yesterday i was sick as a dog and spent 22 hours on the couch trying not to boot. in an interesting turn of events, oats the dog was as sick as a jacob berendes, and spent much time on the couch with me. more or less all better today– special thanks to my homies for buying me gatorade and rubbing my back. i didn’t get to go to the mst (brazilian landless workers movement, see last week) thing, which i understand was phenominal. i’m looking for a decent webpage on it, mom. tomorrow starts the big festival del pueblo mayday celebration in boston, with tons of activities for everyone. i can’t make it tomorrow, instead i’m filming some stuff for the big the scientist / alex curtin film spectacular. incidentally, who wants to drive out to fitchburg? anyone?
wogan event: Wanusa Pereira dos Santos, a 25 year old MST leader will
speak about one of the most exciting and successful social movements of our
time:
THE BRAZILIAN LANDLESS WORKERS MOVEMENT!!
Movimento dos Trablahadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST). THIS MONDAY, APRIL 29TH
7PM
CLARK UNIVERSITY, LURIE CONFERENCE ROOM (in the University Center)
get ready for extended quote:
“The Brazilian Landless Workers Movement (MST) is the largest social movement
in Latin America (1.5 million members!) and one of the most successful
grassroots movements in the world. Hundreds of thousands of landless
peasants have taken onto themselves the task of carrying out a long overdue
land reform in a country mired by social and economic inequality.“The Landless Workers Movement is a reqponse to these inequalities. Today,
more than 250,000 families have won land titles to over 15 million acres
after MST land takeovers.“The success of the MST lies in its ability to organize. Its members have
not only managed to secure land, thereby guaranteeing food security for
their families, but have come up with an alternative scoio-economic
development model that puts people before profits. This is transforming the
face of Brazil’s countryside and Brazilian politics at large.“Following a showing of *Strong Roots*, a short, award-winning documentary
about the MST’s struggle, Wanusa Pereira dos Santos, a 25-year-old MST
leader, will speak about the movement that has inspired poor people’s
movements around the world with its alternatives to corporate globalization
and model for sustainable development.”
been listening a lot to the band “of montreal”, whose album “the gay parade” is like foncy queen stuff plus sgt peppersish loopy 1890s psychedelia times sad. today i walked all over town. monday, due to an odd stroke of (for lack of a better term) luck, i begin work as a foreman at a clock factory.
friday was laura’s senior art show at clarku, which was really good. hers was easily the best stuff there, and this made me really happy. in the brochure she made to accompany her paintings she references years spent being “a slut for the cool boys”– pretty awesome, right? film festival and last wayward boys party afterwards was ok. the film festival was great, lots of good movies by my weirdo friends (there was some controversy, but in the end, the preview for “to fuhrer with love” was indeed shown, as was the entire “a bunch of people eating lots of ice cream and throwing up” movie). the party was ok but a little too self aware, with lots of milling about, not a lot of frantic dancing, a lot of pushing and shoving. i got to meet mr and mrs wars, dan’s folks, who indeed proved nice. i set up a kissing booth in an alcove and made three dollars (number one seller was a peck on the cheek for $.25). home at 3 to find day one of [unnamed assailant]’s birthday party wrapping up at my house. come by tonight for day two!
second mike taylor-relevant post of the day is this: people who play computer solitaire- wtf? why not play actual solitaire? wouldn’t it be slightly more satisfying?
ok, mike, tomorrow begins a new day rising– alarm clocks, bananas, gorilla biscuits (or perhaps seven seconds would be more appropriate), walking in the woods. i’ve got to get out of this funk for the show (jpb plays show of sorts in bathroom of the anton bordman / difficult t house in providence may 18th). mike, i’m working out the specifics for my big “pregnant astronaut” pantomime performance, with strobe lights and ketchup and everything. but i have a history of working on big stage spectaculars, so know that it might just turn into me playing some songs on the guitar.
