January 31st, 2003 14:35 hours CST currently listening to: "Freedom Fighter" by Bowery Electric
Ok, THIS is really damn cool.
January 31st, 2003 14:25 hours CST currently listening to: "Floating World" by Bowery Electric
What the fuck is this???
January 31st, 2003 08:45 hours CST currently listening to: "Glittery Dust" by the Kitchens of
Distinction
Morning, all. Ugh. I should have gone to the gym last night. Instead, I stayed in, ended up watching all the Thursday
night stuff on NBC. That, and devoured two bowls of Lucky Charms. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Talked to Kristen for a bit.
I hadn't spoken to her on the phone for a loooong time. She's training to join the CIA right now. Fucking weird, eh?
That rocks.
I received my "When In Heaven" CD single by the Kitchens of Distinction in the mail yesterday. I'm so fucking happy,
you guys. I've had that single on 12" vinyl for years, and have wanted it on CD and now I have it. 2 months ago I
got the "Drive That Fast" single on CD as well. Things are coming up roses. Those singles have some outstanding B-sides.
Yay! Jeremy is a happy, dreamy, boy right now.
This weekend plans are so up in the air. I think I'm hanging out with Jaime from
Sour Deluxe tonight. A
few folks that I met through Ben Adrian
when airiel played out in San Francisco last May are going to be in town
this weekend. So, I'll be hooking up with them at some point. The picture of me at the end of that photo page is REALLY
awful. I had an eighthead that night. Yikes. I know tomorrow night I'm going with Ben to the Abbey to see the
Twilight Babies. Hopefully I can get a bunch of other
people to go, as they've all tentatively said yes already. It would be nice to do some kind of big brunch thing on
Sunday morning. We haven't done one of those in ages. Either meet up at someone's house to cook or just go to the Lincoln
Room and gorge on pancakes. God, that would rule.
January 30th, 2003 10:55 hours CST currently listening to: "Manchester" by
Sour Deluxe
I had a fucking great time last night. Got to leave work at noon since I had worked 14 hours the day before. Came
home and took a loooong nap. Went to Sine Qua to get my hair trimmed and I was showered in compliments. Sheba wouldn't
shut up about how much she likes my hair since I've been growing out. Two of the other stylists came up to me to say the
same thing. Yeah, I know it's totally superficial and whatever, but after what I went through since November, it felt
wonderful to me noticed. Sheba also commented that I've lost weight, to which I said "nuh uh, it's THESE PANTS". Hahahah.
I was wearing these brown Levi's stretch pants. She told me never to take them off. I loved it. I gave her a copy of
the Frosted EP to play in the store.
I tried calling a bunch of people to hang out, but couldn't reach anyone. I went to Holiday to get a sandwich and
a couple of beers. They were playing Ed Wood on the monitors. Glorious. I can't believe that I don't own that movie. On
the way back to my place, I called David Golitko and ended up going to his place instead. Gave him a copy of Frosted so
he could hear what it sounded like after the mastering process. He loved it. He also set me up with a disc of 4 Assassins
demos. I've been listening to them all morning.
I picked up Shannon at Mark's place and we went to Club Foot for a couple beers. I told her my end of 2002 story and
then we talked about porn for the rest of the night. I totally love girls who watch porn. We're both into a lot of the
same stuff too, as it turns out. We somehow got on the topic of toys and lube. She made me drive us to this place on
Broadway for me to buy some new lube that she says is better than astroglide. It was alright. I'm not convinced yet.
We'll see. HAHAHAHAAHAHAH.
January 28th, 2003 17:55 hours CST currently listening to: "Universal Heartbeat" by Juliana Hatfield
Well, it's almost 6:00 still here. It's server update night at Getty Images. Wooooooooooo.
Question of the day: will I EVER get this taste of Chipotle out of my mouth? bleh
Geez, I thought I had a bunch of stuff to write about, but I'm drawing a blank. So, here's a joke:
There are a few cows grazing in a field. Nothing much just going on. Just swatting at flies and chewing cud. Yet
there is a state of slight unrest in the pasture. One cow walks up to another standing by himself and strikes up a
conversation....
cow #1: "Hey, man. Have you heard about this 'mad cow disease' that's been going around? This is
seriously freaky
stuff! I mean, just the thought of it gives me the willies. I mean, I know our lives aren't really all that great. We
stand around until we're shocked to death and then made into burgers and such, but this really weird. I mean, who ever
heard of cows going mad? Insane, even! Doesn't this freak you out?"
cow #2: "Eh, I don't really care...... I'M A HELICOPTER!"
Thank you, and goodnight.
January 27th, 2003 09:35 hours CST currently listening to: "Two Worlds Collide" by The Inspiral
Carpets
Ferris: "Cameron, how are you feeling?"
Cameron: "Shredded"
I think I slept about 3 hours last night. DJ came over because watching super bowl action at small bar was not all
it's cracked up to be. He left around 9 and I was in bed by 10. I was woken up by the phone ringing around 10:20 and the
caller ID show a number that I was not prepared to see. I got to the phone after the voicemail kicked in, but there was
no message left. I'm so fucked up by this and feel like a prisoner in my own house.
