I'm Fixing A Hole...
Since my cheapo acoustic-electric says "Rogue" all over it, and that's the evil Musician's Friend house brand, I've decided to cover it up. So, I've designed a few stickers that can go inside, under the soundhole. They're loosely based on the delicately carved soundholes in lutes (Ignatius J. Reilly's favorite instrument).
Next time I change strings I'll stick one in. I haven't decided which yet. There's also a couple others that I haven't even bothered to make into stickers yet. Ho hum, this is an exciting life I lead, eh?

A Cheap Holiday In Other People's Misery
Finally.
A decent day. Warm (but not hot), pretty much no wind. So, even though I'm weeks behind, I still went out for a nice juicy training ride. Have I mentioned that I love my new bike?
A good day off.

Plus, and this is just amazing, I got a Glen Matlock solo bootleg from dimeadozen. Who knew there was such a thing? I know the official line is that Sid played bass on the album tracks, but I've read that the truth is Glen did. In fact, the only Pistols tunes that were remotely musical were the ones he played on. After that it was all Eddie Cochran and Monkees covers.

Having A Wonderful Time But I'd Rather Be Whistling In The Dark
Hello!
This might be me.

'Tis The Gift To Be Simple
Simple pleasures today:
a warm bike ride into the office
the end of the stomach flu
the end of the clogged sinuses thing that's been bothering me for about 6 weeks
and robots that are getting rained on giving ice cream cones to their friends.
At least that's what Gabe says it is.

Losing My Mind
Lately I've hit my head enough times and hard enough to have lost at least a few IQ points.
I think.
A week or so ago (I can't remember) I hit my head on a cabinet and my neck folded up like an accordian, from the massive weight of the rest of my body. Yesterday I picked up my Washburn and braced its side against my front while I attempted to grab it by the neck with my left hand. It was a stupid way to pick up the guitar because it sort of slipped and the headstock brained me in the brow, giving me a nasty bruise/blood blister.
That's all I can think of to write until my brain recovers.

A Long Time Ago...
In a state not really far away, I saw Star Wars (that IS what it was called back then). I was starting third grade. Last night, along with all the other 30something dads and their kids, Gabe and Sam and I went to see Episode III. Gabe will be in third grade when the next school year starts, so that's mildly interesting to me.
Gabe was enthralled with it. Sam said it was too loud.

I won't bother with slagging the dialogue, everyone else on the internet has already done that. And, yes, I wished that Episodes I and II had been combined so that III could have done more with the time between the twins' birth and the destruction of the Death Star. But, that said, it still does a marvelous job of connecting the series. Even visually. You can see the evolution of hardware and costumes. The constant battles and special effects created a dizzying atmosphere of good old science fiction action adventure fun.
But I have 2 small questions:
1. Why did Palpatine get so ugly after his fight with Mace Windu? Gabe decided it was because the dark side force that Mace pointed back at him sucked the life out of him. I know others have a mask theory, that when he was Palpatine he had a disguised appearance, and that when he was being Sidious he appeared as his normal bad self.
2. Why did it take from the time Luke was born until he could get his X-wing license to build the Death Star? Didn't they use all their time-saving droids to do that? And why didn't it take nearly that long to build the second one in Return of The Jedi?
It was definitely the best of the Episodes, but still, even with all its surround sound zipping spaceship laser beam glory, it still doesn't have the soul of any of the Original Trilogy. It's worth seeing, if for no other reason than it fills in the last gap.

Here In Our Hovel
Another great Decemberists show last night.
Went along with Brian Nupp and he brought his brother, Bob.
A good time was had by all.
I got in at about 3:30 this morning so all I can really do is post a setlist and say, "it was great."
Oh, I already did that.

