Whoa, what a disappointment it is to return to work after a mostly worthwhile weekend. 3-day weekends are great but they are just long enough to make you forget you have a job that is doing its best to become the most time-consuming tedium ever imagined. Plus, Mother Nature has decided to flip us the bird and immediately switch back over to lame weather, which is a little depressing (maybe I'll sit under my electrotherapy lamp!).

On days like this, I feel like taking out my frustrations on hapless strangers. If only I had to ride the subway to work! In lieu of abusing slow-moving subway passengers, I may go to the local Chinese restaurant and yell at the cook. After all, everybody else in the neighborhood does. He doesn't really understand English so it doesn't seem to do him any harm, and it would do me a world of good. "No! I said sesame noodles and French fries, goddammit!"

But instead perhaps I shall just revel in pleasant memories of the weekend. We headed out to East Williamsburg on Saturday to Asterisk to see Cobretti and Black Cat Revolver. The space is quite impressive. It must be something like Mighty Robot, in that it is a space rented by some ambitious people who provide art and music on an infrequent basis. The building is not a loft; there were several rooms in the space, a roof deck (which appeared to be carpeted), and a garden deck that was built several feet off the ground. Nifty. They need to work on the sound a bit (I think the music room needs heavy drapes or something to take out the ringiness), but the show was a lotta fun. I always enjoy seeing people in their late 20's try to mosh like they were teenagers. It always starts well, but they tire easily and soon everyone's back to standing around. At one point during the BCR show, Damien from The Giraffes got up onstage and took the guitarist's SG. Now, Damien is a southpaw, but the guitar was right-handed. So he just flipped it upside down and proceeded to play the song with the strings reversed. And he did it! Chords, solos, the whole bit. Seeing that kind of skill makes me wish I practiced more. Then the desire fades.

Sunday was spent recording and testing out the new microphones and mixer we recently purchased. There are still a lotta things we need to learn, but the results aren't too bad. We re-recorded an old JL tune, "Why am I So Nice to You?" which will appear on a Product of Circadia compilation this fall.

As for Monday, we didn't have any plans at first. Both M and I felt the best way to celebrate Labor Day was to do nothing. Or possibly laundry. But then the lure of booze and food won out. We fired up the grill and cooked a whole bunch of stuff, cowering under the patio tent in a foolish attempt to stay dry. Then it was off to Tonic with Mr. Static to see one of the many, many John Zorn shows this month. Last night it was Zorn with Mike Patton (yeah, that guy) and Ikue Mori. It seemed like an odd combination, but as the set unfurled I realized the genius of the collaboration. Both guys, in their own weird-ass way, are obsessed with human breath, sounds or rhythms that can come from the lungs and larynx. So the set had a lot of skronk and heavy breathing, with tons of bizarre electronic embellishment. I said it was like a sonic colonic. If anybody would like to name their band Sonic Colonic, just let me know.

The work week announced itself with a heavy rain at 7 this morning. I awoke with a start, picturing amps and litterboxes floating around in the basement, so I dashed downstairs, preparing to salvage yet again. But the pipe maintained its integrity, for the time being. I dragged my Les Paul up and went back to bed, nicely oversleeping into my workday. After I started working, I found we were out of coffee. Grrr. But if I can just make it through the next few hours, I get to party down at the Alibi. This is my beacon for the rest of the day.

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