the george st race was great– heavy reppers included baby bear, the flash, neil and christina, cschubs, white tiger, papa houston, mike bike, and many others. total cheer factory.

i’ve been writing all day today for a new weird project, which is always good. i had to call matt carroll lazy genius for some technical historical information, and i felt like kind of a fool when i was asking the question (which was pretty arcane), but of course he had a good answer and led me in a good direction. god bless the trivia lifeline!

i always feel like i have to make up for a few days of not writing, so here’s a flyer i made for the store that presents our origin story in a comic form. tra la la, i’m still coasting on the good feeling of finally finishing something (the comic book).

for previous pages see the category “comics“.

after work today i just sort of bummed around the house a while trying to get into shit but not being really motivated. both my roommates are away, so for the last two weeks it’s been just me making a general mess of the place and not having someone to catch me being really lazy. anyway i decided to go out and wind the watch so that’s what i did, down to the price chopper to buy fruit (this is now 10pm), then walgreens to get the 1 pound bag of m&m’s (more on this later), and then home to meet up with SYL and sarah “sun” byrne to watch a movie. except i’ve been watching a lot of movies lately (in installments, while i eat), so when i got near home and spotted queenie, kpars, and skittles at the seben eleben, well shit, i ankled the movie and hopped right in the car (i’ll make it up to you, sylvan!).

we eventually landed at the hotel vernon and tucked right into some $1 gansetts with scully, d-bird, baby bear, and jenna b, who all happened to have the same idea pretty much. the best part (for me) of the v-ron experience was as i was about to leave, and the dudes at the bar (not bros, just dudes) who had been looking at me, at the time sitting in a chair in the middle of a standing circle of beautiful women, decided to finally say something, which i thought was going to be about my height, but turned out way better. “hey- do you know anything about quantum physics?”. i told him i did and he asked “what are they?”. “they are very very small.” his friend: “ask him what’s the building blocks of that!”. me: “tiny strings”. the first guy: “well, i think anything can be created with hot lovin’ energy!”. me: “we are really on the exact same page here, buddy.”.

i then had a more in-depth conversation with the second guy. we talked a little bit about heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, and a little bit about the fourth dimension, but it wasn’t the unbearable talk of boozy windbags, it was nice. in closing he told me that i have “it”, and that girls like “it”. lilah, what happened after i left? on my end, i walked home laughing to myself and swinging my grocery bag of fruit and candy.

last night and the night before hanging out with GT watching movies, partly in an effort to cheer him up because him and SA got arrested the other day for walking down a well-lit street at night, then the trial was a nightmare. the movies we watched were: belly, alien vs predator, and ultraviolet. they all delivered.

(more…)

next saturday, august 4th-

• matty popchart

• best friends forever
• jacob berendes
• special guest

at discovery channel– forbes st. 9:05pm. bring money.

“special guest” might be a food item or a mix tape or a dog or something in the same category as a food item, mix tape, or dog. MPC and BFF will have new albums out. i’ll try to get some new songs together, but i ultimately won’t be able to if history’s any judge.

this sunday, july 29th-

• major taylor hill climb

this is a bicycle race up the steepest hill in worcester (the sidewalk has stairs). it’s a time trial, meaning people go one at a time and the best time wins. this also means that you can cheer for every single person, and everyone gets their time in the sun. it’s $15 to enter, but you don’t have to enter the contest to hang out and drink free polar soda and be rowdy. it’s fun. the race is in honor of major taylor, the first african american sports star, who lived in worcester and indeed, raced up george st.. major taylor on wikipedia

also, i’m printing out the comic book now. i’ll have some at the store tomorrow and if you see me in the next few days i’ll probably have a few on me.

1. me and crisp haddock are delaying the 24 hour show while we negotiate with various organizations. it was initially planned for this friday - saturday. it is not happening on this day anymore– keep checking for updates.
2. the weekly world news is closing down. the WWN, all it’s life, was a slippery beast, operating less in the world of news or satire than the world of popular mythology. i doubt any library has been collecting these the way they should’ve, but in ten years, this is what i’m going to want to really study.
3. jim, here’s the link to little andrew’s event photography.
4. sam, here’s the youtube footage of the flaming dragons of middle earth show that we were at.
   

for previous pages see the category “comics“.

continuous somethings have lately been alwaysing in pretty flagrant ways, but i’m rolling with it– today’s little things not entirely lining up means that tomorrow will tell if the new comic will be done on time, which only matters in that i kind of have to print it before i get into the next one or it’ll just keep getting put off.

