i tried to post something to say how much I enjoyed the Beck / Flaming Lips show and to say that I enjoyed my family Thanksgiving dinner (and give a shout-out to my cousin Serena for the salon job...) and so forth and well, for some reason it didn't work and I had to delete it and now I'm too tired to try and rewrite the whole thing.
Oh well. Technology wins again. Happy Thanksgiving everyone...

Wow, I never even had the chance to buy Nic and Lisa Marie a wedding present....
In other rock'n'roll related news, if you're one of the many who's either circulated or recieved the Joan Jett "Rolling Stone/Women in Rock" letter - it WASN"T written by Ms. I Love Rock'n'Roll - check out her web site for the disclaimer. Still the letter does make some very good, although rather obvious points....
ok, that's it for now...just a little over 2 weeks of school left - not to mention Thanksgiving (happy holidays to all) and a trip to Oregon....I'm looking forward to the drive (really!) even if I do have to write parts of my term paper while in the car....

So, at what point did this guy think "wow this laptop is kinda burning through to my privates - eh, but what the bloody hell, I'll just continue on" ??? Ouch.
In other news, I actually made it out of the house not once but twice this week. Two (non work-related) visits to Old I, one to The Distillery and a couple of hangovers later I actually feel like I have a life again. Although with only two weeks and four days until the last day of class, it's a short-lived feeling....
Oh, and thanks to Mikey for my ultra-cool, ultra-rare Music Boulevard magnet. It made me positively misty with nostalgia and now occupies a place of honor on my fridge.

It boggles the mind to think this sort of thing is still an issue in the 21st century. But it’s true, “sodomy” is still illegal in many states including Louisiana.
Check out the Datalounge for a really good index of stories and stats on the subject.
Also of interest, a story on the recent uncovering of official White House communication tapes from the day of President Kennedy’s assassination 29 years ago. I wasn’t alive when Kennedy was shot, but I’ve always been fascinated by him and the Kennedy family as a whole (when I was 10, I became a bit obsessed with the Kennedys after seeing some TV movie of the week with Jacqueline Smith as Jackie O) According to the story NPR has both an abridged and unabridged audio from the tapes here. Just reading the story gave me chills, so I'm not sure if I actually want to hear the tapes…

Well, the online music mag that I worked for in NYC has gone the way of many dot.com dinosaurs.
After five years Allstar music magazine is no longer.
I'm not entirely surprised - if anything, I'm surprised it lasted this long. Not because they weren't good at what they do - they were, very - but because it's an awfully tough market. Before Allstar was affiliated w/ CD Now (this was waaayyyyyy back in the day when I was on staff - the halycon days of 1998) they were part of an online music retailer called Music Boulevard. Remember Music Boulevard? Yeah, I didn't think so. I seriously wonder how much longer CD Now is for this world....
In any case, even though Allstar and I were not a particularly good fit, I'm still sad to see them go and I wish my old editors Carrie and John the best....

Last night was Blondie at the Fillmore but before I get to the lovely Debbie Harry & Co. I'll start at the beginning with The Negro Problem. Or rather, the problem with The Negro Problem.
The Negro Problem is a band from Silverlake and although I'd seen them once or twice before at Old I, I do not remember them being so bad. Alas, much of the crowd seemed to love them - at least that portion of the crowd that probably doesn't get out much. Sure, that sounds snobby and music-elitist but The Negro Problem was such a shameless amalgamation of the Dave Matthews Band and Hootie & the Blowfish - yet they so badly wanted to be something more like XTC meets Cake - that it hurt.
It really really hurt.

