Boston, Bars, Brooklyn, Bulldogs, Beards, Boys (Part 1)

I know you've all been waiting with bated breath. You can finally exhale like Whitney Houston.

I've been back in town for less than 24 hours. My vacation continues, but reality is slowly setting in. I have a couple loads of laundry to do. I have to start napping during the day to get back into nightwalker (or is that streetwalker?) mode.

I just saw Junior Boys with Janice at KEXP. They played a 3-song set. You can listen to it here. You'll have to select today's date (the 29th) and enter the time as 11:15AM. If they had mic'ed the booth, you could hear me giggling like a little girl.
I got to briefly talk to Jeremy (the one in the middle). I told him how much I liked the Morgan Geist track that was released earlier this summer. I'm a total fanboy. There were three adorable girls standing around talking to them, and I was the one who had my picture taken with them. I'm pretty sure they were like, "Dude, who's this homo who wants his picture taken with us?"
Anyway, Jeremy told me that he recorded four tracks with Geist and the others will be released at a later date. He also said that he liked the other tracks more than he liked the first release. So that's pretty rad. They gave us T-shirts and put us on the guestlist. So. Damn. Nice.
So I get to take Matt.
How rad can you get?

Thanks so much for taking me to the studio, Ms. Janice. The only thing cooler than Junior Boys is you!

So tonight my vacation will end with me seeing the Junior Boys.

But, really, you didn't come all the way down to this vault to read about music. You want the dish. How many times did I get laid? (Once, a bulldog in Brooklyn.) How intoxicated was I? (I was so intoxicated . . . ) How many bloggers did you meet? (Five.) Are GayProf and Adam as rockingly cool as they seem? (Obviously.) Where did you hide the bodies? (The Children's Museum, the Hudson, the very first Black Eyed Pea.)

I start with the Junior Boys because, besides the condoms, lube, and chapstick, I also brought the new Junior Boys and Arling & Cameron. Both discs got a lot of play and were the perfect counterpoints to a vacation's tendency to bring contradictory feelings like isolation and excitement, anonymity and hope. Or some other such bullshit.

Sometimes, vacations need soundtracks.

My flight left at 10:30 PST and arrived around 7:00 EST. Check-in at the hotel was 3:00. Still, I wanted to drop my bags off, so I took the blue line from Logan International, got off at the Bowdoin stop. I noticed a lot of people got off at State and deduced that that was a transfer point.
So I dropped my bags off, and the lovely, pert young lady told me that the hotel wasn't at capacity so I could come back in a couple hours to check-in. Excellent.
I walked to Boston Common and the Public Garden. The sketchy people in the Common seemed pretty tame. Their crack deals had a sense of innocence--not that I bought any crack. From them.
Tourists like me stood out. Dressed too casually--even by casual Friday standards. I walked through the theater district. Through Chinatown. Got on the Orange Line. Got off at State switched to the Blue. Learned later that I could have just stayed on the Orange.

I don't use maps. I am also used to cities like New York and Seattle which have the simplistic grid system--even if they don't use numbers, streets generally run perpendicular to one another. Apparently, Boston has too much history to not have been planned well. The streets were fun, though. They were a lot broader than I expected, which made tall buildings less oppressive. People were congenial yet staid (oh, and the accent is kinda sweet).
I found my way back to the hotel and napped.
The free wine was scheduled from 5-6 and meeting GayProf was scheduled for 7. Both appointments were met in a timely fashion. The first yielded 3 glasses of syrah. The second, well, the second . . .

If you're going to Boston, make it a point to meet GayProf. He not only took time out of his busy social schedule on Friday, but also on Saturday. And, really, if you're in a city for the first time, there is no one better than a queer historian to walk around and chat with. Be warned, though, he can turn that gravitas on at a moment's notice.
I got the lowdown on his liar ex (who told many lies). I told him about my trials and tribulations in love (and my ability to convert straight guys even if only for a night). We had a lovely dinner at a Thai place the first evening and went to Fritz after. Sure, we made a wrong turn or two on the way there, but Boston is pretty compact and the weather was nice, so it was no big whoop.

The following day was rainy, and I had planned on walking the Freedom Trail. I got to the trailhead (which is really just a tourist information center in the Common), but opted out because I didn't want to get waterlogged. Instead, I found a cafe on the edge of Chinatown. I grabbed a seat, a sandwich and a latte and finished off one of the books I brought. Then it was back to the hotel for an afternoon nap (Lay off! I was on vacation!) and met GayProf for wine hour at the hotel.

He took me out to Somerville for amazing Indian food. I love samosas. I love vindaloo. Both at this place were stellar! The vindaloo made me break a sweat. That's always a good sign. Then it was onto the Ramrod which was totally dead. Sure, it was early, but it was still pretty dead. No hot sex in the back room. Boo!

Then it was back to the hotel for my final night's stay. The next day I took the Chinatown bus that everyone had warned me about. It was totally fine. Air conditioned, half empty, and relatively fast.

