owe one to three

some interesting things have happened over the past few days. One thing that was interesting, is that i had a little whirlwind trip to toledo, holland more specifically, and back. i'm not saying that toledo is interesting, but they did have some very interesting onion rings. big fuckers. i ate some of them. i also stayed in the most boring hotel room i think i've ever seen. very very clinical or something.Oh yea, and i saw one of those International CXT's in the parking lot. Jesus Christ. it's a monster. The bed of it stands about 6 feet off the ground, straight out of the factory. To think, i was saying something about Ford making big assed pick up trucks just the other day... this is hands down the biggest pick up i've ever seen to roll off an assembly line. I cannot understand why the Hummer crowd doesn't STEP UP.

anyway, back in the hotel room, i saw myself in the full length mirror. wow! i'm growing up. clocking in at 187 actually, which is the ideal weight for a fit grown man my height. (except...) so i became inspired. Well. actually i was inspired a week or so ago. When i saw that movie, The Machinist. So, as it turns out, my buddy sam, who is looking to go the route of Kelly Lebrock, and i don't mean "weird science" kelly lebrock. i mean, "married to steven seagal for a dozen years" kelly lebrock, and just really packing it on. ME? na. i'm gonna pull the Christian Bale and take it on down. Even bought me some tuna fish. I'm not looking to land on the 120 mark when i stand on a scale, but i'm excited about looking like i've spent some time in a concentration camp. (goes well with the new hair) And no, please don't take offense to the concentration camp comment. I know. It's hard in those. People die in there. But an interesting thing is, that the prisoners don't eat very much, and they work their fucking asses off, and the ones who don't get murdered, they get real skinny, and they look a little rough, or like that dude, Iggy Pop, but when they get out, they fatten up again. The thing is, it's sort of something i've always wanted to try. See how fucking lean you can really get. I think it would be interesting (and nice) to wear baggy pants that actually look baggy again. So, THAT'S interesting.

on top of that, another interesting thing is, when i got home from Toledo, i was fucking exhausted. I mean, like lie down and fall straight to sleep exhausted. Except, i was so exhausted, that i couldn't even fall straight to sleep. But when i finally did, i suppose around 1 or 1:30 on saturday, i had the best dream of my entire life. It was awesome. I can't even describe how awesome it was. I mean, it was so awesome, that i woke up laughing out loud like 10 times, and each time i was like, "ok ok!!! it's funny, now get back in there already. you're gonna miss it!" and sure enough, i fell back to sleep, and was right back in the same kick ass dream. I don't know it was like New York based i guess, because there were some scenes where i was like, riding on these skyscrapers that had been upended and i was sliding down the streets on them, kind of like when you're hauling ass on a shopping cart, and just ripping around the corners and stuff, except, you know, there were bigger consequences when you misjudged the turns and stuff. It was like snowboarding on skyscrapers lying on their sides, except i wasn't standing on it like a snowboard, i was hanging on at the back, like how i used to do when i would come flying down the ramp pushing the equipment carts at my old job.

And The Strokes were in it too. Except, it wasn't The Strokes. It was this kick-ass Chick-Band, and they weren't singing anything that sounded like The Strokes. They had all their own stuff. And it was AWESOME. Playing in this little club that felt like it was in, i don't know, maybe Fort Greene or somewhere like that. And they had this one song that kept coming in and out of my dream, and it was my favorite song in the whole world. And i kept telling myself in my dream, "man, if you can remember how this song goes, you're going to be a fucking Millionaire!" but, i can't remember it. I couldn't even do a tribute.

And there were these amazing fighting scenes, where the amount of strength that i wielded over my opponents was nothing short of heavenly. And even in the most gruesome battles, nobody really got hurt. It was like a cartoon, but without the animation parts. I don't know. i told you i couldn't describe it. Oh, and that song, you know, that 80's ditty by Was (Not Was) "Open the door, get on the floor
Everybody walk the Dinosaur! Open the door, get on the floor
Everybody walk the Dinosaur!" kept on a playin' man. I hadn't thought of that song in years. And there it was. i couldn't get it out of my head, and i was laughing so much and so damned giddy, i think i would have been fine to have that song going round and round in my head all night, EXCEPT, i had another mix in there too, again, just the chorus, but it was all, "Woooop! Wooooop! That's tha sounda tha po-lice! woooop! woooop that tha sounda tha po-lice!"

so. a pretty good dream man. really enjoyed it. top of the tops. Best one yet. (anybody else think of black flag when i said that last bit?)


what else interesting? yes. so then, i woke up and got myself washed and brushed, and went on down to The Knitting Factory to check out Semi-Precious-Weapons, and that was a great time too. See, we couldn't find the fucking place to save our lives, but finally we got there, and Jeremy Banning comes out, and he says, "yea. you guys just missed 'em." and we're like, NO. I mean, that's the whole point of my night right there. That's why i went to bed as soon as i got home from TOLEDO. That's what we've been stumbling around downtown for so long for. It just can't be! (and it wasn't) They were just about to start, and we got in there, and they fucking rocked our heads off. It was glamorous, and MONSTROUS. All of 'em. The dude on the Axe. The dude on the Bass, the dude on the drums, the dude on the fucking KEYS man. They were tearing it up! it was great! and forget about Justin on the vocals, he's a fucking genius. It was awesome. I mean, it was like, i don't know, like, The Def Tones meet Liberace, with better vocals, and a HELL OF A LOT MORE PRESENCE on stage. So that was fucking schweeet. Followed the show up with some cheeseburger fries (yea, they're french fries made out of cheeseburgers man!)over at The Dakota Roadhouse, and by then i was a walking zombie.

But there was yet another day in this weekend, and thankfully it was a bit more downtempo, even though the music is consistently rocking, we went and checked out Finian McKean at Pete's Candy Store, and it was one of the most intimate, "members only" sets i've seen in a very long time. Nice and warm and covered with love. I was drinking them hot apple ciders with rum and feeling the vibe.

today wasn't really as cool. well. it's pretty cool. I mean, it's my birthday, and when i came out of my room i saw the ducky and the bunny wearing little birthday hats in the hallway. That was very cute. made me smile. I love those little guys. You know, the thing about a break up is the kids man. I got real used to having the ducky and the bunny around, and i found myself feeling like a divorced father must feel when he only gets to see the kids on weekends. But they were great. They're hanging around in here today actually, smiling and loving their little party hats.


After tucking them in, i went over to the IRS. They've been hounding me for weeks. So i went there, stood on line, brought a book (the master and the margarita) and waited my turn. When it was my turn, of course i had to go see some other dude, but he was on a break, so i had to wait some more, but then i got tired of waiting, (my shuffle started repeating songs) and i went back to see what was up, and they told me the dude had left for the day. Yup. It was like THAT. so fuggem. Next time, they can come see ME. and maybe i'll "leave for the day" on them. Jesus. One thing i don't recommend is hanging out in the waiting room of the IRS building in brooklyn on your birthday. It's really dull in there.

Lastly, and i hate to bring this up on my birthday, but, a favorite present to me would be, if you took a few and watched Loose Change. I think it's important that people don't forget how quickly some things were swept under the rug a few years ago, and i really can't understand why that is. The link has a free download, as well as the ability to stream the video right there in your browser. It would mean a lot to me if everyone who reads this blog took the time to watch this video. It would be even more awesome if you got everyone you know to take a little time out to watch it.

welp, that's about all i have to say about today's update. Enjoy the pictures, come back whenever you like, and keep on keepin' on.

dTown 38˚ | 36 years old | listening to dtown mix *2006, compliments of ToddC