this year’s major taylor race was last sunday. i missed the registration (which was kind of ideal) and thus could not enter the race proper, but i had a great time nonetheless. the event is a one-person-at-a-time time trial up george st, a super super steep hill (only two blocks long) off main st near the courthouse. because there is no real head-to-head competition, people of all ages and ability levels participate, some to compete, but most to just to participate, and rep. and because it’s one person at a time, you can really cheer on every single person, which is really fun, and since it’s kind of grueling and in close quarters (the audience lines the sidewalk), the cheering really helps to motivate people. we were camped out pretty far up the hill, and i really feel like our voices and antics pulled people that otherwise might’ve given up. really a great feeling.

that afternoon and night more flitting around. after the hill climb and the traditional pickle barrel lunch, me and MZ, ML and MC all ambled to mouse feet house in home invasion mode to “watch a movie” aka “take a nap”, which ruled and as i expected, randa made cookies, which we ate (cookies: good). waking up all groggy we strode umbrellaed in the rain to the soda place for suicides and deck steaks, then hung out in the parking lot under the 7-11 eave for a good long time. a dinner party at jenna’s house produced two kinds of enchilada, then back to the fold. NICE.

now a little more on the topic of major taylor:
major taylor was a bicycle hero who lived in worcester at the turn of the century (19th - 20th, not 20th - 21st). he was only the second black athlete to become a world champion at anything (after boxer george dixon), and was conspired against at every level of organized bicycling for the duration of his career. he was constantly being threatened by fans and was at least once beat up by another racer. bicycle associations moved many races to sundays, when they knew he could not race for religious reasons. but he persevered and didn’t just “survive”, but became a champion, and what’s more, remained the entire time a gentleman. GOD BLESS.

also, i know i say this every year, but in re: the major taylor hill climb, next year is the year to rep, so train up, get a 1:1 gear ratio if you need to, get your costume ready, and notch your pride up.

major taylor on wikipedia
major taylor association hill climb

• 1.25 cups flour
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• .5 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1.25 cups water

this is the recipe i always use, which i got from the new farm cookbook. this is really the best recipe. and this post is for me, at other places, looking for this recipe. one trick to fluffy pancakes is don’t overmix– leave some chunks. OK!

dan burke is a professional soul singer and his band is called “the orange ocean“. ssaturday they had a big cd release party in a weird downtown office, it ruled. the music is kind of like, i don’t know, 70s piano pop? i kept giggling the whole night, thinking about the cops showing up and being super super confused by a bunch of stunners from the nonprofit sector party-lit by red lights and robotic globes, mellow choogling to classic keyboard patches while the cops silently turn around and walk out, or sometimes don’t even leave the elevator, and a dog raises its dog eyebrow, whimpers maybe. a quest for aggression harshed.

some notes:

• my girls from the art supply store were there, they flowed me drinks flowed to them by a be-flirted and inebriated barkeep.

• there was a duck yao table of food items for sale. i had to watch it while someone smoked a cigarette, so i wrote party slogans on the underside of all the hors d’oeuvre plates: “I’M ‘PREPARED’ FOR ‘WHATEVER’” “I SEE YOU SEEING ME” “HEY, SHUT UP”.
• JK the sensual vampiya told a guy crowd-scanning with a digicam “any pictures that have my face on them, you have to delete”. i said “yeah, he has a… thing” real nebulous and the guy said “oh yeah, totally! no problem!”. later: “i feel like this is both being an asshole and being reasonable.” i agree! also, JK made a joke about goethe and his theory of colors, then at least an hour passes before a guy none of us had ever seen turns to us and makes the same joke! i was like, are you fucking kidding me? as it turns out, neither of them had read the book, they just both knew that it was “important”. cherry, baby.
• dan burke is a great guy who is really good at what he does and what he does is something i wouldn’t necessarily seek out, but it’s delightful and a wonder to behold. guys, i’m not saying it’s “cute” or “quaint”, and i’m not trying to use world music language here. but let’s be frank: i left my zone. and: i had a super fun time in the traditional custom. and: i saw the strangeness of a border area and: that strangeness was cowed where all rivers meet. i know, this is like “duh”. but again– a squatted office, party heels, tom petty, cape codders, spinning dance lights, spray paint, sitting on the fire escape above the city with a beautiful manager, where the DJs still play “hey ya”. all one or none!

pictured above is LA in his natural state. i’m thinking of getting a photo hosting community thing– anyone have any recommendations?

jjb buckmaster, famous of the terribles, and comic artist, displays for all to see his one enormous hand, in this photospread for all to see. to make it easier to understand, we have posed him with two items identical in size. it’s weird, i know.

no photoshop.

