perk low rate

Thursday, June 28 2007
24:46

Sunny this morning, rainy in the afternoon and evening.

Reading the latest Greg Bear book. Started off somewhat interesting, getting more so.

On the drive home tonight: guy in front of me in an MR2 Spyder (top down), combing his hair frantically for the better part of a minute.

Day off tomorrow, going to Tacoma.

music: King Crimson - Vrooom Vrooom; Rush - Grace Under Pressure

Toosday

Tuesday, June 26 2007
23:11

Penultimate show of the season last night. It was different than most recently. I had a lot of attention aimed in my direction which kept me on edge. Felt like I was just holding it together, playing-wise. Generally fine, but easily knocked off balance.

Gorgeous day today. Had lunch in the park. Got a little sunburned, haha.

music: Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future (so far: meh); Public Image Ltd. - First Issue (mixed); Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero (mostly meh)

Weekend

Sunday, June 24 2007
23:44

Took a trip to Guitar Center today. Had a hankerin' for an acoustic bass guitar. Nothing there really did it for me though. The Fender Victor Bailey sig was OK, though the only one they had out was missing a string. Also it doesn't seem to have a strap button on the neck side?? The electric bass selection was unexciting, as usual. I did spend some time with a 12-string electric guitar – a Schecter. It was OK, felt a little cheap, finished neck too (finding guitars w/ satin or oil necks is pretty dang hard). Tempted to get a 12, though keeping this one in tune while I was playing was enough of a chore to turn me off.

Went to look at a potential new space yesterday. One we looked at a few years ago, last time it was on the market. It's less scary now – not so much with the electrical wires hanging around and stuff at least. Not as big as I remembered it being; still very dark and funky and requiring LOTS of work. The landlord's representative is a Sr. Mr. Clueless type, assuring us that "yes it is absolutely up to code", and then following that up with "and if it's not, the landlord would assume the responsibility of bringing it up to code".

Rehearsal yesterday included some conversations w/ the woman who is producing a segment on us for a local community radio station. Oh, and a recording of the entire set list, run pretty much straight through.

Rented a couple movies last night. The Prestige - holy crap. Wow, that's now my favorite recent movie. And Sherry Baby which was sad and depressing and captivating, but ultimately had a hopeful ending.

Oh, and a big box 'o new music arrived yesterday. NIN, Modest Mouse, Klaxons, two Jonas Hellborg cds, The Head on the Door remaster, the Heaven or Las Vegas remaster, the first PiL album

.

Athabasca Falls
Originally uploaded by kiwêhowin.

Not the Equine Ox

Thursday, June 21 2007
24:12

It's all downhill from here. In terms of daylight hours per day, that is.

music: Res - How I Do; Rain Tree Crow – s/t

I am Jack's boring blog

Wednesday, June 20 2007
24:53

Heh, wrote 20070 as the year on yesterday's post.

Nice day today. Seven on hand for practice. More work on "things different without Chris", then some good time spent improvising.

Windy and cooler in the evening.

music: Fight Club soundtrack; REM - Murmur

par tick you ler lee

Tuesday, June 19 20070
24:26

Felt like my playing was super-sloppy last night. Felt sorry for the people sitting in front of me. A bit of a later night out than usual, as a visiting Brit bought everybody a second (or third) round of drinks.

Spent about a minute and a half in front of a microphone today. Everybody in the company gets to narrate one or two comment nodes in the upcoming game. Felt a bit funny describing a decision that I had no part in making, using "we", but I think it's a good idea.

Actually fairly sore yesterday and today, after the work on Sunday. More in the lower body than the upper, which is a bit weird.

Pretty nice out there today.

music: Snatch soundtrack; Peter Gabriel Plays Live

Half Past June

Sunday, June 17 2007
23:57

Today began with an early phone call. Really early. Servers misbehaving. Thankfully, D had already spent 2 hours trying to fix things before calling. We had it sorted out about 45 minutes later. So back to bed. Slept in later than I wanted after that.

