More About Rob

I wanted to post a lot more this weekend than I was able to. Rob says I'm slacking in my posting. I'm leaving for California in the morning but I will be back on Friday in time to see Spoon at the TLA on Saturday. My priorities are definately in order. I'm just going out for a few days to checkout the grad school I got accepted to and spend a few days in LA. It's my first time on the west coast and I think it will be a good time.

Things I won't be posting about:

My new haircut
Memorial Day Picnic
Flaking out at Rex's Saturday
West Chester Power Outages
Really Bad Headaches

I'll BRB in a few days.

Goodbye Futonia

I'm still not unpacked yet. I moved out of my house on Barnard Street a week ago. When we left, the house looked so nice and clean, I wanted to move back in. Here are some pictures I took of it. It doesn't look like the same house at all.


This was Jill's room.


And this was my room.


This one is Kelly's room


So many people slept in this room.

Goodbye Futonia.

This is another song about Sparks

I think I'm getting a cold. Yesterday my throat was a little scratchy and last night my sinuses were totally clogged. I told Kate it was perfect timing because I'm leaving for California on Tuesday. Kate said California would clear that right up.

Last night was a good time. Shannon and Connie came into town from Jersey for a keg party so we had dinner and beers before hand. Ate at Baxter's again. By the end of the summer I will have tried everything on the menu.

What I got was amazing. I'm glad we ate there last night and not today because right now I don't think I'd be able to taste anything. I had the shrimp and tomato basil pasta. The sauce was really good. I just wish the shrimp was peeled.

After Baxter's I went to Kildare's with Shannon, Connie, Dominic and Marc. And then later Marc and I went to see The Teeth and Dr. Dog at The Khyber. We got there around 11 and it was just in time to see Dr. Dog start their set. Pamela explained to me the Dr. Dog drummer situation. Two nights ago the drummer fell off a banister or something and ruptured his spleen and broke some ribs so he really couldn't drum last night. So they didn't want to play any songs from the album because they wouldn't sound as good. Instead, they showcased new songs the band members have been working on. They kind of shuffled around between songs and it looked like deciding on the spot who would play what instrument. Each one playing the drums so Juston didn't have to. The new stuff was great. If indeed that was all new material, which they said was only the 3rd time they've played the songs, then the new album is going to be a million times better than Easy Beat.

The Teeth played next and so rocked. It was their record release show and the first night of their tour. The first three songs were lighting fast and super-catchy. I can't remember what they were, but they were old songs. They did play a couple new songs. They played pretty much everthing including Carry the Wood EP. I liked the much faster version of Mercy, Mercy Pudding Pie. And right in the middle of Mercy, Mercy, the power goes out and the whole place goes pitch black. It was one of the coolest things ever.

Marc and I got back from Philly around 2 and I passed right out.

I Drank Until I Dreamed. When I Dreamed, I Always Dreamed About The Scene

Saw The Hold Steady last night at the North Star Bar. I went with Mike and later on Rob came to meet us. Rob got there just as The Hold Steady were setting up. There were two openers, Langhorne Slim and Eugene Mirman. Langhorne Slim a singer, songwriter, anti-folk superstar. He's way more Woody Guthrie than Bob Dylan. Eugene Mirman was really funny. My favorite joke of his was the one about magicians. "You know who probably hates magicians? Wizards! Where'd the quarter go? It's behind yr ear. I sent that quarter to another dimension!" I like how comedians are way funnier when you see them live. That's probably really good for comedians.

The other good things about the night were I had a really good sandwich at Quiznos. It had honey mustard on it. When we got to the North Star, which took us longer than we planned because 27th sounds a lot like 22nd, the OC was on in the bar. It was a rerun but I watched it for a while. Mike totally kicked my ass in pool. Two games in a row. I realized I shoot better left handed but still continue to play with my right.

My sister and Dana came to hangout for a beer because my sister lives a few blocks away. They couldn't stay long because they had plans to watch Chaotic which is being rerun on MTV on the Thursday after the WB episode I guess. We talked like friends.

I think I forgot to mention how much The Hold Steady ruled. I think every show I've seen this year has been absolutely great. And there are still tons more.

Coming Up:

06/04 - Spoon
06/10 - Old 97's
06/13 - M.I.A.
06/14 - Jonathan Richman
06/18 - Bloc Party
08/13 - Smog

And the Winners Are...

I went with Rob and JC to the Khyber last night for Playlist Philadelphia, an Ipodlounge sponsored event where people bring their Ipods in and play 15 minute sets. There was a panel of judges and the best three playlists won prizes.

Two of those three belonged to Rob and JC. Rob won an Ipod Shuffle with his excellent 4-song Mashup mix. JC won a 50 dollar gift certificate to Itunes with a playlist titled "Pope Benedict XIV's 80's Megamix" It was amazing.

It wasn't even going to go last night. After moving all weekend, I was supertired and just wanted to finish unpacking and then crash. I'm glad Rob didn't let that happen because I ended up having a really good time.

