Moving Day

Yep, I'm moving the whole show over to thegoogoomuck.blogspot.com. No real reason, just feel like trying out a new home. I don't know if I'm going to transport all the archives over there; that seems pretty complicated for my meager technical skills. So yeah, come on over and see me sometime.

Currently reading : Cookoff: Recipe Fever in America By Amy Sutherland Release date: 09 October, 2003

7:52 PM - 3 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

Hugs Not Drugs

Since transferring back to my old department I get at least two weeks of screw ups on the house, since I can't be expected to perfectly remember everything from months ago. Plus, everybody has to be nice to me for a while and tell me how the place was falling apart without my firm yet loving hand to guide them along.

Actually, some people might have been a little too nice.

My second day back, I'm walking around, saying hi to everyone, when this woman from another department practically runs out from behind her desk and gives me a big ol' hug. Handclaps on the back, the whole deal. Through the whole thing, I'm thinking, "Do we really have this kind of relationship?" I mean, we served together on a committee and all, which rates a little higher than that weird chin nod thing, but I'm thinking that's still a 'hey, glad to have you back' with possibly a high five. And the high five is really kind of pushing it, you know?

Currently listening : Freedom of Choice By Devo Release date: 25 October, 1990

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Parking

So I'm back downtown where I belong. Everything is awesome, especially the fact that I managed to get a farewell party at the old branch and a welcome home party here. Meaning that my diet has included the important secret food groups of cupcakes and pigs in a blanket (pigs in blankets? Pigs in their blankets?). The only thing that I don't like is that I've got to pay for parking again. Not only do I have to pay, but the rate increased, so that I'm now paying close to 40 bucks a month, when really, the city ought to be paying me for my service and dedication. Well, you know, aside from that paycheck.

But here's the thing. I go in early Monday to give the parking guy the check. My little card thing opens the gate just fine. Hmm. Well, no use bothering the guy this morning, I'll get him tomorrow.

The card still opens the gate the next day. I was running late, so no check yesterday, either. So now I'm wondering how long I can pull this off. Not only do I get to keep the $40 in my checking account, but every afternoon I get a nice little cardio workout, since I swear my car has been towed if I don't see it immediately upon entering the garage.

Currently watching : The Sopranos - Season 6, Part 2 Release date: 23 October, 2007

5:54 AM - 6 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

A Conversation with the Wife about Music and Film

So we were watching that Otis Redding documentary last night. The "Try a Little Tenderness" clip comes up.

Christie: "You know, high school girls in the '80s had a soft spot for that song after seeing Duckie sing it to Molly Ringwald."
Me: "Really? Duckie?"
Christie: "Oh yeah, every girl wanted a Duckie."
Me: "Really? Duckie?"
Christie: "Well, at the time. Then we realized he was annoying and probably gay."
Me: "Good thing I never got the chance to sing a song to Molly Ringwald."
Christie: "Why is that?"
Me: "Because if I threw a little shakey leg dance in there with the singing, it would have been all over. Right now I'd be in France with Molly, drinking champagne out of her slippers."
Christie: "Oh yeah, and I suppose I'd be an old maid?"
Me: "Hey, you can't lose with the shakey leg."

Currently listening : Ptah the El Daoud By Alice Coltrane Release date: 24 September, 1996

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My Favorite Color? Otis Redding.

Stax Records is having a big 50^th anniversary thing this year and is cleaning out the vaults; reissuing remastered CDs and even better, throwing a bunch of stuff on DVD. Since I'm not high up enough on the media chain to get freebies of the stuff, I netflixed the one on Otis Redding. It's pretty good, although it's pretty much interviewing Steve Cropper and one of the surviving horn guys about how a song was written, then showing a clip of Redding singing it. But you know, that's good enough for me.

It was produced by Redding's wife or daughter, so there's no mention of his affair with Carla Thomas towards the end of his life, and I didn't feel it really conveyed the devastation his death had on both Stax and the Memphis community in general. There was also no mention of how revolutionary a multiracial band must have been in the South in the early '60s. In fact, the documentary focuses on the music exclusively without mentioning the political scene at all. Steve Cropper talks a lot about writing songs together in hotel rooms, I would imagine that in Memphis at the time there would have been enough Jim Crow still around that those writing sessions would have been difficult to get to. It does convey what a presence Redding was, an extremely talented songwriter, arranger, and performer, and if not the greatest, the second greatest soul singer ever. And you know, Sam Cooke might keep his top spot for basically inventing the sound, but he didn't have as good a band as the MGs or the Bar-Kays behind him, and he had too many songs that tried for crossover appeal, meaning that for every "A Change is Gonna Come" you've got two "Tennessee Waltzes" or some other show tune sounding thing.

Plus, from all I've read Otis Redding was one of the few people who attained fame and fortune and didn't give into his inner prick.

Where the documentary just kicks all kinds of ass, however, is in the clips they managed to dig up of Redding in performance. While there is a lot of lip syncing in the early clips, they have included some just amazing concert footage. They even have a clip of him singing "Satisfaction," where the tempo gets faster and faster and faster, approaching hardcore speeds. Maybe not as fast as on the "Live at the Whisky A Go Go" CD,  but still fast enough. The clip they found of "I've Been Loving You Too Long" will totally give you the full body chills, unless you don't have a heart or are from Mars or something. There's also a pretty funny video for "Tramp" where they show him in the beginning clowning around on a farm with overalls on, then being all cool in a suit pointing at his cars and stuff. And goddamn, did they make some nice looking suits in the early '60s. 