Spent the afternoon at Christina's, helping build a loft. With five people, a buncha wood and tools and screws, mission accomplished in about five hours. It makes some creaky sounds when you climb up, but that's just because it's wood. I think it's pretty solid. Got treated to some pizza and ice cream afterwards.

Yesterday – small team on hand for practice. First, a five-string variation on harmonic minor arpeggio fun. Then, mostly looking at changes we'll need to make in a week when Chris is gone. Lunch at Burrito Loco w/ Igor and the Wilsons. Long nap in the afternoon, then a quiet evening at home.

Realized this morning that I didn't actually get my "cash back" cash at the grocery store last night. Ouch.

fryeieedaay

Friday, June 15 2007
24:41

One of the "entertaining" elements of leaving work late is that I often get to share the elevator to the parking garage with a few usually inebriated people who are leaving one of the various bars in the building. Last night's ride went something like this:

young man: "...should drive"
young woman: "what?"
young man: "I think, tell me you should drive"
[they leave the elevator]
middle-aged guy 1: "That was some a-1 primo ass"
middle-aged guy 2: "Fuckin' gamers"

What?

Been a bit busier than usual this week. The dentist visit wasn't too bad. Yvan stopped by the office for a little bit yesterday, he was in town for a conference. Not much time to hang out, as his flight out was that evening. Doesn't sound like Philadelphia is agreeing with them.

music: Meshuggah, Siouxsie, Miles, Res, Primus

Hey You

Wednesday, June 13 2007
24:27

Practice at the space tonight, as Diana won't be there Saturday. Traffic was bad so I missed the first 15 minutes. More work on the new thing, then after the break essentially extended improv work with the 6 guitarists present. Good stuff. Small group out to the Hi-Life afterwards for some pizzas and drinks, including a really tasty merlot.

Dentist appointment tomorrow, getting a filling. Joy.

Found out today that MMW(+ John Scofield) are going to play the Moore in September. Tickets go on sale Saturday. Haven't seen them since 1995, or maybe it was 1994, in NYC. Think I saw two shows, one at the Wetlands and I can't remember where the other one was. Maybe the Knitting Factory? I know I went there once. . .

music: Joy Division - Still; The Cure - Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me

Squeezed

Tuesday, June 12 2007
24:25

A mixed show last night. Was rough for the first half, my attention flagged for a second at the wrong time right at the start, and missed the cutoff for the opening by one note. The team were not terribly coherent. It came together some, that seems to be the trend in these cases.

Sunny but "not warm" the past couple days. Nice though.

Picked up the 'backup' Ovation (the new one) the other day. It's astonishing how little low-end it's got. Wonder if it's just that the wood needs to loosen up a little, or if it's more to do with something different about the construction. The low C on my main guitar has really been bugging me lately, it just sounds like "blub blub blub". Need to try a different string maybe. Tried Howard's Taylor for a few minutes Monday, I definitely don't want one of those. Fits all wrong.

Almost run into by another car today. The car on my left (a red Mustang) decided to change into my lane on the first corner of I-90 Eastbound. They started moving over at about the time our cars were nose-to-nose, so I could not have hit the brakes to get out of the way, most likely. I was passing a car that was in the lane to my right, so I had to cross my fingers and step on the gas and dodge right, and hope I was past them. I was, but not by much. The driver of the Mustang finally noticed I was (had been) there, and swerved back into their lane, after making it about halfway into mine.

music: Skinny Puppy, A Perfect Circle, Tool

Weekend

Sunday, June 10 2007
24:20

Saturday: 30m late to calisthenics. More A harmonic minor arpeggios, on different sets of strings. Another round of polishing the new stuff w/ Diana, Curt is going to put that in the set for the week after this one. Our journalist-guest was a no-show, home sick, so then a usual program of work on various pieces, often with the metronome involved. Lunch w/ Travis, Curt, and Igor at Than Brothers (The Wilsons arrived later and sat at a table nearby, with Christina joining them a little after that). Spent the evening at my sister's, having dinner with them and my folks. The new kid is doing well, he was mostly asleep while we were there. Yummy spaghetti for dinner, with some cheesecake for dessert. Lots of conversation.

