I'm a...something-year-old male who'd much rather be writing for a living than being a slave to the corporate fucking grind. I need musical sustenance to live...and coffee. I'm all about the coffee.
So I'm off today and tomorrow. It's always a good thing to have an actual weekend to recharge. Thankfully, the rain is supposed to hold off until tomorrow. It's just supposed to be cloudy today, which is good since C and I are going to a baseball game. Actually, it's a double header for our minor league baseball team, the Camden Riversharks, who are a mere half game out of first place. It is early in the season, I know, but the Sharks are always competitive. There's supposed to be fireworks after the second game, so that should be good.
I'm pretty psyched about a couple of albums on the horizon. Actually, one is already sort of...out. If you go to www.nin.com you can get the new Nine Inch Nails album "The Slip" completely free. Yup, a free download of the whole album, or as Trent Reznor put it, "This one's on me." I've downloaded it, but I have yet to listen to it. I'm going to burn it to cd and stick it in my car. The first single, "Discipline" is really fucking good. Also...another of my very favorite artists, Gemma Hayes, is releasing her third album, "The Hollow of Morning" next week. I've pre-ordered it on amazon.com, since it's an import and not getting a domestic release...at least, not that I know of right now. Gemma is completely amazing and I really have no idea why she isn't more well known in the States. It really makes zero sense. If you don't know of her, you need to investigate. You can either visit her website of her MySpace and take a listen to some of her songs. If they don't move you in any fashion, you might not be human. I rank her right up there with Kristin Hersh, and for me, that's saying a lot since Kristin is one of my musical heroes.
On the work front...it's been ok. A bit less stress in the form of who I'm working with. The new management team is pretty good and mostly flexible. However, in visiting "The Goose" to obtain next week's schedule, I saw that I was scheduled to work next Sunday. This is a large no-no. My availability is non-existent on Sundays. I don't do them...at all. Furthermore, I have things planned for that day and this creates a large problem. I will try to rectify this in a civil fashion, as my new GM, I'll just call him DH, has been more than fair and agreeable with me. Still, it needs to be changed.
Well, I'm off to get my ass ready for the game/s. I want to check out the Riversharks store for new and interesting merchandise. I leave you with "Falling Down" by Scarlett Johansson, which is actually really good. It's a cover of a Tom Waits song. I respect Waits as a songwriter, but I can't get around his voice...he sounds like Cookie Monster on a whiskey bender.
Jason Beghe rocks...and, oh yeah, I'm back from vacation.
posted 04/27/08
Ok, before I get into the whole gist of the more intriguing story here, let's just say that my time in Virginia was relaxing. The drive was long as hell, and we hit a lot of traffic near Baltimore, but otherwise, it was nice. Like I've said, I'm not the outdoorsy type, but, I enjoyed Luray Caverns and the many views from the vast overlooks in Shenandoah National Park. It was a little unnerving driving up the frickin' mountain when it was as foggy as it was that first day...actually, I believe I was driving through clouds. Also...it rained for a few days, which kind of sucked, but we did manage to start a fire on our last full day there and we had our little cookout, so that was good. Coming home sucks...but, I did have the comfort of my faithful laptop. However, it's back to work on Monday, and the shift I was given on Monday is not my normal one, so I'll be making a minor stink about that when I come back. I REALLY need to leave that job. Others there are finding new jobs...what am I, a frickin' pariah?! Anyway...
Before I left for vacation, I read that an actor I've liked for some time had ditched Scientology after some 13 years. He spent 8 and a half of those years trying to leave. That actor is Jason Beghe. (Pronounced Beg-ay) Who, you ask? Well, I mostly remember him from a little football show on HBO called "First and Ten". He played an undrafted rookie named Tom Yinessa. He's also appeared on many tv shows and several movies. If you put his name in at Wikipedia, you'll see a fairly good list. Since then, I've appreciated his grit and honesty as an actor and always wondered what held him back from really breaking into the big time. After finding out how long he was in the Cult of Scientology, it's no wonder. You can find an interview with him right here. It's in seven parts, but it's pretty interesting. What I appreciate even more about Jason now is his down to earth nature. Yes, he curses...a lot. You know what, I appreciate that, too. Why? I fucking curse a lot, too. I let emotions just blast out sometimes and they unravel in a barrage of four letter words. I can relate! I find him to be intelligent...well spoken...which begs the question...how did you fucking fall for all of that bullshit, Jason?! When you watch the interview, you can even see how disgusted he is with himself for being suckered into a big bowl of nonsensical crap. It's really laughable...Scientology, that is. I've been reading and gathering information about it for years, and have always known it to be a huge joke. Did anyone know that L. Ron Hubbard's whole plan was to start a religion by gaining funds from entertainers and the wealthy? He tried to get a science fiction novel published and failed, and decided to turn it into a religion. Really. No joke. See for yourself. Seek out the information and you'll piss yourself with laughter. It's so ridiculous that you'd wonder how anyone of sound mind could fall for this crap. Anyway, kudos to you, Jason. You got out and you're trying to help others to do so, too. Watch the video.
