hooray for jenine! she’s in SF, made serious loote at the maker’s faire, and now she’s on the make blog. yeah duude.

also i already mentioned leonard’s engagement, but then he went and got married like two days later. well congratulations in both the marriage and in immediate accomplishment of stated goals. geez…

i’m rushing to finish up stuffed animals and t-shirts for a group art show in tokyo, actual tokyo. mel inherited a cell phone from her parents but she already accidentally dropped it in a glass of water. it only took her three days (mel’s clumsiness is famous and celebrated). right now gotta go to salvation station to get neckties for the bird tails and ginseng chewing gum for the pep + summer feel (it tastes like dry dirt).

an important note before we begin is that i was out trash picking the other night and found, side by each, a practically new pair of timberland boots (slightly large in other words perfect) and a pair of all white air force ones (in the same ~perfect condition). when it doesn’t rain, i wear the air force ones, and i wear them with no shoelaces, the culmination of a dream to wear all white sneakers with no shoelaces since i first became cognicent of run dmc, in or around the fourth grade.

mike SLA and i had a drawing date the other day at the worcester public library, getting a cool table full of books then hunkering down with our sketchbooks and cutting loose, and also gossipping and mike ate an apple when the librarians weren’t around. i was waiting outside beforehand and i’m pretty sure some dude giving me the skunk eye was waiting for me to offer to sell him drugs. seriously! (remember: all white air force ones, no laces). mike got a tattoo gun and it’s kind of bad news. in an effort to satisfy his urge to cover his body with dumb doodles he gave himself a cool messed-up krishna hair cut. i, for what it’s worth, shaved one side of my head so it looks like i have either a regular haircut or a mohawk depending on which side you’re on.
you know- the “eshu“.

show coming up may 5th at the go go for the countess’ birthday- tiny hawks, french in action, blarzeeed (sp?), terribles, and dave & andrea’s band “she wouldn’t marry me so we started a band” which i guess is a true story. i made a flyer pretty much so i could invite the dude from the comic book store and the girl with the cat eye glasses from the grocery store and various other peoples i don’t know super well (people who do not work in stores), but i guess i stepped on toes, as others are currently working on a flyer and my actions removed wind from sails. but really, i needed a non-precious flyer for immediately and anyway who cares i like when there are multiple flyers for a show.

christina liquors is moving out in june, so it looks like i’ll be sticking around this weird collegiate apartment once mars madrigal moves in. it’ll be fun for sure but now that i’m an actual tenant and not a stopgap i need to raise last month’s rent and security in addition to usual rent-sweatin’ and that’s serious ducats and with me still funemployed! anywaysssss, i still print t-shirts for bands, non-profits, soccer teams etc. minimum order 3 dozen, $6 a shirt. OKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY.

i just finished “locas”, the jaime hernandez epic. it’s a huge collection of all the maggie and hopey stories from the comic book love and rockets. i got it from interlibrary loan and so can you. it follows two best friends/lovers through a good twenty year swath of life, from their joyfull adolescence in the mid 80s california punk scene to drifting in and out of each other’s lives afterwards. totally totally gorgeous, highly highly recommended. strong women, luchadors, LA punk, chicanas, soaring beauty. a gem.

last night rinaldo montoya, the countess inez colon, and myself drove a super long time to southern rhode island following a guy that didn’t write the directions down through at least five u turns finally to a total boner of a show of acoustic coffehouse music in some collegiate bro-zone replete with keg and beer pong. why were we there? why, to play a noise set of course! i brought my beepers, we played one ten minute song, over which i sang “96 tears”, no one paid any interest and we scrambled. but i am not complaining- if it was any less bad it wouldn’t have been fun. i only wish we had gotten into a fight with someone or something. or been way way way louder. or, both. well, next time.

urgent! my mom, louise berendes, is taking part in an art show at the goddard house in worcester (which is a nursing home i think) and the opening reception is today, from 1 to 4, and my mom said there would be chocolate and champagne, then i asked “are you sure” and she said “pretty sure”. again opening reception is today, sunday april 23rd, 1-4pm, at the goddard house (which is a nursing home i think) 1199 main st. croWtown!!!

mattcoe and anne lew and i are meeting there at 2ish, i hope to see other chocolate- champagne- and quilt-lovers there.

happy congratulations to leonardr and sumana, now engaged to be married! he asked on his blog, she accepted on hers. classic! welcome to the future!

