I'm Thankful for Crack.

Thanksgiving morning. Despite the beauty of the day, the crispness of the air and the newly-fallen snow, outside my house I noticed a guy skulking about and I think he was looking for his dealer. Poor guy. I imagine they might even joke about the fact that it's Thanksgiving and that the druggie is thankful for this bounty or whatever and they'd both laugh but really hurt inside. Maybe he was just a guy walking through the alley, though...

I'm thankful for Music

The night before Thanksgiving I went to see Three Dollar Bill at Cal's Liquors with Erik With a K (it's a person, not a band - though it sounds like a cool band name, doesn't it?). Here are some pictures from that show.




I've talked at length about 3DB in the past, so I won't go into them right now other than to say they're good and you should go see them. As far as queer rock goes, they're doing an exemplary job.

There's a new found object and a new couple of dreams. Check em out.

What's with me and dreaming?

Yet another dream from yesterday. It's weird how I can not remember them for weeks and all of a sudden there's a flood. A deluge if you will.

I had a dream this morning but I've forgotten it. It was a good one too. Damn.

Oh, I also went to a wedding this weekend and really liked my flower. Here's a picture of it. (And you can see Max in the background and it looks kind of eerie.

OK, also, on the art site, in the boxes gallery, I've added a detail page to the Box Of Many Things which has much functionality and fun.

Lotsa Dreaming

There are two new dreams on the dream blog. I had one this morning, but havent't had time to type it all up yet. Hopefully I'll remember it the next time I'm near a computer.

VOICE

So, I actually made a page that links out from the V O I C E link to the left. It's been broken for a while. Right now I just have one post on their, but I guess I'd like to populate it with old and new works or writing and see what happens from that.

There's also a new little found bit on the Found Site.

Last night I completed a sculpture, but didn't get the chance to take a picture, so you'll just have to wait 'til tomorrow.

Since MySpace doesn't take RSS

New Found Object on the Found Site.

So, I implemented something called RSS feed from this site, which creates a sort of syndication feed that allows other programs (friendster, for example) and browsers to carry the feed elsewhere on the net automatically without me having to cut and paste and repost. MySpace doesn't (yet) offer this capability, though they have their own proprietary blogging interface. What's great about MySpace (and those Internet-based communities in general) is that other MySpacers can "subscribe" to blogs. So far I have two subscribers on MySpace, though I've never seriously only blogged 5 times and never really gave it much thought. Now I want to accomodate that "audience," but definitely don't want to create new content because I don't really have the time or, well, that much life to talk about. So, I'm going to start cutting and pasting posts from this blog into my MySpace blog. We'll see what happens. Occasionally I'll have original content for the MySpace venue and who knows, maybe this whole thing will morph and it will one day be all original.

Recently, I posted on Craigslist that I was looking for an illustrator to draw a comic I wrote a while back. It's a script that I really have a fondness for and I'd really love for something to happen with it. I got three responses and each was pretty different. One girl was very mean. She called me an asshole and wished me luck in finding someone to draw it for free. She called herself literally starving and told me to learn how to draw it myself. The second person was enthusiastic and asked me to send the script right away, but I first asked to see some of his sample pages. He sent them to me and they were phenomenal. I sent him the script and awaiting his response. If I wasn't so confident about the script I would feel more nervous, which I am a little, but I'm putting on a brave face. The third person was somewhere in between and asked to see a copy of my story and sort of said that since I hyped my story so much that it was like I was killing it in its infancy or something. I didn't reply to this guy, but maybe I will still. He had a good point, but he just didn't seem to express it in a friendly way. Anyway, I really hope the second guy likes my script. I also emphasized that I have other scripts in different styles, if they might appeal to him more.

How come nobody ever bookmarks me on Friendster? I have like a million visible bookmarks, you'd think someone besides some girl who Frank knows would find me at least remotely noteworthy. OK, self-pity session over.

Post Election De(com)pression

First, I've added RSS capability to my blog. I've added it to the main link of this post for anyone who wants to use it. More news on what the RSS can do later, as I learn what the hell I'm doing.

* * *

On election night, I went to a party/concert that was a hopefully pre-emptive vicory party, but alas it didn't work out that way. My buddy Seth's band, PAL, played, as well as a couple other bands whose names escape me. I can probably recall them if I try or do some research, but all I'll tell you that with the first band the guitarist was really tall and pretty cute and the drummer was a little person with a funny hat and they played blues-style music.

The second band was really awesome and I guess the Hothouse's (where the event took place) house band for that night of the week (Tuesday). The bassist played and upright bass and was also an extremely talented multi-instrumentalist and did lots of crazy live sequencing things. They were a four-piece, but mainly just he and the drummer only ever played instruments. The main singers were two black guys with long dreds and the overall sound was a little world music-y. OK, I looked it up because I was remembering that they were really good. They're called Star People. And the cute guy band was The Chariots and I think I recall something about it being their debut show or something.

