Nation Of Pete

2008-12-19T18:07:00.000-08:00

Back in my swing shift days I missed a few famous outings to the Polski Dom/Polish Home for what I imagine was cheap vodka, cheap beer and, I don't know, latkes? I walk by it all the time with Sally, but other than the occasional twinge of regret that I missed a lot of good times because of my stupid schedule, I haven't paid it too much mind. But reading Seattle Magazine at the doctor office (is there any other place people read it?) I learned that Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger played there in '41 and they considered it one of their most rousing gigs. Also, Jimi Hendrix played his first gig there with The Rocking Kings in 1959. Pretty cool to know that such giants walked in our neighborhood. And it's still a happening place--last month there was an Ethiopian wedding that filled the street with dancing and drums (and blocked driveways), lasted all day long.

2008-11-10T21:46:00.000-08:00

T. just sent me an enraged email demanding a "post election" blog post. I know much of this blog has been Obamafied for the past year and I should say something, but...really, what
can I say? You all already know it's been a magical week and that it's going to take long past January 20 before it all really sinks in, so reading my thoughts on the topic is a waste of time better spent booking a room for the inauguration (better get on it, party people).

2008-10-27T21:30:00.000-07:00

Don't forget to watch Obama Wednesday night.

Can you believe this thing is almost over? I'm sad to not be going to the actual polls, but people have convinced me that it's better to do mail-in. That way I can relax a little, not worry about lines, or being late for work, or broken machines, or not being able to focus all day because I can't wait to vote. Did anyone else see that study about car accidents increasing on election day? Makes sense to me--talk about anxiety. But it's very exciting, and I'm feeling good about the polls. I just wonder if the LOSERS will accept that Obama won (please please please win--I am NOT counting my chickens). Get ready for the bullshit voter fraud allegations...

Is this post even close to coherent?

2008-10-17T20:49:00.000-07:00

The baby's not even here yet and I'm already exhausted by Friday night. Lame-o.

Tonight I commented on one of the seemingly endless parade of weird looking pundits on CNN and Blade said, "She's just young. Those reporters are young now." I insisted that the woman looked objectively weird, but the point was made: I'm old. I'm "I just had my 20th high school reunion" old. But maybe that just means I don't look weird. Right?

2008-10-02T21:22:00.000-07:00

Brooklyn was the 57th most common name for girls in 2007.

Huh?

Palin and the Witch Hunter!

2008-09-24T21:37:00.000-07:00

Scary...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsDfkAnCvKY

2008-09-17T21:22:00.002-07:00

All these Republicans (Rudy on Meet the Press, generic Republican doofus on Hardball) talking about Obama wanting to "redistribute wealth." I know they're conjuring Marx, and I'm no economist, but isn't the rich getting richer (golden parachutes) as the poor get poorer a redistribution of wealth?

2008-09-17T21:22:00.001-07:00

Good news: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/us/politics/18poll.html?hp

2008-09-15T21:31:00.001-07:00

Every Monday morning now at my coffee shop they play Dolly Parton. Going on months now. I don't want to associate Dolly with Mondays. It's like in the dentist chair last week, hearing Low Rider.

Obama Takes First Direct Shot At Palin

2008-09-06T23:45:00.001-07:00

"I know the governor of Alaska has been saying she's change, and that's great," Obama said. "She's a skillful politician. But, you know, when you've been taking all these earmarks when it's convenient, and then suddenly you're the champion anti-earmark person, that's not change..."

read more | digg story

2008-09-02T21:40:00.000-07:00

I tried to "Digg" some stories about Palin (hows about that Palin?), but then, after I signed up
for a Digg account, I realized I don't really know what Digg is? Any help?

How to have a perfect Friday

2008-08-22T21:48:00.000-07:00

1. Stop working

2. Stop by Open Books and buy American Spikenard by Sarah Vap and some Albert Goldbarth (it doesn't matter which one--if all your Goldbarth's in storage to make room for the baby just buy the used one that's signed). Tell John about the baby, and about you and Carolyn once saw a weird jogger eating weird berries off the seat of a park bench in West Seattle. Confess to having mixed feelings about Kenneth Patchen.

3. Stop by Wall of Sound. Pick up the latest copy of the always great ARTHUR. Buy a weird looking Brazillain psych comp and Vol. 2 of The Best of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour (completely unauthorized ), because Vol. 1 is great and Jeffrey said this one's just as good and any album with a song called "Forty Cups of Coffee" by Ella Mae Morse can't be too bad. It's about drinking forty cups of coffee.

4. As you leave Wall of Sound hear one crazy guy at the tables outside Bauhaus say to another crazy guy, "All the sperm banks are depleted!"

5. Walk up to Travellers and buy a ticket for a sitar concert. Dig the lady with the three-foot high tie-dyed hair wrap (I'm not exaggerating the height of this thing) and laugh when she makes "Vroom vroom" type sounds when you tell her your buying tickets for the "Nightime Ragas." Also buy some Moong Dahl because, damn, that's a good snack.

6. Walk Sally around the block with Sally's favorite friend from the Fred Lind retirement home.

7. Walk to eat delicious Thai food on a gorgeous evening with your beautiful wife and your baby-to-be.

8. Call Dup and sing "Happy Birthday."

9. Don't worry that your borrowing heavily from Dup's perfect style of blogging.

10. Biden?

2008-08-12T17:46:00.001-07:00

The baby kicked and we went shopping for cribs and November 26th is coming.
We have the baby's sex on the fridge in an envelope we haven't opened.
Everyone says it'll transform everything completely, you won't recognize yourself.
Well, I've met enough well-adjusted trans-gendered people to know I'll handle it, but will I ever
learn how to write about it without sounding like just another dude? As Harvey Danger will
tell you, "Happiness writes white."

(Speaking of Harvey Danger, you'll be pleased to hear that "My Effotless Brilliance"--starring
Sean Nelson and Basil Harris, directed by Lynn Shelton--is going to be on IFC Festival Direct. It's a good movie!)

Obama is Right

2008-08-04T20:53:00.001-07:00

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1829354,00.html?cnn=yes

2008-07-25T21:47:00.000-07:00

I'm blogging just to blog 'cause it's been too long and bloggin is something like a muscle.
So what. ? Just back from the Capitol Hill Block Party with my sister to see Girl Talk.
The dude knows how to throw a fun show, but it was too damn much rabid youth with elbows for
me and my sis and we just stood way to the side after a scary exit through kids shoving with cigarettes, took in the whole scene. Today's youth have some of the coolest tee-shirts. One guy
had a tee-shirt that reproduced a bunch of Brautigan paperback covers, really nice. I left before Les Savy Fav (though they put on a good show too) and Vampire Weekend 'cause an old man needs his limeade and his stereo. Listening to Terry Riley and John Cale's "Church of Anthrax" and it's brilliant. Wish I could blast it, have my own block party.

2008-06-13T22:23:00.001-07:00

Sunday mornings just won't be the same without Tim Russert. It's weird how sad I am about his death. He was just so damn likeable! I can't imagine who could possibly replace him. Guess I'll just have to watch High School Bowl, or whatever else is on Sunday mornings at 10.

2008-06-12T21:49:00.000-07:00

"They have five votes on the supreme court. What does it matter? They could overturn Roe right now if they wanted...We're stuck with a conservative court, probably for the rest of my life."
Barbara LeBay, Hillary Clinton supporter on why she's supporting McCain (NPR, June 10).

Hopefully Ms. LeBay ("I marched against the war in Vietnam") can put aside her spitefulness and realize that today's vote on Gitmo was 5 to 4. God help us...

2008-05-31T18:39:00.000-07:00

I'll never forget the first time I learned that music can be dangerous. It was in Mrs. Lasher's class, third grade, and everyone was gathered around the boxy record player, passing the huge headphones around like an illicit bottle of cough syrup. I only got to wear them for about ten seconds before someone else was tapping my shoulder for their turn, but I had long enough to hear that thrillingly wicked chorus: We don't need NO education/We don't need NO thought control... Oh man, it was just so wonderfully bad.

That said, I never became a Floyd fan. I don't think I've ever actually even bought a Floyd album, except for the Barret ones, used. The trippy Barret stuff is fun, but Waters always struck me as bombastic (that said, I put his Radio KAOS concert right below Slaughterhouse Five on the list of things that stopped me being Republican). Besides, why would I need to spend money on a Pink Floyd album? Everyone I knew was playing it non-stop, and there was no escaping it on the radio. Darkside of the Moon may still hold the record for most time on the charts (there was a copy around here of Darkside that Blade bought but Sally bit it in half); that stuff was just in the air.

