playlist 4/13/10

fugazi - break
scrawl - wait one more day
gutter twins - bete noire
morphine - let's take a trip together
gil scott-heron - new york is killing me / running
morcheeba - never an easy way
martina topley-bird - sandpaper kisses
me'shell ndegeocello - thankful
jeff buckley - mojo pin / eternal life (live at sin-e)
tinariwen -
daby balde -
mogwai - 2 rights make one wrong
love - maybe the people...
brian jonestown massacre - anemone
mark lanegan - don't forget me
the breeders - fortunately gone
nouvelle vague - ever fallen in love?
k'naan - fire in freetown
muthoni - happy breakup
nneka - walking
chiwunoso -
angelique kidjo - arouna
amadou & mariam / k'naan - africa
mos def / k'naan - prayer song
cut chemist - the garden
dj shadow - midnight in a perfect world

the words of the prophets

So I spent the last week hovering between total depression and moments of bliss, not for any real good reason except that I'm human and there's constant equal doses of amazing moments and conversely the continual shortcomings.

Some have told me that feelings of melancholy are indicative of spiritual problems, that I need to claim in the name of Jesus that yes I can be happy all the time. Others have let me make excuses for my emotions, disregarding the way that they've maybe not been so fun for the others around me. Some say I'm too busy and others that I need to be doing more. I get to the point where I feel like they're all wrong more or less. there were a lot of chronically depressed people who God spoke to, and if the book of Ecclesiastes and Dylan taught us anything, there is a time and purpose for everything, including sorrow.

I was able to force myself out of the blue funk, and I've always found that venturing to the east side does wonders, with its change of scenery and the chillness of some good people that always make me laugh. I made three sojourns out there in the past 5 days, one for Apples to Apples at a friend of a friend's apartment, Friday night cups of tea and scrabble at Algebra



where we were immensely amused by the sketchbooks in the back:

"



followed by pizza and gelato and then late night donut shop coffee-drinking, and then yesterday at Jerusha's apartment that was spontaneous and good times, discussions on theology, the history of India, eastern religion made palatable for the west...

Because as bad as things get in this city, there's enough to keep me here and keep me hopeful.

lord have mercy.

Someone dumped a girl's body down the street from me where the highway ramp is last week. I drove home the other night after dropping off a friend and saw the flowers, teddy bears, and photos and wondered how anyone could not see that the body dumped there was a person and not a deer. Maybe our minds mess with us and we don't want to see what's there because that's just too painful. I wasn't there to know why the police just drove by.

Three women died last week, shot or strangled, kids are shot in the middle of the afternoon, and there's that lingering dread that one of those names in the paper will be someone I know, because that's happened more.

I've been depressed like heck all week, and my roommate tells me "No wonder." How could you not be?

I love this city, but there's not a whole lot of love going around.

looks like somebody forgot about us...

The recent service cuts to the RTA don't affect me nearly as badly as someone living on Madison or Wade Park because I drive to the Rapid station, for me it's more of an inconvenience than anything else. The way things are going, I'll wait around longer and get home later. Instead of running down Euclid and through Tower City to catch the 5:18, I'll be waiting around with everybody else for the 5:32.

Good times.

So I did some thinking and some Google Mapping, and I live just under three miles from my place of employment. Since it's mostly flat, I'm seriously contemplating getting my bike tuned up and reverting back to the mode of transportation I used all the way through my teens and early twenties, either walking or biking it for this spring and summer. I've gotten soft having a car, and I'm too cheap to pay $100 a month to park downtown if I don't have to.

We'll see how this goes, but in the situation of most of us who've tried to not contribute to congestion or have no other options, the Violent Femmes feel your pain.



We got the mother and the kids
We got the guy and his date
We all get mad, we all get late.
Looks like somebody forgot about us,
Standin' on the corner, waitin' for the bus.

Say, Hey Mr. Driver Man don't be slow
'Cause I got somewhere I gotta go.
Say, Hey Mr. Driver Man drive that thing fast.
My precious time keeps slippin' past.

Lets call the mayor, lets complain
Looks like the city's done to us again
Tied up in traffic, what do ya know
The damn city bus moves so slow.

Say, Hey Mr. Driver Man don't be slow
'Cause I got somewhere I gotta go.
Say, Hey Mr. Driver Man drive that thing fast.
My precious time keeps slippin' past.

action packed

So I got out of work early, walked down to the West Side Market to meet up with friends for good hanging out, driving to Edgewater, reviving the age-old East Side/West Side debate. One of the guys just moved here from New Jersey and this was the first time he'd been "across the bridge." He's done what many people living here hardly ever do.

Saturday morning, me and a few people from church ended up doing an Easter service at a halfway house on the east side, stopped at home to take a breath, and then hung out with Lindsay for the afternoon. We drove out to one of those historical village things all the way down Mayfield Road, which was completely deserted, and then hung out on Larchmere since it looked like it was going to rain and outside would have to wait.

One of my former regulars runs an African store down there and I haven't seen him in two years, but he served us ginger tea and this other drink that had hibiscus flowers and sugar that looked and tasted like really good Kool-aid if the color wasn't made of chemicals. I ended up learning about his life story, how he got here from Senegal, lived at the Salvation Army, temped and washed dishes and went back to school. He said he wants to share his story with other people coming here and show how they can succeed.

There was an article in the paper this past Sunday about immigration, and I look at places like Toronto or Columbus and how there's so much more going on because they're places that welcome new people with new ideas. It's a shame that our leadership doesn't at least try this.

Easter was beautiful, playing music that morning with some of my favorite people, the Greek guys who live across the street brought us over lots of leftover curried chickpeas and gyro meat, spent the afternoon chilling with the roomie at Edgewater and then stopping by Ethiopian church for dinner before going to my parents' house where I got to hang out with my cousins and family and hear stories about how my high school aged cousin convinced his classmates he was from England and claimed that in England, they speak "The British Language."

America, you need to get out more.

come outside, everyone's outside...

I've been taking an hour or two these last 2 days of vacation time, for various adventures and reconnecting.

Went down to Kent yesterday to walk around my old hangouts, reconnect with old friends, get some sweet potato/black bean burrito goodness at Taco Tonto's and see Henry Rollins for the second time with good people.

Drove back rocking to Jawbox and loving that the night is warm.

I'm going out today to shoot more graffiti and Cleveland-related photos, drive around to good music, bask in the sun.

best of the blotter 19: march madness and Easter Bunnies

SUSPICIOUS SITUATION, HAMPTON CHASE: Residents reported Saturday that a suspicious vehicle was circling their neighborhood. The black SUV was driving around with someone dressed up as the Easter Bunny. The bunny was allegedly passing out candy to children. The SUV and the bunny were gone when police arrived.

SHAQ’S PARTY: An officer witnessed two individuals yelling back and forth to one another from across a parking lot on N. Spring Grove around 10:55 p.m., March 27. The officer checked the scene and determined that the subjects were thrilled about “going to Shaq’s party.”

COMPLAINT, WYANDOTTE AVENUE: A woman reported money missing from a bag she kept in her birdcage at 12:34 p.m. Saturday. It turned out that the woman’s husband had taken the money to buy groceries.

AIR SOFT: The mother of a 10-year-old boy contacted police after his friend sent him a photo of an air soft gun on March 22. The boy’s mother was worried that the gun was real. Police checked the gun and determined that it was, indeed, an air soft gun.