Who the Hell is Googling in Huck Finn?

Why the duke, that's who. This is near the beginning of Ch 29:

"The duke never let on he suspicioned what was up, but just went on goo-gooing around, happy and satisfied like a jug that's googling out butter milk"

Language is great.

Why the fuck am I reading Huck Finn again when I am the only one of my friends who is not reading the Neil Gaiman book from last year? Oh, because I am a loser and the only mythical river journeys I ever had were walks of shame, following the friggin' Kish.

I have also thrown up in a graveyard.

I am not proud of the fact that it was one of my finer moments.

Fun family weekend. Now there's a segue. Alex and I went to the DeKalb/Sycamore game. For the 2nd year in a row the boy got us court side seats. I looked for Jack Nicholson and Dyan Cannon with her freak-ass brownies but they were probably court-side at a boring old Lakers game. Losers!

Segue time again. Great game for Alex and the Spurs on Sat. As fate would have it, the boy and his Park District Spurs played the Park District Peewee Lakers. Cannon and Nicholson were not at this joint either. However, on more than one occasion the boys managed to make three passes in the same possession. Some might say "Big deal" - but these boys are sharing the ball. Basketball is always more fun when you share (especially when you shoot like me)

Sunday we went shopping for Kim at Woodman's and Trader Joe's. I think I found a decent Port for under 20 bucks. Any Port in a storm right? Ok, I am unsophisticated and unfunny. Crap. That's the daily double.

Whilst ambling through the produce section of Trader Joe's Alex said, "There's Steener and Joe."

I said, "You and your stories, boy...." (Trader Joe's is quite a drive from DK rock city)

Then I looked up and saw our good friends. Steener and I talked the Organic Girl Hearts of Romaine packaging. Organic Girl makes my lunch easy. I'm glad to share the goodness with friends.

Came home and Alex had some time with friends. I did some writing. Kim got back from Brooks and made breakfast for dinner. Our favorite!

The boy and I watched the Pro Bowl late on Sunday. Alex loves the Pro Bowl. I didn't have the heart to tell him that the Pro Bowl is a punchline.

AFC 41 - NFC 34

Production

This has been one of my most productive weeks in awhile...hence no pointless blogging.

I'm ok if you're ok.

Who the hell am I talking to?

Limp Swayze vs. Rainin' Toads

A kid at my work suggested that my old man, long hair makes me look like a combination of Patrick Swazye and some guy from Limp Biscuit.

Let me preface the rest of this by saying I really like the kids I work with and am totally ok with kids (in general) making fun of an old man even if the old man turns out to be me. It is the way of things.

Having said that, I plan on adopting a new persona with the intent of mushing out one of the greatest mashups of all time.

There is no more edP...

From Executive Producer D.J. Limp Swayze comes the greatest mashup since the MASH theme met Genesis...MASHACAB

D.J. Limp Swayze proudly represents..."Dirty Biscuit"

Those kids will hear and feel fear as their young, hopeful hearts are mushed into mashed up brain-potatoes. My vengeance, like that of the God of the Old Testament tends to the absurd...

...and at present I am out of rainin' toads.

Spelling Jan 25

wolves

knives

feet

men

children

women

sheep

heroes

scarves

mice

no

myself

really

probably

then

usually

what

Co-Op No Script

Took care of the co-op and other practical shit but did not get the first portion of MOI over to Copy Service.

Guitar lessons were fun. The boys are starting "Take the A Train"

Duke Ellington, watch the hell out. These kids are good.

Ok, Duke Ellington is dead, but these kids are still good.

Piecing the Already Pieced Together

...together.

Monday - need to go to co-op and take red jump drive to copy service. The new 1st 70 of MOI is done and needs to be printed back to back like - not letting them do title pages (I'll take care of those)

Tuesday - make sure we can practice in Sugar Grove

Wed - try to get an hour of editing in at Larry's this week if possible. I can put together a short version of Kish without recording another fucking note. Just have to make two quick edits. Everything will be set to do final mixdowns. Then I have something that we can put out and play out whether it is our bigDrag set or if the guys are interested in doing some of this new material.