Tennille met me in New York's Chinatown around 4PM on Sunday. We cabbed back to Brooklyn and went to a bodega to buy some stuff to grill. The Moonshine in Brooklyn allows its patrons to bring their own food to grill. Its a great idea for a bar--two large gas grills out back, but little did we know that every third Sunday is bulldog Sunday. I used to think of bulldogs as sweet and funny looking--that was until I saw them en masse. Slobber everywhere and a youngster that humped anything even remotely humpable. Oh, and did I mention the poop? Tennille's friends Neil and Keith met us there and I believe they were equally as perturbed by the bulldogs.
Neil and Keith are also musicians. I forget what their band name is together, but Keith by himself is Wolfgang. You should buy his CD single Not In Love (Not True). It is great vocoder pop with nice bass. In other words, its music I like.

Holy crap. This post is getting hella long. I'm going to stop here. More soon, I promise--

Like other bloggers who were met during the trip and the lovely state of Texas . . .

Oh and Prof, is this color font better?

2 weeks without you and I still haven't gotten over you yet

I'm out.

Catch you on the flipside.

Its time for a mancation.

Got my DS, a couple books, a nice hotel, friends I'll be meeting for the first time, a friend I've known for years, and all this stuff is great but even greater is no work for 11 days.

Might blog while I'm out, might not. I'm really not scheduling anything.

See ya soon.

Ask the 8 ball

This is lifted from Janice -

Basically, you use iTunes on shuffle to answer the following questions:

1. How are you feeling today?
Back in My Arms Again - The Supremes

2. Will you get far in life?
Days Like This - from Falsettoland (Original Off-Broadway Cast)

3. What do your friends see you as?
What Else is There? (Jacques Lu Cont Radio Mix) - Royksopp

4. What is your best friend's theme song?
My Friend Dario - Vitalic

5. What is the story of your life?
I am You - Nightmares on Wax

6. What was high school like?
Cardiology (Isolee mix) - Recloose

7. How can you get ahead in life?
Something Bad is Happening (Reprise) - Falsettoland (Original Off-Broadway Cast)

8. What is the best thing about your friends?
Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man after Midnight) - ABBA

9. What is in store for this weekend?
Monday Paracetamol - Ulrich Schnauss

10. What song describes you?
Carnage, Ok! - Sergej Auto

11. To describe your grandparents?
New Friend - The Concretes

12. How is your life going?
Morning Disaster - L'Altra

13. What song will they play at your funeral?
What else is there? (Trentemoller Remix) - Royksopp

14. How does the world see you?
It Ain't Easy - Jazmina

15. Will you have a happy life?
Get Me Away from here I'm Dyin' - Belle & Sebastian

16. What do your friends really think about you?
Nobody Knows - Zoot Woman

17. Do people secretly lust after you?
My Son Mystic - Gay Dad

18. How can I make myself happy?
As Four - The Concretes

19. What should you do with your life?
Midnight Sun - Ivy

Um. I can't make sense of most of them, but the answers to 10, 12, 13 and 15 made me chuckle.

Weekend perfection

Ok. So.
Yeah.
This weekend pretty much ruled.
First, on Friday, I met up with fellow blogger Earl and his beau Bucko for margaritas and nachos. Earl is the first blogger--outside of the Seattlest crew and personal friends--whom I have met in real life. What a complete joy! They're both laid back and funny and they live a mere stone's throw from my pad so hopefully we'll get a chance for future drunken escapades. As it stands now, I'll be joining them for a hike on Oct. 8th. And I promise pictures from the excusion.

Friday night brought the first round of Decibel Festival goodness. Matt and I camped at Neumo's forgoing hometown heroes Jacob London for the killer line-up of Telefon Tel Aviv, Apparat, and Alex Smoke. Telefon Tel Aviv played a solid set to an enthusiastic crowd. Their music is song-oriented so it really played to the Seattle crowd's general aversion to dancing. Maybe I misjudged, though. Maybe its not an aversion to dancing, rather a predilection for clapping.
So they exited the stage (and then began clearing empty bottles and cups!!), and Apparat came on. He pretty much shredded. The bass was thick--sometimes you could feel it before you heard it. He had the room rockin' and we all had a lovely time.
Next up was Alex Smoke. He brought a bit more of the funk in with him, but still rode the tech-tip. Matt and I danced and danced, and then decided we should go. (There was still a whole 'nother night of dancing ahead.)

So, we left Neumo's and hailed a cab. In the passenger seat sat a dreadlocked black man who spoke a bit like Daffy Duck. He and the cabbie were friends, apparently, and he just rides around with him. They questioned Matt and me about where we had been. We told them and the passenger seemed to know more about the festival than your average joe. That's when it hit me.
"You sound like Riz," I said.
"That's because I am Riz," said the passenger.
He had just finished his usual Friday gig at the Re-Bar and now he was just tooling around in the cab. Strange--but a nice ending to the evening.

