Girding One's Loins...Such Interesting Mental Pictures

That does make for a very interesting one, doesn't it?


The definition of that term is, "to summon up one's inner resources in preparation for action."  As it says here:


http://www.thefreedictionary.com/gird+loins

I remember Harris in "Major League" saying that in a prayer before the beginning of the season; before that, Mark Twain wrote that Tom Sawyer did so, before preparing to study Bible verses.  


Yes, I'm attempting to summon my resources to get back to work in a manner of speaking.  I suppose the timing is not good, which is why I'm having my difficulties with it.


Add to that, I'm still adjusting to my upped druggage.  I was feeling really mellow...stoned, actually for the first three days of the increased amount of the Big Z.  My energy level has slowly returned, and I am not quite as plotless in my mind.


"TNT," Ladell McLin version...imagine AC/DC being played by a guy that looks like Prince and sounds & plays guitar a bit like Hendrix.  Interesting.  Other iTunes as the situation permits...


My writings of late have fallen off, mostly to deal with editing.  New ideas in the head, but one is starting to come to the fore and I have to get to it.  Did not get a lot of response when it came to my offering of "Take Another Road" on here, and I'm a little disappointed.  Oh well...


...my now ex-girlfriend (and it's official) Alice is going to apply her skills at graphic design and web-making to a site for moi later this month, so we'll roll with it from there.  Meanwhile, we each have things to get down on.  We're good; great friends, and know we understand one another damned well.  It's almost scary, but a very good thing.


For me, yes...the new book idea is coming, has been for several months, and I've several pages of sketches, storylines and characters.  It will be intriguing and different, yet also familiar, I hope.


"Jack-A-Lynn," by Jethro Tull.  Lovely...


Now anyway, I've done yet another edit of "Parasite Girls."  It's getting better; has potential as a film script, too.  Drama, I think...yes, mostly that, with a little action and excitement, but a study of the human being inside each of us, a little mad, a little not so, and whatever.  That's done.


As for the "Sweet Dreams Series," we're now forging ahead with a new tactic.  My intrepid agent will now attack the Mainstream Fiction market.  We were going YA with it, but it seems that the idea has been lost on some.


Honestly, this appeals to all, to more, to beyond just what that demographic reads.  Adults and kids of all ages have given me the thumbs up (but for one fellow, heehee, and he knows who he is, but it's cool he was honest with me and I love him for that).  It will go...dammit!


The manga side will soon be analyzed yet again and hopefully some action can be taken soon on that.


Now it is true that the SDS series after Book 3 needs some tweaking; I'll get to that over time, but it will be a larger project than I envisioned.  Need more time for that.  Much more.


"Bleed American," Jimmy Eat World; "I'm not crazy 'cause I take the right pills every day."  Heh.


Healthwise, I'm in good shape.  Better health, but I do worry a little about feeling smacked out at times.  Focus better, but there's a trade-off.


Must get ready to raise some hell with this new one...I think this will be a very hard topic for me, because it goes again back to parts of my life that were depressing, and I mean very depressing.  It's that part of my life that needs addressing.  I've addressed all manner of horrors in my writings, other's experiences told to me, plus my own.  And I have just gotten started there.


Fun, eh?  Oh yeah...


"Have to Drive..." -- from the recently purchased "Who Killed Amanda Palmer?" CD.  Figures...the Dresden Dolls (and the wonderfully dark-humored Ms. Palmer) are involved in the new work...oh yes, useful for the main character.


Now, this may seem rather off-topic, but it's not:


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pgQzRATYBjA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Watch this, but zoom ahead to about the 1:55 mark...Jim Jeffries will tell you of a text message, and then ask a question of himself.


He will tell you the answer.


I think much alike in this respect, for good or ill.


Because of what goes on up in my mind, I can create some pretty neat things...and some odd ones.


Ah well..."Blowfish" by Steve Vai is on...


I better get to this while I'm still conscious...a couple days off before back to the work thing.  Let's see what comes of it all...

Over, Under, Sideways, Down...When Will it End?

Oh, it's on now!


The re-recorded Yardbirds tune came onto my Walkman just a few minutes ago.  I do feel like I've been taken over, under, sideways and down the past 12 hours.


I had a talk with Alice that lasted about six hours yesterday, then we had a phone convo that lasted more than an hour.  Relationships!  Well, I'm glad we did have it; I am NOT sharing the lurid details, because they ain't nobody's business but our own.  Suffice to say, things needed to be talked about, and it's all good.


