| (no subject) |
[Aug. 5th, 2011|07:13 pm] |
Hannah wants to do something, so we're going to ride our bikes to the Tap Room. We'll probably go to my dad's house too. The library keeps bugging Hannah about a DVD we didn't return and I think I left it over there.
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 4th, 2011|05:57 pm] |
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When Hannah and I came home after a week at the ocean, the power in apartment was out. So our cats stayed at Stephanie's for an another day. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 29th, 2011|01:30 pm] |
It's becoming clearer to me that Jet's is worth the drive.
Hungry Howie's completely dropped the ball last night. |
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| When You're at the Pool |
[Jan. 9th, 2011|10:22 pm] |
Hannah and I spent Saturday going to estate sales in West Bloomfield. We didn't find much stuff, but it was fun.
We did this every weekend for about three months last winter. And I've moved twice since then, so I'm extra careful not to buy junk I'm not actually going to use. I did buy a microphone, though. Even though I already have a bunch of those. I like the way it looks.
Old habits! |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 11th, 2010|07:38 pm] |
Hannah and I had only been living in Mexicantown for four months when some girl showed-up outside our apartment on a Saturday afternoon and told us she was the new landlord. She told us we had seventy-two hours to decide to either a) sign a lease with her or b) move out "immediately."
Apparently, Dave (the guy who we signed a lease with) lost the building in a "tax foreclosure" a four months before we moved in and Ayana Heumann (a lip-ringed twenty-something) bought it at a sheriff's auction for 19,000.
Normally, if someone buys a foreclosed building, he or she has to honor tenants' leases. But Ayana claimed that she was moving her family in. You don't have to honor leases if you're turning it into a single-family home, which she claimed she was gonna do. I don't believe her, though.
Anyway, we moved and left a huge mess. |
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| "Fancy Boy Stuff" |
[Aug. 5th, 2010|06:01 pm] |
Terminal Boredom wasn't too into the Pizazz tape
The Pizazz "Get Out of My House" cassette
I thought this was a Pizzas tape at first glance. Bummer. Dreamy pop from Detroit, mixing some Beach Boys summer-style with guitar heavy Sixties garage moves. Keeping it mid-tempo throughout, they even tackle some complex and Move-ing baroque arrangements with piano and other fancy-boy stuff and dip into the folky Byrd-bath for a jangly spell at times. Recorded by a member of The Go. You know the Burger guys love their sweet, sweet pop, and this thing could certainly get serious play in the indie-college scene, wherever that is. It takes balls to try and sound like The Move, and they don't do a terrible job of it. I still would have preferred a Pizzas tape though.(RK)
I was going to buy a window air conditioner today, but didn't. And I can't find my bb gun. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 26th, 2010|01:37 pm] |
Last night Hannah and I went to see Predators. Our original plan was to see the Paul Rudd vehicle Dinner for Schmucks (or "Mean Dinner", which would've been a much better title) on Friday afternoon. But it doesn't come out until next week. Instead, we began the weekend by organizing our new apartment. We spent the rest of it getting the last of my junk from my old house and watching movies at home.
Dolly Parton is, as always, completely lovely in Straight Talk. But the story would've greatly benefited by ignoring the boring, glad-handing news reporter who eventually becomes Dolly's character's love interest and instead focusing on the "no nonsense" editor played by the criminally under-used Jerry Orbach. Also, it was hard to ignore the bizarre age difference between Ms. Parton and Michael Madsen, who plays her unemployed, disinterested small town boyfriend at the start of the movie. Hannah observed that Dolly, who is supposed to be a down-on-her-luck dance instructor, doesn't have a "small town bod."
I didn't like Raising Arizona. And I thought Holly Hunter was a young Laura Linney and was disappointed when, half way through, I looked at the back of the box and realized my mistake. Also, what's with the sappy ending Coen Brothers? I thought you weren't into that shit.
I fell asleep fifteen minutes into Bridget Jones's Diary, but I've seen it about ten times, so I already know it's great. Sometimes when I'm bored at work I imagine what it would be like if other, popular at-the-time, actresses were cast as Bridget Jones and run a few scenes in my head. Reese Witherspoon, Drew Barrymore. Courtney Love?! Try it; it's fun.
