it's easier to talk when there's a wall between us

[wow, crocheted daffodil, wow]
spring changes everything

soo, it does. i feel like i recovered at least a quarter of my personality with the weather change. didn't even know it was missing. kevin took the plastic off the windows, i cleaned my asics that had been marinating in wicker park mud from the renegade craft fair since august, drove with the sunroof open and sang "lazy line painter jane" at the top of my lungs, smoked too many cigarettes on the front porch, made a late taco bell run. ya know, spring things.

or perhaps i'm just excited to leave town for the weekend to chicago. starting it off friday night at schuba's for the joggers/oxford collapse/narrator show. soooo here are some songs:

joggers
--------------> era prison
------------------> horny ghost
-------> buy!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
oxford collapse
--------------> the boys go home
------------------> last american virgin
----------------------> proofreading
-------> buy!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
narrator
--------------> pregnant boys
------------------> this party's over
----------------------> all are assassins
-------> buy!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++

goodnight!

when everything has washed away

think tonight about flax, the plant. and of course also the best art supply store ever in san francisco, flax. i'd pay perhaps 500$ at this very moment for it to be a sunny late morning, riding my bike up valencia to that store, stopping of course on the way at herbivore for their killer basil pesto tofu scramble. truly-truly, one of my perhaps top five meals of all time. why do i have san francisco on the mind today? something about thinking about food [eating shitty box noodle soup makes you dream of all the foods you wish you were enjoying, right?] yields to thoughts of san francisco. or truly-truly, eluding subjects that only belong spoken about under the covers, static on touchable journal pages.

but chicago! the city with the best brunch ever. the city with so many yarn stores i can't keep up. the city that makes me dream of hot dogs. the city to which this weekend i will make my seventh trip in eight months. you'd think i'd fallen in love. laugh.

josé gonzález is going to be on conan tonight! that's soon!

high tomorrow for detroit is 64, btw. 64! might have to take out the bike.

perhaps someone else should do the talking

posting links feels like some definite housekeeping. i can only try to contain all these amazing morsels for so long until they well up like tears held back for too long and burst out on a tuesday night after 2am.

---> "detroit is rebuilding to a master plan of beauty and public service." recently tripped upon a 1965 promotional film for detroit's bid in the olympics. what a gem. it's almost humorous to note how little the city has changed since then [err, i guess we did uhhh have the riots] and also how much the word PROGRESS is uttered in the film. god i despise that word. but it is so totally 1965 to liberally pepper it in a film like this, so i guess i'm a bit less put off. perhaps.

---> seems like elbo.ws has been having some server difficulties lately, and it pretty much blows. my thoughts are with them. if you haven't yet visited this killer blog aggregator [which, clearly, is expanding at quite a rate], head on over there, you can still browse the blogs with the mp3s highlighted, you just can't do an artist or blog search. but you can, however, find most if not all of the new yeah yeah yeahs album, some new stills tracks and even a sprinkling of new mogwai stuff. things like that. + more. yessirs.

---> midlake?! ya KNOW? here's their video for "young bride" off the forthcoming [way-far-away, like JUNE] trials of van occupanther.

---> hey dudes! ever wake up and you're having sex with the person in the bed next to you? perhaps you suffer from SEXSOMNIA?! they say it's "not as funny as it sounds." oh yeah? actually...if you've ever been in bed with a SEXSOMNIAC you'd know that it is in fact pretty damn funny, insane, hot, scary. it elicits a gigantic jawbreaker rainbow of emotions. yum.

---> i so can't get over the vegan lunch box blog that sometimes i have to put it in the corner for a couple of weeks, pretend it doesn't exist. pretend i don't hate someone who has so much damn time on her hands to concoct such equisite vegan box lunches for her child [who she fondly refers to as "schmoo"...ugh, ugh {just threw up in my mouth a little bit, really}], photograph them AND write an overwhelmingly popular blog about them. pretend i don't wish i had such order, such control of a tiny sliver of the world. the vegan lunch box blog is both endearing and nauseating. and addicting. so on nights like tonight, when i muster up the gumption to stop being all jealous and spiteful, i take a peek at what little schmoo-ey-poo's been lunching on for the past week. i just can't help but wonder if he gets made fun of for his fancy-pants lunch or envied.

