a circle of wheezing

Long breaks really break you from reality as I layed in the snow at the forest preserve with my sister and the dogs. As I layed there in my full snow suit I wondered how long it would last, 3 more hours til thanksgiving dinner. That night my sister and I went to the arcade fire show which was the best show I've seen in a long while and fully lived up to their studio album. I would say they went above and beyond the call of duty. Everyone switched instruments throughout the set much in way I would expect broken social scene to do if I ever saw them. They're both from Canada eh?! In any case they had this one guy walk around with a drum at his side(drummer boy style, might as well march into the revolutionary war, where's the flute) and a tambo in his other hand just running around and giving a little chorus when necessary. The next song two of the members put on motorcycle helmets and continued to play percussion on everything from the side of the piano to the stage lighting in the manner the blue man group would but much cooler(however I've regained faith in the BMG since David Cross started featuring the color on arrested development(strongly rising as my favorite tv show)). After the show we went out on the town starting at nicks cribbage and followed by my first visit to rainbo with my sister. Quite nostalgic and as GP puts it, "the 3rd level of crossmojination." That was only the beginning, after that we went to Nick's late night bar where it was my goal to teach juli what vampires are but there weren't any out. I thought thanksgiving would cause a magnetic draw to the tap for vamps everywhere. That was about it though so I can't say much more.

The next day we went to the dunes ala will's lake house. Nothing like trying to race up the dune with 8 blue moons in your body. Nick, Ben, and I sat at the top of the hill clenching our hearts in a circle of weez. Every 2 minutes, someone would say "oh shit that hurt." I never quite recovered from that and my night was an uphill battle the rest of the way until retirement.

The new simpsons fakeout last night made me sad.

We're playing this week in milwaukee and madison respectively if anyone wants to come out on a little road trip.

nehhhhhh! 

Hey that just blew down the 3 little pigs house

As I was driving in this morning I saw leaves scurrying across the street like mice but as soon as they were 3/4 across they started to swirl into a tornado in front of my car. I like it when its windy but it takes a toll on your hands when you're carrying in a dessert.

Like a song the day will end eventually.

Last night there was a fine shindig at steph's place in wheeeeeeeeeeling. Kudos to the chef's because the food was fantastic as well as the finest merlot. That reminds me of the time kit chugged a whole bottle of wine in the bathroom of the hockeygame. Its all your fault its all your fault its all your fault. Not Kit's but the goalie's. Anywho dinner took place in the living room to the sensual sounds of garden state and the stereo(if you have a moment to spend with me) ala two card tables. It really felt like making seating choices for Le Pip although it is always random how those things work out. I have to say that yishai saying that our old italian exchange group friend masha went through the swan and is now beautiful was one of the funniest things I've heard in a while. Funny and up to date with pop culture. As for this weekend, its just turkeys,blackouts,and preparing for our 5 shows in two weeks.

Lights are only as bright as your eyes let them be. Before you fall into the side of your mind focus on the word that made you who you are. Listen to the whisper and pull the lever that turns the staircase in your brain into a slide. Before you reach the bottom concentrate on a day when you decided to laugh instead of feeling sorry for your self. Because that is the day when you've won.

Shining light and the insides of my head

Things can happen that will scare you and the thought is what ever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. One time I was walking down Fullerton and some guy threw a bottle at me and it smashed at my feet. That's enough to make vin diesel crap his pants. There are two types of anxiety inducers though. Ones that are created inside your head and ones that are created outside your head. Holding onto an ideal inside your head will always protect you from the outside by your thick skull. But once you give up inside then your fighting a losing battle. I feel like there's a huge defense system setup to trip off any pessimist thought bugs that crawl through my head. Kinda like the cockroach motel, first we insert a burning rod into its anus and then pull off each limb one at a time. That makes sure that they'll never come back again. That was a little gross and morbid but it got my point across and that's the idea of this blogulism. Everything will be okay in the end so everything that happens now is trivial. Why spend hours stressing a decision that you'll look back on 10 years from now and laugh at yourself for. Because its the little things that will help shape you who you are in twenty years. I keep on forgetting that. Its the catch 22 of my life but its a balance that needs to be kept. because honestly you can give up on yourself and you will go on living a 9-5 job, do the family thing, and pretend everything is okay because that's the idea of livin'. But the absence of self-satisfaction will consume you and before you know it you're 43 and wanting to take classes at COD in cinema set design.

