Infinite Improbability Blog

Amanda Palmer Sings Lady Gaga's "Pokerface"

2010-04-30T08:08:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE6owd3AfBc

Thank you Amanda Palmer for inserting the rant below and somehow making this song more musical and giving a performance of real empowerment! Hooray! Really worth watching.

she's a consumer and a product
art of conduct
cause she's buying what she's selling
she's not lying, she's just trying to write songs rebelling
just like madonna in the 80's
lumping with her simulcrum
on this logical musical continuum
she typifies Baudrillard's argument
we no longer have the ability to make sense of the distinction between nature and artifice
thus a new culture emerges where
feminity can be read as artifice
the women as signifier

Keith Cary and Bob Armstrong at Old Soul in the Guild Theater Building, Sacramento March 20 2010

2010-03-31T05:50:00.000-07:00

It's always a pleasure to hear and see Bob and Keith, and lately Bob (also creator of Mickey Rat, illustrator of Martin cowboy guitars among many other things) has been busting out this awesome Neronde accordion lately. Look up Keith Cary and you'll be amazed what you find too.
See more at www.youtube.com/valletiberti

Aaron Seeman, Duckmandu -Highway to Hell by ACDC the Final Cut.wmv

2010-01-19T05:37:00.001-08:00

Here is the result of an accordion class on AC/DC's "Highway to Hell." taught by the great Duckmandu!

Check out my new blog "This Accordion Life"

2009-12-11T10:39:00.001-08:00

I have a new blog called "This Accordion Life." that I will posting at mostly from now on. So check me out there, and also all the cool links to the music I put up to share with you!

Playing Metal on Accordion

2009-12-07T08:54:00.001-08:00

I wasn't sure I was going to watch all of this at first when I found it, but it's really funny and it works! Ha ha ha!

Sour Mash Hug Band at Luigi's Nov 19 2009 Fidi Volach.wmv

2009-12-03T23:07:00.001-08:00

Sour Mash Hug Band at Luigi's Nov 19 2009 Hole in My Shoe.wmv

2009-12-03T23:06:00.001-08:00

This is one of my favorite songs performed by the Sour Mash. They are street performers, so I bet they sing it from the heart! I appreciate that.
Julie

Sour Mash Hug Band at Luigi's Pizza Nov 19 2009 PIRATES .wmv

2009-12-03T23:05:00.005-08:00

Sour Mash Hug Band at Luigi's Nov 19 2009 Egyption Ella.wmv

2009-12-03T23:05:00.003-08:00

Sour Mash Hug Band at Luigi's Pizza Nov 19 2009 My Drag.wmv

2009-12-03T23:05:00.001-08:00

the sluggish beast lumbers towards town - by Julie the Bruce

2009-10-26T08:42:00.001-07:00

Here is a little song I came up with this morning on a free bass accordion, a little trainer version. Free bass accordion has a different way of arranging the bass keys than a traditional piano accordion. Therefore I had no way of knowing what pattern the bass keys were in, at least, I haven't learned it yet.
This is a song for all creatures of Halloween forgotten and all the monsters that don't scare us anymore.

the sluggish beast lumbers towards town - by Julie the Bruce

2009-10-26T08:40:00.001-07:00

monsters of accordion finale - "thriller"- at Luigi's Fungarden, Sacramento CA 08 31 09

2009-10-01T22:20:00.001-07:00

Jason Webley Drinking Song 08 31 09 Luigi's Fungarden Monsters of Accordion

2009-09-30T00:09:00.001-07:00

Margarine by Jason Webley (writ by Jana vebrova?) 08 31 09 Luigi's Fungarden

2009-09-29T23:41:00.001-07:00

Geoff Berner The Rich Will Move to the High Ground- Monsters of Accordion

2009-09-16T23:15:00.001-07:00

eric stern the pickpocket t Monsters of Accordion in Sacramento, CA, Aug 31, 2009

2009-09-15T23:09:00.001-07:00

geoff berner weep bride weep

2009-09-15T23:04:00.001-07:00

eric stern i wish I was marlene dietrich

2009-09-15T23:03:00.001-07:00

eric stern the pickpocket

2009-09-15T23:02:00.001-07:00

eric stern monsters of accordion medley one

2009-09-15T23:01:00.001-07:00

stevhen iancu drunken dream at Monsters of Accordion

2009-09-10T23:46:00.001-07:00

stevhen iancu performs "creep" at Monsters of Accordion, Sacramento

2009-09-10T23:17:00.003-07:00

Well, a lot of people have covered this song, but this is still awesome!