---> when your mind feels like it's been given a swift shake and comfort is the only thing on the menu, really, turn to mr. josé gonzález. his album, veneer, does nothing but soothe soothe sooooooooooothe.

listen to -----------> heartbeats [the knife cover]

'night

i didn't really lose you, i just lost it for a while

man. my "highly inflamed sense of event" is really kickin' full force right now. totally kickin', kickin'. i have difficulty digesting and eventually internalizing new "things." everything always makes me feel like a confused mess. big-time. yet, i step into the fire so damn much, over and over, with insanely-high frequency. there is something perhaps unhealthy about that.

whatever. truthfully, i should turn my attention to events far more worthy of thought like eating at hot doug's in chicago next weekend. big yum.

things you couldn't make up

indie rock desperation:

woman charged with stowing away to attend SXSW music festival

he's a hot catch, he likes his steak rare

TEAM DRESCH FUCKING FRIDAY
so perhaps you don't know that i thought myself to be a riot grrl throughout middle school. it's absolutely true. my best friend, elizabeth, and i loved the hell out of the bands we actually had our hands on: bikini kill, raoul, skinned teen, bratmobile and my personal favorite [best?], team dresch.

it's a snowy [wtf!], short-spoken friday, so here's the tracks:

seven <--- my total favorite
rock stars kill [compilation]
1994 © kill rock stars

she's amazing
personal best
1995 © chainsaw

take on me
captain my captain
1996 © chainsaw

buy 'em up at --------> chainsaw records

and the crazy news?!

from chainsaw records news:
"did i mention that team dresch is playing a show in
september at the estrojam festival? IT'S VERY EXCITING!
the cast will most likely consist of the original cast members
of Jody, Kaia, Donna, and Marci."

nice!

alright, off to attack my way-overwhelming list of estate sales [which of course equals near-butterflies-in-stomach].

loves and happy fridays ->m

if you want me just call out hey boy

for today [and tomorrow and on and on...ad nauseum]:
act milder; play more softly

yes, let's!

a new battle cry

let's play softer

don't do yourself a TRAGIC disservice, listen to midlake's roscoe. c'mon, i, above anyone, know what's best for you!

i wrote your name in dust on a truck

there's a town
but there's no savior

track off the new black heart procession album, the spell, out may 11th on touch & go.

black heart procession ----------------->not just words

buy the album when it comes out. great sex record.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++

apologies--no, i don't have anything more to say. my heart's on its way back, slowly.

my souvenier..

someone has dressed us all like clowns

feeling considerably emotionally under-the-weather with an urge to stay under the covers for days or drive away. dear friend-in-other-city, can i come stay with you? i promise i'll do the dishes and clean the bathroom. i'll also be much better company than i am now. trust me. i'll have more or less to say, whatever you like. east or west or south. it doesn't matter. nowhere feels colder than here.

let's meet up after the bachelor party

went to see akron/family [myspace] last night at the lager house, and it was pretty fucking fantastic. this was actually my second time seeing them, but for some reason they resonated a lot more with me, and i only left the room once. it was like dudefest spring-coming in that place last night. a plethora of facial hair toting equally-abundant amounts of 1$ prbs. detroit boys love bands like akron/family, and i can't quite put my finger on what's in their collective music subconscious from way back when [yeah, when?!] that serves as the foundation for this. regardless, a packed room at the lager house always feels amazing.

i've been listening to the debut from montreal's islands nonstop since i got the advance the other day. admittedly, i've never heard the unicorns, and it makes me feel a little weak to fall so hard for so many canadian bands. i put up the first track off return to the sea [out april 4], which clocks in within the 9-minute range, but it's great and totally worth it. trust me on this one.