Saturday afternoon was spent in rest mode. I was in and out of sleep the entire day. Saturday evening I met up with Bill to see Little Miss Sunshine which I enjoyed, but not as much as I'd hoped I would. Matt met up with us after the movie and the three of us went back to Neumo's for Jerry Abstract, [A]pendics Shuffle, and Green Velvet. [A]pendics Shuffel was great, but Velvet rocked the party. He played a good 8 minutes of Plastikman's Spastik with a great vocal laid on top. There was a slew of other hits, and like my friend Erik said, "If you're going to hear someone play the hits, I can't think of anyone better than Curtis." Hear, hear!

I didn't take any pictures because the event was being well-chronicled. I think everyone was snapping pictures with their phones or cameras, or recording video. (It was actually a little ridiculous.) Here's a link to a photoset. Oh, and here's a link to the festival's blog.

So, that was my weekend.

What did you do?

I was the one worth leaving

Long weekend ahead with the Decibel. I hope my ears bleed from songs like this one (although this on probably won't get played).

Some days need poems

Passing Stranger - W. Whitman

Passing stranger! you do not know how longingly I look upon you,
You must be he I was seeking, or she I was seeking, (it comes to me as of a dream,)
I have somewhere surely lived a life of joy with you,
All is recall'd as we flit by each other, fluid, affectionate, chaste, matured,
You grew up with me, were a boy with me or a girl with me,
I ate with you and slept with you, your body has become not yours only nor left my body mine only,
You give me the pleasure of your eyes, face, flesh, as we pass, you take of my beard, breast, hands, in return,
I am not to speak to you, I am to think of you when I sit alone or wake at night alone,
I am to wait, I do not doubt I am to meet you again,
I am to see to it that I do not lose you.

Lady love

So this weekend was OKDJ's first gig playing out. My trusty Sony laptop decided to not be so trusty and the screen on it decided to go kaput a few days prior. No big deal, I reasoned, there are still two more laptops. Unfortunately, neither had a cache of songs as deep as the Sony. So I spent Friday and Saturday morning frantically trying to find/buy tracks for the big commitment ceremony.
One of the brides requested that I have "Happy Together" by the Turtles. Check. As well as three covers of that same song. I was also requested to have something by Diana Ross and the Supremes. Check. Besides that, the list was up to me.
My selection ran the gamut--from Billie Holliday and Louis Armstrong singing Berlin's classic, "Cheek to Cheek" to Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel's "White Lines." I had just over four hours of music--but for some reason, only a fraction was played. Ah well. I tried my (almost) best.

So, onto the wedding.

Lynnie has been like a surrogate mother to me since moving to Seattle. [Hi Lynnie!!] Her daughter, Risa, and I were roommates in college. Since those days of traversing mountain passes to spend Thanksgiving in Seattle, Lynnie has always made sure I'm included in family functions--from Easters to birthdays, she has always made me feel welcome and a part of the family.
Lynnie herself was in a period of transition during much of the time I've known her. She was in the process of getting a divorce, and she was beginning to come to terms with her sexuality. Her first gay relationship, from my point of view, was unstable and demanded concessions that would strain any relationship. Still, I admired her chutzpah for living her life the way she saw fit.
I don't know how Lynnie met Joyce, but, as anyone who was at the wedding can attest, Joyce is the yin to Lynnie's yang. They complement each other well, and they are a testament to the fullness and scope of love.

I arrived to their house surprisingly on-time. The backyard was awash with lesbians. One of them was my landlady to whom I (re)introduced myself. She then told me that I could disregard the late-fee she had just mailed to our place (damn holiday!) which made me very happy. Both brides were convivial and well-dressed. I don't think I've ever seen Lynnie dressed in anything quite so feminine.
I tried to make small talk with some of the womenfolk and then distracted myself with setting up the music.
Shortly thereafter, Risa, her fiance Keith (who is a frequent commenter on this here blog), and her younger sister Nikki arrived--there were finally people with whom I felt comfortable conversing. We got a briefing about our champagne pouring responsibilities and the ceremony was soon underway.
Officiated by Rachel, Lynnie's eldest daughter, and Joyce's business partner, the ceremony was simple and sweet. They included the Jewish tradition of a ketubah. Joyce and Lynnie exchanged vows which sent Nikki into the first of many sobbing fits.
I couldn't help but chuckle occasionally during the ceremony--Lynnie and Joyce live frightfully close to a shooting range and the sounds of people shooting their rifles and handguns often overpowered the voices of the celebrants. At the end, after the smashing of the symbolic wine glass, it was toast time.
I sure am glad that the Jews were well-represented. Two rabbis--count 'em, two--were present. Lynnie's brother, one of the two, arose and gave the first toast. He talked about the symbolism of the shattered wine glass--that even in times of joy, there is still pain and suffering and nothing can be truly perfect. Jesus bless the Jews. Its that sort of thinking that makes me think I might have some Heb flowing through my veins. Lechaim! All those Jews made me feel like I was hanging out with a bunch of rich Greeks.
Other's toasted but it was more based in the gentile tradition of, "Ohh, you two. Ohhh, love. Awww, so sweet."