There were quite a few characters in the audience, my favorite of whom was "the sexy girl" as Erik and I dubbed her. She's one of those big-breasted girls who always looks seductive. Like, you can imagine her at the grocery store and it looking like she's flirting with the produce section or whatever. Here's a picture of the sexy girl.

PAL was the main attraction for me. Here're a bunch of photos from their performance.

* * *

The other night, I was walking out of my apartment and in order to leave, I walk through my studio, which is a black hole of mess right now. On the way out, I saw a grouping of found objects from my last found post and the tiara was missing. My landlord has access to my apartment and I was like, "did someone steal my tiara?" But then I realized I'd used it as a memento in my Memory Box as a remembrance of Halloween this year. I'll eventually document what the hell a Memory Box is, but basically, it's just a box of mementos with some documentation of where the objects are from and what significance they have to me. Anyway, I had used the tiara in my Memory Box and forgot. Here's a picture of the tiara for a visual.

* * *

Lastly, the other night I went to a show at Empty Bottle. It was a band called 00|00, featuring some chick from Japanese Sensation The Boredoms (whom I've never heard, but apparently they're pretty big). A band called Pit Er Pat opened, whom I liked pretty well, and would have bought a CD, had someone ever manned their table. Here's a couple pics of Pit Er Pat.


The girl had a great voice that sounded a little like Bjork and the guy looked like one the gay boys I saw at Rainbo that one night.

Oh yeah, and here's a pic of the girl from 00|00 ("hello, we are oh oh eye oh oh and we are from Japan.") playing a trumpet.

iPod gets a new face

I took this pic this morning at a bus shelter. I like the photograph because it has a lot of layers. There's just some commentary on the ad campaign of iPod, which is cool, but at the same time just so produced. And then the fact that someone manipulated it. Was it social commentary by the defacer? Or was it just convenient? I think of that cartoon from when I was a kid and there was a criminal who went around putting little mustaches on paintings and even people.

So, on top of someone drawing in the eyes, I think yet another person put little price tags over the drawn in eyes - kind of a cooperative piece of artwork.

Anyway, then there's me, my reflection, in the background. All in all, I think it's a fun picture. Just a nice little sunday morning surprise all made possible with my Motorola picture phone.

Seasons Change

I rode past the south east corner of Humboldt Park on my way to work this morning. A few of the trees were holding on to their leaves, but for the most part they were almost bare. We have such a quick autumn and it's a little sad. I just hope the snow holds off for as long as it can and then comes in a vast comforting blanket that muffles the city of all its noise.

I love the fact that someone found my site by googling this phrase:

i could sure go for a mcdonalds hamburger right now. in which city and state does this franchise have their corperate office?

Yes, the whole phrase. Good Internet!

A picture says

I've added the Flick'r badge, which I think is a little neater than the "Zeitgeist" I had for a little while. I liked the zeitgeist, but it wasn't customizable - you couldn't even give it a black background.

There is also a new entry on the FOUND site.

Tomorrow, if I have time, coverage of the election.

OK, not really, but my report on the fun and funky election party I went to on that black night in American history.

Shakespeare, Miracles, Halloween and Irony

It is strange that darkness obscures everything except for darkness itself. It's already obscure. Only light can obscure darkness. That's why when I woke up this morning and walked Racecar to the coffee shop near my house, I thought it was a shame that the beautiful sunny morning couldn't just wash away the darkness that's going to cloud our lives for the next four years. Now, with no chance of re-election, what do you think will stop him from doing the things he really wants to do? Last night I read something that was quoting somebody else that said something along the lines of, "this election has become less about whether our leader has turned into a fascist, but more about whether the people of this country want it that way or not." Well, I guess the people of the United States have spoken and they're as stupid as all get out. Well, enough about that.

Last Thursday I went to see The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Shakespeare Theatre at Navy Pier.

The play was quite entertaining and the set and costumes were fun. I was a little put off in the beginning by a really annoying actor, but he turned out to have a minor role, so it was OK. People laughed when they were supposed to, which is always a good sign that a Shakespearean play is doing well. Despite the language anachrocity, and with the help of just a few ribald contemporary enhancements, the director (who's name escapes me) managed to really make it all work. Highly recommend this play, if you can see it. In addition to the quality of this particular play, the Shakespeare Theatre has no bad seats. It's a pretty large theatre, but it's nearly theatre-in-the-round, so the seats are spread out and aren't very deep back. Hopefully this will convince some cute young people to go, cuz I gotta say, most of the people there were both old and ugly. C'mon attractive young people: represent in the cultural landscape!

On Saturday, the party night before halloween, I helped out my business partner with his make-up for a costume. He was going as an accident victim wearing a ripped up leather jacket.

I was pretty pleased with my FX stylings.

