Cleveland Rocks!

Yes it does and it may rock even more in the future. We shall see what we shall see.



and no, I'm STILL cheering for the Red Sox.

9-29-2007 Playlist

This was "Weird Al" Day at the Ear Infection

Metallica- Whiplash
Metallica- Hit the Lights
Dethklok- Awaken
Dethklok- Go Forth and Die
Weird Al- Amish Paradise
Weird Al- Alternative Polka
Meat Loaf- Bat Out of Hell
Voltaire- When You're Evil
Iron Maiden- The Evil That Men Do
Savatage- Hall of the Mountain King
Frank Zappa- Don't Eat the Yellow Snow
Frank Zappa- San Ber'dino
Primus- My Name is Mud
Oingo Boingo- Dead Man's Party
Weird Al- Couch Potato
Weird Al- Angry White Boy Polka
Spinal Tap- Stonehenge
They Might Be Giants- Instanbul (Not Constantiople)
Dr. Demento- Shaving Cream
The Vestibules- Bulbous Buffaunt
Barnes & Barnes- Fish Heads
Frank Zappa- Joe's Garage
Tenacious D- Destiny
Tenacious D- History
Adam Sandler- Lonesome Kicker
Danzig- Come to Silver (acoustic)
Danzig- Deep
Patton Oswalt- Werewolves and Lollipops
Metallica- Battery
Metallica- Master of Puppets
Static-X- Destroyer
Weird Al- Money for Nothing/The Beverly Hillbillies
Weird Al- I Lost on Jeopardy
Ogden Edsel- Dead Puppies
Shel Silverstein- The Smoke Off
Dethklok- Mermaider
Dethklok- Bloodtrocuted
Dethklok- The Lost Vikings
Weird Al- Smells Like Nirvana
AC/DC- Problem Child

9-22-2007 Playlist

Lordi- SCG3 Special Report
Lordi- Bringing the Balls Back to Rock
Dio- Rainbow in the Dark
Dio- Holy Diver
Iron Maiden- Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden- The Number of the Beast
Mastodon- Bladecatcher
Overkill- Time to Kill
Paradise Lost- The Word Made Flesh
DevilDriver- The Axe Shall Fall
3 Inches of Blood- The Forest King
Ozzy Osbourne- Perry Mason
Dragon Force- Trail of Broken Hearts
Alice Cooper- Feed My Frankenstein
Exodus- A.W.O.L.
Obituary- Killingtime
King Diamond- Into the Convent
AC/DC- Who Made Who
AC/DC- Hell's Bells
Tiamat- Clouds
Emperor- He Who Sought the Fire
Dark Funeral- Armageddon Finally Comes
Danzig- Come to Silver
Danzig- Blackacidevil
Superjoint Ritual- The Knife Rises
Superjoint Ritual- The Horror
Hank Williams III- Louisiana Stripes
... And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead- The Rest Will Follow
Iced Earth- Stormrider
Cradle of Filth- Coffin Fodder
Opeth- Death Whispered Lullaby
Slayer- Eyes of the Insane
Savatage- When the Crowds are Gone
The Haunted- Demon Eyes
GWAR- Eat Steel
GWAR- Jack the World
Tenacious D- Master Exploder
Black Sabbath- Heaven and Hell

Thanks for listening!

Chhhh Changes

So you may have noticed I changed to name of my blog. The change is meant to reflect my new radio show set to begin on Saturday. If you live in the Moscow, Idaho area, check me out on 89.3 FM. If you live outside the area, and most of you do. you can listen listen via streaming audio at www.kuoi.org.
There's a DJ cam, too, so you can watch me playing my wicked air guitar.

DONE!

So I haven't posted anything in almost a month. I get busy, you guys know that. And this week will mark the end of my time as a Seattle Weekly intern. Sad news, eh?

There's a bright side.

I will continue on with SW as the "Moscow Bureau Chief." A half-joke, half-serious position which will allow me to continue working with their blogs and throw them something in the music section every once in a while.

I've said it before and I'll say it until it's no longer true. I RULE.

More Ozzfest news!

Blabbermouth.net, one of the biggest providers of metal news, linked the Ozzy portion of my story. How fucking cool is that?

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=76744

Ozzfest!

http://www.seattleweekly.com/music/blogs/reverb/2007/07/yesterday_ozzfest_at_white_riv.php


And, just for fun, check out the comments section of this post. Apparently, I suck. NOT!
http://www.seattleweekly.com/music/blogs/reverb/2007/07/last_night_deftones_dir_en_gre.php

For My Metal Heads Out There

Tomorrow I will be at Ozzfest, with a press/photo pass.
Yes, I do rule. Thanks for asking.
I probably won't get to meet Ozzy, but I'll be damn close.
Yes, I do rule. Thanks for asking.
By this time Friday, I will have plenty of my own pics for you.

T.J.'s Rules For Living

Listen carefully. I don't want to repeat myself.

1- Don't take life too seriously. After all, no one gets out of it alive.
2- If you can't count on your family, they suck. If they can't count on you, you suck.
3- Don't worry about money. It makes things easier to deal with when you don't have any. When you do have money, be generous. It makes it easier for other people to help you out when you're broke.
4- Never forget the people who helped you get where you are. You may need a job reference down the road and if you treat them like shit, they'll remember it.
5- There is only so much fun you can have with two Legos.
6- Chocolate makes people happy. Dark chocolate makes me happy.
7- No matter where you sit or who is playing, always bring your glove to the ballpark.
8- Have all the fun you want, just get your work done, too.
9- Just because you are "grown up" doesn't mean you can't watch cartoons or have a nap after your milk and cookies.
10- Remember the first time you heard about Dinosaurs. Don't lose that child-like sense of awe. No matter how much you've seen, you haven't seen everything.
11- If it takes you longer to wait for a bus than to walk to where you need to go, walk.
12- If life starts to overwhelm you, just stop it. If it continues, stop it or I'll bury you alive in a box.
13- Make your own rules, then live by them. Except when they need to be broken.

