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friday, september 28, 2001 a couple of good pieces on what's happening now with freedom of the press and freedom of speech. the most interesting part of the latter article is when we learn that the white house press secretary said, in reference to the bill maher flap (and you can support him here), that in these times "people have to watch what they say and watch what they do," a comment that was later edited out of the white house transcript. the u.s. is developing a chemical attack sensor for subways. good to know, i guess. girl dies after seeing grotesque images in magazine.
thursday, september 27, 2001 i hope you will excuse a little frivolity today. to start with, who is your rockstar boyfriend? mine is thom yorke. oh yeah, i'll take a guy with a sexy lazy eye who can't talk at parties any day of the week. well, he should be able to talk a little, actually... [via madorangefools] and now it is time for the new it thing in blogging, the blind item! what pop culture goddess was seen boozing it up and requesting extra stickers from an n'sync lookalike at the texas singing sensation's show at sidewalk last night? ... what movie mogul dropped trou at a recent house party, giggling along with amused guests, before the titters turned to horror as he then dropped, uh, und, and pranced around with his gap-brand boxers dangling from his little finger? i'll never tell.... but do send tips my way.
all you people who love the sound of guitars: les savy fav is touring. you must go! i insist that you go. and also: you must buy their new album, "go forth," when it comes out on october 23. i was lucky enough to find an advance copy (for four bucks! woo!!) and it has been rocking me nonstop for like three weeks now. it has to be the best album of 2001, so far, for me, hands down. it makes me spaz out on the street when i'm listening to it. it also has the rare quality of being excellent for working out to (lists the bpm for each song!) and has lyrics that sound especially relevant right now. also, to get pretty specific on yo' ass, they got built to spill's producer for this one, and in certain spots, you can really hear his influence. i can't believe this band isn't on a major label.
monday, september 24, 2001 now go read this profile of osama bin laden, because it's really very good. while i'm on the subject, you might as well know that an astute reader has pointed out that the pita is #1 on google when you search for big black sassy bin laden. which i can't help laughing at, even though that's probably wrong. i think i need to start watching "politically incorrect" again. i totally agree with bill maher's comment: "staying in the airplane, say what you want about it, it's not cowardly." leanne tells me that the first-ever episode of "buffy" is on tonight. there will be no talking from 7 to 8 p.m. in my house from here on out.
friday, september 21, 2001 well, reader, dear, dear reader, i hope to see you back here on monday. who knows what tomorrow will bring. several people i know have been talking about what they will do if the proverbial poo hits the fan and we have to evacuate. vanessa and staci have packed two bags of nonperishable food items - just in case - and are debating whether to go to the mountains or the suburbs. though recognizing the absurdity of their plans, they have still designated a certain rock in prospect park as an "emergency meeting place." (if no one is at the rock there will be a note on the rock telling them where to go.) staci wants to get a gun - for the bears in the mountains, of course. christina is laying out maps and planning her escape route. normally i would think these people are just a bit wacko, but part of me thinks they might be smart, too. are we all going insane? is this what they mean by "we will never be the same again"? thoughtful, fact-filled article about the possibility that saddam was involved in this whole deal. apparently there is high-level disagreement in the bush administration about whether we ought not to be bombing the shit out of iraq. built to spill last night were pretty good, but kind of almost spoiled by a boy who felt the need to be constantly in my personal space, touching me, etc. i think he thought that because he had let vanessa and me step in front of him (with grand sweeping gesture....oh yes that was sooooooo nice of you), we were best friends, or owed him something. BOYS! do not grope girls at concerts under the guise of it being crowded! this makes you an asshole. we know what you are doing, and we do not like it. that is why we are throwing elbows, dig? miraculously, a few songs before the end, he was just gone.