Now...my attempts to edit "Silk Road Days" got about two pages, as I was diverted by other things.  Always something.


OK...I have been castigated as a hypocrite!  Can you believe that shit?  Apparently, my good friend Riz, she of the "Letters from the Disgruntled Fringe" blog has caused the hairs inside the butt of a "Christian" to stand up on end, and oh boy is he up in arms!


He's not too happy with me, either.  Yes, I must be a Visigoth in his Catholic eyes; Riz and I, among others are those who have ground the fine principles of fairness, morality and probity under our Pagan Wheels!


Well, ain't that a muthafuckin' bitch?


This all comes from Riz and her posting on Facebook about that Wall Street Journal writer, bitching about YA novels and what pervs us writers are in general.  I wrote about this in yesterday's blog, "The First Duty."


The Catholic fellow was mostly going on Riz, and I will say he might have a couple of pretty good points.  He did however go off on a rant, more than once about Riz's points of view, and on my blog.  


He was right, it did go off into a rant, but that is how I write on the fly.  Add to it, I was focusing on a specific part of society, which really is out of touch with the world about them.


This guy is a little out of it, too, in my own opinion.  This goes back to another of my recent writings about Child Worship and Child Obsession.  He I fear is far too overprotective of his children; far be it from me to say he is a bad parent, because I honestly do not think he is.  He is doing the best he can, with the tools at hand and what he feels is right.  I can't say ill of that.


I just think he's a bit too obsessed with molding his kids in his own image, and not letting them be children, and also not letting them be the human beings they will be.


We try too damned hard to turn our children into images of ourselves; some parents, and I see a lot of 'em here where I live, who have become so obsessed and paranoid that they become a detriment to their own kids' development.


It's not their fault, again with what tools one has to work with.  You have to realize though...people are gonna leave the nest and be what they'll be.  Is it not better to allow your child to open his/her mind and let them think for themselves?


I don't think a lot of parents do that.  They are so obsessed with controlling every aspect of their kids' lives, then they wonder why the kid flunked out of college, or if they did graduate, why they're back home living in the room they grew up in, unable to find a job beyond the third shift at Wal-Mart, or with thousands of dollars in credit card debt (all of these are actual individuals that I know personally)...and the folks wonder why.


Look in the mirror.  You're all trying, yes, but too hard.


Too often I see parents totally living out their dreams through their kids.  They make their kids what they wish they could have been...they make them play sports, make them go to dance classes, shove them into theatre, slam them into youth ministry and church activities.


Because THE PARENTS were failures at one or all of these, and they fantasize that the kid is THEM.  


Hey, if a kid expresses interest and an aptitude for these things, then wonderful.  If you as a parent can help them along and facilitate this, more power to you!  Just remember:  you cannot be Stage Mommy or Daddy...DON'T use your kids, let them be kids.


This all gets back to the fact that a lot of parents are so megalomaniacal that they monitor every second of their children's lives because they fear there's a pervert around every corner that will warp their fragile little eggshell minds.


As I said to that individual, and this is based on my own interactions with my folks:  the sooner you learn that life is hard, not fair, the better a person you will be.


As a kid, it was hard to get it at first, but I did soon after.  No harm, no foul, no one hurt.


We are also constantly trying to find the BAD in everything!  Everything we don't understand...where's the bad, the evil, the negative, the wrong?  Can't see it, it MUST BE THERE SOMEWHERE, WE HAVE TO FIND IT!!!


I suppose we all are too quick to judge, and rip on each other.  Sometimes, I feel I cannot do but hit back, because I have been called so many things when it comes to what I hold dear.  


"I defend your right to (believe in God), but please know that you're wrong!" -- Jim Jeffries


One opinion...me, it makes me laugh.


I don't agree with Jim on that, but my beliefs are not so simple...but, I know Riz's debate partner would probably say I'm wrong, or worse.


We worry too much, folks...waaaaaayyyyy too much.  We worry about everything we see in the media, we attack what we don't like, and in extreme cases, we try to destroy.


We obsess too much about things that don't matter in the grand scheme of things.  We fear the gov't is out to get us; Christians live in fear that non-Christians and Atheists are out to get them; too many people are busy attacking left and right.


We need to get off our high horses, and start thinking a little bit.  I know, that's hard, and rational, logical thinking is difficult for 99% of our nation, but well...


