Sunday, June 28, 2009

Comparatively, ah took it easy this weekend...

It was Pride weekend here in SF - which means everyone gawt completely apeshit crazy (at least most of those attendin pride events). Ah did nawt attend any such events - nawt cuz ah hate on tha gays (ah freakin love queer folk!), but b/c ah had a gig in a touristy out-stretch of tha city, yoga, n had my best move evah - from one room, about 7 feet down tha hall to anutha room!

First thangs first - ah moved n this is epic. Nae pics of tha new pad yet, but lets just say it is a comprable size, more climate (less cold n less hawt at all tha rite times), n a million times more comfy n liveable (not to mention, no more late night latino bar musick from across tha street!). Here's my old room (that had surprisingly interestin acoustics now that its empty!


Then Saturday ah had my first "tourist gig" - Wee the Band played at Del Monte Square up in tha Fisherman's Wharf. Ridiculous. Tourist central, we played in this outdoor square near fancey shops, a couple restaurants w. outdoor patios, "the best ice cream in San Francisco" n even a weddin reception. From 3:30 - 7, w. two breaks, we were on. Ahve nevah played that much musick in front of people in one sittin. All 20 songs, n we repeated two of em. We made a few bux, had some laughs, n paid our dues. Next time, dues pay us!


Sunday ah went back ta yoga fer tha first time in 3 weeks. Ugh, ah know bettah then this - but it wasn't all my fault. Of kerse, some of it was, ah was crazy lazy in LA, n then since ah gawt back, n then thar was tha Journey to tha End of tha Nite, n then the sickness (what ahm callin tha illness that besieged my house last week). But anyway, ah went back, n my body showed me how much ah really need ta actually stay on that yoga shit.

But what was important is it was my first day bangin on my new fawkin drums!


N of kerse, what ah really learned, is what kinds of thangs ta look fer tha next time ah buy drum equipment. But it was a blast - n tha thang ah love about drums, is ah ALWAYS feel progress if ah spend at least 30 minutes playin them. Ah try ta play somethang in tha beginnin of a session that is too hard, werk on plenty of otha thangs, n before ah end ah gae back to that same thang n ken usually play it. Gittin tha limbs ta werk around each otha instead of WITH each otha is tha hard part, but it's comin along. Tha interestin thang about drums is how it nevah sounds like you think it mite.... (Shows you ahm totally nawta drummah, rite?)

Finally, ah cleaned up my old camera (which ahm usin until ah ken git tha review button fixed on my otha one - hence tha shittier pics recently), n found this photo from my last beard, wherein fer 45 seconds ah have a asymmetrical moustache (before ah even knew hipsters grew em). Hope you laugh!



Thanks fer readin folks - 4th of July is comin up soon. Tha only day of tha year ah actively wish ah was in Washington DC....

Friday, June 26, 2009

Weekend Update - Late due to SEVERE illness

Sorry Henners, it took me a while to post my exploits this week b.c ahve been sick as a dog in and out of bed since the weekend ended. BUT, ahve recovered....

Saturday had me daein a lil bit of gardenin - ahve actually managed to salvage some of the few plants that were dyin left by tha previous owners. Ah don't know what this is but look -it's flowerin!


My basil is nawt daein as well howevah - it hasn't completely kicked it yet, but it's been gittin sicker n sicker:


Then ah went to Dolores Park to try n catch some of tha Bicyle Music Festival but thar was too much confusion about whar it was happenin. One of tha main reasons ah wanted ta check it out is a dude ah used ta know at Berklee Cello Joe was gaein ta perform. Ah doubt he'd remembah me, but ya nevah know.

Howevah, it was nawt ta be, so ah darted off to Journey to the End of the Night, a city-wide street race combined with Adult Tag. It was a blast actually, tha sense of paranoia that overcame you w. every corner you took. It also wore me tha fuck out, sprintin up hills away from Chasers n nawt bein able ta pace my runnin. Ah made it ta checkpoint 3 of 7 - n prolly wouldve made it ta 4 if ah hadn't gawten busted tying my shoe. Note to self - shoes are fer losers.

That night ah watched tha Dr. Seuss trainwreck The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T which would've terrified me if ahd seen it as a child n made me run away from pianos ferevah. Trainwreck in that ah couldn't look away - but man it made me feel creepy. Ah only wish tha scene whar tha kids gae apeshit on tha pianos at tha end had been accurately recorded - that wouldve been fun.

