Jason Voss

tour mishaps

2004-12-08T19:22:20Z

Patrick and I are in DC on our "New Folk Sounds of Arts and Crafts" tour. Last night we went with our friend Brandon to a place called Staccato's Piano Bar in the Adams Morgan neighborhood for their open mic night. We got there at 7 PM to sign up, just as the bar was opening. No one else showed up until close to 9 and so we hung out and waited. We were on the hunt for legendary Adams Morgan Jumbo slice and the bartender explained the situation that there were three places that had it. One was across the street and was supposed to be really greasy and gross, appealing only after one was very drunk, but he said that there were two places a few blocks down the street that were next door to each other called "Jumbo Slice" and "Original Jumbo Slice" and they were supposed to be interchangeable in terms of deliciousness. We headed over there and came to a restaurant that said "Jumbo Slice" on the front and we went in and each got a slice. The slices are about 18-20 inches long and 10 inches wide at the crust. It wasn't too bad, but it was rather cold and the quality was somewhat low. After I finished my slice, I went for a stroll up the block and noticed that the two restaurants that we were looking for were further down the block and we had inadvertently eaten at an inferior "Jumbo Slice" that the bartender failed to mention. That wasn't such a big deal, but a disappointing failure in our Jumbo Slice mission nevertheless. We came back to the bar and got ready for the open mic. The guy running the open mic seemed to be a little freaked out by my franken-guitar, which I had to mess with a little to adjust the sound. He made some comment like "What is this, a science project?" Brandon's band Jimes played first doing a song by himself and then two songs with Pat on guitar and me on piano. You can get his albums for free download going to www.geocities.com/cowjimes. The open mic guys didn't seem to like it very much. The MC said afterward "I think I speak for everyone here when I say that all I can say is WOW." I played three songs on their piano, which wasn't miked, so it was really quiet and some women were having an incredibly loud conversation making it really hard for me to play. I thought I did OK nevertheless. The open mic guy said something like "I haven't been fucked like that since grade school." I don't know what that meant really. Pat played dish fairy first, which worked pretty well over the loud conversation, but the bartender and the open mic guy got really pissed. My friend Matt from Little Rock, who came down to the bar to see us, tried to order a beer for him and me, but the bartender refused to serve him and checked him out. I guess the bartender and the open mic guy had some conversation about needing to cut Pat off, and they cut him off after his second song. When Pat asked if he could do one more, the open mike guy said "no way" and that Pat's set was like having sex with a porcupine. The bartender told Brandon and me that he wanted to talk to us outside, to which I replied "no" and ignored the fact that he walked out of the bar onto the sidewalk. It's funny how easy it is to reject falsely assumed authority like that. It's also pretty fucked up that people try to pull shit like that all of the time. We packed our stuff up and walked out where the bartender was talking to Matt about how they needed to make money and allegedly we were driving away customers. chicken_pat_pie has an alternate perspective of the night and more tour journaling than I care to do.

You may have noticed that I have alternated between the spelling "open mic" and "open mike." There is some considerable discussion about it at http://home.comcast.net/~sambayer/music/whymike.html but I'm still a lot more comfortable using "open mic."

fancipants integrated technology allows my lj to appear on my friendster page, huh?

2004-12-08T14:39:58Z

if the robots get too smart they won't want to be slaves anymore.

lt_disaster @ 2004-08-24T08:35:00

2004-08-24T12:36:58Z

you can check out a cool new song by the melting moments. the current lineup is anna & me.

show on friday

2004-07-08T04:27:52Z

this friday there will be a rock show featuring:

fort rile dog (from chicago)
jib kidder
jason voss

at oz music in ann arbor
1920 packard (just east of stadium next to big ten party store)

friday july 9
9 pm all ages $5

lt_disaster @ 2004-06-29T06:03:00

2004-06-29T10:06:41Z

i went to pizza house last night after the van show with dustin, eliza, thanksgiving, his girlfriend and cains & abels. we had an incredible feast for cheap after the waitresses misunderstood my order for "three-cheese nachos" as "three cheese nacho" and we got two extra platters for free. it's a good idea to try it the next time you want a seven-layer burrito.