islands
swans (life after death)
return to the sea
2006 [april 4] © equator

taking it a bit back with this rival schools song, but it fits today like a glove. if you thought the first day of spring marked a day for new beginnings, perhaps you thought wrong. perhapsperhaps perhaps!

rival schools
travel by telephone
united by fate
2001 © island records

big-time heart thief, jerk

TWENTY

that is the number of days it takes for a chocolate-fiending, craves-ice-cream-everyday, must-eat-something-sweet-after-every-thing-salty, refined-sugar-addicted girl to break free from sweet-eating urges.

it's not my turn to feel

there's a village far below
i'm passing by so come on, come out to play
ask your mother
and tell her why the time i called
and the reason is i love you
it justifies it all

tonight i need a real journal. it feels as though i've been up for days with hangover laid upon hangover. but really it's just the hangover from saturday night. in so many respects, i'm pulled in several different directions at once; what hurts is feeling as though i have to choose one of those directions. what's funny is that none are viable, and despite the low, rumbling inclination inside that some sort of choice is elicited, it's not. it's just not. a choice right now would change nothing except perhaps internal sentiment. which way the rope tugs. east or west. but the rope tugs, and nothing changes. a choice can be made, but it will be instantly nullified. either way, i'm entering this week with weakened, hesitant steps. if only i had a clearer mind. try and love a little less. too many things far too new this week, and i'm not really ready for it. premature. bad timing.

everyone needs someone to live by

with spring so soon, the philodendra are growing like crazy, and i can't stop thinking about how it seems like some sort of mathematics i could never fully grasp.

if i could curl up in bed tonight with my favorite catherine wheel song, i would. the drums, at the very very least, are impeccable, enviable. let's share.

catherine wheel -----> girl stand still
[sorry it's an m4a..]

there's a secret i've been keeping
pushed aside and left behind
it's back again like bad religion
oh we love to lose our minds

i never asked you to come in here

i love going out, and i think that doing less of it causes my heart to stray from detroit. i saw some gems last night. and made good decisions. everyone played amazingly. s is home from a hellish/fantastic two weeks riding in a van around the country, and we're all really jazzed about it. absence as such leaves expansive, gaping holes in lives and hearts.

this sunday's sundrenched, and we're about to brunch downtown with our out-of-town visitors. these are a few of my favorite things.

you, strongarming

set the night afire

TONIGHT!!

AND check out two tracks off the full-length this could lead to arguments, a copy of which is complimentary with the 6$ admission to the lager house in oh-so-lovely corktown, DEEEtroit, mich!

---->fine lines
---->she dreamt of texas

AND show up early for la salle [ex-small brown bike], light [double ex-bang bang, ex-everything], m.sord [kazoo drumming insanity/maddness/greatness].

see you tonight.

why did we ever meet

it's SO friday. i'm not working a lick, not typing one little medical word today and instead heading downriver and then driving north up through the westerly suburbs hitting killer estate sale after killer estate sale along the way with ms. angela. perhaps we'll stop at krishna catering or bangkok 96? i so miss my old favorite dearborn-area restaurants. sob.

this weekend's going to be good? tomorrow night [saturday] surely will be fun, the ancourage this could lead to arguments cd release show at the lager house in achingly-lovely corktown, detroit also with pitifully-special guests/pals light, m.sord and la salle. the 6$ cover gets you a copy of the new cd. actually, not a copy, the REAL fucking thing!

xo

nourishment for the jealous, a snack for the lonely

there's a lot to staying sane

is the world closing in? i feel a little lost perhaps. i'm getting WAY into america's next top model [molly sue's the best!]. i'm always a big subscriber to the theory of worrying about myself or others when heightened media consumption occurs.

if i was in austin right now, i'd totally-totally go see margot and the nuclear so and so's and fucking MIDLAKE. screw my friends! but i'm not there so i will think about movies and drinking and new crochet patterns.

