top ten, revisited

ok, so its the last day of the year and i am procrastinating, not wanting to work on some projects here, and i thought i would update my top ten records list of 2004. because i wasnt very happy with the one i listed a while back. and maybe this one reflects more of what was actually released in 04. but still, in no particular order:

sufjan stevens - seven swans
m. ward - the transfiguration of vincent
interpol - antics
the walkmen - bows + arrows
the concretes - the concretes
devendra banhart - rejoicing in the hands
earlimart - treble and tremble
spartan fidelity - spartan fidelity
wilco - a ghost is born
the arcade fire - funeral

ok, so thats it. i wont go back to this or make another self aggrandizing list. at least not till next year. and who knows if i will still be here then? or if you will be where you are? or if then will be here or there will be when or somewhere else. anywhere. so much is going to happen. who will you be next time around? i wonder who i will be. maybe someone very different. but it would be ok if you stayed the same.

because i like you.

mr. rogers once said:
"some people like go slowly. and some people like to go fast. it doesnt matter to me if you're fast or slow. it doesnt matter if you have long hair or short hair, if you live in a light house or a dark house. it doesnt matter if you're a girl or a boy. to me, the only thing that matters is you, yourself- who you are and what you are. you see, its YOU i like."

have a great new year, neighbor.

brainiac

looker

she is

undertaker...

when you are treated like you should be
the sky goes on forever in a symphony in song.
the water can flow
like its streaming out of fountains
and all you gotta do
is find a sword in a stone.

i take some of the night
like birds of paradise,
like way down in pollyanna
where the race runs wild.

but if you you leave
you better call the undertaker.
call him to take me.

better place me in a box
and fasten all the locks
then throw me over the river bridge.
because love is so good when
you are treated like you should be.
the sea goes on like a symphony of song.

i wonder...

...today is the shortest day of the year. ever wonder what tony danza does to celebrate it? a little song and dance? perhaps. maybe some vacuuming. because he played a maid on tv, thats why. or maybe felicia rashaad. ever wonder what she is up to? sometimes i wake up in the middle of the night wishing i had a debilitating drug habit and felicia rashaad was my drug buddy just so i could say, "hey, bitch...mrs. cosby...pass the crack pipe." but then i go back to sleep and dream of rudy huckstable's friend, peter, who never said anything. but i cant get the bastard to shut up. he just talks my ear off about stuff like toaster ovens and the orion constellation and macadamia nut cookie recipes.

so yeah, like i said, its the shortest day of the year. and its one of my favorites, too. some people dig christmas or st. patricks day or something. i dig the winter solstice. yeah. break out the devil horns and lets dance around stonehenge, its winter solstice time. i even wore black today for the occasion. ocassion. how the bloody hell do you spell occassion? ocasion. none of them look right.

and neither do you. maybe you should lie down. or have some tea.

and dont forget, its the winter solstice, so bring your dog in for the night. put on your black and your favorite NIN record (no, not downward spiral, the other one) and raise your hand, lifting your fingers to devil horns as a symbol of night's great Pyrrhic victory over the sun.

bullseye

continued inspiration...

...created after seeing HOW TO DRAW a BUNNY

a tribute...

...to ray johnson



info:
The bodyless Ray Johnson bunny is something like a genetic mutant mickey mouse engineered to be a rabbit, or visa versa. Johnson has claimed the cartoon tag to be personal self portraits varied by the daily mood changes in his life. Ray Johnson has drawn "how to make Ray Johnson bunnies step by step," a parady similar to correspondence art school ads challenging readers to "draw this portrait" and return for analysis. Indeed, through the years Johnson regularly asked friends and strangers alike to alter his bunny heads, what Ray termed as "add-ons." At other times the bunnies were assigned the names of persons either famous, unknown, or known only to Ray and his circle of friends, collectively known as the New York Correspondence School.

link: http://www.digitalsalon.com/ray_johnson.html

away.

from. there.



wherever there is.

ok, so my top records...

