The snow is coming down and it's not stopping. I wish the roads were clear and I didn't have so much that needs to get done. I'd rather be chilling out with the usual suspects, drinking some coffee or whatever.
Instead, I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to move to the new apartment since I haven't heard back from anyone as far as helping out, realizing that I might be spending the first two weeks there by myself which kind of freaks me out, wondering about certain twists and turns in some of my relationships, trying to maintain grace and calm even when people are being ridiculous and mean.
It's days like this when I honestly feel like only God is holding me together.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
best of the blotter 16
Seven Hills police evidently have absolutely nothing else to do. And actually, this is kind of depressing when you think about it.
SEVEN HILLS
DISORDERLY CONDUCT, EAST RIDGEWOOD DRIVE: Police charged a 46-year-old man of Independence for throwing a snowball at a passing car out of frustration with having no job.
The man threw the snowball at 3:46 p.m. Feb. 19 while walking in the 500 block. He told police he was drinking at a tavern at East Ridgewood and Broadview and became upset over his joblessness.
The snowball struck a bumper.
SEVEN HILLS
DISORDERLY CONDUCT, EAST RIDGEWOOD DRIVE: Police charged a 46-year-old man of Independence for throwing a snowball at a passing car out of frustration with having no job.
The man threw the snowball at 3:46 p.m. Feb. 19 while walking in the 500 block. He told police he was drinking at a tavern at East Ridgewood and Broadview and became upset over his joblessness.
The snowball struck a bumper.
Monday, February 22, 2010
roots
So this weekend there was much photography, and it was good.
I came home Friday night all restless because the light was so beautiful and I wanted to capture the glow that I saw that made the snow golden and the city gleaming.
Who's going to want to go out with me to take pictures on a Friday night? As I agonized over this, the wonderful roomie offered to come along and we drove down by Whiskey Island (which is closed right now) and I ended up shooting photos through all the barbed wire fences down there and just off the shoreway.
Then we went down to the Flats and I got a few more shots before being satisfied enough to come home and finally chill.
It's kind of crazy to think about how much of the lakefront and how much in general is fenced off. Or maybe that's where I end up. No one else seems to see it this way.
Saturday I drove down with my dad and some family to an 80th birthday party for my third cousin down in Maynard, Ohio, which is outside of St. Clairsville down on the Ohio/West Virginia border. I spent the afternoon hanging out at the local Polish National Alliance hall eating pierogi, drinking fruit punch, and catching up with my extended family, some of whom I don't remember meeting before or it's been a very long time.
My dad spent many summers down there with his brothers and cousins doing "back in the day" kind of things that people don't do now, like shooting at bottles floating down the river, blowing off M-80s and cherry bombs, going down into old mine shafts, my uncles taking them trashpicking and down to dive bars near Wheeling and all that kind of thing.
He told me stories when I was a kid about what it was like down there, and would take us down there once a year or so to visit the relatives. Some of the great-uncles would mess with us because we were clueless city people but they were so much fun, and as I've gotten older I've realized how much I take after that side of the family, with the bikers and the rusty Cadillacs in the front yard and the piano in the barn that's falling to pieces. We all have the same facial features and the weird sense of humor and a dash of eccentricity even though most of us look pretty normal.
I'm sitting there listening my dad and his cousins tell these stories about how the radio waves of WWVA was so powerful down there that you could hear Big Country News coming out of your toaster and laughing because even if they've been embellished, they're still great stories and I could hear them again and again. I got this sense of my roots that I'd never had before, like this is where I come from, and this explains so much about who I am and what I like to do.
I wanted to go out and take pictures again Sunday but no one was free. Cleaned out the kitchen and realized how much food was left over from the previous roommates, made a huge pot of lentils that will last me until we finish moving, cleaned and listened to Soundgarden and chilled with a friend of mine who stopped over to chill after work.
I came home Friday night all restless because the light was so beautiful and I wanted to capture the glow that I saw that made the snow golden and the city gleaming.
Who's going to want to go out with me to take pictures on a Friday night? As I agonized over this, the wonderful roomie offered to come along and we drove down by Whiskey Island (which is closed right now) and I ended up shooting photos through all the barbed wire fences down there and just off the shoreway.