lt_disaster @ 2004-06-03T02:46:00

2004-06-03T07:13:29Z

i made the mistake of going through a section of the wcbn cd library called "world: other" this weekend. for anyone who doesn't know the genre, "world: other" is a kind of music combining celtic instrumentation with african rhythms and some other shit to make music that expresses the unity of all humans and the beauty of mother earth. that shit will fuck with your head. it's also really hard to explain to your therapist how it makes you feel about the world.

i guess i got too cocky after my extreme success dividing the section formerly known as the local section into two sections: "the local section" and "the mid-90s bar bands from sterling heights section." the latter section is filled with a lot of very good music that's really just not for us.

by anarchivist's logic, i can say right here on the internet, "black tent sounds like kraftwerk meets modest mouse," and he'd have a really vicious criticism of that music (the only one) and make fun of how much it sucks a lot. you'd expect more acceptance from someone who weasels his way into every possible show that's woefully inappropriate for boring-as-fuck derivative noise music with no real content of any kind.

house show

2004-04-25T19:07:00Z

this monday, april 26 there will be a very cool show at 514 monroe (behind south quad) at 9 pm. the performers are:

sandman (the rappin cowboy)
ivan okay (wisconsonian pop music)
eliza beatrix godfrey (like if kelly caldwell never broke up with any boys or smoked any cigarettes)
jason voss (4-string guitar player; novice)

this is my first show ever doing this kind of thing and i will play promptly at 9, so don't be late.

famous

2004-04-08T17:27:02Z

i got interviewed for a belgian magazine (which is written in dutch). they are printing an article about cd-r labels sometime in june. i think the interview is just for research (so none of it will be printed), but here is the interview:

1. When did you start yr cdr label? Did it grow out of a local music scene, or out of personal engagement?

Katie and Kelly started the label in early 2001 to put out the first album by The Most Dangerous Game of Cat and Mouse Band, whose members were the two of them as well as Ben and Matt (Matt later moved away from the rest of the band). It was sort of a joke, but they started bugging Matt to put out a CD of his electronic music (Strikeforce: Euler) and I was accidentally around for that. We all worked at WCBN, the freeform radio station in Ann Arbor, so that was the community from which it grew. We ended up making a bunch of music of all different kinds that summer. We made a compilation of every band that we had formed (most of which lasted for only one day) and some music by our friends and gave it away to anyone who wanted it. It was more about making albums and projects than live band things. There hasn’t been much of a live music scene in Ann Arbor for this kind of music, so making albums was a natural direction to go in. A lot of other people were doing similar things with labels in town and even more have sprung up since then.

2. Why did you start yr cdr label? Did you feel the independent record labels weren’t interested in this music? Where do you think the established independents went wrong? What’s yr underlying philosophy?

Starting a record label was a little bit like starting a band that does a lot of very different things. We didn’t really think about getting larger labels to put the stuff out since none of it was very commercial at all. Hanson Records, American Tapes and Bulb Records had been doing that sort of thing with noisier music for a long time and we followed in their footsteps in the same way that a young band would be inspired by older bands. Katie, Ben and I all worked in the music department at WCBN, so we were pretty disillusioned with the idea of indie rock as being a special and pure sort of thing (maybe I shouldn’t speak for the others though) since we very much saw a sleazy music industry approach in independent labels. I don’t really think there’s a clear distinction between what we do and a lot of the independent labels that I admire. Our underlying philosophy is based on creativity without making any real concessions to the expectations of an audience. Sometimes it’s pretty confounding stuff and sometimes it’s totally accessible, but I think that everything that we have done has been independent of trying to make money or even to please an audience more than ourselves.

3. Why did you choose to release/concentrate on cdr, and not cd, tape or vinyl? What do you think of the quality of the cdr as a material object?