Well last night I learned to love The Wall. I went to see the students of the Seattle branch of the Paul Green School of Rock Music perform the entire album for their year-end concert. It was amazing. These kids can rock! Most of the instrumentalists were older kids, sixteen, seventeen, so the music was very competent. What really made it were the vocalists--an eight year old girl sang Comfortably Numb and Another Brick in the Wall. The audience was about enthusiastic as any I've seen, all ages, from toddlers to grandmothers, just going nuts, lighters in the air... They kept switching kids off the stage, so there was always a new line up of musicians and singers--it was constantly engaging. There are a lot of Schools of Rock throughout the country; I highly recommend seeing a concert if you get a chance. It just might blow your mind.

Perspective

2008-05-27T19:54:00.000-07:00

You know how certain figures just stick with you? One thing that I can't get out of my head was something I heard on NPR on Friday during their broadcasts from China. They said that only three percent of China is college educated. A tiny percentage, right? But they did the math: That's forty eight million people.

Driving in the Danger Zone

2008-05-19T20:09:00.000-07:00

The other night at Professor Unc's and Scratch Padding's I had the (guilty) pleasure of trying my hand at Grand Theft Auto 4. What really freaked me out was that I was less freaked out by the fact that I beat up a rabbi than I was by the fact that the radio stations for the cars you carjack include songs by Gong and Terry Riley. What carjacker cranks up "A Rainbow in Curved Air?" Strangely, it gave me hope. But I hope there's no karma for video games.

2008-05-13T21:53:00.000-07:00

Norman Dubie has some new poems in the latest Blackbird.

Matthea Harvey

2008-05-13T21:43:00.000-07:00

Want to read some good poems?

2008-05-13T21:41:00.000-07:00

I occasionally give to environmental groups, but I'd be a lot more likely to support the World Wildlife Fund if they didn't threaten to send the "Blue-footed Booby Plush"to donors. Doesn't sending crap like that (along with ceaseless mailings) hurt nature? Or am I nuts?

Malkmus in Arthur

2008-05-13T21:37:00.000-07:00

"The Republican Illuminati/Kingmakers wanted McCain—so it is written and so it shall b). In this post-chad environment, I’m not sure they can rig Florida again.... They have almost nothing to lose this time—whoever takes over this mess is deeply screwed. If I were a conservative oligarch, I’d focus on Congress and let the Democrats hang themselves; then come back strong in 2012 with "I told you so"-style propaganda."

2008-05-13T21:35:00.000-07:00

If one more person says I look like Kenny Loggins, they're going to get a "Loose Foot" up their ass.

2008-04-29T20:01:00.000-07:00

I've got two poems in The Superstition Review, a new on-line journal.

2008-04-11T23:12:00.000-07:00

An update from Slick: He reminded me about this: Record Store Day!

Support yours

2008-03-29T09:04:00.000-07:00

Slick just sent me this article about the demise of record stores in college towns. The fact that the article calls them "record" stores shows the audience its geared towards: Me. And you? Do any of you still go shopping at the "record shop" "on the corner" or "downtown?" I was never able to figure out how to download a song onto my Zen Ultra Mp3 and haven't touched the thing for at least two years. I've never used iTunes (though when I wanted to watch that prequel to Darjeeling Limited Apple made me download it...only to tell me afterwards that it was no longer available). I did try N*p*s*e* back in the illegal dial-up days, but I never figured out how to burn anything onto CD and I hate listening to music sitting at the computer so I never got too far with it (in fact, the only song I really remember was Moby Grape's Omaha--at that time I couldn't find the CD). Do people who download music listen to it on the stereo in the living room with their friends? I know music is thriving on-line and their are more bands than ever, but what's happening to the communal aspect? What percentage of young people have been to a live concert? The Salon article says a lot of new college students have never bought a CD, meaning they've never had the pleasure of going into a--alright, alright--CD store (The fact that I'm finally calling it that reminds me of a story. My Irish immigrant grandfather was talking to a Norwegian man about adjusting to the New World. The Norwegian shook his head sadly and said, "It took me years to learn to say yam and now they call it yelly." I love that) . There are certainly lots of great reviewing sites on-line, but, to use my favorite, Pitchfork, as an example, they're pretty specialized: You won't read about a classical album or an album of sitar music on Pitchfork. And those Amazon.com suggestions ("people who bought Tom Waits also bought Leonard Cohen") can be downright scary in their accuracy and really make you feel like a simple machine...this is good and bad. And KEXP is an institution and a godsend, but it's frustratingly limited in the scope of music it plays. I miss the free-form days of college radio of yore.
The only thing you knew about WHUS or WMUR was you'd better listen hard because you weren't likely to hear any song on that station twice. Knowing that I only had to hear a song once kept me from jumping to the dial when there was something I didn't like--this was my musical education. Pandora, the future of Internet radio, brags that it'll only play music YOU like (using some brilliant computer program). Well, I don't know what I like till I hear it. I heard Jill Scott the other day and loved it. No sane computer program would have chosen that for me knowing that my most recent music purchases include Kollectiv, Richard Youngs, Avarus, Robyn Hitchcock, and the Black Keys. I want surprises, damn it. I want the communal experience of the record store. I want the art of the CD case or record sleeve, the liner notes. I want the record store owner to say, as Jeffrey at Wall of Sound does now, when I walk in, "Hey, I got just the thing for you!" Maybe the Internet is a collective genius but it's no Jeffrey. I want to have to leave my house and make a decision with my hard earned money. I want to listen to a whole CD and not just the two or three tracks that some blogger (hm mm) said were worth downloading. I want to grow to sort of like that weird ninth track and know that the $18 I dropped was worth it, and worry about this disintegration of CDs I hear about occasionally. The biggest scam ever, those CDs. But a better scam than a future without neighborhood CD shops.

Obama!

2008-03-19T17:28:00.001-07:00

Have I ever felt so inspired by a politician? No, I have not. Obama's "race" speech is the best speech I've heard from a public figure in years. My only fear is that it was too willing to embrace
complex issues in a complex way, that its points can't be boiled down to a simple paragraph. Hopefully people will take some time with it and not just listen to the inevitable ads that say "Barack Hussein Obama refuses to condemn this man:" queue clip of Rev. Wright. No matter what happens in this election, it gives me hope knowing that intelligent rhetoric still has a place in this culture.

Word Nerd

2008-03-07T21:52:00.000-08:00

Today at work I got to wondering about the etymology of nerd. It is interesting.

Someone you know?

2008-03-04T21:04:00.000-08:00

The League of Citizens Concerned about Literature has announced the winner of their first poetry contest.

Oh Oprah

2008-03-01T21:05:00.000-08:00

I've never watched Oprah but I've picked up enough to know that she's a mixed bag. Dr. Phil? "The Secret?" (Blade and I watched it last night and rarely have I felt more embarrassed for a movie) The car giveaway? Steadman? Questionable. But there's another side to Oprah, the Oprah that picks Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" for her book club. The Oprah that campaigns for my man Obama. And, most importantly, the Oprah that's doing a ten week long webcast series with Eckhart Tolle. His book "A New Earth" is her latest club selection and it's already broken all kinds of sales record since it was announced. I had the true pleasure of seeing Eckhart Tolle speak last week at Benaroya Hall (third row center!) and have nothing but praise for his message. There's no way to express enough the impact of his teachings on my life without using such hyperbolic statements as "there's no way to express enough the impact of his teachings on my life." With the size of Oprah's usual audience multiplied by the world wide web, and the length of time she's devoting to the discussions, this could be an extremely beneficial event for this planet. Let's hope so. I know I'll be watching. Starts Monday.