When the ceremony was over, I started through the playlist. Unfortunately, I culled too broad a spectrum. Billie Holliday, The Supremes, The Ronettes, The Crystals, Laura Nyro, Labelle, Gladys Knight, Anne Murray, Barbra Streisand, Air Supply, Chicago, Atlantic Starr, Melissa Manchester, Debby Boone, and Leslie Gore were all summarily dismissed.
Instead, we ended up listening to the same 10 or so songs over and over. Mainly, "Celebration" by Kool and the Gang, "Sir Duke" by Stevie Wonder, "September" by Earth, Wind, and Fire, "Hey Ya!" by Outkast, and once the lesbos wrested me away from the decks, it was non-stop "Hung Up" by Madonna, "Gloria" and "Self Control" by Laura Branigan, "Invincible" by Pat Benatar, and "The Warrior" by Scandal. Yeah.
So one of the more, um, shall we say, rural of the lesbians, asked me if I had "Hotel California" by the Eagles. Nope. Sorry. Then her friend approached me and asked if I had any techno. God, you don't know how much I would have loved to rock the party with something like this, but something tells me that's not what she envisioned when she said techno. I, also, didn't have anything too dance-y on the hard drive. Ah well.

So I think the whole thing went really well. The best part of the night probably came when Risa and I began talking about her wedding in February. She and Keith want me to officiate--so I get ultilize my ordination. I am unbelievably honored and humbled that they want me to be in charge of such a large portion of their day. February is only five months away and something tells me that there will have to be quite a few planning days.
I'll let you in on more as the day approaches--at this point, I know that I'll be singing at least one song, and performing the actual marriage.

So all this marriage stuff got me to thinking--I haven't been in any sort of relationship for nearly three years (and that last one I only count so I don't have to say that I've been single for over six years). Being single, suits me, though. While I do feel the pressure from the heteronormative world to be in a relationship, I think I like myself better as a single person. Of course, I have no real basis for comparison. I do like the idea of two people with similar values and goals who have analagous sexual desire for one another joining forces like a superhero team and trying their best to live in a world that reflects their values and in which they can achieve their goals. All that sounds cool, or whatever.
I think a lot of my aversion to more actively seeking dates has to do with the fact that I view myself as a work in progress. Certainly, we all have aspects of our lives that need work, but I generally careen a bit more than your average joe. The highs and lows from a reckless youth (and slightly beyond the "youth" category) are still in the process of finding a median, and, until I find that balance in myself, I certainly wouldn't want to subject a perspective beau to those wild fluctuations--its bad enough that my friends have to deal with them.

Speaking of my misspent youth, Friday marked the end of a five year probation.
Driving under the influence cost me around $17,000 and five years of my life. The upside is that it is not on my record. Better news, I can apply for a passport again.

So, yeah, I guess that's all I have to say. Don't drink and drive.

Oh, and Sean should have the latest Listening Party up sometime today.

One chants out between two worlds

My boy recieved the Golden Lion award for Lifetime achievement yesterday at the Venice Film Festival. He is the award's youngest recipient ever. Tonight
INLAND EMPIRE also got its world premiere. US release date is still up in the air, but it will definitely be in the New York Film Festival on Sept. 29th. I'm hoping that after all this festival biz, it gets an end of the year release, but most likely you can expect it in February.
Here's some of the early word on Lynch's newest:
Variety
Guardian

Also, Yahoo! has a bit about the press conference, but if you're a total freak like me, then you've already listened to the press conference found on this page.

Sunshine on my shoulder

Well, Tommie Sunshine did make it to Seattle and what a crappy turnout. It is nights like these that I feel the need to apologize. Sorry that Seattlites can't or won't show up for a world-class DJ/producer who is playing for free. It was just pathetic. That, however, did not stop me from dancing the night away.
Tommie didn't let that prevent him from throwing the smack-down, though. There were a series of tracks with 16th note bass-lines which gave an appregiated feel, and simultaneously made me feel like I was running a marathon. I love when old sounds begin to sound new again and to say that Tommie is on the cutting edge, would be a bit of an understatement. Needless to say, the few souls who did show seemed to have a good time, right Bill?

Onto Sunday. I was determined to go out to Flammable mainly because I knew it would be a long time before shaking it again. I am glad I went because it was a holiday weekend and some people I hadn't seen in a long time were there (hi Gigi, Erik, Matt, Dominique, Paul, David, and Jared!), but most of the crowd were just dumb ol' homos. They made both myself and Dom stabby--I think Paul, David and Jared bailed early. And the music pretty much sucked, and there was so much sketch there. I mean, a dude was passed out in front of the place at 10pm--that should have been an indicator. Flammable did live up to its name and everyone there was a hot, sweaty, sloppy mess. I got a few good shakes in, then called it a night.