Stefanko Iancu Monsters of Accordion third song - Luigi's Fungarden

2009-09-10T23:17:00.001-07:00

stevhen iancu - i don't know song - monsters of accordion sacramento

2009-09-10T23:16:00.003-07:00

Stefanko Iancu Introduction at Monsters of Accordion, Luigi's Fungarden, Sacramento

2009-09-10T23:16:00.001-07:00

My new favorite artist, from The Dolomites.

nameonit

2009-09-10T23:14:00.001-07:00

Here's a little song I wrote for people who spend their money that should be in their handbag ON their handbag. for status. Looks. Trying to be like someone else. Fuck that.

hoist the colors by Julie the Bruce

2009-09-10T23:11:00.001-07:00

Here's the first song I ever learned on accordion, from the 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean movie, the bit where all the pirates are being hanged.

gabby la la intro and pumpkin pie

2009-09-10T23:09:00.005-07:00

kepa junkera 2 encore

2009-09-10T23:09:00.003-07:00

the last song by jason webley at the cotati accordion festival 2009

2009-09-10T23:09:00.001-07:00

accordion apocalypse booth - Renee de la Prade performs Tom Waits chocolate jesus

2009-09-10T23:08:00.003-07:00

Miss Salaneous I don't Want to Grow Up Cotati Accordion Fest

2009-09-10T23:08:00.001-07:00

I don't want to grow up either! I love Miss Salaneous! She's very inspiring to a fledgling accordion player!

renee de la prade - should i stay or should I go 2009 cotati accordion Festival

2009-09-10T23:07:00.003-07:00

Bella Ciao Skyler Fell Slim Chance and Wunder Squirrel at the Accordion Apocalypse Booth

2009-09-10T23:07:00.001-07:00

jason webley - cotati accordion festival 2009 - drinking song!

2009-09-10T23:06:00.001-07:00

2009 cotati festival Trailer

2009-09-10T23:03:00.001-07:00

Here is a trailer I created with clips I filmed to demonstrate how accordions and their music might not be the Lawrence Welk experience they expect! Although, sometimes it is, it's WAY cooler than even I could have anticipated.