And now for your viewing pleasure.....

You'll just have to imagine the song in your head.

So I been busy, give me a break.

OK.
I've had fish and chips twice now. Neither time did they have actual English-style chips, which is what I'd really like. I also had a great bowl of clam chowder from a place that sells it half off after 2 p.m. These things are very good to know.

Also, found out that I get reimbursed for my bus pass. Sweet, eh?

Interviewed Static-X.
Saw a group called The Raveonettes.

This will be a short week because I'm headed to Eugene, Ore., for the graduations of my sister and brother-in-law. They are getting Master's degrees so it is kind of a big deal.

Catch you all later.

I've been in Seattle 2 weeks now...

...and I still haven't had fish & chips.
Soon, though. Soon I shall have fish and chips.

Call me...Joker

If you know me, you know I'm a big Batman fan. The next movie, The Dark Knight Returns, is filming as we speak and the biggest news is that Heath Ledger is playing The Joker. Well, I just saw the first pic of him in the make-up and I have to say, I love it. It's much more fucked up than Nicholson's make-up was and I LOVE NICHOLSON and that film. Check out the pic. (Yes, I'm adding hyperlinks now. Just something I've gotten used in my work posts, so expect more of it here.)

Eventually, I'll get around to another update. I had a full weekend, so I'll get to it when I get to it.

Catch you later.

Strangest e-mail ever

So I'm checking my three e-mail accounts this morning and I had the strangest e-mail ever. First, some background.

I have a MySpace page, specifically so I can listen to new music from up and coming bands, but the page has also connected me with a couple of my favorite authors. I've been able to exchange a few e-mails with them and it's awesome. They are on my friends list, of course.

I'm checking the account linked to the MySpace and I have a message that says, "Dean Koontz would like to be added to your friends list."

I thought it worked the other way around. I'm meant to ask famous people if I can be their friend, not the other way around.

Yes, I approved Dean Koontz to be my friend, even though I like Stephen King better.

Day Three

I got to "work from home" today. Did a bunch of stuff and even screwed up a couple things in my first solo blog post. Yes, they are noticeable but they don't hurt anything. I'm learning still. Also paid a visit yesterday to Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe. Took some pics of Pier 54, too, that I'm trying to load on here but it's being difficult, as you can see by how it totally messed up my text. (Until I fixed it, that is.)





For anyone who misses my voice, check this out: http://www.seattleweekly.com/podcast/short-list/
You have to wait a while to hear me but I'm in there, darn it.

Tomorrow will be spent getting ready for my big weekend assignment. It's gonna be cool. I'm especially looking forward to hearing this accordion quartet called Hell's Bellowes.

Days one and two

I'm going to try and keep up with this but these first two days have worn me out.

Short version is: I rule and my boss thinks so, too. I've learned so much in just two days that the Argonaut Web site is going to rock when I get back.

I'll be spending my weekend covering the Northwest FolkLife Festival while my boss goes to Sasquatch! Fest. I guess that's fair.

I already turned in my first assignment: a review of Ozzy's new CD, Black Rain. Hopefully, I'll be able to take some of my learning and make my own blog rock harder.

Catch you on the flipside.

Emerald CIty, here I come

Seattle's nickname is the Emerald CIty but I don't think the WIzard lives there. I am, however, on a search for something to make myself a better person: more real world experience.

If you've been following along, you'll know that I am doing an internship with the Seattle Weekly in the Web and music sections. I'll be bringing my learning back to Moscow as next school year's Web and Opinion editor. Cool beans, eh?

Yes, it is an unpaid internship. (Anyone caring to donate to the T.J. Summer in Seattle Survival Fund can e-mail me for details. I'm not kidding.) My current newspaper adviser hates the idea of me not getting paid, but knows that this is one of those experiences that is worth the trouble.

A little bit about the Seattle Weekly: It's one of those alt-weekly papers. For my Vegas co-horts, it's like the City Life or Las Vegas Weekly-- two papers which never took anything I sent them. I wonder if they'd take my work now? Or after the summer, anyway. Best of all (or worst of all, depending on what your leanings are) SW is owned by The Village Voice, the grand daddy of alt-weeklies. Pretty cool, eh? The office is just a couple blocks away fromPioneer Square in downtown Seattle, right where everything is happening. I'm going to have a nice bus commute from Tacoma (thanks to Aunt Billie for agreeing to put me up for a spell) but I'm no stranger to mass transit. ($108.00 for a month pass, though. See comments about the TSiSSF, again.)

So I'll be going to concerts, small clubs mostly. I'm geared up to be the resident Metal HEad, which means coverage of this year's Ozzfest, kickingoff July 12 in Seattle, is mine. The chance to meet Ozzy Osbourne is one of the only htings I can think of cooler than meeting Rob Zombie. (Search back about a year--wow!--for that day.) I will be sporting a Black Sabbath hat for the occassion. I only packed band T-shirts for my stay, too.

Unless you count the couple Red Sox shirts I popped in my bag, too. I will go to at least one Seattle Mariners baseball game while I am there. Won't get to see the Sox, but might catch them when the Reds come to town and see Griffey, just like the old days. Nah, those games will sell out, too. I might get stuck watching the M's and the Pirates. It's Major League Baseball, though, so who cares who is playing as long as I get to go.

I'm going to keep up the blog as much as possible over the summer, too, so check back for news as often as you like. Also check out www.seattleweekly.com to see if my stuff shows up there.

Thanks again to everyone who has supported me on my wild and crazy adventures. I never would have thought to be doing this if Coyote Press in Vegas hadn't come into my life (along with Karen Laing who made it possible for me to do what I wanted) and if the Argonaut here in Moscow hadn't treated me so well. Just goes to show that making plans doesn't always work out the way you want them to.

And, before I go...Hi Julie!

Stranger things have happened

So, I cleaned my room yesterday. I used fewer garbage bags than the last time I cleaned. They were bigger, though. Today I'm doing laundry. I did a very odd thing for me, something I don't recall having ever done before.

