ok, i’m almost all moved in, but anyway i’m able to upload pictures again, so here’s the halloween routine. your best guesses as to my halloween costume were pretty far off and out, but it was QUETZALCOATL (pictured above). wikipedia has a good article on the subject, which is no surprise, but some key points are: winged serpent, sky god / creator god, and both a god and series of people named after the god. my costume took some liberties perhaps, but i wanted something that was convertible (with a hood i could take down, and layers i could remove and still be in costume) and something with good mobility but some limiting factors to mess around with (in this case, flowy black wings coming off my forearms that i could wave around, and a broad tail to wag behind me). also i just wanted something that would be a good look for a general dress-up scenario, with echoes of various forms of formal attire: suit jacket, flashy war medals (a broken “silver” watch, an auntish “gold” necklace), wings that were like the elongated sleeves of a kimono. i guess less a costume than a uniform of my personality. for at least the next five years anyway.

the mixtape i made came out pretty good and with some really weird parts of course (because otherwise, why bother?). no setlist and it really sounds a little too much like garbage to upload, but this time i got really creative, lots of staples of course but also lots of sound effects, cutting songs off abruptly, fake-outs, and just plain putting on really crazy shit. as always i had a ton of fun, dancing and singing and carrying on, and lots of people i didn’t know, bugging out because they didn’t think you could have a dance party so much like bedroom dancing. i don’t want to write about how to run a party right now, but i just want to say this, in re: mix tapes:

one time shaun made a dance party mix tape and put “pop goes the world” on it, and when it came on, he went super crazy, and danced harder than seemingly possible to what is a definitely great but not crazy or especially fast song. it made me really happy and now i like to put that song on, and dance too hard to it. i like a mix tape party because you can make the tape and dance to it too– you can lead by example and not be outside and not be beholden to anyone, and there’s no control, and it can work out. you can make a bed and convince people that laying in it is fun, and they’ll lay in it, and they’ll have fun.

that’s all i want to say about mix tapes and/or the halloween party right now.

ok, moving backwards in time again:
ssaturday day was more filming of the cosby show at HBML, which is going good but painfully slow. i thought i could hype up a day and get a ton of people (or all the people that continually tell me what a good idea it is) to come in, but this was not the case. but even though there was never really the line of people i anticipated, we had good crowds, and a fair amount of people that just came in off the street only to be instantly corralled into this baffling activity. i think one more good day and it’ll be in the can, which will be good, because i really need to be finished with this and move on to something else. after that i took a nap, then the wheelchair show, previously mentioned.

the show at the go go on friday was good, i played my acoustic guitar and even got really really quiet for once, which was really nice. i saw john guida on the street earlier in the day and he had a book of william blake, so when i saw him at the show i played “how sweet i roamed from field to field”. but i forgot to play “number of the beast” like i had planned, and the bowie song (“fantastic voyage” from “lodger”) i had spent precious time figuring out. shai’s band was him and his sister, super cute and playing a variety of nylon stringed intruments, with occasional abstract lyrics i really liked. the points north was nice quiet music with air organ or flute, guitar held very upright, and booming bass drum w/brushed snare. the audience was lots of folks that i did not know, which was nice and made me feel less embarrassed for not having tons of new songs.

the bone zone / shell shag / this bike is a pipe bomb show in providence was awesome– lots of us wanted to go, so as previously stated, MZ rented a 15 foot van and we packed 18 people into it, singing ramones songs the whole way there, with fading down the music suddenly to sporadically solo the singalong. it was like church camp. then once the show started we danced and rowdied and had a good time. bone zone played first, which was cool because we all got nuts even before the first note and kept high energy the whole time, through shell shag (who were amazing) and pipe bomb, who played two encores! i love to see the pipe bomb band, and to talk to them and for both of us say wonderful things to each other. about a million years ago, back when punks lived on the farm, the pipe bomb band came and stayed a night, and really stayed up all night talking and goofing off and cooking big meals on the wood stove and swimming in the old swimming hole, now every time i see terri she tells me that was her favorite cooking experience, and she owns a restaurant. it always makes me happy, but also a little sad, to think that she carries in her mind a vision of my life from 6 (?) years ago, and neither one of us can go back (which is information i withhold).

halloween pictures not in because the dock is still packed up, which is the same reason my phone stopped working– the charger’s in the same box. i guess i don’t really have much to say about the party anyway, nothing for posterity.

sorry gang, back to actual ideas and some semblance of communication soon.

last night was supposedly the last show at the wheelchair (although there’s another one on tuesday), featuring the rowdy ones and a bunch of other bands. the wheelchair is a pretty crazy punk venue in an old warehouse space, legendary despite only being around for what, a year? anyway i was crazy busy and there were other things that night but i had to go, it being “the last” and everything, or at least it being percieved as the last. i guess the landlord wants to make them heat the place (last winter they didn’t really, and people just had to run around) and it’s an extra $400 a month, plus there was pressure from neighbors, but anyway, it was not shut down in a legal way which is great. the space is, like i said, classic, and a real bright spot, a real shot in the arm. i’ve written on this before, so i won’t go into too much detail right now, but it bears repeating that it is crazy, super fun, with lots of rough housing but not a ton of tough guy bullshit. the jewel in the crown for the wheelchair would have been the DSB/inepsy show, had DSB been allowed in the country, but suffice it to say that the mere fact this got booked is indicative– DSB is a huge band from japan that, due to legal issues, can only be out of the country for a few days a year, and rather than play a legit venue in boston to a bunch of folded arms, they wanted to play the weird clubhouse in worcester. dan wars was folding 500 paper airplanes for this show, and little matt was shoplifting glitter and trying to borrow a nice box fan to blow it into everyone’s greasy hairstyles to stay there forever. this is what i’m talking about.