life is such a flip-flip-flop. everyone's hearts are half here. HALF here. i KNOW it. no one told me this, but you see, i am a genuine soothsayer, like a SUPERsoothsayer, a SUPERsayer [that actually makes a lot of sense?]. HEARTS! come the fuck back!

are you sure that you're taking your best shot?

wind whipping

watched bubble yesterday and totally loved it. like an absolute idiot, i watched the entire movie without realizing that i KNEW the actors were "real" [like retired-from-KFC real] people. somehow i had read that morsel of info to my roommate earlier in the day, but i had failed to understand it, internalize it, whatever. if you know me, you know these are the kind of things that i do. incidentally, finding this out after watching the movie made it way better.

yesterday, on the monthly voyage to aa pp for bc [jesus christ, that's genius] angela, lindsay and i dined in aa at this great chinese place with a separate vegetarian kitchen and an overwhelming vegetarian menu. soybean skin roll meals were ordered all around. it was insanely yummy. i ordered the "curry" version, and it had that neon yellow/green color that my absolute favorite southern indian food has, especially the total JAM krishna catering in garden city. that color--a color food probably should never have--it dyes everything like an infection. it's the color of things toxic in cartoons. i love that when i wipe my mouth with the napkin, that neon yellow/green color is inevitably everpresent.

i actually have a shitload of work today, so writing for this morning must be truncated. really, i have a lot to say; so much is swirling around in my head. thoughts of missing people and moving away, plans, schemes, money, relearning multiplication tables, picturing everyone on a pilgrimage down to austin in shitty vans like inching snails or old men huffing and weezing and sputtering [or like my friends in nice new ones or rented ones or flying the fuck down there, even]. it's like the indie rock spring break except without the beads and the senor frog-type bars. if we leave now, can we still make it to friday night?

i'm packing light

maybe i'll be your hometown fantasy
but i'm not battery-operated

i almost want to write exclusively about the weather. sitting around falling in love with a chicago in the summer i've scarcely experienced, a new york in the winter that's barely tolerable and not adorable, i almost FORGOT about ferndale in the summer. unquestionally beat physically and emotionally, angela and i lugged our bikes from the basement and rode the couple of miles to brunch at inn season on sunday. i had my cigarettes on the front porch until the wind ushered winter back in. how could i forget? just as i was falling in love with detroit all over again last year, i met some places and people that made me fall right back out again. i've fallen in love with locations with an expansive, open heart, and i'm in love with several at the moment, some i've never even experienced. i think my heart houses a few people right now, some i've known too long, some i haven't seen in forever and only dream about, some i've yet to meet perhaps; but everything, frankly, is halfway, half-hearted. a month or a weekend or one night. sometimes more than that causes my voice to raise and my arms to flail. enough. i can't write about this.

do you have those songs whose lyrics are so right on but they're not lyrics that you could theorectically sing to someone, but instead they could be sung to YOU? i have a lot of those. i'm a massive american analog set fan, so when the HOME split ep with andrew kenny [amanset] and ben gibbard [death cab for cutie, postal service] came out a couple of years ago, i was pretty excited. it's really cute: each do three original acoustic songs around the theme of "home" and one acoustic cover of the other's band's song [ugh, make sense?]. pretty fucking cute! ha. anyway, the end result is this really great ep, like really great. their originals are spectacular tunes, not some throw-aways or c-sides from their "parent" bands. and the two covers [amanset's "choir vandals" and death cab's "line of best fit"] conform to the classic notion of a cover song, as they both receive a new breath of life, of energy. ANYWAY, this song off HOME opens with one of those lines that could be sung about me [should a term it a REVERSE favorite lyric?].

andrew kenny -----> hometown fantasy
HOME: volume V
2004 © post-parlo records
[buy it at insound, it's cheap!!]