Later, I met up with my new friend, Erik, at the Gold Star bar in Wicker Park, Chicago. It was pretty hoppin'. Neither of us had felt up to the party to which I had been invited and neither of us had a good costume, so we lamed out and just drank. There were some good costumes in attendance at the Gold Star. For example, four members of the Cobra Kai clan from the popular 80's film, The Karate Kid ("Sweep the Leg, Johnny! No mercy! Put him in a body bag!). Also very inventive were four people dressed up as people from . They were wearing white haz-mat type suits, and several disparate elements such as welding masks, chemist's goggles etc. It seemed like they'd just created something new for their costume instead of drawing on popular culture.

The only picture I got, which didn't come out so good, is of this guy, who's supposed to be some sort of prehistoric dinosaur fish (maybe a coelacanth?)
He actually arrived with several other fish, which was kinda cute.

Sunday, Halloween, Mr. Erik and I were going to a kick-ass party/concert down in Pilsen.

We had some time to kill before the party and went to a cafe near his apartment and talked for a good couple hours about things life the impending election, religion, sex, the exes, and other silly topics. Toward the end of the conversation, it focused a lot on religion and concepts of spirituality, divinity and, funnily enough, aliens.

Erik's a pretty cynical guy. He's as cynical as I used to be. Doesn't take much stock in religion and questions a lot, just like I used to. I found the teachings of Integral Spirituality and Ken Wilber, which I never talk about because I know I always sound like I'm in a cult, but I did on this night, for some reason. Anyway, without sounding like a cult person, I'll just say that Wilber's got really good answers to a lot of questions and they're the kinds of answers that make you extinguish doubt, but it's a pretty experiential thing, so it's difficult to convince someone of these things without having them kind of go along the path. That said, I was basically trying to get Erik to not be so cynical. We interrupted our deep conversation to head out for the party.

Leaving from Erik's pad in Printer's Row, we took to the Orange line down to the Ashland stop. As I ascended the steps to the train, I found a faux tiara, which became my costume.

As we waited on the platform, we noted the fine detailing on a building and I was taken in by some cool ghostly decorations on a window.

On the train, and not being one to have his picture taken, Erik requested I didn't take any of him. Not being one to listen, I took several pictures, including this one.

It's kinda action-y.
The next picture I took was very strange. Erik was looking up at the CTA map to see where we were going to disembark. After taking the picture (using my new Motorola Cameraphone, by the way), we looked at it. There was something "metaphysical" about it, I said. The way he was looking up at the map, it looked like he was deep in thought, and a little in awe. I said, "It looks kinda like you're looking up at God." Erik concurred with this. I decided that I was going to definitely email this pic to myself. While getting the message ready on my phone, I made a mistake, so went backwards a menu and looked at the picture. It had changed! Erik's eyes, which had just been open, were now closed. Holy incredible moley! I quickly showed him and we were both reeling. How could this have happened? We both distinctly saw that his eyes were open. Indeed, it was the main thing we talked about when admiring its metaphysical quality. Here is the picture as it appeared later.

How fucked up is that?
I was extremely energized by these events and feeling kind of poetic. I was finding beauty everywhere and felt really vital. I also felt really optimistic for some reason, though I haven't felt that way in a while (ironic now, it seems, but I'm still keeping a stiff upper lip). I am excited about tomorrows in a way I haven't been in a long while.
Anyway, I was mesmerized by Erik's reflection in the train window and took a picture of that as well.

I like how he looks like a different person. Or like he's from that movie, The Others.

Oh yeah. He has a deviated septum, but I could barely tell and had to ask him if he was assymetrical. Symmetry was one of the things we were talking about in our big talk at the coffee shop. The universe favors symmetry. That's why I like to dye my hair in assymetrical patterns.

Finally, we arrived at the Texas Ballroom, down in Pilsen. I was not knowing what to expect, but it turned out to be a FANTASTIC venue. Huge loft space with some of the highest ceilings I've seen at a loft.

Princess, whom we were there to see principally, consists of two young men, Alexis and Michael. As part of their performace personae, Alexis often wears a white cotillion-style dress and a powder-blue trucker hat while Michael generally wears a suit. Such being the case, they are usually easy to spot, and I saw Alexis in the first couple seconds I was in the space and made a mental note to introduce him to Erik. Only, it wasn't Alexis. It was some girl dressed as Alexis for Halloween! How fun! Surreal.

It turned out that for Halloween, Michael had dressed up as Cher circa 1980's and Alexis had dressed as Freddie Mercury from the excellent band, Queen.

Princess performed several Queen covers at the beginning of their set, and now I wonder if their name is progenous of Queen's.

PBRs and Miller High Lifes, both served tepid, were $2, so we both had many. Leading to many shenanigans, including me peeing into a beer can on the dance floor. I totally got caught by this girl who looked like my head was spinning around like The Exorcist so I ran out of there like a maniac, leaving Erik there to apologize. Hahahaha. He told me she was pretty drunk, but kept saying, "I felt spray. He sprayed me," and then, "Tell your friend I'm not mad at him, he just sprayed me."

The walk home (yes, we both walked all the way from Ashland and Archer to Printer's Row - on Halloween, no less) was mostly dead. No people, very little traffic and just a general ghostly feeling. I did see this great example of pumpkin carving.

YAR!!!