As human beings, we need to GROW UP.


We need to start seeing each other as human beings.  Now, this is gonna blow your brains, but think about it:


1.  CLOTHES DO NOT MAKE THE PERSON.  I don't give a fuck what you wear or don't wear.  I don't fucking care if you wear a suit or blue jeans; I don't care if your kid wears a school uniform or cutoffs and a t-shirt; and I really don't care what anyone wears.


I make jokes about stuff like that all the time...I certainly am not a fashion plate, nor do I care to be.  You must NEVER judge a person by clothes, hair, skin color, tattoos, whatever.


People for years...my family, one of my old bosses, and others have said my image lends people to feel numerous emotions about me:  fear is one of them.  "You scare people," my old friend Bob once said.  Maybe I do, but if you're gonna judge me on my looks, then I'm sorry...I really don't want anything to do with you, if we have never met.


2.  YOUR RELIGION IS YOUR OWN DAMN BUSINESS, AND SHOULD STAY THAT WAY.


I don't have a problem with people having faith.  It's when you misuse it that I get offended.


I am a Buddhist and a Wiccan...the parallels are very much the same, they really are.  But I'm sure some of you will see me as some chanting hippie or a Satanist.  Your loss.


I DO NOT see all Christians for example, as hateful, obsessive individuals who attack others publicly.  I know many Christians who walk the walk and talk the talk as well.  They go by the belief that Jesus walked about in this world in a quiet manner, and did not attack and assault others.  His anger in terms of tossing the moneychangers out of the temple is one thing...an expression of anger, as Thich Nhat Hanh might say, is using it when it is required.


Taking care of Anger...it is an emotion that is a part of us...you must take care of it as you would yourself.  It doesn't mean you can't feel anger, or express it.  Just do not let it explode.


I have to be fair...my car has a Born Again Pagan sticker on it.  Some people ask me what it actually means, and I'm glad to tell them.  So to be fair, I don't care if people have Jesus or other religious stickers on their car.  Your business.


It's when people leave notes on your car about how "wrong" you are, or veiled threats about repenting, that's where I get ripshit.  Also, I despite people who justify hate and worse at people because they are not "just like them."


3.  SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT HOW EVERYONE IS OUT TO GET YOU, PERSONALLY.


25 years ago, I believed things like that.  As you get older, you do indeed mature, and I've seen the world in a different light.  I am stunned to see so many people, normally who would be among the nicest, most interesting and intelligent people I know, suddenly go off the deep end.


The Rapture...Obama is a Muslim...Black Helicopters...WE'RE BEING WATCHED BY THE GOVERNMENT...the Pagans sacrifice children and animals (yep, I've heard that one)...THEY'RE OUT TO GET ME.........


GROW THE FUCK UP!


The government has more important things to do than worry about some damned unemployed sap who's glued to Fox News and Rush Limbaugh 24/7, the soccer mom who's obsessing over their three kids and their theatre/soccer/MMA practice (joking a little), and the religious wingnut who's stocking an underground bunker with three years' supply of canned goods and bottled water (I know one of those, too, yes I do...we were on jury duty together!).


4...(um, where were we?)


Oh yeah...I'm having to laugh right now.  This has been fun to write, because it helps clear my head, and I surely hope you might be able to do that yourself.  


Breathe, peeps...not every YA novel is going to corrupt your kid's mind...DIDN'T YOU WANT THEM TO READ INSTEAD OF PLAYING VIDEO GAMES, DAMMIT?!?


Not everything Lady Gaga says or does will kill you or your children.  Glenn Beck is not going to preside over the end of the world, unless you choose to follow him.  Obama is not sending the Men in Black to your house tonight (unless of course, you publicly threaten him).


Let's stop worrying so much over every little thing.  Let's open our eyes and see the world for what it is...and let's stop fighting over which God is better than the other...Steve Earle wrote, "God is God,"  and really it's all the same.


All things are the same, just as they were in the past, just in different forms.  Stop being so tight-assed and so paranoid.  We're not all gonna die, not yet; none of this is the end of the world.

Annapolis/Jersey Shore Aftermath, the Big Lebowski, and More Strange Threads

Well, it's Saturday and I have to get ready to get back to work.  WITF has me this weekend; and KYW sports updates will be my second shift job for the next two days.  Back to normal...I doubt it.


