HAYTHERE

Today I stopped by the OOGCP for a latte and a moist piece of banana chocolate chip bread. It is a reasonable indulgence. The bread has a very distinctive flavor, and I have been trying to figure out exactly what the ingredient is that I am tasting. As I was walking and sipping and eating the bread, it came to me: BARN HAY. Yes, the bread actually tasted like barn hay, that hay that is somewhat green and musty and dusty, familiar to anyone raised in or around a barn. And just to answer the inevitable, NO, I am not nor was ever in the habit of actually...

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PLANNER

For all that I rhapsodize here regarding spontaneity and freedom and GO and such, it seems that in reality, I am a PLANNER. I hate being a planner. I don't even like the word "goal," unless it is like the soccer announcer dude who goes "GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!' when his team scores. That is cool. No, I don't like organization, planning, detail, set-in-stone sorts of things, no sirree. But I have children, and randomness often does not help them. Children need order and consistency and predictability.SNORE. Oh, let me whine....

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GROOVYMOVIE 2

Fundraising, Modern Style! Go Geoff!"Do you believe in helping in my bizarre but hopefully entertaining quest to reunite the Kinks - and to capture it on film? Or do you simply want to get your name on the thank you section as the credits of a film scroll down the screen? Here's your chance. We've been filming my quest for almost year. We've filmed Sting, Zooey Deschanel, Brian Wilson, Paul Weller, Robyn Hitchcock, among others. But we need about $5,000 to finish filming and editing in the next few weeks. Anything helps! $2, $5, anything. And for...

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SHOES

My survey today of DSW Shoe Warehouse:1. Too friggin' high2. Too flat.3. Not enough arch support.4. Butt ugly.5. Why, God, why?6. Quirky and overly cute.7. Dull enough for the dead.8. Looked like a flattened rat.9. Ho shoes.10. Would give me a heel blister within an hour.11. How, really, can anyone walk in those? What if you were being chased by a dog or a Jehovah's Witness?12. Damn, nice skinny mirrors they have here, though, I look great! -Ish!13. I need a pedicure.14. There's a reason most of these are discounted.15. All the guys are sitting...

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GROOVYMOVIE

I bleev I have mentioned in the mass of words here that my friend Geoff Edgers of The Boston Globe is making a documentary about, around, over, under, and sideways down about my other pals, The Kinks. It is a worthy and good project, unique in its personal perspective, funny and thoughtful and informative. The film is finishing up shooting next month, then goes for the final edit in May. But like any substantial project, it needs more than sharp editing and a good story to tell and ace direction, which is has already. It needs $$ and PROMOTION....

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I-ROCK

I was listening to a song by the Irish band Snow Patrol today in the car, a band I like very much, and a thought came into my head, and I decided to deliver it here to the internet, because that is what I do. Why are Irish bands so anthemic? I find this commonality in so many of them, this heart-on-the-sleeve, larger-than-life quality. I doubt that Snow Patrol would think of themselves as anthemic and might lob a pint at me for saying so, but hey. I hear it. And there is a place for the grand sweeping shared emotion in rock and roll, certainly....

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HEYLITTLEGURL

Today I got totally lost in doing a completely crazy cover version of Led Zeppelin's "When The Levee Breaks" and didn't get here until LATE IN THE DAY. If you would like to hear it, click on the myspace link OVER TO THE SIDE DOWN THERE. I had more fun doing it than anyone should have, rightfully.What extra I bring tonight is this lovely young singer, just 17, from Australia of Italian parents. I LOVE this song and her voice, she is just gorgeous, and I hope she totally kicks ASS here in the U.S. I just love music. I really so do.Gabriella Cilmi,...

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LOOKINGGOOD

Today I saw the new cover of People magazine. Actress Valerie Bertinelli is on the cover, looking great in a bikini (http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20267734,00.html). I applaud her, and relate a bit as well. She is a couple years older than I am, the same height, and definitely a few pounds lighter now. In the last couple of years she has lost 50 lbs., I have lost 60. She did her deal on the Jenny Craig diet and walking, but had to seriously up the exercise and cut another 500 calories from her daily intake for the bikini shoot. I walk/run...

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SETTLE

I was talking with a friend the other day about dreams. Not sleepy dreams, but hopes, desires, etc. It is her desire, her dream, to someday write something, show something in the commonality and humanity of people's wishes for themselves. A worthy and interesting idea, I thought, and we talked further about how that might play out, how you would take that information and make broader connections from it beyond the plainly personal.Because I am tangential like a mental Mexican Jumping Bean, I got to thinking about how people are always thinking...

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BRAIN 2

Mr11: I am left brain.Me: Oh? Did you study about this at school today or something?Mr11: Yes, and let me tell you why I am left brain.Me: OK.Mr11: I am not very emotional, so I am left.MissSix: Obviously, I am right.Me: Ha ha ha! Mr11: And when I make a decision, I stick to it, and it's either one thing or another, not a bunch of things.Me: No shades of grey, huh?Mr11: Nope.MissSix: I have like three or four shades of grey in my art box. Mostly they are pencils. I don't have a left brain.Me: Yes, you do, everyone does, and everyone uses right...