Up for Debate

2008-02-22T05:22:00.000-08:00

I've said all along that I'd be happy with either candidate, but since I'm still officially (per vote and contributions) an Obama man I was relieved to hear the CNN commentators saying that Hilary didn't look much better than Barack in last night's debate. Because I think she did. She connected with the audience a lot more with her Texas connections. She got a lot more applause lines. She mentioned a lot more--I thought--specific policy changes she'd make. She smiled when she spoke (Barack seems too damn nervously serious at times). She calmly folded the blowing page of her notepad back when it was blowing, basically solving the issue with grace, while Obama drove himself and everyone else nuts by not stopping his from flapping up again and again and... There's no doubt that Hilary really hit it out of the park with her closing statement, the standing ovation line about the wounded vets. I'm sure she prepared for the question as it's pretty standard, but why the hell didn't Barack prepare something better? We already know you were a community organizer raised by your Mom and grandparents, tell us something new. Hilary did lose me, though, with the "Change you can Xerox" swipe. As Anderson Cooper said, "Good line. I wonder who gave it to her?" (Recently Anderson Cooper said that everyone at CNN had gotten in their "Disco naps." When I told Bladio that she said, "Well, he is Gloria Vanderbilt's son!"). But even though I felt the questions were biased in her favor ("Tell us why you think Barack is a plagarizer." "Tell us why you'd be ready on day one and he wouldn't." "Tell us why Barack is all hat and no cattle.") , I was very impressed by Hilary's performance. As I said all along... But Obama still has my heart.

We're getting used to it...

2008-02-15T22:46:00.000-08:00

With all this talk about terrorism, how come none of our favorite politicians are talking about the recent spate of suicide terror attacks in the USA? Random acts of terror by people who take their own life. If these school shooters (and "Cookie," the mayor shooter) were Muslim you bet they'd be considered terrorist. I know that terrorism has to have some sort of political dimension but maybe it would help if we viewed these brutal heartbreaking attacks in that light. But then again, that would mean talking about guns, and, as we all know, this administration is only interested in counter-terrorism measures that weaken the First Amendment--they don't dare touch the Second. Pardon my soapbox.

In lighter news: Who the hell thinks "Juno" is worthy of a single Oscar?

2008-02-07T20:22:00.000-08:00

I'm O'bumm'd out that I won't get to go see Barack at Key Arena tomorrow (work), but I'm eager to caucus for him Saturday.

And didn't you just LOVE the troubled moans of anguish at the conservative conference when Romney declared that he was putting his love of America first?

Puke

2008-02-02T18:46:00.002-08:00

Bush's proposed defense budget is larger than the rest of the world's combined. More here.

Do you wonder like I do...

2008-02-02T18:46:00.001-08:00

whatever happened to Connie Chung?

Elvis Road

2008-02-02T18:41:00.000-08:00

I read a review of this in ARTHUR (yeah, it's back!), and thought it sounded great. I'll let
you know if it lives up to its promise.

Way to Suck Seattle!

2008-01-17T20:28:00.000-08:00

First the Crocodile closed, then the Taco Bell on Broadway, and now this?

2008-01-01T14:31:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year.

My favorite albums of 07--in some particular order--

1. Of Montreal "Hissing Fauna are You the Destroyer?"
2. Spoon "Ga etc"
3. Battles "Mirrored"
4. Robert Wyatt "Comicopera"
5. Modest Mouse "We were Dead before the Ship Even Sank"
6. Dungen "Tio Bitar"
7. V/A "I'm Not There" Soundtrack
8. Iron and Wine "The Shepard's Dog"
9. Feist "The Reminder"
10. Manu Chao "La Radiolina"
(Honorable mention to the pscyh comp "Dr. Delay's REM Sleep"--amazing!)

"The writing was on the wall when they built the senior center right next door."

2007-12-19T05:32:00.000-08:00

In case you haven't heard, The Crocodile closed suddenly two days ago. I want to start a list of
all the great concerts I saw there but I know it will be incomplete. I guess the only concession is that I go to so few shows these days, and The Croc was there when I was heading out young. Last time I was there was for the Meat Puppets, a couple months back, so I'm glad it ended on a high note (or a garbled low note). Neumos and Chop Suey have been getting much better bookings for a while now, but Neumos is too big and I'm not wild about the set up at Chop Suey. Forget the Showbox, I've been avoiding that place for years. Ah well. Rock n Roll. Time to make that list of shows.

Courtesy of DBD

2007-12-14T05:37:00.000-08:00

This is a much easier way to get to the radio interview...

"Bathroom Poet"

2007-12-12T22:19:00.000-08:00

The other day I had the fun and weird experience of being interviewed for our wonderful Seattle NPR station KUOW about a poetry project I've been working on. Click here and scroll down to "2:20" if you want to hear it.

2007-11-30T18:37:00.000-08:00

Robyn Hitchcock gets the respect he deserves in this featured Pitchfork review. Bladio and I saw him the other night at the Triple Door and he was entertaining as ever. Sean Nelson sang as part of his band and also opened the show with Jeff Lin playing keyboards. It was stellar. And we were home snug in our beds well before midnight...

2007-11-27T17:21:00.001-08:00

The wonderful Beckian Fritz Goldberg has two new poems on/in Miguel Murphy's new online journal Pistola.

21st

2007-11-20T21:29:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLADE!

Please check this out

2007-11-17T22:43:00.000-08:00

Rigoberto Gonzalez--who just won an American Book Award for his memoir Butterfly Boy--has a post on the Poetry Foundation blog about a project I've been working on for the past year or so: The League of Citizens Concerned about Literature.

Chunks

2007-11-05T20:17:00.000-08:00

This post is inspired by Dup. First of all because Dup is fascinated by media consumption and second because he links to this article wherein Jerry Seinfeld talks about the key to his productivity being "inch by inch anything's a cinch" (note: that cringeworthy cliche is used by lifehacker, not by JS). Like Jerry and Dup I've long been one for approaching big projects by taking slow, steady, manageable nibbles. This has served me well, but lately I think it's got a bit out of control.

My media routine: Every morning I go to the Victrola, get a French Press, cry to myself that they stopped doing drip coffee (FP is watery, grindy, muddy!), and write for about an hour--not much, but it adds up over the years. Then I read whatever book of poems I'm reading, currently Charles Bernstein's Dark City, for, say, fifteen minutes. Then I read a page or two of some other poet, just to keep things fresh. Right now it's Cesar Vallejo, the Complete Posthumous Poems (as recommended by Double A), but I'm still crawling through Clayton Eshelman's fascinating intro about Vallejo's life and the translation process. Then, for about ten minutes, it's some more of Conents Dream by Bernstein, a great collection of essays on poetry, film, et cetera. That's a book that it actually helps to read in small, digestible chunks and I guess the approach of intensely focused short bursts is suited to reading poetry in general , but I'm finding myself wanting to focus on just one thing. I read the New Yorker for twenty five minutes twice a week while doing my cardio at the Y (the third day, Saturday, is "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" day) and that's no way to stay less than six months behind on those things. And the book The Field Guide --really fun--is a wee tome but at the pace of half a page a night before my eyes start shutting you'd think it was Ulysses (another "chunker"--ten pages a day out loud to myself back sometime in those days of copious free-time, the 90's, my youth). And although I worship Colbert I haven't been able to gain much traction in I am America (and So Can You) because I'm also reading this great book Shantaram that's 800 something pages. And...did I mention that I'm a very slow reader? This is no way to live! And it's carried over to DVD's; I'm watching movies in twenty minute chapters. And music--thank god I listen to a lot of compilations 'cause a complicated concept album about, say, a wall, wouldn't stand a chance against my constant flipping back and forth between some collection of lost psychedelic nuggets (Psychedelic Phinland gets the prize for best album with worst name) and NPR. This post was even written in five minute blocks. Now I know why writers dream of cabins in the woods. Of grants. Of uninterrupted hours to dig in and get down under the deep focus spell of One Thing at a Time. I want some focus. I want retirement. I want to move from the 21st century. I want to cancel my subscriptions. My late friend Malcolm told me about a friend of his who only ever owned one book and one piece of music at a time: That might be the way to go...

So "old man shows" don't have to suck after all.

2007-10-31T21:42:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back I sunk into a bit of the old self-pitying agism after I failed to rouse myself to see Akron/Family play at the Crocodile. I'd been wanting to see them for at least a year (their reputation for live shows outweighing my my iffiness regarding the last two albums), but it was a rainy and cold, dark as night Friday night out there and no one was going with me. So I chose bed instead. Like an oldster. Like a lame-o. I figured my concert going days were caput, that I was, as Slick's friend once said, "retired" from the "live rock." But was I really? It was too depressing. Denial kicked in. I kicked in. I kicked myself up and over to the computer and started to make myself pick some "old man" shows. Some "Country Buffet" shows. Shows that you can really take your teeth out too. How about some acoustic Yo La Tengo? It's at Town Hall so it's sit down. And you get out early! And it's acoustic, so...no gross earplugs. How about acoustic Robyn Hitchcock? It's at the Triple Door so you get to eat pan Asian food! And it's early so you can to bed before 11:00. And it's acoustic so...no bending over, trying to rescue your gross earplugs before some dude in Docs stomps on them. It is true that Sean Nelson is opening, but that's okay--you can still pretend to be a young rocker as long it's before 9:00. No rock shows playing? How does a play sound? There's one about Philip K. Dick that will get you home early enough you can wake up at 5 without whining about it. I hear it's acoustic! And it's about Philip K. Dick and he's cool, right? You're still cool, yeah.
Right?