The Infanta
Billy Liar
The Sporting Life
We Both Go Down Together
The Bagman's Gambit
The Engine Driver
On The Bus Mall
Oceanside
Song For Myla Goldberg
The Legionnaire's Lament
16 Military Wives
The Chimbley Sweep
California One/Youth And Beauty Brigade
~~~
Eli, The Barrow Boy
The Mariner's Revenge Song

Chris Funk surfed the crowd. Colin smoked during the instrument duel (literally and figuratively). Petra was back after being sick. Nate was kind enough to appear at the end of my video. Jenny liked my BR blazer. John and Petra, well, I haven't really talked to them, but they seem just as super nice as the rest.

Oh! I know what I can say: there were 2 too tall guys, always in front of me it seems. And there was the freakin' muppet kid in front me jumping every which way the entire show. I'm not prone to violence (anymore) but I wanted to punch his bloody lights out after he hit me like 400 times.

Come, Armageddon, Come
Nope, it's not the aftermath of a tornado. It's progress.

Progress is what this little town is all about. People in these parts think it's some kind of step forward to get big, multinational chains to locate here. I'm not much of an economist, but how does that really help the local economy, especially if tax abatement incentives are offered to the corporation?
So, this entire block has been razed to make room for the third RiteAid (I'm guessing at least one of the other two will close). One block north of this got flattened a few weeks ago to make room for a new bank branch. Up the street we got a new branch from a rival bank, but that left their other building 2 blocks down empty. Last year we got Buffalo Wild Wings, and this year we're getting a new Taco Bell across the street from the old one. Kmart is looking pretty shabby these days, since Meijer went in up the street. And the empty Hill's and Chief's across from them is still not turning into the fabled Super Wal-Mart. Also on deck, more minor league fast food, Kohl's, and one of them overpriced cheapo steakhouses, which will surely put the old Ponderosa obesity center out of business. But won't that hurt Applebee's business? I dunno, ask the second Dairy Queen. Or the third Subway. Or one of the McDonalds. Or one of the many fine retail locations at our mini-mall.
There's "only" 19,000 people in this zip code. How many stores do we need? Especially since people consider it even better to drive to Fort Wayne or Toledo to go shopping (cuz we don't have our own Best Buy yet?)
Honestly, though? I wouldn't mind a Borders or B&N.

For A Tryst In The Greenery
Just a few nice days in a row, that's all I ask.

Well, a week would be nice.
And very few responsibilities during it.

Yeah.

We'll Drink Ourselves Awake
Brian was SO right!
He just is.
He's always very kind to put up with me, when I am asking idiotic questions, pestering him for tunes, or just being my obsequious self. He pointed out that yesterday's test movie was not in fact really widescreen at all, but 4:3 with black bars. I insisted it was, inside the bars. He just about went nuts trying to explain things to me, then, just gave up. I can't blame him. But I figured out what I did wrong. I did in fact make a widescreen movie, that's what the still is from. But then I thought it would be too huge for web purposes, so I reimported that movie into iMovie and never told it to keep the same format, so it letterboxed it. That new one was then the one I linked to...making Brian perfectly correct, as usual.
So I made a new one. (Don't click on it unless this all matters to you.)

More Brian appreciation: he chats with me all day, even when he's busy. He's working hard on a spiffy new template for this humble blog, too.

How Many Nights Of Talking In Hotel Rooms Can You Take?
I made a test movie in 16:9 widescreen in which I test out a song. (This is the streaming web version. The real thing is much cleaner. Well, the music part isn't. I mean, the stereo fidelity is great, it's the player's skill I'm talking about.)

I'm not sure I like how the new QuickTime makes you wait. Or maybe it's just my pokey broadband.

I Was Puzzled By A Dream, It Stayed With Me All Day In 2005
Sam arrived in my home office (AKA geek lair) early this morning, with his favorite blanket over his head. He announced, "Poppa, I had a great dream last night. It had dinosaurs in it." He then explained it all to me. I told him that the standard interpretation of dinosaur dreams is that you're worrried you'll be eaten alive by wild animals with sharp, pointy teeth.
OK, I didn't say that.

A Mile And A Half On A Bike Takes A Long Time
The odor of old dead raccoons takes a long time to pass you by.

I'm a month behind on my training, so that's not the un-interesting story to tell. (Actually, it's fine, since my first century this summer is not until July, and hopefully, when Fall rolls around I won't get sick or injured like the past 2 years, so when the year's done I still hope to be ahead.)