I separated clothes before washing. Weird, I know. I didn't divide by color because taht would be pointless. Instead I grouped by type. Socks and underwear and in the dryer right now. Just finished washing are all the T-shirts I plan on wearing over the summer. Next in will be pants, followed by button-up shirt to be worn over the summer, then the rest of my T-shirts. Pants might take two loads, otherwise they will never get dry.

Oh the things I've been doing differently the last few weeks.

I love every hair on your 27 acre body...

So my newspaper duties for next yera will be: Web/Opinion Editor. Yes, that's right, I do in fact rule.
The return of the happiest dictatorship in the world is well under way.
Kick Ass.

And that's when I saw the bear...

Well, this semester is almost over and it's finishing on a high note.
Tonight, i should know which desk will be mine come fall semester. It will be exciting and time consuming, but I'm ready. Bring it on.

I still have a bunch of work to do, both for classes and for the paper, but I'm not too worried. I'm the Alfred E. Nueman of college. "What, me worry?"

I banked $150 for the last pay period, which is significantly high for any writer on this paper. This week has the potential to be even more. Tuesdays issue will have an opinion column, an arts story, a book review, and a 30-inch sports story. I will make more from this one issue than I have in some entire pay periods. Yes, yes, I rule.

Jule and I are good. We had a rough couple days, in which I learned to be more sensitive to certain issues and she learned that I often have Zen-like patience. me going to Seattle for the summer while she stays in Moscow will be good and bad, but I think more good. We both need to remember that we can't see each other every minute of everyday. The relationship is still in its early stages; we have plenty of time for other things still.

Spring semester cruised by. I don't know how all of a sudden it is almost May. It is also weird for me to have this plan, again, of going to Seattle for something that will have far-reaching affects beyond just the summer. And knowing I'm coming back here after that, instead of going to Lund for a couple months and not doing anything. Due to certain situations, part of me very much wants to be in Lund for the summer. I know, though, that Mom wouldn't want me to give up on my future now. So I'm going.

I'll do my best to do better at keeping this blog up. I know there are some of you out there I haven't spoken with for a long time and I take complete blame for that. I'm sorry.

OK, now I have to go write some more stuff. I will catch you on the flipside.

The Ups, the Downs, and the Middles

OK, we'll tell a happy story first. I got a new computer and so far it kicks ass. Thanks to funding through organizations I'm associated with, I only have to pay half the total cost. They didn't have any Macs in the program which is a bummer, but this is pretty cool. Plus it is up to dat enough to be cool anywhere.
Another happy story is that i did get the Seattle job. I start on May 21.
The bad news, well, some things yesterday really sucked ass, including the death of Kurt Vonnegut. There is something else, too, but that's my business.
Catch you later.

No joke

If I had posted this on Sunday, no one would have believed me. "Oh, that crazy Teej, trying to pull an April Fool's Day joke on us." Crazy, yes, but this is no joke.
After weeks of spending time with this great girl named Julie, she and I decided to make that leap into "couplehood." Really, I mean it. Do I have to simplify this for you?
Teej has a girlfriend.
The world still turns and hell didn't freeze over. Stranger things have happened.
We are taking things slow, which is best for us both.
It is a frightening thing. The last three days I've woken up thinking, "I will see my girlfriend today." Every time, I get a little freaked out and rightly so. The whole relationship business hasn't been kind to your pal T.J. I don't need to get into any of that. It is a constant gnawing rat inside my head, waiting to burst out the first chance it gets, just to remind me that I will probably do something to wreck this entire deal.
Optimist to end, aren't I?
Between the two of us, we have our share of stories to tell each other. She writes Young Adult-style fantasy fiction and I write what I write.
Last night I let her listen to Meat Loaf. today she will hear Metallica and feel the awesome rock that is The Beasts from the Bay.
And now you are asking yourself, "How the hell did Teej get hooked up with a girl that doesn't listen to Metallica but has an overwhelming fondness for Josh Groban?"
Like I said, stranger things have happened.

In other news, I'm still waiting to hear about an internship in Seattle. I didn't get the New York scholarship I was up for, but that's OK. This Seattle deal will be better in the long run. Also,my prospects for being super important at the Argonaut next year are increasing. There will be a number of vacancies on the editorial staff, including Web/managing Editor and Arts editor. The way things are going, if I don't get one, I'll get the other. It really depends on where the new Editor-in-Chief (who just happens to be my current section editor) wants me.
We shall see what we shall see when we see it.

Big News

Big News coming up. You'll hear about it as soon as I get around to writing about it.

7 DAYS......

Bythis time next week, I will know more about what my summer will be like. I will know whether or not my summer will be spent going to concerts in Seattle or studying with Amy Hempel in New York.
I really wish I knew now.
Until then, I shall immerse myself in...well...horror business. I have some Poe plans for my book.
Cheers.

Oh yeah, go see "300" or, if it is playing somewhere near you, "Pan's Labyrinth."

The Past catching up to me

Usually when some one says that thier past is catchingup with them, it is a bad thing. Not so much for me.
First, a bit of backstory for those who may not know.
I used to act. A lot. High school plays and a summer of "film acting" once held a major place in my life and my heart. I haven't been in a play since 2001.
Over the weekend, I was working on an articel for the paper about a group of students working on their film project for the semester. Just for fun, they talked me into auditioning.
Just for fun, they chose me for a role in the picture.
Here's the problem: If I had known I was getting a part, or if I had gone to meet them with the intention of auditioning, I couldn't write the article. Total conflict of interest. I won't be able to write about this project from an unbiased, reporter-like point of view anymore. the straight reporting thing is out the window.
I can still write about it, though. Columnist style.

In other news....
Found out today that outside readers like to link to other people's work. Specifically, an opinion blogger from Spokane. He likes a couple of our other columnists more than me, but he linked to my bit about getting out of jury duty.
Kick ass, right?
So I snooped around (actually, I Googled myself) and found that another group linked to my article about the Burns Night Supper I went to. You know, the night I ate haggis. They liked the article, even though they don't know who I am.
I think I'm going to e-mail them and ask if I can get a free ticket next year.