Yes. And just to be sure: Battles. Neumos. Saturday night. I've got my earplugs packed and the alarm clock off and my ticket already purchased so I can't back out.

Wish me luck.

2007-10-31T21:40:00.000-07:00

Last weekend.

Gotta try, right?

Right?

You're trying, right?

(photo by Batt)

Robert Wyatt

2007-10-13T23:43:00.000-07:00

"I'm not a great believer in individualism. I think things are around to be done and if one person doesn't do it another will."

Chedder

2007-10-07T09:15:00.000-07:00

I've never been shy--or interesting--about my negative feelings about Eddie and the Jam, but I have to say, his songs for "Into the Wild" are great. Maybe I'll buy the soundtrack. Maybe this will mark my entrance into Jammie-dom, just as "Dog Day Afternoon" and "Almost Famous" marked my very slow--yet complete!--transformation into an Eltonphile.

But I doubt it.

2007-09-28T22:44:00.001-07:00

I thought this article by Lauren Weedman about her time on Daily Show was great.

Card-carrying member

2007-09-19T05:33:00.000-07:00

The other night I went to see this really good little documentary called Strange Culture at Northwest Film Forum. Slick had told me about he because he just got his PhD (congrats to Dr. Slick) at the University of Buffalo, where the film's subject was teaching when his Kafkaesque nightmare began. A quick summary: Steve Kurtz is an artist with a collective called the Critical Art Ensemble (lord, forgive them that name) who explore "the intersections between art, technology, radical politics, and critical theory." The film didn't show as much as I would have liked about their art, but it seems to be multimedia and provocative with a strong satirical streak (the Yes Men get a nod in the credits). In 2004 Steve and his wife Hope Kurtz were assembling a show for MassMOCA which was concerned with the implications of GMO food when Steve woke up to find his forty five year old Hope dead. Naturally grief-stricken he called 9-11. When the ambulance came one of the paramedics noticed there were some petri dishes lying around. The FBI was called and, boy, did the FBI come. Rather than accept Kurtz's easily verifiable explanation about the bacteria's being non-harmful art project stuff that anyone can obtain legally with a credit card and an internet connection, they focused on more important questions, like "Is this Arabic writing?" It was Arabic writing...on an invitation to an art show. Next thing he knows his house is trashed, his wife's body is being shipped to Quanitco, and he's in jail on terrorism charges. Fortunately the grand jury laughed at that crap, but he's still facing trumped charges of mail and wire fraud and could do real time. It's a nightmare born from the bowels of the PATRIOT ACT. The ACLU rep who spoke after the show made me remember why I like the ACLU so much. But I didn't realize how much I respect the ACLU until the next day, when I saw who their latest client is: Larry Craig (I don't know if he's technically a client, but they filed a brief supporting him). I've shot my mouth off about being a "free speech absolutist" but it never occurred to me that it's protected speech to solicit someone for sex in public as long as you're going to do the deed in private. Damn, now that's absolutist. I love it. Their apolitical defense of justice is hope-inspiring in these days of Alberto Gonzalez's "loyal Bushies." Why not become a member now?

And I"m going!

2007-09-11T20:15:00.000-07:00

Echart Tolle is coming!

Rigoberto Blogs!

2007-09-05T19:55:00.000-07:00

Rigoberto Gonzalez is blogging for the Poetry Foundation for the next six months. It's good to see that they're spending that $200,000,000 they got in some interesting ways. One of the highlights of this recent highlight-jammed trip to NYC (Serra at MOMA, Drowsy Chaperone, Coney Island, Floating Pool, the Whitney, Other Music, friends friends friends, an AMAZING wedding) was getting to see Rigo read at Martin Espada's fiftieth birthday celebration at the Bowery Poetry Club. What a great scene! I have to confess that I'd never read any Martin Espada before this, but after hearing Gerald Stern reading Espada's "I Apologize for Giving You Poison Ivy by Smacking You in the Eye with the Crayfish at the End of My Fishing Line " I was thoroughly charmed. Martin seems worthy of all the praise heaped on him, that rare breed of radical who knows how and when to be funny while still breaking your heart. Seattle is my home, but it was nice to get a glimpse of the Big City and see that poetry is thriving there.

42 Dead in Bomb Attack in Southern India

2007-08-25T23:46:00.000-07:00

How could such a major terrorist attack take place and get so little attention? Pretend for a second that it happened in Paris...

2007-08-22T19:44:00.000-07:00

Things to look forward to:
New Vic Chesnutt coming out September 11.
New Animal Collective, also September 11.
New Manu Chao, September 4.
New Denis Johnson novel out soon.

A quote I like

2007-08-16T05:35:00.000-07:00

"Worrying is praying for what you don't want." --Little Joe

(Does attributing a quote to someone named Little Joe immediately drain it of credibility? If so, just pretend it's from the Dalai Lama. Lil' Dal. Little Joe is a Native American teacher that Bhagvan Das met in his very zig zag spiritual quest as recounted in It's Here Now, are You? a very entertaining read for anyone with an interest in that stuff)

Good news (thanks DBD)

2007-08-10T22:13:00.000-07:00

Charles Simic is the new poet laureate. This gives me hope. Simic is one of my favorites. One of the reasons I like him is, as with Albert Goldbarth, I discovered him on my own, read him cold without any idea who he was or how big he was, so he felt like my own secret. I can still remember it too, it was an American Poetry Review at the Miami (Ohio) University library. (Goldbarth was at the ASU library--I can still picture the exact place the book was). This story reveals an insecurity I still feel about poetry, though not nearly as acutely as I used too--that I like a poet only because they're well known. That's not true, but on some level I fear it, and don't trust my own judgement. What John Darnielle (the Mountain Goat) said about Led Zeppelin (something like, how can you really HEAR Led Zeppelin , without all the associations?) applies equally to a Shakespeare poem or a Frost poem. I still get anxious when I don't know who wrote a poem, and if the poet's name is on the second page, I need to flip to see before I can read the poem. Ugh. It's an ugly thing. But now, with Simic--he and I go "way back, man. " Anyway reading him now, as with the first time I read him, I look at the world differently afterwards, there's a lingering change. That's what I want from my art.

How can this kid be anything but cool?

2007-08-04T23:23:00.000-07:00

Congratulations

Dup and Hil

And a big welcome to....

DAVEY!

Rabbie Burns slept here

2007-07-21T23:13:00.000-07:00

Scotland was great. Haggis, , pigeon, tablet (that's fudge to you), Kinder Eggs (illegal in the States and all the tastier for that), pudding that wasn't pudding (including blood). Kilts for hire. I bought a Sherlock Holmes hat but please refer to it by its other name, which is a Deerstalker, so I didn't feel quite so nerdy. My people hunting hat. When we there some asshole doctors tried to be terrorists but were, thank god, surprisingly incompetent. "BBC Grovels to Queen," was the other big headline, 'cause the BBC lied about her Highness, saying she stormed out of a photo shoot with Annie Lennox. Or someone. The BBC was in trouble already for having folks (blokes!) at home pay to phone in to vote on which dish the host chef should prepare. The scandal isn't that it's the stupidest idea for a TV show ever but rather that while that chef was supposedly waiting to see which dish the voters would vote for he was also DJ'ing live on the radio. Scam! Edinburgh is an amazing city. They have a poetry library and a writers museum. The writers museum was featuring an exhibition about Ian Rankin, author of twenty odd Inspector Rebus novels, all set in Edinburgh. James Elroy describes Rankin's stuff as "tartan noir." I'm almost done with the second book in the series. Blade thinks Ian Rankin needs a new author photograph 'cause he always uses the same dumb one in which hi right hand is touching his left shoulder. We toured the Highland Park distillery and saw a cask that Ian Rankin had autographed--I guess it's a big honor to have your own barrel of whisky 'cause they all taste different to the connoisseur (side note: We watched "Sideways" on DVD last night, then again with the commentary--that shit's funny! So sad Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor did "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry"). We also ate a lot of sticky toffee pudding which is also not pudding. Saw Angelo and Shareen in London and that was a good time. Got to meet Mel and eat lunch with him which was fun. Mel's great uncle was the founder of MI5. Melatonin means no one should ever ever have jet lag. The dollar was the worst against the pound since Reagan, but at least it made conversion easy--two to one. The picts were a mysterious people as were the Neolithic builders of the Ring of Brognar and Maes Howe and the Brock of Stromness (all on Orkney)--amazing, a real highlight of the trip. Posh and Becks suck. They were all over the news. We watched a lame show called The Richard and Judy Show wherein Richard and Judy are relentless in their questioning of a Breatharian. When we showed up at the guest house on Orkney Frank couldn't find the owners--a visiting fireman had to walk back into the house and find the slacker son. A visiting fireman? Ginny ordered kippers for breakfast and I had one. Once I almost ordered "the skink" but Blade stopped me and thank god 'cause it's called Cullen Skink and Cullen isn't an adjective for a type of skink. There's no other skink. The real question: How does one ever thank one's in-laws for a trip like this? That's a rhetorical question. Anyway, it was damn fine time... Now I'm sleepy...