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VEER

Today we had to collect Mr10 from a sleepover, in a town about 20 miles away. Afterwards heading home through the usual fetid architecture, Shell stations, McDonald's, and teriyaki joints, we spotted a bookstore, unfamiliar to us all, and decided to pull over and check it out. I love to veer, to do the spontaneous, go adventuring, and a new bookstore is just nerd paradise for me anyway. It was also a near-certainty they would have a coffee bar too, so that just doubles the fun.It was a surprisingly large place with a very good selection. I found...

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DAMNRIGHT

"Don't let anyone ever take from you, your goodness."Kim Fowley, Underground Garage, 3/21...

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NOTNICE/NICE

DAMMIT.Today I found out that my flight was altered by a full day, and I will be arriving back from a trip around 9PM on the same night I have tickets to go see the band X, a long-time favorite of mine. You tell me: 3000 mile flight that may or may not be on time, wait for luggage, drive home and put my son to bed, get re-dressed and drive to the club in Seattle, is that gonna happen? It's hard to imagine. Shiiiiiittt. I might as well give the tickets away now. It's not very easy for me to get to shows and there are so many that I would like to...

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MEMORIESOFAROCK

(from The View, Oconomowoc (WI.) Junior High School, Spring 1975)Yawn. Man, the weather is nice. Today would be a good day to get a suntan. But I guess rocks can't get a tan. Being a rock is very boring. But it does have some good points. I mean like who else gets to lounge on the beach every day? Nobody. If I could only reach the water. It looks so nice and cold and blue. I am broiling. What torture.I'm just a few feet from where it laps up and then falls down. But I can't move! I heard footsteps. Sigh. Just another family come to have fun at...

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STOP!HAMMERTIME

To: Expensive Blonde Haired, Smartly-Put Together Woman In Black Driving A New Black Mercedes Who Not Only Nearly Ran Over My Teen Son And I In The Crosswalk Today, But Then Looked Super Pissed Off That We Were In The Middle Of The Road Walking To Begin With,And Motioned For Us To Hurry The F UpFrom: MeYes, Ma'am, that was me who gave you the High Holy Stink Eye with the Continued Head Turn Stare Down. You had the nerve to glare back at me.If I had not had to provide a good role-model for my child and all, this is what I would have done:-- stopped...

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BRAIN

I was so saddened to hear that actress Natasha Richardson died today. She suffered a closed-head injury during a beginner’s ski lesson at a Canadian resort. Initially after falling she was thought to be fine, but later in the day complained of head pain, and rapidly declined. I particularly feel for victims of head injury. I am a veteran of several concussions, all occurring over a short time span, one from a fall on a ski hill. I was a horribly inexperienced skier, didn’t have the skills to be skiing as fast as I was, swerved to avoid a group...

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BUSSTOP

Wherever I go, whether it is driving around doing errands or walking down the street or sitting at an airport, there is a part of my periphery that is gathering impressions. It can be the way the light is surrounding a tree, a young boy sitting in a red car playing with his seat belt, how all new babies' cries are unique in tone but the same in what they ask for...these little microbursts of some kind of reality, saved. Sometimes, I take something right away and make something from it here. Sometimes I pull something out of the dusty memory banks...

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LUCK

I think I must have a bit of the luck o’ the Irish; after all, I have a good chunk o’ Irish in my ancestry, I enjoy corned beef, and I find Bono attractive if overly sincere. I have that bit of Leprechaun to me, hopefully not the creepy greedy trollish aspects, but that mischievousness perhaps and the ability to sometimes find opportunity where others may pass it by.I think when most people think of “luck,” they imagine a winner at the roulette wheel or Powerball, or someone who simply seems to go through life getting all the breaks and perks....

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IREADTHENEWSTODAYOHBOY

Yes, I did. It was not about a lucky man who made the grade, though. It was about the folding of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper (get it? folding newspaper? A HAW HAW HAW), the last print edition to appear tomorrow. But did I read it holding said paper, or any paper, in my hands? No. I read it here:http://www.kirotv.com/news/18941041/detail.html#-And that makes me part of the demographic that is killing print media. And I thought I would be the last person to BE THAT GUY, too, but I am.I came from a reading family, and that included all...

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NO-STALGIA

I am an inherently nostalgic remembrancing sentimentalist. I cannot help this; I was born this way. Even as diapered pundit, I pined for yesterday's content, even if it was only some really good baked macaroni-and-cheese or my outgrown plaid tennis shoes. I have issues with loss, although for no reasons I can particularly figure. Perhaps it is some kind of satisfaction issue, the idea that past can be so easily idealized and the future so filled with dreams. Poor old The Present. It always gets shafted. No one appreciates it, no one lives in it,...