last night to continue a theme, sitting up until the wee hours with skittles (back in town for a good month), shooting the shit and listening to young “three points” wasserman relay her awesome suburban woes. again, i’m not trying to be rude or say that i’m better at life (i’m not), nor am i trying to (as cha cha once said) logic anyone’s experience out of existence, but it was totally fun. fire makes a sharp spear strong, so i didn’t tell her not to worry, but i did tell her to follow her instinct to learn to play the bass guitar– that’s good strategy for being a gay teenager in suburban florida in the first years of the 21st century, right?

no joke, this is the last panel of today’s “classic peanuts”:

good night!

chloë’s 16yo sister naomi is visiting for a month– she’s awesome and she made yesterday’s event really fun for me in that i got to give her pep talks and play teenage wingman. i mean, obviously no one needs to learn this lesson more than i do, but, don’t try don’t know, uh, life is the only thing worth living for, and like travis fristoe said, the handwringing of the past is a luxury.

ok smart apple, so how was the rest? well, as promised, it was a total B (blast). in addition to the billy blue blues band, the terribles, the foundation, and the pandas played. also i made some music mixes and we danced to party staples and (as every good mix should) introduced some new ones to the mix as well. the grill was going good with regular burgers for regular people and ones for people that still eat meat. billy blue played good but people really weren’t drinking enough- the consequence of an afternoon show i guess. the terribles played an awesome set that traded off old songs and new, bringing out some real chestnuts like “pretty eyes staring at shit”. also they opened with a cover of “surrender” which got everyone immediately psyched- good strategy. the foundation was good and i had never seen them and really only ever met one of them before, so that was a double thrill– weirdos in worcester i have never met and in a band no less. i walked home at midnight bruised, wet, and sore in the feet and voice. it was fun.

oh yeah, neil, the songs you were asking about are “palisades park” by freddie “boom boom” cannon, and “banana split” by lio. pretty essential shit.

tomorrow, saturday july 21st, at the firehouse in worcester, it’s the Billy Blue Blues Band Beer Blast Bacchanal BBQ (BBBBBBBBBQ).

1. this is a traditional summer beer blast, so that means during the day, starting at 2pm. not a show- a party. it’s like back to the beach, but instead of a beach it’s a backyard and instead of pee wee herman and fishbone it’s billy blue and the terribles. and the kid, bobby, stays punk at the end.
2. sunglasses
3. byo cousie (sp?)
4. the billy blue blues band is your number one drunk in the afternoon band.
5. billy blue is respected by fans and scholars and hated by other harmonica players up and down the eastern seaboard and michigan.
6. billy blue bought a new suit the other day that he’s only going to wear in europe. do you have any clothing that you can only wear ON A SEPARATE
   CONTINENT?

7. “puckering” pete henderson will be there playing guitar, and singing, and having a mustache.
8. brian “this food is really hot” gleason will be there, and he’s bringing his bass. and, he’s going to play the bass, in time with the music.
9. the other guy, justin i think, let’s call him “the mailman” for lack of a better name, he will be delivering drum beats to your body via the drums. uh, it would really help if this guy had a cool “instrument face” like the other guys, but he’s pretty deadpan.
10. terribles and the pandas are also playing
11. there will be food and beer, bring some money to chip in, or grillable items or something.

the comic book is done, just needs to be printed, and the xerox machine at the store is a liiiittle too not good for all the necessary parts to show up. maybe tomorrow, and if not tomorrow monday. individual pages will continue to appear weekly. the new name is WHITE VINEGAR.

also, the new mike leslie skateboards are in and they are gorgeous. $40 at HBML.

leonardr just released his first album in five years. for reasons that are his own, he named it omne animal triste. if i were to pick it, the single would be sweet & lowbrow.

you can also see the pretty off-the-cuff LDR best hits comp i’ve been compiling on lilah’s request: POTCLDRBHC.

as is the custom with every show i play, i’m starting to really dread this 24 hour show (which is next friday- the 27th, 9pm - 9pm).

yeah, so yesterday was my birthday. i got my wish and got to go to a tornadoes game with some folks, and it was really really fun– rowdy and yelling and carrying on in the fashion of baseball game attendees since the dawn of time. we got an equal amount of enthusiasm and hatred from the people around us who did or didn’t appreciate our spirit, which just points out that most people don’t know how to interact with things anymore. the weirdest/best part of the game, for me, was goofing off with the mascot, “twister“, who then recognized me (?) and said through his huge sports-mascot mask “don’t you run that junk shop on pleasant st.?”. we saw him later out of costume (i have never met this man before in my life) and he told us to keep being really rowdy, which made me realize that we were being (as stated earlier) entirely appropriate for our surroundings, even if we were catching a lot of glares from haters. PLAY BALL!

oh, here’s the wikipedia entry on the original worcester tornado, which killed 94 people in 1953. uh… “One victim reportedly perished when suction from the tornado ripped open his chest due to rapid lung expansion.”. also “Baseball-size hail was reported in a score of communities affected by the Worcester supercell.”.