12.03.06

The following are two blogs I posted on the NameMeNoone Myspace regarding our recording sessions this weekend. That's really about all I have going on right now...

Recording II

We finished the first night of tracking last night. Rich and Chris blew through the tracks in mostly one take. Damn they are good. I am so lucky to be playing with musicians of such caliber. My tracks went well. I did have to do some over-dubs here and there and had a few rough spots. Today we do my second guitar tracks (Justin wants to double all the guitars) and then it's Jackson's turn. Justin is making this whole thing so painless for us. That kid is on his way to big things. We tracked the bass and drums alone (no guitar scratch tracks) then did the guitars and last will be vocals. I’m use to doing the whole thing live or at the very least having the guitar play at the same time and then scrap the guitar tracks and over-dub those later. Doing it Justin's way makes everything sound so much cleaner there is no bleed through everything sounds amazing. I can't wait do hear the whole thing finished.

Recording III

We finished all the music for the CD tonight. My doubled guitars went better than I thought they would. I did the first set of tracks (last night) on the SG, tonight I played the ESP. They have very different tones and once they were mixed together they sound pretty damn close to my live tone (or at least the tone I want to have live). Justin’s suggested I use a tube driver pedal and an EQ pedal for the SG tracks, and it sounded really good. For the ESP tracks I used my Seymour Duncan Twin Tube Classic, and my Laney’s clean channel. I couldn't be happier. Jackson's tracks went smoother then I anticipated too. He's got such a strange approach to the guitar, really odd in a great way. I can't wait to hear the final mix and hear how our styles blend together. His riffs and leads are really out of left field, while I aim for more of a straight rhythm guitar style (very Page Hamilton influenced, minus the insane solos). We go back Saturday to over-dub the vocals and then Sunday to finish up the final mix. I'll post a song or two as soon as we have it all done. So far I am really happy with the results. I am really looking forward to having this CD done. It's been two years in the making.

I am on a mission to read every book I own. I realized that I have a plethora of books that I have either purchased or received as gifts that, for one reason or another, I have either never read or I started to read but never finished. To that end I started reading my sixth book in five weeks today. (Things at work have been unbearably slow so I’ve been getting a lot of reading done between 7am and 4pm Monday through Friday). I am re-reading Catch-22, by Joseph Heller (truth-be-told, I have never actually finished the book. I have started reading it numerous times, but always got distracted by other books).

Before diving back into Catch-22, I read The Dice Man, by Luke Rhinehart. I spent a good six months searching high and low for a copy of this book. Finally, I found one at City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco. And upon finding it I let it sit, collecting dust, on my book shelf for well over two years. I guess finally finding the book overshadowed my desire to actually read the thing. I’m glad that I waited. I don’t think I would have understood the brilliance of the text two years ago.

The story of the Dice Man is a strange one. This is not a book to be taken lightly, although it is very funny (in that dark “fatal-car-crash-is-funny” kind-of-a-way). The story unfolds as a mock-autobiography of a bored psychiatrist who, in a twist of fate, turns his whole life over to chance. He begins assign possible outcomes of life-altering decisions a number or a probability and then rolls the dice to see what life has in store. Will he cheat on his wife? Steal a car? Rape his neighbor? Only the Die knows for sure.
It’s at times hilarious (I found myself literally laughing out loud) and brutally disturbing (some chapters were tough to get through because they actually made me angry). In a passage that will stick with me forever, the dice decide the good doctor must kill someone. The Die is cast and chooses a former patient from a list of thirty-six possible victims that include his best friend, his lover, himself, his estranged wife, and their two children. The devil-may-care attitude he displays as he rolls the dice to methodically eliminate possible victims is bone-chilling.
The narration shifts from first to third person as our “hero” religiously follows the whim of the Die. I found myself enthralled with slow and steady disintegration of the characters as more and more of them give into the “dice-life”. They start with petty decisions like, “Where should I eat?” or “What should I wear?” to sex games played with spouses, lovers and strangers (participants and actions all decided by rolling the dice). As time goes on those petty games give way to major life-changing choices; infidelity, changing profession or taking on a life of crime; all at the whim of chance. The roles the characters play shift and twist with each roll of the Die. No one, not even the author, seems to know what lies ahead. The story is hard to follow (written as though the dice were deciding what should be documented and what should be omitted) but well worth your time.

The idea of alleviating yourself from making decisions regarding even the most mundane day-to-day activities and placing your fate entirely in the hands of chance thus eliminating responsibility and guilt is intriguing.

It’s a brilliant, disturbing, beautiful, vile, sexual, violent and heart-breaking journey (sometimes all in the same paragraph). I call this a must read for anyone bored with their everyday, regimented, pattern-filled life-style. It changed how I will look at things forever.

Before reading The Dice Man I was on a music kick (presumably due to the break-up of Guns Down). I re-read both American Hardcore and All Ages: Reflections on Straight Edge (both important books for anyone involved or interested in hardcore or punk). Following those, I read Dance of Days (a history of the Washington DC punk and harDCore scenes from the late 70’s to the early 90’s). All three were mildly inspirational and rekindled my love for listening to and playing punk rock. (Now if I could just get a new band together).

After those three books (and before The Dice Man) I re-started and finally finished The Devils Knot, an interesting look the case of the West Memphis Three (one of the most notorious triple-murder cases in American history). I haven’t formed an opinion as to the guilt or innocence of those three young men (one of whom sits on death row). I do feel very strongly that they did not receive a fair trial and that their guilt was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt. There are too many questions left unanswered. For example where did the pubic hair of a black person (found on a sheet one of the bodies was wrapped in) come from? (None of the suspects or victims was black). Why was there no blood at the scene of such a brutal mutilation? (One of the victims was castrated). How can a “confession” be taken as proof of guilt when it is riddled with inconstancies and out right falsehood? (Not to mention only two hours of the twelve hour interrogation leading to the confession was recorded by police). The book is a good read, although I found it more than bit one sided. It’s obvious who the author feels is guilty of the murders (and she may right).

12.04.06 11:15am

I am having a hard time with the routine lately. Just getting up and going to work has become a huge chore. I feel restless. I need to get the fuck out of Reno for awhile. A tour would be nice. Having just finished the Guns Down recording and being about 75% done with the NameMeNoone recording is weighing on me. In the Twice days we’d record then head out for shows. But Guns Down’s show days are over and NameMeNoone has a hard time getting out on the road. Rich and I both have “real” jobs the choice between a roof over our heads and time in a van is a tough choice. If I wasn’t married it wouldn’t be a choice at all. I can live in a van as long as it keeps moving. I love Des and being married so I live with that, but sometimes I get restless and yearn for the loneliness of the road. I am going to set up some weekend trips for NMNO once the CD is pressed. I have to hit some foreign stages soon. Playing Reno is nice, but it’s too safe. Fear of failure is pretty well candy-coated when you are playing for a room full of friends.

