Save the date!
Category: Art and Photography

I will be hanging the art for my first show, a solo exhibition at Acabello Salon in San Francisco on June 9, with the reception to follow some time around the weekend of June 28.  The show will run until mid-July.  I don't have final confirmation of these dates yet, but they should remain accurate.  It would fill me with joy to see as many friendly faces there as possible, so if you're in the bay area or can be, you're invited to come and share in this milestone with me.

These, and more pieces, will be on display:

1:16 PM - 89 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Television on the rocks
Category: Art and Photography

I've been holding off on this, but enough time has passed now.

This is the document of a public art installation I set up once.

I painted a target onto a TV set.

I painted up a pizza box designed to arouse attention, and found some rocks to pile in the center.

I placed the TV set at the top of a staircase.

I placed the rocks at the bottom of the staircase.

The next time we passed by, the TV set had been destroyed.

1:29 PM - 89 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

Equilibrium?
Current mood: pure

I hang a question mark over the whole thing because really, it's been such a shitstorm that nothing is assured anymore.

That being said, at the moment I have ownership of my speaking and singing voices, my skin is liberated from freakish appearance and mind-numbing discomfort, I can eat, I can sleep, I can drink, I take no medications, and I have no infections or medical complaints to speak of.  This is more than I've been able to say since a few days into fucking February.  Is it all over now?  Has the curse been lifted?  Has invincibility finally returned?

Well I'm ready for it, anyway.  Universe, get your shit together.  Serve me whiskey.

It's getting hot outside.

9:37 AM - 89 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

Damsel Magazine Feature
Current mood: excited
Category: Art and Photography

The folks at Damsel Magazine just published a feature on me and my art!  Here's a look:

Currently listening : The Stage Names By Okkervil River Release date: 07 August, 2007

2:23 PM - 89 Comments - 8 Kudos - Add Comment

Plague Log, Day 23
Current mood: hopeful
Category: Life

Day 23.  Day 23?!?

That's right, 23 days since I started losing my voice and shortly afterward began suffering through what has absolutely been the most annoying and nasty flu-like illness that I've ever experienced.  That's enough time to become bored with just about everything that's accessible to your little prison on the couch, enough time to get sick of even talking about being sick.  I'm talking about it now because I'm hoping this can be the last time that I talk about it for a while.  Over the weekend, I've been starting to make what feels like a recovery.  Day by day, I've had less and less tissues filled with green slime, less bouts of involuntary coughing that end in momentary exhaustion, and more of a sense of vitality than I've known since  practically January.  I am not better yet.  I'm still expelling gross stuff and I'm still trying to take it easy, getting a lot of sleep everyday and avoiding anything physical or stressful.  Soon though, soon, with a lot of hope, and a little luck, I will be feeling like myself again.

Thanks to everyone who wished me well.  Sorry to everyone for being much more cranky and irritable than usual.  A big "FUCK YOU" to Kaiser Permanente for doing jack shit to help me.

And if you catch what I've got, heaven help you.

7:55 PM - 89 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

the french dinner
Current mood: hungry
Category: Food and Restaurants

This is what I've been doing lately:

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

Currently listening : Black Sheep Boy By Okkervil River Release date: 05 April, 2005

1:30 PM - 89 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

taxy
Current mood: blah

So, this morning I did a fine job of slapping myself with the stupid tax to the tune of $50.

Parked on the wrong side of the street.

No parking, 8am - 10am, Thursdays.  Street Sweeping.

I guess I wasn't paying enough attention last night when I parked my car.  I thought the sign said Friday.

So there was a ticket waiting for me.

But, no street sweeping had transpired.

Isn't that kind of unfair?

Isn't it actually unadulterated bullshit?

I mean, if you're going to actually send out that zamboni-looking thing and do the street sweeping, fine, ticket me for fucking things up.

But if there's no sweeping, there should be no ticket.

The lack of sweeping nullifies the basis of violation.

Besides making the parking situation in my neighborhood even more difficult, this ticketing is really just an unjustifiable tax for people who forget to move their cars, or mis-read signs.

A regressive one at that.

Blah.

Currently listening : Another Ticket By Eric Clapton Release date: 10 September, 1996

3:17 PM - 89 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Most Overlooked Album of 2007

My favorite album of '07 wasn't on any of the "best of" lists this year.