Some time tomorrow morning, I'm taking my ass down to Virginia for some massive R&R. Hopefully, I'll be able to smack my muse in the ass and she'll give me something of value to put down to paper. She's really been pissing me off that way. I mean, if the well's dry, fine. I won't write again...or at least until I know there's something to say, but I think things are there, but she's not giving me anything. Finicky bitch...anyway, it should take four and a half hours to get there in my trusty Hyundai (which is packed to the brim with all kinds of shit). It will be, I believe, the longest drive I've ever made. I don't remember how long it took to drive up to Woodstock, NY from Bergen County, NJ, but that was the previous long, and it wasn't even for a frickin' concert. It was to visit the relatives of my ex-girlfriend, Jessica. Great trip that was. (Yes, that WAS sarcasm.) My car blew a tire...in the snow...at 11pm at night...on the NY Thruway...on Christmas Eve. Needless to say, I didn't get home until 6AM. Cars hate me. So far, my Hyundai loves me...for the most part. Let the love continue, please. I don't need any fucking adventures. I don't want to grow a beard and join an Appalachian bluegrass band. I can't play the fiddle...or the uke...or banjo...maybe the jug. I can do the jug...or drums. I can drum...but there's no drummers in those bands. I'm screwed. I saw Deliverance, damnit. I'd say, Pray for me, but I don't believe in that shit. I'll shut up. It'll probably be great...up in the mountains...no one to bother me...eating food I shouldn't eat...yeah, just keep the bugs away. Ok kids, I'm out of here until Thursday...have fun, and enjoy "I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow" by the Soggy Bottom Boys. Is this song apropos or what?
It never ceases to amaze me when I hear that someone else from my home town has dropped dead...and this seems to happen more and more lately. Hell, this can be traced back to my senior year in HS when four morons pulled a car into a garage and killed themselves via carbon monoxide poisoning. That was my first real exposure to the strangle hold that Bergenfield had on its residents. Also...during my HS years...the father of a girl I knew killed himself...there was another guy who died on the train tracks after getting drunk...and he survived a fall off the Palisades Cliffs! So anyway, when I need my fill of morbid (and who around here is more morbid than I?), I can stroll on over to that lame-o alumni site and take a look at who died lately...and I kid you not, someone always dies. There have been a few suicides over the last few years...others who died of cancer and other assorted diseases...I wonder how I'm still alive sometimes. Maybe...it's because I got the hell out! Seriously, there's a "memorials" section that seems to keep growing for my graduating class. Now, I didn't like most of them, but I never wished death on them. I have to look at it with a sense of humor, really. My friend Todd and I basically keep each other in the loop in regards to who kicked the bucket. Sometimes I miss one...or I catch one he missed...and it just continues. Here's a poem I wrote that references it a bit. It's in my latest chapbook, available from Maverick Duck Press...
Our Mutual Acquaintances (for Todd)
Are in institutions and jails. Some have decided to give up by driving in front of trains.
There was the son of a psychiatrist, your ex-girlfriend's brother, who lost his mind and knifed his parents to death.
The crazy eyed guy you worked with at Herman's who had a penchant for shiny shirts. He mowed down a bunch of people in New York City one afternoon.
Girls and boys we walked high school hallways with felled by cancer, car accidents and drowning.
We don't give a second thought about waking the next morning.
And now, I leave you with "God's Gonna Cut You Down" by Johnny Cash...
The Portland, OR band called A Weather. Mark my words. I know I am going to love this band. I sampled them on iTunes after reading a sparkling review on chartattack.com and fell in love with every song I listened to. They describe their music as "The things that stuffed animals might tell you if they'd had a few too many." It's very down tempo, but it's something I connected with right away...it's also really pretty stuff. Here's a video for the song "The Feather Test", though my favorite song by them so far is called "Oh My Stars".
