since I have been away from the computer for the summer, I was late on finding out about Alex Parrish's new web log that reviews the INTERNATIONAL POP UNDERGROUND 7"'s !!! check it out! downatthepicnicground.blogspot.com

what I watched last night for the first time:



what Old Shawn Parke send me in an e-mail today:



what I am going to see at the Theater tonight! :

THE DARK KNIGHT really was worth waiting for...

also, here are some early 50's short films by Washington's own Harry Smith:

for the first time, I have experienced a nightmare that was not at all violent nor was I being chased... but it delved into my fear of living with a bunch of stupid people in a messy house. In my dream, this was the scariest living situation of all time. Not to mention that my cats where no where to be seen! geeze...

anyways, I am having some coffee from La Madeleine before I get ready to see Travis' buddy Max perform with his rock band from "rock camp" at the historic Ridglea Theater, an amazing old theater from the 40's that became a really nice 3 story venue sometime in the 90's which I started working at when I was Travis' age. It may be slightly surreal to visit it today.

tonight's the night! I get to see THE DARK KNIGHT at 5:55 with my little brothers. Brent Meador might come too! Benny says it's amazing....even without Ace the Bathound.

Thursday night I got to hang out in Denton, Texas and see one of Brent's bands perform at J & J's Pizzeria! they're pizza is delicious! and I also got to drink LONE STAR! at any rate, Kevin Gibbs was there...before he rushed off to see the first showing of THE DARK KNIGHT and that was rad to see him. old neighborhood homies circa 96'.

...oh also! they opened a FUZZY's taco's in Denton...and it's huge! and also highly delicious. I went to a place called Recycled Books & Records and only have 20 minutes before they closed...but I found several classics in a flash. I even found the soundtrack to BLACK ORPHEUS on vinyl! for 8 dollars!!!! and it's in perfect condition and is actually a lot weirder than I had imagined...the sounds of Carnivale sort of never stop, just like in the movie, so you have Orpheus' smooth bossa nova sounds with this constant rhythmic noise...and it's really cool...I thought that even Benny P. would like it.

last night my mom threw a party for me at her house...and the turnout of people was really something...people I hadn't seen in a very long time. I even found out that my old friend Eileen Hummel has been flying planes for 13 years now! even my 5th grade teacher Mrs. Sanchez was there...and she did a whole lot of smooshing my face all around...and I sort of felt like the main character of BRAZIL's mother in that scene where she is getting an extreme face lift....although Mrs. Sanchez did not however pull plastic wrap over my face.

I saw the Fort Worth Cats (baseball) play a game against the Wichita Wingnuts the other day. My grandmother goes to every game...so of course we all had to check it out. They're mascot is a big black cat who drove in on a black Vespa and did a jump and immedietly started dancing and shaking his hips all over the place in like 95 degree weather....it was very impressive. the Cats won 10 to 2...which is cool I guess. It was a hell of a lot more American feelin' than my 4th of July was...which is good... mostly cause I was eating a burger from Kincaid's!!!! the original burger of my life. the most delicious burger in Fort Worth! I couldn' t believe they were at the ball game.


this a photograph my friend Curtis just sent to me. Last year Curtis and I went on some extremely adventurous trails in New Mexico...on this particular day we had gotten lost for 3 hours... and this is where we picked it up again. We were stoked...they're was not that much water to be had.

I miss those cherries from my front yard. and I miss my immediate family: Ness, Melba J., & Walter.

spendin' this week in the Texas heat/humidity. actually I am spendin' most of this week in the cool air conditioning of my mother's house.

I have already been called gay by at least 3 people in a day and a half. and I thought for a second that I would have to fight some high school kid (in defense for my dear brother)....times are tough.

at any rate, WHAT IS THE WHAT has proven to be an excellent book thus far. I know just about everyone has read it...but if you haven't...you should.

I saw WALL*E with my brothers and mother today...it was good! just like Brian Nicholson said!

ahhh ....my dad is on my the phone! I gotta go!

it's hard to enter stuff into the web log when you don't have a computer at home...and the summer days are finally nice.

sorry shawn.

thanks to Analog Africa!

I just got this movie in the mail, I can't wait to watch it! It seems like the only way to watch Bollywood films is to just buy them off the electronic bulletin board. Anyone interested in watching this with me??? Maybe a special screening at the Capitol, in a late night stylee?

Speaking of secret screenings at the theater...who wants to watch the directors cut of
BLADE RUNNER with me at the Capitol?

I have been enduring a summer sickness for the past week and a half now, and I am also worried that I have broken my toe. Not much I can do about it though. Here are some photos I had developed yesterday:



this is a man who is traveling from Columbia. I took a picture of him as I was crossing Capitol Way & he stopped my, shook my hand, pulled out a handwritten scrap of paper with his Seattle address on it, and then told me to mail him the photograph I just took. He then pulled out the biggest Bible ever and opened it to a page that had another photo of him that someone had taken and mailed to him. Although that picture was very pixelated and I could only tell it was him by the signs he was holding.