When free thought gets lost in your head there is little hope that you will put up a fight again. That's when the exterior must overcome the interior. Its a flip from previous theory but is essential for you to win. Talk about looking at yourself 10 years down the road. Will people really have antennas on their heads like Elroy jetson and will briefcases turn into airplane cars. I always hope for technology to break through but people are too damn stubborn and set in their ways. Its a mindpath that's breed and rebreed along the way. That's why you have kids in your 2nd grade class who love republicans or why 6 graders will say that gay people are going to hell. We'll still be chugging along on locomotives and eating big fat cheeseburgers when hover bikes come out. That is unless you live with John Galt. That's for you KB, did you make it okay on the landing?

I just jumped out of the bubble but I have some bubblicious stuck in my hair. A little schneidy thanksgiving tomorrow. All are welcome. Sure to be bonfires and howling at the moon.

Darling early release

Recently we recorded five songs and we have managed to mix two of them for everyone's listening pleasure. We put them on our website and they're called "reading lines" and "ground is sound." The EP will be out this spring on Cardboard Sangria. These songs may be changed a little along the way. Thats the purpose of putting this link up; feedback builds castles. If you say they suck I may have to crawl under a rock though. I hate having to do that.

I'm cold and there're wolves after me

It is dark outside and its 4:15. This happens every year but every year it manages to freak me out into a state of shock. It knocks me into the fetal position and all I want is to be safe.

Friday night was fun and on my walk over to Pizza Hut with Janet I managed to let the receipt from the ATM slip out of my fingers and it started to fly in the wind much like the red balloon cruises away from little children. I start bebopping and scatting every which way to catch the slip of paper but each grab ended without success. I honestly followed it for 30 feet before it slipped under a car and out of my life forever. The show at the Hideout was superb, probably the best PST show I've ever seen. They even played fishnets which I used to take to parties freshman year of college(6 years ago)to dance to. Although there was a pushup competition at the other end of the bar, I still believe the majority of the hidaways enjoyed it.

On Saturday I roused a mangy voss to come to the hollywood grill with dan,gary,brian, and rob. Its funny the hollywood grill doesn't really have good food but remains a staple of wicker park. Maybe its the disturbing micheal jackson painting coming out of the hollywood grill drawing or the fluorescent light bulb covers airbrushed into harleys on clouds or huge hearts that are on fire. Pure genius! We had a pleasant lunch and all described our ideal saturdays. Ideas that came up were foosball tables with a pony keg while watching trainspotting and including outdoor frisbee breaks with hackey sack intertwined. For a brief moment as Gary put it there was a rainbow possibility hovering over the table of the perfect day actually happening. Then we split up and I had to bring jc his backpack to wicker park and I also had to go home to help my brother move equipment. The perfect day didn't pan out but the night was still fun.

the vehicle is learning to live on its own

The world is round. Yup that's the first thing that popped into my head as I started this post. As I walked into work the sun shined so bright my pupils crawled to the corners of my eyes to hide from the blinding rays. As bright as it was old man winter was creeping around the bend to blow a few icicles onto my ears. Wednesday night we had practice as usual but this time we had Pip teaching Neock bass lines and it was bit hard on me. So here's to you Pip, because I know you'll end up reading this eventually, its gonna be sad to see you go. I don't know, there was something about that Fall after graduation when we started up the band. Me and Jason not having girlfriends and living at home, perfect desperation material to start up a vehicle for emotion. But the vehicle grew up and started learning on its own accord. New parts coming out of the air and me just losing my mind made for some good songs. With the addition of Jessyln was shaky at first but really worked well. As I always describe it, Jessyln's voice is like a warm blanket for my smallpox of a voice. Enough of the behind the music blog entry and onto bigger and better things. Neo Voss was in classic form and went all the way across the room to the staircase(to get a running start) and proceeded to charge head on towards pip. As he jumped right into pips body I immediately started seeing pokes and jabs that looked like fat paws and a grizzly beards trying to get out and then kablam the song was over and taught.

And on to this sunny morning and to the future where each minute is new. I don't have any plans for this weekend except going to see PST at the hideout tonight.

Getting back to Wednesday and sitting on the porch. Nick and I had a few night caps while Pip had white bread thank you very much with a tall glass of water for dipping. I don't know why we all kept repeating, "we're not going to get another night like this." Even my Dad opened the sliding door and said "not gonna be another day like this until May so let us all tip our glasses of turnip juice to the sky and not let this slip by." Although it was short lasted and nick chugged his Elliott Ness in one sip, we had a good ol roundtable discussion that you know is few and far between.