Ryan says there is no way the book will be out this year. I am bummed but it’s one of life’s challenges. My only goals for this year were to record with NMNO and get the book out. Ryan says January for the book so I miss it by a month. No big deal. At least I finished the thing. That is a feat in and of it self. The NMNO recording will be done next weekend so I hit that goal. One out of two goals complete for the year is better than most people manage.

I find myself frustrated with the people around me these days. Ryan is one of the few people outside of Des that I care to spend time with and we seem to be growing apart. I’d love to spend more time with Dave Howe but we both make ourselves so busy that we can never seem to hook up. I can’t talk to the guys I work with. They live in a very different world than I do. Hunting trips, 4X4’s, alcohol, children all the other things I don’t make time for. I find myself stuck in weird Catch-22. I don’t have a lot of friends and I set my life up that way. My core group is people who think and act like me. The down side to that is I am surrounded by people who don’t need other people to get by so when I am feeling the need for human contact its slim pickings. I haven’t been able to find that balance between being independent and having a close group of friends. I tend to isolate myself until I need someone. Then I expect them to just be there. That’s something I need to work out in my own head. Sounds like a good goal for 2007. (That and getting the next book done.)

12.05.06 8:30am

It is made very clear to me everyday that I am an outsider in the industry I work in. The building industry is VERY Conservative/Republican. Liberals are the enemy (not that I consider myself a card carrying liberal). With it becoming clear the Hillary Clinton intends to make a run for the Oval Office, I hear many a sentence a day that starts or ends with “that liberal, bitch (cunt, slut etc.)” Now I’m not sure she would make a great President and I’m not sure I like her as the first female candidate with an actual shot at winning, but I like that there is a strong female candidate in the running. I think it step in the right direction for our country. I also think she has some good ideas that will disrupt the status quo and maybe even help the legions of Wal*Mart addicted poor in our country

Christmas is coming. I hate this time of year. Holidays always depress me. I don’t know if it’s the knowledge that another is year is almost over and I haven’t accomplished enough or what, but I hate the holiday season. This year I did get a lot done. The Guns Down CD is recorded and coming soon, the book is written and awaiting publishing, the next book is started and NameMeNoone has a recording. I played more shows this year than the last two years combined. I got shit done, but it’s never enough. There is always more I could do. I didn’t travel as much this year as I have in the past, I didn’t get out of debt (although the wheels are in motion to that end and there is a very bright light at the end of the debt tunnel). This year has been a tough one emotionally and I’ll be glad to see it over.

In the coming year I need to get out on the road, see things I haven’t seen. I need to do more talking shows. Talking shows seem very much like music in a way, but I need practice, shows are practice for talkers. I need to finish book number two and decide what I want to do for work. I really want to get into some voice-over work. Dave’s dad told me I have a good broadcast voice. This is something I have heard before and now have a real interest in pursuing. The company Dave works for does a lot of voice-over work for commercials and such. I just have to convince Dave I can do it. I’d also like to try my hand at professional writing, maybe some magazine pieces or something. Reno may not be the best place to jump-start those ideas, but I have to work with what I’ve got.

12.06.06 10:30am

Another day at work. Two days in a row this week I got here on time and ready to work. Today I was 15 min. late and don’t care to leave the job trailer. The only reason I have to leave now is this is where I get my exercising done. I walk the job site every day. It’s a big hill so I go up and down the hill all day long. On a good day I estimate I get ten or twelve miles in. Every since the motorcycle accident in May 2004 I haven’t been going to the gym. My shoulder never really recovered and hurts all the time. I know there are many things I can do in the gym that don’t involve my shoulder, but I just can’t find the motivation to get in there and do it. Walking keeps me pretty fit and I get to do it five days a week.

Spoke to Ryan last night about an idea for a new book. He seemed to dig it. I like bouncing ideas off of him because he’ll tell me if it’s crap. If it all works out I will have two books completed by the end of 2007. I have been going back through the poetry book and I hate most of the shit I have written so far. There are some good ideas in there but they’re poorly executed. I’ll have to hit that one pretty hard to get it done by the end of next year.

I called Dave last night about doing some voice-over work. He said once I get the home recording studio set up, which is due in January, he’d try me out. I imagine it’ll be small and probably boring stuff to start, but if I show promise maybe bigger things will come. Plus it should generate some extra cash flow and get the debt gone faster. I am all about making money right now so I can free myself from owing anyone anything.

Des and I have been talking about moving to Portland, OR once the debt is paid off. I figure it’ll be mid 2008 by the time we can realistically uproot ourselves and make the move. It’s a nice idea. I really like that neck of the woods.

I’ll be working at the record store tonight. I enjoy being there and helping but it’s kind of boring. Wednesday night’s very few people come in. I get to talk to Isaac all night and he’s neat kid so I enjoy that very much.

I have been bouncing back and forth reading Catch-22 and the new Henry Rollins book, A Dull Roar. I am bound and determined to finish Catch-22. This is the third time I have started reading it and other books always pop-up and pull me away from it.

I am trying to write at least 1000 words a day. So far I have been pretty successful between this journal, the poetry book, the new book and the Sound & Fury zine. I am gearing up to meet the challenges I have set for myself for the coming year. I need to make 2007 more productive than 2006 was.

3:44pm

Work day is almost over gearing up for the Sound & Fury shift. I need to start remembering to bring my laptop on Wednesdays. The computer at S&F isn’t the most advanced and I could be getting work done on the books or the zine while I am there. The zine is eating away at me right now. I did the RHC for 13 months with maybe two articles contributed by other writers the whole time. I don’t want to get into a situation like that again. Zine’s are a lot of work with no payoff, but if I can get other people writing for it and make it a community effort it’s worth the headache.

My stomach has been acting up for the last few weeks. I had been feeling a lot better and started working some of things the doctor said are no-no’s back in to my diet in moderation. I allowed myself one cup of coffee a day which, as the weather turned cold, turned into two and now I am paying the price. The heartburn I can deal with, but the rest (I won’t go into the gory details) is almost crippling. My guts hate me right now and it’s my own damn fault. For the past three days I have had zero coffee, drinking green tea in AM instead. I am feeling better, but not much.

12.07.06 7:40am

Work on the poetry book is slow going. I don’t know if what I am writing is good or not. I am going to really dig into the new book today. I have ideas down already and now need to start consolidating those into something worth reading.

My Mom called me last night to tell me my sister’s new husband walked out on her and the kids this week. Merry X-mas. Spoke to my sister briefly this morning. I can hear the sadness in her voice even though she putting on a strong front. I never liked her new husband. He is lazy and smug, one of those ‘Jesus will show me the way’ types. He has no ambition or job as far as I know. I hope she doesn’t take it too hard. She smart and cool and deserves much better than this loser could have ever given her. She has four great kids who deserve more than this ass is cable of delivering. In the long run it’ll be better for her and the kids with him gone.