We have released a seven inch record by a local band called the Rants that we really liked and we are releasing another one this spring by the band Saturday Looks Good to Me. We also have a CD release by a band called the Vix Krater, who were into the label and wanted their album to be on it, so we aren’t that pure about being solely CD-Rs. CD-R releases allow us to release music that we like for anyone to hear without worrying about the economics of selling a lot of any one record, which is really important as far as separating ourselves from “selling out” in any way. As material objects, I think that CD-Rs are pretty much the same as regular CDs. They aren’t as sturdy, but you don’t really approach them any differently than you would approach CDs. There was a print ad by the RIAA (I think) that said that “music doesn’t just happen” because for a CD to exist, you need to have marketing and advertising and lawyers and all of the bullshit that goes into any release by a major label or even a larger independent label. The similarity between CD-Rs and CDs really helps to break through that illusion and make people realize that music is really something that anyone can just do without much preparation. I’d say that vinyl releases have an advantage over CDs and tapes as actual material objects that you can touch and feel, but since most people listen primarily to CDs these days, CD-Rs are accessible to more people. That’s a huge jump from the situation of tape labels and “the cassette underground” in the 80’s, which pretty much had the same aesthetic as CD-R labels but was more clearly distinct as the “other.” CD-Rs are very good for showing that making albums isn’t something that’s separate from what a normal person can do.

4. On what criteria do you select artists for yr label?

Almost all of our releases are projects with which we are intimately involved. We have a pretty specific aesthetic that encompasses a lot of different sounds and we don’t want to go outside of that too much. Justin sent us a tape and then joined up with us and our friends contribute stuff that fits in with what we do more than other projects that they do separately. Usually we encourage people to start their own label when they ask us to put something out. That way, we can spread the DIY thing around more and stick closer to the sorts of music in which we’re most interested.

5. Does a cdr label imply that the music you make isn’t taken serious by the mainstream press/labels/…? Or do you get support from well-known musicians? Are you being ignored or respected for your authenticity?

We’ve gotten a lot of support from some fairly well-known musicians like Jeffrey Lewis (who records for Rough Trade) and Saturday Looks Good to Me (who record for Polyvinyl). The mainstream press is pretty far outside our thinking. We haven’t quite found a home in the underground press. We get a lot of respect for the way we do things, but a lot of times we get written off even by total underground avant-garde noise people for being unprofessional.

6. Do you release limited editions as collector’s items? How many copies does a release on yr label normally sell?

We have a couple limited edition releases, but that isn’t really what we’re about. A lot of CD-R labels, especially noise labels, do limited editions in crazy packaging and things like that. I think that’s really cool, but I think what we’re about is more keeping things available indefinitely. The Smithsonian bought Folkways in the late 80s and now all of the Folkways releases are available on CD-Rs made to order, which makes it an amazingly cool CD-R label. We try to follow that kind approach and make things available to anyone who wants them. The ability to make CD-Rs to order really helps with that. We sell between 20 and 200 of most releases and we’ve given out about a lot more of the free comps. The low production of our releases would maybe make limited editions a natural way to do things, but in theory we generally want to make our music available to everyone indefinitely.

7. Do you only sell yr releases, or can people trade self-made artwork etc.? What about distribution? Can people only order through website or do you have local stores that sell yr cd’s? Do you distribute them on concerts?

We do a lot of trading with other labels and things like that, but we don’t really have a system set up for trading artwork. Our releases are mostly $3-$5 and we end up giving a lot away, so it’s pretty much set up on a break even basis. Local stores in Ann Arbor carry them and we’ve done limited outside distribution. We also have released two compilations that are completely free (shipping included) to anyone who asks, so lots and lots of people have gotten those. We also have them at concerts and stuff. Justin and I started a project called Ever Will You Get There, where we walked around outside in Ann Arbor stopping at cool places and writing and recording songs. We made a three-inch CD that we traded for a piece of original art. We had a tiny notebook in which people were asked to fill a page in return for the CD. The project has become ongoing and lineup non-specific and we really try to push the idea of getting people to be creative with it, cutting out the commercial aspect altogether.

8. Is your label opposed to the capitalist record industry? What political/economic alternative do you offer/have in mind (music industry wise)?

I guess that we’re opposed to it. We try to operate outside the restrictions of capitalism, giving CDs out for free and trading them for art. I think that any person can make a much stronger connection with some kind of music that isn’t tied into the economics of the music industry. There’s a lot of music that means a lot to me that is at least on some level a product of the capitalist record industry, but I don’t think that it really offers any advantage in terms of the music listening. I think that destroying the music industry would for the most part be a positive thing for music. We certainly don’t advocate any specific alternative political or economic system, but there’s a lot to be said for mix tapes and mp3s and anything like that. I’ve been very impressed with some of the online mp3 record labels I’ve seen, and that kind of model can work really well for having your music reach a very large audience without much loss of money (even if they’re not making any profit).