Can't bring myself to buy the new Beastie Boys...

2007-06-26T21:09:00.000-07:00

Arthur is back!
*****
The other day I bought some Coast soap and Carolyn exclaimed, "Your soap is Pacific Force flavor!"
*****
You might be me and think that the new Elliot Smith comp isn't something you really need 'cause it's just old outtakes and stuff, but like me you'd be wrong 'cause it's really good. And, Dup, his cover of 13 is on there.
******
We're going to Scotland Thursday and are really excited. To prepare we watched Trainspotting and The Wicker Man. Carolyn thought there was going to be a scary killer who was made out of wicker. Spoiler alert: There's not. Basket Case kinda does, but that's not Scottish. I ordered the Wicker Man soundtrack--but not because of that main song. That main song is lame.
****
Scotland!
*****
Battles are playing the Crocodile when we're there, but oh well. Scotland!

PMP'n

2007-06-20T05:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday at my new job they re-launched this database that they've been working on for a long time. I logged on eagerly and attempted to update some social security income amounts, but it wouldn't let me. I called the support guy. Support guy fiddled for a minute with me over the phone before declaring: "It's a tab problem!" I logged off and few minutes later found an email in my inbox--sent to everyone who uses the database--saying: "Because Pete Miller has found the first bug on the database... this patch will be named the Pete Miller Patch, or the PMP." Now I thought, gee, that's kinda cool, but I wasn't prepared for the reaction of this other support guy who works in my office: He beamed! I beamed! It's nice to recieve an honor, even if it's a really nerdly one that you earned through no talent of you own.

What's something I don't like about my job?

2007-06-13T21:09:00.000-07:00

Tucking in my shirt.

I love Robert Wyatt

2007-06-13T21:06:00.000-07:00

I've only had a burned copy of "Rock Bottom" for a few years now, and, because I do love it so, was craving the real deal in the actual packaging. Found it used last night. That's a good feeling. Now to do the same with "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" (Harvey Danger now has me always mis-saying that...).

Only watched the pilot so far...

2007-06-13T21:04:00.000-07:00

Is HBO's "Lucky Louie" the "least funny show ever?" as Blade claims?
Or is it "kinda funny," as I opine?

This post could save you money!

2007-06-01T22:29:00.001-07:00

Today I went to refill my inhaler prescription at the Group Health pharmacy and the woman told me that I could actually save major money if I had the prescription mailed to my house. "It's a feature you have available. They won't tell you about it, though, it's in the small print."
This is one of things that's nice to know but, shoot, why couldn't I have known about it five years ago? I would've saved several hundred dollars. My, my. I guess this is my punishment for living so close to the place. If it hadn't been so convenient a walk I would've requested long ago that it be mailed. Anyway, check and see if this might be true in your case....

"The Dudesons are Finland's Answer to Jackass": Notes on Sweden

2007-05-09T21:46:00.000-07:00

Hiked in the woods to the site of some long-vanished gallows from when, as Mattias says, "they had the death punishment."
******
Swedish television news anchors stand.
******
We went and got some water from a spring in the forest. I spilled a lot of it in Mattias' Volvo.
*****
For Easter Swedish children tie pink and yellow feathers in the trees. An Easter tree. They also dress as witches and go door to door for candy. But I've discussed that fact countless times before in this forum.
******
Watched Colbert's White House Press Club speech on Google Video. Mattias hadn't heard about Cheney shooting that guy in the face.
******
I saw a Miro owl through a window at Bukowski's Auctions in Stockholm. I wasn't bidding so they wouldn't let me in.
*****
The elevator at Nordiska Museet is "under reconstruction."
*****
The first thing I see at the Nordiska Museet is Jorma Toivonen's collection of vintage Swedish erotica. Then I saw Jonas Persson's collection of 2,500 lozenge boxes and Anders Grande's 2,500 Kinder Egg toys.
******
Smoked eel at the meat market. I mean, an entire smoked eel.
*****
The crackers ate the Vasa Museet cafe were not, as I originally read, "Free from Gwen," but, rather, "Free from Gluten." So I had to pay for them and withdrew my kind thoughts about "Gwen."
******
Mattias grows his own alfalfa sprouts. I want to do that.
*******
Yellow-bellied birds.
*******
My bag was delayed and the worker for SAS told me, "You should know, as an American, your countrymen are the worst for lost baggage in the world. They never send a fax when the bag is found..." I told Mattias that I didn't tip the guy who brought my suitcase (36 hours after my arrival) in a truck. He said, "We never tip in Sweden. This is a modern country; he makes a decent wage."
******
Young Swedish women wear tons of dark eye shadow.
********
For a brief jet lagged moment I completely lost any sense of what time of day it was. Weird feeling.
********

My last night there went to a Valborg (aka Walpurgis night) celebration at Mattias' girlfriend Lova's theater with a bonfire and traditional folk music and dance performances, great stuff. Mattias said, "That old guy behind us is an American, he owns a folk music record store in Stockholm. His name is Izzy; do you know him?" "Yeah!" At intermission I got to eat nettle soup with Izzy Young. Izzy is famous for founding the Folklore Center on McDougal Street where a young Bob Dylan used to hang out. Izzy produced Dylan's first concert at Carnegie Chapter Hall in 1961. In other words, he's a legend. He's been living in Sweden since the early 70's, and smirked when I asked if he spoke Swedish, "I've been living ins Sweden thirty five years and he asks if I speak Swedish, like I'm some American schmuck." That gives you some sense of his comically bitter attitude. "The Americans hate me, the Swedes hate me. I say to them, 'If I'm so fucking stupid, how come you didn't put on the first Joni Mitchell concert.'" He was full of choice words for Marty Scorsese, Pete Seeger, and Dylan himself. He's disgusted how Dylan fans let their god get away with such mediocre performances. "In Stockholm he did three good songs, in Upsalla he did four. You think they would've let Pilaf get away with that. Bullshit." He was hard to impress but I got the feeling he's a really good guy at heart, very generous with people who have an interest in their culture. And I got him to write Joanna Newsom's name in his notebook, so that was cool...

***********

Rowdy football fans on train from Upsalla back to Stockholm wearing scarves with their team's colors, drinking beer, singing fight songs. One yelled some joke, the only word of which I recognized was "Kinder Eggs." On the news that night: Trouble in the streets.
********

When I went to visit Mikael in Upsalla he showed me the series of photographs he took of former prisoners in Kazakhstan. He lived in a village there for six months. Lots of the subjects were Chechen refugees. Not quite Borat.

******
The guy who worked at the ice cream shop where we went in Upsalla had claimed to Mikael that they supplied the the Nobel banquet. I was excited. But the claim seemed less likely as that same guy dropped half my scoop on the glass counter and then picked in up with his fingers, put it back on my cone...

********
Exhibition of Sally Mann photos at the Culture House, several of which were banned in the States, the portraits of her kids in the buff. The only shocking thing was that they're considered shocking. Not that they're not powerful on their own terms.

********
Went to a pagan labyrinth next to pagan burial mounds.

*******

"Half four" is 3:30.
********
Gustav from Dungen practices DJ scratching for hours every day now.