Aquaman is back!

The Only Thing

Even tho I took two half days this week I am not being as productive as I hoped.

Tonight, before eating I must...

15 minute financial meeting with Kim
10 minute room pickup
Decide if we are doing the eagle thing this weekend

NOT THAT YOU SICK BASTARDS!

Bring in Alex's shoes from Grand Prix
Go thru list of bills
Make sure I have cash for tomorrow

Worked on old timey journal notes and some other stuff for the thing that might come out as Kish is being finished. Solid half day of writing. As a reward, Alex and watched one of our old NFL films discs. The subject, Vince Lombardi. HE wanted to be a priest at one time. I can just see him drawing up the communion lines on the chalkboard and saying, "We want to create a seal here and a seal here. Then the parishioners make their way to the rail."

Salvation isn't everything, it's the only thing

Jan 15-17 Catchup

Fri -

Alex saw his first 21 gun salute tonight at the wake and service for Carolyn V's father. I didn't know her pop but our family loves Ms. V and her crew so we were proud to stand by her. I'm sure Kim's cheesie potatoes went quickly at the gathering back at the V place. Alex and I chilled with Cookie for a bit, then picked mom up. Late night for our little family but we just hope all is well with our friends.

Sat - all day consumption

Consumed everything put in front of me on Sat and then some. The list of food and beverage would be embarrassing to list here...the gluttony and the sad fact that I probably remember everything I ingested. Don't do stuff like that too often any more and it was fun.

My parents came to DK and took us out for Italian in the Naper Settlement. Wine and Bloody Mary's can work together when properly balanced with baked ziti. I think there's an actual equation demonstrating that. Don't ask me to do the proofs here. The readers of my blog simply would not understand it and I don't know it.

Met Shane's parents and friends at the Vets in DK Vet City. Great night for my buddy. I am gonna miss that guy...but duty calls. I will pray for him no matter where he is stationed. The Air Force is lucky to have him. The Taliban better watch the fuck out. Our country isn't messing around anymore. We're deploying the Shane!

I think we sent him off propper like. By the end of the night a former Marine made us drink Malorts

Shane asked me, "What the fuck is Malorts?"
I responded, "Dude, I don't know but you're gonna remember the taste 50 years from now."

Sun - Editing session with Larry

Hanging big time...I'd've been in worse shape if it wasn't for the lunchtime ziti and the midnight Loco in me. Edited a new version of We Can Always Get Away...still need to get rid of my first chord at the beginning. Larry tried to fix it for timing but it is more interesting to just have D's feedback tone start the song all by it's lonesome. Or, Three to Get Some Money, the effects and whacky shit worked out better than I hoped...I need to cut some of the faster horns right at the beginning and go from the coin in the jukebox sound right to the 2rd or even third demented sounding horn.

More on this later

God bless you Shane...and God, give rest to Red Vaughn

Shit to Get

In keeping with my original decision not to drag the bigDrag guys back to the studio to finish kish, Sunday is a big editing day. Almost no mixing. I have enough to make the last portion of the record sound interesting around the last songs we really finished the right way...hopefully the edits will adorn the tracks and not make them sound to gimmicky

Can't worry too much what people think about this. The performances on the actual songs are great, the boys really played well together and were creative and took chances because we haven't invested two years in playing this material live or anywhere...and I think the songs themselves are as good or better than anything I've ever taken part in writing

there are going to be more typos and random shit in this post cuz I am using it as a shopping list for everything I want to do in the three hours I'll have on sunday

GO TO FUCKING BANK ON SATURDAY AND MAKE SURE I HAVE CASH FOR THIS DRUG DEAL....er, RECORDING TIME

Sadly part of the recording time on Sunday will, in fact, be used to edit a confused story of a sad drug deal gone right. See, now you won't even need to hear the record.