9. How do you package yr discs? Are they standard, plastic boxes, or do you make something different, home-made to distinct your product from major label uniformity?

We don’t really have any consistent standard for packaging. We have a loose policy that all We’re Twins products being handmade and a lot of the releases have different artwork for each individual CD. For the Rants seven inch, we drew with crayons on all of the labels. We pretty much stick to jewel cases or sleeves most of the time though. Our visual aesthetic is most strongly a reaction against shitty quasi-professional packaging that self-released records have a lot of the time. We wanted to be as unprofessional as possible at first, since it seems like it’s easier to make attractive packaging when you don’t strive for a professional look. Some more recent releases have been fancier, but it still all has the homemade aesthetic.

10. Does yr label’s existence depends on the Internet infrastructure?

We give out free CDs based on people emailing us at info@weretwins.com and so we wouldn’t have given nearly as many of those without the internet. We also do most of our sales from our website. I think that the label would exist without the Internet infrastructure, but it’s done a whole lot to build our reputation.

11. What’s your opinion on downloading/copying music? Should music be free?

I don’t really know if music should be entirely free, but I’m very interested in hearing a lot more music than I could ever afford to buy, so I think that downloading and copying are totally amazing. It also really changes the access, making pretty much any music available to pretty much anybody. I think that’s really amazing and I spend more money on music than I think I should be obligated to, so I don’t really have any ethical objections to pirated music. I think that it really changes the way of approaching the buying of records, though, and it’s probably not OK to stop buying music because it’s available for free.

12. Are you affected in any way by the current crisis in the music industry? Do you think this is a sign of the end of an era? Are home made labels the future of the music?

I guess that I’m very happy about the crisis in the music industry, and I think that the way the music industry portrays it is completely ridiculous. I’d much rather have a situation in which many small labels are selling small amounts of records and in which people engage with music by themselves and their friends neighbors. I hope that it’s the future. As far as the crisis affecting us, we operate on much too small of a level to really notice. Purposely giving our music out for free probably affects us more than people stealing it.

13. Do you think you are liberating the music from the corporate industries? Is this music by and for the people?

Yeah. One of my greatest hopes for our music is that it might inspire people to become empowered to make their own art and share it with other people. The way that the music industry has affected the way in which people perceive music in the last 100 years seems pretty unnatural, so we’re trying on some level to promote an older attitude about music as an integrated part of normal life.

14. Why do you think the cdr labels became popular/manifested themselves is the last decade?

I think that it’s pretty much an effect of the technology, where a CD burner is such an accessible thing these days, maybe even more than a cassette duplicator. Like I said before, the way in which CDs are almost exactly similar to CDs for a listener really equalizes things and I think that the technology is really amazing for allowing anyone to make something that is just as physically accessible as a major label release.

15. Is there much contact between the different labels or is everyone doing his own thing by himself?

I try to keep pretty close track of what’s going on in Michigan and there’s a lot of interaction between different labels. We’ve been farming out some of our music to other labels like Asaurus Records in Allen Park and generally trying to pool resources and audiences. I do a radio show of local music in Ann Arbor with a live band each week, so that serves pretty well as an outlet for some of the more artsy local music, since there aren’t very many live venues in town, especially those that support any of the more weird or underground music. I’m also involved with another label in Ann Arbor called Burning Tongue Records that has a musical approach that is a pretty different extension of lo-fi indie rock than what we’re doing with We’re Twins. We’ve also gotten our name out enough that a lot of other CD-R labels are aware that we exist, so we’ve been able to build a network with other labels. Katie, Kelly and Ben have been living in New York for the last two years and doing their part of the label out there and they have linked up with Colonial Recordings. We’re also doing a pretty interesting musical collaboration with a label called Cat Scratch Records in Houston, Texas that should be release in the somewhat distant future.

16. Do you see cdr labels as a way to heighten personal/individual contact between people as opposed to the mechanical, anonymous mass production of the established music industry?

