The Ism

11:52 am: Musings...
Are the best works of art created under the guiding hand of a muse?

( More thoughts about this underneath )

10:43 pm: Stephen listens to things...
- I am way behind on the Dylan bus, granted that beast was already rumbling well before I was born... but you'd think I would have caught up and gotten on while I was still in my teens and not you know twenty-two!? And then more over it's taken two whole extended years to really come around to things and I still haven't heard every album he has out, let alone any of his heavily christian stuff... lord I want to.

- But the casual use of lord, or god, or jc, in conversation still baffles me. Today, a lady kept saying to me thank god you have a job, emphasis on god. I was slightly weirded out. I don't really think about god alot, except that I do, except that I don't think it's what everybody else thinks about god, except when it is, except when there's none at all or more than that even.

- The Wooden Birds features Andrew Kenny and David Wingo, and I got it for two dollars, and it's so great. Like Ola Podrida meets American Analog Set, and exactly like that because that's what it is, but better even? Maybe? I can't say just yet.

- Also I took a slight break than watched some films that made me want to write better, sharper, and with more depth. Let's see what becomes. And hope to become that even.

11:21 pm: Status report...
Stephen likes people.

02:31 am: Also a few wors and ideas I am really liking at two-thirty in the morning...
"Elephants: They never forget you."
"Cacophony"
"Whales: Blow it out your hole!"
"Malarkey"
"Cantankerous"
"Sea Cows: Helping sea-horses make sense for thousands of years."
"Bombast"
"Toe-jam: Because toejelly just sounds like 'totally' with a speech impediment."
also, "Wompus."

12:18 pm: Yep. Proof that I am a genius.
Having seen Star Trek three times now it is become very clear what is missing among the awesome of, well, everything else... When Kirk is first talking to Pike in the bar having just gotten his face kicked in, Pike asks, "Do you know what the Federation is?"

Kirk stares at him stonefaced, the tissues still clotting up his bloody nose.

Pike continues, "It's important. It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian..." ...something or other. To which Kirk responds with a hardlined "We done?"

But what would have fit the entire scene and movie better would have been for Kirk to make a remark such, "Four of your boys just the peace all over my face." Snappier and just as much of a conversation stopper. Plus it would have made Pikes' follow up less of a complete nonsequiter.

07:08 pm: "I'm not religious but I'm spiritual..."
Hey, I would like recommendations and/or to know your favorite songs about religion, god, jeebus, pookie, the whole bunch. I've got a few already but I want to know what other peoples are. The best part, as far as I can tell you don't really have to be into god to like these songs.

07:33 pm: Monies, I don't haves them!
So on top of the speeding ticket (street value of $242.00) SF MUNI just sent me a notice that the citation I was issued (this is when my MUNI pass was three days outside the month) which the issuing officer told me to protest as I would not have to pay is something I now owe $50 dollars for. I am hoping to buy plane tickets to Florida this week. Tonight or tomorrow preferably. It just blows to be always broke is all. Thankfully, I do feel that Boise was more than worth $242 and 20+ hours of driving, so take that life!

11:25 am: Hiatus...
Please, remind me at some point to tell you about Jordan Valley, OR.

06:32 pm: Youtube is the greatest free music source on the interwebs!!! (<~~prolly untrues)
- There's a very Weezerish element to Asher Roth's "I Love College", like a slowed down guitar part to "Say it Ain't So", settled on top of a crunchy beat and then everything in song kind of drawls out. I can't say I'm familiar with the subject matter, i.e. the lyrics, if you care, are not great. But the overall composition of the song is pretty good, I sampled a few of his other tracks and this seems to be the case there as well. Solid production team, backing an accessible likable white guy who currently lacks depth. Eminem's trick was to gain it on later records and so became credible, perhaps Roth will construct the same path for himself.

- Then again, Funcrusher Plus was rereleased by Def Jux today. So who knows.

- Also worth checking out King Khan and the Shrines or King Khan and the B.B.Q. Show, not quite the same but basically the same.