Gearing up to do the vocals for the NameMeNoone CD on Saturday, I really want to do a good job. I am not that in to singing for this band, I’d rather just play guitar. But as it is, I am the singer and I want the CD to sound great so I have to do great job with the vocals. We will be mixing on Sunday and then all that’s left is art work packaging and pressing.

11:37am

So it turns out writing 1000 words a day is really easy. I am upping my goal to 3000. I wrote over 1000 words in the new book in under an hour this morning, plus this journal entry. I guess I should be working, but there isn’t a lot to do here.

5:44pm

Gearing up for NMNO and Only from the Cold practices tonight. I just got back from the new used CD store in town, Discology. Turns out it's owed by an old friend so that's cool. Picked up some stuff I have been looking for and one thing I never heard of. I like to grab things I don’t know about and give them a spin. I have found many of my favorite CD’s that way. I archived some of the old journal entries tonight. I am thinking
about publishing the Machinery of Expression journals. I’ll have to look through them and see if any of it is worth reading.

12.08.06 11:37am

They laid a few people off yesterday. No one I work with directly got the axe. Enough people were let go that the X-mas party tonight should be uncomfortable. I hate those things anyway, but Des likes to go because we get a photo together every year. It’s a free meal so what the hell.

I over did it at Only From the Cold practice last night and need to keep quiet today and tonight so my voice is good to go for recording tomorrow. The lame part is I knew I was over doing it, and just kept going. NMNO is working on a new song and I like it so far. It needs a lot of work but the ideas we are working with are good.

I am done reading A Dull Roar, by Henry Rollins. I have a love hate relationship with his books. I like his writing and he is such a name dropper that by the end of every book I have a list new books and CD’s to check out. The part I don’t like is after every book of his read while I am home I feel an even stronger desire to hit the road. That guy travels so much and does so much… fuck I wish I was free like that.

I haven’t had any coffee all week and I have been eating right. My guts are feeling much better. It sucks but I guess I do have to eliminate coffee from my diet all together. Got some writing done last night but I missed my 3000 word mark. It’s OK though I read a lot and came close to the goal. In a lot of ways I’d rather set the bar high and miss just to try again then set the bar low and succeed.

It just dawned on me that the new smoking law takes affect today in Reno. No more smoking in places food is served. Righteous.

12.09.06 11:23am

Sitting in my living room, Naked City is on the stereo, I am working hard at writing. I have studio time today, 2:00pm. I hope the vocals come out good. I want try something different. Not as screamy, maybe more yelly but still aggressive. NameMeNoone is heavy on my mind right now. I know the direction I want to go with the band as a whole, but don’t know if I have it in to pull it off. I know I have players who can take on anything that is thrown at them, I feel like the weak link.

The X-Mas party for work last night wasn’t too bad. I sat at a table with Bob (my boss) and his wife (I like both of them very much), Shawn (who shares a job shack with Bob and me) and his new, old wife. (They divorced, she got cancer, they re-married) and one of the office big wigs Kim and her husband (I like Kim a lot, don’t know her hubby). I laughed a lot and Des seemed to have a good time. We took off early just like every year. I like to get out of there before the dancing and drinking starts. I don’t dance and I don’t like drunks so it’s better for me to leave after the food.

I broke down and had one cup of coffee today. I made it sort of weak, hope that doesn’t come back to haunt me. Fall and winter are coffee seasons for me. Sitting here typing away and listening to John Zorn, how can I not drink coffee? Oh yeah the pain thing it causes for two days after. Fingers crossed one cup won’t fuck me up.

10:29pm

Well the NameMeNoone disc is recorded. We have to go back tomorrow and finalize the mix. It sounds really good. It is such a relief to have that CD in the can. It has been two years coming and these songs taught me how to play guitar. The vocals went well today. My voice is shot.

Spoke to Dave tonight at Danielle’s graduation party. I didn’t want to go to the party after recording. My voice was shot and I was pretty beat but Dave, Chris and Tom were all going to be there so I showed up. Tom didn’t show while I was there, he came really late. I talked to Ben for awhile about an idea I had for a monthly MC battle. Ben is a DJ and I can organize things so we’d make a good team. I hope to get that moving after the new year. Dave said is moving to LA some time before May. We are going to put together a voice demo CD to shop me out to voice-over studios before he moves. And with him in LA, I have a link to voice work in the voice-over capital of the US. I am going to miss him. He is one of a handful of people I enjoy talking to. Talking to Justin today after recording added one more person to that list, he’s a great guy.

12.10.06 5:20pm

Well we are done with the recording. The final mix sounds great. We finalized the track listing and all that’s left is mastering. We are going to have Tom Gordon master the thing. We will be putting it out on Machinery of Expression Records in early 2007.

Chris and I talked tonight about recording Only from the Cold in February. I hope it works out. We have about 6 songs right now and they all need to be tightened up. I think we can pull it off. They are good players and I can sing metal in my sleep.

Writing is going slow. I didn’t come close to 3000 words a day this weekend due to the recording. I guess there are only so many hours in a day.

12.11.06 7:16am

Went to breakfast with Des and Dave yesterday, I instinctively ordered a cup of coffee. So far I feel fine. Hopefully I won’t suffer like I did last week. Giving up coffee is going to be really tough.

I spoke to Tom Gordon last night and the mastering is set for this coming Friday. If all goes well the NMNO CD will be out in January. We decided to name the CD “Black Coffee and a Touch of Heartache”, which is a lyric from our song “Wake Up”. Chris wants to go to Sacramento in February and record at Pus Cavern with Only from the Cold. I think that’s a great idea I love that studio.

I am re-reading The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, by Henry Miller. The version I have is the twenty-first printing. I can’t even begin to imagine having something I wrote go in to a second printing let alone twenty-one. It’s funny how sometimes you are drawn to certain books or albums and can’t really explain why until you are in meat of them. The Air-Conditioned Nightmare isn’t one of my favorite Miller reads. It’s good but there are other books I turn to much more often (especially in the fall and winter months). But this book pulled me toward it. Now a quarter of the way in, I see why. The war and the lack of information we get from our leaders has been on my mind a lot in December. Miller has such an amazing insight to the condition of war, and the book parallels a lot of my feelings right now. Someone should read the preface to George W. Jr. (and try to explain to him what it means). I am still trying to slug my way through Catch 22. And I still have a lot of my own writing to catch up on.

11:52am

So I tried a new writing exercise today. I have been thinking about talking shows and how difficult they are for me and trying to come with ways to “practice” without talking to myself in public. I started writing as if I were talking to a crowd. Pick a starting point and type whatever came to mind. Over all it worked rather well. I wrote two pages, over 1100 words in half an hour (spell check had to work over time ha ha). And I got some great ideas for a set. I am going to continue this exercise once a day for the rest of the week and see what I have by Friday. I got work done on the short story book today, but no progress on the poetry book. I hit my 3000 words goal today but feel like I need to make up for missing the mark both Saturday and Sunday.