Why not?  Beats me.  It was reviewed positively by Pitchfork, though not *that* positively.  I mean hey, it's not trying to re-create the experience of sunlight in Lisbon or some other horribly pretentious bullshit like that.  It's just an album of amazing songs performed beautifully with perfect arrangements and production.  Songs- not single chord droney sonic masturbation.  A truly novel concept.  It's not part of the post-post-post-cool leapfrogging retardation.  And it's not danceable.

But enough with the suspense.

The album is "American Hearts" by AA Bondy.

It's the debut release from former Verbena frontman Scott Bondy, with a band that supports him on about half of the songs.  Otherwise, it's his voice, guitar, harmonica, and maybe a few foot stomps and handclaps.  Interestingly, American Hearts is nothing like a Verbena record.  It's folksy, bluesy Americana in the spirit of Bob Dylan and Neil Young, and it's masterful as fuck.  With sincere and astute songs about escapism through love, heartbreak over the degredation of our American culture, nefarious misuse of religious symbols, and an underlying belief that we have the power to change it all for the better, Bondy's message echoes a social and spiritual conscience that is rare to say the least.  The tone and articulation of his voice demonstrates a pure connection to the lyrics, letting the listener know that he really means the words that come out of his mouth.  There's a timeless quality to this record that helps define it as an instant classic.  I hope that it one day breaks free from its obscurity.

Currently listening : American Hearts (Dig) By A.A. Bondy Release date: 18 September, 2007

11:41 AM - 89 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

surprise, surprise
Current mood: optimistic

Once upon a time, I wanted a guitar. I was sixteen. I was filled with passion and angst. Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix were taking over my brain.

So I asked my parents. I didn't want them to buy me a guitar. I wanted permission to buy one myself, with meager savings accumulated from babysitting the kids that lived across the street. The answer was no, so I waited and asked again. The answer was still no. I wasted time in english class doodling different shapes of guitars. A kid I knew was selling his guitar, with an amp, for a couple hundred bucks. I decided I would ask for the last time.

The answer was no. I said OK.

Then I promptly went to the bank, withdrew the cash, and drove over to that kid's house and bought the guitar. It was great. White Fender Strat. Solid state 65 watt Crate amp.

I took it over to my friend Mark's house, where Keith showed me a few chords and how to play "Wild Thing". Later that night, I brought the guitar home, where my mom was already in bed. I told her what I had done, and she told me that she was very disappointed in me. I said nothing. I laughed on the inside. Nowadays, she denies any lack of support whatsoever.

I downloaded tabs, I learned songs, and I started figuring out how to play that guitar. For a couple of years, until I got my Les Paul, that Strat was my favorite thing. But then I got my Les Paul.

I lent the strat to my friend Mike. Mike lent the strat to his friend Omar. I didn't mind.

Years went by.

I had all but forgotten about the strat, but not too long ago, I asked Mike if he could track it down and have it returned to me. It seemed like it was going to happen, then it seemed like it wasn't going to happen. I had pretty much given up.

Then yesterday I got an unexpected package at work:




When I went to Hawaii this summer, I brought back a plumeria root. The idea is, you plant the root, water it, and it grows. A simple formula. So I planted it. I watered it.

Nothing happened.

I watered it some more. I watered it as though it were actually doing something.

Nothing happened.

Months passed, and it looked exactly the same as when I potted it. A little over a week ago, I decided I would water it for the last time. So I did.

And now?



I think this might be a surprising year.

Currently listening : Axis: Bold As Love By The Jimi Hendrix Experience Release date: 22 April, 1997

12:23 PM - 89 Comments - 8 Kudos - Add Comment

reptiles.
Current mood: blank

what's the meaning of life?

to be the very substance of the universe pondering itself towards a greater collective sense of understanding of all things.

like this:




if you're so smart, why aren't you rich?

because i'm not old or jaded enough yet.  because the things i really enjoy in life don't require absurd wealth.


what came first, the chicken, or the egg?

the egg.  from reptiles.

Currently listening : New Moon By Elliott Smith Release date: 08 May, 2007

9:53 AM - 89 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment