another dollar .....another day

so work sucks. next.

i am listening to the new blind melon.
"every day above ground was a good one".
Perhaps one of my favorite expressions, reminiscent of my all time favorite show...the dramariffic Six Feet Under.

Me and my sweetheart went to see Blind Melon at the Hiro Ballroom (the venue kicks ass aesthetically) in NYC Saturday night. Honestly, I had to drag myself to the show. I am a purist, a music snob, a moron when it comes to most things musical. I am opinionated..."Yeah, seriously, you're totally elitist. You feel like the unappreciated scholars, so you shit onto people who know lesser than you"(High Fidelity).

That'd be me.

So we go. And right before the show I am all like this is going to be weird with this new singer and i don't know if i should even be here. Blah blah blah. Well they ruled. It was an excellent show and not only was I impressed but Ant (my sweetheart) was equally impressed and he had never been a Blind Melon fan to begin with.

I wasn't a Blind Melon fan to begin with.* I actually hated them because of the single "No Rain" and the asinine "Bee Girl" video. I was all like "Yeah, this is what we need - a hick singing in a field about love and happiness". The truth of the matter is that single is a poor representation of the band, and their talents..which are widely displayed on the 1st album that 'No Rain' was on (self titled debut). But more so on "Soup" (the 2nd and last album, due to Shannon Hoon's drug overdose while touring in support of that album) and "Nico" released after his death.

Remember when musicians used to die quiet and non-especially-surprising deaths? Maybe it is in fact the digital age. Maybe I was too young to pick up a news paper. but in my day (lol) when a musician or actor died there were a day or two of press...no prying, no trying to solve the god-damn mystery of it all (less Kurt Cobain, but that was some shady business. next). Michael Hutchence asphyxiated himself in an auto-erotic accident and people let it go...pretty quickly.

So things have changed. and now it's all about the moments leading up to and what people did and didn't do to help and how they could have been saved if only....
and blaming family and friends. I honestly do think most of the hysteria surrounds women in music and acting who do drugs ..... i don't think the world is ready to handle them yet. i mean...we only had the one, Courtney, and everyone hates her. So.

Anyway. I read that Shannon Hoon was forced to tour by Capitol Records.

I really hate Britney Spears.


(* i started to listen to Blind Melon when Soup was released).

sunday wrap up

Last night i went out with the crew for beers and food. Everyone was in good form and it was a nice time. The summer is almost over, and i am sure the weekends of bars and bar food will boil down and I won't be eating total crap every Saturday night. I have food guilt. Yipes!

Today I spent the day with my Grandmother and Aunt. We went out for dinner. The food was mediocre but it was really a nice day and I loved getting out of the house with them. We have dinner at home every Sunday. The same old thing each week is bound to bore everyone to tears.

My grandmother is 91 years old. She is starting to slip a bit, and it is stressful on me but especially my aunt who is her primary caretaker. It's little things like confusion, and general frustration because she knows her memory isn't what it used to be. It probably wouldn't be so bad if she didn't get annoyed with herself - but she does. It just seems to have happened over night and each week i see her she seems a little less together. She is also not feeling wonderful. I think it is the brutal weather. She says she is depressed and bored. We just recently got her cable for the 1st time. I cant imagine going through 90 years without cable television, so she must be thrilled. Lord knows she never turns that Lifetime channel off.

My friends Grandmother is in a nursing home. This was a hard decision for everyone to make but her Alzheimer's was getting too much for her and her husband to manage. She is 82 years old. The Grandfather is about 80. The Aunt who intervenes is 89 years old and they, the younger family members, call her "Before Christ". Well "Before Christ" is difficult and mean and she says that the reason the grandfather takes the grandmother home from the nursing home as often as he does is to have sex with her. "Before Christ" tells the members of the family these things like they really want to be entertained by the thought even after they question the validity of this nonsense. Whose business is it if 80 something people wanna get it off once a week? Well it's "Before Christ's" business apparently.