Thank God Blondie kicked some serious ass. Not only does the band - which features original members Debbie Harry, Clem Burke, Chris Stein and Jimmy Destri - still look really good but they sound even better. The band played a few of its newer songs (including "Maria" which I actually like quite a bit) but stuck mostly to the classics. Deborah Harry's voice sounded great on numbers such as "Heart of Glass", "Rapture", "Call Me" and "Hanging on the Telephone".
I first got into Blondie when I was about 9 years old. My best friend at the time, Lauren, owned copies of "Blondie", "Plastic Letters" and "Parallel Lines" - we used to sit in her room listening to them and staring at pictures of the hopelessly and forever cool Debbie Harry. I think "Autoamerican" is one of the first 10 albums I bought with my own money and to this day I still think of the band as one of my first - and most enduring - musical loves. (trivia: when I was a senior in high school I was in a production of the female version of The Odd Couple. I played "Renee" - friend to the two main characters. As part of the character-building process the director had us pick out 'theme songs' that we felt best defined our roles. I picked Blondies' "Rip Her to Shreds" because the character of Renee was gossipy and bitchy and was, well, basically always ripping everyone to shreds....) Finally getting to see them live was a real treat. Having them look and sound great was even better. I couldn't help but shake my ass during "Heart of Glass". It brought me back to those fourth and fifth grade days of making endless loops around either the ice rink or roller rink while wearing jeans and leg warmers and dreaming that I was some hot new wave chick....those were the days... those were the days...

Anyway...our trip to SF also included a visit to Amoeba where, in addition to albums (old and new) by Rilo Kiley, Aztec Camera and Ashley Park, I also picked up a copy of Peaches' "Teaches of Peaches". Cory and I had both heard a lot of great things about this CD (every rock critic in the nation seems to be falling over him or herself to declare this one of the best records of the year - lots of Prince and Madonna comparisons have been bandied about) in the past few weeks so I decided to take the plunge. Intrigued by the title of the album's opening track "Fuck the Pain Away" - I had high hopes for this record, thinking it might be something sexual, political, social and - hopefully - danceable.
Man, was I ever disappointed.

Instead of getting something catchy and/or danceable in the vein of Miss Kittin & the Hacker, Ladytron, Golden Boy or Felix da Housecat, I got a lot of stale Casio beats. Instead of getting politically and sexually-charged and substantial lyrics in the spirit of Le Tigre, Mirah, Bikini Kill, Liz Phair and Hole I heard "fuck" and other seeming titallating words repeated ad nauseum - but uh, that was about it.
Instead of getting something just overtly raw and booty-shaking well, did I mention those stale casio beats? Did I mention there was barely any melody to speak of?
Damn, give ME a keyboard player and a microphone. I can drone words like 'fuck' and 'suck' monotonously too....Seriously, "Fuck the Pain Away" - such a waste of a great song title....I just might have to appropriate it for my own use...
In the meantime, the Style Hype wins out over Substance once again....

and the day just climbed up another notch on the disturbing scale ...i guess this will just make Jeffrey Jones seem even creepier than usual whenever I watch Ferris Bueller's Day Off (link courtesy of Amelie)

i almost forgot - there has been one bright silver lining to today's media cloud - this article (it's about one-third of the way down the page) from Pitchfork Media about why the Wilco/Minus 5 record was not "Disney" enough to be released. OK, so the article was actually published back in July....that's not the point....

some disturbing things in the news today:

• first, the U.S. Army discharges an Arabic linguist because he's gay - yes, this is still an issue


• then, as a U.S. citizen you should be afraid - very afraid - of the U.S. Homeland Security Act because every little thing you do could become part of a "virtual, centralized grand database" - like the U.S. government really needs to know that I subscribe to Bitch magazine and regularly read sites such as The Shifted Librarian...


• and finally...this....the ongoing saga of Michael Jackson's nose....I'm warning you, it's not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach.

if you're a fan of eclectic indie publishers such as McSweeneys check out Big Small Press, an alliance of four independent journal/book publisher featuring McSweeneys, Fence, Verse Press and Open City. They offer special gift packs featuring a selected title from each publisher at a discounted rate...
I had no idea Adrian Tomine was born in Sacramento - that's so cool. Score one for the River City.
Raise your hand if last night's Gilmore Girls made you feel like you were 16 again. Never mind that it was sort of a cheap and easy way to get rid of Dean (though who knows, maybe we haven't seen the last of him...). Anyway, it made me feel all ooshy gooshy inside. Whatever that means - that's how I felt. Probably due in part to the fact that prior to the Girls I finally sat down to watch this week's episode of The Sopranos. Whew. Brutal. Not that I didn't really see it coming...but it had sort of a great and twisted O'Henry style build-up.
What else? Umm....
a couple of other things for which I'm happily gearing up:

• new Cat Power record (not til February though)


• new season of The Osbournes in a few weeks


• Blondie at the Fillmore this weekend


• end of the school semester (Dec. 12) and five weeks off!

