My amazing thoughts

September 16, 2001 wow, its really been a year since i've written anything here? geez...

well, needless to say, there's been a whole lot that's happened in the last year. i've seen everything from a nervous breakdown, a pretty sucky car wreck, having my dog die, and seeing my roommate move out due to hatred of me to some fabulous trips to boston and new york, writing for stomp and stammer magazine, hosting a new show on WREK, and (most amazing of all) getting a girlfriend! and of course take into account seeing the whole world change as of this past tuesday...

i should point out that, despite the possibly negative connotations one might get from reading the above, i am now in the best emotional shape i've ever been in my life--my breakdown lasted one horrible weekend about a year ago, and with the help of my psychiatrist anthony guevara i got over my hangups and life has been great since--and of course my girlfriend has given me a new lease on life (more on her in the future). about the only disappointment right now is my relations with my former roommate--there were some complications that arose between us and misunderstandings and awkward moves resulted--i can normally share whatever i feel on here, but it wouldn't be right to go into what's happened between us here, because i haven't been able to talk to him about it. and from the sound of it, he doesn't really want to have anything to do with me--so its unfortunate that things have happened this way, but if its isolation from me that will make him happy, then far be it from me to make his life more difficult--its just frustrating...so he's moved out and in his place came our friend jeremiah, and everything's been working out fine in our apt...

in fact, we had our first party about a month ago at this time, august 18. maybe you made it out to it--i was worried about our drawing power, but we probably had anywhere from 50-80 people show, so it turned out to be a pretty massive success--it was the first time i've ever tried to act as a host, and i learned one important thing from it all--when being a host (or even when not being a host) stick to the lesser forces like beer instead of making potentially damaging cocktails for yourself...

by the way, i need to talk about my new show on WREK--its called Psych-Out and covers the past and present worlds of psychedelia. sort of like a cross between wras' post-script, wrek's stonehenge, and the wrek rotations of "atmospherics" and "overnight alternatives"--you can take a look at my playlists here and i hope to make the page more enticing and more informative. all narcissism aside, i think my show is quite good and i'd appreciate any phonecalls or emails confirming or denying this...monday nights 11pm-midnight eastern time, check wrek's website for more info as well as listening capabilities...

and speaking of musical affiliations, the old gold page has gone back to its previous owner--i don't have the address on me right now, but she's done a fantastic job on it (much moreso than my primitive nonsense)--you owe it to yourself to check it out, not only for the design but for the bevy of new releases that messrs. avett & young have planned to unleash upon a thirsty public within the next fortnight or two...

and i've been writing reviews for stomp and stammer off and on since february. maybe you've seen some of them (gorky's zygotic mynci, the magic carpathians, dump, low/dirty three, etc). i just submitted ones for the new bablicon album as well as the all tomorrow's parties comp. maybe i'll set up a page of my reviews on here so you can check them out--and you'll be able to see unpublished stuff like my reviews of the lothars (didn't notice jeff had reviewed it in passing previously--dammit) and the soft machine (the masses of atlanta didn't want to see my comprehensive opinions regarding canterbury's finest? pshaw!) i'm currently sitting at wrek listening to the awesome new album by acid mother's temple for reviewing purposes, so maybe you'll see something on that in the future--or perhaps not...

i think that's most of what i'll say for now--work's been going pretty well, and after being there for over a year and a half i feel pretty comfortable with it all--my family's been doing okay, atlanta life is still swingin'--what can i say? i hope to write here more often than annually, so maybe i'll write again soon and it'll be easier than right now, where i have to review my doings for the past year to see what i want to talk about--oh well, its getting time for my weekly shift here at wrek, so i'll depart from now, but keep in touch, and i'll try to do the same...

A September 20, 2000 well its time for the quarterly meeting to the stockholders, i guess. contrary to recent thoughts, i haven't done a single thing to my page since the last time i wrote, excepting my new purchases. oh well, apologies to tim bernazza and all those like him who come here hoping to see something new every once in a while. what can i say? i'll try to get better...

so i'm getting used to living in the city again. its kinda nice to be able to go out to eat and not have it take up your entire night due to the drive. on the other hand, i've gotten into a lot of set schedules which means i'm on the go lately. but then that can't be true because i feel bored all of the time. i wonder what's going on...

so what's been happening? well, there's work, which is going okay. i was just talking tonight to my roommate ben about how i have an ingrained reaction to not discuss work. someone i know pointed out to me that americans usually define their life by their work, and europeans define their life by their friends and family. that makes a lot of sense to me, of course, i guess i live a european lifestyle...but work's okay, let me just say that. but let's talk about something else if you don't mind...