While straightening my room, I listened to a few "News from Lake Wobegon" cassettes. As far as I'm concerned, Garrison Keillor hit his stride, in terms of his "Lake Wobegon" output, during the late Eighties. The early ones aren't very good. He really hits you over-the-head with the folksiness in those. I get it, Garrison!
I couldn't sleep on Saturday night, so I got out of bed to watch Hoosiers. It's one of my mom's favorite movies and would always try to get to me to watch it when I was in middle school. I think she thought would make me want to be a basketball player instead of a weirdo, which I was well-on-my-way to becoming. Also, Gene Hackman bears a slight resemblance to my maternal grandfather in that movie. I fell asleep after five minutes, waking up every twenty minutes or so. I think the main plot point is that the coach wants the kids to pass the basketball more often.
We spent Sunday doing laundry and, later, walking around Belle Isle with Stephanie, David and Julie. Stephanie and Julie, among other people, installed "art installations" at different spots around the island. Most of them weren't very good. I liked Stephanie and Julie's, though.
Our original plan was to go home and watch An Ideal Husband. But on the way back to Mexican Town, Hannah suggested we go see Predators. It was good enough and certainly better than Inception, which we saw at the drive-in a few weekends ago. I knew it was going to be terrible ten minutes into it when Leonardo DiCaprio's character, who is in the midst of some spy-work with his associates, delivers this line:
It's in the safe! I know because he looked at it when I mentioned "SECRETS!"
Right now, I'm at Cafe con Leche. I took the computer here to download last night's "Mad Men" episode. But there aren't any torrents up. I hope we get it together to get cable this week. I imagine AMC re-runs that show alot.
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Hannah and I were listening to a Beach Boys tape while on the way to my cousin's wedding in Columbus last week when she explained "California Girls" to me.
When they say, "I wish they all could be California Girls", the Beach Boys don't want non-California girls to look or behave like the girls in their home state. Rather, their wish is that the girls of the rest of the US and World, their individual good-looks and personality charms intact, simply lived closer to them. In California, which would make them "California Girls." It's a proximity issue. They just want to be around as many diversely attractive women as possible without having to leave the state.
I never realized that. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 3rd, 2010|12:17 pm] |
The Burger Records Caravan of the Stars went well.
Hannah and I left on Thursday to visit her friend Kim in Milwaukee. We spent most of the time playing Ticket to Ride, which is sort of like Stratego except with trains. I lost every time even though Kim and her boyfriend were paying most of their attention to the Brewers, who were playing baseball on t.v.
Kim had to work on Friday, so Hannah and I spent the day thrift shopping. I bought shorts and "vids." There were alot of good vids, but Milwaukee apparently runs on a different Used VHS Economy than Detroit. Every thrift store we visited wanted upwards of $1.50 for each tape. So I had to be judicious while picking-out movies.
We also went to American Science & Surplus, which was disappointing. I'm not sure what I was expecting. Although, I did end-up getting a pretty cool plastic jar with a blue lid. Hannah bought some rocks.
I left Kim's at 8 AM and met Mike and Billy at Billy's house in Chicago. We practiced for a while and left for the Empty Bottle where we played (not very well) at 3 PM to the other bands.
It was great to meet the Burger guys. Lee, who runs the label with his friend Sean, was there to drive the van, sell tapes ect. He's one of the nicest people I've ever met.
My mom (who was in town visiting my older sister) and my older sister showed up after we played. They took Mike, our friend Johanna and I out to dinner, which was nice.
The Milwaukee show went alot better. Mike, Billy and I stayed in Chicago the night before, so we were able to use Johanna's practice space. While we were rehearsing, my amp caught on fire. And the "a" string on the guitar I borrowed from Eddie (mine broke the day before I left Detroit) kept coming loose. So I borrowed Johanna's amp and guitar. Nothing, in the "equipment department" can ever go right for me.
When we got to the Borg Ward, the Burger guys were already there. So were Craig and Natalie. There was a bunch of free beer in the garage and a five-foot tall pile of old clothes in the alley. After Hannah and I got back from eating tacos, she spent most of the evening digging through that pile, as if she were at the Packard Plant.
According to me it was, in terms of having-fun-while-playing, the best Pizazz show in years.
It took Hannah and I twelve hours to get back to Detroit. We stopped in Kenosha, WI (her home town) and ate lunch and bought more used junk at thrift stores.
