the great new hope of literate song-craft
-los angeles times on elliott smith, 1998

if you came out to the d bar last night, thank you. we had a blasty. next week is our final night so be there. i'll have a stack of drink tickets the size of my head and i'll be generous.

the clouds shat about 3 inches of snow on us and i pretty much hate it. not the snow, but this snow. it's been extraordinarily cold so this snow will not melt, it will just spend the next five weeks reducing faintly in size as well as forming an inpenetrable outer shell that will react poorly to the grip of your shoe's rubber soul. when you fall, it will actually begin gently laughing in your ear.

some thoughts

a.) even though jay bennett was a little annoying and hard headed, he was good. he still is. so is edward burch. they are good together. they look alike. what a sad and frustrating thing it must be to be jay bennett, i would think.

b.) i like drinks that come in a bottle. beer and non beer. for example, the good, grimey mexican places that use the tall recycled bottles. i especially prefer a bottle with a twist off top. i've found lately that i will buy beer simply for this reason, resulting in a lot of budweiser, miller high life, and so on. i'll even order them at the bar for their twist off top, and there i don't even get to do the twisting!

c.) i find myself going back and forth, back and forth between pursuing architecture or pursuing teaching. a year or two ago i began developing an interest in teaching highschool history. i've also had loads of experience in the field of building and design. i'm not getting any younger. i'll probably end up teaching hand drafting to a bunch of tenth graders.

d.) i've been greatly enjoying vintage, pre statehood hawaiian music.

e.) we just signed up for netflicks. we are taking suggestions. thanks.

Tonight's the night!

Annlynn is playing at the Detroit Bar tonight and for the next two Mondays this month. Come, friends! The admission is free, the atmosphere is good, there's beer and friends. I need some company at the merch table. The first band goes on at 9:00. Annlynn goes on about 10:45. It's a late night, but we're young and it's worth it. The Detroit Bar is in Costa Mesa, go to www.myspace.com/annlynn for more information. See you tonight!-a

such is life

i'm working. friday night, 8 o clock, and i'm working. sad. i'm getting by with a little "my wife thinks your dead" from junior brown.
yesterday after i got dressed i attempted to fix a minor leak in my shower when it exploded and blasted my body with blistering hot water. then i sliced my thumb trying to stop it. then i finally went to pick up my piano and while moving it the damper pedal broke clean off. the 100 year old pig iron damper pedal.
yesterday was dumb. however i realize now that the way i let it distress me is even dumber. things happen. crappy things. crappy shitty things. such is life. deal with it. at least thats what i paced around mumbling to myself all day.
today was interesting. i hired a mexican named juan felipe to help me spread gravel in the ol' driveway. he was nice, and i've never done anything like that before so i'm glad he was nice. we talked, i practiced my spanish, then i drove him to his probationary drug test, payed him, and that was that.
tomorrow i will sleep in, in an attempt to shake this illness. then i will take my hard workin mama some lunch, then we will go to san pedro for the southern california music awards, which should be... wierd.

give me ten-eye-see!

holy crap i'm bored! i'm about to jam this white out in and around my eyes.

i look forward to:
getting off work,
eating a hot pocket,
watching lost,
falling asleep to linda ronstadt,
and dreaming of whale riding.

amber and i just purchased two pickets to titsburg, i- i mean two tickets to uh, nashville.
this excites the both of us very much. we're going with some friends, to see some more friends as well as to see dolly world, to see graceland, and to get in a pool cue type fight with some real southern tavern divers.
any guidance?

thank-you jj

matt and i finally rented the first season of LOST. it rules. i had seen a couple of episodes before, but it is best to start at the begining and watch them in order. so far we have watched the first four episodes. i would like to give some shout-outs:
first to jj: you gave us "felicity", one of the best shows ever. my college experience would not have been the same without her. next came "alias". i've only watched a little here and there, but i think it's pretty cool. and now LOST, a brilliant show from a brilliant man. and i like the fact that you give greg grunberg ( he played sean on "felicity) a part in all of your shows. i was excited to see him as the pilot on LOST.
second to matthew fox: i loved you in "party of five", glad to see you've made a come back.
third to blockbuster: while i do not agree with your ridiculous late fee policy, and i'm still considering signing up for netflix, you are the only video store in big bear that carries LOST. i appreciate that.
last, but not least, the dinosaurs: i know you're on that island somewhere.