Thursday night: Went with Ben to Neo. Everyone fucking crapped out that night. Everyone but Gail, who I finally
got to meet. Ben and I got there around 10:00 which is way too early for Neo. But we did a lot of healthy talking. I
only danced for a few songs. There was a string of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division, followed by "In-between
Days" by The Cure, followed by "Bigmouth Strikes Again" by The Smiths. Gail has the loudest voice ever. I mean, I have
a voice that projects and I can be really loud, but in clubs and bars, I sometimes have to shout the entire time. I was
totally hoarse when I got home.
Friday was excellent. I went to the ASCAP office in Wicker Park. Bumped into Liz Weinstein as I was parking my car.
Talked to her until the end of the block. The building that houses the ASCAP office has an old elevator that is operated
by this one guy. That has to be a sucky-ass job. I'm pretty sure I can register my stuff under Sonic Baby. We'll see.
They were supposed to email me within 24 hours, but they didn't.
Later that afternoon I went to Colossal Mastering
to get the Frosted EP finished. My lack of god,
this sounds AMAZING now. I feel like such an ass for releasing ANY airiel tracks before they were mastered. The mixes we
had already sounded great, but now there's just that extra "ka-pow!" to it. The studio is caddy corner to Club Lucky in
Wicker Park, in this uber expensive-looking set of lofts. The studio was beautiful. You can see a pic of the main mixing
room on their site. I didn't have to do much. I pretty much sat there flipping through issues of Entertainment Weekly
while Dan made everything sound better. It's like he would simply hit a button labeled "make this sound kickass". It was
just that easy. Went out to my car to find that I had a parking ticket. Wicker Park is bullshit this way. Parking in
an area during rush hour that has no signage what so ever about not parking there during rush hour. BULL-shit.
Went to the Getty Images winter party at Hotel Allegro that night. Told lots of people about the exciting
airiel day I had. The drinks were pretty weak, so
we all just drank that much more to compensate. The food was kind of weak, but hey, this was all free. People really got
loosened up. It was nice. Talked to lots of people from my office that I normally don't talk to. It helps when you're
drinking. Even got up and danced for a bit.
Saturday was pretty weak. Cleaned up my apartment. Played video games. Made dinner. Yeah. Katie couldn't come over
because her car is dead.
Sunday I made it to the gym. Decided to neither do laundry or grocery shopping. I'm doing that tonight. Too much
laundry anyway. So yeah, DJ came over from small bar, which is only a block away from my place. He was
totally ripped.
Stoned and drunk. I was showing him Bounty Hunter on the Game Cube. He has the PS2 version. He would NOT stop with
the color commentary. So, I downed a few Smirnoff Ice and we broke out GTA Vice City. God damn, that has to be the
best game to play while drunk since Worms 2. Went to bed at 10 and got that phone call. Wow, that really shook me. The
funny thing is, since I went to bed that early, I almost took the phone into my bedroom, just in case someone called. I'm
really glad I didn't, because I probably would have picked it up before I realized who it was.
January 23rd, 2003 09:20 hours CST currently listening to: "Motorcrash" by The Sugarcubes
Holy fucking shit, it's cold outside. I decided not to take the L to work. I drove instead. The display showing the
outside temp said -3. That's really damn cold. As morbid as this thought is, I wonder what this will do to the
homeless
population of Chicago?
I got the "Christmas Colors" 3" CD's from Sonic Syrup
last night. These things are adorable! I love the artwork that David Hayes did for them. It's a beautiful swirley blue.
My kind of blue. I need to make labels for them. I also met up with Evan last night at Lula. Folks, I may have a new
bass player.
So who's coming out with me to Neo tonight?
January 22nd, 2003 14:20 hours CST currently listening to: "vlm" by
Exquisitely
three things that scare me:
1. STD's
2. heights, I guess
3. giving my heart to someone again
three people who make me laugh:
1. Flip
2. DJ
3. Jeff
three things i love:
1. my living room
2. music
3. video games
three things i hate:
1. infidelity
2. cigarette smoke
3. lactose intolerance
three things i don't understand:
1. religious beliefs
2. the appeal of MTV
3. people that find it hard to laugh at something vulgar
three things on my desk at work
1. Edward Gorey cardboard standup of Mr. Death
2. iPaq
3. walking Bender
three things on my dresser
1. piggy bank
2. notebook
3. candles
three things i'm doing right now:
1. being uncomfortably full
2. chatting with Deb about fashion
3. modifying permissions on the Chicago Configuration container on the Exchange server
three things i want to do before i die:
1. Visit England
2. play in front of a huge crowd that loves me
3. fall in love again and have it be mutual
three things i can do:
1. cook
2. scuba dive
3. sound just like Hank Hill
three ways to describe my personality:
1. independent
2. loving
3. trustworthy/ninja
three ways to describe my looks:
1. casual
2. hot
3. you want me (hell, I don't know!)
three things i can't do:
1. speak another language
2. burp
3. cheer up when instructed to
three things i think you should listen to:
1. Kitchens of Distinction
2. The Stone Roses
3. airiel
three things i don't think you should listen to:
1. beats the
2. hell out
3. of me
three things i say the most:
1. sweet
2. what?!?