Yeah, I’d say so. At the least, the production method works as a good metaphor for the sort of qualities of art that are attractive to me. Art is a really important thing for me, experiencing other people’s art helps a lot to make normal personal connections with them.

that was the first time i ever used lj-cut. i hope i used the proper lj-cut etiquette. in other news, dustin and eliza played on the local music show last night and it was totally awesome. they did a crazy cover of "here" by pavement as well as "i think we're alone now" and "king of the road" by roger miller. i also have been working on an awesome database of ann arbor music. i have my collection all entered (about 300 records) and i'm starting on the radio station's stuff. i need to figure out how to make databases. i'm also trying to write a column for the zine "bad ideas," which is made by josh sanchez and some other local punks, so i've been setting aside some time each day to concentrate on being punk rock.

for anyone who doesn't know, next wednesday is the second in our new series of ever will you get there live performances. we're meeting at liberty plaza (formerly the "bum park" before the "cool cities initiative" got to work) at 6 pm and then walking about the streets of ace deuce. everyone is invited to come and play music, either just by jingling yr keys along with the rhythm or playing guitar and singing yr own song. i'm a little nervous because it's the first time without justin and it will be during the day when more people will be around.

lt_disaster @ 2004-04-04T17:38:00

2004-04-04T21:48:24Z

i feel embarrassingly great about the world lately. i've smoked three cigarettes and am feeling surprisingly good about not smoking very much. yesterday, i made 30 copies of the ever will you get there cd from last monday and i gave them all away (or at stores) yesterday. i'm going to make a bunch more. let me know if you want one. i don't want to make money off of it since it was made by so many different people (some of whom i don't even know) so you can buy it for expenses or cool trades or whatever. i'm really happy with it. the ever will you get there website will be up soon. i need to figure out a plan for where to put all the websites i want to make.

if anyone wants to join a very cool arts group, caacaafony (citizens of ann arbor, concerned about art fair, organizing to nullify yuppification) is starting up for real. there is some stuff up temporarily at fairart.burningtonguerecords.com and we are planning to have a schedule of cool artsy-protesty events during art fair week. hopefully it will be the sort of thing that redefines art fair and makes it cooler instead of just protesting against it. join us.

looking up

2004-04-02T12:37:22Z

i have written not a thing on livejournal for many moons. starting this past tuesday i have awoken between 5:30 and 6:30 AM every day (on accident). it seems like this is going to happen every day from now on. i have smoked zero cigarettes since monday at about 8 PM (a little less than 84 hours ago). once i make it through today (at midnight) i will consider phase one of not smoking over. i have been doing pushups instead. i miss smoking a lot. it was a very rewarding hobby.

this evening, the toy keyboard orchestra is performing as part of the art opening at the work gallery on state street just south of liberty. we will be seated on the roof of a full-size van in front of the gallery. we are not officially allowed to do this. it starts at 7 PM.

musical event on tuesday

2003-07-07T13:36:17Z

on to-morrow, tuesday july 8, there will be an event at jacob's house at 1419 granger in ann arbor, mi. the performers will be:

kelly caldwell
ben bracken & jacob danziger
ever will you get there (justin shay and me)
jacob danziger

it will happen outdoors, in the back yard and will commence at about 8 pm. there will be treats. granger is off of packard down by stadium and jacob's house is betwixt olivia and lincoln just before burns park.

lt_disaster @ 2003-06-23T15:38:00

2003-06-23T19:52:05Z

last evening at approximately 1:30 AM, i played the best game of scrabble in my life thus far. it wsa a five person game and the formalities of compiling the final score went undone, but i can say for certain that the winning move was a placement of the word "BUSTLER" using all seven of my tiles. i also played "LOANEE." thank goodness for the oxford english dictionary that was close at hand for challenges.

melissa is being super nice to me today.

on saturday night, i went to the hospital with three people whom i had never met. it was much like a gritty modern play with these characters: Jason - 30 years old, inebriated and bleeding profusely from the face. Jason - quiet, sober, wearing red short pants and a tie-dyed t-shirt with "live yr dreams" and a crude unicorn drawn with a black sharpie. Travis - a small and fashionable male, talkative, approximately 22 years old, who i have seen each day for the past three years without ever having spoken to him. "Creepy Guy" - aged 34 with a black velvet shirt on.

the dialogue contained multiple utterances of the phrase "touch the shirt and be happy." the plot seemed a bit forced.

black forest girls tonight!