now for some ramblings:

i had a really lovely weekend. on sunday, as you may have read, matt went to a wedding reception for one of his cousins. i've been working way too much and was tired so he let me stay home and he went through the ackwardness without me (thank-you husband, that was amazing of you). so i had a relaxing, leisurely day. i had lunch at bailey's, read my book and wrote in my journal, went shopping for jeans ( i didn't find any), and then i got myself an italiano calzone from maggio's and watched "the office".
i have a crush on tim from '"the office". he looks like jeff tweedy, that might be part of the appeal. he's also really funny. i enjoy when he "winds up" gareth.
february and march are going to be fun. we have st.valentine's day and st.patrick's day: romance and green beer! the boys have their residency at the detroit bar. rosie is coming to visit. becca and darren are coming up for a visit and we're going to go skiing. the supper club is coming up; we're also going skiing. matt and i are going to nashville and i'll be going up to portland to visit suzanne. what a great two months. food, folks, and fun.
my new favorite pizza product is the above mentioned italiano calzone at maggio's. i had it for the first time on friday night when nadia was up visiting (it was great to see you). it has meat sauce, meatballs, pepperoni (which i get in place of italian sausage), and cheese. mmmm...

song i have stuck in my head today: man of the hour, by pearl jam

here

thursday: arriving home amidst the freezing ass and windy expanse of the surrounding evening, i entered my humble abode upon a most blessed sight/sound/smell. a warm and toasty dining/living/kitchen (if you've seen the house you know) area. a wife in her jammies spinning a little chet atkins and putting a kettle on. a few oatmeal cookie smelling candles, and a freshly cracked beatles puzzle awaiting our fiddling fingers. being married.

friday: i worked until eleven. then met up with mikey and put a whole bunch of the family guy on the ol' ipod. "P..., tear, griffen. P tear griffen. Peter Griffen, Damnit!" acually i think it's, "Ah Crap!"

saturday: amber's working on the slopes by 8 am. trooper. dead beat hus slept in to around ten. sat in bed and watched family guy to around eleven. shaved some handlebars. went to bj's sandwich shop for a patty melt and two budweisers. suns out. went to lumber yard, loaded up squareback with stacking stone and spent the rest of the afternoon landscaping the back yard. so that was pretty much man day. i guess, until i pulled into the lumber yard where a bunch of lumber yard type flanel wearin' men stared me down in the cute little yellow car i was in. that night we grabbed a pizza, a six pack, and sixteen episodes of lost. then we grabbed a little bit of each other.

sunday: attended a mostly akward (dry) wedding reception in san diego. on the way home we stopped by the real b.j.'s where sean (now nic'named mentone) proceeded to turn 21 in proper form. had a couple j. reds, discussed plans to fly to nashville, then made friends with a homie/gangster who bought me a bloody mary. i love making friends with gangsters. i absolutely love it!

so here i am again writing about what i did. why do i do this. who the hell cares? nobody.
anyway, tonight josh and i will play some music, then it's time to get serious. amber and i have got a lot of lost to watch. i hope everyone is well.

postscript: customer service is a suck ass thing. i hate bitches.

here

tim- "are all these questions going to be about war?"

gareth- "no i've got loads of ques-, i've got some on tennis, one on the suez canal, loads."

gareth still- "right. next, name the body of water connecting the red sea and mediterranean sea."

just a few random facts about chuck norris as i sit at work and hang ten the web over my stouffer's lean cuisine three cheese chicken and broccoli with red peppers. no preservatives.

fact #1: chuck norris does not hunt because the word hunting infers the probability of failure. chuck norris goes killing.

