Month: November 2018

Facebook Post: 2018-11-29T08:15:49

This is the time of year where all I want is a massive winter storm, piles of snow, impassable highways, endless snowstructures, hot beverages… instead, I will only get a cold, screaming children, and the foreboding sense that it’s gonna take a lot more good news before this season will feel jolly.

“Someday my snowstorm will come…”

Facebook Post: 2018-11-21T05:53:53

“I think it’s interesting and exciting – I just hate to see it get out of hand. I like the basic things. I can appreciate computers, but I’d like to see kids take chances. Kids are so conservative today. I think the computer age is a big part of it. Computers can become too much like a crutch. I think kids need to experience more stuff that’s real.”

– Joey Ramone, 1984.

Facebook Post: 2018-11-20T05:37:37

I never knew my mother’s father. (Maybe that’s for the best.) But now all four of my Grandparents are gone, along with a couple of my aunts, too. I’ve had to say goodbye to far too many family members, friends, musical inspirations. As recently as two years ago I was a personal caregiver for someone who died of old age. This world is full of people slipping away constantly, disappearing into the past, out of reach and locked away from us like a punishment the entire world must endure.

And yet, every moment that this is not on my mind, the news tries to assert itself. Here’s more of our President, here’s another horrible celebrity that got away with despicable behavior because of money, here’s a person with no good sense in his head trying to tell us that school shootings are just a by-product of Democracy.

And yet – MEANWHILE, even – I know I am not the only one. All of these people, statistically, must be in the same boat. They have family and friends who have passed, they have seen creative influences die, have seen the past accumulate while the future seems to disintegrate. Anymore, when news and politics start nagging at me, I have to wonder now:

What horrors and sadness are they covering up for, what losses are affecting them so much that they are racist, are pro-violence, are illogical, or perhaps they have experienced so much loss that they enjoy seeing everyone else suffer while they are insulated in some new and temporary way?

What losses are they not dealing with as they go about their lives?

Facebook Post: 2018-11-14T10:05:27

Here’s the massive, “two-disc” set of every live performance by Mini-Mutations. Disc 1 is the pre-history; Disc 2 is the whole Octob-tour. Bonus tracks and etc. throughout. You can pick up the discs, or individual performances. Help offset the costs of the tour, and enjoy some recordings of which I’m really, really proud.
https://wtbc.bandcamp.com/album/live-mutations-disc-1-of-2

Facebook Post: 2018-11-13T14:47:50

I feel like I remember what it was like to be a kid, and I do my best to listen and be understanding. But it breaks my heart to realize that all the sympathy and understanding in the world isn’t always the right tool for the job. There are kids who are going through things that, no matter how patient and thoughtful I may be, they are processing something that I can’t solve with politeness and listening. It’s so hard to see a child freak out, and all you can do is watch and remember.

Adults don’t hear everything, we can’t see everything, we don’t know what is on your mind. And maybe you can’t verbalize it, either, because you’re too young. All I see is a child screaming and angry, longing to be understood by anyone, and failing in every way.

And all I see is myself. Reflected back. Screaming at an adult too stupid to see why I’m upset.

I need a drink.

Facebook Post: 2018-11-13T09:11:19

The generation gap (for me) is defined by the difference between thinking Telly is the cool new monster, and thinking Elmo is the cool new monster. It also divides along the “Snuffleupagus is / isn’t real” line, too.

There’s a further divide between Elmo and Baby Bear, but frankly, I’ll let the next Generation fight that battle.

Facebook Post: 2018-11-05T11:14:29

Rita Update:

I walked over and knocked on the door, and met Dennis, Rita’s son. He lives there all the time. I asked how she was doing and he pieced together that I was the neighbor. Apparently he figured out what had happened. I couldn’t tell if someone from DHS has been by for a wellness check or not. He did say she was fine, he was grateful, and that she was napping at the moment. He explained that he was sound asleep last night, and thought she was. She apparently let herself out. He also mentioned that she was transitioning with various medications, and that she clearly had a reaction. He was incredibly grateful. I offered my help, gave him my address, and after a moment or two more, I left. He wasn’t exactly chatty.

He didn’t seem creepy or untrustworthy. He looked exhausted. Taking care of her is probably three full-time jobs.