...for 2004 - since this seems to be the "in" thing to do right now. and because i like to call cd's "records" - yeah, i kick it old school.

here goes:

01. muse - absolution, origin of symmetry, and showbiz (this is one of my obsessive bands right now)
02. ours - precious, distorted lullabies (i would cut off my right arm to have jimmy gnecco's voicebox)
03. prince - musicology (call, call my name)
04. U2 - how to dismantle an atomic bomb
05. the white stripes - elephant
06. diana krall - the girl in the other room (nice elvis costello vibe happening here)
07. the secret machines - now here is nowhere
08. ryan adams - love is hell part 1 & part 2
09. chris cornell - euphoria morning (another kick in my voice box)
10. butch walker - letters (yes, even though toned down - still great songs)
11. keith jarret - the kohn concert
12. the walkmen - bows + arrows (yeah, jared turned me on to this)
13. jamie cullum - twentysomething (great when the sheets are clean)
14. joey seales - songs i wrote for myself

so, that's all i could think of for now. maybe not as hip as jared's list, but why try to compete with that level of unattainable cool.

and why?...

...have i just written these lists when joey is the only person who will read them?

good question.

not that anyone is posing it, beside the imaginary people/audience inside my head. but dont we always have an audience in our heads? aren't we all filmed before a live studio audience, dancing around as if we were performing before some camera plugged into the collective conscious of the media and culture, disseminated through countless tubes and screens over airwaves, satellites and cables? television and the media is the new panopticon. and we are all in imprisoned in it.

yes. and if you, my ignorant fellow prisoner, dont understand those last two sentences, then google jeremy bentham.

i think that maybe someone will read this blog. maybe. sometime in the future. somebody will find us here. and maybe they will think that i am more hip because of my selective music taste. and references to 19th century philosphers. because thats the whole point right? for people to think we are hip. for people to think we got our crap together and know all about whats going on, when in reality its all about fighting to ride shotgun in a car crash. competing and competing for something thats all gonna burn.

so enjoy my list. and have a fantastic new year.

and one more list...

favorite vinyl records i discovered this year...

the cure - disentegration
louis armstrong - satchmo on stage
ray charles - the genius of ray charles
sinatra & dorsey - the stordahl sessions
the clash - combat rock
the pixies - doolittle
the black heart procession - amore del tropico
ella fitzgerald - like someone in love

top 10 records...

...ok, maybe 14, that i listened to this year.

in no particular order, because i cant pick a favorite.

01. calla - televise
02. calla - scavengers
03. wilco - a ghost is born
04. the walkmen - bows + arrows
05. the walkmen - everyone who pretended to like me is gone.
06. the arcade fire - funeral
07. sufjan stevens - michigan
08. sufjan stevens - seven swans
09. death cab for cutie - transatlanticism
10. muse - absolution
11. spartan fidelity - spartan fidelity
12. m. ward - transfiguration of vincent
13. devendra banhart - rejoicing in the hands & nino rojo

top 10...

...things about 2004.

10. getting rejected by every single girl i asked out this year. really.

09. teaching a whole semester in which no student ever took notes during any of my lectures.

08. spending a whole semester in an office but not really gaining any more weight.

07. the kick ass red vintage schwinn bicycle that kept me from gaining any more weight.

06. my kick ass imac g5 + ipod

05. music.

04. meeting and fallling head over heels in love with joey seales.

03. impregnating him and birthing the beautiful bouncing boy that is the MARVELOUS COLLECTIVE.

02. spending most of the year as a janitor on the night shift.