And now, something completely different . . .

Why my tuna fish sandwich is better than yours:

wasabi
shiso
julienned cucumbers
(other than that, its just like yours--unless you use tuna in oil or something other than albacore)

Back to zombie-land . . .

. . . and my two closest friends:



Well, the few days off were nice.

I've got Sunshine on a cloudy day

It has been forever since I've gone out--April 20th to be exact. That was for the always adorable Matthew Dear show at Chop Sweaty which Matt (roomie) and I thoroughly enjoyed (we closed the mofo out). There might have been shows that I let slip through the cracks, but there hasn't been anything that has compelled me to call in late/sick to work.
My schedule (as is well-chronicled) precludes me from spending mediocre nights on the dancefloor. I'm cool with that--perhaps I'm a little fatter because I don't dance as much, but my wallet is also little fatter.
This weekend marks my triumphant return to the discotheque. I get to bust out all the moves I've been practicing in front of the bathroom mirror, and who better than Tommie Sunshine for my reinauguration?
I've never had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Sunshine play out, but I am very, very familiar with his body of work. He's remixed everyone, and he's played the world over. Best of all? Its free.
If y'all didn't know, free is like my all time favorite word. I once skipped a midterm for a free breakfast. Oh, and I love free basing.
Rich, over at fourfour, has a mix that has his latest release with Marc Romboy, 'Body Jack.' If the beats are like that track, I expect to dance the whole night through.
Sunday, I'll also be going to church, aka the Re-bar. True, the sound being sported at Re-bar isn't really my thing anymore, but the crowd is great, the vibe is good, and sometimes we need nostalgia.

Future shows include:

9/15 - Decibel Festival (Telefon Tel Aviv, Apparat, Alex Smoke) @ Neumo's
9/16 - Decibel Festival (Jerry Abstrakt, Green Velvet) @ Neumo's
9/17 - Decibel Festival (The Dead Texan) @ Broadway Performance Hall
9/29 - Junior Boys @ Neumo's (and in-studio @ KEXP, thnx Janice!!!!)
10/20 - MSTRKRFT @ Chop Suey
11/12 - Brookville / Tahiti 80 @ The Croc

So, few and far between, but that works just fine for me. Hope to see you out at one or two of these shows!

Sunny Sunday soul singers

UPDATE: The Peter Bjorn & John link has been fixed. Its such a good track, please download it and then decide that you need to buy their album. It, for me, is a perfect end of summer track.

As always, all tracks posted are for limited time, please support musicians and all that other shit.

Nice, mellow weekend which is just what was needed before a more regemented schedule takes hold this week.
Sunday morning I went to El Greco for brunch with Kelley and Steve 2. Our waiter was the type of dreamy that wakes you up slightly moist. He had a Space Needle tattoo on the back of his right arm and when questioned about it, he blamed it on the indiscretions of youth. (Insert swoon here.) The food, as usual, was quite good. I was particularly taken with Steve 2's sweet potato fries replete with large crystals of sea salt. It is touches like this--a side dish that acts as a link between breakfast and lunch--that make El Greco a step above the rest for ladies who brunch.

Then we walked through the Capitol Hill Farmer's Market. Kelley bought some blackberries and then we wandered over to Cal Anderson Park. We dipped our feet in the wading pool and watched children play. It was sunny and warm and the perfect way to kill time after a delicious meal. The water feature in the park is really beautiful and its hard to believe that urine-soaked Broadway is a stone's throw away.

After that we headed over to First Hill to the always-interesting Frye Art Museum. Folk artist Henry Darger is the current exhibition. I was pretty underwhelmed with the art itself,--it mimicked (sometimes blatantly) ad campaigns from the time--but Darger's ignorance toward gender was prety fascinating and his output was phenomenal. Darger has a tendency to draw little girls with little penes. He, apparently, was not aware that male and females differed in the genital region. Darger wrote The Vivian Girls which, as the curator is quick to point out, is the precursor for such strong female heroes as Xena, Wonder Woman, and the Sailor Scouts. If you live in Seattle, you should make the trip to the Frye. The Frye is free and if the Darger stuff creeps you out, you can always check out the inocuous Trimpin exhibit.
If you're not in Seattle, but would like to know more about this elusive, reclusive artist, put In the Realms of the Unreal in your Netflix queue.

So, yeah, like I said, it was a pretty mellow weekend. I got lots of sleep. If I were to make a playlist for the weekend, it would probably look something like this:

Song for the Songs - The Concretes
Let My Shoes Lead Me Forward - Jenny Wilson
I Think of You - Ivy
Objects of Affection - Peter Bjorn & John
Different Day - L'Altra

No, its not all over your face

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Aretha Franklin to start my week

My first image today was that of a young Aretha Franklin in a slinky grey dress bathed in a pink spotlight. I'll let that set the tone for the week.