Then we went down to the Flats and I got a few more shots before being satisfied enough to come home and finally chill.
It's kind of crazy to think about how much of the lakefront and how much in general is fenced off. Or maybe that's where I end up. No one else seems to see it this way.
Saturday I drove down with my dad and some family to an 80th birthday party for my third cousin down in Maynard, Ohio, which is outside of St. Clairsville down on the Ohio/West Virginia border. I spent the afternoon hanging out at the local Polish National Alliance hall eating pierogi, drinking fruit punch, and catching up with my extended family, some of whom I don't remember meeting before or it's been a very long time.
 |
My dad spent many summers down there with his brothers and cousins doing "back in the day" kind of things that people don't do now, like shooting at bottles floating down the river, blowing off M-80s and cherry bombs, going down into old mine shafts, my uncles taking them trashpicking and down to dive bars near Wheeling and all that kind of thing.
He told me stories when I was a kid about what it was like down there, and would take us down there once a year or so to visit the relatives. Some of the great-uncles would mess with us because we were clueless city people but they were so much fun, and as I've gotten older I've realized how much I take after that side of the family, with the bikers and the rusty Cadillacs in the front yard and the piano in the barn that's falling to pieces. We all have the same facial features and the weird sense of humor and a dash of eccentricity even though most of us look pretty normal.
I'm sitting there listening my dad and his cousins tell these stories about how the radio waves of WWVA was so powerful down there that you could hear Big Country News coming out of your toaster and laughing because even if they've been embellished, they're still great stories and I could hear them again and again. I got this sense of my roots that I'd never had before, like this is where I come from, and this explains so much about who I am and what I like to do.
I wanted to go out and take pictures again Sunday but no one was free. Cleaned out the kitchen and realized how much food was left over from the previous roommates, made a huge pot of lentils that will last me until we finish moving, cleaned and listened to Soundgarden and chilled with a friend of mine who stopped over to chill after work.
Friday, February 19, 2010
but wait, there's more!
SUSPICIOUS PERSON, BELLINGHAM ROAD: While outside getting her paper at 6 a.m. Friday, a woman was startled when she saw a man dressed in black doing push-ups in her driveway. The woman contacted police and also said that a neighbor had recently reported the same problem.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
best of the blotter 14
MISCELLANEOUS INCIDENT, SOM CENTER ROAD: Two boys, 15 and 16, were questioned by police after a Jan. 2 incident involving a woman who walked out of Walgreen’s and overheard one of them say to the other, “Well, you can just bring a gun to Solon High School . . .” to which the other told him to, “Shut up — why would you say that?“ Police said the woman did the right thing by calmly taking down their license plate number and reporting it. The boys told police they have no firearms, they were not serious and were merely discussing “how to get out of school“ the following Monday — which turned out to be a snow day anyway. Police also spoke with both boys’ parents.
FRAUD, WESTBOURNE ROAD: A woman said Jan. 14 she lost about $1,000 in an online Nigerian money scam. She ordered a kitten and sent money to various locations but never received the kitten.
GUITAR SMASH, CONTINENTAL: A Medina resident told police that a group of children were smashing a guitar in the roadway near Continental Drive and Lipke Court around 1:33 p.m. Jan. 24. The caller was concerned that the debris would be left in the road. Upon his arrival, the responding officer determined that mess had been cleaned.
ROADKILL, MOORE ROAD: Four different species of animal were hit by cars on Avon Lake roads this week including a dog, a cat, a deer and a fox.
SUSPICIOUS, CHELMSFORD ROAD: A woman received a letter Feb. 3 from a man stating that he was an admirer, but shy. In the letter, he made reference to spending time together with the woman.
BOOK, W. WASHINGTON: A W. Washington St. resident called police around 3 a.m., Feb. 1, informing officers that it was “highly unusual” for her neighbor to have his lights on inside the residence. The neighbor was reading a book.
BIRTHDAY PARTY, N. SPRING GROVE: Police responded to a N. Spring Grove residence around 1:36 a.m., Feb. 4 on a report that there might be a fight at the home. The responding officer determined that the family was merely having a birthday party.