3. no fucking way
three of your absolute favorite foods:
1. krispie kreme donuts
2. anything Mary Walsh cooks on her grill
3. sorbet
three things you'd like to learn:
1. Russian
2. drums
3. tantric sex
three beverages you drink regularly:
1. water
2. orange juice
3. Sprite
three shows you watched when you were a kid:
1. Transformers
2. G.I. Joe
3. Robotech
January 21st, 2003 08:50 hours CST currently listening to: "A Baby, Baby Blu" by
Exquisitely
Had the freakiest dream last night. My family and I were scuba diving somewhere. It seemed quasi-futuristic. Lots
of flowers that reminded me of Hawaii (though I've never been there), but our gear was all space aged and cool looking.
Anyway, my dad was getting these horrible nose bleeds. He didn't seem to care about them, but we were all concerned.
Turned out that he had been a coke addict for years and I discovered his secret. I can't remember if there was any actual
confrontation about it. I don't think it was one of those "I've never liked my dad" kind of dreams. More of a paranoia
of someone I love keeping secrets from me. Gee, that sounds familiar.
I look so ratty today. Didn't wash my hair. Didn't shave. Wearing a wool hat that makes me look like a bank robber
on his lunch hour. It's too damn cold out to bother putting shmutz in my hair anyway. As soon as I walk out the door,
it freezes. Bleh.
So, Friday was a special day. I forgot to write about this in my journal yesterday, but here goes. While I was at home
over x-mas, my mom pointed out an article to me in the paper about a porno that had been filmed at IU, where I went to
college. She knew that I would freak out about this, which I did. As soon as I got to Chicago I looked it up and ordered
it. According to the article, there were scenes filmed at WIUS, which is the radio station where I used to DJ for 3 years.
I couldn't wait to see what went on. IU has been dubbed the #1 party campus in
the country. Frankly, I wasn't involved in any of that. Most of the parties I went to consisted of either pizza, movies,
and games, or grilling out on the porch and shooting bottle rockets at one another. But that's as maybe.
The tape arrived at my desk on Friday and I popped it when I got home. Sure enough, the very first scene is the crew
walking into WIUS. I immediately started laughing. They weren't in the main DJ booth, but the booth next door, where we
did PDA's, station ID's and some other interviews. The guy DJ'ing did an immaculate job of staying composed on the air
while two of these chicks were grinding on his legs. There wasn't an actual sex scene, per se, but some stuff happened.
The rest of the tape is random scenes around campus, several parties of beer-gut guys screaming "wwooooooo!!!!!!" while
holding these personal buckets of beer. Random sex scenes in dorm rooms of, I think, Wright Quad, which is funny in and
of itself, because we always thought of Wright as being the dumpiest, seediest dorm on campus. As porno's go, it's
really not that great. But the novelty of seeing non-porn stars, let alone students at my old school, getting it on
(or rather, trying to, and some failing to) with porn stars is just priceless. And none of these guys are well endowed
at all. Bwahahahahaha!! Draw your own conclusions.
January 20th, 2003 09:45 hours CST currently listening to: "Swoon" by The
Ecstasy of Saint Theresa
Nifty weekend. Friday night was the Lilys show at Schubas. The Saturday Nights were the first band. Sort of a
brooding al country cum indie band. Not bad, really. Something that I don't mind listening to in a bar if I'm not already
sleepy. Light FM was next. I had only heard their name before. Ben and I both were pleasantly surprised by them. At first
we couldn't get over the vocalists pinched, tenor range singing, but after a while it reminded me of Eggstone and I got
used to it. Pretty good songs. They rocked out, really. It was a nice surprise. Before the Lilys set, I chatted it up
with David Baker from Mercury Rev. Sorry for the name dropping, but I was just so
surprised that we were holding an actual conversation and that he was asking about how the stuff I recorded with David Golitko
turned out. They live together. He said he hadn't had a chance to listen to it
yet, but I was touched that he just asked me this out of the blue. We got to talking about the Lilys and he said that their frontman is more than a little weird. Well, he's not lying.
The guy was so fucking stoned that you couldn't understand a word he was singing. He said the most incoherent shit
in-between songs too. He even grunted a few times. They played a good set. Played most of "Selected" but not the song that
Ben and I really wanted to hear, so I made that one my
MP3 of the week.
Only one song off of In The Presence of Nothing, and it was the last track on that album,
which doesn't sound like the rest of the album, which is too bad. Ben and I were both so turned off by the way the
guy looked on stage. He stared at a point on the back wall and never seemed to blink. He had this creep-as-hell grin
on his face the whole time. Luckily, he had a really incredible dark green Fender Jag that I looked at instead.
Seriously,
he sent shivers up my spine.
Saturday was a stellar day. Slept in, and once I got up, made a ton of Eggo's. Then sat down and finally started
playing Resident Evil 0. I love the Resident Evil series to death and I hope I always will. It's a lot like reading
a series of novels because you get so attached to the characters, especially when they appear in more than one game.
I didn't find it as scary as some of the other games. This was a prequel, and while it answered several questions about
the plotlines of the other games, it left a few new questions unanswered. But whatever. The cut scenes were great. There
were even times where you visited areas from Resident Evil 2, which I thought was priceless. The only other thing I did
that day was laundry. So, at least I got to run up and down the stairs numerous times. I even cancelled my trip to Neo.
I couldn't get anyone to go with me anyway, but I called Gail to at least tell her that I was lame, and
wouldn't be there
that night. The tentative plan is to go on Thursday.