wunder squirrel of clowns not bombs at cotati accordion fest 09

2009-09-10T23:02:00.001-07:00

valle with clowns not bombs at accordion apocalypse booth, cotati 2009

2009-09-10T23:01:00.007-07:00

Renee de la Prade cotati accordion festival 2009 at accordion apocalypse booth

2009-09-10T23:01:00.005-07:00

luz the mariachi cop with a cap gun at accordion apocalypse booth

2009-09-10T23:01:00.003-07:00

Clowns Not Bombs at Cotati Accordion Festival 2009 pt 1

2009-09-10T23:01:00.001-07:00

parade at cotati accordion festival 2009 part 1 at accordion apocalypse booth

2009-09-10T23:00:00.003-07:00

Miss Salaneous Where we all come from Cotati Accordion Fest

2009-09-10T23:00:00.001-07:00

2009 cotati festival promo video

2009-09-02T23:46:00.001-07:00

nameonit

2009-07-31T19:34:00.001-07:00

Name On It
©2004 Julie Bruce

Youve got a bag with a name on it

But it isnt yours

Youve got a hat with a team on it

But they dont know who you are

Youve co-opted fame

To buy yourself a name

Cos you dont know who you are

And youre not going to try and find out

Oh no

Maybe you feel better because youve

Got them on your side

You dont feel alone because theyre

Someone you admire

One of the beautiful

With all that theyre asking for

One of the beautiful

Maybe youre just trying to impress

Maybe youre just a mess

Their success might

Rub off on you

Who knows maybe youll be a celebrity

too

One of the beautiful

With all that theyre asking for

One of the beautiful

all that youve obtained

Has gone to buy their wealth and fame

Made them who they are

But they are your heroes

Accounts filled with zeros and

You are just a no one

Trying to find a way to feel free

Trying to find a way to be

One of the beautiful

With all that youre asking for

One of the beautiful

One of the beautiful

With all that youre asking for

One of the beautiful

There are various people we all know who seem to like to talk about celebrities like they are their personal friends, who dress like them, vomit like them, and try to suck on the teat of their fame in hopes they might get a taste of being "One of the beautiful". Maybe by association, some of that fame will rub off.
Unfortunately, these superstars could give a rat's ass about you and me, so why do we care so much about them and being like them? I don't know.
In any case, people waste loads of money trying to have all the stuff celebrities have, and trying to look like them. Maybe if everyone was trying to make their own lives more interesting, they wouldn't have to look to someone else to try to fill the gap for them.
And maybe if everyone was just trying to be themselves, the rest of us wouldn't feel have as much social pressure to try to fit in and be like each other. Wouldn't it be nice if we could all just feel comfortable in our own skins however we look and regardless of how many expensive things we have? Once before television, or movies, or photographs, when everyone just was who they were and didn't have ridiculous expectations to live up to in appearances or material possessions? What a concept!!!

Quiz: Did anyone happen to notice I don't shave my armpits? That's right, GOD MADE WOMEN WITH ARMPIT HAIR. Ha ha! Suck on it, Gillette!

Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Up Above My Head

2009-06-27T17:46:00.001-07:00

I gotta wonder why she wasn't as big as Chuck Berry? Other than her playing was more skilled, and oh yeah, she's a woman! Ha.

my clone sleeps alone as performed by julie the bruce

2009-06-24T22:27:00.001-07:00

I like my version better. I hear Pat still sings it. I bet I like her version better now too.

पुर्सुएद बी अ ग्रंन्य!

2009-06-22T10:06:00.000-07:00

I was walking through the farmer's market yesterday morning with my husband. Things were going well, and a friend we met in passing had just given us both a delicious sweet pea from the bag she had been snacking on. As we went on our way seeking out the peas for ourselves, my husband noticed a booth selling dates. We stood there looking at it until a hunched and scowling little old lady with huge optometrist sunglasses and a black dyed old lady mullet pushed her bike right up to me. Apparently, we were in her way, and she wasn't moving forward unless we got out of her way.

Taking a moment to assess my peripherial vision, I observed that there was a clear path both in front of and behind me she could have easily taken, so I said quietly as I took a couple of steps forward, "Not pushy at all."

She started to say something as she passed behind me which might have been a haughty "What did you say?", but the blood was already starting to rush in my ears so I'm not quite sure. As she pushed forward through the space in which we had standing, all the while glaring at the back of my head, my husband might have been smiling painfully and saying about then something like, "Oh, I'm sorry, were we in your way? SOOOO sorry. Have a very pleasant day." And this time I hollered " NOT PUSHY AT ALL!"

She stopped a few feet past us, and turned and glared at us; or me, I can't tell with those horrible sunglasses.

She said something like, "What did you say, fatass?!?!" but like I said, blood was rushing in the ears. My god, I thought, this is going to get UGLY! I wasn't sure whether to feel threatened or laugh.

So suddenly, I had a nemesis. She was eying me down. No wait, she was coming after me, angrily pushing her bike with the might of....a wind up toy.

As she slowly plunged towards me, I was aware that my husband was offering me a date, and eating one himself, apparently, nonplussed. I however, was realizing my state of mind was too over-caffeinated and underfed to make any kind of decision about how to deal with this situation in some kind of rational manner, now that, beyond my expectations, it had escalated.

How did I know I was incapable of dealing with this rationally? The only two options I could think of were telling her to f*#k off or throwing the spent sweet pea hull at her. As she was nearly upon me at this point, I had to think of something fast that was a better idea. And I then realized that there was only one other option, and that was to walk away.

So, I casually strolled away at a slightly faster than normal pace, like she didn't even exist, coffee in hand, other hand casually in pocket, mashing the sweet pea.

Anyone looking on may not have noticed her slow speed pursuit of me, but she was on me. At first, I went right, hoping to go by the booth where occasionally an onion was flying fifteen feet up in the air, hoping that would maybe be too shocking for her to deal with. Halfway there, I realized this was silly, and changed directions. She changed directions too. This would bring her nearer to me, so I slowly started around the circuit away from her, like I was just a shopper.