Today: bought a filing cabinet. Ooh, what excitement. Replaces the broken, one-drawer one that I had, this is a two-drawer metal jobbie. Much better. Had a few piles of papers that could now get properly put away. The rest of the day was pretty much just lazing around.

music: Autechre, Res

what

Hungry!
Originally uploaded by dotspiral

Friday

Friday, June 8 2007
23:53

Ho hum.

music: Tribe - Sleeper; U2 - Under a Blood Red Sky

Ouch

Thursday, June 7 2007
23:48

Went out for a bit today to celebrate a coworker's turning 30. Later, Seattle Circle annual board meeting. Inducted a new board member, lost a previous one. Spent about 90 minutes discus

Well, just got distracted by a scene outside. Heard lots of yelling – two guys were wrestling on the ground at the gas station / quickie mart across the street. A young woman was standing over them yelling, at one point saying "I've called the police". One of the guys (green shirt, Asian) got the upper hand, then sat on the other (black shirt, white) guy's chest, keeping him pinned down. I think the guy on the ground was the one saying "what, what do you want? money? whatever you want", he sounded drunk. The woman seemed to be on his (black shirt's) "side", yelling at the first guy to "get off him, you motherfucker". She tried to drag a couple bystanders into it (including someone from the local take-out pizza joint), but they wanted no part. Finally, five SPD cruisers showed up in rapid succession. Without much fanfare they separated the guys, having green-shirt sit by the door to the store, while they kept black-shirt pinned down. Oh, right as the police came up, one of the bystanders took of his shirt and gave it to green-shirt, who first held it to his face, then later to his side. Was he stabbed? The police looked over both guys, eventually taking pictures of green-shirt's face and side, and thoroughly searching black-shirt. A fire engine and SUV showed up, and some paramedics started looking at green-shirt's side.

I'm thinking that green-shirt was working at the quickie mart, and black-shirt either tried to rob him or shoplift. Not sure though. An ambulance is on the scene, I think it's been about 20 minutes since I first heard the shouts.

Anyway – spent about 90 minutes at the meeting discussing where things are headed, what kind of space people want to find, what we can do during the summer break to keep up the momentum, etc. It was good.

Yesterday, presented "Viola" at practice. Only six people there, so we had the four bass circulators plus two of the three chorders. We made it all the way through after a little over an hour of work. It's only 36 bars long, and the bass players each only have one note, but it takes a pretty good amount of attention. It's always impressive how quickly this group picks up new stuff. As there are 7 parts and 9 guitarists, I'm not quite sure what to do – probably, we can double up two of the chord lines. For the rest of practice, worked on a circulation "game" which was really something. More of that to come, and a preview of Massachusetts in August.

This week is going by quickly. They're tending to do that lately.

music: Killing Joke, Land, The Smiths, Angels of Light, 108 Strings, Sonic Youth

Sorry Roger, you tiger now.

Tuesday, June 5 2007
24:55

Well, it has been cold-ish and rainy the past two days. We got suckered by it last night though, the space was really hot and muggy during the performance. It was a good show though. Audience and band seemed to agree on that one.

music: some gamelan gong kebyar; Trey Gunn - The Third Star

This cheese-related article is a stub.

Sunday, June 3 2007
15:09

Saturday: more inchworming arpeggios for warmup – C maj, then G harmonic minor. Eighths, then quintuplets. Love the harmonic minor, there are some really weird transitions in there. Spent a couple hours working w/ Diana, coming closer to something that we can incorporate into the show w/ her dancing and interacting w/ the players. Lunch at Tacos Guaymas w/ Igor and Travis. Got the chile relleno plate – their plates are huge but it's an optical illusion. Good stuff, though I ended up not eating most of the cheese. Sat outside, lovely day.