My Grandmother is somewhat lucky. She has us. I won't turn my back on her now. I feel bad, and it's annoying, but I won't. I just want her to be happy and comfortable now on. She made me happy and comfortable when I was a kid, and totally helpless and exposed. I would tell her this...but she might not listen. Today my Grandmother went on about how the cats outside keep getting pregnant over and over again. How she doesn't really mind, it is nice to have the babies (kittens) around. I wondered what she would have said if I had come home pregnant over and over again. I felt really bad for about 10 seconds about something she wants to see for me. Or from me.
I know what she was thinking about and I hope. like everything else, she forgot it quickly.


I have to make some calls now and try and drive out of here to see some people.
The thought of work tomorrow isn't registering yet and I need more screw off time!

happiness is a cold beer

Yesterday was so nice. Robyn and I walked the way over to Failte* and really enjoyed just taking in Kips Bay and looking around and chatting. She pointed out how she wishes she could do this more often and I agreed 100%. There was a time, before either one of us were very busy at all, that we were going to conquer neighborhood by neighborhood until we knew everything about everywhere.

Well. We are busy.

So we went to the bar. Drank beers. Yay! They had Sierra Nevada. Listened to the Rock-o-La (it was lame until we took over) and waited for her friends to arrive. Robyn works with some seriously nice people and I always have a great time around them. It's no frills and nice. They aren't phonies. No bullshit.

We had great conversations about concerts and our favorite concerts. One story was amazingly funny about how someone got to see Pearl Jam in some really great seats because his brothers fiance...and the like the biggest Pearl Jam fan ever.. was arrested for possession like 10 minutes before the show. So the brother called his brother to run on down and went to the show anyway citing "there was nothing I could do for her anyway"...and funny story.

A few people saw Nirvana. Points for me: I saw the Ramones and I met John Lydon. Robyn has seen every great band ever open for Guns N Roses apparently. She also saw Rage Against the Machine open for Smashing Pumpkins. Where the hell was I that day? Someone gave me the crazy eye when I said that some band I saw was like seeing the Who....lol. I think I was talking about the Strokes- who kick ass live but are in no way like the Who! I don't like the Who, which is probably why I said something silly like this. I meant the excitement obviously.

We all got kind of crazy to "Ain't Talking About Love" by Van Halen.

I also danced to "Rehab" finally in public. It was hawt.

I drank responsibly and got home in one piece. While for the bus we got to hear a couple fighting. The girl was drunk and emotional. The guy walked off, but he let her catch up with him and they got in a cab. We were so disappointed.

I talked Robyn's ear off about all of my feelings and then she feel asleep on the way home. Honestly, I don't know if it was boring or exhausting but boring and exhausting would be how I describe most if not all of the drama in my life.

I managed to meet one 40 year old drag queen (CoCo) and one very gay guy last night.

*Failte, pronounced "FALL-cha," means welcome in Irish. This place is one of the best bars I have ever been to.

thank you note

It's almost Thanksgiving day, and I have tons to be thankful for. Like that I totally kicked school's ass and got two A's. It's official. I have my 1st degree!

This is my Thanksgiving Thank You list:

I would like to thank my roommate. She just gave me some wine and asked me to test taste her creamed spinach. She is dressed like she just stepped out of an asylum(toe socks - you know the socks that look like gloves and a mets headscarf, I think.) I love coming home to her on days like this. We are both in good moods. And will be watching Dexter on bootleg in like 10 minutes.

See my roommate and I have much in common we came full circle. We've also lived together so long that our friendship has changed (but not in a bad way - just as in "I already know all your business, so what should we talk about" sorta way) Now we have Dexter. A new bond over serial killers, alcohol and food has unraveled before our very eyes. I owe her a ton for the past year and change. She really didn't have to put up with me and she did. I won't take back what I said about her choice of evening wear tonite, but I love her.

And lastly:

You didn't think I would forget this guy, did you? TMR41H!