Need my disc with City on the Sauce that Joe and I did Thursday to add to the Annex has Been Drinking...maybe right at the get go of that monstrosity

Also need the disc with samples from first bD show...sample of Baby Ox and other stuff

NEED DISC TO SAMPLE for medicinal purposes only part from the recording we did with the Dark Squirel like 500 years ago and never finished...it may be the last recorded use of the Dyna-mic and I desperately want it to be on something...especially a track about being on something



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --- - - - - - - - --
LABEL ALL THE SHIT BETWEEN THESE LINES "THREE TO GET SOME"

Start the session with the beginning of The Irrelevant in the Room Take two - edit out clicks and my first chord (the chord sounds like shit by itself anyway) so that we start with devin's pure feedback tone

Fade this out somewhere between 1.19 and 1.30 (double chk this before I go out)

leave a little silence in there

quick fade up to We Can Always Get Away - DO NOT BE TEMPTED TO TRY AND RECORD THE "la's" - THEY SOUND OK F'ING AROUND IN CHRIS' BASEMENT BUT THEY WILL RUIN THE ENDING OF THIS SONG ON THE RECORD AND UNDERMINE WHATEVER SLIGHT TOUCH OF DIGNITY IT BRINGS TO THIS OTHERWISE SQUALID AFFAIR...I added the little organ part between Devin's bursts and that should be enough to give it a happy ending

NOT THAT YOU SICK FUCKING BASTARDS!!!!

ok, well maybe a little of that

LABEL ALL THE SHIT BETWEEN THESE LINES "THREE TO GET SOME"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --- - - - - - - - --

MAKE A DISC, with a track that starts with the 6 clicks from beginning of Take 2 Long Irrelevant in the Room - then the coin sound from Una Mirada Monika...then the first little blats on repeat slow down each time until unintelligible....then tape speed up @ 3.00 or so (check this from Irrelevant in the Room) and begin long, slow fade out to maybe 6.36 or so (check this also as i drive with the tracs in whatever format I currently have in Rav4) - label this "Or Three to Get Some Money"


NEW TRACK LISTING????

KISH

1. The Irrelevant in the Room
2. Virginia
3. One for the Walkers
4. Imported Wine and Soul Food
5. Harvest Here
6. We Can Always Get Some
7. Two for the Stoned
8. Or, Three to Get Some Money
9. Francesca
10. The Annex Has Been Drinking
11. Four to Blow

............and maybe the rest o this is shit


maybe skip the rest of the shit below (although keep for now just incase my "tight" idea falls apart in the fucking editing stage)


Make a disc with a track that includes...
- the low tone at the beginning of The Annex Has Been Drinking
- beginning of the disc with just the music from Una Mirada Monika
- repeat the little opening part but each time slow it down more...
- sound of the tape speeding up into the part from older disc....
It imitates synthetic morphine
Inhibition inhibitor
Endocrine cascade
See your heart beat
On the monitor
It increases secretion
Of whole blood serotonin
Use as directed
For medicinal purposes only
-end
- lable this "3 to Get"(for now)


Make another track that includes...
- low tone from the Annex has been drinking
- the last part of the original Three to Get Money with singing
- maybe the other thing that I'll ask joe to rip and make go backwards from the tubes of you
call this "Some Money"

41 Day One

The boy is feeling better and that's a good thing. He had residual fever and other symptoms later in the afternoon so we are going to keep him home one more day. Cookie will be pleased.

Kim made her baked mosta last night which is my favorite meal ever. She's such a good girl. She bought me a bottle of bourbon intending to feed that to me along with some good meat she planned on getting from Imboden's. When I told her I'd rather have her mosta than their steak I wasn't lying.

Bourbon doesn't go well with mostacholi but there's plenty of other things it does wash down nicely...anger, frustration, a sense of being crushed by responsibility...

So having just turned 41 yesterday, I am definitely going to need it.