********
Mattias' father the psychologist called on the phone, mentioned he was about to take a phobic patient on a walk across a bridge.
*******
Someone bought Johan's daughter a Pippi Longstocking wig.
*******
Saw a raven. Odin had two ravens so it's a big deal bird in Sweden.
*******
Swedish grocery store cash registers, no drawer. You pay by dropping your coins in a slot. The bills come shooting out little chutes.
*******
Mattias' next door neighbor is a shaman.
*******
They advertise caviar on TV. It comes in a tube.
********
Last year there was a crop circle next to the church near where we dropped Noa at a party.
********
Noa's painter father was friends with the Incredible String Band. And with Trad, Gras och Stenar. Met lots of people who know them. That's the thing about the freak scene of a small country.
********
"American Sauce" is hamburger sauce. In a tube.
******
"The Original Taste of America" read the two liter bottle of Imperial brand chocolate-banana soda, Statue of Liberty on the label.
******

"Never be serious. Be sincere, but not serious," said Bjorn aka Devedas, Mattias friend just back from India. We went to see what he calls his "Satsang Theater" in Upsalla. Too much to go into here... Let's just say that he's friends with Goa Gil and 8 Fingers Eddie and he got fired from his teaching job of over 25 years for laughing too much...

New gig

2007-05-07T20:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I started my new job Thursday and so far, so good. I'm working for the same agency I did before, but in a completely different capacity. I am now a "Vocational Specialist." I work for a job program called Stepworks as well as for the Homeless Intervention Project. Homeless people with a psychiatric diagnoses are referred to us and I help them find housing and a job. It's a nice change from the treatment facility, a quiet office with much less unpredictability. Like any new job there's a lot to learn and they'll be some adjustments. For example, for the first time in years and years, I am now working a M-F dayshift schedule. Ack. That'll take getting used to. But I think the benefits will outweigh the disadvantages.

Oh yeah...

2007-04-26T00:57:00.000-07:00

...I got a new job. Details to follow...

Greetings from Järna!

2007-04-26T00:40:00.000-07:00

Does Heinz sell organic kethcup in the States? Mattias insists that they must, but I've never seen it. Everything here seems to be organic, has a little sticker that says KRAV. Nothing seems to be Kosher though. "There are very few Jews," Mattias explains, except he says it "Yews."
But I shouldn't talk, my pronounciation of Swedish is terrible. "Talaar nee Engelska?" I ask phoenetically, and even though they do speak English, I have to say it three times before they understand my crappy Berlitz Pocket Dictionary stylings. When I tried to tell my friend Mikael I like the Swedish band Dungen, I got a five minute pronounciation lesson and it still sounded to him like I was saying a Chinese word. Yesterday Mattias took me to buy the new Dungen cd, just released here yesterday, not in the states yet for a few weeks. The shop was closed but Mattias knows the guy who owns the record store (and the record label Dungen is on), so we got to go in and buy it at a nice discount. "Nobody knows this," the guy said, "but the studio where this was recorded is down those stairs. It's the perfect, how do you say, front--a reggae shop in Stockholm." I say he gave us a nice discount but, still, American money ain't worth a George Bush. Yesterday I went to the cafe line at the Modern Art Museum and picked out a little shrimp salad, no price marked. $18! My, my. But the view was worth it, it's a beautiful town. And it's a beautiful day, sunny, summery... I'm going to clean the lingonberries and porridge out my bowl and head on out. Tack!

Shove it!

2007-04-08T14:54:00.000-07:00

I quit my job. Something had to give and I gave. April 20th will be my last day and on April 21st I'll have a long flight to some Swedish meatballs to process the past eight years. It had been a long time coming but the actual decision was very sudden, the result of some major personnel changes...the place felt like a sinking ship. As readers of the NoP know I've been thinking about going back to school for counselling; this will allow me to concentrate more on that decision. And I do have a few leads on jobs so I'm sure it'll work out fine. But it's been an emotionally draining week. Glad it's over.

2007-04-01T23:15:00.000-07:00

I can't quite believe how good the new Modest Mouse is. If it and Of Montreal's "Hissing Fauna" don't make my best of 07 list, either this will have proved to be an exceptionally mindblowing year for music or else my attention span is worthless.

Johnny's Stroll

2007-04-01T23:13:00.000-07:00

Watch this brief NBC news clip for a reminder why John McCain is full of shit.

Mr. Jannson's Temptation

2007-03-23T22:05:00.000-07:00

That's my Wacky Packages folder's parody for Swedish Fish. Some of those parodies are pretty lame. I'm in Sweden mode, though, so it makes me chuckle. I'm so in Sweden mode that I special ordered the Mountain Goats album Sweden. The songs have nothing to do with Sweden but the liner notes are a hilarious paranoid rant about the Swede's true intentions (come for the liner notes, stay for the Steely Dan cover).

In 1979's book Meet Sweden Gosta Wadensjo tells us that "the herring dishes are a well know part of the smorgasbord. Amongst the best known of these dishes are herring with onions, marinated herring, herring with dill etc. and the much appreciated 'Mr. Jannson's Temptation' (a dish which is made in the oven consisting of layers of potatoes, anchovies and onions cooked in cream)."

One nice thing about preparing for a Sweden trip is you get to watch a lot of films. I had seen My Life as a Dog years ago, but had forgotten most of it. It's great. Even if you've seen it, if it's been a while rent it for the DVD extra short film Ska vi gå hem till dej eller till mej eller var och en till sitt? (Shall We Go to My Place or Your Place or Each Go Home Alone?). It is very funny.

Kitchen Stories is technically a Norwegian movie, but it gives you some insight into the Swedish psyche.

Kestrel's Eye is a narration-free documentary about some birds that live in a church. I couldn't hack it. It's slooow. It makes that new movie about the monks look like Natural Born Killers. I mean, these birds are natural born killers, but even watching them tear apart a mouse for their chicks was boring.

Together is one of my favorites. Just as Dog Day Afternoon proved a gateway to Elton John, so Together may prove a gateway to ABBA. It also has some great music by Bo Perrson from Trad, Gras och Stenar. Sadly, they are playing Stockholm a week after I leave.

Rick Steves is a dork, but a handy dork.

Great North is a good documentary about the Inuit in Canada and the Sami people in northern Sweden. The Sami used to be called the Lapp and they have lots of reindeer. This was an Imax movie. You get to watch Nanook's grandson build an igloo.

Oh yeah, Bergman is pretty good too.

Gross Story

2007-03-09T22:15:00.000-08:00

Tuesday at the doctor's, waiting to get jabbed with anti-tetanus and tested for various nasty things because I cut my hand at work whilst it was submerged in a sink full of vomit (I was wearing gloves, the sink was clogged, I was trying to unclog the sink, "Somebody puked in the sink," the metal drain stopper was busted and twisted and sharp), I heard one nurse say to another in the hall, "Michael Jackson was charging thirty five hundred dollars for thirty seconds of face time. Not a minute, thirty seconds!"

I think I'm going to try to get a Masters in Mental Health Counseling at Antioch. In April I'll start my first pre-requisite class as Seattle Central: Abnormal Psych. Now, I never even took Psych 101 in college, but if I can't ace Abnormal Psych I haven't been going to work the last eight years. And if that's the case, how am I going to pay for Sweden?

Q: What's the difference between an MFA in Poetry and and an Masters in Counseling?

A: Um, exposure to vomit?

Did I just not get it?

2007-03-04T21:36:00.000-08:00

Any other Rob Corddry fans watch "The Winner?"

2007-03-01T21:26:00.000-08:00

I'm going to Sweden. Carolyn can't go because of vacation time. The building in this picture is the Kulturhuset i Ytterjärna Södertälje, or "cultural center." It is is near Jarna, the village where my friend Mattias lives. I met Mattias in India where we traveled together quite a bit. Jarna's a has an umlaut. It is the center of the Swedish Anthroposophy movement. Wikipedia has a nice article about what that is, but all you need to know is that it's Rudolph Steiner's thing. Mattias isn't part of that scene, but it sounds like he knows a lot of those freethinking folks. Freethinking folks equals cool place to live. Even Michael Medved admitted that. It'll at least be a nice place to visit in late April. Walpurgis Eve is April 30, my last night there. It welcomes Spring. They have bonfires all night. Almost a year ago I posted my shock that Swedish kids dress as witches and go door to door for candy...on Easter. Who knows what crazy shit they do for Walpurgis. Leave teeth beneath their pillows? Pack away their summer whites? Stay tuned.

In other news, I got a phone call from Fabio asking me to enter a contest to visit his grotto.

