TFW there’s 20 people on the call and we all have to learn how to ACTUALLY use the software for the first time.

I need at least six hours between each regular day to catch up from everything that just happened.

The Boys chatting it up by the water cooler before they greet mama after a long day at work. #CatDad

Feyd had a very hard day, having a number of her teeth pulled. Hopefully these purrs are a sign of recovery.

Seriously: who likes Donald Duck? He’s always mean and rude to the other characters, and he’s incredibly selfish. What a great lesson for kids! #FuckADuck

The Ugly Duckling story is brutal, man. I know in the animal kingdom The Ducks would have kicked the Swan out anyway, and probably in a more disturbing, violent way. But I am still mad at those ducks, all these years later. They should have been nice to that beautiful swan. What total assholes.

Man: fuck a duck.

How do you get motivated? I’m feeling sluggish, and coffee isn’t working. Also: it’s hot.

Then / Now.

One of my favorite parts of the weekend was getting to go on a hike, and otherwise bond with, the camp dog. For his age, I was impressed with how much hiking we got in.

Mother Box, turn down the heat on reality. Thanks.

What if we could hit the reset button? Shake the mold off and begin again. Pop in a new engine, hose ourselves down, and hit the road. But this time, we do it differently. What would you change?

Between the end of Cathead and the beginning of MKUltramegaphone, I didn’t even try to get a band going. I was writing and broadcasting, but I wasn’t playing music. And admittedly, I stopped writing ‘zines for long stretches because of college and feeling directionless. And there were times when I wasn’t on the air, not for lack of trying.

I have other regrets, for sure. I’ve made more mistakes than I can think of. Said awful things to the wrong people. But the biggest disservice I did to myself was to turn away from making things, even for a little while, because I was sure that I wasn’t up to the task.

I’m glad I put on new tires and made an effort. I never knew that making music was gonna be so important to me, and I never knew that as I look back, all I can see are the things I didn’t do.

Hopefully I can put enough miles on the old van so I don’t feel like the time was completely wasted.

Ha.

Fuck me. I need to just live in the woods away from people, apparently.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2020/07/21/nearly-a-third-of-americans-believe-covid-19-death-toll-conspiracy-theory/?utm_campaign=forbes

Based on glancing at this place for a moment, everyone seems to be very angry about everything, every time I log in.

It must be me. This place is all happy shiny when I’m off, right?

Sorry everyone. Maybe I’ll leave more.

For everyone’s sake.

Lot of both everywhere these days.
https://www.newsweek.com/narcissists-psychopaths-face-mask-requirement-mandate-social-distancing-covid-19-coronavirus-1519732

What if your heroes knew what you were doing?

Oh shit!

Desert Island / Stranded music you can’t live without?

I get this message almost every time I load FB.

“You make me want to walk. Like a camel.”

I forgot how incredible this band was.

Wasn’t, “Wall of Moms & Dads” the name of a TERRIBLE comedy group in the early ’70s?

Portland’s Wall of Moms Joined by Dads With Leaf Blowers Against Trump’s Police

“But this is my fucking country,
And it’s never been fucking lovely.”

Thanks, Obadiah Baird, for pointing out how fucking bad ass this song is.

The two lines above seem particularly apt, if applied to the US, right now. I think all the horror we’re experiencing lately is evidence that we’ve never actually lived in a “lovely” country. We’ve lived in a broken place with patched together incentives that barely meet any of our needs, while rich people can have excellent tourist destination cities to visit on vacations.

So it goes. At least the forests in the Oregon are beautiful…

So, our President is certainly accountable. But what kind of knucklehead continues to go along with these domestic deployments? What kind of military leader would send their troops? Who would continue to take that command when you’re only ending up on the streets of a US city, kidnapping citizens and being endlessly mocked by fearless, naked protesters?

Like, who are these thugs?

What is wrong with America?
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/07/republican-response-coronavirus.html

Watching Portland videos and streams is really messing with my head. I hope everyone is safe. I’m worried and nervous. I hate that this is the world we live in. I hate reading about awful folks who don’t think there’s a problem in that town. What is wrong with everyone? Why are so many people trying to do the right thing, and why are anonymous, armed Feds being sent to stop them?

