04.29.2002
(Night)

My old home town of Simi Valley, CA is back in the news again, ten years later. Just another anniversary to remind me that my ten year high school reunion is fast approaching. I assume that I'll go, but we'll see what happens in the next year or so.

04.25.2002
(Night)

Just got back from the Big Smith/Del McCoury show. Cool. And now I have to be on the road to the airport in five and a half hours. Motherfucker. If anybody's up at 5:30AM Central, can you give me a call to make sure I'm out of bed? You can reach me at (913) 486-3950.

Thanks, and I'll see you at La Zona Rosa in Austin tomorrow night.

04.25.2002
(Morning)

The Steve Kimock Band played in Lawrence, KS last night. I went to the show, and it wasn't more than two minutes into the first song before I was kicking myself for even considering not going. The band has really come together, and can really crank out the music now. Since bassist Bobby Vega left, I know they've had at least two bassists, and I think perhaps as many as three. Other than bass, the core group of Steve Kimock and Mitch Stein on guitars and Rodney Holmes (praise be upon him) on drums has been steady. The first show I saw with Mitch, it seemed to me that he didn't really stay quiet during quiet jams, and some of his riffs could get a bit jarring. It seemed like he wanted to play a bit more aggressively than Steve.

Well that certainly has changed. Even more so than the shows I saw in Chicago last fall, this band has really settled into their sound. I think that when I saw them in Chicago I said that Mitch had calmed down a bit, but I'm not entirely sure that that's what has happenned. They did play some mellow songs last night, but many of the songs included hard driving, aggressive jams. I didn't recognize at least two of the songs. They may be the new ones I've been hearing about. They played the song with the sequencer again. I think it's called "New Loop in C", but I think they may have renamed it. That was fairly new when I saw them in Chicago last year, and it seemed like Mitch and Steve didn't really know what do do with it. It's still mainly a vehicle for Rodney, but there's a lot more going on in it now, and it had everybody dancing. The only song I was hoping for that I didn't hear was "It's Up To You". Hopefully they'll hit that one in Austin tomorrow night.

I didn't get home until about 2:30 last night. Tonight I'm heading over to Missouri to see Big Smith open up for The Del McCoury Band. My flight for Austin leaves at 7:00AM on Friday. In order to make it to the airport by 6:00, I'll probably have to be on the road by 5:00AM. I think it would probably be best if I just didn't sleep tonight and instead just stay up and pack, and hope to get some sleep on the plane. I have a long weekend ahead of me. Those of you lucky enough to live in or near Dallas, don't forget to go see Kimock tonight. I'll see some of you in Austin tomorrow.

04.24.2002
(Morning)

News blackout update: It's day 3. Last night I watched 24 then I started to watch the local Fox news. I've been watching local Fox news occasionally because I've been hoping to catch a report by the woman I play racquetball with... I've never seen one of her reports, though. It's tough to sit through the hour and a half of mind-numbing local news, especially when they give the same local weather report every ten freaking minutes. Going into commercials they always play it up like there have been startling new developments in the local forecast, and you must stay tuned or your life and the lives of everyone you love will be in grave danger. I did come to my senses and turn the news off as soon as the local anchors did their introductions. So I didn't actually see any news.

This morning I made my daily walk to the foot of my driveway to pick up the local paper that I never subscribed to and deposit it into the trash. Without thinking, I took it out of its plastic-wrap and read the front page headline. "Johnson County Community College to Raise Property Taxes 25%". I wasn't aware the the local Junior College had authority over tax policy, but I read enough of the article to see that my property taxes are indeed going to increase by 25% this year to help upgrade computers or something at the college. That's what I get for reading the newspaper during my news blackout...

04.22.2002
(Afternoon)

I read a bit of financial news, just to see how my company's stock price is doing. That's not cheating, is it?

Oh, and I finally did get most of my wallpaper taken down. Hooray!

04.19.2002
(Night)

So I was browsing through my benefit package from work, and I noticed that my health insurance covers up to 30 visits per year to a psychiatrist at a $10 co-pay per visit. I think I'm going to take them up on that. I've often thought that it would be a good idea to see a psychiatrist. Maybe I'll get on some good drugs. I hear that those can often cause "sexual side effects", but these days, that won't be a problem anyway...

I get depressed sometimes, but I really have no way to gauge whether I get it more than others, or just a normal amount. Whatever that is. I have trouble socializing. I often think that I have nothing in common with just about anybody I meet.

Anyway, it's quite possible that all this is entirely normal, but for $10 a session I figure I'll give it a shot. Maybe the doctor will just tell me to suck it up... And if I don't think it's doing anything for me, I'll stop going. It'll give me something new to talk about on here anyway.