Sorry

Perspective and its Problems

The best way to maintain one's perspective (at least from my perspective) is to find a way to mix what his happening at the moment with something like the long term view.

The long term view, the historical perspective, is problematic. There is so much "history" that we are forced to pick and choose the examples we use. It is not easy to see what the greater problem is then with respect to the past. Is it simply thinking that in the past, everything was simple, pure and better than the present state of things? Or, is it better to pick examples from the past that portray the present in a particular light...as "not as bad" or "more progressive" than things were before - - or "things have always been going to Hell and now is no different"?

My problem is different (although I tend to pick and choose examples from the past to prove a point for whatever reason I see fit)...I tend to block out the immediate present, the news of the moment and treat it as noise unless something really, really interests me.

Maybe I should try to get off my dispassionate, but extremely high fucking horse and try my hand at a few topics that I think my version of the long view could elucidate and leave it to whatever readers are out there to see if anything I say is worth something of a damn.

For now I have a sick kid and a sleeping chihuahua on the couch so I need to attend to them. My kid's fever just hit 101 at about 5:45am. Nurse Cookie has not left his side since the fever spiked. And that's the kind of health care reform this country needs you fat cats in Washington!!!

I don't know what sort of perspective that is, but it is mine dammit!

I'll be quiet now.

Spelling Week of Jan 11

written

climb

wrist

wrench

knot

lamb

knob

knit



NOTES for Sunday Session @ LnL

...current track listing

1. The Irrelevant in the Room
2. Virginia
3. One for the Walkers
4. Imported Wine and Soul Food
5. Harvest Here
6. We Can Always Get Away
7. Two for the Stoned
8. Una mirada Monika (3 to Get Money 2)
9. Francesca
10. The Annex Has Been Drinking
11. Four to Blow

Take the Long Irrelevant in the Room (take 2) and put it at the beginning of the good We Can Always Get Away

Bring up the vocals a hair on WCAGA

Cut the track after "If you and I are wrong, Or if..."

Get Una Mirada CD from Joe...Begin making track "3 to Get Money (pt. 2)"

use slowd down Ulacher sample that we already have from earlier pass at The Annex Has Been Drinking

Harmonics part over the top of this!!!

Terds and Duces are Wild

Family Movie Night Friday. We missed the last two due to the holidays but we made up for it with the last two episodes of the Next Generation (from Season II). Alex asked if he could see the beginning of the entire series again but I told him it would have to wait until Saturday morning.

Saturday morning came and it was picture day at the Park District basketball league. Alex spiked his hair. He says it makes him look taller. Who am I to argue? I was always the dorkiest looking guy on any basketball court I was ever on so I say 'Spike away with my blessing little son'

Could not make it out to the Annex for SC's last night of drinking in our town's worst bar. Sad that I had to miss a thing like that but it couldn't be helped.

Sunday, Kim and Alex trekked out to the OF after Holy Mass. I worked on Barb City Confidential all day. Here's part of my favorite part...a conversation between Jen-O and I...on Leo Strauss (like everything else, this is sort of what was said from my notes):


Sunday Oct 22, 1989 Smoking and Other Good Decisions

Talked to Jen-O today and I am going to end up seeing some lecture with her and some POLS assholes on Friday. I was hangover smoking in the lobby with her and she convinced me attending this lecture would be a good thing to do. Our conversation was something like…

JO: “Do you know who Leo Strauss is?”
Me: “Sure, the jeans guy.”
JO: “No he’s not the jeans guy.”
Me: “Oh, the anthropologist. He wrote about nude dudes or something.”
JO: “That’s Levi-Strauss.”
Me: “Levi Strauss IS the jeans guy kid. I think you’ve got it all fucked up.”
JO: “The anthropologist is Claude Levi-Strauss with a hyphen.”
Me: “I didn’t hear you pronounce the hyphen.”
JO: “You are not even aware of how ignorant you are, are you?”
Me: “I think that’s probably a key part of ignorance. Unawareness, I mean.”