Sunday morning I got right back in the saddle (couch) and finished Resident Evil 0. Got a "D" rating,
probably due
to my numerous saves and the incredible amount of time it took me to backtrack to get all my damn items. I sort of liked
that you could drop items anywhere, but I REALLY missed the item boxes after a while. I met up with Ben around 1:00 and
we went to the Century Mall over on Clark and Diversey. I met his friend Rachel and then we went up to see "Talk To Her".
This is really an incredible movie. I'm not even sure how to describe it beyond that it's very moving and has one of the
most beautiful soundtracks that I've ever heard in a movie. There was a scene in there that totally made me want to watch
the "Lullaby" video from The Cure. Those of you who have seen this movie will know exactly what I'm talking about and why.
Went to BD's Mongolian BBQ afterwards. I think I like Flatop Grill better, though. Well, at least Flatop Grill didn't
fuck up my insides like BD's did. Good heavens, that was the worst. Hung out in the living room (I never seem to leave it)
and watched Jin-Roh, The Wolf Brigade. Wonderful anime flick. Very good soundtrack. I even brought it in this morning
to rip MP3's. Ok, I've blabbed long enough and the back up tapes are calling my name. Ciao!
January 17th, 2003 11:30 hours CST currently listening to: "Spirea 9" by Spirea X
Brrrrrrrrrr!!!!! It's freakin freezing in here. I've got my coat and my gloves on. It's taking me forever to type
this since I'm wearing gloves. Even though they're fingerless. Dave is out today, so I'm once again sitting on my ass
with nothing to do but read and surf.
Saw the Assassins last night at Schuba's. Mark, Krissy, Shannon, and Juan were there, as well as Alicia and Jessica from
Breather. Talked to David Golitko for a bit and he introduced me
to his oh-so-nice girlfriend, Katie. There was a DJ for the first act, so most of us just hung around and blabbed
about whatever. Including why Mark has become so damn hot in the last few months. 2 reasons: 1) Shannon, his girlfriend,
and 2) Interpol. Hahahaha.
We pretty much had mixed reactions to Venue, the 2nd act. One guy on keyboards, one guy on bass and the singer was
this way too cute guy who tried messing with a computer. I say way too cute because, well, he was fucking hot, but
he knew it, and that always kills the charm for me. I dunno. I think I would have liked them had I heard them first
before seeing them live.
The Assassins rocked the fucking house. There was something about seeing David Golitko on stage this time that just
made me giddy. He's the nicest damn guy and I hadn't met him until the day I showed up with my gear to record in his
studio. He and Aaron, the drummer, have the best stage presence. David does this crazy-legged dance and Aaron just
pounds the bajeezus out of his drums and his hair goes flying. Their songs are water tight. It's good stuff. Joe
Cassidy and his female counterpart have fantastic voices.
I took the most arrogant pictures ever in the photo booth after the show. I'll post them once I have Ben scan them.
It felt good for some reason. Part of me cracking out of this shell or something. I swear, I was the only one dancing
during the Assassins set. Nobody dances anymore. Chicago, you need to loosen up. I was having such fun with my bangs
being in my face. Am I becoming narcissistic? I hope not.
January 16th, 2003 09:15 hours CST currently listening to: "The Way Snowflakes Fall" by The Lilys
Morning, kids. Last night was pretty fun. I started off by running a few errands. Needed hair glue and contact stuff.
Stopped by Target and got a bunch of CD cases for David at the studio. I caught him as he was walking into his house. He
had this big smile on his face. It was nice. I'm seeing him play in the Assassins tonight at Schuba's. You all should go.
They remind me of Blood Music-era Chapterhouse. I'm not kidding.
Made it over to Dave's (my boss) and DJ was already there. They took their time getting situated and to "put on a
happy face". Das Boot turned out to be a very good movie.
Dave prefaced it with "ok guys, remember that these are Nazi's. You're not supposed to root for them." Which I thought
was hilarious. Dave was a little irritated that neither DJ or I was taking it very seriously, but after a scene where they
have a breakout of crabs, I continued to make scratching noises every single time this one character appeared on screen.
Dave could not stop laughing. DJ was so drunk that at one point he actually started to tell us about the plot to The Hunt
For Red October and the Russian's "caterpillar drive" as it were a real, non-fictional story that he knew! Oh my god it
was so funny. He realized that Dave and I both knew exactly what he was talking about and DJ got totally embarrassed that
he just tried to pull that off. I called him caterpillar drive for the rest of the night. Jackass.
Another high point in the evening was a scene where a guy pees in a coffee can during a tense moment where everyone
is trying to be quiet because a British destroyer is about to pound them in the ass with depth charges. I started
commenting on the action in my
Hank Hill
voice and DJ damn near pissed himself. He kept yelling at me to say the
line about the "pee pan" over and over. My god, he was so stoned. Cornelia, Dave's girlfriend, showed up for a bit and
that pretty much was the last straw for us remaining remotely serious for the rest of the evening. The low brow humor
just escalated. Dave brought out some amazingly good cognac towards the end of the film. It was strong stuff. That's what
got me in such hot water during x-mas eve. Hahahah. Anyway. It was a good night.
January 15th, 2003 09:30 hours CST currently listening to: "October's Theme" by
airiel
Man oh man, I have a serious headache. It's rare that I actually wake up with one. Morning headaches with me are
usually caused by lying on the couch after just waking up and watching TV. My neck
usually gets a weird kink or something.