Sunday my legs ached n yelled at me so ah skipped yoga, called my dad, n then headed off to a friend's fancy condo high-rise fer a pool party (Wet Crotches XII!). Ah didn't intend to stay so late, er drink so much, er flirt w. early 20-somethings in tha sauna, but ah did n ah liked it!

Unfortunately, Monday ah woke up w. a cough n feelin pretty undah tha weatha. Ah went ta werk anyway, n then rode my bike all ovah tha gawdam place:


Why? to buy a shitty kids drum set. Why did ah dae that?

SO AH KEN BEAT ON SOME FAWKIN DRUMS!

In retrospect, it prolly wasn't tha smartest purchase - tha kit is a bit shitty, it doesn't sound that great, n my only cymbals are tha hi-hats. but ah don't really care. Ahve obtained use of a practice space on Sunday afternoons until tha end of tha summer - n likely longah - n ah plan on utilizin my sunday afternoons ta git bettah at tha drums. Ah haven't had a set to use since last December, when think13 left our practice space, n ahve been missin them somethang awful. So, shitty drums are bettah then no drums. SWEET!

Of kerse, all this bikin when ah wasn't feel so well totally put me OUT n ah spent Tuesday n Wednesday in bed. Tuesday ah woke up n did werk fer about an hour n a half n then had ta gae back to bed. Ah was late on Thursday n went home early. But

Ah've moved intae my new bedroom!

N last nite ah gawt one of tha best nites of sleep ahve had since ah moved intae SF - thar was nae street noize er bar musick er any of that shit. My new room is a lil smaller (n only has one electrical outlet), but it's gaein ta be a much nicer place ta sleep.

Now, if only ah could git IKEA ta give me a replacement piece fer the lil screw ah broke tryin ta put my bed back togetha, life would be AWESOME!

Oh yeah, n Wee the Band is playin fer four hours tomorrow afternoon up at the Cannery, near Fisherman's Wharf which will hopefully be teemin w. rich tourists who want to throw money and alcohol at us. We shall see...

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Punk Rawk N Roll

Well, we did it. The Mysterious Odors gawt tha fawk back togetha n rawked out fer a killah weekend in Los Angeles.

Thursday ah werked most of tha day n then hightailed it to tha airport. Aftah some traffic n bollox, ah had a rental car n was on my way ta reunite w. some crazy ass dudes. It all took longah then expected, which was expected, but we ended up in tha same place at tha same time w. some instruments n cans of liquid smarties n then thangs gawt stanky.



It was pretty awesome. We practiced Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. Saturday ah took a visit to an unlikely museum, The Museum of Jurassic Technology. Ah especially enjoyed tha miniature displays (both of em).

Sunday, it was time. We went to Downey, California, and we blew it up. We tore yer head off. We jumped around, fucked a PA, gawt our sparks on, and basically left that place in ruins. Ah still can't believe we didn't git arrested.


Sometime before all this ah gawt pissed off at tha best dispensary in LA fer needin my original documentation, but still managed to end up samplin some of snoop dogg's private reserve.

We decided tha debauchery wasn't ovah yet since ah wasn't leavin until Tuesday, so on Monday we went n recorded ourselves w. both video n audio in tha practice spot. It is ridiculous. Really ridiculous. All we have now is whas on tha site: EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW!

IF anyone ken tell me of free easy software that allows me to cut and paste sections of audio/video in m4v format, ahll git you some real songs too.

Also, we have youtube videos of us enjoyin ourselves aftah tha debaucherous recordin session. We decided we should follow Upper Deck and Chief Limberger to work. N git drunk. Which is exactly what we did.


(in tha parkin lot on top of a van)

Ah drank prolly 7 sparks that day. That was stupid. My stomach hates me.

Anyway, ahm back in SF now, back ta werk tomorrow. Oh yeah, but before ah fergit:

Wee the Band CDs are in my hot lil hands!!!

You will git to enjoy soon. Just lemme settle back in fer a day er so.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Whoevah thought ahd be this excited about gaein ta LA?

But gawdamm ah am!!

Yep, aftah a 4 year hiatus, ahll be having a long-awaited Reunion Gig w. The Mysterious Odors, my old Bawstan Punk Band. Ah've had tha opportunity ta hang out w. some of tha Odors this last year er so here in SF, but this time it will be ALL of them, n we'll have guitars!!!

It's been a long time comin, n ah really cannot wait ta touch down in LA tonite n head ovah ta practice w. these guys. FULL SPARKS AHEAD!