Speaking of mental illness, I'm starting to realize that I have a problem. I try one, then it leads to another, and I end up not being able to stop. I started doing it in my car several years ago. I even do it at work occasionally now. I am finally beginning to realize that I am a news junkie. All the political blogs, the NPR in the car... Hell, just right now I tabbed out of this window to check InstaPundit again. I haven't smoked a cigarette in one month and nineteen days, and I did that cold turkey. I think I'm going to try a week without news. I'm kind of cheating by doing it next week, but it'll be an easy start. I'm going to be very busy next week at two shows in Kansas City, then I'll be in Austin all weekend, but it'll be good for a start. Monday and Tuesday are going to be tough, but I think I can get through it.

Ick, but I guess I'm going to try to finish up my work on the Movable Type installation. Watch for a Brand New Layout in this space Any Time Now.

And listen to Radio Paradise... Damn, they're playing some very, very good stuff right now.

04.19.2002
(Morning)

This is odd... Among the calls for war crimes trials against Ariel Sharon and the calls for the PLO to renounce their recognition of the state of Israel at Arab News is a review of the new Wu Tang Clan album.

The album starts off with the token old-school Kung-fu sample (which we have grown to love), and then "The Hood" starts the festivities on a promising note. "Soul Power" is a great track. Musically, RZA ventures into unexplored areas here, blending some bongos and other "Organic" percussion interments with a jazzy flute loop. This is a little similar to rap music before the "Gangsta" rap era, but a little more modern. The track also features the brilliant Flavor Flav from Public Enemy, doing what he does best, hyping up the track with random rhymes.

And they only bash the US once in the course of the review...

04.18.2002
(Afternoon)

I am tired just about all the time. I yawn all day and all night, regardless of how much sleep I get, how much exercise I get, how much caffeine I do or do not drink. It's getting to the point where I'm considering asking my doctor about it when I go in for an annual checkup in a couple of weeks.

And then I read this story about a new pill, Provigil, which apparently just about eliminates the need for sleep without any (yet known) side effects. It doesn't sound like I could get this, but if I could, I would.

04.18.2002
(Morning)

I'm always happy to participate in the latest trends.

04.16.2002
(Morning)

Did I ever mention that Tom Tomorrow rules?

04.15.2002
(Morning)

I had a hell of a weekend in Fayetteville. It had been a while since I had caught a Big Smith show at Chester's Place. Those are always the best shows. The last several times I've seen the guys, they've either been opening up for someone else or there were so many opening acts that they ended up playing a shorter than normal set. Weekends at Chester's are always nice... They take a lot of requests and play lots of songs that don't often make it in to shows elsewhere.

While I was in town, I managed to acquire a couple CDs of shows from a friend of mine that tapes. I have both sets of the 3/23/02 show in Joplin, MO. I also got a copy of the second set of the 3/15/02 show from Chester's in Fayetteville. That one has an excellent recording of I'll Fly Away, and I listened to it most of the drive home. Since I haven't made the investment it takes to start taping shows myself, the least I can do is help to distribute them, so if anybody is interested in copies, email me and I'll get some copies to you. I'm working on posting setlists, and will have those up tonight.

While I was in town, I ran into a lot of people who are going to the Bonnaroo Music Festival in June. It sold out last week, and although I can't really find how many tickets were sold, I have a feeling this is going to be very, very big... I think I'm going to take an extra day off to make sure I get in to town nice and early. That's going to be cool... One of the attractions is a Sunday morning gospel tent. We need to start an email campaign to get Big Smith signed to play the Gospel tent. I've often thought it would be cool to see them do a whole set of nothing but gospel tunes.

04.11.2002
(Night)

I am very close to getting Movable Type working on here. I had to go play racquetball, otherwise I probably would have finished it up tonight. I just need to do a bit more tweaking on the new page layout, then spend hours and hours manually importing all my old entries into the new system. Then you will be able to post comments, such as "That post really sucked!" "Why do you bother?" "You just stole that from InstaPundit you loser..."

That's going to be great. But I'm off to Fayetteville tomorrow after work for two days of Big Smith. See you all down there...

04.11.2002
(Afternoon)

Among this year's congressional pork, $273,000 to combat Goth Culture in the state of Missouri. I need to get a job working for this department. Where can I sign up?

04.11.2002
(Afternoon)

On a lighter note, the new Startling Stories: The Megalomaniacal Spider-Man by Peter Bagge comes out next week. This is a retelling of the Spider-Man story with the twist being that Uncle Ben was not killed in the robbery, and therefore Spider-Man never learned that "With great power must also come great responsibility". Instead, his mantra becomes "Look out for number one."

Peter Bagge's stuff for Suck and Reason was always cool, and I've been looking forward to this since I heard that he was doing it. Back in my (brief) comic book collecting days, I almost exclusively bought Spider-Man comics. This should be cool.