But this is something else, and very annoying. Somebody make it go away.
Last night I went to the gym again. The batteries in my cd player died as soon as I started my cardio. Usually I'm
pissed by this, but sometimes it's nice to not have music playing because you just daydream the whole time. It's really
amazing. Your mind just wanders. Usually I'm playing really good and fast paced music and I usually think about playing
on a stage somewhere or being in a club dancing with girls I've always wanted to dance with. But this time I was dwelling
on 2002 subjects and getting myself in a sort of rut. And then I had an epiphany. Well, maybe not a full fledged epiphany,
but a really good god damn idea. I need to remember to bounce this off of Ben and see what he thinks. It has to do with
the upcoming "Dizzy" EP. I think this could
work really damn well. Sorry to be so vague, but I can't spoil the surprise.
Ugh. Guys, I really feel like crap today. :( Come to think of it, I was feeling kinda shitty right after my workout
last night too. I hope I'm not coming down with something. If I am, I don't know what it is yet.
I came home and made dinner. I actually cooked last night for the first time in a while. Marinated boneless, skinless
chicken breasts and steamed asparagus. I used to make stuff like that 4 times a week, but I've been slacking off for a
while now. Of course, eating asparagus even when you're not as dehydrated as I seemed to be, makes your pee stink.
I decided to look this up this morning, and found a
nifty article on it. You
learn something new everyday, by thunder. I can't fall asleep at my desk because Dave should be coming in early today.
We're supposed to meet at his house tonight to watch his DVD of
Das Boot, which neither DJ nor I have ever seen. I'm going
to demand that we watch it in German with subtitles, not only because I'm a purist and I know Dave will want to watch
it that way anyway, but because DJ fucking hates subtitles and I can't stand his reasoning behind it. I'm mean sometimes.
January 14th, 2003 08:30 hours CST currently listening to: "Driven to Tears" by The Police
Last night I was on the phone with Ri, and I glanced down at my monitor when this email arrived. Despite having
a valid email address, there was no name at the bottom. It was this ridiculous and melodramatic email asking me not
to support the
proposed ban on smoking in bars and restaurants in Chicago. I fucking laughed out loud. I CAN'T WAIT
for that ban to occur. I will be dancing in the streets. Actually, I'll be dancing in the clubs, because all the poor,
sad, self-destructive smokers will be bitching and moaning outside in the streets. I wrote a rather venomous reply and
asked that they take me off whatever list they had put me on without my asking. Smoking is the most ridiculous and
asinine habit that humankind has yet to invent. It goes against the very nature of survival. You're not supposed to
inhale smoke and fire, people. It's unhealthy, and frankly, you all smell like complete shit.
And to my friends that are emailing me about this, I still love you to death, but you fucking smell when you smoke,
ok?
January 13th, 2003 11:35 hours CST currently listening to: "International Bright Young Thing" by
Jesus Jones. That's right, jesus motherfucking jones.
Gooooooood morning, all. I feel fantastic today. Should be sorta hung over and pooped, but I dunno. I think my new
desk art has something to do with it. Last night at the Metro, I scored
the greatest poster I've
ever fucking seen. I was too tired and tipsy last night to tape it to my ceiling, so I just brought it to work to
drool over it all day. And trust me, I've been doing just that. Ok, on to the weekend recap. Brought to you by the
amox tr-k clv 875 - 125 MG tablets that I'm taking for my ear infection. Hey, why not?
Friday night. Hung out with Hope. Hadn't seen her in months. I think it was the coldest fucking night of the year
that night. We went to Wicker Park to get some food. Earwax was full so we hit Papajin, which is funny, because that's
where we went on our first date a long time ago. We drove to the Hideout and I told her the whole crushing heart break
story that occurred with me at the end of 2002. The Hideout is a freaky venue. I'd never been there before and I thought
it was pretty cool. Didn't care much for the bands but we got to just hang out and talk, which was cool.
Saturday I hung around the house all day waiting for my bed to arrive from CB2. It was supposed to be delivered
between 9 and 1, but didn't get there until 4:30. I spent the day doing odds and ends. Put up the lantern holders in the
4 rooms and readjusted the curtain rod in the bedroom. I played a ton of Bounty Hunter too. Ended up finishing it as
well. The CB2 people were super nice and kept calling me with updates. What store EVER does that for you? Props to them.
I managed to put it together myself without
much toil, but I did whack the bajeezus out of my left kneecap. That sucked. The kind of pain where you see a flash of
green and then you're staring at the ceiling trying to figure out why you punish yourself with such clumsiness. Anyway,
I got it finished and then just ordered food
and stayed in. I didn't hear back from Evan until this morning, and we were supposed to hang out that night. So, more
Bounty Hunter and I started watching Jin-Rho: The Wolf Brigade but was just too tired to sit through it all.
Sunday I woke up early. I didn't sleep well at all since I didn't have my big duvet on the bed as it would have been
way oversized for it. I cocoon myself in that thing and I felt like I was just sleeping with a tiny sheet on me. Anyway,
after a healthy breakfast of Eggo's, I went over to Kindesign to remix "Liquid Paper". We changed the reverb on the vocal
track, the snare and also brought up the ambient guitar track volume level. It was exactly what the song needed. I felt
that the original mix was too "contained" and sort of boxed in, and now it's much more spacious. I got all the raw
data from David and it took about a dozen CD's. "Halo" was 5 CD's alone. Wow. It's just like walking our with reels
of 8" tape. They might do well to invest in a DVD burner.
