Favorites 4.23.15
Guys And Power Tools: A cliche, yeah, but still hot.
Sip: The pricey juice carts you can find around town. I'm too lazy to juice myself—but unfortunately I'm addicted to that life-affirming shit, and so I'll gladly part with my hard-earned loot to have someone else serve it to me.
Bryce Street: A mythical lane (sometimes I can find it, sometimes I can't) that takes you like a wormhole from inner Northeast where all the bars are to further-out NE where my house is without bother of stoplight or traffic. When you're tired and/or tipsy, there's nothing better—hope I stumble upon it this weekend.
Steady Rollin': Dusty tune straight outta SF. My bud Cairo got me hooked on this one—makes you want to get behind the wheel and go.
Just You & Me & The Dead Milkmen
The Dead Milkmen played last night at the Wonder Ballroom—and I went to see ’em. Why wouldn't I?!
It's weird, because I was just thinking about them. Are the Dead Milkmen on your mind a lot? Not me. Kinda rare, in all honesty.
So, the fact that I'd been simmering on them, and then the fact that suddenly they were touring through town, and then the fact that suddenly a friend called me all last min to say he had an extra ticket—well, it seems pretty fated, yeah?
ANYWAY, I was tired as a dog but you can't not be happy at a Dead Milkmen show. Love their tunes. Love their energy. Love how fucking funny they are on stage. Love, love, love their lyrics—best lyrics of any band ever, maybe???!!!! Just rad old guys playing rad old music for a crowd of nerds and weirdos just like me.
Twice A Year
On Tuesday we had a storm. Thunder was involved—and a rainbow. Everything you could ask for from a storm, really.
I grew up on thunder. There is a wildness about it that's to love. Around here, it thunders, like, twice a year, though.
Tuesday: I didn't even know it was gonna be THAT kind of storm. It caught me by surprise on an evening dog walk that almost didn't happen. We were feeling lazy but decided to go anyway.
My first step on the sidewalk, the thunder cracked, a few blocks from my house, a rainbow unfolded, and still further on, sun beams pierced the downpour—turning the rain into a kinda shower of light.
I guess what I'm saying here is thank god for dogs and the way their sad droopy eyes coerce you into walking outside when you were inclined to stay in. Outside is, of course, where all the good stuff happens.
Friday Afternoon
I am not extremely wise, but I know enough to know that nothing productive ever happens on Friday afternoon. It's been a long motherfuckin week, and you're always in this addled, noncommittal headspace that isn't conducive to doing any kind of work at all.
My new thing, then, instead of sitting there with my hands hovering over my keyboard, is to launch off on a walkabout.
Because it's good to walk. Walking, like all the other slow things in life, is meditative. As is staring over the precipice of a towering cliff. As is the wind from an oncoming storm. As is the lacework of yellow flowers in the fields. As are the birds slipping through the tall grass and following us with their songs.
Three Things
New car: I did not "bargain hard." I'm civilized, I just paid what they asked. It's possible that I got hosed. Actually, I'm feeling pretty broke now—but Lefty's happy and anything for the kid, ya know?
Front stoops: I wish I had a front porch. What is it about them? They're better than back porches. There's a potentiality there—hanging on the stoop, you could see someone you know and yell hey and they might come over and tell you about a show or a party going on later, maybe, or you could see a cute dog walking by and go out to force cuddle it, et cetera. The other night, we sat on Colleen's front porch, under white twinkly lights, safe from the spring rain, and everyone felt really happy and comfortable to be among friends and to not be stuck inside.
The Drop: A hard-boiled Brooklyn crime movie with a crazy little twist at the end. Y'all know how I feel about Tom Hardy (he's my guy), but James Gandolfini (RIP) and Noomi Rapace (the chick from the Swedish Girl With The Dragon Tattoo movies) are so, so great, too.