2002-11-13T16:57:53Z

it's late notice but the new lineup of the black forest girls is playing its first live rock show this evening at leopold brothers.

the lineup is:
kelly caldwell - singing and guitar
grace thorson - bells, tambourine and singing
jason voss - bass and singing
steve - guitar and singing

we are supposed to play at 10. a band called "in lieu of" is also playing after us. it costs money ($5?) to get in. i think it is 21+.

lt_disaster @ 2002-10-06T22:44:00

2002-10-07T02:44:48Z

girl!

lt_disaster @ 2002-10-02T03:22:00

2002-10-02T07:27:10Z

a lot of times lately, but not so much very recently, i've been really sad and the only thing that cheers me up is thinking about dressing the cats up and having them do people things. i think it would make quite a solid series of short films for example "mr. burgers goes the supermarket" and "ms. schwinn gets a bad haircut."

as for trading spaces, either dustin or katy said that frank was both insane and stupid, but i think he is mostly insane and an asshole. and the times when he wears a dark shirt, the horror is almost unbearable.

marcelo radulovich is by new favorite band.

surprisingly difficult tongue-twister

2002-08-22T01:50:26Z

arnold palmer

lt_disaster @ 2002-08-21T21:36:00

2002-08-22T01:43:25Z

when i was much younger than i am now, i had a subscription to highlights magazine for children. on every issue under the name of the magazine was the subtitle: "fun with a purpose." i think that i asked around about the meaning of the word "purpose," mispronounced it and thought for a long time that the magazine said "fun with a porpoise." i only got a cursory definition of the word "porpoise" as a dolphin-like creature that saved people from drowning. so for a long time, i was confused and intrigued about how the highlights magazine related to having fun with a porpoise. i think that i figured they had lost their way at some point and forsaken their original mission.

lt_disaster @ 2002-08-09T01:41:00

2002-08-09T06:42:44Z

would anyone come to see saturday looks good to me play at summer smash this evening (friday). it's at c-pop. i'm not sure who else is playing, but i think there might be someone else that isn't awful.

lt_disaster @ 2002-07-16T05:42:00

2002-07-16T09:47:09Z

the and spiders east coast tour in the year of our lord twenty-ought two is happening this friday july nineteen through this saturday july twenty. here is our itinerary:

noonday july 19 recording at wfmu, jersey city, new jersey, usa. (not confirmed)
eight pm july 19 at the read, williamsburg, brooklyn, new york, usa with karla shickele and cynthia nelson.
evening july 20 at matt buckman's house, boston, massachusetts, usa (opener tba)

if you can fill any of the holes in the schedule, let me know.

lt_disaster @ 2002-07-15T14:12:00

2002-07-15T18:21:12Z

i got my atcat cd in the mail today. it is very good and they cover prehensile monkeytailed skink!

the debut album by chicken/mechanic will be recorded in the next little while. please reply with any requests for cover songs on the album. it is part of the chicken/mechanic mission statement to make a valiant effort at any requests, so we will record anything you suggest. so far for sure we have planned:

"chicken/mechanic fight song"
"livin on a prayer"
"black candy"
"love in an elevator"
"freebird"
"every rose has its thorn"
"better off alone"
something by skink or couch or both
something by awk
something by adult
something by madonna
something by t. rex
something by the stooges
"chicken/mechanic fight song (reprise)"

we also will be performing our annual art fair rock show on the island at state and liberty street, time tba.

adventures of jason a voss, emergency sub

2002-07-15T14:14:39Z

i'm doing jazz till noon and sending emails.

i thought arab on radar was good! the others were too, but i got a little worn out about two thirds into lightning bolt. wolf eyes was the best of the last four or five times i've seen them. it's weird to talk about bands in terms of five shows and have that be a minority of the total times i've seen them.

i have lots of recordings to make to submit for the new we're twins sampler cd. if you'd like to submit something for possible inclusion, let me know.

my new goal is to consistently pronounce years in the form "back in tweny-ought-two." soon, it will catch on!