This may look easy but they are trained professionals. Yup I added more pictures 

The muffin lady is finally busted. There is an extra long article in this weeks reader that goes into the whole life of infamous pot-brownie lady as she was known around the innertown. I remember one time I accidentally got in her way and she told me "watch where your walking, now get out of my way!" The story is heartfelt and I begin to feel sorry for the brownie lady after learning of multiple jail sentences and having to wipe with a toothbrush due to bleeding hemorrhoids and terrible regularity issues. All she wanted was to open a store front bakery and that fell through so now she is in jail at 58 with no money and no direction. The article starts out like an onion article but quickly gets sad with the examples of terrible mistakes made along the way. If you're out and about I suggest picking up a copy. 

stone people along the rock river poised to start a band 

Next time, a round of dutch babies on me

Dutch babies. Fluffy cake with some lemon dripped all the while getting sprinkled with powder sugar. Such a novelty, it is just something I think Ellen ordered once from OHOP along with 3 large orange juices, 5 club sandwiches for the week, and the denver omelet for scotty back home(this thing has everything!). Meanwhile Pip is sitting at the end of the table with the one cake one link meal cursing the stars for the even OHOP bill split. Even stranger my family does make the other end of the OHOP dynamic duo,the famous apple pancake, which my Dad did have to crawl through the ventilation shafts in all black, dropping from the ceiling like in mission impossible and to finish if all off with in his white and black striped spandex creeping under laser sensors alla Entrapment. All for the recipe which brought joy and cavities to my childhood.

Also I saw the Incredibles and was impressed. Leaving me with my order for Pixar films thus far. 1.)toy story 2.)toy story 2 3.)incredibles 4.)bugs life 5.)Monsters Inc. I put the last two on the list to fill space. I really hated those ones. Jason Lee is the voice of the bad guy and the plot twists with a predictability that makes you happy someone out there is thinking about retired superheros and not the inevitable global nuclear holocaust facing the world.

Building a nest in the mushroom cloud

I needed some time to breathe. I think everyone has voiced there utter desperation over the internets so I've decided to leave mine out. If you need any reasons not to get to extreme, micheal moore will soothe your apathetic soul(wilson picket this song is for you and Wilson Alvarez how about a slider, but let us not forget the beloved Woodrow Wilson to you a blow a cigar smoke ring with a bayonet through the middle). I'm not sure if soothe is the right word, maybe stunned into a state of comfortable indifference.

I asked me pops on wednesday morning if he had the U-haul ready with a 2-piece luggage plus your guitar max per person and he said we're staying. Then I was wondering if mom was building a brick fort in the backyard for hiding me and Juli from the draft. Working diligently with overalls on much like when Monti attempted to trap Homer in his mausoleum. I would say not that extreme but I don't think I will.

In a happier note the weakerthans were better than I thought they would be. Although they have a simple formula they played every song I wanted to here.

Awwwww Fudge But I didn't say fudge I said the mother of all swear words.

Deck the Halls-O-Ween

Its right about now when the holidays all start blending into one. As soon as Halloween is over its about time for Thanksgiving break and what was that oh I already heard a g%d d#%n Christmas commercial on the radio. It seems that people get swept into a feeling of comfortableness so much that nothing in life really means anything unless its made of turkey or has a jingo jango associated with it. Don't get me wrong I love Halloween and Christmas makes me feel fuzzy. Thanksgiving is a holiday marking human slaughter and I don't hold to much kindred to it. But getting back to the point, I don't think anything really gets done during this period of lacadazia.

As for my Halloween, I enjoyed bar hopping but never really made it to a costume party on Saturday Night. The night was abbreviated a little bit early due to are 7:00 pm start time. I guess that's why nick had half a car attached to his body and there was a piccante food fight on Damen/Division. I particularly liked playing the Jetsons with Judy,Jane,George,Crusty Cogswell and myself(Elroy).

Today was Election Day and I voted in my hometown and got a donut and coffee out of it. I voted at the same time my parents did(7:00am) and they showed me who the "good" candidates were. As I didn't quite do my homework beside Obama and Kerry I went with there choices as most people do when confronted with there parents views. Call me shallow but I respect my parents beliefs and definitely fall in line with there political views. That may be the brainwashing talking but I wouldn't doubt if that was the trend across the nation and is the real reason why we are stuck with a two candidate system. Early brainwashing coupled with outstanding qualifications leads us to where we are now...picking someone who you think will beat Bush. I'm worried about what could happen with four more years of bullheaded Bush in office. On the way home from work yesterday I skipped through every AM channel on the dial and couldn't find a single pro-kerry radio station in the bunch. Every single one had some john republication spewing out Bush sayings as if they were force fed by papa W and J.R. is turning the airplane into a UFO sailing out of the hanger. Every single radiostation said the same thing, Kerry wavers in the wind and no one really said a single thing good that George W. has done right. It is a campaign based on fear alone and I hoped that it will be exposed for what it is. A lying Cesspool. Cesspool, cesspool, cesspool. A Cesspool on the Potomic is just about right.

A highlight from Friday night. Pure energy... caught! Yowzer.