a couple more kinda-overdue news-y items:
--> oxford collapse signing to subpop: cmj and pitchfork announce it.
--> even more importantly: "The award-winning show dog that went missing from JFK Airport last month is on a boat to France, wearing a little hat, according to one of 33 dog psychics working on the case." read all about it here.

the bed is in the ocean

i've resorted to superstition. i'm pretty sure that today's winds are here not only to chase away our miniature spring-time simulacrum, they're also aiming to blow far away the curse that has cloaked us for a full week now. life does feel a bit calmer now, but there's a lot of residual messiness hanging around. full nights have been slept. previously stalled tours around the country have resumed in new vehicles. but still, i donned my greek eye necklace [meant to ward away evil spirits] today with the intention of wearing it until we are absolutely in the clear.

i miss chicago already. it seems to get worse every time i come home. part of me wants to put an envelope in the drawer to start a moving fund, but luckily it's not the entire whole of me. it's hard to want to stay put when you have a job you can do anywhere.

in the heart of the city, desire finds its fuel

atrocious mood. chicago was great of course. of course. [cafe lula is my new insanely goody-yummy favorite brunch spot, bound stems are amazing {of course}, the riviera is the worst place to see a show, i'm in love with chicago, i have the greatest friends all over the country, and i miss all of them desperately even if i saw them just yesterday.] this is the most insane week ever, and nothing has gone nearly as planned in the least. due to shitty broken-down vans, i have friends careened in southern california and in eastern ohio, both missing their shows tonight [and oddly enough, both happened during the afternoon today]. if i prayed, i would. i will just think instead. a disappointing end to an insane week touted to be "best week ever." it's a hugely pms-y, hungover, pouty saturday night spent on the couch and not in lansing. rarr. grr. sad faces across the country.

big, nice, hopeful thoughts. and i'm done with being prophetic because everything just keeps coming true.

what's with today, today?

hold on, children

come, step into the fire with me. oh, c'mon.

the chicago trip in its original incarnation in entirety is back on. last night i wanted to curl up with my blog anthropomorphic-style; tonight, i'll curl up with a bottle of whiskey. i think i deserve it.

at least the weather will be beautiful.

here's a little goodie song. it's pretty fucking hot. nice treatment, dude.

death from above 1979 ------>black history month [josh home {queens of the stone age} remix]

tell me will you slow down at all

where the world are you?
have you waited long enough?

my mind is mush; i'm spent. halfway through the 1977 french film that obscure object of desire, and i already think it will be one of my favorites. like that midlake song i listen to at least 25 times a day, seems i've really been latching onto things lately. is it a media devouring kinda thing? hell if i know. sometimes i want to anthropomorphically transform my blog into a tangible, breathing, heart-beating living thing, curl up on the couch with the words [and the canvas, the potential for words] and sink into calm, quiet sleep.

this is a great article about trader joe's, and it answers many questions i've been wondering for so long. now i'm only a smidge skeptical it's a racket.

wake up in some wild, familiar time

a great place for waterwings and canonballs

alright, i lied. totally-totally still going to chicago. friday: shop, enjoy the nice weather!; b&s, the riviera; bound stems, bottle; light up the night, set fire.

do you remember the time when this city was a great place for architects and good times? a nice place for midwives and crossing guards..? HMMM???!?

yrlittleboyeyes

soooo, i guess i was exercising some strength of prophecy yesterday, and the statement i wrote in here just one day ago came true:

in spite of that, today marks the commencement of best week ever, but you know, nothing ever goes as planned.

everything's fucked! not going to chicago, &tc., &tc., &tc.

remember the other day when i wrote about wanting to keep a blog where i write what ACTUALLY goes on in my life? that would come in major handy right now. BIG time.

i'm getting way-wasted tonight and sleeping in the heavenly bed. IT'S ALL HAPPENING. right now.

ps. that midlake song i posted yesterday is the best thing that has happened to me in months. not kidding!

we like the newness of it all

YOUR NEW FAVORITE SONG

TRUST ME. listen, acknowledge that i say that a lot, but this time i MEAN it. i mean it all the other times too, but this time i mean it EVEN MORE.