Then she talked about some heady shit, the details of which are difficult to remember. I’m only paid to remember the jokes people. Ok, no one is paying me, I just prefer to remember the jokes.


And that's all for that, for now. After writing, I watched the 3rd period of the Hawks, then sat down and thoroughly enjoyed Inglorious Basterds. Is it wrong to wish that film was what actually happened? I should probably stop clicking my keys about this now.

But I Like It

Joe and I talked about the Kish tracks that are currently a part of whatever that thing is going to be...and we talked about some of the stuff that might be left behind. After hearing what he had to say, I think I need to do some creative editing and put We Can Always Get Away back on the list. I don't want to ask B & S to do the backing on this track. I want to save that for the last song ONLY (Four to Blow) but with some creative editing and a little overdubbing We Can Always Get Away can still make the final cut.

I have to be mild to moderately clever about this and still get the job done. I promised D that I would not drag him back to the studio for any more guitar oDs on Kish. I sort of promised myself the same thing. The jokes about "concept record" actually helped but had the potential to crush my morale at several different points. I can be a whiny piece of crap sometimes.

It's tough because I make fun of everyone about anything. I have to take my turn as well. I have to remember jokes, mistakes and tension all sharpen what is going on...at least in my own mind. It's no one's fault and I insist that it is still a good thing. I am not some oversensitive artist or any boring shit like that. I write about the effect of these things here to chronicle it like I do everything else.

bigDrag had one of our best practices in forever last Tuesday and I don't want to fuck up us getting back on track. There are two sides of me that have always been necessary and necessarily in tension...at least when it comes to music. The side that needs to fucking control every fucking thing...and the side that must be part of a group (in some ways the least important part...or the guy playing the easiest part) live....to soak in being in the middle of that experience. Playing together and let individual shit and pointless ambition go.

What's the saying "It's only rock 'n roll..."

Is it Thursday or What

Too much Thursday for me to handle. I don't know what that means. After work I helped Alex get his stuff together for hoops practice. Three on three and it was good to see the boys work with all that space on the floor. The Brothers Swaff are teaching the boys and it is a great thing to see.

Alex and I came home just as the 1st period of the Hawks game ended. They kicked ass! Worked on spelling with the boy....the whole family had a late dinner. Alex and KJ crashed and I spent time rewriting shit that I shouldn't have written in the first place.

Dammit

We Need To

bigDrag practice. Showed OD and Chris the Learning Curve thing before bigD got there. Once Devin had arrived and plugged in, we played some of the hits. OD came up with a mighty bass thing that we all played together...just making shit up but it all fit. Tape wasn't rolling but as long as Joe can remember the basic thing we should be fine.

There may be a lot of talk going around about me trying to fuck Chris' pantry, but forget it ok?

Good night. It's been awhile since we played together. We're going to put a show together soon soon soon.

We need to.

Same Jerk, Different Day

spelling - - 1/4/10

beautiful

safely

kindness

finally

spotless

worthless

illness

helpful

daily

suddenly

Bears win the season finale. If they do not fire Lovie (who is a nice man) and hire someone like Bill Cowher I am not going to talk about the current organization until preseason next year. It doesn't mean I won't love them or show Alex the old timey NFL Films it just means there is nothing to talk about profootball wise in Chicago. The Tampa Two is what it is, even when the players are healthy. Cowher makes the most sense from an organizational and business perspective cuz they will not fire the GM and the president of football operations. The jutted-jawed one can get what he wants or make the Bears look like they are trying while they figure out how to replace the boobs in the front office.

Ahhhh, that's it for that. I know the world mourns the loss of my football thoughts. So it goes.

Mass at St Mary's Sunday. Too disorganized to get to 10:15 at Newman. I heard the phrase "ah ha moment" and I think that qualifies as heresy or blasphemy. At the very least, the use of this phrase may bring with it a lawsuit from Opah (misspelling intentional so she doesn't sue my blog).

What else?