I watched her mimic my directions from the other aisle of booths. After a few minutes, she was starting to catch up to me. I realized I could get her in the corner and cut through the flower booth (which had a path too narrow for her to get her bike through) and create a good distance between us and lose her. She succeeded in falling for this trap.

I proceeded back the way I had came, casually walking against traffic. And she was still following me. I passed through layers and layers of people; people with strollers, tall people, large groups of people, people with their hands full of bags, drinks, babies, and each other. As I got to the end of the crowd, I could tell she had lost sight of me, and I found a stack of conveniently placed vegetable pallets to casually lean against.

As I basked in the morning sun shining through between the freeways, I occasionally turned and looked to see if she was still at it. She was. She was still looking for me, and it had been like, 10 minutes of red hot pursuit at 1 mph so far. How long could this go on? And what would she do if she found me anyway? Well, if she did...I was still holding that pea hull.....

In the midst of the crowd almost beside me but 20 feet away, she had stopped and was looking about. If she had looked my direction, she probably could have seen me easily enough. But she didn't. Blocked now by the pallets another way, I could change directions and go to the vegetable booth where they were holding a tomato plant for us. So I went back there and talked to them for a while, in hopes my husband would come back there for the plant and find me there too. What had happened to him? He was probably still standing there, wondering where I had been (this was actually the case).

Eventually, I had to go back and find my man, who was waiting for me where we had met up with her, the place I least wanted to be found by her . But there was no sign of Scowling Granny Mullet, and we had a nice experience after that. But I'm keeping my eyes open just in case......

4 the of July

2008-07-04T00:28:00.000-07:00

Goforth of July

Fireworks sounding like footsteps

An invading army

Of one

Drum roll please!

Marching across the continents to slay with his might

Begin wars with his power

And take away the light of the world

With his own rocket light laser beams exploding cartridges

FIENDISH SIRENS lazy whistling screams

Fireworks pound like the giant’s feet

Stepping across the continents

A conquering giant

He lumbers from lust to stamp out all his

Opposition

His clumsy steps, his strides long

Unplanned and thoughtless to begin with

They never finish

His grim jaw

Is set to never meet defeat

Constantly searching for an enemy

But he has conquered all

All but his own self

He has searched the world

And in his long glance,

He still doesn’t see what he wants

So he keeps walking

Though he’s conquered the world

with the beat of his footsteps

He feels his own power

In the shudders of those who

Stand to lose it all

So he strides large

And looks good

And smiles to show he’s right

And raises his fist to the sky

But all that he’s taken is the result of his might

And his twisted desire to set it all right

But all he is doing is pounding away

the echoes of the feet of the giant ring from the hills

somewhere in the world every night.

By Julie E. Bruce

I'm playing a gig this next Thursday at a Bowling Alley

2008-04-04T00:25:00.000-07:00

We'll be playing in the "300" room, playas! Come with Clean socks and
Dirty Minds!
I headline.

Julie the Bruce
Aliciya Phillips (trance and electronica)
Jason (A comedian we know nothing about, and he's playing in West
Sacramento at a bowling alley! Be afraid?!?!?)
Capitol Bowl, 900 West Capitol Ave, West Sacramento, 95691
Thursday April 10th
8pm
I go on at 10 or something.
I think it will be a most interesting and entertaining night! I may
debut my new hybrid guitar!

http://www.myspace.com/aliciyaphillips
www.myspace.com/rantingmanor

See ya there!

Volcanic Ash Gets a Makeover

2008-03-26T10:06:00.000-07:00

"Vog"
"Vog" is apparently the combination of the two words "volcano" and "smog". I wasn't aware they had started officially calling volcanic ash plumes vog. When I saw the headline "Vog from Kilauea" I thought they had discovered some kind of troll.
Or, something like-
"Surrender earthlings, I am Vog!"
Or, a band named Vog perhaps?
Vog the Destroyer?
:)

(from NASA)
Vog from Kilauea
In late March 2008, Kilauea Volcano on Hawaii’s big island released a plume of ash and/or steam. The U.S. Air Force Weather Agency reported that the eruption created an area of vog, or volcanic smog, extending westward over the Pacific Ocean.......etc.....