01. i cant decide what #01 should be.

lessons from survivor

this is my thought for the day... don't worry, you won't be pelted with these each and every day. just when i have something on my noggin i think worthy of passing along.

as i was watching the final episode of survivor (yes, i watch it like a madman - get over it - i'm a suspense junkie) that i conveniently tivo'd (yes, i tivo - get over it - i'm a convenience junkie) a good life, and spiritual lesson spewed forth from the old lesbian woman...

once a fault is found in someone, most of us become so self righteous. either by telling ourselves we would never do or say such a thing or wondering how someone else could. i would never swear on my son's name. i can't believe she did that, that's horrible.

the irony surfaces when we realize that our human nature is inherently wrong most of the time. if we are so self-righteous above others, why don't we act truely righteous and actually forgive?

that's all.

one more

...because i cant get enough of this, nor can i figure it out.

but who knows, maybe pink elephants cant figure us out, either.

still trying

for as many people that do this on a day to day, hour to hour basis, i really thought i would be able to pick it up quicker. however, ive had a lot of difficulty with figuring out just how this thing works. especially with the images. joey doesnt seem to have a problem at all. and maybe its technology coming back around to bite me in the butt, striking vengence for my all too often denial of its allure. but i own a microwave. a toaster. even a little hand held mini dvd player. and i am an avid computer user. in fact, i spend way too much time using my computer. what else could technology want? my blood? my tears? my first born? my soul? yes, thats it. my soul. and yours too. because not only is technology a bastard, but he is a melodramatic one at that. and if technology had a face, who do you think he would look like? you hear that satan is a beautiful being, and i cant help but think that technology has a pretty decent mugg, too. you need something really pretty to mask all that evil. i dunno. jeff goldbloom might play a good "technology" in a sunday afternoon movie. not that he is pretty. or even man-pretty. he just, ah, yes, ah, um, slipped, no, popped, into my, er, head, yes, cranial cav-i-ty? (thats my best jeff goldblum impression). hey, you didnt pay any admission for this show, so quiet complaining. you know where the door is. you dont have to see, or read, my goldblum impressions. or my charlie sheens. not that i am doing charlie sheen. or would even know where to begin. oh, i have one of those cool toaster ovens, too. a good friend gave it to me. i like making pillsbury straight from the freezer biscuits in it.

Unfixed Love

...made, discarded and found somewhere in south louisiana...

a portrait...

...of a sister who was and is yet to be...

Liz

Baby.

who done it...

i found a mystery on the lower east side...



...better break out the scooby snacks

in love...

with her, right now...

image test

not a virgin anymore

yeah,

so i had to create this blog just to find one worthy enough to publish my thoughts and opinions. here they are: i hate things. things like khaki, embroidery, selling things, buying things, throwing things away, and pimento - just to name a few. on the flip side you'll find the more positive, life-lust nouns and adverbs that constitute the happy me. things like: naked women, glittery guitars, oatmeal soap, old-school anything, new-school anything, genius accidents, faux fur, and naked women - in that order.

there will be way more inspirational anecdotes to come, but this is good enough for now.

peace out,
word,
and bye.

the first

ok, so this is my first ever blog.

for someone who is supposed to be so anti-pop culture, i really dont feel too bad about having (and using) this thing. somehow, i feel more hip than usual. which is difficult to do, because i am pretty damn hip. but yeah, its exciting. so, i think the deal is that i am now supposed to tell some story about childhood that everyone will relate to and find humorous. or maybe i am supposed to try and tell you all (ha. you all. like there is anyone other than joey reading this) what i think is cool. or should i say, what i find "marvelous?"

so what do i choose?

whats worthy of my first blog?

twinkies, man.

twinkies.

they are pretty marvelous. think about it. marvel at how those bastards cram that cream into the center of that spongy cake. wait. not twinkies. zingers. yeah, zingers. you know, twinkies are cool and all, but zingers are like one step closer to God. because zingers have all that twinkies do, plus some. zingers have the icing on top. you know, the kind of icing that if it goes stale it gets all crusty and discolored. but c'mon. you cant beat 'em. even if they are stale. not only do you get the lard-o white cream in the middle, but also the crusty icing on the top. there are few better combinations.

so yeah, zingers.

thats my first blog.