MIDLAKE are from denton, tx, a town i'm always been secretly obsessed with. i've never told anyone that. nuts-nuts. this song is off their coming-out-in-june [read: pretty fucking far from now, grr] album entitled the trials of van occupanther on bella union. it sounds like a present-day fleetwood mac incarnate with a touch of those high-brow academic-y lyrics the decemberists are so fond of, but not to the point of being overboard or annoying, as is sometimes the case with the aforementioned. it's perfect. i am SO excited about this song. i haven't been this excited about a song in months and months. really-truly. [also, they're on myspace with songs off their 2004 album.]

midlake------> roscoe

the canary islands are chasing me

a couple things i have to clear up and then regularly-scheduled monday morning musings [ugh, alliteration, gag]:

----> the link to the ume song yesterday wasn't really right on. i went back and fixed it up all nice. listen to wake, it'll make your day.

----> at the request and chiding of my roommate [and others, surely], i must amend the statement i wrote yesterday: i'm told that i "live more life" in one day or week or month than many do in time spans far longer than that. supposedly, the statement should read: i'm told that i live "an entire lifetime" in one day. laugh.

----> even if you've never been to the nyc record store other music, you should still check out this mock-u-video about indie rock shot at the store. head on over to fuzzy lion.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

it's just not preferable to have dreams where you get in fights with/tell off people who you're about to spend some time with. it just can't be healthy. it makes me feel like hell. ugh.

in spite of that, today marks the commencement of best week ever, but you know, nothing ever goes as planned.

please don't give away the ending

there's something about cleaning on sunday. organizing. rearranging. tucking everything in its right place. the scent of windex and comet. the buzz of the vacuum. laundry. mentally preparing for a great week. laying out outfits, underwear, overnight bag. printing itineraries, compiling itineraries, mapping the way to favorite spots in other cities. making playlists for an audience of one resonating sweetly against an empty house.

and this song is on repeat. think blonde redhead but dirtier, gritter. and way hotter. ume's from houston, and this song's like a dream you can't tell anyone about the next morning because it's so convoluted, so obscene, so tender. it's the encapsulation of every great sex record.

ume
wake
urgent sea
pretty activity © 2005

pick up the full-length here

out of sight, out of mind

and all the lips that kiss me are no match for your fever touch

first ----->listen to jose gonzalez. it makes sense on sunday. i promise. if you like nick drake, you'll love him. and not like it's a rip-off or a cop-out. trust me.

jose gonzalez ----->remain


just found out that it's going to be in the 50s MAYBE 60! when we're in chicago next week. man! so great. it's been too long [early december] since i've been there.

sometimes i want to keep a separate blog where i really write like it's a diary, spilling everything that's going on and everything i think/feel. it would probably be interesting like a car crash or 90210 because i'm told that i "live more life" in one day or week or month than many do in time spans far longer than that. writing like that in a public space is never going to happen even if i attempted to remain completely anonymous. i want to name names, explain feelings and events graphically, point fingers and recount all info meant to be classified. i want to write all the really insane and obscene things i spew out to my friends when drunk. i want to reveal my jealousies, my crushes, my inklings. i want to write about all the things i can't even tell my friends.

it's imperative that today includes laundry, cleaning, working and appropriately adjusting excitement levels because they're completely askew. today will not include eating sweets. sigh.

how much i would have paid to meet you

i have a soft spot for saturdays, soft pop songs, mixed nuts, forever 21. and regarding forever 21, man, i'm really a sucker. so many great patterns, color combinations...so many great DRESSES. they make me weak. that's retarded even to write, and for that i apologize. it's only when i'm in forever 21 that i feel a tinge of symptoms in common with shopping addicts. yes, really. and no, it's not cause for alarm, but it does worry me a bit. i would also like to point out that the designers over at camp forever 21 seem to have moseyed on over to american apparel for some length of time because there are many commonalities. coincidence? doubt it!