sunday night was the show at downhill mansion, and it was pretty fun. as promised, the show started at 9:21pm, and i was shocked and delighted to see many people there exactly at that time or within a 10 minute span. me and jambu’s band “freedom 35″ opened, and it was our first show, and second time playing together. it was fun, but our set was not great, i kind of lost my gumption come showtime. but playing earlier in the afternoon was a lot of fun, and i look forward to doing more of that. after us was russian tsarcasm, which totally ruled. in trying to describe this band i frequently do a sort of impersonation of the main guy, carlos, and nick told me later that all through the set people were visibly delighted by how accurate the impersonation was and what a joy and character and total package carlos is. the makeshift PA i set up kept crapping out mysteriously, so they played micless and relatively quiet: singing, drums, violin, and tape accompaniment. i can’t find a website or pictures but here is the byron house / russian tsarcasm radio show archive (from bsr) for you listening pleasure. after RT, heart2heart played a totally awesome though short set, hitting it and quitting with low pulsing feedback and human screams of mixed emotion. once again, “the noise shangri-las”. after H2H and a hearty set-up (tons of junk!) impractical cockpit shook, rattled, and rolled though a good set that was kind of like a thrift store where the proprieters keep picking stuff up and messing around with it to try and convince you to buy it. like i said, they had a ton of junk: special (not special) wooden boxes with special (not special) sticks to hit them with, homemade clarinets, keyboards, guitars, tambourines, drum machines, pots, pans, old tin cans, pails, nails, empty jails, fats, hats, rubber mats, missing links, kitchen sinks, garbage cans, electric fans, rubber boots, bathing suits, reels, wheels, run down heels, bed springs, piston rings, metal shears, old tin ears…. <closer inspection of bathing suit> <wolf whistle>
…..tires, canes, water mains, skates, plates, furnace grates, pitching forks, rubber corks, sacks, racks, railroad tracks, poles holes, telephone poles, plugs, lugs, bathroom rugs, rubber bands, bird cage stands, metal ships, pillow slips, locks, socks, grandpa clocks and so on. after the show we milled about and took group photos, because having a digital camera means no practical restriction on the number of dumb pictures you take. first, all the bands individually, then everyone as a group (except tiffiniy, who was taking the picture), then forty different ways of categorizing the people there, like “people who cry at movies” and “people who never wear underwear”.

yesterday was a great day of errands with christina la faerie- the hardware store, two radio shacks, the mall, and stark electronics, which is an electronic components store that doesn’t have everything but is pretty much perfect. the car she was borrowing had a broken tape deck that played everything at doublespeed but still i made us listen to the suicidal tendencies tape that was in there and i tried to sing along and almost could and drove myself into a manic state. i like christina and i’ve been looking for ways to hang out with her for like, three years. now not only did we have this fun day of practically aimless driving around with the windows down (did i mention we got ice cream truck ice cream? and snowcones? and cookies? and brownies (that tasted like vomit)?) but i managed to swing it to helping her out with a minor element to her big art project. sorry, christina, you did a pretty good job being acquaintances with me for a while, now you done fucked up.

tomorrow nicole 2heart said she’s coming to town tomorrow so i have to go out and get food that people like to eat. in other words, not fried gravy sandwiches with sauerkraut. hey call me.

last night a fun party at downhill mansion ostensibly to celebrate the completion of the new rooms but really they’re not entirely done. anyway had a good time sassin’ around with an odd collection of characters. lilah in good form told off many who were asking for it, mary wilson played the toy dolls, my art world friend tamara was there, and as for me myself, i could be spotted pacing about, stomping and swaying, and delivering humouristic “shall we dance” lines to all the beautiful amazonian women with the mia farrow haircuts (who unfortunately did not have a firm belief one way or the other w/r/t the hereafter but more importantly were not aware of just what i was there after (which i felt was self-evident but evidently it was not)). emily curtin took me up on my “let’s talk about judas” t-shirt and we did a bit then jjbb came over from nowhere and we discussed marsyas the satyr and his duel with phoebus apollo– emily curtin, i promise we’re not trying to impress you. or, to quote jethro amphibian, “i don’t care if i win, i just do!”.

oop op a dop, tonight’s the show, walking over now to practice w/ jambuck, and not so much practice as see how it’s gonna go / see what works. made a tape if there’s an afterdance, and the tape is weird: big boys, baltimore club, weirdos, GISM, destiny’s child, 95 south, 1910 fruitgum company… and obviously 24k (you know, it’s that song that goes “who’s the ho? yr momma’s momma! who’s the ho? yr bay-bay!”). we’ll see how it plays out, maybe we’ll just end up watching a movie or something. eating popcorn or something and drinking tea. come out for noise! 9:21pm as advertised, forbes st. croWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWtowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwnnnnn.

hey melissa the punk who offered me a street beer the other night, i saw you at the museum and you walked right in front of me in your own world but instead of calling out your name i went “caw! caw! caw!”. the lobby was bustling with howling children, i don’t know why, i thought this would be appropriate. meh. sometimes ships pass in the night, right?

with easter only tomorrow away, i realize too late that today i missed the awesome parade of A CHRIST BEING WHIPPED BY ROMAN SOLDIERS (reenactment) that goes down lincoln st.. the only time i ever saw it was by accident, and i didn’t know what was happening. then i figured it out. but for a second it was like titus (which i liked)– gaudy romans in rented costumes followed slowly by sedans with the hazards on. i forget if it’s kids or not. it might be kids. thinking more and more about judas and i realize that one of the many compelling things about the gospel of judas it is that it puts the action of the present day into mythological terms– it accounts for judas being hated for generations and then being vindicated. if this is the vindication, it will be what, the only prophecy we have seen come about in 2000 years? and one we actively participate in. again, say what you will about christians as a group or christianity as it is lived, the judas angle of the christ story is fascinating.

