Its seems as though I'll be perpetually tired. Maybe I have chronic fatigue syndrome. I think that might be a good excuse to stop leaving the house.

I've been a on a huge Neil Young kick lately. I bought After the Gold Rush on cd finally. I've been listening to a $1 bin old vinyl copy that I got at Sound Exchange (RIP) a few years back. I'm having a hard hearing it without the pops and fuzz of well worn vinyl (I mean well worn).

I haven't been able to do much reading it seems. I'm still in the middle A Short History of the World but have also now started Orwell's Homage to Catalonia. Its pretty damn good, if I might say. Already its way better than Down and Out in Paris and London which was a very sophomoric bit of junk.

I thought for sure I'd be higher on this scale than this...

25.44379% - Total Geek

By the way, just since I haven't mentioned it in quite a while, The Wisdom Teeth CD will be out in a month or two depending on various things. I just got it mastered and am waiting for that magical cd so I can get it pressed up.

On the same note, I'll be buying an 8track next week so I can get back to home recording. The one I'm buying is the same model as the my old one that perished in the fire of '01. Not uncoincidently, I'm buying it from Kevin B who was helping to record the olive group at that time and who also lost lots of equipment in said blaze - but not his 8-track. But he's moving to NYC (like every other chump) so I'm buying it off him.

How come when I say "remember me" to blogger it never does? That is just sadder than words.

Went to Those Peabodys last night got all nice and sweaty on a hot july night (are there any other kind of july nights?). Quote of the night goes to Clarke who in bewteen songs says something along the lines of, "Stay for the Gossip after us cause if you try to leave the guy at the door will choke you with your white vinyl belt."

I never know if anyone reads this but here's a brief announcement:

Fri Aug 1 @ the Carousel Lounge
The Soft Set (11pm) w/ Makeshift Shelter (10pm)

Makeshift Shelter is noodly instrumental stuff from my former olive group bandmate, Reagan. I have not heard them yet but have high hopes and expectations. The Soft Set is the soft set.

BTW - finished Why Orwell Matters and put up a brief review at my soundbite reviews blog. Also, I abandoned Sword of Honor but in keeping with mid-century brit lit, I picked up and finished Kingsley Amis' Lucky Jim to which I give the highest recommendation. Cheers. "Hysterical, eh?" Genius.

Often times I really wish I could turn off that "what if...?" button in my head. Something happens and my brain just runs off on its own examining every possible outcome of a situation. Aside from feeliing goofy for thinking certain things, I also have a gut feeling that it jinxes them.

current reading (as in, I'm in the midst of trying to finish these)...

Why Orwell Matters by Christopher Hitchens

A Short History of the World by J.M. Roberts

Sword of Honor by Evelyn Waugh

So I bought a computer but had to return it at first because it wasn't working right and then because I found out I'm probably gonna be unemployed in about three weeks. That blows.

I hurt my thumb. Its painful to type (especially the space bar).

Skip Spence rocks (well, not really "rocks" but is awfully good).

I've started a new blog called soundbite reviews in which I'm going to attempt to review both old and new records, books and movies in 3-4 sentences. Succinctness is of the essence. It can be found at soundbitereviews.blogspot.com

I've reached a personal milestone (well, kinda). I finished Paul Johnson's Modern Times which I started back in March sometime (and talked about here back in april). It was an experiment in reading a long-ish (784 pgs) book solely while on break at work. My goal was 15-20 pages a day. It took several months but I did it.

Simon Sebag Montefiore has a very interesting article up about researching his new book, Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar. The book, unfortunately, isn't yet available in the US. If someone were so inclined they could order it from amazon.uk.com.

Oran, Algeria, the town in which Albert Camus' novel The Plague is set, apparently is in the midst of an outbreak of, well, plague. Bubonic plague, you know, black death. Read more about this irony laden tragedy HERE.