I picked up Ben around 6 and we went to Fuel to meet up with Shannon, Mark, Krissy and Nick. Mark and Shannon were
already there and had scored a booth. It was a lovely time. Sundays at Fuel are half off all food and drinks. Yeah. Krissy
and Nick showed up and the line outside the Metro started moving shortly after that, so we went in. Ben and I both bought
Interpol shirts. While the guy was putting on my little alcohol wristband, I looked upstairs and saw
the greatest poster I've
ever fucking seen. I don't even remember him putting the thing on my wrist. I was like a kid trying to pull away from
his mother because they walked by a toy store. "let me go, dammit!" I ran upstairs and snatched the thing. Ben and I
immediately sniffed around for another and we scored the only other one there. So we both walked away with a great prize.
The first band, The Race, was rather boring. The crowd was as bored as the band was, really. The 2nd band, Cala, was
much better. I was also getting drunk by this point. Ben and I were discussing the sore, 2002 topic and I'm pretty
sure most of the people around me could hear, since I'm so fucking loud. But whatever. The great thing is, I never
got upset. I actually laughed out loud at it. It was a wonderful thing to realize. Interpol came on and played a
fantastic set. They only played one new track. I still think their drummer is the cutest one of all. Not sure why.
We pretty much split right after the show, since I had work to look forward to the next morning. Bleh. But I'm here
and I'm highly caffeinated, which is unusual for me.
I hope you all like this week's MP3. It's from a CD
I copied from Ben and I love it to death. Inner Sleeve features the bass player from Chapterhouse, for all of you
shoegazers that need any extra incentive to listen to the stuff I post on here. Ciao!
January 9th, 2003 15:15 hours CST currently listening to: "Valerie Loves Me" by Material Issue
DJ and I went to lunch, and on our way back he went into Mrs. Fields Cookies. I followed hesitantly because I'm trying
to be good. But I walked over to the cookie counter and DJ witnesses this woman walk in, and blatantly bump right into
me and push me out of the way to get in front of me. I didn't say anything, but I looked at DJ and he said really loudly
"Christ, Jeremy, how can you just bump into that old woman? GOD, you're an asshole." I start laughing and DJ keeps it up.
He's trying to get a reaction out of this woman because she was so rude. "Why don't you just shove her to the pavement?
I don't know why I even hang out with you, man." It wasn't working and DJ got his pretzel sticks and as we were walking
out, I realized why the woman didn't respond. She was deaf. I told DJ and we both started laughing out loud when we got
outside. I mean, it didn't excuse her from being so rude, but what the hell? DJ is now afraid he's going to be hit
by lightning. It was funny as hell.
January 9th, 2003 09:00 hours CST currently listening to: "You Showed Me" by The Lightning Seeds
Morning, all. Yesterday was hilarious. Dave and I were cracking low brow jokes all day, pretty much. We got into a
minor cleaning fit with our work area. He found this old, outdated Microsoft systems bundle that had about 2 dozen
CD's in it. These were all pretty much useless to us. Or were they?
Dave: "My god man, there's over 2 dozen of these things. What should I do with them?"
Me: "You're asking me? Dave, I have a severed doll head, a robotic Bender, 16 empty soda cans and a protein bar on
my desk. I'm not the person to ask about organization or tidiness."
Dave: "Yeah, I know. It would just be a shame to simply throw these away."
Me: "Throw them somewhere else then."
Dave: "Who could we throw these at and not, like, get killed?"
Me: *looks up with one eyebrow raised*
Dave: "Yeah, DJ."
Me: "Oh, I'm would love to be a part of this."
So, we each had a dozen CD's on us and went over to the little island of cubicles where Jeff, Mary, Sally and DJ
reside. Dave went around to the entrance to DJ's and said "Hi". I jumped up from Jeff's cubicle and started raining CD's
down on DJ. He screamed "Jesus Christ!" and once he turned around, Dave let him have it. It was great. We're talking Ninja
Throwing Star-type action. I saw Dave haul ass and I did the same. I was laughing so hard, I got light headed and almost
thought I'd throw up. We got back to our desks and DJ showed up with his Nerf gun that he terrorizes me with on a daily
basis. He shot me in the head a few times and then GAVE A BUNCH OF THE CD'S BACK. HAHAHHAHAHAH. I'm just gonna throw
them at him again. It was a wonderful way to end the work day.
I also found out that my bed frame from CB2 arrived. It gets
delivered on Saturday morning. I can't wait! It's gonna look loverly. I didn't get to hang out with Evan last night. He
called me on his way back to work around 7:00. One of their clients was requesting a temporary restraining order, so
needless to say, he was busy. So we're meeting on Saturday instead. I kicked back and played Bounty Hunter the rest of
the night. That game has some serious issues with collision detection. Drives me batty, I tell you.
January 8th, 2003 09:35 hours CST currently listening to: "Barabas" by Hooverphonic
Ooooooooog. Headachy. Went to the gym last night and was very pleasantly surprised by my performance. It's nice to
know that despite my loss of muscle tone, I'm not wickedly out of shape. My computer is ripping the tracks from
Blur's "Modern Life Is Rubbish" right now. There's maybe 4 songs this album that I like. Their first album was their
best one, for sure. The rest only have these little moments in them. Eh.