thursday, september 20, 2001
tuesday, september 18, 2001 a bit extreme, i should say, this list of songs banned from the airwaves by clear channel in light of the attacks. i mean, "bridge over troubled water"? i can hardly think of a more soothing song; it's certainly way less objectionable than the swelling instrumental tripe that's all over the networks these days. "lucy in the sky with diamonds"?? is it the rocking-horse people or the marshmallow pies they object to? jeez. [link via michaelangelo] second wave of attacks planned?! okay i'm scared now. "Authorities said Sept. 22 has emerged as an important date in the evidence, but declined to be more specific." tried to do normal things this weekend, like go to the record store and eat out and go to the gym and hang out at bars and see movies and stuff. this was all good, i think. but the pall of sadness still seems to hang over me. and it didn't help that i woke up saturday morning to find sunlight shining through the cracks in my walls. you know what the building inspectors look for when they're evaluating structural soundness? CRACKS. i think/hope/pray the rock music coming up on the horizon will heal me a little. i don't have the heart to do a regular update, but i did find this FAQ about arabs pretty worthwhile, along with these two atlantic monthly pieces linked by leanne, about the counterterrorist myth and the roots of muslim rage. the roommates are even anxious for part two of the latter, which i printed out and left on the kitchen table this weekend. amazing pics of the blast and aftermath at david's site, and some good links at leanne's. forget about returning to normalcy. at this point i don't think that's ever going to happen. not that this is in any way about me, and i feel like a jerk for having written this, and keep wanting to go back and write something more appropriate, hence this revise/caveat/admission of guilt, but this is what the scene is like for me::: my apartment smells like smoke (that awful smell that you know if you've ever been in a burned-out house); police require ID and proof of residence if you want to get below 14th or houston street; downtown is covered in a smoky haze; and to top it off, a bunch of people just left work all panicked about bomb scares at grand central and times square. i heard they evacuated the conde nast building. we have been told to leave if we feel "uncomfortable" being here. i think i'm going to feel uncomfortable anywhere, so for the moment i'm staying put. good attack-related links at world new york, says jami. and photos at rion and bk, probably others. this shit is too slow for me; i gotta run. oh, and thanks to all who wrote to make sure i was okay. i walked down a closed-off fifth avenue all the way yesterday, toward the cloud of smoke. it was totally surreal. i saw a guy covered in dust walking uptown, completely dazed. he was the first guy i saw who looked like i felt.
tuesday, september 11, 2001
monday, september 10, 2001 quid pro quo, reader. quid pro quo.
thursday, september 6, 2001 why i am so dumb: i waited too long to get modest mouse tickets and now both nights are sold out. do i have any little helpers out there who could hook me up? please?? god gives shoutout back to all his niggaz.
it just never stops, people: rhett at fez, next wednesday. while i am on the subject, here's a really well-written interview i came across from just a while ago where he's all lovey with erica (gag). but it's got some pretty excellent details, so you should read it. he also talks about the motivation for his monthly gigs at largo in l.a. (no mention of fez; but the logic still applies): new songs, pure and simple. so let me know if you're going to go next week. any west coasters want to fly out? heh. oh yes, can't wait for that dung-flavored beer. english majors, listen up: this is a really scathing attack on what passes for "literary" fiction these days that absolutely rips apart annie proulx, cormac mccarthy, paul auster, and don delillo, among others. it's very entertaining and makes excellent cases against its targets, making me wonder why anyone would ever read cormac mccarthy, for instance. it's also long. the kind of thing you ought to print out and read on the subway, or in pieces. if you are sitting on a stool in front of your home computer you might want to get up and go brush your teeth between sections, as i did. but, and i stress this, well worth reading. [brought to you by pita reader john parker, who has yet to offer his own comments...]
seattle, in a word, rocked. in fact, the thing i loved the most about seattle is that it absolutely worships the rock. i arrived thursday afternoon and headed to belltown and shorty's coney island, where i downed some nice cheap beers while reading the local weeklies (way funnier than the voice) and failing to strike up a white stripes-related conversation with the bartender, who was playing the pixies when i first walked in. (pixies lovers all over this town, it seems.) i then proceeded to the crocodile cafe, where they were playing things like built to spill, modest mouse, and belly. in fact i have never heard so much built to spill and modest mouse in public spaces in my life. the next night, i made john and wendy go there with me again after doing touristy things like checking out the pike place market (you know, where the real world's david threw all those fish?) and taking the ferry to bainbridge island and eating good seafood dinners. i was introduced to the vanilla russian and talked to some seattleites, many of whom seem to be cute, straight, rock-loving boys. it is nice to know such a place exists. we didn't see as much of the festival as i would have hoped, and a bit more of mount rainier than i really needed, frankly. i was pissed that we missed built to spill, and the festival only allowed beer consumption in overcrowded "beer gardens" with prohibitively long lines, so it was impossible to get one's buzz on. and we seemingly kept arriving at stages only to find the musicians just finishing up their sets. i made sure we saw neko case, though. she pretty much ruled. i went back to her solo album and discovered i really love it. she's from tacoma, you know. i wasn't too impressed with that town when we were busy getting lost in it on our way to the mountain, but she wrote a beautiful song about it. i know you are all dying to hear about old 97s, right? well, wendy and i were lucky enough to be in the front row for both of the shows. you do know i saw them twice in one day? we squealed and jumped around like maniacs, as you can imagine. at the showbox, a very cool supper-club-like place, we chatted with ken (the guitarist) while the pansy division played, and i requested the barn-burner "over the cliff." i made sure to jump extra high and scream extra loud when they played that one. after the encore he rewarded my enthusiasm by throwing me his guitar pick. isn't that nice? also of note: wendy used the garden state connection with the bouncer to get us backstage (not that it seemed exclusive or anything), where rhett complimented her on her unicorn t-shirt while i hung back, slightly afraid of being recognized as "that crazy girl from new york." and finally: ears are STILL RINGING. |
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