Theory of the Walking Big Bang

2007-02-23T07:07:00.000-08:00

Robert Krut's new chapbook is out and it has three different covers. I just ordered mine, but I'm not sure which one they'll send. I like the third option as well (devil at the pizza place) but
you gotta go to the AWP conference to get that one. The last time I went to AWP Kurt Cobain died. Anyway, these poems are great and the book is only six bucks and you can pay using Paypal. I love Paypal.

2007-02-23T06:56:00.000-08:00

"Sometimes it's a form of love just to talk to somebody that you have nothing in common with and still be fascinated by their presence."

David Byrne

She was named for her father (and, no, I'm not a fan)

2007-02-15T17:22:00.000-08:00

I'm not saying that Carolyn is hard to impress, but last night when I told her that Anne Rice was born Howard O'Brien she seemed interested for about ten seconds. Then she realized she had misheard me."Oh, I thought you said Ann Rule." Anne Rice, she sniffed, "is already weird."

Guess you gotta get up pretty early to shock ol' CTM.

Even the fact that there are 1,750 O's in a can of Spaghetti O's couldn't dazzle her. She just chose to not believe it.

Snake venom habituation in heroin (brown sugar) addiction: (report of two cases).

2007-02-11T09:43:00.000-08:00

I love India and I love the internet. Click this, scroll down just a wee bit and see what you think...

2007-02-09T21:40:00.000-08:00

This very short movie is really funny and stars the one and only Jen Kays!

Spicoli and me

2007-02-05T18:52:00.000-08:00

Ever since I weaned myself off headphones (not easy, considering my forty five minute morning walk to work and my joint music/NPR addictions), I've relished long rides in the car. I can rock out to something scary that might not play well at home (say, Bobby Beausoleil's soundtrack to Lucifer Rising?) or listen to an extended spoken thing that requires more concentration and still-sitting than I can summon after a workday It's nice... So the idea of loud sounds sweetened the deal today when I considered whether or not to drive fifty minutes in each direction to Ft. Lewis to support Lt. Ehren Watada whose court marital commenced today. It was a last minute decision, sealed on the recumbent bicycle at the Y this a.m. as I read the New Yorker article about Putin's (suspected) assassination of that journalist who wrote about Chechnya. This woman continued speaking out despite constant death threats and the murder of a woman who looked remarkably like her outside her apartment when she was out of the country. Thinking of her and of Molly Ivins' final column in which she said "every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war," made me realize that if, as I was arguing last week to my Dad, I truly believe that public protest can I make a difference, then I have a moral obligation to get out and protest. So I did. It was good, a strong turn out. The quality of the speakers at these things seem to improve the worse things get. It probably helped to have a specific rallying point--Watada and other resisting soldiers. Sometimes, otherwise, the message can get pretty quickly diluted. Watada is facing years in the brig. Driving out there is a tiny gesture, but the sort of gesture I think we all need to be making right now.

Right?

Maybe?

I guess Sean Penn was there, but I didn't see him.

Oh yeah. On the way there I listened to Eckhart Tolle's "Findhorn Retreat." On the drive home it was Sun City Girl's "Carnival Folklore Resurrection." The Tacoma Dome looks even weirder than normal when your stereo sounds like the rabbit ears on your radiation cloud just brought proof deep space has already been colonized by the Vietnamese.

Peace.

Crank

2007-02-02T20:08:00.000-08:00

Are any other of you Bloggers being harassed by Google to register with a Google account, to "Update" to "New" Blogger? I am and I'm annoyed.

I'm also annoyed that I've had nothing I've felt like blogging recently. I've been posting small things so people who make the effort to visit (thank you) don't get annoyed and stop peeking in. This has been unsatisfying to some people who have chosen to remain anonymous.

I am going the Dup route and no longer accepting anonymous comments. Maybe if I ever put poems up again I'll go back on a temporary basis to allowing them, but for now, nah.

Maybe it's because my wife is out of town and it's a boring Friday night but I'm in a cranky mood. On the bright side Killough sent me seven mix CD's he cooked up and they are awesome. Also, Sunday I get to go bowling for my sister's birthday. And today one of my clients expressed concern that the banks might not be open because it's Groundhog Day. What's not to love?

Now I will eat pistachios and watch "Little Dieter Needs to Fly."

Happy Birthday, Scooby!

Bumbershoot's for babies

2007-01-28T17:52:00.000-08:00

When I saw the line-up for the 2007 Coachella Festival on Colin's blog I came this close to buying a plane ticket. But then I remembered that I want to go to Sweden.

You know you're not as cool as you want to be...

2007-01-28T17:48:00.000-08:00

When you take your reggae buying cues from a Judi Dench movie, but I gotta say, Toots and the Maytals "Funky Kingston" is superlative.

State of the Union

2007-01-22T21:48:00.000-08:00

Congratulations Dup and La Ketch!
Congratulations Herb and Constanza!

Nothing like some good news.
Life moving as it should.

Just saw it

2007-01-22T21:43:00.000-08:00

DBD named Children of Men best movie of '06.

I think he's probably correct.

Best of '06

2006-12-19T19:03:00.000-08:00

Like the Dup and Vegh I love the Top Ten/Year's End lists. But I've always been shy about them, prone as I am to regrets and second guessing. But I never had a blog now did I? Inspired by DBD's list, I'm going to give it a go (I'm even going to second some of his choices).

Joanna Newsom Ys

This album has been hyped to the hilt, I know, but it's so damn good. Seeing it performed live made me regret not giving that voice a chance sooner ("Bridges and Balloons" on the "Golden Apples of the Sun" comp was my only exposure and I thought there was no way I could take a whole album of that voice). But this is an amazing work, and it'll be the only album of this year people are listening to in twenty years (statements like that should show why I come to regret these lists, and should also remove any doubt that I am a white guy).Fuck that dreadful album cover.

Bob Dylan Modern Times

I wasn't into the last few albums; all that praise seemed like condescension to a master for not turning into, I don't know, The Stones. But this record sent some chills down my spine, really drew me in. Sure, it's not in his top ten albums, but it's easily the thirteenth best. And god bless him for stealing lyrics from that Confederate poet. Speaking of Bob, has anyone else seen this bizarro documentary "Rolling Thunder & the Gospel Years 1975-1981?" It's four hours long and unauthorized (meaning it contains no actual Dylan music),has absurdly cheesy graphics, and the interviews are conducted by a Dylan impersonater. But he manages to get some great interview subjects and it's pretty damn interesting if you're a, say, more than casual Dylan fan. The more-than-casual Dylan fan who can stand listening to Dylan's Bible School teacher, that is.

Gnarls Barkley Saint Elsewhere

Fun! With just enough undercurrent of Cee-lo's paranoia to make it soulful in an Endtimes sorta way.

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy The Letting Go

Getting to see the ever freaky Mr. Oldham project these songs live with the woman from Faun Fables really solidified my love of this album. Gorgeous. I forgive him all those crap ep's.

Tom Waits Orphans

Tom's the King. I'm a sucker for nearly everything this man has done and so I can't say if this is his best work ever (okay, I can: It's not), but even his throw-aways are golden (it's not his fault that "Sea of Love" is a stupid song). "The Road to Peace" is my favorite political song of the last ten years (I'm making up the number of years).

Belle and Sebastian The Life Pursuit

There's nothing as fine for the ego as feeling like you've "discovered" a band. That hasn't happened much to me (I was the first kid in my school to like U2, but "Sunday Bloody Sunday" was already on WHCN...the great station of my youth which I was heartbroken to discover is now called The River. The. Fucking. River.), but I think I can almost claim Belle & Sebastian. I was in a coffee shop in London and I asked the woman what was playing and it was If You're Feeling Sinister. Okay, so I didn't technically discover them, like hang out at their art school, lurking with a stuffed tiger or anything, but I can claim that when I went looking for it the next morning at the London Tower they looked at me like I was nuts. "Nope, don't know 'em. You know 'em, Alistair?" "No, Cyril..." et cetera. I did eventually did find If You're Feeling Sinister, and loved it. Everything after that seemed good, but just more of the same, until The Life Pursuit. It's a delight. Now they're a band that was great in concert until Stuart starting talking between songs. He really didn't shut up. Hmmm... moving on...

Brightblack Morning Light S/T

Who needs drugs?

Yo La Tengo I am Not Afraid of You and I will Beat Your Ass

Gosh, I wish these guys would stop playing the Showbox so I could stand to see them again. They are great live and this album is a rough gem, though sometimes too Kinks-y (is that really possible?). I have to say that only Joanna can start an album with a song as long as this first track. What I really want them to do is release the soundtrack to Old Joy.

