my friend wants me to go see the hives with him this weekend. i'm really not a big fan of the hives, but i figured if the opening act was decent it might be worth the company.
the opener, however, is the donnas, who i've never been a fan of because they're not that good to begin with and they make it hard on the rest of us girls who want to be taken seriously as musicians and not just as jailbait eye candy.
it's also a blast from the past when the girl i was playing with had a dad who was all about the donnas (and gwar, strangely enough) and wanted us to cover their songs. i remember thinking they were lousy then, and as far as i can tell, they've only gotten worse.
the donnas remind me of the days of playing in doomed high school punk bands covering 'smells like teen spirit,' 'california uber alles,' and bikini kill... going out for pizza and arguing about politics, trying to go diy and put on shows that fell through. you didn't need to date in high school if you had your band to spend the weekend with.
i don't talk to any of those people i used to play with anymore... drummer went to brown university, one guy books bands now, another lives in argentina, and the others i lost touch with, though i still hear rumors of so-and-so moving back this way or doing a lot of drugs. me? i never got to have my awesome indie/garage combo in college though i tried, but i've been playing bass at church with some very gifted people over the past couple years and that's kept me somewhat up on it.
i wonder if the kids are just playing guitar hero now instead of bashing out green day songs in the living room...
Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
loveless cleveland...
sometimes i want to invent an imaginary boyfriend.
it would make certain aspects of life much easier.
and it could be someone like trent:
it would make certain aspects of life much easier.
and it could be someone like trent:
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
panderbears
they've blocked off lots of the streets down here for the big event tonight. with most of the tickets going to major democrat party players, i didn't bother entering the lottery and will be watching the debates on the tv in the basement at my long neglected art table while drinking several pots worth of green tea.
i saw michelle obama speak here last week (what a classy person and great speaker. we were joking that we would vote for her if we had to), and john mccain's tour bus rolled by me and ken when he was giving me a ride home, and dennis is still protesting the war and taking pictures with old ladies at the west side market and i find myself restraining giggles when i walk by him.
the amount of smearing going on this year is absurd beyond belief, both locally and nationally. if i was the one having my kindergarten essays analyzed and awkward photos circulated, i'd be furious. which is why i never ever want to be famous or be in the position of running a very large country.
possibly another art show in the works at the church. i'll be teaming up with a guy who's a real artist as in the kind that does big gorgeous 6 foot long oil paintings as opposed to my amateur work using recycled failed art projects and trashpicked canvases. he's a graffiti fan too and is going to be showing me his shots from when they lived in new york.
getting all inspired again.
i saw michelle obama speak here last week (what a classy person and great speaker. we were joking that we would vote for her if we had to), and john mccain's tour bus rolled by me and ken when he was giving me a ride home, and dennis is still protesting the war and taking pictures with old ladies at the west side market and i find myself restraining giggles when i walk by him.
the amount of smearing going on this year is absurd beyond belief, both locally and nationally. if i was the one having my kindergarten essays analyzed and awkward photos circulated, i'd be furious. which is why i never ever want to be famous or be in the position of running a very large country.
possibly another art show in the works at the church. i'll be teaming up with a guy who's a real artist as in the kind that does big gorgeous 6 foot long oil paintings as opposed to my amateur work using recycled failed art projects and trashpicked canvases. he's a graffiti fan too and is going to be showing me his shots from when they lived in new york.
getting all inspired again.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
song of the day: martina topley-bird
i've been on a twilight singers kick recently and this is evidently one of greg dulli's favorites. this was a random album pick from a venture to the cleveland public library and i think i'm going to have to pick it up at some point.
to only sweeten it, she's backed here by mark lanegan and josh homme.
i'm always down for some anthemic trip-hop britpop sweetness.
to only sweeten it, she's backed here by mark lanegan and josh homme.
i'm always down for some anthemic trip-hop britpop sweetness.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
blood...
first thing this morning on the way in to work...
i saw a dead body on the heating vent in front of keybank. there was a sheet over him but his head and his feet stuck out and there was blood everywhere, blood on the sheet. people were walking by as if nothing had happened but one of the women on my bus crossed herself.
what was really strange though is that there was no tape around it, no cops or ambulances. he was just lying there. i wonder if there's even any family to bury him.
i don't even know how to process this yet. i have no idea how he ended up there but i'm sure that life didn't work out the way he would have wanted it.
i saw a dead body on the heating vent in front of keybank. there was a sheet over him but his head and his feet stuck out and there was blood everywhere, blood on the sheet. people were walking by as if nothing had happened but one of the women on my bus crossed herself.
what was really strange though is that there was no tape around it, no cops or ambulances. he was just lying there. i wonder if there's even any family to bury him.
i don't even know how to process this yet. i have no idea how he ended up there but i'm sure that life didn't work out the way he would have wanted it.