Walkman time:  "A Growing Time," by Dan Fogelberg.  From the posthumous album he was working on and finished before he passed on.  Typical Fogelberg; but it's really a very good song.


Okay...again I wish to thank everyone for their support during a very trying time.  That trip to Annapolis was not a total loss, because the rough draft of "Silk Road Days" was completed before the shit really hit the fan.  I am going to eventually read the book, and make notes as I consider what to do to make a 600 page story worth reading.


I think it will be a three part story, and that's about all I can think of that will make it work.  It rather is in three parts anyway, so I believe it will go well.


"Don't Want to Fight," by Alvin Lee.  Nice...from the fantastic "Detroit Diesel" album.


I have not heard from the hotel; I have sent a message to first praise the manager for her calmness under pressure.  Also to see about a refund, and see what else can be done.  I am also seeking a copy of the police report, just in case I need some kind of record of what went down from the officer's point of view.


The cops by the way, while legitmately tough dudes (not boys you want on your bad side), were very professional and understand.  I really appreciate how they handled it, and went to a great length to find out that the accusers were a bunch of liars and attention seekers.  Add to it, their parents are a pack of sorry individuals.


I would love to know what school district or districts these individuals "represented."  Because they represented their school or schools, and their state very badly.  I am so tempted to find out, so I can send letters to their school boards and superintendents, to let them know what Grade A Assholes were sent off for a trip.


I wonder if that will be the subject of discussion, and whether those shits have queered the deal for the good kids who deserve a trip somewhere.  Wonder if they'll ever do any of those trips again.


Anyway, I really don't care because there was nothing I could be charged with, I did nothing wrong.  At all.  Period.


"Woke Up Dreaming," by Joe Bonamassa...fabulous guitar work.  This guy is way more than a blues guitarist.  


The tone changes with the music, hmmm...okay, on Friday I went up to visit Alice at her place, and we had a nice time.  She has been raving about "The Big Lebowski."  I've never seen it, til now.


A brilliant, bizarre, and well crafted crazy flick.  Jeff Bridges is fantastic, John Goodman did a fabulous job, in fact everyone in the film did damn well.  The odd cameos by Sam Elliott (straight out of Lonesome Dove) were a great add.


Loved it; great to see Jimmie Dale Gilmore in a brief acting role, and the scene where Goodman pulls heat on him over a bowling match is just weird as shit.


I also got to turn Alice on to Jim Jeffries, as his HBO special, "I Swear to God."  She digs him now.


We got to talk, have dinner, etc.  Alice is okay; she dumped her bike the night before on her way back from a show.  A little banged up, but she and the bike survived, thankfully.  Wasn't her fault; some dipshit slammed on his breaks, forcing a big rig to do the same, and that's what caused Alice to wreck.


Also got the new Bruce Cockburn CD, "A Small Source of Comfort."  Fantastic package, yet again.  Bruce is a big influence on me, and I generally snag anything he puts out.


I took a chance, as I'm wont to do:  Vusi Malahsela has a new CD called "Say Africa."  An amazing folk/African album; Taj Mahal produced and Angelique Kidjo guests on it.  Really special recording, with some fine songs.  


So...what now do I do?  I have to carry on, despite the lingering weirdness that stays with you when something really fucked up happens.  I just have to move forward with my life, and leave it as experience.


Unless that hotel offers me something, I will NEVER stay in a big chain hotel ever again.  The only one I will is one in Cambridge, because it is well staffed, the rooms are quiet and security does not take shit from shit, you dig?


True, you cannot pick your fellow guests, but you can minimize the risk and the bullshit.  When you put large numbers of people:  convention-goers, class trips, rock bands and their crews or sports teams, you are in for trouble.  Especially when alcohol is added to the mix.


You should read my June 2 blogs to get the full rundown if you don't know.


Urgh...I am again trying to look ahead here.  "Silk Road Days" is working on the brain, and I can't imagine myself writing anything new for a while, even thought I've some ideas in the can.


I also have to consider editing and rewriting of SDS-1, aka "Sweet Dreams:  Searching for Roy Buchanan."  I sense one day soon I will have a deal to get this book out, but before that, rewrites and whatever else will be required.  I'm ready as I'll ever be.


"Long Hauls and Close Calls," by Hank III...scary weird shit.

Pittsburgh, Old Friends, and Jim Jeffries...and Other Strange Thoughts...

