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a classmate found this cartoon that i drew almost 30 years ago. i think she was writing an article for our school paper. we were both on the staff.  ironically i did NOT go on the senior trip. however, i did go back to 1984 this morning to watch electric dreams on youtube.

metcalf south has been a dead mall for over 10 years now. jenny & i checked in last night to see what places were still in business. we remember when it was full of shoppers in the 80′s. the only places that the public can shop now are macy’s, sears, and topsy’s popcorn. movie goers can also go the glenwood arts theater there. most of the foot traffic, however, comes from old people who keep in shape walking the mall. it’s cheaper than a gym membership.

i was teaching CPR to 16 students last night. one of the exercises is back slaps and chest thrusts on an infant mannequin to remove a choking item. during that exercise one of the infants’ head came off, and when i put it on the table to begin compressions and breaths (CPR) the head was on backwards. i didn’t notice what had happened until one of the students started snickering. i thought of that scene from spaceballs where mel brooks can actually look down and see his own butt is because his head is on backwards.

this morning i looked at my blog and thought “where did the week go?” ray milland lost a weekend to heavy drinking, i just lost a week to: coffee, CPR classes, netflicks, youtube, jeep repairs, and a couple of roadtrips.

the yamaha name has been used alot in my family. my uncle used to sell yamaha motorcycles, there is a yamaha piano in my mom’s living room, and my first circuit bending project resulted in the death of a yamaha pss-30 keyboard two years ago. it took that long for me to work up the courage to tinker with a yamaha again. my friend roz found this pss-80 model at a thrift store awhile back, and gave it to me. i got these sounds from it yesterday, and everybody lived.

we had a good time with mondo beep @ first fridays despite a few snafus. first of all i forgot to bring carrots, so we sent hannah, angie, and rebekah to YJ’s for bananas. then the cold temps started to affect some of my equipment, so jerry amped up his keyboard. then the batteries died on one of the boomboxes, so we plugged everything into the other one, and beeped until we were sore. thanks to everyone who came out. oh, and we taught at least 30 people how to play smoke on the water… on bananas.

most guitarists will tell you that the first thing they ever felt cool playing was deep purple’s  smoke on the water. well at tonight’s mondo beep spectacle, we have the carrots tuned up to play that riff. so if you’re headed east past 18th and baltimore, and you’ve never picked up an instrument, you can still play a carrot and make smoke on the water.

a few days ago i emailed a story to the gang @ stuck in the 80s. they pulled it out of the reader mailbag on their halloween podcast that was posted yesterday. it’s a story that i originally wrote and submitted to national public radio’s three minute fiction contest. NPR ignored it, but the kindred spirits at stuck in the 80s read the whole thing on their most recent show. thanks guys! here’s the story. also click here if you want to hear that entire podcast, it’s an awesome tribute to an american werewolf in london.

yesterday i found out that lou reed died over the weekend, sunday to be exact. i had been out of town visiting my sister. this month alone i’ve dealt with 3 deaths among friends and family, all of which were sad and sobering in their own way, but lou reed’s death was different. i had a physical reaction that felt like someone punched me in the stomach. i first heard him in college when one of my roommates played walk on the wild side for me. when i got the news that lou reed was gone yesterday, i hijacked the music @ work and played walk on the wild side, dirty boulevard, what’s good, this magic moment, sweet jane, and iggy pop’s tonight in quick succession.

jerry ponzer came over yesterday. we both had the morning off and used the time to circuit bend, brainstorm, and jam. we’re both looking forward to bringing new gear to the sidewalk next friday for mondo beep.