heather comes to ann arbor tomorrow evening! book club happens to-morrow evening!

lt_disaster @ 2002-07-14T01:47:00

2002-07-14T05:59:00Z

i just got back from kelly's birthday party. the banned spiders played and so did the black forest girls and a band that looked like the triggers but with kelly and sounded a little like stereolab. it was fun. we played well, but i couldn't hear much but fred's drums and especially missed hearing kelly's guitar, and we messed up some times. we pulled through though and were well-received.

during the black forest girls, heather called me on my cell phone. i missed the second half of their set, but on the other hand i got to talk to heather. i'm not very good with talking on the telephone. i will be glad when she comes to michigan.

i don't really like parties that much.

before that, i went to the dismembered horsehead family restaurant for josh and anna's birthday dinner with 15 other people. i had veggie alfredo pasta dish. it was pretty good and the complimentary bread was very good. it was good to see josh after a long period of not seeing josh.

in the month of august, there may be up to twelve people and three cats living at 608. i'm kind of excited about the prospect. they will be: me, franki, randall, cindy, ryan, dustin, kat(ie/y?), josh, james, kelly, schwinn, burger, another cat. i don't know how many of them will actually move in.

tomorrow i am excited about:
doing laundry
kitten
visiting sunward co-housing
arab on radar
wolf eyes
flying luttenbachers
lightning bolt
the locust

a haiku about loneliness

2002-07-07T04:27:42Z

a lot of times i get used to checking my email every hour or so and having there be new ones each time and then it's saturday but i'm not really paying attention so i don't realize that i'm not getting emails because people are enjoying saturday instead of sending emails and i get kind of depressed.

but they're mostly just junk-mail anyhow.

sorry about the break from form.

lt_disaster @ 2002-07-06T19:47:00

2002-07-07T01:00:07Z

tomorrow i am coming to ann arbor in the early morning. i am excited about:

hanging out with burger the kitten.
going to college.
acquiring a bed.
reading the thomas pynchon book.
but most of all, attending the following live rock show:

july 14 @ the magic stick
arab on radar, wolf eyes, the locust, the flying luttenbachers, lightning bolt

it seems almost ridiculous to me. i can't remember going to a show to see five bands, all of whom i am so excited to see. and four of whom i have never before seen play. after that, maybe i can not go to any shows for a while.

the other live rock show i might maybe go to is the unlimited sunshine tour. it features flaming lips, modest mouse, de la soul, kinky and cake. here are my reasons for not going:

it will cost over $20!
it is in pontiac.
modest mouse might suck live as much as the moon and antarctica does.
there might be a lot of people there to see the band cake.
i don't know who kinky is and am afraid to find out.

should i go?

lt_disaster @ 2002-07-05T23:04:00

2002-07-06T04:17:47Z

today i woke up early and sat around all day. i watched 2.5 episodes of the twilight zone. one had dennis hopper as a neo-nazi and hitler was a character in it.

i ate lunch with my mom and then went to the big corporate bookstore and read 1/2 of a calvin and hobbes book and then purchased:

nigger: an autobiography by dick gregory
the crying of lot 49 by thomas pynchon

my mom saw the former and was distressed until i assured her that it was written by an african-american man. the other day i got in a big fight with my mom about terrorism. it was really weird because my dad kind of agrees with my mom about stuff (free-market capitalism, god, etc.) but in a much more informed way so everything i said was followed by a "that's crazy-talk" from my mom and a "that's true, but..." from my dad.

i read 1/2 of fast food nation today. the first part was pretty similar to no logo except replacing nike with mcdonald's as the main focus. soon i get to read all about what's in the food. i suspect that i will have had read a lot of it in vegan propaganda.

then, tonight i watched the movie vanilla sky with my parents. i thought it was kind of good. right at the part where the thing with the two woman happens, heather called me from california. i talked to her for about five minutes about nothing much. it was pretty weird. i went back and watched the rest of the movie and i think it really fucked with my head. staying at home reading books all day probably contributed too. i don't know what to do or how to feel for the next two weeks. i guess that cautiously optimistic is the way to go, but geez...i'm all torn up inside.

sorry if you don't know what the hell i'm talking about.