Napped for 3 or 4 hours in the afternoon. Then out to the Skylark to see Electrochakra. Never been there before – pretty cool place, and close by. It's been there for one year. There was another café there for a long time, I forgot the name but it was a bit of a landmark. It closed a couple years ago. Anyway, the Skylark has a bit of that indie/retro vibe that is pretty popular around here, but it's not too thick. Not a big crowd when I got there, but it slowly filled up. Had a few big town / small town moments. First, two women there to see The Rodeo are checkers at the grocery store I go to almost every day. Second, I've met two members of The Rodeo before. The guitarist, Louis, is the bass player in Rosyvelt, and the "leader" (Brent Amaker) played a gig w/ a previous band at one of Louis's house parties a few years ago (was Jeff's birthday I think?). Was hoping to see Jeff there, as the next Rosyvelt show is on a Wednesday night so I can't make it, but no luck. Oh, and the third: the second act, Amy somethingorother, is in Jaxie's yoga class. She did a solo-guitar-with-looper set, I wasn't really paying enough attention to it though, more being social at the time. The Rodeo were fun but it got old after about 4 songs in 2/4. Left about 45 minutes into their set.

Today: got some new headlights for the car. Looked online, and Sylvania seems to make the only replacements. Their website is really good at pushing their "SilverStar" line, and other lines that all have "brighter and whiter" light than the OEM replacement line, without mentioning one word about the tradeoff: shorter life. The SilverStar H7 is rated at 135 hours; the OEM light 510. Went to Schuck's and got a pair of the OEMs. Installing them was a bit of a pain, but will be easier next time. Only a four-step process, but like most things, more complicated than it looks. The first step was to remove a plastic cover – the engine compartment is essentially one solid array of plastic covers. They are held down with plastic screws. Actually, screw/rivet thingies. The manual said "unscrew the screws that hold the cover down, and remove it". So about 15 minutes later I'd determined that turning the screws doesn't really do anything, you have to grab the whole screw/rivet with some pliers and just pull it out. After that it wasn't too bad, a little trouble with the latch spring that holds the bulb in though. Replaced the other light in about 5 minutes total (no plastic cover removal necessary there). It was hot out there in the sun, worked up a sweat and my face is still beet red.

Supposed to be cloudy and rainy for most of this week.

23:18

A nice rain shower came through around 8, a cool breeze along with it. Perfect, it's not hot in my apartment anymore.

The Skylark café has laminated, vintage ads for Buick Skylarks up on the walls. Mostly from the 50s and 60s. My sister had a 1980 Skylark in high school and college. It caught on fire once.

Sun

Friday, June 1 2007
24:09

Today was my day to honk at people on the way to work. Which reminds me, my left headlight is out.

The mere idea of "fish tacos" used to gross me out. Just something about the thought of mixing seafood and Mexican flavors just didn't sound good. I'm pretty sure that still, having anything fishy in like an enchilada plate would make me retch. But meanwhile, fish tacos work fairly well given the way they are usually made (some pico, cabbage, guac). Anyway, had halibut tacos for lunch today that were pretty good.

music: My Bloody Valentine - Loveless; Siouxsie and the Banshees - Tinderbox

Baaaa

Thursday, May 31 2007
25:48

Went to see Black Sheep tonight. Pretty funny. Definitely gruesome. A lot of the charm had to do with how over-the-top it went. But I can't help wondering how it would've turned out if they'd taken a different approach. They did have a lot of good stuff that was close to, but not over the top.

The good weather has held up all week. Not quite as warm as Tuesday, but very nice.

Rehearsal last night – more work on Onyx and IMR mostly. One run through Bloed Spoed at 104 which was distressingly difficult. Then again, I think it used to be that way at around 92 or 96, and 104 would have been impossible for me. Hung out at Travgor's as usual afterwards, with a rare visit from Andrew.

music: Nirvana - Bleach; Rush - Signals