fact #2: chuck norris counted to infinity twice.

fact #3: chuck norris sold his soul to the devil for his rugged good looks and unparalleled martial arts ability. shortly after the transaction was finalized, chuck roundhouse kicked the devil in the face and took his soul back. the devil, who appreciates irony, couldn't stay mad and admitted he should have seen it coming.

ohhh man.

does anyone remember that kid "verno" from "stand by me" who always said, "sincerely!" and also brought a comb even though he had no hair?
thinking of the chuck norris days made me think of that.

i'm bored.

spent two days in silverlake

where i/we:

slept on becca's wood floor.
was/were inebriated four times.
raced my wife to ralphs for more beer.
made new international friends at a red lion:
-a german who hated america pre living here.
-a russian who hugged me and sang to me.
-a native american who tamed a stallion.
-a lithuanian who spake japanese.
ate at a backdoor bakery.
yodeled along to 'focus' with some pattersons.
quoted christmas vacation in it's entirety.
talked with a longshoe and wife and dog.
reacted allergically to shellfish or saki.
took two benodryl and went to cha cha's.
fellowshiped with lutherans in pasadena.
made and ate baklava c/o a shant and jen.
listened to art bell.
was/were home by sunday midnight.

dumb lists.
i can't stop.
things to do this week:

tune and play guitar.
tune and play ukulele.
pick up tune and play piano. not gonna happen.
start puzzle with wife.
rent the weather man with wife.
make dinner for wife.
up and drive to vegas. hopefully soon rose.

question:

if you could change your name, what would you go with?

i'd go with either emmett, lyle, or rocky.

click this'n here

please do yourself a favor and take a gander at this.

be mine until the end of lunchtime

i remember when i was in or around the fourth grade, it wasn't un-heard of to have three or four different girlfriends in one day. sometimes two at a time, and i was just thinking to myself, "man thats kinda sleazy"
with that thought; i was at the market last night. amber's been under the weather, and i was in line with some chicken noodle and some saltines gazing over the magazine racks when i birthed a concept: hollywood love is very much like that of an elemantary school. that and, how the crap does bat-boy gain three hundred pounds in two weeks? but all these glistening sex symbols that line the covers of "us" magazine and what not are douche bags. it's a formula, become an actor, become a douche bag. however the one difference between l.a. and school, for me at least, was the guilty party. the males weren't doing the dumping, at least in my case. i was doing the getting dumped. apparently i was tight, as opposed to being loose. what are you going to do?
dylan said it best, "all I really want to do is baby be friends with you (cause your tight)." i think that's what he meant.

i am a ninja turtle

i can't stop. every morning i tell myself that this day is going to be different, and inevitably i do it again. i generally don't eat breakfast, unless matt and i go out or we have friends up or something. so in a given week i'll eat 14 meals. out of those 14 i would say that at least 10 are pizza. lunch time will roll around and i may have planned all day to get a sandwich, but suddenly i find myself dialing the number to maggios and ordering a couple of slices of cheese pizza to go. or for dinner i may have been planning on making an actual three-course meal, and there i am at maggios picking up a pesto primavera. i'm addicted to pizza. and why should i stop? i love it.

for all of the struggling musicians

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out" -Decca Recording Company, rejecting the Beatles, in 1962