Ryan is doing a talking set tonight during an acoustic show at the record store. That should be fun. I look forward to his sets. They get me motivated to hit the stage myself.

12.12.06 7:35am

The show last night was great. Ryan’s roommate Shane played his second ever solo acoustic set. He is in some great bands, but seeing him solo made me really want to get an acoustic thing going. Tony (ex-twice) and I were talking about doing something like that, but I haven’t heard from him since he was supposed to come to the last Guns Down show (he didn’t make it to the show). Ryan’s set was short but good. He talked about a book he had just read called The Game, by Neal Strauss. From what he talked about I will have to add that to my reading list. A touring band called Capitan Chaos was up next and they were great. It was mostly this guy named Chris singing and playing acoustic guitar, but there was a girl sitting next to him who sang in a few songs. I enjoyed it. Ty’s group My Flag is on Fire was the last to play. I have seen them live twice now and it’s been different line ups both times. Last night was Shelly on accordion (the first show I saw was just Ty and Shelly), a guy I don’t know on cello (at least I think it was a cello) Ty on guitar and vocals and Karen on vocals. It was an amazing set. Ty’s songs are really moving and very heartfelt. I love the music he is making right now. I can’t wait for the CD. In between the last two bands some drunk punk rock guy caused a big scene but it was diffused pretty quickly without incident. And then the police came and took him away. It’s nice to be reminded of why I don’t drink or do drugs every once in while. Seeing people act like that firmly reinforces my resolve. I found it funny that half an hour before I left for the show I posted the Henry Miller quote from the preface to The Air Conditioned Nightmare, on the home page of the web site, and then at the show a very confused young man wanted to fight everyone. Mr. Miller your words ring more true with each passing day.

I spoke with a young lady named Haley last night who was one of the front line kids at the later Twice shows. She’s about to turn 18 and has already traveled far and wide. She told me she wants to go back to Africa and work on the water purification efforts. Incredible. Most people I know who are 18 to 20 are self-centered, TV addicted losers. And then here’s Haley, not even 18 yet and doing these great things. She is one of a handful of kids I met during my time in Twice that hasn’t turned into something disgusting. I wish her nothing but good luck and success.

I started the editing process on the Machinery of Expression Journals. I am going to filter though all the entries and see if it’s worth publishing. I think I am going to grab all the Live Journal stuff and Myspace posts too just to fill in some of the gaps in time. This could be a fun project. I think I will put it out myself, rather then bug Ryan to put it out on Slander House. It seems like he has a lot on his plate. Ryan and I talked briefly about Romance Novels & Ransom Notes last night. We vaguely set up some time “some weekend” to work on the edits he has completed. I am beginning to think this book may never come out.

I am not sure I am making any progress on the poetry book. I took a bunch of stuff out of it today, and edited what was left. That project is a tough one, which makes it all the more important that I see it through. The things you don’t think you can do are the ones that are the sweetest when you finish.

12:06pm

I am deep into editing the MoE Journal. There is some good stuff in there. I think I will publish it. I am going to continue writing until April 2007. That way it is one full year of my life. I am a little bummed that are so many gaps. I am not very good at keeping a daily journal so there are stretches of time that will not be accounted for. I keep forgetting to go to lunch while I am working on the journal, poetry book, and short stories book. I am going to go eat something now.

NameMeNoone cancelled practice tonight, Chris has finals. It’s cool that he is going to school and I understand finals and all, but I hate cancelling practice. I guess I need to get over it and realize other people have lives they want to live that don’t revolve around the things I need to get done.

I did the spoken word writing exercise again today. I took a little longer and the results weren’t as spectacular as yesterday. I did get out almost 800 words in about 45 minutes. Not too shabby. There is some quality stuff in there that I could see using in a talking set. And that, after all, is the point.

6:04pm

So I just got off the phone with Tony (ex-twice) and we are going to get together after the New Year to write some acoustic music. That is going to rule.

12.13.06 10:49am

I played my acoustic guitar for a few hours last night since NMMO practice was cancelled. My fingers hurt, that means I am doing something right. I am really excited that Tony finally called me back. If we get this project going it will be a lot fun and very challenging.

I went back and looked at Myspace and Live Journal and there are no entries from April 06 to now. I tried to fill in some of the major gaps in time from memory and wrote 1025 words to fill in some gaps in October 06. I guess I am going to have to live with some gaps. I know some things worth writing about happened but I can’ remember them in enough detail to make it worth the effort. Talking to Des last night I came up with the idea of adding a section of photos that relate to some of the entries. That should be fun to put together and give the book a more personal feel. I fleshed out a few of the entries last night and today. That way on the off chance that anyone reads the crap I post here the book will have more detail than the web postings. I think I am only going to print a limited number of this book, maybe a hundred or less, and them do a new one every year.

I talked to Chris “Fux” Fox last night on the instant messenger. We came up with the idea of doing Ngu7k (pronounced “fuck”) as a tape-trading recording project. I am really looking forward to having my home studio set-up. It’s going to allow me to record with people I have been dieing to work with without having the time or financial constraints of going to them, or having them come to me. Nug7k has only ever recorded one song (you can download it for free at www.vampirates.titsforpeace.com/ngu7k). We wrote two or three more but nothing ever came of it. We never found a permanent bass player. I am already talking to Fred (ex-Children’s Crusade) about doing a noise project with him via CD trading and re-mixing for his Blast Beats for Freedom label. Though I wouldn’t mind taking regular trips to
Santa Cruz to visit Fred and get some recording done. The next year is going to full of one-off records and recording nonsense. I can’t wait.

I got very little done on the short story book or the poetry book so far today. I work at Sound & Fury tonight and finally remembered to bring my laptop so I’ll try to get some done there.

1:10pm

One of our sub-contractors took me and Bob to lunch today. That’s one of the perks of our position, free food. This time of year all the companies who work on our job site brings us gifts. Most of it is useless crap. Last year I did get a really nice folding camping chair.

6:29pm

Sitting in Sound & Fury listening to Tom Waits, I am a little bored. I made some progress on the short story book tonight. I got a call from Van who works with Ryan at Bibo and she wants to help me with the Sound & Fury Zine. And boy do I need help. Joe said I can take any of the blogs he posted on the Holland Project web site (www.hollandreno.blogspot.com) so I am going to snag some of those. Ty did and interview with New Thrill Parade which I can’t wait to read, but other that that it’s all me. I was really hoping for more involvement, what the hell I know I can do this all by myself. I did the RHC for 13 long months alone.