The Detroit show went well enough. Mike Hayes came and played bass. Mary Cotter showed up too. When it seemed like Billy was never going to show-up (he didn't get there until forty minutes before we had to play), I told Mike Severance, "let's just have Mary play drums." He didn't like that joke. I would like to play an Original Pizazz show at some point, even though it wouldn't make me twenty-years-old again. And we'd probably get the same audience turn-out we did in 2004-- ten people, tops.
After just about everyone cleared out of the bar, I was all wasted and talking to Matt Smith about Nilsson. Then he played "Cuddly Toy" on the Painted Lady's piano and sang harmonies while I sang. It was a real moment.
The Burger guys followed me to my house. A bunch of them slept in my room while Lee, Pipsqueak, the singer from Cum Stain and a few of the Cosmonauts and I stayed up all night drinking, playing guitar, singing Ramones and Weezer songs and listening to records.
I left at 6 AM to drive Hannah to work. Then I went back to her house and slept until noon.
When I got back to my house, everyone wanted burgers, so I took them to Telway. Everyone likes Telway.
Ten minutes or so after everyone left, Mike Severance picked me up and we left for Cleveland.
We got there about six hours before we had to play, so Mike and I walked to a park to practice harmonies and guitar parts. About ten minutes into that, Mike broke a string.
The Cleveland show went well enough. Someone bought our record and wrote about it, sort of. She refers to us as "garage rock," which I hate. But whatever.
Before we played, this guy came up to me and asked if I knew Craig Brown. Apparently he saw Brownstown Gals in Cleveland a few weeks before. I told him, "yeah; I know him. My roommate is in that band too. I borrowed his guitar for this tour, but it broke."
He also wanted to know if I knew "Tommy Vulgar." I said "yes; but everyone calls him 'the Vulg,'" which isn't true.
Conspiracy of Owls were amazing; it was like a stadium band. Lee gave me their tape in Chicago and I've been listening to it pretty regularly since. They played the whole record, which took forever.
I wouldn't've minded, but Mike and I didn't leave Cleveland until almost 3 AM and I had to work at 8:30.
It was an honest bummer to leave the Burger Caravan. Mike and I felt like we made friends with those guys, and that never happens.
Anyway, fun tour.
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| Maybe it's Because He's Never had a Home |
[Feb. 16th, 2010|05:18 pm] |
The Mikes and I have been practicing without a drummer because no one feels like picking up Jake, who doesn't drive and plays too many hi-hat fills anyway. This means that I can play an acoustic guitar and don't have to move my amp out of my bedroom and back to Mike Hayes's house. We worked on a new song last night and decided that there's not going to be any hi-hat on our new record if we even record one.
After practice I went to Hannah's house and fell asleep almost immediately.
We went to the Science Center to see the Accidental Mummy exhibit on Sunday. Some of the mummies had eye balls. We also saw a planetarium thing about back holes, which wasn't good. After that I drove to greek town so Hannah could get chocolate mice for her roommates at Astoria. Then we watched "Howl's Moving Castle". I'd never seen it before (Wizzywig showed a few times when I worked there, but I never paid attention).
It's great.
The Goner Records store has our tape for $4.99, which is a dollar less than Burger's website.
Mike Wartella sent us the sleeve design he did for the LP; I'm really happy with it. It's like the tape but he changed a bunch of stuff.
I read this article a few days ago and liked it. 11 Fiction Characters Assigned Questionable Taste in Music. I always notice that sort of thing when I watch t.v. or movies. |
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| I Thought the Major was a Little Lady, Suffering Jet |
[Jan. 27th, 2010|12:57 pm] |
Mike Severance came over at noon yesterday and we practiced singing. The orignal plan was to meet at Mike Hayes's house where the Mikes and I would practice without drums. But Mike Hayes had to work.
When Mike left, I picked up Hannah at work. I wasn't in "gym mode", so after we dropped-off one of Hannah's co-workers, Hannah and I went to her house where she did homework and I watched t.v. while re-stringing Stephanie's guitar.
When we went to my house to eat dinner and watch "American Idol", one of my roommates was smoking pot with her drug-dealer boyfriend in the living room. I can't wait to get rid of those roommates. |
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