i've received some nice emails from people coming to my webpage over the past few months! i guess most of them pertain to people reading my out-of-date list of albums. i guess this page is good for something...geez, i was looking at it yesterday and i've bought soo much since then. if you ration out the number of albums i've bought this year to a one-a-day allowance, i would have something for every day of the year up until 2 weeks ago. i don't know how that exactly corresponds to the julian calendar, but suffice it to say its enough to have me scared...i also heard from my beloved australian correspondent amber, although i haven't heard back from her since my message (hey amber, if you're reading this, write back!). of course, i welcome all messages, and like to have correspondences with people. so write me, why don't you, its a lonely life & if you doubt it, just consider the time i'm taking to write this tonight...

it has been a little more lonely lately due to my roommate anthony's job shift. (i have 2 roommates by the way in case you don't know, anthony & ben). and ben normally doesn't get home until in the evening, so this place is basically mine and mine alone for a fair part of the night. of course there are advantages to it like finally being able to hear all of the albums i've bought recently but i need human reaction to keep myself sane, i've discovered. kinda funny how all of these people told me they'd look forward to having me live in town, but now that i'm here i don't hear from any of them...hmm..well on the other hand i have been meaning to touch base with a lot of them (r.e. kerns III and belinda, hi!!) but i forget or else am too broke to do anything. i thought a party would be a good idea to have a large group of people come over, but as time has gone on i realize that i probably shouldn't do any such thing. despite my constant show schedules & appearances at those angband parties, i'm not much of a party-going person. plus i'm very neurotic & would obsess over everything to a degree that it would inevitably be a disaster. phat_joe (assuming you know him, if not try here) tells me i'm too uptight. i don't know if i believe that--i think self-conscious is a better word. but in any case, he's been a great help through these grey days by hanging out, playing board games (at last! a board game partner!), etc. why, he's even let me cohost his shift on wrek this semester! thurs 4-6, by the way. and he just gave me a great mixtape tonight! you know, i love making mixtapes; i used to think that was the only thing in life that i knew how to do well--but nobody had ever made a mixtape for me in my life until this past summer. about a few months ago, my former boss ramsey tantawi sent me 2 tapes, one devoted to an egyptian singing legend whose name i'll only misspell, and one that was a total mix! and ramsey is just the person who can make a good tape for me as well, as i've kinda fallen by the wayside on the indierock side of things over the past couple of years. if you're reading, ramsey, as soon as i get a tape deck your tape will be the first thing i make on it! and now joe has given me one--its all coming together...

so anyway, our apartment is looking a little better than it did the last time i wrote. i finally bought a big stereo for our living room, and came up with the design i want in there--autographed photos. thanks to ebay, i can make our place look like a posh restaurant! my first signed glossy came in the mail a few days ago, of bob barker. quite an inaugaral way to start off, don't you think?...well, i think so...

what else, what else? well, i just finished reading the huge from hell compilation by alan moore and eddie campbell--quite fascinating! i've been to more movies this summer, most recently nurse betty (really liked it) and almost famous (which was okay, i guess, but i can't fathom how people think its a movie of the year). well, i guess my problem with almost famous is i don't like movies where guys "get" the girl at the end (not that this really happens in the movie, so i'm not revealing anything, but maybe you know what i mean), and if the guy is a geeky rock journalist i especially don't want him to get the girl! anthony jokingly questioned me on it hitting too close to home, but i don't think that's it. i really wonder how much of that was staged from cameron crowe's life...i do have to say that i was very wary of someone playing lester bangs in the film, but i'm happy to say that i was really impressed with philip 3-name, whatever it is (i always forget). not that its an impressive role, a few minutes of time, but just the same...turner classic movies has been showing french new-wave cinema all month, which has been nice. i've always wanted to know more about those types of movies...well, that's pretty much it on my entertainment roundup for the moment...

this is actually more than i've written in a while. i guess i don't really have anything better to do. ben is home, but he's playing video games (a common sight, if you can believe) and the living room stereo is blasting out AMP's superb 1997 album astralmoonbeamprojections (oh, i'm getting old). by the way, we've got dsl, which is nice, although our computer is in ben's room so i always feel like i'm invading his privacy by coming in here. oh well, like it'll stop me...

well, i think that's it for now. no real thoughts, just some up-to-date things, but i've probably written enough tonight. i seriously still intend on making this page more noteworthy, and i need to start writing reviews anyway since i still have that offer from jeff clark to write for stomp&stammer (although i think we were all drunk at that time so who's to say if he was serious). i could rattle off some essential music from this period of my life, but i feel like i write about music too much. hmm, good attitude to have before writing music reviews. but again, maybe you know what i mean...

so i'll go now, but please keep in touch...