Check it out:
http://mysite.verizon.net/borderhighlanders/BurnsNight2007/ui-arg-burns-2007.htm
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/nhb/archive.asp?postID=13291
(you have to scroll down a ways to see that I'm on that page, but I'm there, dammit.)

Bonus points: super combo

I love Invader Zim. I also love Rob Zombie. Wanna see something supercrzycool?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqH2IPiyv-g

Man, I love YouTube.

Please submit 15-25 pages of your best work...

So, My writing professor in Las Vegas nominated me for this super kick-ass summer writing program scholarshipin New York State. he warned me ahead of time to watch for an e-mail from Skidmore College. (I really want this scholarship so I won't make any jokes about their name.)
I recieved that e-mail today.
Everythingis cool. I just have to fill out this application, write a letter about what I have done and what I want to do, send them $40 for the appliaction fee, (which sucks, 'cause i don't exactly have an extra forty bucks just lying around), and 15-25 pages of my best work.
WHAT????????????

Yes, I have more than 25 pages of writing that I think is good. That isn't the problem. Do I send them a couple short stories (I can hear Leslie Shipp in my ear saying, "Send them 'Seeds and All.") Or do I send off 25 pages of the novel in progress which many of you currently have available?
I have to have this sent out by March 9, by the way.
I should have been thinking of what to send before now.
No matter. I will send my best work (suggestions welcome...fiction only) and I will get this scholarship.
Yes, I rule that much.

Mid Term So Soon?

Somehow, midterms have snuck up on me without my knowing it. And I'm think, What the hell? It is barely March and I'm halfway through this semester? The calendar doesn't lie.
Here is how this breaks down:
I have one test next week, on Thursday. It is in my FIlm Theory and Criticism class. Today, I got back the results of the first test in the class. I thought I had bommbed it. I was sick and missed the review day, which was also the day everyone else was handed a copy of the questions and told we could use a one-page "cheat sheet." I scored an 83 out of 100. Not too shabby for not knowing the questions. The funny part is how I earned those points. The test was short essay-style. We had to answer 4 out of 6 questions with each essay being worth 25 points. My break-down went like this: 24, 10, 24, 25. So I must not have paid attention to the day we talked about that second question.
Moving on. I have a 9-page paper due for my 16th century poetry and prose class next Thursday, also. NOt as bad as it sounds. It is writing about 3 of 6 questions, 3 pages each and at least one secondary source for each question. I can handle that.
For my fiction writing class, I turned in a short story last week and the rest of the class will be spent workshopping. Cake.
For my News Editing and Production class, we'll have a much larger midterm project that will be assigned on Tuesday. i sort of know what to expect but not entirely.
Naturally, I will be spending the weekend workingon the paper and studying for the film test. Then I can give the rest of the week over to the News project.
Sure does sound like I have things planned out, doesn't it?
Good thing there isn't a NASCAR race this Sunday or I'd be screwed.
And after this "midterm" week is over, it is Spring Break.
Already? Geez.

My 100th post!

In honor of this special occasion (which coincides almost exactly with the one year anniversary of my first post), I'd like to give you all thelyrics to a song that is very special to me. It's a great story and a great song. Enjoy!


Well, like to explain to you all before,I ain't no drinkin' man
I tried it once and it got me highly irregular
And I swore I'd never do it again
I promised my brother in-law that I'd go up watch his still
While he went in to town to vote
It was right up on the mountainwhere the map said it would be
Friends let me tell you one thing,though it wasn't no ordinary still
It stood up on that mountainside
like a hugh golden opal
God's yeller moon shinin' on the cool clear evenin'
God's little lanterns twinklin' on and off in the heavens
Like I explain'd to you once before I ain't no drinkin' man
But temptation got the best of me
And I took a slash
That yella whiskey runnin' down my throat
like honey dew vine water
And I took another slash,
Took another'n an another'n an another'n
For you knew I'd downed one whole jug of that shit
and commenced to gettin' hot flashes
Goose pimples was runnin' up and down my body
And a feelin' came over melike somethin' I'd never experienced before
It was like, like I was in love
In love for the first time, with anything that moved
Animate, inanimate it didn't matter
It's like there's a great neon sign flashin' on an' offin my brain sayin'
"Jimmy Buffett there's a great day a comin'"
`Cause I was drunk
I wasn't knee crawlin', slip slidin', Reggie Youngin'
Commode huggin' drunk
I was God's own drunk and a fearless man
And that's when I first saw the bear
He was a Kodiak lookin' fella `bout nineteen feet tall
He rambled up over the hill
expectin' me to do one of two things,
Flip or fly, I didn't do either one
It hung him up
He started sniffin' around my body tryin' to smell fear
But he ain't gonna smell no fear `causeI'm God's own drunk and a fearless man
It hung him up
He looked right in my eyes, and my eyes
was a lot redder than his wasIt hung him up
So I approached him, I said "Mr. Bear, I love
every hair on your twenty-seven acre body
I know you got a lot of friends over there
on the other side of the hill
There's ole' rare bear, tall bear, Freddy bear, Kelly bear
Really bear, smelly the bear, smokey the bear,pokey the bear
I want you to go back over there tonight
And tell them I'm feelin' right
You tell them I love each and everyone of them
like a brother and a sister
But if they give me any trouble tonight
I'm gonna run every God damn one of them off the hill"
He took two steps backwards and didn't know what to think
Neither did I but bein' charitable and cautious
Well hell I approached him again
I said "Mr. Bear, You know in the eyes of the Lord
we're both beasts when it comes right down to it
So I want you to be my buddy, Buddy bear"
So I took ole' buddy bear by his island size paw
and I led him over to the still
He's a sniffin' around that thing cause
he's smellin' somethin' good
I gave him one of them jugs of honey dew vine water
He downed it up right
Looked like one of them damn bears in the circus
Sippin' sasparilly in the moonlight
I gave him another'n an another'n an another'n
For I knew it he downed eight of them
and commenced to doin' the bear dance
Two snips, a snort, a fly turn, and a grunt
It was so simple like the jitter bug
It plum evaded me
We worked ourselves into a tumultuous uproar
And I was awful tired and went over to the hillside
and I laid down and went to sleep
Slept for four hours and dreampt me some tremulous dreams
When I woke up, there was God's yeller moon
shinin' on the clear cool evenin'
God's little lanterns twinklin' on and off
in the heavens
My buddy the bear was a missin'
Want to know something else friends and neighbors
So was that still

Will I Ever have Class?