This morning I got up early and went to Snow Summit to pick up a Christmas gift to me from the company. It was a ham and a bottle of wine! I felt very corporate receiving such a gift and it made me laugh. But I certainly won't complain, tonight we will be having a lovely dinner and it will make the holidays last a little longer. Afterward I grabbed a quick cup of coffee and headed to my new job. That's right friends, I have a new job! Although I'll still be teaching skiing and snowboarding on Saturdays (so you all can still be hooked up with lift tickets) , Monday-Friday I am working at DOVES domestic violence shelter. I just started this job and so far I really like it. For the first time, in quite a long time, I feel like I am headed in the direction that I want to be going and I'm making a bit of a difference. When I got here this morning I found out that one of our domestic violence counselors resigned and her position is now open. I really want that job. For now I am the shelter secretary. It's a silly title, really, because I do just about everything there is to do here. But the DV counselor job is exactly what I want to do. I would work at the outreach center office and counsel domestic violence victims and their families on a daily basis. These would be people that do not live in our shelter but are locals needing help. If I'm going to pursue becoming a therapist and put time and money into grad school, then I definately need this experience. After all, what if I hate it? Then I can go in a different direction before I spend a lot of time in this field. I can run away and become a writer. Anyway, I'm giving you way more information then you want to know. I basically just wanted to ask that you guys would pray for me. I get a buzz just thinking about getting the job, so I would appreciate your prayers. Thanks!-a

Also, why don't you bums come to Big Bear more? We miss our friends and we've been coming down to the rough city quite a bit lately. So it's your turn!

arbitrarily weighing up

i'm always way behind with this kind of shit, but i just happened upon an album entitled "howl" by the black rebel motercycle club and it's pretty damn inspiring. i had an old record of theirs that wasn't much to speak of however this new one is worth some typing. i recommend it.

on the first of january, some close friends of ours move to nashville for a few months to make a record. so tonight we will join them in saying farewell and good luck at the lava lounge in l.a. i'm prepared to put a few away if need be. an example of successful marital compromise is this: she gets to spend money on a new shirt. i get to spend money on new beer.

i was talking to brandon vedder on the phone yesterday, when i was interrupted by a scene that transpired before my eyes. i stopped one sentence, and began verbally unfolding what it was i was watching. when finished brandon asked me if i was even aware of what i had just said, and added that it was a perfect example of where and how i live. he also stated that it would be genius in a script. so now that i've built it up when it's really nothing, what i said was,
"i just saw my mechanic drive by in my wifes volkswagen with his dog riding shotgun after he asked us four days ago to borrow it for one day to go feed his moms cat."

i've grown aware as of late that i am a big fat advantage taker. give me something to take advantage of and i'll swipe it from your mits before you even knew i was there. not to proud, maybe that's something to remedy with the new year.

and with that by the way, happy new year. may your celebrations be blessed and safe.

ten

in 1990 i was ten years old. for christmas that year i wanted the lab tech jr. chemistry set, i wanted the he-man vs. skeletor castle grey skull, and i wanted rock'em sock'em robots. i got the lab tech jr. and ended up lighting my sock on fire and burning my eyes. i didn't get castle grey skull, but seth allen did. from that day on we weren't best friends anymore. and i got rock'em sock'em robots, and couldn't be beat.

when you were ten what were three things you wanted?

a tribute to greatness

who am i:

i'm tall. i drink loads of alcohol. ten years ago i bought my first car, which i still drive. i go to vegas bi-weekly and call matt at four in the morning every time to sing him "sweet child of mine". i call cigarettes dugans. in the fourth grade i rapped, i made up stories about a girl who was six hundred feet tall and wide and came from the amazon eating turkey, i had an ape drape for hair, and if you mock it i wouldn't even hesitate to tear off your arm and jam it in and around your eyes. i'm fantastic.

hint: my name starts with b and ends with unky.

today i didn't even have to use my A K

i gotta say it was a good day. two reasons largely responsible are as follows:

reason #1. to my suprise i have just come across my long lost "21 singles" from the jesus and mary chain, including such tracks as head on, just like honey, and sometimes always. pure genius in its simplest form. this gives me a happy feeling deep down inside my loins. and what the hell does that even mean? i've got a dictionary in the drawer, lets take a peek.

loin \'loin\n 1: part of the body on each side of the spine between the hip and the lower ribs. 2: pl: pubic regions

reason #2. we just booked a february residency at the detroit bar. this as well gives me a good feeling in my pubic region. not literally, but this is very exciting nonetheless. so if your in the area, and you like to listen to live music and drink beer, come. steve d. will be joining us with a banjo... no shit.