so like i've mentioned previously, i'm not eating sweets or meat for the month of march, and uhmm, it's kinda fucking hard! i could commit to and maintain veganism for a year easier than giving up sweets. it's the cravings. fucking CRAVINGS. am i seriously addicted to refined sugar? chocolate. ice cream. hot tamales. sour patch kids. oreos. chocolate chip cookies. cheesecake. this is painful, dreadful. there are moments i feel nearly homocidal. fresh and dried fruit, with their dearth of refined sugar or cocoa, they don't really cut it. i am decidedly absolutely living in a state of dissatisfacation and at-moments-unhappiness. i hope the cravings, as with any addiction, will wane.

a happier subject is going to chicago next week. lindsay hasn't been there since she was young, and i'm so excited to show her around because she's going to ADORE it. hopefully she won't develop a chicago addiction like me, but i think that will be difficult. record stores, bookstores, great places to eat, thunderbirds are now! show on thursday, belle & sebastian and then bound stems on friday. having things to look forward to is almost priceless, and i'm so lucky to have many.

"you're too far away to love"

it's friday, and i've officially decided that if i was surveyed, "favorite day:" i would answer a resounding FRIDAY. you see, i work at home [there are weaknesses to this, not just strengths, TRUST me]. all the work that comes in isn't due until MONDAY, so i find it nealry impossible to work on friday. fridays are reserved for estate sales [and flea markets like last week's jaunt to mike's warehouse]. calmness, happiness. running errands, driving in the sun-drenched winter with the ipod on shuffle. which brings up

MARITIME

first, i must admit to having been quite a sizable promise ring fan [hell, i even MET boy i proceeded to date for years at a promise ring show]. loved the records. 30° everwhere---->the older, gritty, messy stuff. the newer, cleaner pop stuff like the last two records. all of it. then it was all over. next, frontman davey vonbohlen and drummer dan didier went on to form vermont, which i never caught on to at all. i'm not quite sure anyone did. so when i heard about their newest incarnation, maritime, i felt a little squeamish. nauseous? no. scared? kinda. excited? a resounding, no. but what happened is i put the new record on my ipod, and everytime that goddamn SHUFFLE pulls up maritime, i get totally happy. head-bopping occurs. the sun shines a little brighter. the day gets a little lighter, literally. REALLY. you should try it. i got convinced, hooked, sucked in, all of it. TRY IT:

maritime -----> calm
maritime -----> parade of punk rock t-shirts

both are off their newest record, we, the vehicles, out april 18 on flameshovel. enjoyyy. oh joy.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
now that all that ipod shuffle-induced talk is out of the way [you think it's prophetic/psychic or what? something's controlling the shuffle, and i don't think it's always random chance. you agree?], i'm going to bitch about my photo hosting site, fotki. fotki used to be a godsend. easy, reasonably-priced, so much space you'll never use it all, not-fussy photo hosting. not anymore, fuckers. they've been changing shit around there, and now to insert a picture hosted on fotki, it is imperative that the image have the words "image hosted by fotki" below it. fuck THAT. since i'm PAYING for this service, they should in no way use this as a chance for advertisement. perhaps for non-paying members using limited accounts this is reasonable, understandable.

Dear Fotki,

I am taking my business elsewhere. These changes are absolute bullshit. For years, I was once a loyal, paying member who even referred friends to use your service. This is not a monopoly, jerks; you haven't cornered the market on image hosting by any means. And namely, just because all my photos are hanging out on your servers, don't for a second think that I need you. Because I don't. It's over.

