Posted 7.4.09 at 1pm.

Well Earth has travelled around the sun once again and its time for America to celebrate it's corny anniversary of independence. 230 years ago many rich white slave owners decided that a shift in political power called America would be a better way to save money and it took a lot of killing and war to make it happen. This is celebrated as most battle inspired anniversaries throughout history have been celebrated; by blowing things up in the sky. I don't care one way or the other about any holiday and the further I can stay away from them the better. I think that the requisite beer, barbque, fireworks mill is both boring and scary at the same time. Americans are so good at doing things when they aren't out celebrating something. Think of all the cool shit that Americans have done and how none of them happened whilst celebrating this countries bloody birth. I do feel lucky to be an American and the privelage it allows me but not for one second am I proud or pretend that I am free. I hate fireworks as they remind me of war and gun shots which are being heard with more and more regularity here in Oakland. I always thought a good way toremember something is a moment of silence which I wish could be incorporated more into this paticularly violent holiday. I look forward to July 5th as much as I avoid the 4th. I could go on for pages more but I won't. This holiday just really piss me off.   

Posted 6.25.09 at 6pm.

Michael Jackson died quite a long time ago. 

 

working more on the nocityintheworld.net site. There's a link to it now. as of now you can only listen to the tracks but soon enough you'll be able to download it. Up now are Guard Rails, Young Lions, Children, Bafabegiy, Disconnect and many others. Go now!

Posted 5.28.09 at 8am.

We recorded nine Guard Rails songs that we're going over again with a fine tooth comb and making sure the levels are right etc. Was supposed to go to another Prop. 8 protest in the city last night but wound up accidentally breaking a mirror instead. that's a mess you cant leave around for a house cat to find so no protest for this guy. Oh well. Some of the types at the protest can get a little hard to take. After the protest they want to go smash a sears or something. I never think that protests do much immediately. I don't think that protest songs do much for change in an of themselves. I do think they're important but only for the people protesting. It helps re instill that you are not alone and that this thing that is effecting you is effecting other people. A common enemy makes comrads out of strangers. all they need is that one spark, one instant, one chance too meet.  

Posted 4.29.09 at 12pm.

Today while pouring a cup of musli for myself today I noticed some movement in my mouth after the first bite and then two spiders crawled out of the bowl I just made. I chewed and ate what I assume to be the third spider and threw the rest away. I actually felt pretty weak about that. I threw away a bowl of food because I was so disgusted by spiders. lame. Probably was more nutritious than it would have been. Oh well. Tonight Guard Rails play with My Flag Is On Fire and Joe Lally of Fugazi. That should be a good time. It will be cool to talk to him again. Will be our first time playing outside. Not sure how that will pull off but we'll see. if you're in the Reno area, I gather that the show is free so come on down to the west street market on west street and first and say hello. show's at 7. 

Posted 4.17.09 at 8am.

Saw Leonard Cohen's impressive 3.5 hour set at the Paramount. That was cool. His backing band is great to the point where it sounded kind of cheesy. Like Sax in Rock and roll. Everything was EQ'd to the point that it didn't sound like a band but listening to one of his CD's playing over the PA. It seems that everytime I see a show at the Paramount I see someone I've always wanted to meet. This time I saw Blixa Bargareld there and toiled with going up to meet him but he was talking to other people and my motto is when in doubt, leave people alone. Years ago I met Jello Biafra there at a James Brown show and we got to talking for a while. He told me about how the Dead Kennedys actually wound up playing with James Brown due to a promoter screwing things up and the two audiences didn't know what to do with eachother. Can you imagine how great that show would have been?

Last night I went to Ahren Hertle's art opening at Sheperd Gallery. That was great. The paintings are on such a next level. I hosted this open mic at Sierra Arts Gallery later and that was a lot of fun. I haven't hosted an open mic for years and it was a lot of fun. My Flag Is On Fire was the musical guest and that's always good. I'm going to be putting out a 7" of theirs which I'm excited about. I guess the idea for the open mic is that everyone signs up and reads their stuff and then at the end is the time for the featured person which spot I was in then. I was glad so many people stuck around for that long and they all seemed pretty excited to see me. I had a blast and finished by singing a song which was a lot of fun. Today I leave for Oakland and return to Reno tomorrw for a Gurard Rails show and then pack and then go back to Oakland. I do not have much free time right now.  

Posted 4.6.09 at 11am.

