 You
may have noticed a dearth of pictures on this site in the past
week. This is due to the fact that I lent my clunky old digital
camera to MRK while he is in Berlin, as he would be ensconced
in exotic locales and I would just be taking pictures of the
cats. But he gets back tonight, and there will no doubt be many
photos to post to make us feel bad we didn't get to do anything
so fabulous as travel to Europe for the holidays. To tide you
over, Sean sends us this action
shot of me plying my trade on Coventry in Cleveland. Yes, I
look this pretentious all the time.
Posted By Jimmy Legs
| Non-PermaLink
|
|
|
|
| |
Comments
[
] |
|
|
Tuesday, January
06, 2004 at 12:56:56 (EST) |
|
Who told you you're allowed to rain
on my parade?
So far this year I have learned
This is shaping up to be a good year! Now if I can just find
a study that says smoking keeps you fit as a fiddle and whiskey
improves your vocabulary, I'll be all set. Of course, this
is unlikely, but I do like reading quitting-smoking factoids
like this
(counting from last cigarette smoked):
- 20 minutes: Blood pressure and pulse return to normal
- 8 hours: Nicotine and carbon monoxide levels in the blood
are halved, oxygen levels in the blood return to normal
- 24 hours: Carbon monoxide is eliminated from the body
and lungs start to clear out debris
- 48 hours: There is no nicotine left in the body, taste
and smell are greatly improved
- 72 hours: Breathing becomes easier, bronchial tubes begin
to relax, energy levels increase
- 2 - 12 weeks: Circulation improves, making walking and
running a lot easier
- 3 - 9 months: Coughs, wheezing and breathing problems
improve as lung function is increased by up to 10%
Also I'm looking for a study that links longevity with sheer
number of cats owned. I may be immortal.
Posted By Jimmy Legs
| Non-PermaLink
|
|
|
|
| |
Comments
[
] |
|
|
Monday, January
05, 2004 at 13:21:28 (EST) |
|
Things that go Hump in the Night
After my abortive furniture search on Saturday, I took in a
show at Sin-é
on the recommendation of Juli. Her friends from Pittsburgh,
The
Johnsons Big Band, were in town, along with their neighbors
Grand
Buffet. John
Lach, the antifolk guy, also performed, tho his set was
sorely out of place that night. Rounding out the bill was Gil
Mantera's Party Dream, hailing from Columbus, completing
my weekend of seeing Ohio bands. The JBB is indeed a big band,
with a horn section, organist, and some weird guy playing kettle
drums (it's gotta be a pain to lug those things around). People
probably think they're a sort of ska band, since that's pretty
much the only horn-inclusive bands one expects to see in a rock
venue these days. And while some of their songs do have a reggae
groove, I think of them more of as a soul band. We can definitely
use some more soul bands these days, since nobody seems to want
to do that anymore. Of course, even that is a little reductive
in terms of their sound, but that's as much as I'll try. The
drummer and lead singer are the same guys from the Dirty
Faces, and their rock influence is very apparent and complementary.
Every time I see the lead singer he reminds me of a Steeltown
Shane MacGowan. I might be way off on that, but that's what
occurs to me. So they've got a lotta stuff going on, and it
all works. Plus they came with a bunch of films made by colleagues
in the Three-Rivers area, not to mention the huge number of
Pittsburgh folks who drove all the way up just to see them.
It was like an entire piece of that city was uprooted and dropped
on the Lower East Side. That's a good thing.
Grand Buffet: one big guy, one little guy, a minidisc
full of phat beats and one Toffifay
= Hip Hop Hooray! I had been thinking that the nerdcore
scene was just a little too stilted and silly to work in any
meaningful way, but these guys just might make me change my
mind. Sure, they were hilarious, but they actually can put
together a decent rhyme. Of course, I'm a sucker for old-school
rap, which is what their songs approximate. I'm still not
sure if I'd want to sit around listening to their records,
but you can't ask for much more in a live show.
Gil Mantera's Party Dream had been getting hyped all
night long, even the guy from Grand Buffet said they were
his favorite live act. I might have liked them better if they
had gone on before GB, since they too are a bit of a novelty
act. But they literally had a tough act to follow. Now, I
dunno if I'm just getting too old or if they were off their
game, but they just didn't do it for me. Their whole shtick
is that they pretend they're cheesy Eurotrash types and they
play godawful music while trying to drink as much PBR as possible.
I'm all for satire and obnoxious fun, but the whole thing
was so forced it wasn't much fun at all. I guess I've never
been much for those bands that bill themselves with "You
never know what's going to happen at ______'s show!"
Unless it's GG
Allin. Of course, by the end, everybody knew exactly what
was gonna happen at a GG show, you just never knew who he
was gonna throw poop on first. Part of the Party Dream's act
is they constantly fight with each other during the set (at
least I think it was part of the act). They did have one good
moment when Donny (the guitarist), resplendent in his incredibly
ugly puffy jacket and huge sunglasses, yelled at Gil, "Don't
even embarrass me here!"
Posted By Jimmy Legs
| Non-PermaLink
|
|
|
|
| |
Comments
[
] |
|
|
Monday, January
05, 2004 at 11:06:09 (EST) |
|
Fiddler on the chair
Okay, where does one find furniture in this city? This may sound
like a dumb question, but I have no experience whatsoever in
the realm of retail furniture. All the stuff I have ever owned
has been hand-me-downs,
most from the Salvation Army. But as I have been slowly stocking
my bedroom with new stuff (so far: new desk, new bed, new stereo),
I wanted to splurge and buy a new armchair. Such a comfy chair
will go in the corner of my room, next to the bookshelf, under
the ancient lamp. I think I'll get a small rug to cordon off
the 'reading' area as well. So where does one go to buy a chair?
I wandered around Manhattan this weekend, hoping to stumble
across a shop that sold not just chairs, but chairs designed
to fit through my decidedly narrow apartment doors. I've only
got 30" to work with here. But of course, I didn't find
any such place. The closest I got was the godforsaken Crate
& Barrel, which had several chairs that would have
fit
the bill. Only problem was they were all well over $1000 apiece.
Is that how much nice chairs cost? Maybe I should just say
the hell with it and get a La-Z-Boy.
Say, do any cat owners out there own leather furniture? I
am thinking of buying a leather reading chair, but I have
heard conflicting accounts about what a cat might do to it.
Owning cats is probably the main reason I've never had nice
furniture; the two may be inextricably linked.
Posted By Jimmy Legs
| Non-PermaLink
|
|
|
|
| |
Comments
[
] |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As
you have seen with the resumption of pointless cat photos, my
camera is back from its trip to Germany. Along with it returned
MRK who is currentlly trying to handle being back at work already.
He took 4 billion pictures, so once they've been sorted, I'll
post some more up here.