June 25, 2000 can't really write too much right now due to the fact that my relatives are visiting, but I thought I'd let you know what's up. Yes, since the last installment I have indeed moved and am at a new location back in Atlanta. Hurray! However, I'm currently without a computer so I can't do much with this page. Kinda nice to be without one, though, as it gets me to do other stuff that would otherwise not happen due to continual newsgroup checking. So I wouldn't expect too much from this for the time being, but I'm sure you don't have much of an expectation anyways, now do you?

Just one more thing to add. It's been a very expensive time here in Atlanta lately. This past Friday night I saw Sonic Youth and Stereolab, I was at a Criminal instore for Top Shelf Comics yesterday, and I'm going to see the Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet + 2 (- 1) this Wednesday (and am going to buy their CD box at the show if I can afford it). Of this, I have to mention that Chris Staros from Top Shelf is a really nice guy! I hope those of you Atlantans who are reading this & are comics fans (and if you are, please tell me--I have virtually no friends who like the comics I like & would really like to know some who do) went to go see him yesterday. Not only is it inspiring to know that there's somebody trying to do something with comics in this really stagnant industry & time, but even moreso to know that it's happening in the town I live in! I spent mondo bucks there as I've been looking forward to the day since I heard about the instore. Anyway, I just wanted to mention that--with the new Drawn & Quarterly, the Swiss anthology I picked up at Criminal yesterday, and my Top Shelf stash, I've got enough reading to last me the rest of the year!!

So I'll go now...by the way, I'm too lazy to change all of my mailto's at the moment, but if you wanna write please disregard the alwatkins@mindspring.com address and try scott@angband.org instead. Thanks!

April 30, 2000 I've been meaning to do this for awhile, but since I'm here at WREK awaiting my shift due to an overlong baseball game, I have some time on my hands. So I'm listening to a stack of CDs the station has that I want but can't necessarily afford to just go out and buy (playing Sue Garner & Rick Brown's album right now, not bad) & thought I could write to you while I'm waiting. So now you know the background...
Okay, so you might have been wondering where the weekly reviews are. Or you may have thought that 3 months ago when they might have actually been a possibility. What can I say...I would like to get back on it, but I don't know what's caused me to fall so by the wayside. I do have the intention to get back to writing some more due to some flattering comments, but I haven't done so yet. I'd like to try it soon, and I have all sorts of stuff that I'd love to just comment on. We'll see...
So what's been going on? Well, I'm finally about to move back into the city! It's so nice to get out of the suburbs and my parents (nothing against them, but you should know what I mean). Maybe that will provide the energy that I am sorely in need of. Or maybe it won't. Regardless, I will soon find out how many boxes my life can fit into, and you know that will be fun...
I'd also like to apologize to all of the people who have written me lately that I haven't been quick to follow up on. Something must have happened in this Y2K year, because I've gotten much worse at doing it. There once was a time when I did nothing but write, write, write. I don't know what happened to that youthful boy, but plain and simple he must have died. I will try a resurrection process, so pray for a well-placed bolt of lightning...
Oh well, none of these are actually "thoughts", but thought I'd share anyway so you'd know what I've been up to. I guess my life isn't as happening as it once was (which is extremely sad) when I started doing this, as a college student. Now that I'm one of those 40 hour workers (waking up at 6:15, no less), I find that I enjoy nothing more than coming home, staring at the walls, and eventually going to sleep. But you have to admit, it does sound pretty nice...
Okay, I'm gonna go now...

February 9, 2000 For those of you who don't know, I turned 24 a week ago, so first off I'd like to thank any of the nice people who acknowledged such and/or did nice things for me that were completely unwarranted (excepting Anthony Guevara, who is by law obliged to buy me something for my birthday regardless of whether or not he wants to). That being said...
Well, I haven't completely broken my promise of the weekly reviews yet! This week's installment of my weekly reviews have just been posted, and they would've been there last night if not for faulty disconnections. Anyway...
Well, my mind is really at a shambles right now. I guess I can't think properly during the week anymore (the workplace desensitization to life has begun), and the weekend looks a little busy. This will be the first time I've ventured out to live shows in over 2 months, a record I sorta wish I didn't have to break. To be honest, I don't miss being in clubs or hearing loud performances or yelling in people's ear or figuring out how much to tip for overinflated prices...but there are some good shows, though. You can find me at the Echo Lounge for Seely on Friday and the new Cotton Club for Macha on Saturday. Again, so you know...
And that's all I'll say for now. More sometime down the road...