How can the lines between right and wrong be so clear, and how can the side of right be loosing so dramatically?

I hate it.

Can we improve the UI on all the apps for streaming video content after the revolution, too?

Like, they all suck. Bad.

I think we need to start over.
I think it’s clear this whole thing is not working.

Like, at all.

I think I reached the bottom of my podcasts. Like, I think I’m caught up with everything.

I keep falling asleep in the early evening, and then waking up with a second wind. So that’s what I’m working with this week.

Here’s my lunch for Sacramento Audio Waffle 67 – virtual programming #3. Mmmmmm. Shepherds Pie!

Oryx & Crake fell asleep listening to my Sacramento Audio Waffle 67 – virtual programming #3 performance. There’s more to come!

Today, on the NorCal NoiseFest YouTube Channel: let’s find out what Standard Oil had to say about our slowly dissolving country almost 50 years ago. It’s time to confront our Colonial Past. Tune in at Noon for a Live Audio Waffle. See ya then!

I’ve seen the photo floating around, but holy shit. This girl is amazing.

One thing I appreciate about The Boys is their DIY attitude toward their toys and playthings. They are true improvisers, and I hope they take this attitude into the art world someday. #CatDad

Three months is a long time for anyone to wait.

On the Ides of March, The Olsen Twins Ghostlight Ensemble got together for the last time, in person. We had some Spring and Summer shows ahead of us, we had played a couple weeks before in Portland with Wally Shoup (an incredible show that sort of introduced us to a wider audience), and as we were plotting our next moves, there was a virus-tinge to everything we said that day. We were so naive, in so many ways. We were indoors, no masks, booking shows as if there would be clubs still in the months afterwards.

In the days following that last meeting, as our shows all started to unravel and as we started to figure out how serious everything was, it became clear that we needed to take a break. Even if we didn’t want to. The youngest of us is in our mid-40s, and as free-improv performers, our social circle skews “older.” The idea that we could spread to our own band members and peers, all in the name of “performing,” was ridiculous. Instead, we decided to take three months off, to work on different solo projects, and build exactly the kind of absence that is rumored to make the heart cliché harder.

There wasn’t any medical reason why we had to wait three months to sit on the patio at six feet from each other and do our thing. We each had our own projects, and we batted around some digital files in an effort to keep the project alive. But The Twins are a live thing. We sit in a room and we play. We don’t do overdubs. We don’t build albums. And we don’t use production wizardry after the fact to save performances or reinforce a weak product. We get in a room. I put a Zoom recorder down and I push record. And then we play until we’re done. Afterwards, I cut out the “sessions,” and so far, all of them have sounded exactly how we want them to sound. The process is as simple as I can make it, and because of that, we’re not really limited to a specific location. Recording outside is as good as anywhere. In fact, I often include field recordings of my own patio in our performances. So the patio was just another player in this particular line-up.

It’s not always a good idea to take a break like this. Part of what we do is about listening, and it is very hard to listen to each other when we’re all at a distance from each other. Deep listening is not easy under the best of circumstances, and when you spend too much time apart, you need to re-learn how to hear each other. But in a way, we have been listening to each other well before this project, and hopefully we’ll continue to listen to each other for years and years to come. So when we started to let the sounds fly the other day, it was nice to know that this particular muscle had not atrophied. I think the results are in the mix, and it almost sounds like there isn’t much difference between March 15th and July 15th.

Anyway, we’re gonna try to make this a more regular thing, and we may even try to stream live. But for now… here’s just under 45 minutes of new sounds, and we hope you enjoy this one.

We did.
https://wtbc.bandcamp.com/album/quarterly-report-15-july-2020

I made my very first dish containing fish sauce. I’ve eaten plenty, but I have never cooked with it. But I followed a recipe, and: here we are.

Not bad.

We had our baths today. #CatDad

Guitar Player Meme:

01.) Watching My Mom play guitar.
02.) Watching My Father play guitar.
03.) Listening To Guitar On The Radio
04.) Realizing Anyone Could Buy A Guitar
05.) Discovering A Friend played Guitar
06.) Seeing My First Big Rock Show
07.) Seeing My First Small Rock Show
08.) Seeing A Show Where My Friend Played Guitar
09.) Playing A Guitar In A Band for other people.
10.) Realizing The Guitar is just another instrument.