Deal!

2008-02-20T10:12:00.000-08:00

I only wish this was the view out my window! (Pelican Inn, Muir Beach 2007)
It's a cloudy, misty morning which has caused me to drag out my nearly unlistened to Smiths CD. Hang the DJ. Oh yeah, and out the window I can see a cemetery. But I'm no teenager so I feel happy! I'm certainly too cheerily dressed for all this gloom in green and blue. My newts are appropriately attired in orange and black. I'm eating pie and watching them. The pie is really good. I baked it so it should be.
Tonight there is a full lunar eclipse while we take a lesson from Keith Cary in Davis tonight called "Plays Well with Others." Today I'm going to draw and play and walk to the local market for some coffee and ham.

Today's Commandments

2008-02-18T09:14:00.000-08:00

Dance to the Small Faces, especially "I Can't Make It".
Eat some pie.
Play some guitar.
Go for a walk in the cemetery.
Bother the Cat That Smells Good.
Sit outside in the sun.
Record some songs.
Bother the cat some more.
Drill holes in wooden feet.

Sweet sweet strange meat

2008-02-02T13:02:00.000-08:00

I thought that lately I'd been trying strange new meats. But really, In my early years I was raised on tripe soup, pighead soup, goat meat tacos and lamb. My stepmother hails from Mexico City and was very resourceful at making delicious food out of foods usually considered too out there or gross to eat here. Like menudo. REAL menudo. I never even asked what the soup was made of. Honestly, there really wasn't a whole lot else around to eat so you kinda had to eat it.
Not only that, she used to cook a huge pot of her soups and leave it on the stove for the several days it would be eaten for lunch and dinner. If you get my drift, that means that it doesn't get refrigerated. Recently my husband has taken up the practice of cooking a whole chicken (including the organs) in nothing but a little salt and water and garlic, per my stepmother's instructions. It gets simmered until the meat is still slightly pink and tender (best- takes at least an hour and a half after it comes to a rolling boil), or falling off the bones. We eat off of it for several days, leaving it on the stove and bringing it slowly to a rolling boil for about ten minutes every meal. We use organic chickens- it's the only way. It's cheap and super nutritious. We add vegetables to the broth at the last half hour of cooking, and daily as the soup is boiling- carrots, celery and leeks, fresh thyme and rosemary. I don't recommend mushrooms early in cooking or root vegetables other than carrots. If you can find some hominy, you could throw that in in the last half hour of cooking for a little extra energy in your meal. Add some thinly sliced cabbage and/or cilantro on top of your soup at the end with some fresh lemon squeezed over it and find out how fine all the flavors work with each other. If you actually try to save a non-refrigerated soup be of good digestive health. Don't disturb the film on the broth before the soup has boiled for eating. Don't allow the pot to be moved. And of course you are trying this at your own risk. I don't advise it for the heat of summer either.
She used to make a very rich spicy broth out of some of the same things but I have no idea what the recipe is for that. That should be my next subject of investigation!
But I digress.
We've been eating home grown sheep, lamb, rabbit, and some store bought duck. Buffalo is a staple from our local Co-op (it's so much better tasting and healthier than beef). But nothing compares to venison.
We recently bought a package of New Zealand farm raised venison. I had eaten venison as a child and remembered it fondly. It had been so long ago I couldn't remember what it tasted like. I eagerly anticipated the meal. Nothing could have prepared me for the experience.
Out of the package the meat had such an aroma it just blew my mind. It looked and smelled reminiscent of buffalo, but also had this amazingly intoxicating lavender/bark/forest/incense scent that blew my mind. What made the meat smell this way? What was the deer's diet?
It was like finding some crazy meat flower if you closed your eyes and tried not to think of it being meat.
I spiced it very sparsely with a small amount of salt and pepper and cooked venison burgers.
I overcooked my burger, but it was sweet and tender and retained the fragance of the raw meat. It may very well be my favorite meat far above the others. It was a great meal!
Next, I'm told we're in store for a nice buffalo toungue. I wonder what that will be like!

delicious digestive health

2008-01-27T23:48:00.000-08:00

Of all things, Kraft apparently has a new healthy cheese out. You mean, Kraft makes cheese?
I was fascinated by the fact that Kraft was promoting something supposedly healthy, and possibly cheese. I went to a Google link to Kraft.com to try to find out more about Kraft making supposedly real cheese, possibly in stick form.