(more…)

the barbeque yesterday was really fun: lots of folks, lots of food, music and dancing, and wrassling, and getting muddy. billy blue played what he said might be his last worcester show, being as he’s moving to portland oregon, and we wish him all the best. terribles played their long-awaited cd release show, for the new joint “in congre∫s”. the terribles take turns in designing album art, this time it was matt carroll’s go, and he chose to make it look the title page of common sense: “Of the SYNCOPATION and HARMONY of Mu∫ickal in∫truments in general, with con∫ise Remarks on the A∫pects of Righteou∫ne∫s.” etc.. and of course it’s matt carroll, so *everything* is *perfect*. well done gentlemen.

the party was in the backyard of billy’s house and no one called the cops, and it rained a bit on three occasions throughout the night but nothing got ruined and that includes no one getting electrocuted. AND, in addition to this ssummer being “summer of worcester (again / still)” and “summer of having love” and somewhat inexplicably “summer of hand-whittled zippers”, it was also decided that this would be “platinum summer”, so pars whipped out the bleach and many got did, including yours truly. also, it was the first genuinely hot day of the year, so there was a lot of leg showing all around– a lot of fresh, weird, frog-belly leg.

all this week i’ll be bleaching my hair over and over again, until it looks like my head is made of pure cocaine.

a few weeks ago me and nik perry were in the liquor store getting swamp water supplies when he noticed that the nice indian ladies who work at this particular liquor store had drawn a beard and mustache on the babe calendar. we broed down a little about this compulsion, then as we were leaving, the lady said something in hindi to her mother, butme and nik both thought she was talking to us, and we both heard “good luck, archimedes!” and we both didn’t know how to respond, which is probably for the best.

the other day there was a guy at the grocery store going on and on in the meat section about how good the haddock was, to point of stopping people who were walking by and saying “you gotta try the haddock!”. i told him “you sound like my wife– it seems like every night she has a haddock!”. the guy said “huh.”. i’m sorry but this did happen, and i’m sorry.

karaoke was fun, i sang a few, including “fernando“, which was just out of my range so on the high notes i had to grab my throat and physically change the shape of my windpipe, which is something i read about akon doing.

the show last night was also fun, although for no reason i was totally out of it. as in, my brain and body were all weird. i liked all the bands, especially grass widow, and it was super great to see matt tobey tear on the guitar! and the house totally smelled “crusty”, which is cool.

kevin driscoll has a new screwed-down mixtape, it’s good, even though it’s named after a kind of fart: NIGHT WIND. george washington carver myers also has a screwed mix tape that just came out, but the source material is all dancehall, and when you screw down the huge bass drops already present in reggae they turn into a sound like a cable is a little loose, or something is improperly grounded. my screw tape is coming out next week, dead serious, cd + download, another “new trend” release.

here’s the flyer for tomorrow’s B*X+Q. nik perry made it (the flyer):

tonight and seemingly every wednesday night until the end of summer, our pal HO P WI will be hosting a karaoke nite at ralph’s. if you know holmes, you know that this is a dream come true for him, he’s carzy about karaoke. when he was traveling around south america he would use karaoke as a funny icebreaker, as a way to get to know fun people in any place he was. he also has a lot of cool karaoke styles– his interest in dancehall led to the idea “karaoke mashup” where you sing one song over another, or blend two songs together on the fly. but to quote the email:

…don’t be intimidated. This is like youth soccer, everybody gets a medal.

OKEKARAOKEKARAOKEKARAOKEKARAOKEKARAOKEKARAOKEKARA

this is going to be super fun!

ALSO
tomorrow (thursday the 5th) 7pm at the go go,

• good luck (bloomington, in) (feel good, up beat punk rock. matty pop chart’s rock band)

• grass widow (san francisco, ca) (magical, harmonious pop music)
• bold slug (athens, ga) (sloppy pop punk)
• hot new mexicans (athens, ga) (rock n rollers)

again, no local draw? get some bands together, dudes!

THEN
saturday 2pm - 5 it’s t-shirt tailor with my mom, louise berendes, at HBML.

FOLLOWED BY
4pm - ?, billy blue blues band beer blast barbeque backyard birthday blowout! it’s billy’s 50th birthday, come rock out to his awesome band in his own backyard. this is also the terribles cd release party for the new epic, “in congrefs”.

damn, stack it up!

today was a crafts fair in the park, which was good and i did OK, and more than that i had a fun time talking fast and counting coup with passers by and those i just walked right up to. i bought a bunch of tiny glass elephants and some soap that smells like oatmeal cookies, the idea being that i would start to smell like cookies and subconsciously you would connect the smell of cookies to me, and then when you made cookies you would think to yourself or someone nearby “you know who i should call?…”. pretty devious on a few fronts really. pictured above is ashling’s arm, she got a cool sunburn which you can well imagine. see also: heavy reppin’ (with pogo), a laffy lady (with dark clouds (that flew by really fast with no static)).