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JEANS 6

OK.I might not go so far as to say I am a shopaholic, but I clearly have been on a bit of a jag. Oh, it is so fun, and I am not going to debtor's prison or anything, so it's fine. Really.Today I went into the hip-n-gritty Capitol Hill section of Seattle. Everyone was dressed like me; that is, like a weirdo rockstar/hipster and/or homeless. I felt comfortable. If I lived in Seattle proper instead of Seattle-ish, I would probably get even paler and more unbearably cool, so maybe it is good I am stuck in a mild-mannered suburb.Ate at a tiny restaurant...

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SAVIOR

I fall to my kneesand look to the skyWho will save rock and roll?Murray The K is not here todayso who will save rock and roll?Every protest singerevery guitar slingerevery punk rock sinner sells his soulMy generation is not the salvationso who will save rock and rollI saw The Stooges,covered with bruiseswho will save rock and roll?every mercenarythree chord revolutionarieschoose your side and choose it wellJune 1st, 67 something diedand went to heavenI wish Sgt Peppernever taught the band to playmy generationis not the salvationso who will save,who...

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JEANS 5

It was a nice sunny day, I've been cranking faster than usual on the laundry, and had no kid pickup duty today, so I gave myself a GO to spend the afternoon at TJ Maxx and Target. For some, this would be a miserable waste of their precious hours, but for me it is sheer heaven. Quietly and peacefully combing the racks for cool, new, cheap clothes relaxes and cheers me like a Valium and a glass of wine did for the protagonist in the Rolling Stones' "Mother's Little Helper." It is also easier on the system and does not produce unintentional coma.A...

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ROPE 2

"Delaney!! Delaaaaneeeeeey!! Over here!!"Delaney Morris, 14 years old and newly-Disney-Channel-hot, crossed over the red carpet to where the fans were waiting behind a heavy golden rope. The crowd let out a collective squeal of delight, their hands held high with cell phone cameras taking her picture as she shook hands with people, signed autograph books and a stuffed animal and one girl's arm with a black Sharpie."I love you, Delaney!" "Delaney, you are so beautiful! "Oh my god, it's Delaney!" "Delaney! Look here!" "We love your show, honey!"She...

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ROPE

It seems for many people school gym class was an early stage of high drama, one way or another, because everyone seems to have a “glory days” story or some sad tale of humiliation at the hands of an evil, testosterone-filled Physical Education instructor, like the formidable Miss Thunder Thighs from my junior high. But talk of her and her flimsy nylon short-shorts barely containing her massive barrel-shaped and cellulite-ridden upper legs will have to wait for another day. Today I tell the story of The Rope.This was when I was much younger, maybe...

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GOFISH

I may not have a fish, but I have a guitar. Oh, yes, yes I ...

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ODETOBILLIE

HAHAHAH! Oh, man. Life is so funny, how things turn out, the things that make an impression.When I was in first grade, I saw the movie "Billie" starring Patty Duke. It had been on the big screen a few years previously, and finally made its way to TV, and to me. Oh mah goodness, I thought it was the best thing I had ever seen. The basic plot of this lighter-than-air movie told the story of Billie, a teenage social misfit and tomboy who, with the help of a rock n' roll beat in her head, smoked everyone on the running track. MY SISTAH! Oh, I BELIEVED...

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BOOM

A clap of thunder outside my window makes me think of this. Enjoy.John Lee Hooker -- "Boom Bo...

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OCEAN

“Why did I move to southern California?”As I make my way down the boardwalk, stupidly loaded with shopping bags filled with tourist garbage for the kids, the lyrics from the Wax song go through my mind. You know, the one that had the Spike Jonez video with the guy on fire running for the bus. Single shot camera. Very disturbing, and very good. I look around. Why did any of these people move to southern California? The hard bodies and the bums and the goth runaways …maybe everyone ends up going west sometime, looking for something that ends at...

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CONTENT

Jens Roland is a smartypants, and I really like what he has to say in this blog about exactly why and how the music industry has gone into a death spiral:http://www.bspcn.com/2009/02/27/how-to-kill-the-music-industry/You should read it, because it is short, to the point, and well-written, but it boils down to the very simple ideas of the mind-boggling increase in entertainment options due to the digital technology revolution, and how the old music...

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SMARTYPANTS

Another study out today about the cognitive uselessness of educational television for infants:http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/03/03/babies.watch.TV/index.htmlYeah, yeah, yeah. OK. This is not a huge revelation, really, but I am sure that the Baby Einstein brand and their many imitators are irritated, as are parents. Does anyone really expect their baby will become smarter because they watch a 20-minute DVD with pictures of animals and puppets and a ball dropping over and over? Well, I hope not. Let us get to the real issue: there isn’t a parent...

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SONOWWHAT

I cannot remember a time when I have personally known more people who have lost their jobs, had their hours cut, or have been told they are likely to lose their jobs within a few months. All age and income demographics, too. There is sadness, and worry, and mainly just this stunned factor, like "ohhhh...me too." I don't know very many people who have substantial savings, or who don't have significant levels of debt. That seems to be the way it has been for awhile now: get what you want NOW, pay it off sometime, then maybe save some money. Maybe.So....

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