It sure has been interesting the last few weeks. This week is no exception.

Yesterday I found out that my 2:00-3:15 Tuesday-Thursday class is cancelled for Thursday. Wouldn't bother me so much if my 9:30-10:45 T-Th was not already scheduled to not happen on both days. It's cool because I got to sleep in today and wil again on Thursday. The problem is today. I slept in, walked to campus in the rain, (which I love, except that I've been sick), and checked my e-mail before goingto class. I was immediately confronted with a sign stating that today's class was cancelled.

Well, shit. I could have slept in even longer. Or stayed at a computer and done more work. Or...any number of other things.

I do know that I have class tomorrow morning at 8:30. Of course, I didn't have that class yesterday (Monday) due to President's Day. And it was cancelled the Monday before.

All this despite reports that the rumor of the flu reaching near-epidemic proportions being just rumors.

Two weeks ago, I was sick and missed classes for three days. the week before that, I had one class (the same one I knew wasn't happening today) cancelled due to the professor being ill. It may not be a real epidemic but it is getting annoying.

And Spring Break is in two weeks, also.

A song for today....

There aren't too many songs I know all the words to. The followingis one of them. Originally recorded by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers and covered a few years ago by Pearl Jam. These are the lyrics. If you know anything about me, you why this song is in my head today. Happy fucking Valentine's Day.

Where, oh where, can my baby be? the lord took her away fromMe. shes gone to heaven, so Ive got to be good. so I can see my baby when iLeave this world.We were out on a date in my daddys car. we hadnt driven very far. there inThe road, straight ahead. a car was stalled, the engine was dead.I couldnt stop, so I swerved to the right. Ill never forget the sound thatNight. the screamin tires, the bustin glass. the painful scream that I heardLast.Oh where, oh where, can my baby be? the lord took her away from me. shes goneTo heaven, so Ive got to be good. so I can see my baby when I leave this world.When I woke up the rain was pourin down. there were people standin all around.Something warm flowing through my eyes. but somehow I found my baby that night.I lifted her head, she looked at me and said. hold me darling, just a littleWhile. I held her close, I kissed her our last kiss. I found the love that iKnew I had missed.Well now shes gone. even though I hold her tight. I lost my love, my life,That night.Oh where, oh where, can my baby be? the lord took her away from me. shes goneTo heaven, so Ive got to be good. so I can see my baby when I leave thisWorld.

Ye olde Link

So, that link a couple posts down has worked for some and not for others. I still think it is valuable to check it out within the context of the site I posted it on all those years ago but, for those who just want to read something old of mine, here it goes. (and with all the punctuation and erros in tact. most of them were on purpose anyway.)


Vignette
i suppose the grass would be green during the day. it is black now. it's flat, mostly, with a slight rise in the middle, six feet long. i stand at one end looking at the stone cross on the other. chiseled into the dark granite is a name and two dates, just like any other marker. but how many people can read their own headstone? i step closer to the marker, admiring the workmanship. just like i wanted. the writing sunk deep into the face, no other words besides the name and dates. through the grapevine i hear that high school kids come to this spot to scare each other with stories i wish were humorous. thankfully, no one else is here tonight. i stand here gazing at the plot for what seems like hours but is only a few minutes. my mind wanders and fades. i think i'm falling asleep. then another visitor to the tombstone arrives. he doesn't stand and stare like i do. he perches lightly on the crossbeam, first looking at nothing then looking at me. a caw sounds in my mind but not my ears. i know it is time for me to leave again and i may not ever return here. i say one last farewell to myself before turning into the forest of the dead. it hurts to leave but it hurts worse to stay where there is nothing for me. some where in the darkness there is something waiting for me. as that very darkness closes around me i pray that whatever awaits, wherever i end up, that i will know what it is when i get there. sometimes it is so dark not even the shadows know if they are really there. end

try this instead

SInce that little bit of fiction is unable to be viewed, I offer instead, the following essay. The format might be a bit screwy because I'm copy/pasting. Deal with it. Enjoy.


The Future Gods of Rock

And nothing really rocks
And nothing really rolls
And nothing’s ever worth the cost
“Bat Out of Hell” Meat Loaf


