Its seems I have been AWOL from the blogging sphere for the better part of the week. Truth is, the week seems to have flown by and I didn't notice through the haze of antihistamines. Not much has happened to elicit a post.

I happened to catch the last bit of the "new and improved" Guns 'n' Roses on the MTV awards last night. While I'm the first to admit I'd love to see GnR back in action, this seemed more than a little sad. Apart from the fact that the whole band is different (Tommy Stinson?), Axel was just more out of touch and weird than I would have thought. He was wearing this odd wig of braided hair with the trade mark bandana around the head. I know he's going bald and is self-conscious about it. Believe me, I feel for the guy, but there has got to be a better way to comport himself - perhaps a way with a tad bit of dignity. But then again it is Axel Rose...

So I know I mentioned this in passing last week sometime but things have been finallized (finally.)

Monday Sept 2 (labor day) @ Emo's
The Stylites (ex-the softs)
The Soft Set (in which I play the gee-tar)
The Wisdom Teeth (me, solo-style, for which this blog is named)
The Hidden Persuaders (who I'm sure are ex-something also)

This show is FREE
This show will start as close to 10pm as possible.

I'll have some CDRs there to for people who might be interested.

I know it'll be a Monday night after a holiday weekend but it should be well worth it. Plus if you're nice, I'll spread around the wealth of drink tickets I'll be getting.

PS I'm going to slowly be starting an email list for The Wisdom Teeth (the band, not the blog). So if you'd like to be included in this please send me an email saying so... the_wisdom_teeth@yahoo.com

Weekend Highpoint: Cruising down the length of Lamar at 4am Saturday night having a sing-along to the Eagles' "Take It Easy." Glen Frey - take me away.

Weekend Lowpoint: Sunday. The shame of it all.

highpoint runner-up: Cruising down the length of Lamar at 4am Saturday night having a sing-along to the Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Women." Loses to the Eagles by virtue of the fact no one knew the the words in the verses.

lowpoint runner-up: Joe losing his wallet full of just cashed paycheck. If it had been me it would have definetly won as the lowpoint but fortunately for me it wasn't.

a quick link to a good idea... http://www.boycott-riaa.com/

I decided to be a rock n' roll party guy last night and went out to see the Ultimate Dragons at beerland and good lord am I paying for it this morning. It was worth it, though. I had quite a good time. You can't beat a band that plays great originals while mixing in Queen (from Flash Gordon!) and Pentagram covers.

I'm inspired to work on my theoretical (or is that hypothetical) space rock band - Empire Star. One day our wonderful King Crimson meets Hawkwind sound will actually exist. These things take time, though. They have to exist in your mind for awhile before hand. You can't just start a band named after a Samuel Delany story out of thin air! Lyrics cribbed from sci-fi classics take time. You know, Hawkwind had Michael Moorcock writing lyrics for them and I happen to know that he lives in Texas now (just outside Bastrop, I believe.) Hmmm.

My brain aches.

So the Sight and Sounds Top Ten Films of All Time - 2002 Poll is out and as usual its almost all full of shite. They have split it into two polls - one that directors voted on and one that critics voted on. While the directors are marginally more in touch with reality, they still have a ways to go. So in the spirit of top ten lists (which I love), here are my top ten favorite movies in no particular order (not the best, but my favorites off the top of my head.)

Out of Sight
Metropolitan
Badlands
The Godfather
Amelie'
The Last Days of Disco
The Usual Suspects
Vertigo
Brazil
The Professional (the international version aka Leon)

I watched my second Takashi Miike film last night - Audition. It couldn't have been more different than Visitor Q. I liked this movie very much. It was beautifully shot and artfully composed. More than anything, though, it made me jump. Its hard to be surprised and invested enough in a subtitled movie to actually jump while watching it. Plus there was no necrophilia in this one : ) I'm starting to see what the big deal about him is outside of the "shock" factor of some of the subject matter. Audition played like a better looking, more coherant, and more suspenseful David Lynch movie. I'm looking forward to seeing more.

Watched Visitor Q the new-ish film by Takashi Miike last night. Who'd have thought that a film filled with incest, necrophilia, s+m and lactating mothers spraying rooms with their milk would have so many funny moments. Everyone swears this was a bad first film of his to see as it was the most extreme. One of J.'s co-workers came over to watch it with us and told the story of how he saw it at the theatre with a female friend who then remarked, "This is why you don't get laid." I would argue that rather than being a reason, it is actually a symptom. City of Lost Souls is playing at the Alamo Drafthouse through Thursday, though, and I'm going to try to catch it. It is supposed to be one of his (comparatively) more tame movies.