I'm in kind of a pissy mood since last night. I'm still trying to shake the ghost of 2002, I guess. As hard as I try
not to, I keep asking questions that I don't want the answers for. Human nature is so weird that way. Why we have a
natural sense of masochism, is just beyond me. But we all have it, don't we? I got really angry before I got off the
phone last night. I've never before now had such a period in my life where I have to say to myself "Calm down. It's over.
It's done with. That was 2002. Let it fucking go. Just let it GO." It's like that seen at the end of Copland where
Ray Liotta is staring at himself in the car mirror and then starts talking to his consciousness. "Shut the fuck up,
wouldja please?!?" I have to stop breaking my policy with Ben. I'm brining up topics that I shouldn't be talking about
and asking questions to get answers that I already no I don't want to hear.
I finally get to hang out with Hope again this Friday. Haven't seen here since our little dating episode dissolved
early last summer. I finally get to go to the Hideout as well. Must remember to put a clamp on my wallet. I'm going to
4 shows in the next week starting with this Friday. The tickets for Interpol are paid for, but then there's the Assassins
next Thursday at Shubas and then the Lily's the next night at the same venue. *sigh* Plus, at the end of the month, I have
to take the CD to get mastered and I don't know how much that will cost. David told me that for a 4 song EP, it
shouldn't be more than $200. I hope so. I want to repair my savings account and also get into the studio again really soon.
Not for the next EP per se, but for other tracks that I can submit for compilations.
So what was your favorite Hooverphonic album? Mine is sort of a tie between "New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular" and
"Blue Wonder Power Milk". I think the songs are bit stronger on BWPM, but NSSS has their original vocalist who I
loved to death. She was so wonderfully air-y and light. The 2nd vocalist tried to mimic her for BWPM but then once
they did the third album, The Magnificent Tree, she went all Portishead on me. Eh.
January 6th, 2003 09:20 hours CST currently listening to: "That's Really Super, Supergirl" by
XTC
I love my car to death, but it's pissing me off right now. The alignment has been screwed up for a bit and I just took
it in this morning. I asked them to call me with an estimate and I need over $1,000 in repairs. It never rains, it
pours. I can't get all of these done until after the 20th when I get paid. That, coupled with Rent this week is gonna
make me totally fucked. Plus, I haven't paid Jeff for the Interpol tickets that he's holding for me and I have to
cancel going to bingo at the California Clipper tonight with Christian. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
In other news, I went to club foot on Friday night with Rachel and some of her friends. It was a great time. I'm
really enjoying that bar quite a bit. I called my friend Vincent
that day to see if he wanted to come out. I hadn't seen him in ages. But lo and behold, he was working the door that
night. We talked for quite some time. Keara and Dan were there, as well as this girl Diane, who had an adorable haircut.
We all talked about going ice skating here by my office. I think I had 4 or 5 gin and tonics. It was pretty fun. I got
to play the new airiel EP for Rachel in the car and she loved it.
Saturday I kind of lounged around. Finished Onimusha 2. Spoke with David about mixing one of the songs. Got vocals
down for the demo of "This Is Why I Can't Sleep". It's kind of funny because the next morning I had anxiety dreams
about the subject of that song. Anyway. I digitized the old Airiel Project One tape that I had made back in my dorm
room back in 97. Listening to some of the
exquisitely songs reminded me of some of the Airiel Project One stuff. I'm glad I took the time to do it. The other
tape I digitized was a recording session from this goth pop band I played in for a bit called Turnstyle. This was also
in 97. It was after Black Olive had broken up and I was well into writing songs for airiel. I can't remember if airiel
was performing at this point or not. I can't remember. Anyway. I played keyboards and guitar for this band that already
had a drummer, bassist and keyboardist/vocalist. I forgot how great some of these songs are. Ernie Grounds was a great
songwriter. I think he was from French Lick, Indiana and he of course sings in the standard british goth tone, bless
his heart. I made "Stroll" the MP3 of the Week.
Later that night I met up with Ben at his place. He had already ordered a pizza from New York Pizza, and for those
of you who haven't experienced this, the god damn thing is about 3 or 4 feet in diameter. I'm not kidding. It hardly
fits through a door. We had to walk a few blocks to pick it up and I jokingly offered to take the car so we could
strap it down to the roof. It was great stuff. Thin, but not cracker. Rock on. We took photographs of my guitars for
the inner sleeve artwork for the EP's. We got some good shots. I took some with my digital camera with and without
flash. I haven't looked at them just yet, but I'll get to them.
Sunday I had Rachel over for F Toast FINALLY. She canceled on me a few times now. Heh. We watched "Dressed to Kill",
my Eddie Izzard DVD. It was a hit. Spoke to Evan on the phone. We're gonna meet up on Wednesday to discuss airiel.
I discovered that he was on the "Several Bands Galore" comp CD that
Clairecords put out years ago. Ah, the good old days of the My Bloody Valentine email list.