Still waiting for the “Infinite Jest” of Instagram posts.

Every once in a while, I really wish there was an, “EVERYTHING’S OKAY” alarm. I would just like to be reassured… in the most alarming way possible.

I’m mostly happy I’m home. But there’s something about needing a fire every night (instead of just wanting one) that feels more appropriate, in my mind.

“Remember kids: all great art is boring. Dress well and drink a lot. That’s what college is for.”
– Ian Shoales

I never imagined this song would be relevant again:

Great White comin’ to your town.
Gonna burn the place to the ground.

Paid my money, gonna bang my head.
Didn’t know that I would wind up dead.

Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah.

One of the first gifts Marla ever got me.

Ran into a mutual friend of myself and Doug James Sach while out in the woods.

Star Trek Maps (from the 1980 set), a Green Lantern ad for the new series (from the 1990 re-launch book), Robin (from the Robin solo comic from the early 90’s), Fire & Ice (pin-ups of the JLA characters from the late-80s run), and a periodic table of the elements. (Later I got one in t-shirt form.)

Cars? Girls? Real life? Not in High School.

“Just as I suspected: teeming with fuckwads.”

– A Eugene, OR, early ‘90s, response to entering a party and seeing all the bros.

I don’t like (or advocate for the use of) guns in any context.

Everything else: I’m on board with. Most importantly: Be Kind. There are more people out there who do not believe in being kind.

And we’re watching you. Wondering why the fuck you are always such a dick.

Knock it off.

I missed The Boys. #CatDad

I read a little news.

Why did I come back?

I used to be funny.

Favorite breakfast for when you don’t want breakfast but you need to eat?

I’m so annoyed with my FB emoji character. There isn’t a bow tie and sweater option. Just suit and noose. I’m not against a suit, but really? There needs to be more tie options for OG nerds.

I really enjoy these two more than I can express. #CatDad

What could go wrong?

Should I have a fundraiser to buy a camera, so I can stream the kittens playing, live?

“Are you icky, are you sticky, are you hot as anything, HEY!”

Oryx likes to sit on the couch and watch TV with Marla and I. Crake runs around playing like he’s wild until he falls asleep where he stops.

The sleepy boys in their penthouse bedroom. They had a hard day, cleaning the house for mamma. Shhhhh. Don’t tell Marla. It’s a surprise.

I hear a lot of commentary about how the economy is bouncing back, so that’s a good sign.

Let’s say you get a personal windfall at the expense of a few million Americans, who will all die.

That is the opposite of a robust economy.

This was the car the vet drove, the one who saw Feyd today. Most of the rest of the car was full of Star Wars stickers and fake stormtroopers sitting in the front and all that. And this sticker in the corner.

I didn’t ask, but I had a million questions. Mostly: how did you become a gun enthusiast AND a Star Wars fan? I feel like there is a anti-authoritarian, lefty point of view in Star Wars, and while not an entirely anti-violence (you need to fight to keep your freedom FROM armed fascists).

I have a feeling that someone like this has a number of political ideals I don’t align with. But the cognitive dissonance between the two political perspectives represented in her fandoms really confuses me. Most of the groups in Oregon that are pro gun have right or far right agendas, and that seems to have become intensified in recent years. (The Ken Keasey style, gun-toting, sustenance-hunting hippy in Oregon just isn’t as common as it once was.)

The hillbilly hippy is something Oregon has sort of perfected; the right-wing stoner is a trope I’ve come to accept, in spite of not understanding it. But I’m not ready for fun-toting Star Wars fans.

Terrible day for Feyd. She hates everything – as is her gromp – and of course she has an appointment to see the vet. And of course I get the time wrong, so I’m in a hurry, so I have to get her in the carrier. She HATES the carrier. But I somehow get her in. I rush her over. They give her a check-up and trim her nails, and she REALLY hates that. Then the person at the vet keep misgendering her and now she’s at maximum gromp. I got her home, she hissed and whined, but she’s finally back on Marla’s side of the bed, the only place she’s comfortable. But she’s so mad, I’m shocked she let me take this picture.