Instead of Kraft, I ended up at a website called qualityhealth.com (your healthy lifestyle resource). I was being encouraged to sign up for healthy samples. There were some product names off to the side and Kraft was one of them, but I definitely was not at Kraft.com. And I'm not sure what this site had to do with health either. It was becoming more unlikely in my mind that Kraft had made cheese, and even more unbelievable that it would be healthy. I think this was all a clever way to associate Kraft products with health.
I continue to look for reasons why Kraft and healthy food should be considered as one. I clicked on "home" and wondered if it would take me to Kraft, it did not, but I did find a survey as to whether I was emotionally intelligent, articles on things like mustard health benefits, and a lot of ads for prescription drugs. Well, I suppose Kraft might have something to do with prescription drug companies. Perhaps they were drugging the cheese with anti depressants?
SOOOOO.......
I went to kraftfoods.com, which was the right place to go, as a giant football shaped cheese log was the main graphic on the page, in all it's cheese product glory. But they did have several health related pages, including their South Beach diet products (they claim- Our food tastes so good you’ll wonder what it was you were doing before you started living), and lots of sweets that are sugar free. By the way Splenda users, do you know how BAD that stuff is for your pancreas? Just you wait. You can't fake it hon, ya can't. Speaking of fake, where's that cheese they keep pushing in the commercials, with happy looking women in it? Who eats straight cheese anyway? Where's the damn cracker!

Finally I found it-" LiveActive Natural Cheese snacks combine the great taste of Kraft cheese with probiotics – live natural cultures that help regulate your digestive health in 2 weeks."
The great taste of Kraft CHEESE with probiotics (yes the stuff in yogurt). But they are natural cheese snacks, how can they then taste like Kraft "cheese"? Plus, if you can just scarf straight cheese, it's no wonder you have some digestive health problems!

The liveactivefoods page invited me to "join the movement." Ha ha. They, like Dannon, claim they can make you more regular in like, 2 weeks. They say the cheese sticks or cubes are made the same way that regular Kraft Cheese Snacks are made....so can they really claim it's natural cheese?

I took the "gut check" they offered and I was told I was "doing a great job with my daily relaxation". A great job with my daily relaxation?!?!? I'm a borderline insomniac you False Cheese Barons! What does my daily relaxation have to do with my bowels? I was also told that I should drink 9-13 glasses of liquid a day. Geez! They said take something called "prebiotics". I've worked in the health foods fields and I have never heard of "prebiotics." Hunh? Some people just call that eating healthy.

I have to say, I had no idea so many people apparently suffer from digestive problems that more than one company seems to be marketing the fight for good digestion. Is it maybe because they made the products that made people suffer bad digestion in the first place?!?!? Don't think I wax too much on the subject, you'll understand how much this is a foreboding circumstance when you can't buy butter or frosting anymore, and you have to buy black market cake to get real sugar and fat and chocolate. Don't laugh now when someday you can't have your damn real cookie. My cousin used to make the best chocolate chip cookies ever. Now he puts Splenda or some fake crap in them and everyone who eats them has the shits all Xmas and they don't know why. But I do!

I looked up the cheese. Interestingly, I was not able to look up the nutritional information on the individual flavors, just a generic listing. And that had 11% of your daily requirement for sodium in 7 chunks of cheese, as well as 20% of saturated fat. Give me some cheese flavored chips instead, something to chew on! And why is it marketed towards women specifically? Aren't men the ones always farting?
I looked, but I couldn't get an ingedients listing at all, which means to me, it just must not be real cheese. This is not a real marketing campaign. This is just a bunch of crap to help you crap. Go eat some damn yogurt if you want culture, and have some whole grain bread for cryin' out loud!
I wonder how many people who are healthy will just eat it and shit all over themselves thinking that's how it's supposed to be. DON'T BELIEVE THE FALSE CHEESE BARONS!!!!!
Just keep in mind that these are the recipes the Kraft site is currently hilighting on their main page, and then think about them promoting healthy "natural" cheese. Whatever.
*Bacon Cheeseburger Roll-Up *Chicken Wing Basics *Cheese 'n Ham Spirals
Boy, it really sounds like they are interested in my health!