January 24, 2000 Okay, I'm not really writing anything right now, but I'm trying to get my life more organized, and one of the top priorities (after the top top ones) is to make this page semi-decent again. I always hated archaic pages, and I'm guilty of it now...so I'm probably gonna erase almost everything on here once I have the gall to do so, and we'll just start over, on this the 5th anniversary of my webpage! I'm gonna try to start doing reviews again, tentatively thinking about one "new" album, one thrifted album, one comic, and maybe a miscellaneous thing. That way, even if I don't update any personal info you can still read some new stuff on here. So will that make you happy, Tim King?

November 11, 1999 Wow, it's been quite a while since I've done this. Of course, I guess that's the start of every one of these damned write-ups, but I've gone and done it again. Oh well...

So there's been a lot in my life that's gone on ever since July 10, 1999. I was just getting into the midpoint of my internship at the Post Office. And since my time has elapsed, you may wonder what my status is. Or you may not. Well, no matter, I'm gonna tell you anyway. As it stands, I'm on an extension that will last throughout the rest of the year. After that, I guess I'm gone. However, I may leave beforehand, as I've already done 1 interview this week and have another one lined up tomorrow (wish me luck). Actually this one tomrorrow is kinda weird, because it's a position that interests me but it's located in Seattle. And about a year ago I decided that I didn't really want to leave Atlanta. But what is a boy to do? This is the part where all of you females start begging me to stay (crying optional but preferred). I guess I'll know more tomorrow night, but don't expect me to write about it for a good 7 or 8 months or so.

Anyway, this page itself has been really dusty. I guess I've spent most of my html time on my pals at Old Gold Records, putting this one by the wayside. Well, I'd prefer to keep this up-to-date, and recent reports show that people are indeed coming to this page (quite a shock). And it's old hat to say I'm going to do something about it, but I may as well keep the cliche alive...

So what have I been keeping myself up to besides work? Well, not much. I've been trying to get back on track with my reading, which is nice. I quit buying books a long time ago, since I've got so many that I could keep on and on forever (excepting comix, natch). Current reading lists include 3 comix collections and one picture-less one, Kerouac's Desolation Angels along with Raw Vol. 2 #3, The Essential Fantastic Four #2, and Impact 1-5. I should point out the middle selection, the Fantastic Four book. Isn't it great that Marvel has finally realized that they need to reissue their stuff again? I know they went wild with it in the 70s, but I was in an embryonic/non-existent state for most of that decade. Anyway, I wrote Marvel themselves to thank them for the job (while not being too ass-kissing; I also pointed out how I read none of their current stuff and listed my favorites), and received a very comforting message back from Polly Watson, the reprint editor. It's people like her that actually give a heart to the huge corporation known as Marvel. For those of you who haven't read the entertaining classics of the Kirby/Ditko/Lee era, you owe it to yourself to spend $14.95 on virtually any of the Essentials series (although admittedly the Avengers one is a little weak and gets my goat on the female issue one too many times). As for less classic Marvel times, if any of you out there remember Spider-Man's one-time adversary the Hypno-Hustler, please drop me a line and remind me how that story went.

Music? Oh, there's been a lot of it, but I've almost sapped myself of what I'm really after. Things I've been playing a lot recently include the Thirteenth Floor Elevators' Easter Everywhere (crappy Collectables version), Fuxa's Inflight, the American Analog Set's The Golden Band, and Angus Maclise's The Invasion Of Thunderbolt Pagoda which is pretty danged good. I also picked up some of those "classic" Rolling Stones records. After all, I have nothing against them as long as I don't have to pay more than $6 for them. Beggars Banquet and Sticky Fingers were the two I got, although they're not the main ones I want (those would be Exile and Let It Bleed, which is still a good album cover). Speaking of album covers, it seems that the only interesting thing about Sticky Fingers is the LP jacket. Although I must admit that the song "Bitch", a song I have long abhorred (although it, along with "Brown Sugar" (another song I don't like), are the only Stones songs I figured out on my own, I think), has that part in it when Mick and Keith yell out "I salivate like Pavlov's Dog!" which I had totally forgotten about and was pretty cool to hear. Not the words, but the chords and the vocals (I've always preferred Keith to Mick). I think I realized why; the basic key of the song seems to be A, yet in that one part I mention above, A suddenly becomes the major 5th. Of course, I know nothing about music theory (and felt pretentious writing the above), but I think that's why I was unhealthily fascinated with it.