What did I do this weekend?
Well, I leveled all three of my characters on WoW, and I auditioned for the Seattle Men's Chorus.
Oh, so now I have to justify myself to you? Fine.

Reasons why I auditioned for the Men's Chorus -

I like singing
What do I have to lose?
Performing on stage at Benaroya Hall and McCaw Hall would be mass rad
Reason to get out of the house once a week
Free refreshments
Meet dudes
Forcing all of my friends to attend at least one show (yes, I mean you!)

So I think my audition went pretty well. I wasn't properly warmed up and I had a lot of phlegm all lodged up in there, but I sang ok. Turns out the cigarettes have been murder on my range (I used to have a 4 octave range, now I'm barely making 2). He had me sight read which was totally gross and something I haven't done in forever--I haven't even looked at sheet music in quite some time. And it wasn't exactly an easy piece to sight read, dotted quarter notes, naturals, and a 4 note jump which was like groping for a book on the top shelf of a very tall bookcase. I'm almost 99% that I'm in--find out on Tuesday by way of phone call.
Keep your fingers crossed, y'all!

I'm never gonna dance again

I hate only being able to watch half of ProjRun before heading in to work. Once at work, I'll peruse the usual blogs and, inevitably, I will find out who got auf'd. No big whoop. I'm not one of those spoiler queens who insists that knowing how a story ends ruins the actual telling of the story. I don't, however, believe that I can watch poor Allison's dreams become shattered in the final half hour of last night's episode. Add to that the ridiculosity of Benji winning So You Think You Can Dance, and you might just get a whiff of my pungent ire.

Oh, that wasn't my ire that smelled so bad--it was my feet (which have, at times, smelled of broccoli).

Speaking of my feet, my left foot looks like a ham hock. I thought I had Fred Flintstone feet before my mysterious injury, but now I could easy power a prehistoric vehicle to the drive-in (if only there were someone with whom I could park--hell, I'd even settle for an order of ribs that tips the car over). How did I get said injury? I'm guessing a pair of dress socks that were worn all day Saturday that are quite constrictive--but I literally (and I mean literally, not figuratively) have no idea how it happened.

Even though the results of SYTYCD are disappointing (Travis should have totes won), I think that Risa, her sisters, and I are going to attend the September 12th SYTYCD performance at the Paramount. Tickets are priced $37-$50. I say, spend the extra $13 bucks, but we'll see.

So that's on September 12th. Two days later, the third annual Decibel Festival will be underway. The line up is pretty impressive this year. Green Velvet, Telafon Tel Aviv, The Dead Texan, Apparat, Andreas Tilliander, and Alex Smoke, to name a few.
If you're a househead and you're coming to town for this festival, you're more than welcome to crash on our couch. We accept beer, pot, sex, or cleaning as forms of payment.

And since I'm talkin' 'bout music again (funny how that happens), here's the latest:

OKDJ vol. 7

I know I said I wouldn't release another one until I figure out Acid, but I just don't get Acid. I mean, do I have to just work two songs together and save it as a new track then add another song? And why can't I change the tempo?
Plus, I had all this awesome music to share. Oh, and I've been really bored down here in the vault.
So, you get more music! Yippie!

Here's the tracklisting:

Ladyflash (Simian Mobile Disco Mix) - The Go! Team
Toop Toop (Oliver Koletski Mix) - Cassius
SadomasochistUS - Creme de Menthe
Weird Fantasy - B-Series
Cuz of You (Mark Grant Mix) - Green Velvet
The Minimum of Life - Joakim
Wake Up (Justus Kohncke Remix) - Lo-Fi Fnk
Bells feat. Linda Lamb - Vitalic
You Take My Breath Away (Mylo Mix) - The Knife
Shemale (Black Strobe Mix) - Sir Drew
In White Rooms (Elecktrochemie Remix) - Booka Shade
Les Djinns (Trentemoller Remix) - Djuma Soundsystem
Young Folks - Peter Bjorn and John

If you'll notice, I reviewed the first track over here. You have been keeping up, right?
And, not to toot my own horn, I think this mix is easily one of my best. Hard to go wrong with Vitalic, Green Velvet, The Knife, Trentemoller, Mylo, Joakim, and Booka Shade, though.

A descent proposal

Matt, Steve 2, and I went to catch "The Descent" yesterday afternoon. I think the general concensus was that it was decent. I mean, it didn't stink, so we didn't have to de-scent it. (Ok, I'm out of puns.)

It had some pretty good ideas and it could have been about fifty times creepier than it was, but still, far, far better than say, Saw, Saw II, The Hills Have Eyes, The Amityville Horror, and most other horror films released in the past 10-or-so years.
I really liked all the vagina related crap--an all-female cast (the only dude gets offed in the first 10 minutes), climbing into a big hole in the ground, all the blood, and other crap. The monsters were pretty ineffective and, overall, the whole thing could have been psychologicaller, y'know?
Things left to the imagination, especially in confined spaces is just cuh-reepy. The sequences of the spelunkers shimmying through tight spaces were way creepier than the battles with "the crawlers."