I’m only slightly relieved. But I feel better knowing she doesn’t live alone.

Facebook Post: 2018-11-04T23:05:09

An elderly woman, maybe in her 70s, rang our doorbell just now, barefoot and confused. I give her my slippers. She rambled, but we managed to get her address eventually, two houses down. We’re in our PJs already but we walk her home, her door wide open when we get there. We take her inside, sit her down, search the house. No one’s there. There’s a pill minder and some half empty beers sitting around. She probably had a beer and took the wrong meds on the wrong day, or doubled up, or forgot to take them entirely. We try to get more information from Rita, but she talks nonsensically about a son she needs to contact, and a party that’s out of control, and it’s hard to get anything out of her that sounds grounded, like she’s had a break. A weird tweaker neighbor on a bike, says he knows her, that this happens all the time, and then hangs around uncomfortably like he’s casing the place, until I tell him that we’ve got it under control, then he vanishes. We call and arrange for a wellness check, as she is clearly alone and seems very confused. Then we lock the door behind us and leave her on her own. It’s late, for all of us.

She called us angels sent to care for her. But angels don’t have their hearts broken by something so mundane.

Facebook Post: 2018-11-04T22:50:20

Movie Meme Thingy:

More time has been spent discussing and dissecting every second of film in “2001: A Space Odyssey,” and yet there is so much in this dense and beautiful work of cinema that almost every word written about this movie is worth considering. No two people agree on the meaning, no two people relate to it similarly, and in many ways, it is Kubrick’s most straightforward film. Humanity needed a leg-up, and the reward for accepting this help was a chance for us to evolve twice, each time with the Monolith as the catalyst. The first leap allowed us to become tool users. The second: allowed us to use the Monolith? Or something… to be honest, there was a lot of late ’60s psychedelia informing the end as much as there was Arthur C. Clarke’s Sci-Fi premise. But there are almost a few different films crammed into this sprawling epic, and each vignette is beautiful, confounding, and mind-expanding, a meditation on the past, present and future of humankind, and in the end, the first great Sci-Fi movie. I glean new tid-bits about our plight in the universe each time I see it, and it works just as well as something to mindlessly wash over you as it does as something to be over-analyze. I find it fascinating, as hard to grok as when I was a child, and still compelling, even after 20 or more viewings over the years. It is a landmark of film itself, a Monolith in cinema worth investigating.

Facebook Post: 2018-11-04T20:38:55

I saw “Top Gun” last night for the first time. It’s not a very good movie, made worse by very, very bad acting. Tom is insufferable; Meg Ryan is even bad. The story only kind of makes sense, and the final fight sequence isn’t exactly something you can even track moment to moment, and you sort of have to wait until they all appear at the end to realize that Iceman survived. The soundtrack was lauded at the time, but it is essentially one song, over and over again. The actors say the name of the movie endlessly, and near the end of the film characters start wearing promotional hats for the film in the film itself. The only thing that can be said for it is that the planes are well shot and represent that kind of craft well in film. But in doing so, it only advances the military industrial complex at a time when you didn’t really need to pump it up.

How did this movie get made? Why was it popular? I do not understand any of this.

Facebook Post: 2018-11-02T17:28:44

Remember the Techno Viking? Some creepy white guy tries to harass some people trying to have a good time and the Techno Viking swooped in to save the day. Then he won us over with his sweet moves.

We need a Techno Viking this election. Please, Stop the harassment and vote accordingly. Then dance, motherfucker, dance!

Facebook Post: 2018-11-01T18:26:22

I’ll be honest: being on the road for a month is incredibly costly. If you want to help out, please consider buying some things from the Merchanbox. You can see everything here. Also, we have patches, buttons and stickers, too. (Plus two different comps). Please, help us offset recent costs, and support a local act trying to slug it out in the real world. Or something like that.

https://wtbc.bandcamp.com/merch

Facebook Post: 2018-11-01T08:30:33

There is so much to say. This tour has been incredible, humbling, fun, gratifying… and… exhausting. As I collect my thoughts, let me say that it has been amazing to play shows with some my favorite artists, meet people I admire, spend time with family, and stare deeply into the abyss to find that I can still learn from the world if I just listen. My heart is full, my mind is buzzing, and I’m ready to sleep at home with my love… for days on end. Thank you one and all.