Alright...it's time blog again...a double shot of extended Kronos Quartet "Floodplain" material going through my Walkman right now...eerie weirdness that just goes with every other thing that has occurred in the past I don't know how many hours.  24?  36?


Friday...a day off, bizarre.  Of course not without enterprise; my beginning had a rude start when I went to the Money God !URRRR! ATM to get some cash...


...hmmm...barely sufficient funds.  Not insufficient, mind, but barely sufficient.  This is not good.  I don't have time to think about this shit.


Not to brag, but this is why I keep my credit card paid off (plus my rent, above all else)...if there's an emergency like this, it's required.


Okay, on the road and headed into Western Pennsylvania.  My first time in my life traveling west of Harrisburg.  The Pike was a good smooth ride, no big deal...nothing much to report.


Finding my way into a city I've never been to is always weird for me.  Actually didn't have to go there first.  Stopped off in Monroeville to see my old friend Lynn.  This a woman I met in New York in 1987, and while we met that one time, it was one of those strange defining moments in a person's life.


Well, Lynn is a PITT grad., and has lived in and around the city all her life.  She looks great, is married, has kids and is loving a nice quiet life.  You can tell; it was great to see her, and we had a very good meeting.


I was to meet up with Riz somewhere in the area of the Improv, in Homestead, for the Jim Jeffries show.  Well, turns out Riz is visiting her close friend KJ's mom in Monroeville...so I go across the street to the Morebucks (read:  Monroeville Office, since nearly every Borders out there was closed).  Get to see a lot of interesting people...lot of sales girls from the adjacent shopping center coming in for coffee, a lot of college kids, a contingent of Indian ladies and gentlemen, the women all attired in colorful traditional (sari) dresses...they were loud, though...real loud.


Oh well.  One young woman was extremely loud in talking about her fucked up young life and her allegedly planned arranged marriage.  Fuck, this girl can't be more than 25, WTF.


High school girl to my left talking LOUDLY to her boyfriend about her trip to France...woop de do, but then again I suppose it's big at that age.  Don't remember...the one opportunity I had to go to Paris as a kid was taken from me before I had it...oh well.


About 25 minutes of Kronos Quartet has segued into..."Little Red Rooster," by Luther Allison.  Okay...


Riz roars in...the Buick Bomber is loaded to the gunwales with her gear.  She is ready for the road in more ways than one...she has more tech gear than the average Geek Squadder, but it's entertaining.


We hang for a long while, and then it's follow Riz (Boston driver, remember that) through Pittsburgh and over the bridge into Homestead for the Improv.


Now, the Improv is located in some kind of Riverside mini-city.  If you live around here, think of Hunt Valley, where the Wegmans, and all those stores are.  Then multiply this by about 10.  That big. Clubs, restaurants, shops, really pretty cool setup.


We are inside and in second row, just off stage right...we have dinner, and then the show gets going.


The compere is a local woman whose name I can't remember...lot of dick and lesbian jokes, not impressive.  Opening act is someone named John Evans (I think); a few good lines, but I'm sorry, not that funny.  Needs to string things together a bit better.


Then right into Jim!  Now Jim Jeffries is Riz's CELEBRICRUSH!  She traveled all the way from Boston to see him!  


Dueling Shamisens....Yoshida Brothers doing "Kodo (Hishou Version)."  Mental picture for you I'm sure is really strange right?


Okay, Jim is on fire, and I mean he is just breathing it!  Nearly all new material, excellent pacing; not quite as good as the "Alcoholocaust" show, which comes out on Showtime in September.


Warning:  the Showtime performance will be edited.  Get the DVD via Amazon.uk if you want the real deal...or look on Youtube for it. A great performance, which Showtime will fuck up.


One of the "old" bits Jim did was one that was cut off because it would offend people.  Okay, I can see Auschwitz being a potentially offensive subject in a comedy act.  But it's very dark humor that you have to understand.


Anyway...show went fast...


"Then Came Lo Mein," by Robert Earl Keen and Johnette Napolitano...strange song by Keen.


So out we went, Jim signed DVDs of his other show, "I Swear to God," very good one, too...got to shake his hand, nice guy.


My biggest worry was getting the fuck out of Pittsburgh and back to the Pike, because it was gonna be a four hour drive.  But it was almost a straight line out of the complex, across the Grays Bridge, through a 'burb, and then to the highway.