having said that, the show was pretty self-aware, which is a buzzkill for gleeful abandon. nonetheless, rowdy ones drove everyone into a frenzy, it was fun. the only rule: NO BREAKING BOTTLES, was broken, but as soon as the band stopped circle pat was there with the broom sweeping all the glass up and apparently no one got sliced up, despite the cement floor being slick with spilled beer. fireworks were going off everywhere, the air equal parts cigarette smoke and flying debris– beer cans, cardboard boxes, a large plastic trash barrel, and no small amount of mildewy couch cushions surprisingly heavy with miscellaneous damp, soaring through the air at such a rate that it was more like electrons clouding. ok, it was awesome.

not to continually bring up strategy, but i think the chaos and mess of the place are really important for quelling both bullies and serious injury. serious injury is at a minimum because minor injury is a constant– you can’t get up a good speed to really knock anyone over because everything’s so damn slippery– everyone’s a bambi on ice. it’s cute even. and you can’t act hard and assume a stance to defend because at any second you might get randomly hit in the face with a soggy romance novel or something, coming from an untraceable location. it’s like how kelley square doesn’t have a lot of accidents despite being “the worst intersection in america”. fascinating.

oh, also: i was thinking on the walk over (last night) that the next day (today) i would write about the show and about that scene of punks in worcester and say that all the punks (“punx”) in worcester are really into ragtime. you know, just to paint a weird picture. but then i realized it’s actually kind of true. no one (that i saw) was wearing arm garters, and piano / banjo acumen was not evident. BUT: there were a lot of well-fitting pants and shirts; there were even some women in pancake makeup, fishnets and weird satin underwear; there was discrete marijuana use in a non-reggae fashion; people were driven to fits by syncopated rhythms. that’s nice for me to think about.

the new podium style will have to be delayed until i work out a stable software, in the meantime come have a nice time at the art opening at HBML, then the show will have ssome guitars. shit, so much to write about. yesterday’s show was so awesome, and involved renting a 15 foot party van and pouring 18 people into and out of it.

my move is pretty much done, and my new room is close to being set-up in a way i can maybe keep clean / workable. yesterday i watched TV at the bar then after the speech i walked into the night, not even saying bye to my friends. maybe i’m a sucker but i felt great. today a lot of looking people in the eye, lots of saying hello.

tomorrrow come see this bike is a pipe bomb, bone zone, and shell shag, at bldg 16 in providence. it’s joanne, carolynn, and andrew OE’s birthday.

friday come see the new art show at HBML, beautiful metal jewelry by HBML volunteer and worcester crafts center teacher lauren beaudoin.

after the show come see me perform at collective a go go with the points north and the sandcastles.

saturday we’re trying to get as many people as possible to come to HBML to film the cosby show. i’m not ssaying we’re going to knock out the whole second half in a day, but let’s try. bring your buddies, wait in line, it’ll be worth it.

• salt & pepper kettle cooked potato chips satisfy my occasional cravings for fried chicken.

• noodles with a spoonful of miso paste stirred in satisfy my occasional cravings for shitty macaroni & cheese
• anything with ketchup, mustard and a thin pickle satisfies my occasional craving for mc donald’s cheeseburgers

the move is going ok although last night as noted i was in a hell zone. on the edges of the zone i spent the night in the new bed (having found my box with the blankets in it by cell-phone light) but woke up this morning in a brilliant rush, energized. CJ, annie pokely, and kevduff making breakfasty noise downstairs and sure enough, breakfast and plenty of it. kevin is frequently like ed mcmahon to me, red faced and shakey, but also jumping in with choice nods, facts, and how-abouts– it rules. now i’m back at the office still cleaning up / packing the drips and drabs, trying not to fall into that familiar zeno mode of constantly halving my lot and leaving a little bit to go back for.

ok, can’t fall in the interhole, gotta stay hot!

…

today and tomorrow i’ll be packing up / cleaning up to move literally three blocks away, moving in with little lando, clammy cluckmaster, belly barfson, amba lance and all those other rats (not literal rats) at Distinct Hastle. i’m psyched to move and to have control over my space (in re: painting the floors, nailing things where i want them to be nailed, etc.) but moving is ssuch a pain when you have such an extensive and varied library as i do. anyway when i go a while without writing i forget things, so i want to make a brief nod in the direction of my recent memory for a half second–

the party was fun although promised pictures are still forthcoming and will remain that way for a time. in the meantime i’ll entertain guesses based on these buzzwords: triumphant, suave, monstruous, mystical/mythical, still alive, and with flowy appendages. the party was lousy with college students, which is fine but gets depressing (to me alone, for my own reasons) as the night winds out. mixtape triumphant although it sure cleared the floor at first (“gravy” by dee dee sharp is apparently not as much a call to arms to others as to me, which is a shame especially considering the lyrical content). i left while my memories were still beautiful, but to be plain, the night did not stand still or turn inside out, or make everything glass, or suddenly be a magical glade, or offer any noteworthy respite from the day, although i did experience the effect of seeing someone’s face melt off, quite casually and some hours after i left.

maybe soon, maybe never:
• new directions in mixtapes
• trying hard to not be a bummer
• how anything can happen but usually doesn’t and how to address this issue
• review of recent archie acquisitions

mild chance the show friday might be totally totally new, and technically a “flash flood” show, will keep the readers informed.