Here are the songs of my untitled playlist:

1. Bob & Marcia - Young, Gifted, and Black
2. Eric B and Rakim - Paid in Full
3. MC Lyte - Cold Rock Party
4. SWV - Can We?

Gigli

Kelly and I watched Gigli.

The plan was to get a bottle of whatever and watch Gigli and Glitter as a double feature. Saturday night when I got home from Rex's we started to watch Gigli but we fell asleep. So we watched it again on Sunday and let me tell you, it was the worst way to spend 2 hours and 1 minute. It was beyond bad. It didn't work, it was just confusing.

Here's what was weird about this movie:

So Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez were dating at the time they made this movie and when it was released, the audience was aware of this fact, but in the movie, Jennifer Lopez plays a lesbian character. Which on one level is frustrating because two people who are in love in real life are not going to get together in a movie they are in together.

But on another level this is annoying because Ben Affleck already made a movie where he fell in love with a lesbian and it was great. I just don't understand why he would want to do that again. There's no way he could ever do anything better than Chasing Amy. There's even a scene in Gigli where Kelly swears is a rip off of the scene in Chasing Amy where Holden tells Alyssa how he feels about her.

The other thing about this movie is that it was a relationship movie disguised as a gangster movie. But at the same time it was a family movie and a buddy movie. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez are in the mob. Well Ben Affleck is but Jennifer Lopez I am unsure about. She was hired by Ben Affleck's boss to make sure he doesn't fuck it up. This part of the movie really creates this tension in the gender roles of the character where Ben Affleck becomes Jennifer Lopez's bitch. And I think he likes it. So the big scary mob guy is really not so masculine. I guess that's what it was going for but it was just uncomfortable to watch.

Then there was this thing going on where Jen and Ben had to watch this mentally retarded guy that they kidnapped. This was the dynamic of the film. Jen watching Ben watching this hostage. Through a couple of minor changes, it becomes an entirely different film. It's not a mob movie at all. The hostage, being mentally retarded, is child-like in his relationship to Ben and Jen. And Ben and Jen being both hired mob guys are like his parents working out there on issues in a relationship. That is really what this movie felt like while watching it.

Walking to a Walking Concert concert

Saw Walking Concert last night at Rex's. Stopped using subjects in my sentences. Remember hearing about the show earlier in the month, but had forgot about it. Glad Dominic reminded me. Walking Concert is Walter Schreifels's new band. He was also in The Gorilla Biscuits, Quicksand and Rival Schools and I felt bad for anyone who went there thinking Walking Concert would be in the same vein as his previous bands because it was quite a departure from the hardcore sound he is known for. But I guess you can say that its not so drastic, I mean from Gorilla Biscuits to Quicksand marks more of a transition to a rock sound than hardcore, while from Quicksand to Rival Schools focuses more on a melodic sound. I guess it works. Anyway Walking Concert play short tight pop songs. The best part is they don't sound retro or anything. Maybe it was because they were live and not on record, but they sounded new without sounding modern, but no strong influences came across.

It was raining when I was getting ready to leave for the bar but by the time I had left it had stopped. And so the whole walk that after raining smell was in the air.There was a band that opened called Murder, Texas, that Mike said sounded like Texas Is The Reason. I missed that band because I got there late, I wasn't too upset about it though. Dominic and I drank Rolling Rocks. It was nice to pay 3 bucks for a Rolling Rock because they are more expensive at Ryan's Pub. I think they thing Pennsylvania beers are imports there. Lame.

Yesterday was my Mom's birthday. I took her out to lunch at Baxter's and we ate really good burgers. My sister and I went in on an Ipod Shuffle for her. I ordered it off the website on Wednesday and it was supposed to get here by Friday, but it still hasn't arrived. So I may go home next week so I can give it to her and show her how to load music on to it.

I Hear You Been Searchin' For Yr Main Line Darlin'

On the way home from Ryan's Pub, I listened to Entrance's Wandering Stranger. It was perfect bar walking home music. Now that school's out, not only are the streets pretty empty but so are the bars. Entrance's album came out on Fat Possum Records a few months ago. Around that time I watched a documentry about the record label called You See Me Laughin'. It's great. It's about Fat Possum's dedication to keep the blues alive. Meanwhile these blues musicians who are from the most remote parts of the south are dying.I like how at the same time, Fat Possum is all about preserving this original blues sound by releasing albums by Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside, they are putting out new blues records by the Black Keys and Entrance. Before I listened to this Entrance album, if you would have asked me if I could ever see a scenerio where I would agree that 11 minutes is the perfect length for a song, I would have said No, never. But now, the song Darlin' has made me change my mind.

Rejected

When I checked the mail today I was surprised to see a letter from Bowling Green State University. Could it be they had room for me next semester? Did they have second thoughts about rejecting me? Were they kicking themselves in the foot for not seeing how much of an asset I would be to their department? Maybe someone dropped out of the program and they can only take one more student. It could happen.

