Caution Ignored

when i finished a morning shift at homer’s yesterday, danny williams was sleeping in his car in front of my house. i woke him up and within a few minutes he threw caution (and his ill health) to the wind, and then proceeded to record some cool riffs. we had some problems getting it on the hard drive (the recording software kept crashing), but we managed to piece together some stuff that sounds like a nightmarish carnival. i’ll post an mp3 soon.

Weddings and Funerals

am i the only one who confuses weddings with funerals? it’s not that i think someone’s life ends when they get married… well, technically the single life comes to an end, i guess, but that is usually a welcome change. what i mean is you attend both occasions in a church (usually), you get dressed up for both, most of the time there is quiet music and flowers, and someone gets up in front of everybody to say things before you all leave together. there are just too many similarities. i never wear a suit except for a wedding or a funeral, it’s easy to get them mixed up sometimes. i have the same problem with lawn mowers and vacuum cleaners.

I Love Rejects

taco bell does a cool thing with their hot sauce packets. they put quotes on each one as if the sauce packet was talking to you. normally they say things like “ahhh we meet again!” or “when i grow up i want to be a water bed.” i don’t know who has the job of writing these, but i’m kinda jealous. one day i thought of rejected sauce packet quotes, and made a list. then i lost the list and forgot all of the quotes except for the one above.

El Paso

my dad used to eat here

last month i stayed with my dad for a few days in el paso. he drove me around in his truck and it felt like old times. before i was old enough to drive, it seemed like we were always going somewhere in his truck. this time we visited with relatives, went to cemeteries, and cool old places in downtown el paso.

Wow, Comments

thanks to everyone who has commented on the posts. sometimes i forget how big the world is, and the odds of of strangers commenting on this blog remain high despite the fact that i feel pretty insulated in my little corner of the world.

The Walk Home

i’ve been walking home since i was 6. back then i had company for the first few blocks (fellow kindergarteners), and we crossed a bridge over the freeway before going our separate ways. now i just have to walk about half the distance, and my mp3 player provides a soundtrack as the sun goes down. tonight i was listening to a stream i recorded recently on CBC radio 3 (canadian radio). this was one of the songs i heard.

Falco

first the tron sequel. then the green lantern. now someone ELSE is digging up the past to make something in the present for future generations, and i can’t wait. thanks to my favorite 80s blog i found out there will be a movie about falco coming soon. even though it’s in german, i’m looking forward to the time warp. rock me (again) amadeus.

Tuesday’s Experiment

i just added a new page, day of mars, that features… well… experiments in sound and music. danny williams comes to my house on tuesday mornings, and we plug stuff into the computer, turn a hand crank, keep an eye on the beaker tubes, and hope for the best. ok, not really, but it feels like it. the audio is odd enough, the impending videos could be a challenge.

What’s Old is New

man… i was surfing my digital TV stations (we don’t have cable) and discovered a new station that airs classic shows like sanford and son, the partridge family, dennis the menace– even vintage saturday morning cartoons. apparently antenna TV aired last month for the first time with a three stooges marathon. advertisers haven’t latched on yet, the commercial breaks are only a minute and a half long right now.

Deliberate Zone Out

photo by christy (janouschek) frierdich

a friend of mine offered some advice when i told him i had trouble sleeping, he said “start doing boring things about an hour before you go to bed.” his point was that if i numbed my brain with dull stuff instead of watching an action movie, or working on something that required alot of concentration, i would have a better chance of falling asleep. it reminded me of how i feel when i drive too long sometimes. well, it’s past my bedtime, and i’m trying to get bored. wish me luck.