- I thought about picking up records today but then I thought about not working in a record store anymore and I just couldn't do it, so I bought a book about music instead. What I would like though is the new Pterodactyl album and several albums by bands with Black in their names: Black Sabbath, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Black Lips, Black Dice, the Negro Problem... okay that last one doesn't exactly count, but they're pretty great too!

12:39 pm: Hey you!
Please, please, puh-lease come to the Berkeley Poetry Slam Semifinals tonight! Of which I am a participant and cheer really loudly (extra loudly for me of course) and have the mostest fun you can have without a license (for fun, duh). The show starts at eight-thirty but I recommend getting there at least half an hour in advance so you can do some quality sitting and whatnot or eat some of the foods there or drink some of (from what I hear) fabulous intoxicants. It's $10 dollars, but that's how much a movie costs, and can you yell at a movie when you dislike it? or cheer enthusiastically when you do (or when you've been asked to because you're friends with the movie)?

The Starry Plough, on Shattuck at Prince st. Next to La Pena (there's a squigley over the 'n') One block up from the Ashby BART station (though really because you have to kind of walk around some construction now it's more of a block and a half), be there!

This could be the last time I slam competitively until tomorrow. What more do you need?

12:29 am: What I'm lik(e)ing) now...
Good things: French science movies from the '60's. The Chambers Brothers. Lilo & Stitch. Surprisingly, the Unusuals. I.B.'s chili cheese fries. Walking around lakes Merritt and Temescal. Bakesale Betty's Chicken Sandwich. Whoa, damn, that Chicken Sandwich is so good it gets two of these. Dengue Fever. Classic country, soul, and psychedelia. The latest issue of Vice magazine, which contains one of the coolest photo articles on buildings in Dubai. The Happiness Project by Charles Spearin.

I've got a show Sunday, and then one on Wednesday in Berkeley that I'd like you to go to, yes you, and then another show on Thursday I think, I'm not exactly sure. Those things are good, but they're also making me feel a little less than, it would do a little more than if you would say something kind to me.

10:19 pm: Early warnings...
So hey, I've got not one, but two shows to talk about briefly, and they'll be brief because I'm still kind of half-half on details.

The first is Oakland semis bout 1 Tuesday 4/21 @ Grand Lake Coffee House - 440 Grand Ave. right by the lake. This is going to be a crazy set, Oakland is mostly loaded with veterans and hotshots, you have to win a show to be in finals so there are no slouches. But the venue is kind of strange. Not to knock any venue that hosts poetry, but the space isn't very friendly for poets, it's kind of cramped and very open, windows and stuff... more over I'm not counting on my voice being recovered yet so this will probably be a test work I've been editing set and be happy however it goes.

The second is Berkeley semis bout 2 Wednesday 4/29 @ the Starry Plough -3101 Shattuck Ave.(1 block uphill of Ashby BART). This bout is crazy too. But there's more unknowns going on. The goal is to be fully healed by the time this rolls around. So we'll see how it goes. I'm going to keep plugging both these shows but this way if you're out of state or something you should at least have time to make plans and such.

See you at the slams.

01:08 am: Online dating doesn't seem to be working out...
October 14th, 2007
You wrote to Amisshmuch:

Hey there, you're profile is really interesting. Home schooled huh? That's gotta be intense, I think had I been home schooled I might have been expelled, hah! Know'wha I'm sayin'?

I don't really either, but I digress. So this Rum Spring Break you mention sounds pretty crazy, your church really sponsors this?

Also, in the section where your favorite movies, music, t.v. shows, and food goes you said "I've never watched television, but my I like my father's band a lot!", have you really never watched television? Also, what band is your dad in? maybe I know them, I've been working in a record store for a while and raiding my housemates record collection so my exposure has, like, quadrupled. Also for favorite foods you mention freshly churned butter...

...care to butter me up sometime? I'm cringing having written that, but it's too bad a pun not to send it, y'know?

But seriously, cute pics, although I've got a couple questions there too: do you work at historical re-enactment thing? 'cause that would make sense with the butter? and would probably explain the dude in the Hawaiian shirt and straw hit, what a dip, right?