Oy...one hell of a long ass day trip, but it was fun, and I can't regret it.  Considering the work is going to get completely fucked in the head, starting next Thursday.  Need to get my head together, need to get some more work done on "Silk Road Days," which I've been doing, and then see what the fuck else I have to do.


I have not had time to really do any writings or columns on things that piss me off, but perhaps I'm getting more mature and not worrying about that shit.


Ah...and my exchanges with Alice...hee...hee...hee...I cannot but smile.


Actually, Riz and I both have reason to smile.  Riz's new guy, Al sounds like a real-deal good man.  His daughter is an anime geek, and a sweet kid from what I have heard.  All good...the ex-wife sounds like a real high maintenance problem, but that should be someone else's you'd hope.


Anyway, good for all of 'em.  And yeah...good for Alice, and me, HELL MOTHER-FUCKING YES!


OK, off to it!

Just When You Think You Know it All...

...you suddenly are reminded you don't know jack shit.


Another busy and odd period for me.  As usual, I'm a person that has to be working on something or accomplishing something...or I'm not doing anything.


I finally got back to work on "Silk Road Days;" I've needed to go back through the book, and rewrite, as well as firm up a number of areas that just didn't work in the first draft.  Atop that, new scenes, new ideas, etc.  


Starting to work...I'm up to 240 pages, and I don't know where the end will be.  Lot more to get in, and figure out how and where it all goes.


Back to WITF this morning for "Morning Edition."  Yeah, feeling quite good that I was mastering things, then in the first hour realized that I could still lose the plot.  Lack of sleep, perhaps, but down to just not reading the log right.  But not bad, not bad at all.  Feeling a good boost in my confidence level.  


This weekend, I have KYW stuff, and then next week is a LONG PERIOD FROM HELL.  I will be busy several days in a row, as I sit in for Tim Lambert on Morning Edition, while he gets in a very well deserved vacation.


Daggers.


The new guy starts I think on May 27th, and hopefully we'll have him up to speed by then.  That should be easy, in comparison to me.


Anyway, going well, very happy.


I'm at the Harrisburg Office right now, listening to Will Ackerman's "Last Day at the Beach" on my Walkman, and retanking up.  Alice should be along soon, and I'm very happy at how we've progressed and so quickly.  


I cannot but say I am in love with Alice, and what can I do, but let it move on as it will. 


"My Generation..." Do I have to tell you?


Heehee...anyway, yeah, it's going nicely.  I'm relieved, and also happy beyond belief.


Dan and I got back together this week to play, and we've a new instrumental, 5311.  Provisional title, no words yet...good stuff, Dan comes up with some very interesting and superb guitar lines.


Also selling him my Les Paul.  Well, it's the Epiphone Les Paul; love it, but don't use it.  He works it well, and it fits.  Good for him.  I'll get another one day, but right now, my feeling is that for electrics, I'm headed back in the direction of Fenders.  Tele's and Strats are the guitar of choice for me, or built on those frames.  They just work for me.


Tomorrow, I'm off to Pittsburgh.  Never been; first a lunch meeting with an old friend from radio, that I met once...in 1987, in New York.  Long story...for another day, but Lynn is just a great person, and I can't wait to see her.


Will see Riz, she of the "Letters from the Disgruntled Fringe" blog.  She is on the way...we'll meet up, and see Jim Jeffries in all his glory at the Improv.  A day away from here, and to see my old friends will be fucking awesome.


"When I'm Right (I'm Wrong)," by Dr. John and the Lower 911...good stuff.


Alice has called...I shall see her at the Guitar Center.  Yes, I'm gear crawling again...I know I should not, but I'm gonna see what they got.  And then I'll see where we go from there...


Ah, life is good...heeeheee...


I have been able to cast aside my concerns and my bitches about things that I just don't need to think about right now.  Some things over the past couple weeks make we want to just let rip, but it's going by...Zen thing, coolness....


I'll have a review of my road trip to Pittsburgh, the city, Riz, Jeffries and the like thereafter.

The Process

I'm still alive, but it was one more long, strange weekend.


Walkman starter, "Highways and Heartaches," by Joe Ely.  That should help wake me up, along with a large iced coffee, plus whatever medicines are working in me.


Friday went well at WITF; a good, smooth day, and I'm finally figuring a lot more out.  Turned out to be one hell of a day, and evening.


Got to see Alice again, and we are definitely something.  Well, she's something anyway!  Where the hell have we each been all our lives...I'm just happier than I've been in a long time.  Interesting what a relationship will do, isn't it?