These thoughts things were originally set up so that I could just ramble off on some non-comix/music subject, though, and I really haven't done that in a long time. Nor do I think I'll really be doing it tonight. I guess I need to go eventually since my workhours will change tomorrow due to my sudden interview status. After that it'll be pretty nice, though. Stereolab's in town, and although I can't get into their new album too much, it'll still be a good show most likely. In fact, 2 shows since I'll be in Athens Saturday night for their show there as well. Stop by and say hello, why don'tcha?

Okay, is that enough for tonight? I hope so. Until we meet again...

July 10, 1999 Okay, take that optimistic write-up I did on the 4th and forget about it. As of this present moment, I have no idea what's up. My job hours may have changed again back to what the "normal" shift is, but I'm not sure. Which means that once again the only time I'll be able to access this account is when I'm tired from working all day, and I won't have any creative juices of which to write all this new stuff. But I probably shouldn't say that because then you probably won't visit this page again and it'll make me lonely. Really, I'll try to be good...
And is it just me or is everybody moving these days? I can think of several people I know who have moved in the past few weeks, I just got back from helping my cousin Belinda move, and then at the end of the month all of my old roommates are moving as well. And here I remain, with dear ol' mum & dad. Hey, if you live in Atlanta and would like a roommate who will try to be a good kid and not drive you to the brink of insanity with endless playings of Robert Wyatt albums and the Captain Beefheart box set, let me know! Let the deluge begin...
Also, I'm going to try to revive this comix page I have. Back in the day, what few comments I received from kind people had only to do with my comics stuff (not that I receive much--about every several months, I might receive something from someone--this is a call to arms--write me, please! Tell me if you have any comments about this page, or if you feel similarly about something, or if you feel against it, or if it's nothing more than saying "hello"--can't you see I'm down on my knees here???), and I've neglected it as of late. And it's not from a real-life lack of interest. Quite the contrary, as I've been buying more stuff than ever, lots of old collections and I've tried to branch out a little although it's pretty tough to find things these days. The Comics Journal that featured the 100 greatest comics ever was a real inspiration to me, and I've been out and about picking up many of those things and learning from them. Also, I've gone ebay crazy over the past few months and have made many choice deals. One of which is 26 of the 28 issues of Weirdo, bought because I knew I'd enjoy a lot of it, and anthologies could open me up to more. And it already has, since today I found a Carol Tyler book (I loved her story in issue #20 entitled "Uncovered Territory", and if you hang around with me you'll probably have to endure me making you read it sometime soon). It just shows that there's always something that I've missed. If you can think of anything else I may need to be enlightened about, don't hesitate, I beg of you!
Okay, I think I'll head off for now.
July 4, 1999 Happy independence day to all of youse in our glorious country! And if you're not, well, uh, fuck off. But seriously, folks...
I'm gonna try to make a habit of writing stuff here at least once a week, in order to keep this as the fresh daisy for you to come and sniff at from time to time. I'm hoping it will be a nice little substitute for all you TV junkies in this rerun period, as you have a new character to look out for every week! Or maybe it could be like one of those internet voyeur things where you spy on my secluded life. Hmm, let me make this kinkier by taking off my clothes. Ahh, that's better...and you think I'm just saying this...you probably don't want to visualize the scene.
Well, I wrote all this last night but then I got suddenly disconnected from mindspring, which means that it's now July 5. And as such, I've lost my train of thought of what I was originally saying so let me try to start back up...hmm...this is harder than I thought it'd be...Nah, can't do it, I'll try something later...
June 28, 1999 And again and again. See, I'm trying to get better about this! But it gets pretty hard at times. For example, I was wanting to get back on track by writing record reviews and such since I have so much new stuff, but when I get up in the morning I end up doing wasteful stuff like crosswords and drinking coffee (or writing things like this), and when I come in I don't want to bother with it, either. And then there has to be the time that I actually listen to this stuff I want to review, which is getting less and less frequent. To prove my point, I just listened to the first Faust album last night, which I bought about 2 months ago, and it's only like the 3rd time I ever played it, and the thing cost me @#!? 30 bucks! Whenever I make an investment like that and then don't get to check it out, you know something's not right. Of course, one of the solutions would be to quit buying new stuff so that way I could get acquainted with what I already had. Sounds good in theory, right? I swear, Harvey Pekar got it right, it really is like a drug addiction.