On a not so much lighter note, there was bad news this weekend that came to friend. A friend and former bandmate of mine lost his father in a motorcycle accident. It makes me wanna cry. I didn't see him and don't know what I'd say if I did.

So if I can give some unsolicited advice to anyone reading - motorcycles are a bad idea! My grandfather died on one when my mother was a child and my dad was in the hospital for months following a wreck before I was born (he still can hardly bend his leg.) And for some more unsolicited advice - make sure the people you care about know it! Random shit happens all the time and you might not get a chance to tell them.

How's that for some Hallmark-isms?

yuck, I got up late this morning and didn't brush my teeth. mmmm. grimy film.

I was going to go to the mercury to see american analog set last night but somehow got side tracked to going to lovejoy's with the roomies. Its just as well. Analog Set was like $10. I'm kinda sad, though, cause I missed what was rumored to be their last show. They bring up so many good memories... late, smoky nights at our house in Temple and the first time I met (amanset bass guy) Lee I was drunk going on and on about how we used to get high and listen to analog set not knowing at the time that he does not partake of any such substances (or drink for that matter.)

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Announcement. The next show by the world reknowned The Wisdom Teeth will be on Monday Sept 2 at Emo's. It'll be free, I think. The Soft Set may also play.

I thought geek guys were supposed to be cool these days. How come I don't get no play? Somone told me its cause I don't try hard enough. It seems to me that I do but I guess it doesn't count if its just in yer own head.

I'm having trouble deciding what to do with the Wisdom Teeth EP I recorded in June. I keep going back and forth between doing it myself and shopping it around. If I shop it around (assuming I find someone to put it out), then it probably wouldn't be released until November at the earliest. On the other hand if I put it out myself, well, I'd have to pay for it and go through alot of trouble BUT it would be done sooner and I would be in control of everything.

Right now I'm leaning towards doing it myself despite my misgivings. I don't really want to run a record label or anything but perhaps this is the best way to start this project. It'll give me something to tour with and also be a better way to maybe attract another label to do my next record (which is, hmmm, say, 2/3 written.) The bottom line is I don't wanna have to mess with distributors. I have some good ideas about how to put it out on the cheap. Some elbow grease will go a long way towards reducing costs - meaning if I use a fold-over slip case that I have printed and put together myself.

Arrrg. Mondays can kill a guy.

So as I said, its monday morning. In Austin. In a rather large, poorly built building at the intersection of Ben White and I-35. In room, at a desk, in a row of other desks with computers on them.

I went to Temple thursday night and stayed until friday evening at the folks' house. My sister and her kids were there and it was a nice visit. I like them kids. They wear me out.

Friday night I made it out to Emo's for Hot Snakes and Those Peabodys. Peabodys played several new songs I hadn't heard yet. Hot Snakes were great. Rick Fork has put on some weight since '94 but then again, so have I. Speedo looked rather trim, though. I only made it through 5-6 songs before I bailed for the courtyard. It was so damn hot and humid and I had been drinking for awhile. Post-show we went to some party. Yawn.

I didn't wake up til 2:30pm on saturday. I guess lack of sleep at my parents plus the heat and the drink caught up to me. That's good, though, cause I felt thoroughly rested when I woke (if a bit woozy.) For my grand event of the day - I bought a pillow at target. Joe got one, too.

Saturday night I picked up Michael and went to Courtney's b-day party. It was a swell gathering. I, however, was not in a party mood. I stayed until the candles had been blown out then quietly slipped away. I joined Joe at home and we watched Lord of the Rings on DVD while he drank white russians.

Hmmm. Sunday was as uneventful as a day can be. I went to 1/2 price books, looked around for an hour and a half, bought nothing, then went home. The evening was filled with soft set practice. We went over some songs we hadn't played in a while and worked on some new stuff. We spent a good hour trying to work up a cover of "She Said, She Said" off of Revolver. Its getting there.

So as soon as I get home from work I'm off to the folks house in Temple where my sister and her kids are visiting. Boy, I can't wait to sit in traffic in the rain. Whoopee. At least Hope is being nice enough to loan me her discman for the ride.

Aside from two hours this morning, I've spent the day killing time on the internet. We're in quite a lull for the moment round here. Things pick up in late august for another month or so before I'll probably get the boot until next january which is fine by me.

I think I'm ripe for being highjacked by a cult (again.)