yesterday there was a lot going on, but i didn’t go to the bone zone show, i went to the noise show at the firehouse, which was as advertised but shirt quitters didn’t play. chris cooper (angst hase pfeffer nase) destroyed it with a classic table top guitar set on the ground, and i filmed it and already put it up on the internet. there was almost no one there that didn’t live there, which was a bummer, but the lesson is “book a local draw”. i gave them all the money i had, and was glad to do it: a big change jar, with a lot of quarters in it, except for $1.50, which i got a coffee with later (although the diner didn’t charge for the coffee). i told george washington myers that i would say something about him on the internet so here goes: hi george!

tonight i went to a show that jenine played, at the go go. also matt f and a touring act called led to sea, which was good songwriting over violin with phrase samplers, outside by the fire, real nice. tomorrow i catch up on some bullshit, start some new bullshit. bed!

so, for the record, i’ve had the camera (a casio ex-z600) for about a week now and i’m delighted. battery’s good, screen is big and bright, quick on the draw, quick refresh, good flash modes, videos, etc., all that stuff i said. i’ve been carrying it around wherever i go, but in order to avoid “kino eye”, that condition where everything is mediated by the idea “how would i capture this feeling in a photograph?”, i’ve been judicious in snaps. or rather, i’ve been ajudicious– sometimes i just take a picture of almost nothing, and oftentimes wonderful things happen and i just decide to remember it. at the same time i’m trying to be more like matt carroll, who has integrated his digital camera into his being as an extension– he’ll take a picture of a map or a list of phone numbers he needs to look at later, or if he can’t read something far away he’ll snap it and zoom in. the other day i took a picture of some song lyrics me and andrew wrote that we lost once already (for our band “space boyfriends“). pretty satisfying. also i got into that digital camera game where you flap your face around as fast as you can and then take a picture. any ideas for more frivolous digicam games / wastes? videos are still unexplored territory. oh, and now that i have the camera, the HBML webiste is back up “on the regs”.

picture above is my room, from the vantage point of my bed, which as everyone knows is not a bed but a pad on the ground. obviously i still don’t understand how a digital camera actually works, especially in low light– it’s not like the shutter stays open longer, right? holmes says that digital sensors will just get better and better and in a matter of years any photo with a flash will look dated. that’s cool. oh also, i use the free and pretty perfect photodrop application to make tiny gears i can drag a file onto to resize or rotate it. real nice. this has been photo minutia paragraph. we’re your paragraph, bakersfield.

NB: i’m obsessed with tagging, but i just made and destroyed a “minutia” category. because where to split a hair, america?

the first time i ever saw one of these things i was already 20 years old and i wigged out. needless to say i stepped on it, and then in removing the sizable carcass with a tissue, one of it’s legs (and, apparently, a tiny bit of nervous system) fell on my hand and started twitching independent. so i instinctively squirted a mass of black ink out of a special aperture, hoping the predator would confuse this mass with my person, enabling a quick escape by a hair’s breadth. anyway i just now saw this fucking guy pictured above and laughed, because now there exists a category of bad thing i just laugh at, until i remembered that i sleep on the floor and these lousy eyelashes will sooner or later flutter across my resting peaceful open nostril. i cannot right now invent an expletive to describe this feeling, certainly one does not already exist.

anyway anyway, as you might deduce, this exact bug offered me the perfect oppurtunuty to mess with the new camera i just got in the mail. sure enough i was able to turn it on, navigate to “macro” focusing mode, and snap a few before it scurried under something i wanted to sit on. pretty sweet. the camera is a casio ex-z600, slim as a pack of playing cards, big screen, a quick draw, easy upload. too early to give a review but if the battery’s decent (and other reviews point to yes, and quite), it’ll be $100 well spent.

via wiki:

Young centipedes have four pairs of legs when they are hatched. They gain a new pair with the first molting, and two pairs with every subsequent molting.

this scutigera is 6 years old!

select pictures of the fashion shoot are up. thanks andrew!

also, this is my favorite picture of myself ever.

jamie’s art opening at HBML yesterday was awesome, and there were indeed lots of folks from the art museum, and he sold lots of paintings, which rules. the show will be up for three weeks.

today we had a fashion shoot at the store, and i was apprehensive about having two events back to back, and it rained pretty hard, but still people came out, and it was totally fun. pictures are forthcoming. the best part was when the landlord came by with people interested in buying the building, and none of them expecting to catch the totally weird sight they beheld, and a bunch of teenagers daring each other to dress less and less societally controlled on top of it all with parisian house music bumpin’. BUGG OUT YOUTH.

picture above from this great collection of kid’s science fair projects