So I think I got Matt (Steve 2 is only at the "tolerate" phase) hooked on Veronica Mars (yay!), now I've just gotta convice the rest of you.

I think Deputy Leo made it to season two episodes, but even if he didn't, dude is foyne.
Check it:













And, he's in love with me.












And don't you want to be supportive of my (imaginary) relationship? Well, then start watching the show!
Oh, and check out the fashion:

Season 1 is available on DVD now.

Season 2 is released on August 22nd.

Season 3 begins Tuesday, October 3rd at 9PM on the CW (omg, right after Gilmore Girls)!!!

I expect annotated reports detailing your love for the show on my desk in the morning.

Class dismissed.

Work around

I know my shift from daywalker to night monkey has been chronicled fairly well on this here blog, but I feel like further expounding upon the subject.

Technically, I only have one day off a week--Saturday.

I go into work at 11PM on Sunday and I am finished at 7:45AM on Friday (don't think I work straight through, cuz that's just crazy talk).

I spend my entire time at work in a digital dark room. I look at pixels. I listen to music, and, for all intents and purposes, my body and brain still think that they are in some form of sleep.

Most of my dreams are related to cell phones or fame.

Asian girl on cell phone.

Mariah Carey on the red carpet.

Last week began with a sweaty Freddy Mercury and quickly degenerated to civil war in the Sierra Leone. Nightmarish images.

I saw emaciated children burying children who starved to death.

I saw a man dead on the street and I thought it was nice that someone had placed a flower on his head.

When I zoomed in, the flower turned into brain matter. I turned his brain into the flower I saw initially because someone should be nice--even if it is someone who didn't know the man. Even if the man has been dead for years. Even if I had to turn it back into brain after I finished with the picture.

I spend my time away from work trying to sleep. I no longer sleep for long periods of time. Part of this is a blessing--it battles my predisposition for depression induced sleep. Most of it is a curse.

I sleep for four hours. I am awake for two. I try to get a few more naps in before starting the cycle all over again. I do not feel connected to myself in my waking hours. I often feel as though I am watching myself. Bunuel has nothing on the surreal images that are formed when one naps, looks at tons of pictures, and naps some more.

I'm not writing this because I expect some sort of sympathy from you. I'm writing this so you understand why I don't return your phone calls. I'm writing this so you understand why I am frequently not available. Its not you, its me--but you already knew that.

Back to the filthy images from the Polish Solidarity Strike that began almost 26 years ago.

Take a stance on me

"The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of
tolerance comes when we are in the majority." Ralph W. Sockman (1889 -
1970), pastor Christ Methodist Church

As with most things, its taken me a little while to form an opinion about the
recent state Supreme Court's decision regarding Washington State's Defense of
Marriage Act (DOMA). My stance on government and marriage is actually quite
libertarian--I do not believe that the government should be in the marriage
business in the first place. However, the government does provide certain
protections and rights to man/woman couples who wish to express their commitment
to one another in the form of marriage. Not allowing couples of the same sex to
enter into the same contract is clearly discrimination.

So, for a little history, Washington state's DOMA was voted into law quite easily in 1998. Then governor Gary Locke vetoed the bill which was then overridden by the people. Clearly, Washingtonians reacted strongly to this issue. Still, two previous appellate courts found DOMA to be unconstitutional. I feel that the Supreme court did not weight these decisions heavily enough, and even went so far as to create their own justification (namely, that marriage is about procreation which is in Washington's interest).

If the voting public would recognize the fact that marriage, as defined by law, is a civil act and is doing anything but encroaching on their sacred religion, we might have a foothold. However, these are the same people who pray for George W. Bush nightly (not that a few prayers couldn't hurt), but my point is, these are the people for whom God and country are nearly the same entity. They use their horribly skewed moral system to justify their bigotry. We gays are modern martyrs--if the judicial system were to ask who should be spared crucifixion, homosexuals or murderers, the Christians (especially the ones who slant toward evangelical) would most definitely be yelling for the murderers.
Last Wednesday's ruling came as no surprise to me. In fact, the type of political posturing that can be read in the plurality's decision not only kowtows to the fear-tactics of conservatives who quickly yell, "ACTIVIST JUDGE," but also contains the type of smarmy wording which only appears in election years. Even with their bigoted views, they still manage to play to center in the form of calling for legislative change. Its pretty gross.
Thank God for the dissent's argurments and the fact that this decision was a 5-4 split. When this decision is revisited a generation or so from now, the error of the plurality's ways should be abundantly clear. Until then, I guess we have the legislative fight before us.