Sincerely,
Margaret

ps. What the HELL is the "dating website" bullshit you're tying in with the site? I want to host my images, not meet my soul mate. There are many other sites for dating, hadn't you noticed? Don't think you'll corner the market there either. Don't even dream it.

pps. Flickr has a WAY better layout. Nice. Clean. Professional. Appealing. They WIN.

in the news

OXFORD COLLAPSE SIGNS TO SUBPOP RECORDSit's officially official: brooklyn's oxford collapse signs to wet-dream-inducing label GIANT subpop records. i could get nearly no better news on this sleepy/working thursday night. next week marks the start of a three-week tour to sxsw and back, so check them out in the pure, drunken, analog flesh. here's the dates, come over and check up on 'em. and in the meantime, experience them digitally:

oxford collapse
last american virgin
a good ground
kanine records © 2005


Mar 09 New York, NY @ Knitting Factory Tap w/End of the World, Part Chimp
Mar 10 Pittsburgh, PA @ The Brillobox w/Centipede E’est, Part Chimp
Mar 11 Lansing, MI @ Mac’s Bar w/The Narrator, Part Chimp
Mar 12 Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen w/The Narrator, Plastic Constellations, Part Chimp
Mar 13 Louisville, KY @ Keswick Democratic Club w/Breather Resist, Part Chimp
Mar 14 Farmington, MO @ O'Aces Center Stage w/Sam Champion, Part Chimp
Mar 15 Dallas, TX @ Darkside Lounge w/Zombi, Ambulette, Part Chimp

SXSW
Wed Mar 16 AAM Party @ Habana Calle 6 (We play at 10PM!) w/His Name is Alive, Lavender Diamond, Golden Arm Trio, Nomo
Sat Mar 18 Porchlight Pop Fest Day Party @ Mother Egan's Pub (We play at 3:30) with likes of Aloha, Air Traffik Controllers, Swearing at Motorists, etc.
Sat Mar 18 SECRET SHOW!!! OOOOOHHHH! @ Cream Vintage (day party we play around 5) w/Vietnam, Anna Kramer, a fir-ju well, Diamond Nights, We Are Scientists

Mar 19 Tallahassee, FL @ Beta Bar w/Part Chimp
Mar 20 Tampa, FL @ New World Brewery w/Part Chimp
Mar 21 Gainesville, FL @ Common Ground w/Part Chimp
Mar 22 Atlanta, GA @ Lenny’s w/Deerhunter, Part Chimp, First Nation
Mar 23 Wilmington, NC @ Soapbox Laundro-Lounge w/Part Chimp
Mar 24 Baltimore, MD @ The Ottobar w/Part Chimp
Mar 25 Boston, MA @ Great Scott w/Big Bear, Part Chimp
Mar 26 Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool w/ Part Chimp, Die! Die! Die!

jelly DONG

jose gonzalez = the new JAM. ALMOST as good as pb&JAM, both on each side of an english muffin. almost! yum. mini pizzas, hoardes of strawberries and the graduate with the ladies tonight. who needs the hamtramck BLOWout?! not us! oh detroit, not setting you ablaze tonight. you do just fine on your own, besides.

jose gonzalez -- crosses

yum.

she got me oh-oh//she's always charmed

cutting my hair! thursday! see this hair? this?! it's all happening AGAIN.

for NOT-religious reasons, today [tuesday, that is!] marks/marked the last day of flesh eating for a month. AND sweets:cake, cookies, candy, pop <----all refined sugar, basically. crazy month. with respect to this, i dined on beef brisket at slow's in charming corktown, detroit and that big-ass hot fudge cake sundae at BIG BOY. ha.

next week ---->crazy week! gettin' totally-totally busy. not looking forward to wearing a bathing suit. who's even prepared for that in the winter? but the HEAVENLY BED, who's not ready for that?! this world is so-so insane sometimes.

can't stop listening to this song. perhaps you will hate it. i love it. i have a thing for bands like this band, the voom blooms [terrible name, right-o?~!]. remind me of the libertines. they have something to do with the old brit-pop bands, right? seems like that's the connection. guilty please? naww. love-it.

listen, enjoy!

the voom blooms -- thoughts of rena

goodnight. fuck the couch tonight, i'm not sleeping on it.