still not listening

I am thankful for a lot of things. But most of all, I'm thankful for rock and roll.

with the entire fucking planet.

Sorry for being so emo.

I'm so misunderstood!

I'm so alone!

No one gets it!

I'm going crazy!

I can't sleep because I refuse to, and I'm angry, angry all the time!

you know what i especially like? how i spell checked that entry just to make sure i spelled "imbalance" right, and i did the first time, then totally fucked it up.

who gets M and N mixed up?

thier height alone nearly blows my brains out:



this saturday, gentlemen:

Today is so beautiful I want to cry. 



Better update soon.

So I racked my brain and came up with a probably incomplete list of the Best of 2006. I put it in categories, and in chronological order.

Shows

1. Dead Meadow, Gris Gris @ Wicker Park Fest, July 23
2. Bronx, Mastodon @ Metro, September 14
3. Black Lips @ Logan Square Auditorium, September 22
4. Cursive @ Metro, September 25
5. King Khan and BBQ @ Abbey Pub, October 7
6. Pissed Jeans @ Nihilist, October 15
7. Willowz, Suishou No Fune @ Empty Bottle, October 22
8. Mannequin Men as CCR @ Halfway House, October 28
9. Bayonettes, Pedestrians, Busy Signals @ Albion House, November 17
10. Mannequin Men @ Empty Bottle, December 4
11. Retainers @ Beat Kitchen, December 30

Other Events

1. Matt Cole visiting Chicago, January 17 through 19
2. Cleveland, Ohio, May 26 through 30
3. Getting Fired at Victory, May 30
4. Skipping work to go to the Lincoln Park Zoo, June 20?
5. Skating Leslie on the lakeshore, July 15
6. Getting Hired at Laundry Tees, July 20
7. Getting in touch with Linda Rith again, August 26
8. Meeting Jen at Abbey Pub, October 7
9. Halloween Party at My Apartment, October 27
10. Hiring Nathan, November 20
    
11. Meeting the Mannequin Men, December 8

Food

1. Jay's Krunchers Jalapeno Chips
2. Gingerbread Latte from Starbucks
   
3. Popeye's
   
4. Zebra Cakes, Fudge Rounds, and other 25 cent desserts
5. Tuna Salad Sandwiches from Urban Tea Lounge
6. Jameson, Makers, and other whiskey

Places

1. Rooftop at old apartment on Damen
2. Laundry Tees Shop
3. My Back Porch
4. Cheetah Gym
5. Urban Tea Lounge
6. Cornerstore at Montrose and Hazel

Other

1. Jack Telecaster
2. Craigslist
3. Terminal-Boredom.com
4. Heavy Heavy Low Low White Tiger t-shirt
5. 24 and Kiefer Sutherland 
   

pr0n Loves The Empty Bottle:

We were just going to keep our traps shut about this, but the ensuing talk we keep overhearing on street corners and other blogs has induced us to share our opinion on the latest idiocy displayed by a national magazine trying to display their knowledge of local markets.

We are, of course, talking about Playboy’s selection of The Empty Bottle as one of America’s Top 10 Rock Clubs.

Now we have nothing personal against The Bottle, and we find ourselves attending and really enjoying shows there from time to time. But we think it can be argued that the club passed its prime a few years ago and easily loses out courtesy of more consistent bills in town. Actually, we thought The Bottle dropped the ball when Lounge Ax closed and they failed to step in and decisively claim the city’s music scene as their own, instead choosing to focus on more niche-driven groups. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that approach, and we’re sure The Bottle is happy with where it’s at now, but that strategy does not vault a club to become one of the ten best in the nation.

Schuba’s, Beat Kitchen, Double Door and Subterranean all book more consistently solid bills, and as far as the niche marketing thing, we see Hideout breathing down Finkelman and company’s collective necks. We had heard one defense claiming that The Bottle's booking of Logan Square Auditorium should be taken into account as well, but last we checked most of those recent shows were booked by Housecall Entertainment or MPShows. Also, all of the above mentioned venues now have both better sight lines and better sound systems than The Bottle does, so even if you’re judging a club within those parameters, we don’t think you can claim The Bottle the winner there either.

And in the end, our problem isn’t with The Empty Bottle at all. It’s with Playboy lazily picking a well-known local club to complete a list (even though we suspect the Chicago entry was probably written by someone who spends a lot of time at The Bottle and may be a little biased because of that) thereby betraying they are yet again woefully lacking when it actually comes to remaining abreast of local scenes.

So we say yea to The Empty Bottle overall, but nay to it being the city’s leader in rock clubs so therefore nay to Playboy for claiming them as such.

Okay, fuck you, buddy. Schuba's, Beat Kitchen, Double Door, and Subterranean are better than the Empty Bottle? You've got to be kidding me.

Check out the Playboy feature, it's pretty cool.

WHY DID YOU DRINK MY FUCKING COKE

WHY DID YOU DRINK

MY FUCKING COKE

I HAD ONE FUCKING COKE, THE ONLY THING OF MINE IN THE GODDAMN REFRIDGERATOR

THE ONLY THING OF MINE IN THE GODDAMN HOUSEHOLD

WHY DID YOU DRINK IT

http://chicago.craigslist.org/muc/240391407.html

Wizard Rock
Date: 2006-11-27, 1:01AM CST

Guitar player and/or vocalist seeking musicians (guitar, bass, keyboard, drums) for wizard rock band. Similar to the Weird Sisters, Harry and the Potters, The Moaning Myrtles, The Hermione Crookshanks Experience, Roonil Wazlib, The Whomping Willows, etc.