I’m standing at the door to the House of Blues- Las Vegas with Beth Hale, tour manager of Halestorm. This is not her first time in Las Vegas but it is her first visit with the band. Beth isn’t just the tour manager, only there to push T-shirts and CDs. She is also the mother of Lzzy and Arejay, the two original members of Halestorm.
“You were right,” she tells me. “You were easy to pick out of the crowd.”
A few minutes ago, I called her to let her know I was on my way to the venue, stuck in Las Vegas rush hour traffic. “Look for the redhead in a Fight Club T-shirt,” I told her.
I couldn’t get right back to meet the band despite my interview with Halestorm being scheduled for 4:30. The House of Blues is very strict on who goes backstage and who doesn’t. Right now, I’m a “doesn’t”. The scene from Almost Famous where the wanna-be rock journalist kid is stuck outside because the doorman doesn’t believe he is on list runs through my head. I’m looking for groupies who will let me tag along with them, just so I don’t blow this job.
“Dave, with Shinedown, should have your pass,” Beth says. “Let me know when you get it and I will take you back.”
Dave is late. I’m not the only journalist waiting for my press pass to arrive. Luckily, I already have my tickets, thanks to Halestorm’s public relations representative at Atlantic Records. I don’t have to wait at will call for my tickets but I do have to wait for my photo pass.
This whole time, while I start to sweat in anticipation, Brianna just smiles. I brought her with me because I know she loves rock music. She’s wearing a Lynard Skynard shirt and seems just happy to be there. Also, she knows who Shinedown is and I don’t.
Brianna is also only nineteen, young like the band. Bassist Josh Smith is twenty-five, closer to my own age, and sports a wild mop of hair worthy of any 1970s arena-rock group. Joe Hottinger, with his “Jesus” beard and Led Zeppelin necklace, won’t be twenty-four until after the group’s return trip to Sin City three months from now. Arejay, blonde and wearing a T-shirt featuring co-headliner Seether, is mere weeks older than Brianna. Lzzy, once Elizabeth, is barely twenty-two.
By the time Dave makes it to the venue, I’m already backstage, courtesy of HoB’s house manager. Due to the lateness, Shinedown interviews are divided by priority. My place on the totem pole of rock chroniclers merits me the drummer.
Briefly.
You can read about the show in the article I wrote. You can read how well-received Halestorm was by a crowd previously unaware of their existence. You can read about how the band members signed anything anyone handed them and how they are still nice kids, despite being of the verge of rock stardom.
What you won’t read is how Josh gave me a Heineken and Brianna a Budweiser. I know she’s only nineteen but I’m not her dad.
You will read about why Lzzy wore a fingerless leather glove that night. Two nights before she cut herself on the strings of her white Fender guitar and sprayed blood all over her Hendrix-like axe and the bald head of a security guard.
You won’t read about how raven-haired-rock-goddess sexy I think Lzzy is. How her lungs and eyes are just as appealing as her chest. You won’t read about how Brianna started crushing on Joe and his beard and how overjoyed she was when he threw her one of his guitar picks during the show.
You won’t read about how spending time with this young band from York, Pennsylvania reignited the adolescent rock and roll dreams of a small town Utah boy, trying to make in the big city.
It is in there, somewhere, but you’d have to look for it.


But the thrill we've never known
Is the thrill that'll getcha
When you get your pictureOn the cover of the Rollin' Stone
“Cover of the Rolling Stone” Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show


I won’t lie and say Wes, my mom’s third husband, never did anything good for me. As much as I’d like to say that, I can’t and still tell the truth. One of the good things about Wes was that he played air guitar. He shredded air guitar like no one I had seen before.
Actually, I had never seen anyone play air guitar at all. All the people I knew up to that point who wanted to play guitar learned how to do the real thing. But that was Wes, a balding, thirty something teenager who collected baseball cards and Rolling Stone magazine.
At first, I stole copies of Rolling Stone because there were pictures of gorgeous women on the covers and inside. There were racy ads for English Leather—my man wears English Leather or he doesn’t wear anything—with lingerie clad models and an occasional ad for “couples therapy” videotapes. Some boys find Dad’s copies of Playboy; I fantasized about female musicians.
They had Hugh Hefner. I had Jann Wenner.
Most of the copies were from the late 1980s and early’90s. Hair metal was dying out, grunge wasn’t invented yet, and Madonna was still a hussy instead of a mother.
I can’t remember all of what I read because I was still focused on the pictures. I do remember photos of the Bangles (Susanna Hoffs is still beautiful), Pat Benatar, Lita Ford, and, thanks to Rolling Stone’s diversity of age and race, Janet Jackson and Debbie Gibson.
I remember listening to The Bangles, even knew many of the lyrics to their hits. When I was ten, I knew that the girl I would someday fall in love with would be my “Eternal Flame” and want to “Walk Like an Egyptian” with me. My sister, Leslie, listened to Debbie Gibson. Debbie was cool, I guess, but I wanted to rock.
And I wasn’t the only one in the house with that desire. One day when Wes wasn’t busy trying to be a Blues Brother, I caught him strumming that air guitar to Bon Jovi. At the time, I tried not to like Bon Jovi because Wes liked them. Him and all the “cool” guys at school. Being cool was not high on my priorities. All the cool guys I knew were jerks. Why would anyone want to be a jerk?
Plus, Bon Jovi wasn’t loud enough.

And it came to pass
That rock 'n' roll was born
All across the land every rockin' band
Was blowin' up a storm
“Let There Be Rock” AC/DC


Jeremy Wright’s parents were rockers, too. One night, I was set to sleepover at Jeremy’s house. A couple nights before, the sleepover was canceled. Jeremy’s parents weren’t going to be home because they had tickets to a concert in Salt Lake City and wouldn’t be home until the next afternoon. It was January and they didn’t want to risk driving at night in the snow.
Specifically, it was January 18, 1991. For fans of AC/DC and all the haters of rock music in Utah, this was the night the Salt Palace entered a level of rock history occupied by The Rolling Stones at Altamont and The Who in Cleveland. Three fans, including one from Logan, Utah, only thirty miles from my house in Lewiston, were trampled to death.
The next Monday, AC/DC was banned at school and at Jeremy’s house, even though his own parents had been at the concert.
Guess who benefited from this tragedy?
Jeremy gave me all the copies of AC/DC music that he had. I don’t know what his parents did with the original CDs (and, according to Jeremy, vinyl!) but the tapes made from those originals came home with me. I had heard the hits on KBER 101.1, Utah’s Rock Station, but many of the other songs had never breeched my ears.
The next day, when Principal Goodey heard me singing “I’ve got big balls, he’s got big balls, she’s got big balls, but we’ve got the biggest balls of them all,” I lied and told him I made it up. Anything in order to keep my precious tapes.
From then on, any time I’ve been forced to return to Cache Valley, I crank up “Highway to Hell” without caring who else is in the car.
Of course, any early-90s burgeoning metalhead who didn’t listen to Metallica was a bigger loser than a regular metalhead. The “Black Album” was the biggest thing in the world at the time and I didn’t own any Metallica. I borrowed “…And Justice For All” from a friend I don’t remember but wasn’t impressed. Where was the bass, I wondered. (I didn’t know anything about the band, so I didn’t know it was Jason Newsted’s first album with the group. If you asked me who Cliff Burton was, or even James Hetfield, I would have tried to remember which baseball team they played for.)
Strange, isn’t it? Any other kid my age into hard rock idolized Metallica to the point of near-psychosis. Maybe it is because I came to them later that I am able to appreciate the music they’ve made since 1991. Don’t get me wrong; anything from “Master of Puppets” and before licks the sonic ass of anything after it. There are some gems on the later records, but nothing like the old days.
I missed those old days. I didn’t own a Metallica record until 1994. Now I have all of them, even “S&M”, the record they made with the San Francisco Symphony. I listen to it with my mom.



