The official blog of Brown Posey Press Author, Radio PA Network anchor, Blog Talk Radio host, and more than occasional problem causer, Tory Gates. Welcome, share and enjoy...hopefully ye shall be left to think.
This is my Myspace page, and I'd not blogged on it in over a year. I didn't want this document to take away from what I'd written on the 1st.
So there's that and you might want to click there and check it out.
That I'll warn you was a real knockdown, drag-out battle within myself.
It is, again I warn you, probably going to offend some of you. It likely will offend certain people's sensitivities, but I cannot apologize for how I feel. You have a right to your feelings; I have mine.
Now that that is established; go read it.
If ye dare.
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Now, I've been listening an old Kronos Quartet CD, "Lachrymose Antique," with a bunch of old English letters that don't make sense. Basically, it's "Early Music." Very interesting as I work about here this evening.
So what have I been doing?
Great. My cat Sofia just erased part of what I was writing, fuck.
Sofia likes to leap onto my worktable, scattering papers and nearly starting fires if I have my candles lit, doing a Stomp dance on my keyboards, both the laptop and PC, crashing onto my antique desk next to it, and flying onto the file cabinet.
I have yelled at her, but what does she know? To her, I'm paying attention to her, no matter what I do or say.
I'm tired of yelling. I do a lot of that, to myself at work and other places when things get hectic, and the coping mechanism isn't ready to go to work yet.
James Blundell's "Ring Around the Moon" CD is what I'm using now. "Breathe in, breathe out..." The first track is called, "Learning to Roll." Good stuff if you can find the Aussie singer.
I'm going in order because I'm in the process of transferring thousands of songs, thanks to Cloud and iMatch.
The Cloud as they call it is backup storage for up to 25,000 tracks. I'm using that, but iMatch sets up your iTunes accounts and other stuff. I have two, one on the PC and one on the laptop.
But you have to order downloads one at a time...so it's gonna take time.
A reason for this is because I'm working to convert my MacBook Pro to do Windows plus Apple. The former is needed for a software called SAM Broadcaster, because yours truly will soon hopefully be DJing in cyberspace.
http://www.radio-airwaves.co.uk/
Soon, very soon I hope. I am getting the Windows license, will lock it in with Paralells, and then get my SAM hookup.
Gonna be fun. Good fun, and I need some of that.
"Four Feet Tall..." You know I'm gonna say right now, get RING AROUND THE MOON by JAMES BLUNDELL. It's that good. Really interesting singing and stuff. Songwriting especially. He also covers Johnny Cash on one song...which one I'll not say.
What is happening is that I'm trying to get things together and I'm tunnelling into doing certain things and working them until they're done. Or dead.
So I've been getting the computer ready for this little gig. Lots to learn, most of which I did not want to learn about. But whatever.
OK...I just about was ready to smash the computer again.
This is what happens. When you computer does something, and you don't know what it is doing or why, then won't let you back up...urg.
Well, I got lucky. Got out of it, and my text is still here. Now here's this:
Good video. Mostly I think country music done after 1991 is utter shit. But James does what the fuck he wants, and how he wants it. Great all around.
Calmness does not come easily for me, but I try. Believe me, I'm trying.
I feel at times like I did for years, dating to before my diagnosis.
Still I feel I can live without the shit. It was good for what was needed, I'm now ready to go without it.
Going to be a fucking trip, and I have to do my best.
I have not done much with "Time the Healer." Just not the time, but I suppose a rest for it is good. I do have a new scene idea, and other ideas, lots of them. Too many to count.
I have an unnamed friend that I call an "Ideas Person." This person has ideas, lots of them. They are good ideas, usually; but they are not well considered. They come out, and then one realizes that the capacity to see it through not to mention the resources comes up.
Hard to put those ideas to work without the forethought. I know the feeling.
"Nature's Gentleman." Exceptional song.
Okay...enough of this.
I do have a lot of computer weirdness to deal with.
I have to do something about the script.
I have to do something more about the Sweet Dreams Series, and getting the first book up and running. Cover ideas by others, manga, etc.
I have to see Alice tomorrow; she has had a rough go of late, but I can't comment on it. She's sounding better the last day or two, I'm encouraged.
Dan and I are going to the Robert Cray Band concert Friday at the Gettysburg Festival. That's gonna be fun. Cray is a superb performer in nearly every way. I'll have a full report.
Gotta get the rest of this together.
I need to take the time.
Time...for all of you struggling. Time is what you need to take, no matter how long. If you get a step forward, you're good.
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!