THREATS, NORTH MAIN STREET: A South Russell man who was asked by a Huntington National Bank teller to save some of the free candy for other customers had to be escorted from the bank Feb. 11. He called and made threats the next day, prompting bank officials to close his account.
FRAUD, WESTBOURNE ROAD: A woman said Jan. 14 she lost about $1,000 in an online Nigerian money scam. She ordered a kitten and sent money to various locations but never received the kitten.
GUITAR SMASH, CONTINENTAL: A Medina resident told police that a group of children were smashing a guitar in the roadway near Continental Drive and Lipke Court around 1:33 p.m. Jan. 24. The caller was concerned that the debris would be left in the road. Upon his arrival, the responding officer determined that mess had been cleaned.
ROADKILL, MOORE ROAD: Four different species of animal were hit by cars on Avon Lake roads this week including a dog, a cat, a deer and a fox.
SUSPICIOUS, CHELMSFORD ROAD: A woman received a letter Feb. 3 from a man stating that he was an admirer, but shy. In the letter, he made reference to spending time together with the woman.
BOOK, W. WASHINGTON: A W. Washington St. resident called police around 3 a.m., Feb. 1, informing officers that it was “highly unusual” for her neighbor to have his lights on inside the residence. The neighbor was reading a book.
BIRTHDAY PARTY, N. SPRING GROVE: Police responded to a N. Spring Grove residence around 1:36 a.m., Feb. 4 on a report that there might be a fight at the home. The responding officer determined that the family was merely having a birthday party.
THREATS, NORTH MAIN STREET: A South Russell man who was asked by a Huntington National Bank teller to save some of the free candy for other customers had to be escorted from the bank Feb. 11. He called and made threats the next day, prompting bank officials to close his account.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
imagined the future, woke up with a scream...
"life's an ocean / too much commotion/ all this emotion/ dragging me down..."
yeah, this is pretty much where I'm at right now.
yeah, this is pretty much where I'm at right now.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
2/16 in the 216
So we've gone through a bunch of holiday-ish days here.
Valentine's Day was unobserved and spent taking a much-needed map and painting a whole lot.
President's Day was a Cleveland Adventure Day, which involved a Free Monday at the zoo, where the Rainforest was full of Radio Disney tunes blaring through the palm trees and little girls in princess costumes. We got lunch at the West Side Market and sat on the balcony plotting future Rust Belt Novel greatness, and then walked on the ice at Edgewater and almost wandered out a bit too far... This crack is the line where the solid ice ends and the lake begins.
After that, we went to the Rockefeller Greenhouse to get warm and then on a drive back to the west side through the Flats getting inspired by the old buildings, gray skies, bridges, and pigeons.
And this is for Randal. Evidently the Beast lives in the West Side Market.
And now today it's Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday/Paczki Day depending on where you're at or what you feel like celebrating. I know a few of you are going to see Parliament-Funkadelic tonight, but my current plans are Oberlin for Bela Fleck and the Africa Project, and some preliminary hanging out with my lovely Lorain County people.
I always have grand plans to play festive Carnival-esque music on my show these mornings but usually I'm full of winter melancholy and no amount of colorful costumes and steel drums change the fact that it's snowing outside.
I got a caller this morning who kept requesting all these songs I've never heard of in part because I was born halfway through the Reagan administration and was sheltered from much of 1980's pop culture.
I'm usually pretty flexible about playing people's requests but there are certain lines I draw as far as "this might get me kicked off the air" or "you can hear this on the corporate radio station" or "I just plain don't like it," hence the reason why you won't hear Pink Floyd, NWA, or Rammstein on my show.
So this morning, some guy called me, gave me two different names each time he called and wanted to hear all these 12" single club mixes of 80's R&B songs that I'd never heard of because he "was trying to build a karaoke machine." And it's not like I don't veer into R&B territory occasionally, as I'll throw on some vintage soul or the less mainstream stuff coming out now.
But I have little nostalgia for the 80's in the Madonna and legwarmers sense and the production values in vogue at that time that seemed to afflict every genre. It didn't have to sound that bad but yet it did... so much synthesizer and that terrible drum sound and general overproduction.