I hate to break it to her that she will have two more appointments this month. I think between that, bringing new kids into the house, and all the July fourth nonsense…. she will never forgive me.

Here’s the low down on The Adventures of Marcus Little airing on KWVA over the next two Fridays, at 11 AM! This is part of their allumni program, and special thanks to Marc Time for cluing me into this! This will be exciting, as I started my radio career at KWVA. Hopefully you’ll have a chance to tune in!
https://marcuslittleadventures.com/2020/07/06/marcus-little-kwva-fm-in-eugene/

So, after society completely collapses finally, I’ll be on the side that scales back fireworks on The Fouth, and on the side that abolishes leaf blowers.

Free fast internet should probably be a part of all of that too. I’m making a list.

Here’s to one whole week with our expanded family. I love these guys.

If you change a few lines, this song about John becomes far to aptly sung about President Don.

It’s not as good as what DOA can do with their Ronald / Donald lyrical changes, but I have my fun during the sing along, that’s for sure.

I say we stop this fireworks nonsense, and worship the moon. It’s far more practical, far more rewarding, and has a historical precedent that predates our use of gunpowder.

So. Much. Cannon fire. The trauma I suffer from as someone who spent my youth loading and packing cannons after being kidnapped by pirates, I find the insensitivity of my neighbors to be extremely inappropriate.

Feyd Rautha is not happy right now, and is hiding under the bed. The boys are ready to keep playing, somewhat unaware of what’s up. I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep for a while.

Oooof. I accidentally posted to my stories.

Sorry about that.

It’s so cute when all the Americans think the economy and their jobs will come back.
It’s like they don’t realize how bad it really is…

Working on my set for my 8 AM, in my neighbor’s driveway noise show, with me covering only un-patriotic songs. I’m only 1/4 of the way through, learning, “Well Fed Fuck,” so I have a long way to go.

Anti-Flag, “Fuck the Flag”:
NOFX “Franco Un-American”:
Dead Kennedys, “Stars And Stripes Of Corruption”
Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Fortunate Son”:
Neil Young, “Rockin’ In The Free World”:
Pete Seeger, “This Land Is Your Land”:
2 Live Crew – Banned In the USA
Chicks, “Not Ready to Make Nice”
Public Enemy – Fight The Power
And all of the Born Against catalog.

What is your favorite fake commercial?

#NeglectedLPsProject. Now this is perfect mood music. I need a cocktail, now…

The Boys are out of quarantine! They spent the afternoon running around the house, exhausting themselves. Now they’re chillin’ on the couch. They are my everything. #CatDad

If I understand correctly, tonight is the night that Paul Revere and a band of American Soliders will try to violate our 3rd Amendment Rights, and only a massive protest against the Patriarchy can keep them at bay.

What’s with all the fireworks? Or, is that cannonfire against our tyrannic despot?

What is your favorite commercial?

Midnight Missives, being read in Spain by Rafael González. Thanks Rafael! (He did the interior covers.)

Would you like to get in on the action? Here’s how:

https://wtbc.bandcamp.com/merch/midnight-missives

Huh. I guess masks work.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2020/07/01/research-determines-protests-did-not-cause-spike-in-coronavirus-cases/

These two are siblings from the same litter. They basically play-fight all of the time they are not eating and sleeping. There’s a lot of jumping and colliding with each other in mid-air, to continue wrestling on the ground. It’s very exciting and fun to watch, but very hard to capture in an effective way. #CatDad

And a lot more in the decade since…

I’m really angry about all the fireworks.

I know a lot of people in my life who have spent hours arguing as The Devil’s Advocate, who just “enjoys” arguing the other side for fun.

You are the problem.

There’s been a ton of fireworks every night in my neighborhood lately. I love celebrations too, but I think we’re all experiencing a lot of anxiety right now. I’m not sure how much enjoyment we’re all getting out of random explosions, given all the police riots and lost jobs and viruses running around outside. Maybe we chill on the explosions for a while?
https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/episodes/united-states-conspiracy-on-the-media-1

Well pack my fridge with eggs and butter!

And, that’s the end of that chapter…

We’re Number 1! We’re Number 1! USA! USA!

Ha! Like I even had a clue how bad it would get…