Friday, February 15, 2008
super shout out
this goes out to my dear friend and wonderful person scott.
i'm gonna get your name in neon like this guy for your birthday.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
valentine...
i love how everyone suddenly discovers ohio when it's election season. the rest of the time it's flyover territory and punchlines but then suddenly anyone who's anyone CARES.
when you get phone calls on your answering machine from jimmy hoffa, hillary clinton, token conservative talking head, and the union you're part of because suddenly your voice "matters" when someone's got an agenda.
and it honestly feels a bit patronizing.
especially when all these people fly in and stay at the renaissance hotel to "dialogue" about poverty, or attend some conference about whatever trendy topic of the day. we're a photo-op and backdrop town, good for generic street scenes of hollywood blockbusters, or for candidates to talk about the desperate straits of "america's families."
i guess i shouldn't complain because it generates money for the economy. but still.
i don't get as angry about politics as some of the people i know do. i don't expect too much so i'm not let down too badly. as cynical as it is, i believe that most people who get to the level of power to run the country aren't the best ones to do the job.
i get more frustrated on the local level when i see how people who contribute lots of campaign cash to advance their own interests and monetary gain. when i see how much the payday lending check cashing people contributed to political campaigns, the way that funding for post-secondary programs that me and many of the people i knew benefited from is being cut off from students who aren't in the public school systems because our governor gets a lot of support from the teachers unions. i love how our governor decides that screwing over people who shouldn't probably be drinking and gambling in the first place is a good idea because it'll help the state as a whole.
if it wasn't for the fact that i love where i live so much, and love the people i'm around, i'd leave like everybody else. but for some reason i'm crazy and i'm going to stay and try to keep some hope alive.
i want to buy a home within the cleveland city limits. i'm going to take advantage of the free schooling that my employment allows me and take classes in urban studies. i'm going to get more involved in my place of worship and the neighborhood around it by working from the ground up, taking care of these seeds that God has sown in the most unlikely places.
after all, he chose to come from a place where people said "can anything good come out of there?"
when you get phone calls on your answering machine from jimmy hoffa, hillary clinton, token conservative talking head, and the union you're part of because suddenly your voice "matters" when someone's got an agenda.
and it honestly feels a bit patronizing.
especially when all these people fly in and stay at the renaissance hotel to "dialogue" about poverty, or attend some conference about whatever trendy topic of the day. we're a photo-op and backdrop town, good for generic street scenes of hollywood blockbusters, or for candidates to talk about the desperate straits of "america's families."
i guess i shouldn't complain because it generates money for the economy. but still.
i don't get as angry about politics as some of the people i know do. i don't expect too much so i'm not let down too badly. as cynical as it is, i believe that most people who get to the level of power to run the country aren't the best ones to do the job.
i get more frustrated on the local level when i see how people who contribute lots of campaign cash to advance their own interests and monetary gain. when i see how much the payday lending check cashing people contributed to political campaigns, the way that funding for post-secondary programs that me and many of the people i knew benefited from is being cut off from students who aren't in the public school systems because our governor gets a lot of support from the teachers unions. i love how our governor decides that screwing over people who shouldn't probably be drinking and gambling in the first place is a good idea because it'll help the state as a whole.
if it wasn't for the fact that i love where i live so much, and love the people i'm around, i'd leave like everybody else. but for some reason i'm crazy and i'm going to stay and try to keep some hope alive.
i want to buy a home within the cleveland city limits. i'm going to take advantage of the free schooling that my employment allows me and take classes in urban studies. i'm going to get more involved in my place of worship and the neighborhood around it by working from the ground up, taking care of these seeds that God has sown in the most unlikely places.
after all, he chose to come from a place where people said "can anything good come out of there?"
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
all the colors
now that it's about 3 degrees outside and we didn't get a snow day (they've only had one here in the last 20 years), i'm really glad i got outside this weekend for some absolutely killer picture-taking. we had our cameras and were pulling off to the side of the road and shooting everything in sight, going through several sets of batteries and climbing underneath parked trains, over railroad tracks, bridges, scrap heaps and piles of trash.
we climbed down the side of some old walls on the bank of the flats that you can see from the rapid but my shots there didn't come out so good. the mother lode of all beauty, however, is on train avenue, a road i discovered completely by accident on one of my late night drives with val.
the city's been painting over the artwork down here recently in an attempt to make it less "blighted" but i fear that you'll also be losing some genuine beauty in the process:
finally figured out the way to get good res on this thing. there's more on my flickr page
we climbed down the side of some old walls on the bank of the flats that you can see from the rapid but my shots there didn't come out so good. the mother lode of all beauty, however, is on train avenue, a road i discovered completely by accident on one of my late night drives with val.
the city's been painting over the artwork down here recently in an attempt to make it less "blighted" but i fear that you'll also be losing some genuine beauty in the process:
finally figured out the way to get good res on this thing. there's more on my flickr page
Friday, February 8, 2008
been thinking about a whole lot of stuff recently. stuff that's better suited for sitting over a couple mugs of tea at a coffeeshop somewhere or laying on someone's couch.
thoughts that aren't completely thought out and will probably come across wrong.
in the meantime, i'm looking forward to a gathering of good friends including the wonderful and very gifted jerusha, picture taking in my beautifully rusty city, and possible live music.
and i just got the best compliment i've ever gotten in my life this afternoon.
"lightbringer."
thoughts that aren't completely thought out and will probably come across wrong.
in the meantime, i'm looking forward to a gathering of good friends including the wonderful and very gifted jerusha, picture taking in my beautifully rusty city, and possible live music.
and i just got the best compliment i've ever gotten in my life this afternoon.
"lightbringer."
Monday, February 4, 2008
never been a better time than right now...
on the way back from the east side, i was hitting every green light all the way home and while 45 degrees might be frigid to those in other climates, it felt like summer.
the red hot chili peppers were on the radio and i had my windows all the way down and was singing along.
the red hot chili peppers were on the radio and i had my windows all the way down and was singing along.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