Of the three judges up for re-election, only one, Gerry Alexander, voted with the majority (to uphold DOMA). Gerry's opponent for Supreme Court position 8 is John Groen. I have no idea how Mr. Groen feels about DOMA, but I have written to him and will let you know what type of response I receive.
If you would like further information regarding the court's decision, please check out The Stranger's coverage.

So, this whole political spiel has gotten me a tiny bit motivated. I had written to 15-or-so bloggers, none of whom have responded, about an idea I had.
Basically, I wanted to hit up bars in the ghaytto with voter's registration packets and get the word out. I'm certain that a lot of younger gay guys in Seattle don't vote which is a shame. I thought it would be fun if a group of bloggers hit the town on a Friday or Saturday and just tried to register a hundred or so voters. For Washington state, make sure they know about absentee voting.
And possibly, as a follow up, go out on Election Day (November 7th) and physically drive people to the polls.
It would give us bloggers a chance to meet one another in real life (and share pics and stories with bloggers who did similar things around the country) and, most importantly, it might kill some of this apathy surrounding voting in our community. (Or demystify the process of voting.) (Or inform people about the issues.)
I'm not sure when I'm going to attempt this--possibly the final weekend in August.
Let me know what you think. If you think I'm an idiot, let me know that, too. (By the chirping of virtual crickets on my side, you all already think I'm idiot, or I somehow became a pariah.)

Oh, and P.S.--I got ordained last Thursday. I figured, if I don't have the right to marry, I should at least have the right to marry--you follow? So you can start referring to me as Reverend Jeremy, if you wish.

Nerdiest. Day. Ever.

Monday after work, I came home and popped on the TV to catch up with my old friend Buffy Summers. Matt awakened shortly thereafter, and I told him about the new Buffy comic book being scribed by none other than Joss himself.
So we decided we'd hit the comic book store that is a mere two blocks from our home. Said store was quite a disappointment. The severely overweight, unfriendly proprietrix acted as though I were crazy when I asked about the trade paperback Astonishing X-Men title. "I haven't carried new titles in over ten years," she said with incredulity.
Matt and I perused and tripped down memory lane. I checked to see how many Power Pack issues they had. If they had the Wolverine appearance. We talked about gatefold covers and foil covers. We talked about the big Image split and my love for Whilce Portacio's much-needed X-Factor stylizations.
The building nostalgia urged us to hop the next bus and head down a few stops to Arcane Comics. An excited 30-something patron exiting the store was already flipping through his purchase. He looked up as he maneuvered getting onto his bike and, noticing Matt's Excitebike shirt, exclaimed, "Awesome shirt man!"
Much like the previous store's owner, Arcane's proprietor was overweight, but his amiable demeanor was much more suited to our laid-back, kickin'-in-the-sunshine day. Without looking up from his computer monitor, he asked if he could help us find anything.
"Yeah," I asked, "Do you guys have the hard cover Astonishing X-Men."
"Naw, sorry, man," he replied, "but I could special order it for you. We've got the two trade paper backs, though. Give me just a second."
I looked to see what was on his monitor and a familiar sight assailed me.
"You play horde or alliance," I asked.
"Mainly horde. Little Alliance."
So we talked WoW for a bit before he pulled out the books I was looking for. Then we talked about when Dark Horse would be releasing the new Buffy book. Like any good fanboy who is also a salesman, he convinced me to check out Marvel's Civil War. Matt picked up some old MacFarlane era Spider-Mans. When we got home, Matt sat in front of the TV; I fired up WoW. We put on a couple episodes of Angel and read our books.
Its ok if you call me a nerd. I know I am.

Musical (The Rex is) Monday

In honor of The Sean Show's newest column (which, if you'll notice, I make a tiny contribution to), I'm uploading my (most likely) final mix using my crappy ol' mixing program. Acid is now on ye olde computer and the learning process has begun. Everything I've ever dreamed of doing for a mix is now available to me. Of course, such precision also means a much steeper learning curve. That's ok, though. I've got my trusty sidekick Matthew to learn with me.

Well, without further ado, I give you:

OKDJ vol. 6

The Present Lover - L'Uomo
Ah, Git Up - Wink
World Hold On - Bob Sinclair feat. Steve Edwards
In Space (C&M's Roll-In-Space Remix) - Fatty Acid
Inside - Fairmont
B1 Down (Drama Society Remix) - Ellen Allien
I Wish You Were Gone (Vocal Edit) - Joakim
Tied to the 80's - MRI
Silent Shout - The Knife
Alaska - Monolake
Changes (Swayzak Darkfarmer Remix) - Tahiti 80

Only 11 tracks, just over an hour, but I think I do a fairly good job of running the gamut. A little bit for everyone. (And if you didn't notice, I crammed in a tonne of tracks I lurve!) I hope you like it!

And in case you don't believe me about the JB's new album, check this track-
In the Morning - Junior Boys

Ok, that's it for Musical Monday. I figure its a good way to start off the week.