***


Some marching band keeps Its own beat in my head while we're talking
About all of the things that I long to believe
About love and the truth and what you mean to me
And the truth is baby you're all that I need
“Bed of Roses” Bon Jovi

When my family escaped—and I use that word with all of its intended meaning—from Cache Valley, we did so with a bit of spending cash. Each of us kids, me, Leslie, younger brother Deken, and youngest brother Logan, were given a special treat over the summer but Mom was looking for something we could all do together.
Sticking it in the face of three-year-gone Wes who never made it to a real concert, we went to see Bon Jovi as a family. We were going to get general seating but while we were at the SmithTix booth (SmithTix, at the time, was the largest ticket seller in the state and operated out of Smith’s grocery stores. They might still be the best place to get concert tickets but I don’t know.) we noticed that reserved seating wasn’t much more expensive than the general seating.
Imagine my family of five, Mom is barely thirty-five and Logan is only seven, tenth row at Bon Jovi, banging our heads together, having a better night as a cohesive unit than any church could think of. We rocked as a family. We each left with a tour T-shirt—“You can’t leave without knowing you were there,” Mom said—and some with sore necks or headaches.
The next day was the first day of the new school year at a new school for me. My siblings had moved back to Payson, our first and best home, in the spring so they were already acquainted with their schools.
I remember the first words I heard from another student at Payson High School. “Hey, everyone, look. It’s Ron Jon Bovi!” While I thought my worst fears were coming true, it turned out different. The speaker was a senior and quite a popular one at that. If he said someone was cool, then that person was cool.
For the first time in my life, I was cool. And I owed it all to Rock.
Wes, with his wicked air guitar, was never this cool.
There is a picture of me in the 1995-96 Payson High School yearbook, almost at the exact center. It covers the top half of two pages. I’m smiling because I’m a sophomore and a senior girl has her arm around me. The caption reads, “Alice Webber seems to be one of Ron Jon Bovi’s biggest fans.”
I am a Rock God!


I'm so happy 'cause today
I've found my friends ...
They're in my head
I'm so ugly, but that's okay, ‘cause so are you ...
“Lithium” Nirvana


Grunge took over and life went back to shit. No more Rolling Stone to read, which I learned to live with, and not as close a family, which was harder to deal with. Mom married again, her fourth marriage, and moved to Washington. At this time, I was exploring a different kind of stardom, that of high school theater. I got over that, dropped out of high school, and basically became a loser. I didn’t have anything. I didn’t even own a stereo.
The girl I was in love with, Jenny, was a dedicated follower of Nirvana, even after Kurt Cobain’s death. I didn’t want to listen to new music. I wanted Led Zeppelin and the Doors. I wanted to marry her. I tried to be a normal guy for her, ditching my brief affair with “goth” and bullshitting my way into a real job at a warehouse.
Everyday, I woke up at 4:30 a.m. just to make it to work at 6:30. I made a decent wage, especially for a drop out and had a good apartment.
I didn’t have anything I wanted.
Jenny went to college at Southern Utah University on a theater scholarship. There she met her soon-to-be husband.
The day they were married, I blasted the Velvet Underground and the Sex Pistols on the small K-Mart stereo I eventually bought. “Sweet Jane” was one of our songs. The Sex Pistols was the angriest music I could find without looking too hard.
I could have played any number of songs I considered “our songs.” Van Halen’s version of “You Really Got Me” that we danced to during our first official date. “You Shook Me (All Night Long)” by AC/DC which was the first song Jenny and I eve danced to together ran through my mind. It had to play in my head because I smashed the CD with my fist in anger.
The day Jenny died I bought a Johnny Cash record, the one with the cover of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” and the first Evanescence album. I cried like crazy listening to both of them. I don’t know that Jenny ever heard the songs on these albums but I think that she would have liked them.
By then, it was 2004 and I was almost back on track to my dreams. Now I just needed someone to share them with.
***
Take your time... Don't live too fast,Troubles will come and they will pass.Go find a woman and you'll find love,And don't forget son,There is someone up above.
“Simple Man” Lynard Skynard