You know ahll have some fun pictures from this trip. Onward mofos!


May 13, 2005 - last Mysterious Odors gig in Boston

Saturday, June 06, 2009

Ladies n Gentlemen, ah present ta you...

Wee the Band!




Tha CD will be availabe oh-so-shortly! Ah actually nevah realized how long this stuff took ah guess. But soon - like in tha next 5 days - we'll have some CDs fer people ta git thar grubby hands on (gae ahead n git dirty, thas what we want anyway).

So this was a shoot from a few weeks ago - tha plan was ta git tha city in tha background on a bright SUNNY day. So we set out early - to tha fog. Nae sun, all day, weatha was tha same at 8 am (when ah gawt thar) as it would've been at 3 pm. Well, thas what we gawt. Ah like em plenty anyway.

Here's another from tha beginnin of tha shoot (before some of us took off our jackets despite tha cold [partially in solidarity w. Melody in tha dress]):


N one of us "laughing hysterically" (As directed):


N finally, me almost smilin:


Sorry it took so long! Expect emails er CDs soon! But first, Los Angeles!

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Reflections on my (not) Bike Ride to Work #3

Ahm nawt ridin ta werk tomorrow, as ah need ta BART myself n my bass ta Oakland by 3:30 pm. So ahm stuck ridin tha bus (Muni). Hopefully ah ken catch a L version of tha 14, but even if ah dae, my mornin commute is gaein ta suck donkey balls compared ta what it usually is.

Good thang we're takin a departmental break ta celebrate our boss bein gone ta watch tha new star trek movie! (in tha theater even)

oh, n ah totally owe you pics of weetheband. Comin this weekend, promise dudes!

Monday, June 01, 2009

Weekend (sans pics)

Sorry folks, forgot to have a camera handy. Pics of my less then happy garden comin soon tho (my basil is dyin - HALP!).

Friday night was going to be a low-key evenin of yoga n a movie as tha plans ah thought had been made were in fact nawt, but ah was saved by a text message around 4 pm that read "Let's Rage Tonight." In this context, "raging" means "biking around the city, breaking for alcohol from time to time" and this sounded like a much bettah idea ta me. We kicked thangs off w. some noize jammin down tha street, then made fer food n a bottle. Out to tha Embarcadero, we sat w. our friends Jameson and Tecate n discussed my friends upcoming bike-polo/tour of tha West Coast this summer. (Side note, ah now have a place fer a drumset if ah ken find one....)

Aftahwerds, we biked thru tha crazy sites n sounds of a Friday nite in tha city - past tha strip clubs of North Beach, tha trannys of tha Tender Knob, tha strip clubs of Market. Briefly we saw some people who cared very very much about Karaoke at the Mint, and then we were pulled back to tha Mission by way of Zeitgeist (tha quintessential cycle/dive bar w. a monstrous beer garden - it sucks you in). Aftah a few rounds we witnessed a policeman get a bribe as a local pizza shop sold somethang besides then pizza to its otha patrons. Ah was too broke to buy tha promised final drink at tha local irish pub, so we ended up havin a last tall boy at my place before crashin.

Saturday ah woke up early n had a list of thangs to accomplish, which included, but was nawt limited to: practicing bass, making pasta sauce, werkin in tha backyard, n gittin ta yoga. In tha backyard ah tried ta save a newly-bloomin plant that had been left ovah n recently restored ta life, then made some damn good pasta sauce (w. portobella mushies, green bell peppers, n carrots), n aftahwerds gawt my stretch on. That evenin it was my roommies bday celebration so thar was a potluck w. gobs of food n drink (some resourceful individuals brought tha remnants of a pony keg from tha nite before). A handle of knob creek was drank, food was consumed, a mess was made, tha kitchen gawt smoky, n aftah dark thar was a candlelight expedition to tha clubhouse fer tha tellin of ghost stories. Tha mess continues ta exist, as this wasn't my party. Everythang on my list gawt accomplished, except fer tha movin of new musick ta my phone, which was taken care of yestahday.

Sunday had me at yoga again in tha mornin, n ah received some words of praise both on my work-trade follow-through as well as my practice which put me in a good mood. Then WTB had some practicin fer a show this Friday. Finally that evenin ah settled down ta watch "The Golden Compass" - don't judge me. It was kind of weak actually, but thar was a polar bear fight which made it sort of worth sittin through. Ahd be surprised if a sequel evah manifested - it wasn't very well made.

10 days until ah head ta LA fer tha Odors reunion.....