The weekend veered off into weirdness.  I did the afternoon/evening shift for KYW, and while that was all well and good, I had no idea what was waiting for me after.


In the middle of all this, I am back home for Beltane.  The coven and friends gathered at my house, at the last minute for the weather.  Short, but very good ritual; went well, had a good time.  Of course, mindful I have to get up in the am.


I had to do the fast turnaround, which meant leave midnight Saturday and then be back there at like 10 am Sunday...easy, right.


WRONG.


The first part of the shift went pretty fast; the Phillies were playing in the evening, the Sixers are out of the playoffs, and the Flyers dropped their first game to the Bruins the night before.  The Union won, but KYW doesn't give a fuck about soccer, even though they send reporters to the home games.


"Cready Stomp," studio outtake by Pearl Jam...nice.  Perfect for what comes next:


About 2 pm, Rick, my boss calls.  Our far-flung weekender who works for ESPN is stuck in New York State with a broken down ride.  He will not make it.  I proceed to make the decision to stay, until midnight.


Double shift time...running on little sleep as it is, I figure, no big deal, right...yeah, right.  I keep going, the night drags on, and of course, the Phils and Mets go into extra innings!


14 innings.  1-1 game; at least it was interesting to some extent.  I felt so brain dead, normally I can find other things to do, multi-task, etc.  Not really.  


I didn't get out of there until 1 am, Monday.  15 hour shift.  Hey it's money, right?  As I was prepping to leave, I see my WITF boss, Tim Lambert for the second time.  He was here when I arrived, and he was back before I left.


Reason?  Heard during the game that Osama bin Laden had been killed in a firefight in Pakistan.  So he's in to do the news thing, and planned to go over to the all-night diner across the highway to get sound.


The fun of this world of radio of ours.


"Infinite Love," Nawang Khechog...very different segue, no?


I stagger over to the Sunoco station to get coffee for the ride home...gonna need it.  See some punk band rolling up for gas...can't even remember their name now, a lot of S's in the name.


Crash and burn.


Eight hours later, I'm awake.  Why, I don't know.  Monday, back to the Office, where I finally start to get to work again on "Silk Road Days."  This book is taking a long time to write; I've been rewriting, and adding scenes through the first part of it, because there's a lot missing, and I have a lot more development to do.


Oh, and the TrafficTalk gang called.  I was asked to help cut a phone promo on a new idea they have to deal with the service.  Still talking with people, still working on ideas, funding, etc.  


So now...I was up until 1:30 am, writing, and doing stuff.  The band is hopefully going to gather, at least two or three of us, but would you not know?


Darren, our fill-in drummer was to host Dan and myself; just now he calls...power's out.


Weird shit.  So waiting now to see if Dan's awake and what he'll do.


"Your Hands," John & Yoko...mostly Yoko...oh dear.  Her poetry is good, her voice is NOT.  Skip.


"I Can't Explain," studio version, the Who...now we're talking!


Back to Alice...can't stop thinking of her and talking of her.  I have been loathe to write much about her, or mention who she is online, because I don't want to jinx what we have here.  She's a professional stagehand, and knows all that behind the scenes stuff. She has an attitude, she's Pagan (slightly different than me, but who cares?), and rather uninhibited.


Think I finally found my match.  Damn.  It is a very strange situation, but I'm quite pleased, and very happy.  To have someone tell you they love you is really amazing...especially when you know they  mean it.


"Fortune Teller," Who Live at Leeds...ahhh...yes, there's a lot of Who on my Walkman.


So, I now look at things a little differently.  I have a reasonable amount of work right now, and while the new guy at ITF starts later this month, I at least have some extra hours.  All good, but I do wonder about further down the road.  Just gotta keep dealing with things as best I can.  Yet I sometimes wonder about my decisions at times.


See what we can do, I suppose...we all do.


Pittsburgh in a couple of days...hope to make it there in time to have lunch with an old friend and radio colleague, then putz about until I meet Riz for the Jim Jeffries show...and of course, work all weekend right after.  This is life; this is what we insane people do.


"Trees," Paul Weller...weird fucking song on his latest album...about sex changes, I think...or something...need to skip.  I love the Jam and Weller on his own, but oh God not now...


"The Secret Agent Ending," Philip Glass, "Glass Reflections" CD...gotta get going, now.