In Boston now. Had a good time walking around DC and got all the museums in and what not. Some were really cool. Caught the Louise Bourgeois exhibit. That was great. Went into the capital and took the tour for the reason of taking a picture of stature of an ancestor of mine that resides in the crypt of the capital. His name was John Stark and he was one of Washington's friends during the Revolutionary war. here's what wikipedia has to say about him:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stark so the deal with the capital is that each state gets two statues to be placed in it somewhere. John Stark is one of New Hampshire's choices. I checked out what Nevada's choices were and I found Sarah Winnemucca which is cool and then this guy named Patrick Anthony McCarran who was this McCarthy type of guy who was a privelaged white male racist. If you want to read a couple paragraphs about someone who shouldn't have statues or streets named after him, go Here . All in all my favorite part of DC was walking around Adams Morgan and Dupont Circle, going to Crooked Beat records and having some real good Ethiopian food and got into a cab of this Nigerian guy who taught me things I never knew before about Fela Kuti, a guy who's every record I own and have read two books on. It's so cool, he told us that all of his wives were actually Ghanian and he married them to give them asylum to Nigeria. My time in boston isn't going to last long enough and I wish I could hang out longer. Looking forward to seeing Leonard Cohen on April 14th at the Paramount. Also, I am moving to Oakland on May 1. I never thought I would live outside of the zip code I live in now but it's time to give it a shot. I've been communting there from Reno every weekend for months now to be with Natalia and am done commuting every weekend. I will still be actively involved in Reno and perhaps more so than I have ever been so I'll still be coming back there often for band practice and whatnot. No going away parties or anything as I am not really going away and am looking forward to it. I love Oakland.  

Posted 3.17.09 at 11am.

So the Pope goes to Africa and tells people that using condoms will only add to the AIDS epidemic that has existed for longer than I've been alive and it's front page news. There are many people up in arms about this because they aren't insane and know that condoms work. I just don't understand why it's news when the Pope says things that support keeping everyone in the dark ages because the Pope has been coming to Africa to tell people to practice abstinence longer than there has been such a thing as AIDS. It's like people being angry at Rush Limbaugh for saying he wants Obama to fail. What do you expect? If you're not part of the GOP or a drug cartel you're outta luck with that guy, buddy. this isn't news. This is the norm. A headline that says "POPE MELLOWS OUT AND GETS WITH THE PROGRAM" is something I would read. or better yet "POPE EXCOMMUNICATED/ BOOTSY COLLINS ELECTED TO THE PAPACY!" tomorrow we'll read a headline exclaiming that due to new found DNA evidence experts agree that Hilter might have been a racist. 

Posted 2.3.09 at 8am.

I was riding my bike to the bank yesterday when this bug flew in my eye and I was in the middle of the street. It was quite an experience to feel something struggle and die in your eye and I was about to rub my eye until I thought of pieces of bug separating and perhaps embedding deeper. So... what to do? Do I go into the  nearest restaurant and explain my plight with this black thing in my eye and ask for the bathroom key? Do I tough it out and just accept it as part of my being? Get it out with something from the street? No. I need a mirror. The crisis wasn't that there was a dead bug in my eye. It was what to do about it. Thinking to myself, "Look, right now there are people fearing for their very lives in Somalia. There are people rebuilding their lives in Palestine. This is no big deal. What would Lee Marvin do? Just tough it out." Did I tough it out? No.I marched right into the nearest coffee shop and spent fifteen minutes in front of the bathroom mirror doing eye surgery with a paper towel. Of course that's when it's time for a guy and his four year old to walk in. Four year old points to me and exclaims "EEEWW!" before getting to supervised peeing. Everything in me wanted to wait for the sound of urine hitting porceling and then return another louder "EEEWW!"  at him but I didn't because this bug had caught my eye and it had a date with a paper towell and a trash can.

 

I see that Eric Holder just got sworn in as Attorney General. I hope the throws the Bush order out and goes after Bolten, Meirs and Rove to testify infront of congress. That would be a helluva first day. 

Posted 1.19.09 at 1pm.

Am now on  the tail end of whip-lash and am now able to lift things heavier than a fork and look over my right shoulder. I've finally got a Rickenbacker 330 guitar and it's great it's been a long time coming but I'm glad its here. Still doing all that insurance stuff and it's looking good but it's all very boring and I'm tired of talking about money with strangers. Right now listening to James Browns Big Payback record. 

Posted 1.8.09 at 11am.

A lot has been up lately. I got into a frightening car accident on the 5th on I-80 that totaled my Prius and luckily I came out ok. It was a thing where the car was spinning out of control ping ponging between guard rails before I was able to regain control and steer to safety. No one else was hurt and I came out of it with a renewed sense of life and how easily mine can be taken from me and a new importance on all of those close to me. Every meal I've had tastes amazing and the smallest aspects of life now appear with a focus they didn't have before. Am now in the midst of dealing with insurance. Other than that I have started a new group with my friends Teresa Flammia, Megan Boldway and Justin Craperi. I'm singing and playing guitar and we're tossing around a few names to have it be under. Right now I'm just listening to Funkadelic and Devo drinking coffee. thanks for reading. 

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