Martin Luther King Jr Day Parade 2008 in Sacramento

2008-01-22T00:26:00.000-08:00

So, this year, I finally got up in time to make sense of the pounding drums outside and realized I was actually off my lazy ass early enough to go down and have a gander at the annual Martin Luther King Jr
parade. It's just two blocks from my house on my favorite street, 21st. I have a warm special feeling for 21st St. I feel a special appreciation for MLK too, in addition to other more obvious reasons, also because we share a birthday.

It was pretty amazing to see a thousand or two people streaming in both directions far as the eye could see at ten in the am on a holiday. Very convenient way to keep an eye on the kids, you know. It seemed the whole police force was out to guide traffic. I wondered if passersby, who probably couldn't tell it was a parade, wondered whatall the kids were being herded along for and if something sinister was afoot.

It was clear to me this was an event most of the kids in the parade
only knew as something they had to practice marching for and didn't know what the day really represented. There were drums, but I never heard any other instruments! Is that what budgetcuts have done, you have the whole band, but only the drum has survived? They played one drumbeat, like a heartbeat. I KNOW I saw pompoms. They can afford pom poms but not...anything...else? I actually saw more guns than instruments being paraded, by that I mean,officer's guns, and guns the little kids carried for some parade reason. I'm not sure why.

Still, you have to wonder about the lady with the "Attention, the hate word N*igg*r is not used here" sign, and what does she really think that is all about? Does SHE think it's funny, or did she really have the same message as the lady a few steps back who had a sign that read "The "N" word isn't used here" without actually using that word like they say they don't use it!??!?? WHAT!?!?!

The "Crack is never good" man made a local celebrity out of himself with his megaphone, sometimes he would be surrounded by local paparazzi. He drove in and out of the parade route so he could shout a little more. But I didn't hear any inspirational music, or speeches, other than Crack mans. He was telling the brothers to clean up you
know. He had a pretty good rant.

It was pretty interesting overall, very low key, and I dumpstered some kids huge felt flag out of the dumpster by the Press Club someone got sick of carrying. It has some kind of eagle onit, a bunch of green felt letters- it's huge! Best dumpster score in years!

I know, represent. Be good kid.

Dreams are Idea Eggs

2008-01-21T01:17:00.000-08:00

I live by a cemetary and the moon is shining on the headstones. I can see them from my window. I like to wake up to fog. I wish I could enjoy cold and damp as much as warm and toasty, but it's so cold out. But I love that too. I wish I could burrow in damp oak leaves under a stone. I want to live in a cloud. I wish I really wanted to walk around all night like an animal taking in the smells and noises in the brush,but f*ck that!
Lately I have been frustrated by life and myself and people who aren't good at what they do. Or their really good at doing nothing. Does the world really mean for us to all stand around? Because I'm down for that.
I love the feel of clean teeth but I hate brushing them.
I'm writing a book about a virtually immortal vampire girl I dreamt about years ago. She's got a half dead but immortal cat-sister in her care that was unearthed alive from a grave after 600 years, and that has telepathy. The dream set the whole premise for the story I'm writing now, gave me a background. It's great when I have dreams like that.
Lately, I've been sleeping a lot because the dreams are getting more intense. A lot of the time, they have newts in them. A lot of the time, mountains. I recommend waking up after sleeping for 4 hours, falling back asleep, and waking again after 3 hours. Lately I have gotten back into dreams where they left off when I woke up for the first time. You have to really want that for it to happen.

transfer

2008-01-17T11:50:00.000-08:00

These are a few of my favorite things

2008-01-15T08:50:00.000-08:00

Deep valley fog
a hot cup of coffee waiting after not too long of a walk
orange
juice
theymightbegiants
guitar in the afternoon
cat nearby

A night of, what was I doing before i drank some whiskey?