also, for a few “why bother”s on the xtian tip, here’s the webpage of the guy who carried a cross to every nation and walked around with it. so: the webpage has a loud audio clip of himself shouting to a crowd who doesn’t shout back loud enough (by his own admissions). the cross has a wheel on it. his last name is “blessitt”, and he doesn’t spell it “bless-it†” come on, man! GWProgram!

this has been christian news minute

tonight (friday night) i went in to boston to see french in action / relationships / the spark (nb: not the synthpop band who sang “number one song in heaven”) / conversions / witches with dicks, in boston, at a ywca hall. it was fun, the hall had the heat on and no one knew how to turn it off, and you couldn’t hang out outside or in the hallway. i had my new favorite accoutrement, a pale tan cowboy hat, which i really like because it makes me look taller and skinnier, and as zero mostel says in “the producers”, if you got it, flaunt it. dan wars hatched a scheme for a frat rock band “like louie louie” for which i would play saxophone and we would all wear bow ties. in an attempt to force his hand and make one of our band ideas bear fruit, i told jen millis to book us at her house in june. better start practicing, dan! psychotic reaction, 96 tears, uhh… louie louie… uh….

oh yeah, ML says the band is called “DISFRAT”. see: d-beat, frat rock.

oh yeah 2, the show was the record release for the witches with dicks / conversions split 7″, which ML drew the cover for and it’s gorgeous. i already said this. anyway it’s really nice.

first, the first things: show this sunday (the 16th) at downhill mansion. IMPRACTICAL COCKPIT, RUSSIAN TSARCASM, HEART2HEART, and FREEDOM 35. that last band is me and jamie’s freedom riff rager, and we will start the show by playing promptly at 9:21pm. so be there then or don’t, but that’s seriously when we play, regardless of whether or not other people are even there, and we won’t play for very long.

tomorrow (friday) is the less-important show in boston with french in action and sourpus mark’s new band “relationships”. it’s also the record release show for the “conversions” / “witches with dicks” split 7″, which has a gorgeous penny leslie cover in his cool no black, micro pen, aborigine, ditko, thumbprint style. the show is at Cambridge YWCA, 7 Temple Street, Central Square, at the godly hour of 8pm, and that’s in s.o.B. city (that’s boston, get it?).
now on with the minutia:
does anyone have a dremel tool i can use for a spell, or are they cheap enough and i should just get one? my rediscovered favorite shop american scientific surplus has one, but ordering stuff online is still a hassle for me and i’m not really at the frivolous money stage (although i guess it’s a tool, and will earn its keep, unlike the jack kirby posters i bought which aren’t even significantly adding the mayan psychonaut vibe i thought they would to my messy room).

the past few days i’ve been working on a new product for you all (”lil bendy”), and a series of music projects, walking around late at night dumpstering, trying to eat better, and watching atomic age sci fi movies with sickly friends and the other kind. i put a cool basket on the back of my bike for erranding, but yesterday some little shit flattened my tire while i had it locked in front of friendly’s and i need to go get the wrench i need to even take the damn wheel off and fix it. but it’s been gorgeous out and today’s good walk was, well, good.

ok, like two days ago i was sitting on the porch shooting the shit with ML, MC, and AJ, and i told them if i had a kid i would name it judas. now there’s all this news about the lost gospel of judas and i’m wigging out. i can’t wait to see how it all plays out– how will christianity cope with a de-villified judas, who, for a long time, was the most reprehensible character in all history (worse than the devil, who at least had guns to stick to and you could see where he was coming from). now, not only is judas no longer the world’s greasiest shit, he is in fact jesus’ tightest friend, a shining star for all to admire, whose completely selfless actions (which may have landed him in: hell! for: eternity!) had the result of salvation of all humanity! in other words, jesus died once, judas suffers FOR EVER! (nb: the catholic church’s official policy is that it does not know where judas’s soul is). judas, totally aware of everything, took the hit! way to go judas!

for those interested in other insights, i highly recommend the very thought provoking “three versions of judas”, a short story by jorge luis borges which is excellent and has a mind-bending take on all of this. also the gospel of judas wiki has some good stuff on it, and for the punchier version of this post see the e’er enlightening jhopper. i would love to talk more about this if anyone’s interested. i was even thinking about going to my mom’s church but i guess the reverend i like with the laser eyes and kung-fu grip is on vacation or something.

ok, i need to stress that this judas thing is about a million times crazier than anything on the internet. seriously.

oh, and this isn’t about religion or anything but today i was hanging out on highland street drinking beer with underage street punks (not a lie) and i offered this dude a cookie and i said “these cookies are delicious… seriously”. and until i said “seriously” he wasn’t sold. my question to you is why would i joke about the deliciousness of a cookie? i was eating one at the time, it’s not like they had acid in them or anything.