So I opened it and it was just a letter saying that I have again been rejected to study at their University. Twice. Thanks. Once from the Department of Popular Culture and once from the Department of Graduate Studies.

Twice.

Mixtapes And Bagels

I sat on the floor for a real long time tonight just listening to mixtapes Jessica made me. And then I wrote for a little bit. I've figured out that I need to be not in front of my computer to get anything productive or creative done.

This morning I went to Country Bagel after the post office, which is starting to become my favorite part of the day. I got a peanut bagel not toasted, with cream cheese. It didn't taste like peanut butter, it didn't even taste like peanuts. It was actually kind of bland. But I feel like its important not to get the same thing everytime I am there. Still, I don't think I want to try the Spinach bagel.

This is what I want for my birthday.

I Think I Know Who Killed Laura Palmer

I don't know where this day went. I guess it went where a lot of days this year have gone. And that place has completely eluded me. Maybe one day I will find them and get them all back.

It started kind of late and with my lack of motivation to do anything productive, I ended up crossing things to do off my list until all there was time for was watch Twin Peaks.

Julia called me around 12pm and said Jonathan Richman is playing the Khyber on June 14, but when I looked at my calendar, I noticed I had to work. I feel like that wouldn't be an issue if I didn't spend yesterday switching my work schedule around to go to California and the wedding with Kate in Reading. What I have learned from all this is that Britney Spears is bad news and even in calendar form, I have to remove her from my life.

I did call Campus Partners and found out that my loan deferrement request did not go through and my payment is late. But after the conversation with them, I am sure I filled out the form correctly. So when I repeat this process again, I'm not convinced it will change anything.

Then I watched two more episodes of Twin Peaks.

I've been reading this book by Matt Ridley called Genome. It's so interesting and so boring at the same time. I tried reading it a few times before, but with little success. Now I am going to finish it. I like the idea of the book more than actually reading. I'm like that with a lot of things. I think that's why I own so many Business albums.

I hope I am getting this right because I'm better at dropping English. My science is not tight. The book is about the human Genome. Each chapter focuses on a different gene in the Genome. But each chapter uses a different gene to focus on the evolutionary process. Ridley specifically chose each gene to tell a different part of this story. I just love how this book is all about connections, how he uses the gene that causes asthma to talk about how environment has affected the evolutionary process. That amazes me.

In the spring of 2002, I downloaded all of the My Dad Is Dead albums off of their website. I only remember this so clearly because I remember where my computer was in my dorm room at the time. Rich and I used to to change the room around every semester. I burned these albums on to 4 discs that I have never ever listened to until tonight. Thats what I've been doing for the last few hours.That's where my time has been going. On to CDs I'm going to throw away when I'm done listening to them.

Who's The Boss?

On Saturday was Lubrica Mi Vida, an art exhibit at the Ashley Gallery in Northern Liberties curated by a Mr. Damian Jared WeinKrantz. I have been really excited about this opening because one of the exhibits featured a picture of me.

When asked for a piece to be exhibited, my friend Julia came up with something centered around Bruce Springsteen's Darkness On The Edge of Town, but really it was more about obsessing about old records and the things we project onto people. I've tried explaining this to people, but it never comes out right. It makes sense when you see it though. I love when things don't have clear direct meanings, things you have to think about to enjoy. I guess it works on two levels though. Mostly it was just me on the cover of Darkness On The Edge Of Town instead of Bruce. Julia, me, and three more of her friends posed for this project. It was a good time.

So Dominic and I drove into the city early Saturday night to meet up with Shannon, her sister, my sister, my mom, Julie, Mike, Rob, and Nipsy. All the exhibits were really good. I enjoyed Alina's a lot too.

After the show, we went to Standard Tap for dinner and then to the 700 Club where Julia was DJing. For dinner I had this incredible Portabello sandwhich that was seriously the best thing I ever tasted in my whole life. And at the 700 Club Julia spun mostly hip hop.

Julie, Mike and I left around 1am and I stayed with them and then headed to my Mom's house in Yardley on Sunday for dinner with her and my sister.

This weekend Julie called me shady and I'm not stating this to be all whiny in my journal, but she said it because I didn't say that Rob was coming to the art show Saturday in front of Jill. But she said I specifically discluded him from the list of people I mentioned.

Looking back now it seems unneccesary, and a little like I went out of my way to not include his name, but at the time I guess, it was just out of habit. Because I feel like I would talk about him all the time if I talked about him at all. But then after that, I started noticing other examples of my shadiness, of me purposefully not sharing information. Just like stupid stuff, like Mike and I were watching Press Yr Luck on the Game Show Network on Sunday and I didn't answer one of the questions that I knew, but when Mike asked me if I knew it I said no. Just because it was easier to say no then to say why if I knew the answer, didn't I say it. Because that was something I didn't know.If I want to know where I get it from, I can start with my Mom and my Sister, who are shady. So was my Dad. But at least now I am aware of it.