2008-01-09T22:58:00.000-08:00

It seems only appropriate that my first blog under a Douglas Adams reference should be about being too unclear in the head from drink. I'm looking for a job but don't want one; the lack of attention to the installation of a gas stove seems to cause no end of problems. It almost seems easier to get a job than to wait around for my apartment to be fixed poorly. The pothead contractor who gave me a copy of his Americana CD and who installed a new shower for the second time seems to have gone wrong and now water seems to be seeping into the walls again. I bathed in a mushroom of his making from 5 years ago, and I'm bound to do so again.

In the meantime I can't be sure if the meth-heads who installed the oven won't slay me in the near future with some detail they forgot in this explosive necessity of the kitchen. I'm drunk, so why can't I just enjoy myself? I feel like the world is out to dissapoint me.

And why is it all of these people in the same town as me seem to write about all the things I like and go to the same places I go and discovered on my own and get cool points when I am a nobody? I bet they are not nearly as articulate drunk as I am. I would have gone into journalism if my teacher hadn't told the jocks it was OK to alter the quotes they collected in their interviews to make them "more exciting". It was too much to hear a teacher who taught journalism in Hawaii as well as Sactown advocating exaggeration and lies.

Perhaps that is my problem. I don't kiss enough ass. This MO seemed to work for me well in the past, but lately the stakes are high. Or perhaps they are just.....too comfortable. I know people think I am rude- I have been accused of being from New Jersey more than once. I have sometimes wondered if they are my people, and all these soft Californians (yes I was born and raised in Cali) are just a bunch of wusses I should abandon because they want truth to be.....more manufactured, softer, gentler. I don't want to tell people lies just so they feel good about themselves. Is that an attitude problem?

I am not going to go to see bands I don't like and tell them they are great when they sound like copies of every band that will pass over in the next 2 years. I won't tell them that they played a great cover of Satanic Majecties Request. I won't tell anyone that. I'll listen the CD it was first on.
I was playing songs that sound like these bands on my radio show six years ago. You sound just like them- you are behind the times. I found other things to play than those bands 5 years ago that sounded better.
I don't sound like anyone else that I've ever heard. Who sounds like both Joey Ramone and Joan Baez? That's ridiculous. But, the person who told me that was right the fuck on.
Everyone in a band here knows that when they go to another city on tour no-one will give a rat's ass about their lousy covers and sour harmonies and the songs they wrote to sound like that OTHER song on the radio and they'll come back and cower in the local scene. I haven't even played guitar in weeks because I've been trying to "fine tune my resume". What a load of crap. I'm so bloody bored. But when I try to do something real every one else doing it is fake and can't appreciate it, even if they say they do. I can't try to do it with all these bloody false idiots who make something out of nothing lives by creating a story around themselves being my audience. My life has always been more than real, with all it's faults, and it must be too much for people who are used to "carefully crafting an image for themselves." Does that make you cool now? I always thought it was a perversion. Did ya hire an image consultant?

I still can't believe there are people my age who can be believed for being deep and interesting just because they spend a lot on clothes to create a rock star image when they are just party favors. Screw you. I'll show you. I'm writing a comic, new songs that don't follow the pattern, and an f-ing bloody musical. You idiots are SHOPPING. Your shirts have bloody birds on them. Mine have suits with TVs for heads. What is more interesting? Yes I can draw, I can silk screen, I've designed CD covers, magazine covers, my songs have been covered (and they are songs that tell you it's OK to be you and not someone on a bloody magazine or on TV). Oh, so sad, does no one remembers the first bands in the 90's that made it be ok for girls to be in rock bands for the 5th time? What would have happened to you petty little cover singers without us? Won't some one ask me to sing "I'm just a girl" again? PISS OFF!
I am more optomistic than most, but I have no faith in people lately. I've heard enough lies where musicians that were terrible were being told they were great. It makes me wonder if anyone knows what music is anymore. Lately, I've been having a good time sleeping. My dreams hold the best future- ultimate thrift stores...newts and singing newts, new songs,....my mom dating an African American boyfriend. It's much better than the reality you losers make available for anyone here. It's hard to believe you accept what you cultivate as being the best thing you could ask for. There is so much more, baby, than you know of. Open your eyes, sweetheart. I am it. And I am going to go to sleep, and dream dreams you only wish you had. If you are lucky, maybe I'll tell you what they are.