ok, so every wednesday night for a couple weeks now i’ve gone to karaoke at the club car. tonight was no exception. there’s a $25 prize which i never win despite always giving 110%, and again tonight was no exception. my song was “crying” by roy orbison. it’s starting to kind of bum me out that i never win, but the truth is that there’s always someone there with serious pipes that does a complete barn-burning face-shoot-offer like tonight’s “white rabbit” or last week’s “magic man”, with which i simply cannot compete. also, i just have to come to terms with the fact that maybe my style of karaoke (“inspiration over technical perfection”) doesn’t sit well with the judges (except the DJ, who is an angel, and moreover, loves me). i enjoy singing karaoke, i will continue singing karaoke, and if i never win the contest, well, that just means i’ll get to keep entering the contest. although tomorrow i’m getting $75 (and dinner) for participation in a survey about health care, and all night at the bar i kept thinking about how great it would be if i won the prize and had a $100 week. sigh… always the bridesmaid…
if you want to know what it’s like to be inside my brain, go to this wfmu blog post about ice cream truck music and play up all the mp3s at the same time in separate tabs.
in other mp3 news, i put together that leonard richardson mp3 selection for you worcesters who came to the show and wanted to hear more. NB: the best stuff is the new stuff, and that’s not all up yet.
ok, this is strictly for the people using the obsolete rss feed- the new feed is http://fujichia.com/newsbruiser/nb.cgi/syndicate/fujichia so get with it. crowtown up, gershman up. lon chaney shall not die.
ok, i’m waiting for the nameservers to change, this is the post that will be lost to the ages, like the hour every year that is repeated because of daylight savings time, and the doings that transpire on that fated hour are erased from human history by unanimous decree. uh, let’s see…
damn, such a pedestal and nothing to say! well, maybe i don’t really have any good secrets after all! oh well, destroy everything.
hey, i’m changing servers on the site so the rss feeds might get #$@!%*ed up. if you stop getting this in your field or whatever, check the website back for a new rss address. everyone else, sit tight. or, continue to sit however it is you regularly sit.
me and nicole’s tape is done but i gave her all the copies we made for her tour. i should have two or three at the store tomorrow if you’re interested though (it’s harsh on one side, glitchy/twitchy on the other).
tonight i went over andrew’s house to draw- he was hosting an “art night”, which was a lot of exquisite corpse drawing games and so forth. i had fun even though i don’t like wine, group dynamics, or stream of consciousness art (with some exceptions). me and JC got to talking about the lon chaney sr movie “the unknown”, in which our man of a thousand faces plays a murderer hiding from the law as an armless man in a circus sideshow, who falls in love with a woman who despises men’s hands. a lady sitting next to me asked “why would they make a movie like that?”. well, why anything?
tomorrow i trade one guest for another as leonardr returns to queens to continue his writing (now influenced by countless issues of comics especially what the?, ambush bug, marvel universe, acme novelty library, and panic) and nicole 2 heart arrives in worcester to finish up our split tape (ghosts / insects). i saw her yesterday and got her side and it totally slays over my side, but you know what? we keep moving and we keep advancing. she leaves for tour with byron house in a few days for like, a long time. if you haven’t seen the byron house / heart2heart video yet it’s with other good stuff here. i can’t find any tour dates, but maybe you’ll know when they come to your town. buy them beer and sandwiches.
jack long is a wonderful painter and friend of mine who used to live at the sickle in prividence, but has since moved to LA. he has recently posted a mess of new paintings, many of which (i infer) are about moving away. i haven’t heard from jack in a little while, but it’s nice reading these paintings to see how he’s doing and feeling. beautiful stuff, jack! we miss you around here!
the kicking of it continues, today we worked at the store and played some music. there’s a reason i never play music with other people- i can’t keep up, and my whole live shtick is about feeding off of my own fuck-ups. at the night we did indeed go to the cable car and bust out some serious karaoke. there was a contest, and i felt like i put in a very good showing (“the impossible dream”) but i did not in fact win, and that’s ok, but now how am i ever going to win? because really, that’s my song. also i dedicated a song to nick reville- of course “he’s a rebel” which i made “he’s nick reville”. i guess i dedicated two songs to him if you count queen’s “my best friend” which i meant to dedicate but the song just started up too fast. love ya buddy! leonard did a succession of jazzy numbers like “lady is a tramp” and “paper moon”, and we dueted “boy named sue”. dan burke was there and totally had a ball (and almost won the contest with “rock with you”) and now he wants to find the karaoke schedule all across town and hit every spot in a week. so far his back up crew is me and ice rink. you in? fyi next wednesday at the cable car be there. the dj loves us. tip your bartender. tomorrow night at forbes st (at 9:28) it’s early internet, matty popchart’s band canine sugar, and deer tick. zup!
me and leonard kicked it all day, eating some vietnamese food (with milkshakes) and writing jingles for the store. we also practiced a little for our show coming up which is really leonard playing and me playing and singing along (which is ideal). tomorrow we’ll be gooning up the store, chit chatting, hassling, and ordering a couple sammies. milellie is going to be late to the store tomorrow because he’s got to drive a bro to boston and hopefully he’ll be able to also pick up some of those chinese pastries with the red bean curd filling and the sesame seeds on top. the only reason i bring this up is to say: if you are anywhere near a place that has these delicious items, and you’re coming to see me, oh… bring them to me.
the show at okie st went the way of almost every show i’ve ever played- i dreaded it and tried to weasel out of it and then ended up having a bunch of fun. my “set” was showing the five canonical cameo videos (“word up”, “candy”, “she’s strange”, “attack me with your love”, and “single life”), accompanied by a brief exegesis on each one, and then two new ukulele songs. i would say it was a success. mitigating circumstances demanded that i only be at the show for a little little bit, so it was sadly that i missed work/death, usaisamonster, siege engine (chip’s solo act), and countless others. but it was either take those terms or have no ride at all and not be at the show a whit.
maybe too many shows in worcester lately, but anyway there’s a good one coming up thursday at downhill mansion or whatever they’re trying to call it (i put “discovery channel” on the flyer). canine sugar is matty popchart’s fast pop ensemble, deer tick is a providence creepy-crackle-crooner, and early internet is me and leonard richardson playing songs together. oh yeah-
leonard richardson is coming to town to hang out for a week, goof off at the store, sing some kareoke (hopefully), play a show, and make merry. totally awesome…
last night i went to providence with the countess and rinaldo for jean’s housewarming, dubious because she’s been living in the same place for three months, but i guess a house can’t be too warm (?).
i helped leonardr with constructive criticism on a short story he’s “shopping around” and was delighted to find that he put me in it! or rather, there’s a character named “jake michaelson”.
show coming up at okie st on saturday, which i’m kind of dreading. it’s okie st summajam, which means saturday all day from 2 until whenever. also i only have a few new songs, so there’s that old embarrassment. well, work/death will be there, that’s something. oh, and USAISAMONSTER and geoff mullen are also playing. and at least ten other bands.