Pam convinced Michale and Alex to lick a metal pole outside in the super Illinois cold. After Alex complained numerous times about how much his tongue hurt we had this conversation...

Me: Why did you put your tongue on the pole?
A: Pam told me to.
Me: Why did you do this, just because Pam said?
A: No. She dared me and said she'd give me $20
Me: Why did Michael put his tongue on the metal?
A: Pam said she'd give him $20 too
Me: And did any money change hands?
A: No.
Me: What have we learned here?
A: Don't put my tongue on anything just because Pam dares me or promises me money.
Me: Good.
A: What if I want to put my tongue on something outside in the cold?
Me: I think it's a pretty safe bet that you shouldn't do that in wintertime.
A: What about in summer?
Me: Let's not have any outside licking, in any weather, without asking me first, ok?

I Was a Jerk Today

Big surprise, I know.

Technically most of this blog post is about Saturday. I don't know why it is dated Sunday. I guess I will have to write about Sunday on Monday...although maybe I can skip it all together.

Worked on bills most of the morning and I still can't figure out where I missed a $49 payment to fucking Nicor. I pay my bills, especially piddly little $49 thangs. I just sent them $39 something at the beginning of November. Is it possible I received another bill between that one and the one sent in mid December? Am I bimonthly...or twice a month or something like that? I don't care. I refuse to do online bill pay. I know people do that all the time but my little paper system suits me.

Only rarely does it not work.

Alex had his basketball game and he was active out there against a much better team. He grabbed two rebounds and dove on the floor for the loose balls. I just like to see him full on engaged in the game. I don't care if he takes a shot the whole season. He doesn't seem to like shooting during the game. He pays attention at practice, works hard during warm ups and hustles to set picks when he can and gain possession of the ball for his team. That's great as far as I am concerned.

I was a jerk at the game to two ladies who are good friends with Kim. Ms A offered us some advice on switching the cc to a Southwest rewards card, charge the tickets we are about to get and use the points from this and everything else we are going to charge towards a next trip to the West Coast which we are most certainly going to take in the near future. Kim's cousins and my sister are near San Fran and Tracey is in Seattle.

Organized tracks and edit notes for the next Kish session. When that will be is another question.

Kim had a girls' night with P. Alex and I watched the Hawks and Blues beat on each other mercilessly and a good time was had by all, with the possible exception of Kieth Tkachuk who looked as if he were tkachoking after a puck hit him in the mouth or neck or somewhere in the head region.

I googled him the next day and it looks like he's gonna live.

Carry Over

....my wayward son.

Worked New Years Eve and tried to be mild to moderately productive and get one last day of really, really mean out before the new year starts. I've got nothing and no one to hate in 2010. That's my story and I am sticking to it.

However, just because I have no reason to be mean does not mean that I won't be mean.

The devil lives on my tongue and he tastes like shit.

Yeah, that's a real good reason for talking a bunch of crap all the time and generally saying bad things whether they are funny or not. Hell it's not even justified if they are funny. Just a balloon of false pride filling up my liver. That's where the the spots are supposed to be.

And once again it should be clear that I do not understand a single, damned thing.

Had a good ole New Years w/ OD and Steener. Alex had a friend sleepover and the boys stayed up past midnight. Cookie was fucking exhausted. Poor chihuahua.

New Years Day went to 10:15, then Alex and I took out all the garbage left over from Christmas. Yes, we missed the garbage schedule change last week so hurrray - double the garbage for the most garbage filled two weeks of the whole damned year.

What're ya gonna do? Who are you gonna sue? Charles fucking Dickens, that's who.

Alex and I watched the Bruins and the Flyers play in Fenway and we build Lego's. Pretty neat.

Got a babysitter so Kim and I could go see Sherlock Holmes. Fuck Kenneth Turran. Pure movie entertainment is exactly what I needed and exactly what I thought this was. Call me an idiot, see if I give a fuck. Had a late dinner at Twins with my best girl and the chilli & soup kicked the ass of the winter chill embedded in us.