Would like to lean more towards punk-folk and garage rather than pop-indie, possibly dark arts inspired. Influences would include inferi, Azkaban Prison, dementors, the Gaunt family, and of course the Dark Lord himself. Muggle bands like the Misfits, Gories, Mummies, Ramones, Sonics, Kinks, Clash, Black Lips, etc.

May play library/university/bookstore/cafe circuit and other gigs in future if things work out.

E-mail if interested!

thanks brandon.

last thing i said to the outside world before entering the front door:

fuck you, worms.

It is called "Guitar Lessons on the Beach" and here is how you play it:

Chords:

G5, D5, and C5

E---------------|
B---------------|
G-------7----5--|
D--5----7----5--|
A--5----5----3--|
E--3------------|

Riff:

E-----------------------------------|
B-----------------------------------|
G-----------------------------------|
D--5-5-5-5-5-------------5-5-5-5-5--|
A--5-5-5-5-5-----5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5--|
E--3-3-3-3-3-3-3---------3-3-3-3-3--|

Song with lyrics:

(START WITH RIFF X 3)

G5-----D5----------G5-
Guitar lessons are fun

G5-----D5----------G5-
Guitar lessons are fun

D5--------------------
Guitar lessons are fun

D5-------C5--
And this song

C5--------G5--
is pretty dumb.

(PLAY RIFF HERE X 3)

G Major Scale
G Major Scale
I kinda sound like
A beached whale.

(PLAY RIFF X 1)

D5-----------------------
Oh guitar lessons are fun

D5----------
And now this

C5--------G5-
song is done.

(FINISH WITH RIFF X 1)

The short version.

Woke up late. Got to work thirty minutes late. Actually took a lunch break that wasn't in the shop, which I never do. I love Urban Tea Lounge.

Drank two "lattes" (had to ask Linda what it was).

Spoiled Jack. That means:

Picked up shitty gig bag.
Picked up guitar straps and picks.

Found both on Craigslist. Total $22. On the way to and back, ran into three people I knew, though I avoided two:

Winston eating at Taqueria Moran.
Some dude wearing a shirt I sold/printed.
Puppy on the Blue line.

Came home and "rocked out" with my baby Jack. He is amazing and I love him. I tell him this every fucking day. By the way, I saw his daddy at Guitar Center. It was a Fender Telecaster Deluxe, and it was white with a black pickguard. I drooled. It was like six hundred bucks or something. Also, is it annoying to refer to my guitar (and other guitars) as people? I also refer to Leslie as a person, even though he is really just a longboard. But those are really the only two things.

I have homework. Homework for the school of rock. I have to write a song... I have my second guitar lesson tomorrow. Shit!

Helped Linda put together an outline for her essay.

Also, I want to write for Terminal Boredom.

Also, we're starting a band.

Also, I want to start selling t-shirts.

Also, there are TOO MANY DAMN THINGS IN THIS WORLD THAT I WANT TO DO BUT THERE IS NEVER ENOUGH TIME TO DO THEM.

No longer will I waste away my youth. NO FUCKING LONGER.

( surveys. )

You deserve a better update. I will get to it, I promise. But for now, I just need to get something out because I don't want to be mistaken. I don't want anyone else to be mistaken and I don't want myself to be, either.

Sometimes I make mistakes and bad decisions and sometimes I don't know what I'm doing; sometimes I fall to easily to influence; sometimes I think too much and sometimes I just don't think. I get myself into a lot of bullshit, and not only right now but ever since I've been here.

But despite all of that, despite being stressed out or hurt or broke, I am so glad to be here. I am so lucky to be here. I do not regret one minute of it.

Today I've been here a year.

I still love you, Chicago, even more so than when I moved. I will stick with you through the winter. I will stick with you through all of the bullshit and all of the assholes; when I'm starving and sad and sick, I will wait it out with you. Chicago, I will stay with you through everything.

to me.

but you know what? thanks, i'd rather be a teenager for another year.

then i could go from 19 straight to 21 next year.

Or, I Hate Capital Letters.

So, I named my guitar not after Jack Black or the Stones' Jumping Jack Flash or Jack Kerouac, but after Jack Bauer.

Jack has been good to me through all of this bullshit with Matt.





He is amazing.

I wanted something pretty cheap, and I found this on Craigslist. I don't really know anything about guitars but here's what I do know: it's a Squier Telecaster Custom. It has two humbuckers rather than two single-coil pickups.

Also, those two pictures are the first and last pictures I will ever take with a camera phone. I had one in my posession, but just sold it for $60 via Craigslist.

So, it's kind of like I'm starting another chapter in this great city-- I'm in a new apartment and I've got a new job.

And I like both. But do I like them better than my previous apartment and job?

So anyway. I live in a four bedroom apartment with three other people in Logan Square. I screen print obscene, sometimes funny, usually offensive t-shirts.

I rented a U-Haul to move my stuff. I bought a frame for my bed. I have food stocked in the kitchen. My room is clean. I get a regular paycheck. I get up on time. I sleep well. The heatwave passed, but if there's another one, it's okay because I have central air. I got a free bike.

I guess everything is fine for now. I'm young, poor, and I work every day. It's sort of exactly how I like things.

I am moving into a new apartment sometime near the end of next month.

My boyfriend's band's first show is tonight. They're called SCREAMING YELLOW ZONKERS. He plays guitar and he sings a few songs and I am really, really excited. Supposedly they're playing with a bunch of punk/hardcore/oi bands, which they're not.

Oh, and Livejournal's automatic draft saving thing? AWESOME!