In a recent compliment fest from a friend I was given high marks in almost all areas of my life, but then this friend added, "But, well, you're not exactly a gifted musician." Too true. But an unrequited love affair is sometimes its own reward, I'd say.

Today, We Tiger!
Wish me luck.
I expect to be underwhelmed, too.

Lord, I Don’t Know If I’ll Ever Be Back Again
I’m guessing that The Decemberists won’t be playing at Little Brother’s again anytime soon. The PA and monitors were having “issues” and it’s a pretty small club, maybe the smallest on this tour. But Bob “donewaiting.com” Duffy does a great job getting them there!

Anyway, it was a great show, even if it all got a late start. It was really a suprise to hear how things work with the new members John and Petra.

As a loyal fanboy, I was especially pleased to see my gifties in action on stage—a guitar-shaped LED blinky, on Nate, then on his cab. A boat steering wheel pin thingy that Colin claimed from the gift bag went on the strap for his Casino. And I hope to see Funk wearing my shirt in a photo sometime.

Setlist:
The Infanta
The Legionnaire’s Lament
Song For Myla Goldberg
We Both Go Down Together
The Bagman’s Gambit
The Sporting Life
Grace Cathedral Hill
16 Military Wives
Wuthering Heights (Kate Bush)
The Engine Driver
Los Angeles, I’m Yours
The Chimbley Sweep
California One/Youth And Beauty Brigade
~
Of Angels And Angles
The Mariner’s Revenge Song


Despite the hiss of the PA and the silence of the monitors, they played for over an hour and a half, and they played hard, perhaps to make up for it.
There was one girl who kept yelling, “I love you!” every time it got quiet for half a second. She didn’t need to do that. Yes, yes, we all know Colin is cute and crushworthy.

I videotaped it. But the results aren’t going to end up being my favorite DVD. That camera really is pretty hosed. The exposure control is just off. The autofocus doesn’t (at least quickly) and somehow the resolution has gotten line-y, vertically. Oh, and the color balance is screwed up, too. It’ll be a nice souvenir, but that’s about it. Surprisingly, the sound mix is pretty good. So the mic still works.

Another cool event: meeting Steve Goldberg, from the message board, who sold me his CD. He is a nice young man, full of talent, and a dead ringer for Matt.

Next stop (for me): Cleveland!

In The Contest Of Life, I Declare Myself A WINNER!
My hunch, that U2 is now a giant corporate machine, every year grossing more than many countries (which must be why Bono thinks he's up there with world leaders), is certainly correct. Lately their lawyers have been going after every single downloader of U2 anything, even 4 year old fan recordings. They've been slamming the torrent sites with letters from their lawyers in Hamburg (though they are not responsible for the death of easytree, that was Nirvana's lawyers, says the scuttlebutt on teh internets). Dimeadozen has had to ban U2 recordings and most everybody else is following suit. It wasn't always this way. Quoth the messiah (in 2001): "We invite people to bootleg our shows. We invite people to make copies, we've no problems with that, but if some guy is gonna make money off the back of this, we're gonna find out where he parks his car." That was all fair enough. But now the happy traders (I USED to be one) are getting ratted out by some misguided Gestapo of "fans" who report any filesharing or bootleg-selling. I agree that people trying to sell these things are violating copyrights, but a fan can't make a recording and share it anymore? Boo, Bono!
Plus their last album, How To Dismantle A Career, was underwhelming at best. I've said it before, I'll say it again, they sound like one of those tribute bands. Plus, how sad is that? Some middle-aged mullet-headed guy trying to croon like Bono? Ew. Only a Rush cover band would be worse.

I, on the other hand, do not suck. This is my most recent painting. It's about 4'x6', like most of my recent things. I figured, since I draw so many useless little doodles, when I paint, I might as well PAINT. Though, like much of my output lately, this is rather collage-y.

The Commander Thinks Aloud
Yes, I did buy that comp just for the one new Long Winters track. I think it's about the last Space Shuttle disaster.

New painting, probably not even dry. All shiny! What this photo doesn't show is the collage of materials and layers of paint underneath it all. It's on pieces of wood, too.

And those are my stocking feet. Or stinking. It depends.

You Gave Me The Word, I Finally Heard, I’m Doing The Best That I Can
I’ve got to admit it’s getting better.


It's been a good art day. But I won't post anymore work in progress pix, cuz no one cares. (That's not a passive-aggressive bid for compliments, it's true. Who wants to see a half-done painting by an unknown artist?)