I picked up Ben around
6:30 and we went to the Metro to see Whimsical. It felt SO GOOD to
be there that night. In my opinion, I looked pretty fucking amazing. Definitely not reflective of the inner shit I've
been through, but I was wearing all black. Not in a goth way, but in a Suede way. Yeah, I know. I should have taken
pictures, but the narcissism wasn't flowing that strongly. I can't remember what the lineup was. The first band had these
great black lights on their mic stands. Rather metal, but had some pop hooks in them. Started bumping into lots of
people that I hadn't seen in ages, it seemed, including Susan and
Amanda. Susan cracked me up. After Whimsical played, the DJ there played these songs in this order: Vapor Trail
by Ride, Iceblink Luck by the Cocteau Twins, She Bangs the Drums by The Stone Roses and then When You Sleep by My
Bloody Valentine. It was outstanding. And Susan of course happens to find me during the middle of this incredible set
and we were screaming like high school girls about it. Ah, shoegazers are the best people. Anyway, the 2nd band was super
glam rock. The music did nothing for me, but Ben and I got in a conversation about how great it is that this sort of
stage act still exists. It's just weird to have it in Chicago, because people above the age of 18 don't quite know
what to do with it. The younger kids there ate it up.
Just before Whimsical came on stage, I found Katie in the security
pit getting her camera ready. She gave me a kiss on the cheek and a wonderfully strong hug. I hadn't seen her since
that 15 minutes when I was at the doomed Halloween party at Krissy's.
Whimsical played a fantastic set. It's funny. Ever since Mark went tot he Interpol show and started dating Shannon,
his fashion sense has kicked into overdrive. The guy is one sexy motherfucker on stage. Krissy wore the inflatable
guitar that Ben had bought her the week before. She tried tossing it to the crowd at one point and it kind of did a
boomerang thing on her. Katie grabbed it and launched it into the crowd. I saw a girl with it later, so it was nice to
know that it was destroyed. The last band got dull really quick. They were called Garden of Dreams. Worst lyrics I've
ever heard. I wrote more interesting stuff when I was in middle school. However, I applaud them for being somewhat
glam and at least trying to rock out. But, eh. We all met up at Clark's and despite our best intentions, Ben and I
got heavily into the the subjects that we keep trying not to talk about. But each time we talk, it starts to be painful
and I want to bust out and cry and then eventually it's more of "I know I'm a good person and I did nothing wrong and
certainly nothing to deserve how I was treated." And that makes you feel better after a while. It was a good weekend.
Now I just have to deal with my god damn car. Grrrrrrrr.
January 3rd, 2003 11:10 hours CST currently listening to: "It's Gone" by Inner Sleeve
reverbboy1: hey you
AlltheFlowery: SHIRLEY TEMPLE TIDAL *WAVE*
AlltheFlowery: hehe
airiel groupies rule
January 3rd, 2003 08:45 hours CST currently listening to: "Over" by Inner Sleeve
Very sleepy. That feather mattress pad I received for x-mas is going to be my downfall. Hahahahaha. Get it? DOWNfall.
Hot topic, I'm funny. Anyway. I uploaded the pics from the third of three new years eve parties I attended with Ben and
Maribeth. My midnight kiss consisted of Josh shoving his tongue down my throat. What a way to start the year.
So what else is going on? I made tons of updates to the airiel site
yesterday. I got an email from a prospective airiel member. Things are looking up. I'm currently up to my eyeballs in
documentation on BMI and ASCAP
right now and I can't decide which one to join. This is all for royalty payments and stuff for airiel. I've never done this before and I'm talking to several different people about it. I have no concept
of money, I swear.
What else. Oh, Whimsical is playing at the Metro on Sunday. I'm
going for sure. Ben, Rachel and Hans will also be in attendance. This might be the first time I will have hung out in a
club with Rachel since she turned 21. If you need a free ticket, go here. It's free before 7:30 with that ticket. The show starts at 6:30 and I think
Whimsical goes on at 8:00. Rock.
January 1st, 2003 17:45 hours CST currently listening to: "Chewing Gum Weekend" by The
Charlatans UK
2002, goodbye, so long, good riddance, don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out. I'm very glad that this year is over. I'm really
looking at 2003 in a positive sense. And while 2002 certainly had it's moments, the last few months have been some of my worst. Here's a summary
of some of the best moments I've had this last year:
- meeting Rianon at the airport
- my Miss Maye sparkly blue vinyl shoulder bag
- airiel's first Chicago show
- airiel's first San Francisco show
- painting my apartment
- getting promoted
- getting stuff in the mail from Deb
- getting a Joy Division CD in the mail from someone I'd never met
- meeting Alyssa and dancing at the Kat Club in San Francisco
- Rachel:
- our continuing friendship bond
- seeing the Royal Tenembaums
- ice skating on Michigan Ave
- snot rockets out my office window
- finally riding on the back of her scooter
- my February 14th and 15th journal entrees
- seeing Peter Murphy with Amanda at the Vic
- seeing Ex-Girl open for Siouxsie and the Banshees with Jeff and Kim
- seeing Rejected at the Spike Mike Film Festival at the Music Box
- the "pizza on my front steps" incident with DJ, Dave and Cornelia
- seeing Dope with Amanda, Jeff, Kim, DJ, Mary, Phil and others
- 4th of July cookout at Mary and Phil's where we threw fireworks at DJ, nearly all died in a fire and I got DJ to blow up a bottle rocket
right next to his face
There were other moments that I'm sure I've left out, but for the most part, I'm very glad to see this year go away. 2003 already has tons
of amazing stuff in store for me, and I'm awaiting it with open arms.