NameMeNoone has a show booked in December. I look forward to that. It’s December 21st at House on the Hill with Shred o Saurus Rex, Groove Box Replica and The New Gods. Should be a blast.

12.14.06 9:24am

I didn’t sleep very well last night. My body aches and I am very sluggish today. NameMeNoone practice is tonight I am looking forward to that. I meet with Tom tomorrow after work to get the CD mastered. I haven’t started the art work yet. Dave and I are going to come up with something. I am dieing to set up a tour, but I know we can’t go out for any long runs. I want to set up some weekend outings, some short 2 or 3 day mini-tours. Once the CD is out, I am going to work on that. I have been unusually dedicated to writing this month. So far I have hit or at least come close to my 3000 word a day goal everyday except last Saturday and Sunday. I forgot to do my spoken word writing exercise yesterday, so I will do two today. And I have written a journal entry every day. With Des’ help I’ve filled in a lot of the blanks from the web journals and really bulked it up. I need to go through some of the old photos and get that part of the book together. It’s funny to be writing about putting this book together in journal entries that will be in the book.

1:34pm

I met a guy sometime last year at this Italian restaurant I go to for lunch sometimes. They make some really nice eggplant dishes. Anyway this guy is a Marine and he was over in Afghanistan and Iraq. He has told some me really interesting stories. His friends have all told him he should write a book about his life. He says he can’t write. Any time we are both in the restaurant we sit at the same table and talk. I am trying to talk him into writing a book. He’s got some amazing stories. At the very least he should tell someone these stories and have them ghost-write the book for him. This guy was in the thick of the shit all over the world. It would make for a good read.

I just realized that tomorrow will be one of those days I don’t see my house until very late at night. I leave for work at 6:30am, I have to meet with Tom to master the NMNO CD at 4:00pm and then I have Only from the Cold practice. If I am lucky I’ll get home by 10:00pm. I probably won’t get much writing done which sucks. Still haven’t done my spoken word writing exercise today or my make up exercise from yesterday. I have to go pretend I am working for an hour or so right now, maybe I’ll get to that after work and before NMNO practice.

5:04pm

I just got off the phone with Ryan. It’s looking like February for the book release. I am sort of bummed but excited too. That might give Tony and me enough time to put together a set of acoustic songs and maybe we can debut our new project at the book release show. And maybe Dave and I can get the movie done. I’m not sure I’ve mentioned the movie yet. Dave wants to make a short film using one of my short stories as the basis. He has a rough script written but we haven’t started any work on it yet. Maybe this delay will give us a chance to make something happen on the movie front.

8:46pm

Practice tonight didn’t go too well. We played maybe half of one song and Chris’ kick drum head broke. We played a few more tunes but it sounded really bad without a kick drum. After that Chris announced he may not be able to the show on the 21st of December because he is flying out that night to Texas. I thought we had all agreed to play, but Chris doesn’t remember talking to me about it. Over all, not my favorite practice. I finally got my spoken word exercises done. I’ll do one more tomorrow and then see what I have accomplished for the week.

12.15.06 8:40am

Well the experiment is over. I wrote five days worth of spoken word exercises. The grand total is six pages and just shy of 4000 words. I have a ton of good stuff to pull from for a spoken word set. I think I am going to continue this exercise as part of my daily writing routine. It was fun and I really did get a bunch of good
stuff. I am excited to book a show. February seems like a long way off, but I have other things to do to get ready for the book release. Hell, it may not be far enough away for all the things I want to make happen. Oh well onward and upward.
I have a mastering session with Tom after work and Only from the Cold practice after that. Home is an illusion today. (I hope Chris got a new kick drum head)

1:43pm

I got a ton of writing done today. I feel really good about that. I talked to Chris and he can’t do the show December 21st. I was looking forward to playing but I guess there will be other shows. I’m glad he told me before I spent money on flyers and CD’s. I wanted to make some two song demos to pass out for free with the flyers to get people up for the full length. I’ll still make some if we book a show before the CD is out.

A couple of the companies who work for us had customer appreciation X-Mas parties today. That spells FREE LUNCH for me. Awesome. The best food is always free food.

9:07pm

Just got home from a long day. The NMNO CD is mastered, and sounds great. I can’t wait to put this out. Only from the Cold practice went well. We are a five piece now. Two guitars, bass, drums and voice. It’s sounding really good with two guitars. We have 4 songs down, and one more for the new guitarist to learn. Things are going in OK.

12.16.06 11:36am

I made some changes to the web site this morning. I tried to make it a little easier to navigate and I took off a bunch of pages that I haven’t done anything with yet. I don’t know how it happened but I have a whole morning with nothing scheduled. At 3:00pm I go to Carson with Des so she can get her birthday tattoo finished. That should be fun, I get to hang out with Mark Moots and that is never dull. So, with my free morning I decided it was time to undertake my least favorite chore, the dreaded cleaning of the turtle tank. Turtles are very filthy little bastards. Cleaning their tank is always a huge hassle. But it has to be done, so I did it.

This may be one of the most mundane journal entries ever. Sorry for that.

12.17.06 5:57pm

Yesterday was a wasted day, but I think I needed it. We were supposed to go to Carson and get Des’ tattoo finished, but it was snowing too bad and it wasn’t worth the risk to drive all the way Carson and back. We got about 2 miles from the house and saw at least four accidents. We had to take a longer route home because the road we were on was closed in the other direction due to several accidents. People in Reno can’t seem to get the hang of driving in the snow. Instead of a tattoo we sat on the coach and watched all three Lord of the Rings movies. I managed to stay awake for all of them, Des zonked out during The Two Towers.

Today we braved the streets and stores and got our X-Mas shopping done. I wouldn’t even bother with this stupid holiday if it weren’t for all my nieces and nephews. But it’s done and I don’t have to worry about it anymore.

I finally got over to Slander House to repair the door Ty smashed up. I tried to help Ryan figure out what’s wrong with his FTP connection to his web site, but couldn’t. I showed him a longer way to update his web page, so at least he can get it done.

Des is having a dinner party tonight with Dave, Chris, Tom and some others from the Disney Land trip. It should be fun, I really like that group of people.

12.18.06 7:34am

The party last night was a good time. I laughed a lot and some good conversations. Tom listened to my Vox amp and the problem it’s having, he thinks it’s an electrical issue. I tend to agree. He gave me some suggestions on
repair shops he trusts, so I’ll take it to one of those after the holidays are over. I’d really like to have that amp back in working condition. Jeff, Josh and I are going to start writing some music. Hopefully Des will be singing with this project. The keyboard line up didn’t work out. Zack was too busy. I would really like to use the Vox amp for this project because it is more portable and has a great sound. I just realized that this line up is Guns Down 2.0 minus Ryan. That’s sort of awkward.

I didn’t get much writing done this weekend. It’s much harder to get it going on the weekends I always have so much going on. I did get some done, but not enough.