Last week the Langs came to visit! It was good fun, except everyone but these 2 got sick. David (pictured here) stayed with us for several days and helped us paint our new bedroom pink!



last Saturday we had a BBQ...and Ian Picco was in attendance! He came by unexpectedly on his brand new Honda NIGHTHAWK (pictured here). That had to be the funniest moment of the day. I also told him that these were the "toughest pictures I had ever taken", and he agreed.

Last night my buddy Brian Formo brought over his "netflixed" DVD copy of BREAKIN'! the movie itself was pretty bad, but highly enjoyable. Here's a real nice scene from the movie:



that little bad ass kid is called "Baby Legs" & make sure to wait for the 4:45 mark...that guy with those brace - crutch things has some amazing moves! also there is a Jean Claude Van Damme cameo ...and he doesn't do anything!

You also might of noticed the new header to the web log. It features Melba Jean wearing a bat cape! That was a birthday present, hand made by Caroline Rideout! Melba's never been happier.

I got to DJ at this really great art show that Ness put together on the 14th of June. There was some really good stuff and it really worked all together...which is uncommon in Olympia. I wish I had a scan of that flyer Ness made so I could post it here...it is rad.

speaking of RAD...does anyone own a DVD copy of that movie???

I got the new Charlie Feathers LP that Norton just released of a bunch of demos and un-issued stuff...it's really sweet, as well as this really great comp of West African music recorded in Britain from 1927-29 called LIFE IS HARD. I can't believe the abundance of great African music re-issues these days. I am really glad that Mississippi finally re-issued their first African comp. LOVE IS LOVE. I know Ian was stoked to get that!

Tonight is the show Mariella is putting on as a fundraiser for the Olympia All Ages Non-Profit Venue she is starting! it's gonna be Earth, Jesse Sykes, and Son!



I've just been working around the house lately: yard work, painting, moving, eating, and sleeping...feelin' very domestic lately.

I am sad that buddies Cole & Caroline are moving away... but more buddies are movin' to the North West soon . . . so that's always good news.

oh yea, Cole gave me this super bizarre album called You Think You Really Know Me by Gary Wilson . . . and for some reason I really like it! Ness absolutely hates it... but I think it's the humor that tops it off. He's the funniest singer and the sound of all the instruments combined just makes it something amazing. I couldn't find a real video...but here's the song with some weird Swedish dude dancing to it:


also, Joey Casio gave me a copy of this really groovy album called From The Hip by Section 25 . . . :




oh man.... that new Rambo movie...SUCKS!!!! what a bummer. ah well.

what a week! I was able to finish up all my final project / self eval. / display stuff for my last day of class yesterday (minus the evaluation meeting next week) and I put a lot of work into it and feel good about that. lots to do at work today on top of rustlin' up money for rent from everyone. I had the worst morning ever:

1. overslept by an hour & had a terrible nightmare
2. while showering I noticed Melba on the ledge of the bath tub, so I knelt down to poke her nose through the shower curtain and as I stood up very quickly my lower back/butt caught the water faucet and gave me a good amount of pain.
   
3. I went to pour myself some coffee after doctoring my wound...and when I opened the sealed jar of sugar...there were 50 million ants crawling in it!!! ewww
4. also, it was raining out and the weather seems like it is supposed to be February again! WTF?
5. summer????

alright, enough complaining.
I found this record at Rainy Day today:

It's a new Mississippi Records release of an excellent Skip James session from 1931. I realized that I actually had all these recordings on compact disc...but they sound better on LP anyhow.

In other news, I recently watched RAD for the first time, and believe me, it lives up to it's name. It's also funny that Jeremy got inspiration for a couple songs from this movie: Airwalker & Breaking the Ice.

Yesterday in class I heard of this place called Norma's off of Martin Way. They have a pretty amazing list of burgers...I hear the John Wayne burger is delicious. who wants to go? here's a review by Portland Hamburgers (which it looks like Ben has commented on).

Speaking of Hamburgers, I wish I could do this:

Speaking of going...I want to go to the Fabulous Diamonds / Psychedelic Horseshit / Times N. V. house show in Portland this Sunday...anyone want to go to that??? please?

Oh, I forgot to mention that last week Jeremy was in town and we recorded a song with Calvin! it was really fun and turned out great! I was on the drums and it was interesting to be apart of the recording process. Jeremy kept telling me to make the hi-hat as tight as possible to get the perfect click.

alright, now I am going to Patty's art show at the space Ness always rents out and Gumar will be spinnin' some jams!

I had to make this "wiki" page on High Fidelity for class.

I feel pretty dumb for not going to see this legend at the Washington Center last year.

I saw the new Indiana Jones! it was better than I thought it would be, but only cause I had really low expectations...although Indy's son was really annoying and the C.G.I. was pretty annoying during the "Tarzan" scene (???)...anyways...I still liked it...but I might be biased cause I love Harrison Ford and Indiana Jones and Cate Blanchett.

I also saw SUNSET BOULEVARD for the first time and it was brilliant. I highly recommend it!

I also saw CLAN OF THE CAVEBEAR ! what a wacky movie!

I tried stimulating the economy by purchasing this portable turntable

& this 3 channel dj mixer!

YIKES!