04.11.2002
(Morning)

Photodude has a great post on the Pulitzer Prize for photography, and some controversy surrounding it. Apparently, many think that the honor should have gone to the photographer of the firemen raising the flag over the rubble.

Photodude disagrees. He provides a link to another story from the attack that I wasn't aware of. Photojournalist Bill Biggart got a bit too close after the planes hit the Trade Center, and was killed documenting the scene when the towers collapsed. Later, his cameras were found and his film developed. You can view the pictures in a slideshow linked from that story. Photodude thinks Bill Biggart deserves the prize.

04.10.2002
(Afternoon)

Damn the weather... I was hoping I might be able to sneak in a quick canoe float on Saturday while I'm down in Arkansas, but it looks like it's going to rain.

04.10.2002
(Morning)

Hey, you won't catch me complaining about *N Sync's Lance Bass being shot into space.

What's that? They're bringing him back too? Well, it sounded like a good idea, anyway...

04.09.2002
(Morning)

This doesn't surprise me at all. Once Congress decided that it was OK to run a federal budget deficit (due to the war, of course), it's time to dip into the trough. This morning on the local news I heard back to back stories about how funding had been approved to renovate stadiums in St. Louis and Kansas City, followed by a story that Missouri's governor was furious that the Missouri legislature didn't vote to dip into the "emergency" fund to avoid running a budget deficit. I'm sorry, but if you can afford to build and renovate stadiums, you are not in a budget emergency.

04.09.2002
(Morning)

Crap. It looks like my cable modem service is going to start charging more for people who use an above average amount of bandwidth. I actually don't think that this will affect me, but I guess I'd better throttle back my porn downloads...

04.09.2002
(Morning)

Forces are conspiring against me today. I drove by two (not serious) accidents on the way in to work, and my normal twenty minute drive in to work took me over an hour this morning. Then when I got in to work, I got in the elevator, and people had it stop on every floor on the way up to mine. Then my Skittles got stuck in the snack machine. The Skittles Chew The Clue contest website is still down (five days now), so I can't check my Skittles wrappers to see if I've won $5000. And the wrappers are starting to pile up on my desk.

Oh well, at least I get to see Big Smith and Emmylou Harris tonight.

04.08.2002
(Night)

Are you addicted to sex? Find out here.

04.05.2002
(Morning)

Wow, Matt Welch has some really good stuff too. He's written a nice little post on how Palestinian apologists really aren't doing the Palestinians any favors...

04.04.2002
(Lunch)

I captured one of the shows, but haven't started converting it to a usable format yet. I'm also installing Movable Type on the site, so I'll be able to allow comments, links to individual posts, better searchable archives, I'll be able to let some of you guys post to the site if you're interested. That's still going to take some work, as I'm going to have to re-jigger the site's layout again. But it's been in need of an overhaul for a while. Stay tuned...

04.03.2002
(Morning)

I finished up reading Good Omens over the weekend. It was pretty good, and I could see it being an excellent Terry Gilliam movie. Apparently Terry is having trouble getting financing for the project, so he may shelve it in order to at least get something done this year. After Monty Python, Time Bandits, Brazil, The Fisher King, Twelve Monkeys, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas it is an absolute travesty that Gilliam still has trouble getting funding for his pictures.

I'm now reading a book called One Palestine, Complete. It's by a Jewish author, but from many reviews I've read he's one of the most objective historians writing on the subject. This book only covers the period from the British capture of Palestine from the Turks to the formation of Israel. I'm honestly more interested in the history from then until now, but I guess this is as good a place as any to start.

04.02.2002
(Morning)

I plan tonight to work on the web site, mainly to start re-capturing the shows to improve the quality, and hopefully to allow links to individual skits in addition to the complete shows. I'm sure I won't get anything posted to the site tonight, but I hope to have something soon. I got my new video card working now, so I should be able to capture video again, and at much better quality. We'll see. I think I'm going to stop using Real Video, though. The new player, Real One, really pisses me off. It pops up update notifications, and constantly suggests that you sign up for their premium music service. And you can't turn it off. The best you can do is tell it not to bother you for another month.

So I'm looking for something new to use. I don't think I want to use Windows Media, and I've never tried using Quicktime. I'll be experimenting. To start, I might just make the shows only downloadable, rather than streaming. It'll suck if you're only on a modem, but those of you with decent connections should get a much better quality product anyway. I'm just trying to see what the state of streaming media is these days...

04.01.2002
(Afternoon)

Please tell me that the new layout at Sgt. Stryker's blog is not just for April Fool's Day...

04.01.2002
(Morning)

A collection of the April Fool's Day prank webpages I've seen so far:

Google
The Register / InstaPundit
Bjørn Stærk

Hey, and Yassir Arafat just announced that he's calling for a halt to all suicide bombings!