(Apologies if he's a relative and those are pictures of a school play or something).

Anyway, I suppose I should just send this and let you answer/ask some questions of your own.

Hope to hear from you soon,
Stephen.

( She still has not responded. )

11:46 pm: Let's play a little game...
Comment and I will tell you of an musical artist or album that best fits my understanding of your personality. I started doing this in my head tonight for people who have no idea I would be doing it and I think I came up with some really cool ideas. Also part of me would be very proud to think maybe you will like this band (already or in the future). Feel free to meme this if so inclined, though why would you be? Let's begin, shall we?

12:26 am: You find yourself behind the sofa, how long have you been this remote...
You find yourself in an empty room because you are the first to a place you have no desire to be in. You find yourself asking a lot of questions that are all substitutes for, 'how did I get here?' The carpet pattern is busy. You find the chair somewhat uncomfortable, as though the design was intended to keep you from relaxing your body. You find yourself doubling over, the great weights in your shoulders seeking an embrace with your knees. Your eyes find the carpet. The pattern is busy. You are wondering, if and when other people arrive, what will they be like? Will they be pretty? You are not sure why this seems so important. The carpet appears to have lions in it if you look long enough at it. You find your eyes are becoming hallways and the room is getting further and further away from you. And you do not find yourself moving. And you sit there, perched in a chair, dumb and faraway like that, for what seems way too long. The clock suggests you have been there for only five or so minutes. And you wonder if you could just get back to other end of the hallway would time seem normal again. If you could get beyond it, would you travel into the future? Would you even want to be there, anyway?

03:31 am: Morefun dip...
Rock out with your guac out!

01:07 am: Pretty sure I just had a heart attack...
...of delight!

( G'night y'all. )

03:02 pm: Fits and starts...
- Mike Doughty reviewed Soul Coughing's Irresistible Bliss on iTunes and gave it two stars. After reading a few more of his reviews it turns out he likes Todd Barry, Micky Avalon, and encouraging fans to steal his music online if they can find better quality versions, which, apparently, they can.

- I have a bookshelf now! Like a real one, that is mine with books that I've read on it! It's four shelves really, the bottom one is all film books and the middle one is all favorites and the top shelf so far is McSweeneys, Pulp, and 33&1/3's.

- Also, my closet is a disaster.

- Turns out I've kept a lot of textbooks and readers, this is good save for the issue of where to put them that doesn't just look trashy? I just don't know yet.

- It feels like it's been awhile since I mentioned Muppets. To which I say, a couple toy vendors at Wondercon were selling Muppet figures, and had I not been resoundingly broke I would probably have walked out of there with a Sweetums figure. Next year, folks, next year.

- Oh yeah, thanks to everyone who has wished me a happy birthday!! It was kind of overwhelming because I don't that's happened before. Way to make twenty-four feel important.

02:37 pm: Better late than confusing...
From the top: I will do my best to sit at the Plough by 6:30.

Something got me thinking about what fruits are associated with what genders. To be more clear: a series of pomegranate clothing aimed at the ladies got me to thinking how often pomegranates are linked up with the womens. Then I thought, 'well are there other fruits that might be closely linked up with genders?' Apples are sort of mistakenly cast with women because of the whole Eve debacle, but they're also linked to doctors. Pineapples have that mellow-islander-party-vibe, which I think is a province of certain dudes. Strawberries, scratch that, berries in general are ladylike. Bananas...

And then I wondered what fruit I would like to represent me. Starfruit is good, just cause it sounds awesome. But I think I'm closer to a blueberry or a fig. Now, though, I want to know what your fruit is? Yes, you.

03:04 pm: Wordshape...
For those interested parties... I will be at the Starry Plough at 6:30 today with a notepad a pencil and a couple different writing prompts. Because my personal life is still in far too many shambles to do any official promotion this is as close as it gets.

More than likely I'll be conscripted into setting up the venue and will be lonely, but if you are interested in the non-performance side of this weird art that happens here, or if you want to generate more material for the future, or if you just want to relax a tad before the event starts - please feel invited to join me.