And I honestly don't want to use up my airtime playing 9 minute versions of some of this stuff preferring to save that time for Fela. That isn't on a karaoke machine anyway, that's in some DJ's crate. Since we don't really have a lot of circa 1985 house music at the station, I told him I couldn't find any and eventually stopped picking up the phone because each phone call got progressively more weird.
Here, however, is what I did play.
jeff buckley - dream brother
the duke spirit - dog roses
amadou & mariam - fete au village
habib koite - wassiye
daby toure - seta
souad massi - biadi
abdel gadir salim - ati
toubab krewe - bamana niya
angelique kidjo - lakusthu llenga
astrud gilberto - canto de ossanha
antonio carlos jobim - aguas de marco
twilight singers - live with me
metric - collect call
scrawl - wait one more day
afghan whigs - crazy
jawbox - u-trau
tiger trap - for sure
throwing muses - ruthie's knocking / shimmer
the dirtbombs - sun is shining
dengue fever - sni bong
fela kuti - lady
alpay - yekte
bela fleck - ajula mbamba
oumou sangare - djigui
Valentine's Day was unobserved and spent taking a much-needed map and painting a whole lot.
President's Day was a Cleveland Adventure Day, which involved a Free Monday at the zoo, where the Rainforest was full of Radio Disney tunes blaring through the palm trees and little girls in princess costumes. We got lunch at the West Side Market and sat on the balcony plotting future Rust Belt Novel greatness, and then walked on the ice at Edgewater and almost wandered out a bit too far... This crack is the line where the solid ice ends and the lake begins.
After that, we went to the Rockefeller Greenhouse to get warm and then on a drive back to the west side through the Flats getting inspired by the old buildings, gray skies, bridges, and pigeons.
And this is for Randal. Evidently the Beast lives in the West Side Market.
And now today it's Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday/Paczki Day depending on where you're at or what you feel like celebrating. I know a few of you are going to see Parliament-Funkadelic tonight, but my current plans are Oberlin for Bela Fleck and the Africa Project, and some preliminary hanging out with my lovely Lorain County people.
I always have grand plans to play festive Carnival-esque music on my show these mornings but usually I'm full of winter melancholy and no amount of colorful costumes and steel drums change the fact that it's snowing outside.
I got a caller this morning who kept requesting all these songs I've never heard of in part because I was born halfway through the Reagan administration and was sheltered from much of 1980's pop culture.
I'm usually pretty flexible about playing people's requests but there are certain lines I draw as far as "this might get me kicked off the air" or "you can hear this on the corporate radio station" or "I just plain don't like it," hence the reason why you won't hear Pink Floyd, NWA, or Rammstein on my show.
So this morning, some guy called me, gave me two different names each time he called and wanted to hear all these 12" single club mixes of 80's R&B songs that I'd never heard of because he "was trying to build a karaoke machine." And it's not like I don't veer into R&B territory occasionally, as I'll throw on some vintage soul or the less mainstream stuff coming out now.
But I have little nostalgia for the 80's in the Madonna and legwarmers sense and the production values in vogue at that time that seemed to afflict every genre. It didn't have to sound that bad but yet it did... so much synthesizer and that terrible drum sound and general overproduction.
And I honestly don't want to use up my airtime playing 9 minute versions of some of this stuff preferring to save that time for Fela. That isn't on a karaoke machine anyway, that's in some DJ's crate. Since we don't really have a lot of circa 1985 house music at the station, I told him I couldn't find any and eventually stopped picking up the phone because each phone call got progressively more weird.
Here, however, is what I did play.
jeff buckley - dream brother
the duke spirit - dog roses
amadou & mariam - fete au village
habib koite - wassiye
daby toure - seta
souad massi - biadi
abdel gadir salim - ati
toubab krewe - bamana niya
angelique kidjo - lakusthu llenga
astrud gilberto - canto de ossanha
antonio carlos jobim - aguas de marco
twilight singers - live with me
metric - collect call
scrawl - wait one more day
afghan whigs - crazy
jawbox - u-trau
tiger trap - for sure
throwing muses - ruthie's knocking / shimmer
the dirtbombs - sun is shining
dengue fever - sni bong
fela kuti - lady
alpay - yekte
bela fleck - ajula mbamba
oumou sangare - djigui
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