....that's it for now

I knew it! There *is* a conspiracy to frame poor Winona Ryder...people, just leave the poor girl alone...I know, I know, I'm obsessed.

Go see Punch Drunk Love now. Just keep in mind that this is NOT Happy Gilmore 2. Seriously though, this film is amazing - Paul Thomas Anderson is one of the most ambitious young filmmakers in Hollywood and if this film doesn't leave you with a gigantic smile on your face then, well then you should probably just wait for Happy Gilmore 2. Definitely the feel-good film of the year. And I mean that in a completely unironic sort of way.

speaking of ironic... It's nice to know that politics won't get in the way of the Miss World beauty pageant....damn stupid boycotters - don't they know what's *really* important in the world?
Sigh.
I feel a wave of bitchiness coming on...surf's up...

so it looks like I'll be getting some more wear out of my Free Winona shirt. I'm not really surprised by the guilty verdict. Although I am a little surprised that even the prosecutor doesn't think she should go to jail. They seemed so bloodthirsty when it came to Ms. Ryder - why are they stopping now? Anyway, hopefully the Divine Ms. W can get back to her "normal life" - i.e., being cute and doe-eyed and making movies about angsty twenty-to-thirtysomethings... a few good movies wouldn't hurt right now...

In other celebrity crime news, Bobby Brown (remember him?) was arrested not once, but TWICE today...I guess he's got to do something to keep his name in the headlines - something other than having to continually bail his wife out.

By the way, I swear to God I haven't forgotten about posting the Paul Westerburg Q&A - I've just been so busy w/ school I haven't even had time to open up the document on my computer. But in good news, I revised my short story, proofed it (OK, actually Cory proofed it) and made copies for my class. Which means that, other than a 12-15 page term paper that I have due in a month, my biggest project of the semester is now behind me. Yay. So, Paul Westerberg, soon...I promise....

Once again, I seem to be able to reduce my life to a list
This is what I’ve been up to since the last time we chatted

• Took Cory to see “Bowling for Columbine” for his birthday – we both really, really liked it in that wow-it-depressed-the-hell-out-of-me-sorta way. That and it made us both want to move to Canada. A serious must-see film for any fan of Michael Moore or anyone concerned about the cause-and-effect relationship between violence and Americans. (An interesting footnote to the film: in the wake of a recent, violent gun shooting, Charlton Heston recently decided to visit yet another grieving town and used it as a reason to promote the NRA.


• been slogging through school – finished a 25-page short story over the weekend. It’s the longest short story I’ve ever written. Hell, it’s the longest piece of fiction I’ve ever written. Next up: proofing and revision. Thanks to Cory for his careful eye and suggestions.


• forgot to mention that I like the new Eminem film “8 Mile” which comes out this Friday. It’s not a great film per se, but it’s engaging and emotional and Eminem is interesting and charasmatic. And I’m here to tell you that I’m even liking an Em song these days -- “Lose Yourself”. Pretty powerful, I’ll admit...PS, the Detroit - Canada connection is very interesting to think about after you've seen both "8 Mile" and "Bowling for Columbine"


• Um, Jamie Oliver rocks. Even if he did tell me to ‘fuck off’ (in that cute Cockney accent, no less) when I asked him if the spot on the ground on which he was sitting was warm (because he’d just commented that someone had probably used it as a pissing spot the night before)…


• Shift Magazine. How is it that the best magazine about Internet culture is coming to us outta Canada? Again with Canada! I swear I’m moving there….
  
• The Streets: “Original Pirate Material”. Super-cool British hip-hop. I just can’t get the ‘over we say birds not bitches’ line outta my head!


• voting! I still have to go vote! So do you! Go do it…NOW

OK, I know there’s stuff I’m forgetting. I’ll try and update again tomorrow or Thursday….