Is it worth buying? Well, I'm pretty cheap, so I'm not sure. It's definitely worth a rental, and I certainly wouldn't be upset if Santa gave me a copy sometime.

Currently watching : Dreams To Remember: The Legacy of Otis Redding Release date: 18 September, 2007

11:21 PM - 2 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Conversation with a Trick or Treater

Me, to dude in a mask: "How old are you? 35?"
Dude: "I'm 14."
Me: "Uh huh. Did you get that Guns and Roses tattoo on your forearm when you were 13?"

Eh - at least he wore a costume.

Currently listening : Black Sabbath, Vol. 4 By Black Sabbath Release date: 31 May, 2004

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I Can’t Watch That

Every year around Halloween we try to watch a month or so of horror movies – stuff from back in the '20s and '30s to the present day. Christie and I both love the stuff from the '80s, back when horror movies were served up with a big slice of foolishness; stuff like "Evil Dead 2" or "Return of the Living Dead," but also love the more atmospheric stuff from Universal or Hammer studios. However, I can not get my wife to sit through any of the original Frankenstein movies. Or any version of King Kong, 'cause they make her too sad. Which sucks, since "Bride of Frankenstein" is one of my favorites. In fact, I can freak her out by recreating the scene when the monster's bride rejects him by looking all plaintive and holding out a shaky hand while saying, 'friend?' all slow and sad. She hates that shit.
Not only that, but any movie where animals are put in harm is out of the question. She can watch 40 people get slaughtered, but if the monster or whatever kicks a dog she'll go, "No. Uh-uh. I can't watch this."
"What? Why?"
"He's beating that dog."
"Yeah, but he just killed 40 people. People with hopes and dreams and stuff. You didn't say anything about that."
"I can't watch this."
I can sort of see where she's coming from, but it puts a crimp in my movie viewing.

Currently listening : Halloween Hootenanny By Various Artists Release date: 13 October, 1998

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I Subscribe to GQ, I Didn’t Say I Read It

I go to the gym 3 times a week. Ladies, don't act like you're surprised. Tonight while I was drinking some water and sucking air I happened to be staring into the big '80s style mirror walls.

I see that all the dudes there (and tonight it seemed to be 90% dudes) are wearing gazillion dollar crosstraining shoes and those weird lycra bodysuit things that football players wear or sleeveless shirts to better show off their barbed wire bicep tattoos and shaved pits.

Me, I'm wearing ancient Chuck Taylors that are maybe two months away from duct taping together, the dress socks I wore to work, a pair of running shorts that were permanently discolored after I wore them to clean the grill, and a decades-old Naked Raygun T-shirt with cracked and peeling lettering which shows off my stomach when I do squats. I'm also listening to Adam Ant at the time.

Hopefully this will keep people from talking to me or asking them to spot them. I had to do that twice, and it still sort of creeps me out.

Currently listening : This Is My Country/The Young Mods’ Forgotten Story By The Impressions Release date: 30 January, 2007

5:59 PM - 4 Comments - 1 Kudos - Add Comment

Library Excitement!

So I've just come down to the desk after my dinner. There's a ton of people up at the desk and all sorts of crap to check in since we're down a person today. Just as I start helping the next person in line I hear this loud "Thump!"

"Everybody get on the ground, now!"

Holy shit. I'm gonna die in some stupid gang bullshit. Maybe I'll be immortalized in one of those Triple Crown books.

Then I notice that the dudes are white and pretty burly looking.They also look like if you were going to dress like a gang member for Halloween. Then I see them flashing badges and cuffing one of our regular kids.

Turns out the little knucklehead was flashing around a toy gun out in the parking lot, aiming at cars and stuff. 5-0 just happened to drive by at the right time.

They let the kid off with a scare and a call to his parents, and now all the other kids are talking about suing the cops for yelling at them to get inside.

Currently reading : Coltrane: The Story of a Sound By Ben Ratliff Release date: 18 September, 2007

5:20 PM - 3 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Happiness Is...

1. The temperature is only getting up to 85 degrees, which means fall is almost here. About damn time.
 
2. The car is pretty much aired out now, I only get a hint of swamp, not a full immersion of Okeefenokee.

3. Looks like I'm headed back home to Main where I belong in about 2 weeks.

4. Holy crap, did Planet Terror blow away that lame-ass talk fest that was Death Proof.  Lots of  grossness, faded and scratched film stock (Death Proof started that way, but I guess you've got to be crystal clear when you have scenes of women talking about movies in a diner), nods to Italian zombie/cannibal movies (even had a Goblin-esque score), laughs and everything a exploitation movie should have. You know what it didn't have? Movie characters talking about movies.

Currently reading : Straight Life: The Story of Art Pepper By Art Pepper Release date: 01 April, 1994

5:57 PM - 4 Comments - 3 Kudos - Add Comment