my strict regimen of going to bed kind of early waking up kind of early lying in bed until very late getting up in a foul mood and cobbling together a half-assed breakfast which leads too soon to a half-assed lunch and from there too long a pause until a passable dinner then pretty much just waiting around until i can go to bed continues. huge dumpster run last night yields amongst other things brie and gorgonzola cheese, the dankest of the readily available cheeses. my tummy’s bumpin. also, can anyone corroborrate (sp?) my earthquake experience or was it a dream brought on by kartina discussing earthquakes the night before?
sunday i went to a hardcore show at joeshumpsky’sbasement.com with the models inc boys. two (2) songs by two (2) acts featured prefaces regarding friends who turn their backs on you, which is a late hardcore trope if ever there was (q: am i using “trope” correctly?). for the eighth consecutive sunday i didn’t go and get chocolate martinis at “my martini” (where i have a friend who works sundays only). instead i went to sleep and woke up monday in a crummy mood. monday i ate, cleaned up, ate, cleaned up, ate, cleaned up, had a three hour meeting (that was actually kind of nice), went to bed and woke up tuesday in a crummy mood. tuesday i took a walk down to dewey street to retrieve my bike, singing leadbelly’s “take this hammer” over and over to myself. man, what a phenominal song: it’s a work song (leadbelly includes sung hammer-hitting-object-sounds in the appropriate places) about being killed by work and not being able to take it anymore. but it isn’t proud, nor is it ashamed– it’s very matter-of-fact. but anyway it is not the sort of material to resusitate a mood. me and mike run some errands down at the library. a ride down to clarku for a john waters fest (tuesday’s movie was “female trouble”, which i consider to be the best of the early years– tonight it’s “desperate living”). oh yeah, special no thanks to clark friends who didn’t tell me about this, and to be quite honest, never call me at all. tonight there’s a community meeting to discuss wachusett mountain ski resort cutting down old growth forest, and blasting on the mountain (wachusett mountain is national park land that is getting, well, raped, by the crowley family, who owns wachusett mountian ski resort and polar soda). meeting is at 7pm at the wachusett mountain visitor’s center.
oh yeah, and there was an earthquake this morning, very odd for new england.
so actually, i guess i do take umbrage with one small thing in the review (which i’ll type up in full perhaps tomorrow). the reviewer refers to the shaggs at one point as “proudly incompetant”. i guess the shaggs as a band are really close to my heart, and so it’s a subject i’m touchy about, but it should be noted that they weren’t “proudly incompetant”– they were, by all admissions, unaware of exactly the way their music differed from music made by other bands. and given that, they weren’t incompetant– they played their instruments well, just in a way that no one (not in a “pop” band anyway) had ever played them. irony and cliche and all that, and i hate to be shuffled into some “new sincerity” fake wave, but i honestly feel that their music isn’t “so bad it’s good”, it’s just good in a novel way. i recommend that anyone wishing to judge for themselves gets the full album (“philosophy of the world”) and listens to it 4 times before deciding. also i would like to say that the shaggs were one of the best bands of the 20th century and our criteria may vary but i stand behind my assessment.
jeepers h creepers. i got a great write-up in the great worcester free biweekly “in city times”, which has no doubt directed many a semi-confused resident (of worcester county, my county of choice) to ths very page to read my family vacation bs, expecting hyjinx of perhaps a meaner or at the very least artier sort. well, sorry if i dissapoint. also, while i have your attention, vote for me in the wormtown.org poll.
home to beautiful weather and a great meal, whose conclusion (and a logical conclusion it was) was chocolate chip avacado cookies.
i missed fugazi.
today we drove back from presque isle south to portland, and this 5 hours in the car has made me very anxious to get home. i don’t know how to describe it- i’m just looking forward to doing nothing. on vacation i’m always doing something, even if it’s just biding my time. really looking forward to throwing some roots down on the couch and listening to records. and as mentioned before, i’m concerned about my records.
went to bullmoose music in portland asking about consignment stuff, and the guy told me to (i swear) “enter ‘bullmoose music’ in a search engine and fill out the consignment stuff online.”. i was flabbergasted! this is the lamest thing i’ve ever heard! it always upsets me when i see idiots in charge of record stores, as i imagine it would be many people’s dream job to run a record store. anyway, here i am online.