For some reason I've unable to get onto the blogger web page today to update this here webpage. Its true that I haven't much to say but it was bothering me as a matter of principle.

work=slow death boredom

friday night=hot snakes and those peabodys
- almost eight years ago exactly (summer 1994) I saw hot snakes precursor drive like jehu on the same stage I'll be seeing the snakes this weekend. my how time flies. now that was a great summer - perhaps the most fun of my life. I was 19 working three nights a week at a newspaper and playing in my first "real" band (the fabled "popsuperstar" - we wanted to be johnboy and lasted until our drummer who was really a guitar player left to play bass in tx legends carbomb.) driving around drinking quarts of "beast" aka milwaukee's best and ransacking goodwill dumpsters. I managed to squeeze my entire teenage rebellion into those 4 or 5 months. oddly enough the aforementioned drummer in popsuperstar went on to play guitar in those peabodys for a couple of years. ahhh the circle of life.

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there's a dead bluejay in the courtyard where I read during breaks while at work

I'm very envious of Ben right now. He's on tour at the moment as head merch guy for the "Unlimited Sunshine Tour" which includes The Flaming Lips, De La Soul, Cake and Modest Mouse. While I'm not too big on the latter two bands, I'd kill to be traveling with the first two. Envy can be a good thing, though. Its a very powerful motivator. When you look at why you're not doing something you'd like to be or involved with something you'd like to be, the bottom line always comes back to YOU (meaning me) not doing what needs to be done to get somewhere. I'm not saying I want to be a traveling merch guy (though I had fun doing so on a tour with Those Peabodys), but I would rather not be sitting around on my arse writing about how someone else is doing stuff. I'm pretty ok with six of the seven deadly sins (meaning either they don't apply to me much or it doesn't bother me when I do it) but SLOTH will be the death of me or at least the death of my ambitions.

I'm not usually one to laugh at others' misfortunes (ok, maybe I am, but so what?) but I happened upon this website that has all sorts of cool stuff. Its called thesmokinggun.com. It has all sorts of goodies. My faves are the celeb mug shots. Here are a few...

Jasmine Bleeth - baywatch babe was busted for a coke-fuelled car accident

Tawny Kitaen - ex-Mrs. David Coverdale, known for humping cars in Whitesnake videos, co-hosting a home video show with one of the full house guys and starring in Bachelor Party with Tom Hanks. She was busted for popping her current hubby, some pro baseball guy, in the face which just confirms all my prejudices against baseball.

Noel Bush - Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter was busted passing a fake prescription in a Florida pharmacy.

US Rep James Trafficant - I can't remember what he was convited of (and kicked out of Congress for) but apparently it was some kind of revelation that he wear's a toupee (they won't let him wear it in prison.)

I am in the unfortunate position of not having shite to say. I was in a pretty pissy mood all weekend but, you know, sometimes you need a good pissy mood. I stayed in friday night and read/ watched tv. I just didn't feel like going out.

Saturday Joe and I went to see Signs. I liked it pretty well. Joe didn't like it so much. It was kinda hokey but I dug it. That night Hope and I went to Beerland. We got there early and sat through four bands by which time I was feeling not quite drunk enough and my head was pounding from so much rock so I sadly bailed out on We Talked About Murder. My apologies.

Sunday was a non-starter. I hit half-price books and waterloo to blow some Hamiltons (Alexander Hamilton never gets any credit - just the lousy $10 bill - is that any way to treat the father of federalism?). I got some Philip K. Dick and Harlan Ellison books and the new Flaming Lips and almost new Mercury Rev. I didn't have band practice but couldn't seem to drag my ass off the couch for bowling.

things to do today....
1) mail the rent check
2) pay bills at HEB (I guess we should, you know, so they don't cut the power again)
3) get some cinder blocks or something to make shelves
4) review said flaming lips record, or perhaps just listen to it a few more time to let it sink in
5) decide if I don't like the Bush administration because its A) too conversative or B) not conservative enough

I been a bit lax on the blog front this week. The truth not much has been going on (not that that ever stopped me from posting before.) We have no work at work which would normally be good thing except that I have to look like I'm busy instead of actually being busy. I went home from work early on wednesday and called in sick yesterday. What did I accomplish in all my free time? Nada. Watched alot of Law and Order. My Law and Order chums and I have a game to go along with the show (do a shot every time Chris Noth talks about being catholic and then tries to beat someone up, haha) but really, we try to figure out the the plot of the show (the whodunnit and what courtroom tricks they'll use) before the credits just during the opening shot where they find the body. Watching reruns just makes my heart heavy... When will get a decent assistant DA? I miss Claire so much.