Chris Issak is one of the best music personalities ever. I like his music ok but he cracks me up every time he talks. This quote is from the Volokh Conspiracy blog as he talked to Chris after a show - I told him I really liked the TV show too, and he looked up with a twinkle in his eye, looked straight at me and said, "Of course you do, its got naked girls."

Speaking of political marches against tyrannical despots... 500,000 people marched in Hong Kong on July 1 to protest a Chinese imposed "antisubversion" law. Read more HERE.

"Today, July 9, is the day the Iranian student movement has designated for national demonstrations against the regime, and a general strike in favor of democracy. Shaken by weeks of recent protests, and worried about the mounting criticism from several Western countries, the regime has taken unprecedented steps to head off a potential showdown with its own people:"

"Thousands of political activists, students, and others, have been rounded up and packed into prisons, subjected to torture, and in some cases murdered."

"Children of parliamentarians have been summarily arrested, as have parents of Iranian democracy advocates living abroad."

"Great efforts have gone into ensuring that Iranians cannot communicate with one another, either by telephone (cells have been shut down) or radio or television (the U.S.-based independent radio and television stations have been reporting a new jamming campaign against their satellite broadcasts. As of late on the night of the 8th, it was impossible to isolate the source of the jamming). Satellite dishes have been torn down, and smashed in the streets."

"Ditto for the press. Journalists have been arrested, newspapers have been closed. In short, everything the regime could do to isolate the Iranian people from the outside world has been done."

"New security forces have been recruited. Lacking confidence in the willingness of Iranians to beat and kill their own, the regime has brought in Lebanese Hezbollahi, members of the Badr Brigades from Iraq (where they'd been dispatched as part of the "insurgency" against American forces), the usual "Afghan Arabs," and, reportedly, Palestinian toughs. All reminiscent of the Chinese tactics in Tiananmen Square, where they imported soldiers from remote regions to suppress the pro-democracy uprising."

-Michael Ledeen
link HERE for the full article

Andrew Sullivan has tons of quotes and news on Iran today.

So does Buzz Machine.

"DEMONSTRATING FOR A FREE IRAN - D-DAY!!!: The Iranian students, who had been planning a significant protest today to mark the fourth anniversary of a brutal repression of pro-democracy student protesters at Tehran University, have been forced to cancel their planned demonstrations today after receiving warnings that a Tiananmen-like response was in the offings. A student leader told Reuters, "We received information that the other side wanted to heavily confront it and we didn't want to harm the movement and pay this heavy price." Foreign press were directed not to report on the event: in a fax to all foreign news organizations, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance wrote, "It is expected that you do not attend any possible illegal gatherings."

But that doesn't mean that those of us who live in free nations can't show our support for them. We've listed here a few demonstrations of support that are taking place in several US and European cities. And the first of these, in Dallas last night, has already begun.
...

Here's a quick run-down of a few sympathy demonstrations taking place today in the US and Britain:

New York: from 11-2 at the Ralph Bunche Park and Dag Hammarksjold Plaza, at 47th and 1st Avenue

Washington, D.C.: 10:00 am at the West Front of the Capitol (with the participation of several Senators and administration officials)

Los Angeles: 5:00 pm, times outside the Federal Building in Westwood.

London: 2:30-4:30 Wednesday, in front of Number 10

Austin: 6 pm in front of the Capitol

Dallas, 5 pm on July 13th, at the Intercontinental Hotel

Houston: 5 pm on July 13th, at the Hilton on Westheimer Road."

(stolen and paraphrased from oxblog.blogspot.com)


It'll be interesting to see how many of the people in Austin who were so committed to the well being of the people of the middle east turn out to support the people seeking to get out from under the boot of a murderous, one-party, pseudo-socialist, fanatical theocracy.

Yes, we have no archives.

So I ended last night drinking a long island ice tea while watching Tom Arnold play beach volley on a big screen tv at an empty frat bar. Then I went home and shaved while drunk. It was an adventure. That was my tuesday.