I took Brianna with me the second time Halestorm came to Las Vegas, again with Shinedown and again with free tickets. There weren’t the same moments of doubt as the first time. In the months since I met Lzzy and the boys, I had interviewed up-and-coming British band Athlete, members of the Italian metal group Lacuna Coil, and met Rob Zombie. Oh yes, and my ten minutes with Barry, Shinedown’s drummer on that fateful first night.
Beth recognized me and let me right in, no hassles. Brianna was there the whole time, at my side. I made jokes about how she has become Joe’s number one fan and how I wouldn’t mind if she decided to become a groupie. She returned fire by asking me why I didn’t ask Lzzy if she had a boyfriend. It was all friendly joking, with each of us smiling and having a great time.
There is just something about being able to go into a show, being remembered by the band, and seeing the jealous eyes of those turned away because “no cameras or recording equipment are allowed” inside the concert hall.
Some call it rebellion; some call it working the system.
I call it living a rock and roll dream.
We—Brianna, Lzzy, Joe, and me—sat at the coffee shop next to the House of Blues after Halestorm’s set and chatted like old friends. I closed my reporter’s notebook and just talked. Given our ages, we all could have gone to school within a few years of each other. Joe could have taken Brianna to the prom and Lzzy could have been my first crush. Instead, we met like this: me, a writer for a community college paper and his friend going to interview a newly signed band on their first major tour of the country. Beth, band mom and manager, worked the T-shirt stand, eventually running out of copies of “One and Done”, Halestorm’s five song live EP. She peeks in, checking on us, asking if anyone needs a drink, and asks where Arejay and Josh have gone.
“Josh is probably running from the ladies,” Joe says.
“Yeah,” Lzzy agrees. “These Vegas girls love Josh.” No one has a clue where Arejay is.
I wink at Brianna and make another groupie joke. “Don’t worry, Joe,” I say. “You have your own female fans.”
Brianna blushes and I wish I hadn’t said that. I’m starting to think that she could be my Linda McCartney as opposed to being Joe’s Yoko Ono. Sure, Lzzy is super hot—rock-goddess sexy, I believe I said earlier—but Brianna is right there. She is the one who will drive home with me and the one who knows where I live.
We are all good friends now but you won’t read about that in any newspaper article. You won’t read about how I’m going back to Las Vegas for the semester break and that Brianna is at the top of my “people to call” list in a rock magazine.
In our own way, Brianna and I are just as much the future of Rock and Joe and Lzzy are. We are the fans, the ones weaned on Rolling Stone and bootlegged tapes of banned rock and roll bands. We are the ones who will take our kids to see groups like Halestorm just to spend time with our families.
Brianna and I are the kids who showed up to Halestorm’s second show and knew the words to their songs.
We are the future gods of rock.
Oh, you understand, it’s been a long time comin’ Oh, you understand, no offense I’m in love with somebody Found someone who completes me I’m in love with somebody AND IT’S NOT YOU! “It’s Not You” Halestorm Halestorm is in Chicago recording their first full-length album. I tried to make a deal where I could follow them throughout the process and write a book about it. The deal was contingent on them recording in Los Angeles. So here I am, Moscow, Idaho, looking back on my glimpses of rock greatness. I’ve been lucky, lucky enough to see AC/DC during their return to Salt Lake City in 2001. I’ve been lucky enough to be in a position to see a few concerts for free. I’ve been fortunate enough to become friends with a band that, if there are such things as rock gods, will soon rule the charts and airwaves. I’ve been lucky enough to have known a girl as great as Jenny and to meet another wonderful woman in Brianna. The question is: How far can luck carry me? Halestorm didn’t get to where they are by sitting back and letting things happen. It takes hard work and dedication, along with talent, to become a true rock and roll hero. It takes equal dedication to fall in love and make it work. Every AC/DC concert since 1981 ends with the same song. It seems funny, given the title, like something they should play first, but that isn’t how they roll. It isn’t how I roll, either. So, raise your arm and flash the sign of the beast. It is about to get loud in here. Kiss your best girl and bang your head. It is about to get LOUD IN HERE. We ain't no legends ain't no cause
We're just livin' for today
For those about to rock, we salute you
For those about to rock, we salute you “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)” AC/DC

Bummer

So, the day after I find my old work, the link doesn't work. I can't even get to it the way I found it in the first place. I shall keep trying. I hate to leave you, my loyal readers, hanging like that.

Blast from the past

SOmetimes, it is fun to go back and see what you've done and where you've put it. I found this one today. I know where I was when I wrote and can remember almost exactly what I was thinking. I would place the writing of this in late 1999. (Let me know if the link doesn't work and I'll just copy and past the piece. The place where it is, however, tells a lot about the piece.)

http://www.abahbnews.com/Misc/fiction/vignette.html

Just keeps snowing

So much going this year and February has just begun. Where to start or even what to say. Well, no sense in beating around the bush.

Classes are...interesting. One class has a lot of reading and is turning an otherwise engaging subject into a mush of information that I really didn't need to know. ANother has me going back to basic that I've been so used to just working with that I'd forgotten why. I'm learning a lot and having a good time doingit. Plus it will nmake me better at a few things I'm pretty good at now. A third calss has me reading 16th poetry and I love it. I wasn't sure how well I'd take to such a class but the in-depth analyses of these poems has proven to be more funt hat it would seem to someone not interested in the subject. AN, finally, is my actual writing class for the semester. i don't know about it. Sure, some of the assignments are fun but this is the first time in a writing class where I have the feeling i may be wasting my time in there. previous classes I took were in areas I knew I struggled in and wanted to improve in. Don't get me wrong; I want to improve in my fiction writing but none of the things we've done so far have had eye-opening effectson me or my work.

Really, with all the work I'm doing at the newspaper here, i feel like I'm getting closer, faster to the point of being ready to jump out and into a job.

Scary, isn't it?

And then there is this other thing that I haven't sorted out yet that I'm not ready to talk about. It may be nothing and it may be everything. I don't know.

For those of you out there that I may not have spoken with recently, I'm sorry. I think about many of you often and wonder why you still put up with me when I'm not acting like a very good friend.

It is funny how happy and sad go hand in hand so very often.

Busy body

So I haven't written anything here lately because I've been busy. Sue me. With new responsibilities at the paper and classes starting up for the semester, time for this has not been there. I'm going to keep trying to get things on here.
There is news, though.
I've gone digital which means I may have photos to post on the blog. Naturally, not very many of them will be of me because I will be behind the fancy new camera. We shall see what we shall see.
As always, if you want to see something on here, or just want to jibber jabber, you know what to do.
And if you want to read how busy I am, check out the Argonaut at:
http://www.argonaut.uidaho.edu/
Cheers.

And so begins a New Year

Just a basic update. Had a good break. Still trying to sort some things out in my head that went on over the couple weeks I was back in Nevada. I'll let you all in on them once I figure it out.
Spring classes start on Wednesday. I will be taking my first ever journalism class. yes, that's right, my FIRST EVER JOURNALISM CLASS. And it isn't a 101, either.

Anyway, I'm hungry and have some other things to do. i'm excited to get back into the mix of another semester. Catch you on the flipside.