3:28pm

I actually had to do a lot of work at work today so I didn’t get much writing done. I read a few pages of Air Conditioned Nightmare at lunch. Looks like it’s just me and Jeff tonight, Josh is ill but he said he might show up too. I have no idea what style of music we are going to play. It should be fun trying to find out though. I’d like to do something more minimalist that what I done in the past. Maybe a Sonic Youth meets Sunny Day Real Estate kind of thing, but more sparse. I don’t know, you never can tell what will come out until you get everyone in a room and start playing.

I fell in love with Jolie Holland’s voice over the weekend. She does some back-up vocals on Greg Graffin’s solo record. I picked up her album, Springtime can Kill You. Man is it good. She is similar to Norah Jones, but her songs are much more interesting. She melds folk, jazz, pop and blues seamlessly. I can hear her doing something with Tom Waits without too much of a stretch. She does some very unique things with phrasing and melody, it almost sounds like she is singing in a different language if you’re not paying attention.

9:08pm

I got back from jamming with Jeff about half and hour ago. Those sessions are irritatingly unproductive. It’s not that Jeff isn’t a good drummer, or I am not a good guitarist, we just haven’t clicked yet. We need to find some common ground as far as what we want to do musically. We messed around for about an hour and a half and came up with one riff that I thought was cool. I think we’d both benefit from having a third and maybe even fourth person there to throw out ideas. I feel like all the ideas I come up with when I play with Jeff sound too much like Guns Down. We’ll figure it out. As Chris (NMNO drummer) told me once, “Sometimes it just takes a minute to get started.”

I finally listened to the Bastards disc of the Tom Waits, Orphans box set all the way through. It’s a tough listen, but there is some cool shit on that disc. I think the Brawlers disc is the best of that set although there are some amazing songs on all three discs.

12.19.06 7:34am

I guess my sister’s new husband came back sometime last week. He claims he is suffering from some kind of bi-polar disorder and is on medication for it now. I think he’s full of shit. I never liked the guy. He has no ambition. He comes across as a freeloader. I reckon he just made a bad choice this time around. Single mom with four kids doesn’t really scream free lunch now does it? It’s too bad, my sister is a great person, she deserves much better than this.

Work on the books is going slow. I have some ideas brewing for the short story book, but nothing concrete. The poetry book may be a lost cause. I guess I’m just not poetic. Writing poems is a whole different ball game for me. I really can’t just sit down and write one. I have to wait for one to come to me and then hope I am somewhere that I can write it down. They usually hit me in the car and I forget them by the time I can stop to jot them down. I should get one of those digital recorders so I can document them quickly without causing a pile-up.

It’s another cold day at work. No matter how many layers I wear the cold finds its way in. It’s still better than the unbearably heat we had this summer. I can sleep in the cold, which helps a lot.

NMNO practice tonight, I am bringing the guys their mastered copies of the CD. I can’t wait for them to hear it.

12.20.06 8:13am

NameMeNoone practice went well last night. We’re working on a new song. So far it’s sounding really good. We won’t be playing again until after the New Year. Chris is going to Texas on Thursday and won’t be back until January 2nd. That means no Only from the Cold practice either. I am going to try to get in some time with Jeff and hopefully Josh and maybe get something going there. I may be buying a drum kit for $200 from Fort Ryland Jeff. I really want to learn how to play drums. I have no idea where I’ll put them, but I can figure that out later.

The repairs on my motorcycle are almost done. They’re just waiting for the replacement exhaust to come in. I was hoping the snow would wait until my bike was repaired so I cold ride it home, but no dice. I’ll have to trailer it or hope that the snow melts off enough for it to be safe to ride. I’d hate to get it back only to wreck it again. I am still pissed off that someone would have just backed into it and not even left a note. In the words of The Kills, “Fuck the People.” At the very least I get a new tank and won’t have to stare at the dent from the first accident anymore. It’s going to be like having a new bike. Every painted surface on the bike has been replaced.

I am getting worried that Des’ X-Mas gift isn’t going to be here in time. I ordered it well before the deadline the web site gave, but it hasn’t arrived yet. It’s the only thing she has asked for in the last two years, so I really want it to get here. She’s had a rough year. I want her holiday to be special. Here’s hoping she
doesn’t read this journal huh? Ha-ha. I never was good at keeping secrets.

I left my SD card with all most recent writing saved on it at home. I guess I won’t be getting any work done on that stuff today. I have Sound & Fury tonight and I didn’t bring my laptop either. I won’t be getting anything done today.

12.21.06 7:19am

I feel run-down today. I hope I’m not getting sick. I always seem to get sick during the holidays.

Yesterday was thoroughly unproductive. I have a lot of writing to catch up on. No practice tonight, so I should be able to get something done. I looked at the drum set I might be buying last night. It’s pretty nice. It has all the cymbals, but I’ll need to buy two more cymbal stands to complete it. I think I figured out where to put it, so I’ll probably just buy it this week. I really want to learn drums and I need drums to make that happen.

I made some progress on the Sound & Fury zine. I still haven’t received any help on that project. I’m going to ask specific people for specific pieces, maybe that way I’ll get something to put in this thing.

12:58pm

I went down and got Des another gift today so she’d have something to open on X-Mas. Her main gift hasn’t even shipped yet, so I am pretty sure it won’t be here in time. Oh, I hate the holidays.

I am second guessing publishing these journals. It seems sort of egotistical to put out a book of daily journal entries when you don’t really do anything. I mean if I were traveling or touring a lot and had something to really write about, it would be different. But as it is I go to work, go to practice, play the occasional show and write. Who wants to read about a years worth of that?

6:48pm

I rearranged my music/computer room and made room for the drum set. I am going to pick it up tomorrow. I am pretty excited about this. I have wanted to learn how to play drums for about a year now.

I listened to the entire Guns Down CD twice tonight. I haven’t listened to it in awhile. It really bums me out that band is over. Even if I wasn’t in the band I’d listen to that CD.

12.22.06 7:43am

I am picking the drum set up from Jeff today. I am really excited about this. I talked to Tom about it last night and he says it’s a smokin’ deal. I’m going to go straight out and get the two stands and some sticks tonight too. I can’t wait to start playing. I don’t how to play, but I can’t wait to learn.

10:21am

I spoke to my mom today Des’ gift arrived finally. That’s a huge relief. I really want her to have a nice X-Mas. She has had a rough year.

5:47pm

I have a drum kit!! Now to learn to play it…

12.23.06 10:11pm

I got my motorcycle back today. I really like the new seat, and the fact that there are no dents or scratches on the bike anymore. The new seat is really comfortable.

We set up my mother in-laws X-Mas stuff tonight. Cleaned her house and garage, and set her gifts up. She should be home in a few minutes so we are anticipating a call.