Korean Hebden and Steve Reid The Exchange Session Vol. 1

I don't have the vocabulary even for good ol' fashioned rock and roll so how do I talk about this: Drums. Electronics. Seems like the future, or at least a nice stop along the road.

Califone Roots and Crowns

This isn't my favorite thing by these guys (Sometimes Good Weather Follows Bad People is, but that's maybe because it was the first thing I heard), but it's still pretty great. If you like the newer Tom Waits stuff, or the Old Weird America Dock Boggs buried decaying sound, this is your next favorite band. The cover of Psychic TV's The Orchid alone is worth the price of admission (though I haven't heard the original...Genesis P. Orridge kinda scares me).

In other '06 news:

Karen Dalton In My Own Time

This came out in '70 or something, but no one really knew it until this year. I'm a sucker for a rediscovered lost treasure (Shuggie, Vashti, Skip) and this is worthy of the title. In a better world she would have risen to the top with that voice. I'm not a big fan of covers generally, and I sure as hell never would've thought a Billie Holidayesque hippy's version of When a Man Loves a Woman could stir me so...

Tortoise A Lazuras Taxon

Three discs proving that even their ep's and sidework are amazing.

*Some notable concerts: Joanna Newsom performing the entire Ys album at the dreaded Showbox. The Books at the weird UW HUB cracking us up with bizarre film clips while amazing us that they can pull that sound off live (when are they coming out with a new album??). Elton John at the Key Arena changing my mind about everything I thought I knew about the world (seriously: You would've thought W. gave me a sly wink and I melted into Christopher Hitchens. But in a good way). Os Mutantes at the Moore: Rarely has something that started so awkwardly ended in such transcendence.Nelson Sings Nilsson at Town Hall...the thrill of watching such a ballsy balancing act go down not only without a hitch, but with that rare magic that just one-time-only performance can ever really have. Like theater, right?
* See You in Spokane!
*The Road to Guantanamo You can rent this now. So rent it now.
Time for me to watch Meet the Press.

Happy New Year!

2006-12-12T20:40:00.000-08:00

Did anyone else know about this live Lyrics Born album and not tell me??

2006-12-12T18:43:00.000-08:00

An interesting article about Lou Reed.

2006-12-10T12:04:00.000-08:00

SaveDarfur.org has a post called "Lobby Congress" that's worth checking out...

You can help pressure Congress to do more to help the people of Darfur by meeting with your congressional representative or members of his or her staff. Now that the elections are over, we are asking our activists to meet with their Representative and Senators before the new Congress convenes. …

2006-12-05T18:31:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I posted, but I was writing a novel. 50,000 words! Whew. Now I'm re-reading it, and so far it makes sense. The prose is lame, but the thing moves forward and there's something to build on. Now comes the years of revision. Big congrats to my cohorts Dup, Tina, and Lia for finishing as well. It was exciting... Lia really kicked it hard at the end, 14,000 words in the last four days I think. Wow, that's tough. If you've ever had Paperback Writer stuck in your head, you should try this next year. NaNoWriMo.

But I wasn't just novelling, I was also having a great time with Carolyn's family (including Momster and Jonnynonoin CO. Snow! It was gorgeous. And we managed to miss the insane Seattle snow where everyone freaked out.
******************************************
Last night I saw Joanna Newsom at the Showbox and I'm still jawdropped. Best saw and harp duet this week.

So far.
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Did everyone else realize that Jessica Walter, the mom on Arrested Development played the psycho in Play Misty for Me??

2006-11-21T18:32:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAROLYN!!

Oops

2006-11-14T18:53:00.000-08:00

So I went into Bailey Coy yesterday to order the Sean Nelson book only to find out it doesn't come out till January.

Mea Culpa.

In further oops news, this morning I decided to sleep in an hour later than usual, until 6:20, because I was out past my bedtime learning that one does not need to "smoke da chalice" to feel lifted--one only needs to attend a Lee Scratch Perry concert(I was going to write the "Incomparable Lee 'Scratch'Perry, but, honestly, he was the spitting image of that poor dude in downtown Seattle who yells "Fry Apartments Communists!" all day). So my alarm clock went off and I got up, took my shower. I was feeling spectacularly exhausted but relieved to be up, giving myself a little pep talk. When I toweled off, however, and took a look at the other clocks in the house I saw: 4:20. I got back to sleep, but...

Somewhere Old 'Scratch' was laughing...

2006-11-06T18:57:00.000-08:00

Rigoberto Gonzalez is guest blogger this week for the Poetry Foundation. And his new book Other Fugitives and Other Strangers comes out this week. I got to see him read at Elliot Bay books on Saturday, something I wouldn't have been able to do before switching to day shift.
Yeah, I'm starting to reap the benefits.

Something else to be excited about: Sean Nelson's contribution to the awesome 33 1/3 series came out on the 1st. It's about Joni Mitchell's Court and Spark, an album I've loved ever since my high school woodshop teacher Mr. Legee loaned me his copy. Can't wait to see what he has to say about it.

Not that I'll ever find time to read it. November 30th and the end of National Novel Writing Month seem very far away right now. I've been getting up at 5:15 and typing like crazy, but I'm still only just barely reaching my prescribed daily word count.
Last night, however, I did find time to see Crispin Glover. He answered my question in the Q& A but expressed disappointment the audience wasn't asking harder questions, such as "Why did the film you just showed have people with Downs Syndrome hitting each other with bricks by order of a Nazi Shirley Temple?" He is quite intelligent and thoughtful in person. Inspiring, actually.

As if that weren't enough controversy for a weekend, yesterday I also saw Shortbus. And today my sister and I saw Borat.

Borat is hilarious.

Tonight is Bonnie 'Prince' Billy. He's not controversial (Herbert!), but the idea that I need to wake up at 5:15 tomorrow to make my friggin' word count after being out at a concert till 1:30 a.m., well, that'll be controversial.

Go Dems!

2006-10-29T22:25:00.000-08:00

I don't know how you dayshifters do it. The crowded busses, the crowded offices,
the dark walks to work. Tough stuff. It's been a rough first week. I've learned
that I don't just have difficulty sleeping when I have to wake up early for a plane; I can't sleep worth a damn if I have to get up early for anything. And I've been trying to get up early, with some success, so that I can write some poems before work. Because after work I'm pretty wiped out. But that's probably because of the waking up to check the alarm clock forty nine times a night, paranoid I'm not going to get up in time to write. This is the downside of having been so hooked into a routine the past eight years. Like coffee, a routine can get the job done, but, as with coffee, if things don't go as planned you wind up with a junkie's headache. Right now I'm just eager to get into a nice new routine so I can stay sane through eight hours of my co-workers non-stop chatter. Don't they ever shut up?? They do not. When I worked swing shift I only had to see them two hours a day. But when I worked swing shift I only got to see my wife (awake) for an hour a day. So this is the better deal. And I've certainly capitalized on the new freedom to have a normal cultural life. In the first week I already attended a mindbending Daniel Pinchbeck reading, an amazing poetry reading up the Space Needle, and a great Halloween party. I'm not even counting all the meals I've gotten to eat with my family. When I do the math it all seems well worth the mind-created problems which aren't actual problems after all--things are as they are. Adjustments take longer than a week, right? Besides, who needs a stupid routine to write when I'll have the November 30th deadline of a 50,000 word novel hanging over me starting Wednesday? Gulp.

2006-10-18T11:06:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago one of the clients at work said, "Don't worry, Pete, there's light at the end of the rainbow." I haven't been feeling worried but I do see the light: Next week I switch to day shift. I've been working swing (which is 2:30-11:00; a lot of people confuse it with graveyard) for eight years now so this will be a major change, almost like getting a new job.

The actual working aspect isn't ideal, I'll be working at the same time as my bosses and sharing the office I had to myself--with the stereo to myself--with two other people, but the other changes more than outweigh that. Most importantly I'll get to see my wife for more than thirty minutes at a time. We'll be able to eat dinner together (no more institutional lasagna!). We can go to movies. Poetry readings. Plays. We can see friends! It's all very exciting.

Since I'm such a slave to routine there will be a period of adjustment, especially figuring out when I'm going to write. If I can write a couple hours a day and get some amount of reading and music listening in, then I 'm fine. But right now I'm in an unmotivated limbo. We just got back from LA and that was so fun that it's hard to focus on a daily grind. And it seems silly to start any new poetry projects since November is going to be devoted to doing what Dup is doing: writing a novel for National Novel Writing Month. Join us!