Jeff came by the house and tuned the drum set. It sounds good. He taught me a drum lesson his teacher gave him. I am working on that. I was able to do it for a minute or so a then lost the rhythm. Drumming is a lot harder than I thought it would be, but I’ll get it.

Des and I did our gift exchange last night. She got me a remote for my new camera and a recording input for the lap top. I’ll be able to record demos, talking shows and voice over stuff right in my own room. She rules. I don’t know what I did to deserve such a great wife, but I am glad I did it. She was thrilled with her gifts. I’m really glad I was able to afford to get her what she really wanted this year. I spent way too much money in the last two weeks. I’ll have to watch what I spend for January to make up for it.

The sugar-glider is pregnant again. Hope we can find a home for this one. We had to keep one of the babies from the last litter.

12.25.06 9:26pm

James Brown died today. Rest in Peace (1933 to 2006). My dad was born the same year as The Godfather of Soul. It’s got me thinking.

For a day with nothing planned, today got very busy. This morning Des and I went to breakfast with her brother and cousins. Her brother lives in Henderson NV (near Vegas) so we don’t see him very often. After that we went to my mother in-laws house and spent X-Mas day with her. We cleaned her house and garage on Saturday but didn’t see her because she was at work. We spent a few hours over there with her and then took Des’ brother to their aunts house so he could get geared up to head back to Vegas. I stopped by Ryan’s house to get the mastered copy of the Guns Down CD (it sounds great), and then to my folks house for diner and they had a couple of X-Mas gifts for me and Des. We left the house at about 11am this morning and just got home, so much for our X-Mas with nothing to do. My friend Amy was in town this weekend, I talked to her on the phone but we didn’t get to see each other. I have some things I want to talk to her about too. I guess an email will have to do.

I just realized I didn’t write anything yesterday. Lame.

12.26.06 7:22am

There are some good things about my job. Today I sat and watched the sun rise while at work... I can’t remember the last time I watched a sun rise, it was pretty cool.

James Brown’s death has been heavy on my mind. He was born the same year as my dad. Ever since my dad fell and had to get all those stitches in is head, his mortality has been nagging at me. The Godfather of Soul passing increased that nag because he was the same age as my dad. I know that sounds odd, but it really is bugging me. The older I get the more I realize I’ll be going to more funerals than birthdays soon.

I found out last night that I have been in more places in the US then I thought. My mom told me and Des that I went to New Orleans when I was two years old. It was one of many stops on a cross country drive my family took that year. We drove from Reno to Florida to visit my grandparents on my mother’s side. I have vague recollections of some of the other places, Texas and Florida mostly. I had no idea I had been to New Orleans. I’d like to take that trip again on the motorcycle. Hit all the places I hit when I was two. I think it would fun to see if anything jogged any memories of the first trip. I am going to do that. Not sure when, but it’s going to happen. That will make for a journal worthy of publishing.

I’ve listened to the mastered version of the Guns Down CD a few times now. I didn’t even know Ryan had sent it to Silver Sonya yet and now here it is finished. There isn’t as drastic a change as there was on the NameMeNoone recording, but it sounds great. There wasn’t really a lot to the GD record. We did all the music live, the only over dub was the vocals. With NMNO we overdubbed four layers of guitars, plus the vocals. I like that Silver Sonya left the in-between song banter on the final version. The first thing you hear on the mastered version is me saying “OK, here we go.” That made me smile when I heard it. The most drastic change to the GD recording is in volume. Justin mixed it low so there’d be room for the mastering studio to play with. That kid really knows what he’s doing. While I was sitting with Tom Gordon mastering the NMNO CD he commented over and over about the quality of Justin’s recording. That’s some high praise too, Tom is really picky.

I made some progress on the poetry book this weekend. I wrote two new pieces that I am really happy with. Well to be fair, I wrote the skeleton of those pieces when Des and I were on our Pismo adventure. I finished them this weekend. But never the less I am really happy with both pieces and that is progress.
The X-Mas nonsense is over. I’m glad to have that done with. I spent way too much money on everyone this year. X-Mas spending coupled with the deductible on my motorcycle repairs and buying the drum kit has left me broke. I really have to pinch my pennies for the next month to get back in good financial shape.

12:55pm

It has been the slowest day in history at work. The Guns Down song, My Eternal Day, has been stuck in my head. Most of our contractors are closed today. We have had maybe ten workers on site all day. Most of those went home at lunch. Bob (my boss) took the day off. I reckon I’ll close up shop around 2pm and head home to play drums. I made some pretty substantial progress on that front this weekend. I went from being able to play nothing on drums, to being able to hold a steady standard rock beat for a few minutes. Not too shabby if you ask me.

5:16pm

I saw a dog get hit by a car on my way home from work. The driver who hit him stopped to help him, which was very cool. The dog stumbled around a bit and seemed really dazed. Then he got up and ran full steam away from everyone. There was no blood and he wasn’t limping or anything. I hope he’s OK. I have never seen a dog get hit by a car. I have seen the aftermath, but never the actual impact. It isn’t something I’d like to see again.

12.27.06 9:10am

I bought a flash drive yesterday so I can work on my writing at any computer with a USB port and Word. The SD card I had it all saved on limited me to the computers at work and home. I don’t like lugging my laptop all over the place. They tend to get broken or stolen.

I got some work done on the poetry book this morning. I wrote one new piece and moved stuff around so when it comes time to print the layout will make more sense. I have been toying with the idea of putting one poem per page, but it seems very inefficient. I hate all that wasted space. There is nothing worse that buying a book with 200 pages and being able to read it all in one sitting.

I am still reading The Air Conditioned Nightmare and Catch 22. All the holiday nonsense cut into my reading time which is a drag.

Des and I are talking about spending New Years in San Francisco. We can’t really afford it right now, but I think we deserve it. I really want to celebrate 2006 coming to an end. This has not been my favorite year.

1:05pm

People are an endless source of entertainment for me. Sitting at lunch today there was table to my left with five or six adults and three or four kids. One of the adults, a blonde woman who was obviously in love with the sound of her own voice, couldn’t stop talking long enough to stuff any food in her mouth. She’d tell a joke (or offer up a punch line to a joke someone else was telling) and then laugh very loudly so the whole restaurant could hear her. If no one else laughed, she’d repeat what she had just said several times and then laugh again. She reminded of Peter from Family Guy in one of those bits where he just says or does the same thing for way too long. Anytime the subject would shift to something involving the Reno area she’d say very loudly, “Well am living in California so I wouldn’t know about that.” She must have bellowed that same sentence across the restaurant ten times. One of the other women at her table was her mother. I know this because at one point in the conversation the blonde was trying to get her attention by just repeating “Mom? Mom? Mom?...” over and over like a four year old about to do a somersault. I am going to guess her mom knew she was living in California, so who the fuck was she talking too? I was there for forty-five minutes and her voice was the only constant. It was really funny to watch a grown woman beg for attention for forty-five minutes especially when most, if not all, of the people at her table ignored her. What is it about certain personality types that demands constant attention from anyone within ear-shot?

I have a Sound & Fury shift tonight, should be really boring. Kait called and said the food co-op will be closed tonight, that means no one will be in the store but me. Oh well I should be able to get some writing done in those four hours.

I wrote a new web episode today. That makes three now. I am really having fun with that project.

It’s really fucking cold today. One of those days I’d like to spend home wrapped in a blanket with a kettle of tea and a good book. Still though, I’ll take cold over hot any day. In the cold I can layer clothes on top of clothes. When it’s hot I can only strip down so far before it gets illegal.

6:44pm

This may well be the most boring night I’ve had at Sound & Fury. There has only been one human in the store other than me all night. I’ve spent the entire time reading things about the WM3 online. I learned a lot. I think I can finally say I believe those three young men are innocent. While I am not surprised that a case like this could happen in the US, the sheer volume of false and misleading information that can be found regarding the case surprises me a little.

I am starving and since the food co-op isn’t open tonight, I have wait till I get home to eat. Hey only an hour and fifteen minutes, I’ve had to wait longer to eat that’s for sure.

12.28.06 7:31am

When I got home from Sound & Fury last night our turtle tank had crashed. (By “crashed” I mean the filter stopped removing waste from the water). I had to re-clean the entire tank and filtration system. I just cleaned it a week and a half ago. I pitched kind of a fit over the whole ordeal. I need to work on some of my anger issues. I tend to blow up over the littlest things. I used to smash stuff, but I’m over that. It got really expensive and I felt like an asshole every time I did it.

I guess Jeff and I are going to get together and jam a little tonight. Josh is in San Francisco so he won’t be joining us. I don’t really feel much like doing it. Jeff and I never seem to get anything done when it’s just the two of us. I don’t think we even know what kind of music we want to play. Oh well, I can use the time to grill him for more tips on drumming.

12:27pm

Des sent me a text message saying she was able to move all her clients to other days so we can go to San Francisco for New Years weekend. I am really looking forward to this. I know the weather is going to be bad driving there and back, but I just don’t give a shit. I need to get out a Reno for a few days. I love Reno, but sometimes I have to go other places to really appreciate the good things we have here. I may have to cancel on Jeff tonight so I can get ready to head out after work tomorrow.

12.29.06 7:42am

I did end up flaking on Jeff last night. He sounded bummed when I called, but I really needed to get my laundry done and pack so we can leave as soon as Des gets home from work tonight. I am really looking forward to being in SF this weekend, but I am not looking forward to the drive tonight. Des doesn’t get off work until about 6:30pm tonight, so if we’re lucky we’ll leave town by 7:30pm.

Because we didn’t know for sure if Des could get her clients moved around I
didn’t book our room until last night so we had to change our plans a little. I originally wanted to stay at the York Hotel in Union Square. Part of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo was filmed in the York. When I tried to book a room there last night all they had left was rooms with two twin beds. That didn’t sound too romantic. So I had to book a room in a different hotel. No big deal. I guess that’s the breaks when you try to book a holiday weekend two days before. We are still staying near Union Square, right in the theater district and near all the things we want to do. Plus this hotel has free wireless internet so I can bring the lap top. I know, I’m a nerd.

I have been doing pretty well with drum practice this week. I can get all my limbs doing their own thing now, which is a huge break through. I have been trying to mimic drumming I hear on some of my records. I’m starting with simple stuff, early punk records and some AC/DC. I haven’t been able to do it yet, but I am getting closer every time I try.

9:53am

I’ve got an outline for my next talking show done, which I guess will be my book release show. I want to be really prepared for that show. In the past I have experimented with different ways to prepare, even not preparing at all, this go ‘round I am combining the best ideas from the past. I have all the bits written out, pulling from the writing exercises I have been doing, I made an outline of those bits and have been reading over them in the order I think they flow best. We’ll see how it works. I’d love to really kill at my book release show. That should be a night to shine.

11:45pm, San Francisco, CA.

We made great time. We left our house around 7:45am, and here we are checked in to the room and everything. We are staying right downtown, on Market and 8th. It’s a nice room. I like hotels. I always sleep better in strange beds. It’s one of the many things I miss about tour. Parking is always a joy in SF, but we found a relatively cheap lot ½ a block from the hotel. Our New Years adventure starts tomorrow, but for now I need sleep I have been up since 5am.

12.31.06 12:31am SF, CA

This is technically my journal entry for 12.30.06. What a day today was. We got up at around about 8:00am. We walked up and down Market St. hitting a few record shops. We went to Streetlight Records, I really like the SL in Santa Cruz. The SF counterpart isn’t as good. I did find a few things I have been looking for and I enjoyed the walk. After record shopping we went to see one of Des’ friends who lives here now and owns a hair salon. When she lived in Reno she owned Metro where Des used to work.

While we were walking around Market we saw that the Civic Center (right across the street from our hotel) was having a show. The Flaming Lips and Gnarls Barkley!! On a whim I checked to see if we could get tickets and there where some available. I have been dieing to see GB live, and tonight I did. Cat Power opened the show and they were fantastic. CP is one of those bands whose music I enjoy, but don’t own any of. After the show tonight I’ll have to fill that gap in my collection. Gnarls Barkley came on next and were incredible. They played for a good hour. Not once did I feel like I wanted to be anywhere but there. GB had 12 musicians on stage. There was a drummer, guitarist, bassist, keyboard player, two back up singers and a string section (called the G-Strings, which was really funny because the G-strings were three hot girls and one dude). The band came out first all dressed in NASA ground crew costumes. Cee-Low and Danger Mouse came out in full-on astronaut gear. It was awesome. There was a huge screen behind the band that was showing different visuals, but it malfunctioned early in the set and became very distracting. I stayed on the floor for the entire CP and GB sets; Des was feeling claustrophobic and went to find a spot that was less crowded. During Flaming Lips Des and I went up to the balcony level. We couldn’t see very well due to the poor design of the auditorium. The Lips had a pretty amazing stage set up. They had a giant UFO shaped light rig that the singer rolled off of in a giant plastic bubble. It was a sight to see. He rolled around the crowd while the band played the first song. The Lips decided to celebrate News Years one day early. At midnight they had a countdown and dumped tons of balloons and confetti all over the crowd. It was cool. I didn’t enjoy the Lips music (other than a Queen cover), and Des and I were both wiped out from the long day so we left after the “New Years” celebration. We are back in the room now and ready for sleep. We’re going to Berkley tomorrow for crepes and more record shopping.

10:44am

We’ve had a lazy morning. We’re gearing up to hit Haight Street for some record shopping. We were going to go to Berkley for crepes, but we found a crepe shop near Castro, so we are staying in SF today.