Sadly enough, though, that's about all that's going on. Well, except for one thing. I have started on my big review thing of, not just 1999, but of the entire 90s. It may take quite awhile, as it will have quite a few lists and a lot of autobio stuff, which is great if you're thinking about stalking me but not so good if you're wanting to be entertained. Nonetheless, it works as catharsis and if you get something out of it, well then maybe it will be worth it. I should say that I'm not going to present it in some kind of "here are my troubles" format. I don't think the internet should function as somebody's whining post. The object is to get people to read it, not shy away! So it may not appear that way, but I am going to try to write it with the knowledge that others are going to be reading it too (I hope), so it will hopefully be amusing/insightful enough for you. Well, insightful as it talks about me, not that you can learn any practical messages from it. I'm no Aesop. Anyway, you can hopefully expect that by the end of the summer or so.
Speaking of summer, I'm on WREK 91.1 FM for that time period, namely Sundays from 2-4 PM. So if you're here in Atlanta, listen up, or if you're not check out the nifty webcast when you go to WREK's web page (as seen in my links section). It even archives for the whole week so you need not be glued in at that one particular time. The things WREK does for you...
Well, I should probably be running along for now. Yeah, I know, this isn't really the "thoughts" I intended this page to originally be, as I'm just relaying facts, but hopefully with renewed writing I can get back to my original grand scale of things. Just cross your fingers for me.
June 21, 1999 Just some quick messages. Mainly, I'm insane and I've learned this from 2 instances. One, I still keep allowing myself to work these crazy hours, missing good shows and good sleep alike. And second, I'm able to walk into a record store and on the flip of a coin decide to spend $90 +. Of course, the item in question is the Captain Beefheart box set, so it's to good use, but still...As it happens, I just came back from work, and I'm now listening to CB, so all elements that have fried my brain have come together. So that means I can't write anymore. But it doesn't mean I don't love you, y'know. Soon...
June 6, 1999 Okay, I'm back. But I've gotta explain. The last time I wrote anything here, I promised I'd have this site back up and running with constant additions. Well, I said that with the best intentions but mother nature didn't want to cooperate. As it happened, our modem got zapped in a storm. This left me without the ability to go online for awhile. Finally, after about a week of inertia we bought a new external modem and was ready to go. Or so we thought. About a week later, we had another storm come through, which not only knocked out our new modem but fried out CPU as well. So we had to go out and buy a brand new computer, which was a little disheartening. Needless to say, at the tiniest hint of a storm we unplug everything in the fuckin' house now. So that has been one drawback. Another is my new workhours. I'm now working the 4-12:30 shift at the USPS, which means I try to get all of my activity in the daytime before I go in, and I don't ever think I have enough time to sit around and write about this and that to an audience that may not even exist. (However, I do have time to play about 300 games of Freecell daily--go figure) I know this is bad because I always hate when people's websites get so out of date, like listing your favorite events of 1998 when we're halfway through the next year (memo to self--take that thing off of my main page as soon as I finish typing this). So I'm gonna try to make it a little better. Will I succeed? I'm skeptical, but you never know. I'll try to get some reviews up soon, which I think is probably the best thing I can do. What's more, it'll give me time to actually listen to/read my new things and less time to run around buying yet more things. The number of CDs I've gotten in the past 2 months is pretty staggering, and the comics haven't been that shabby either. Oh well, I think somebody is trying to call our house because my connection is slowing, so I need to split for now.
May 3, 1999 It's time for that quarterly hello. Unfortunately, the modem got fried a few weeks ago, but I'm now back up and running again. Of course, I don't have much time to write as my days are now pretty busy. Geez, I should really write more often, because when I wrote the last installment I was just back at working at the insurance place that I was at for my college days. Well, for the past 3 weeks I have been an intern for the USPS, and I can't explain it but it makes me super-tired when I get home. Then again, I guess it's because I have to wake up at 6:30. The horror! Anyway, a fair amount of stuff has been happening to me, but now's not the time to go into it, as I've got to make my lunch for tomorrow. I will try to update the show info as there are quite a few cool Atlanta gigs soon, and I wholeheartedly intend to add some content up here, maybe by this weekend (look for some record reviews, if nothing else). As you can see, I've gone music crazy lately (as opposed to my normal "crazy" crazy) and there's plenty I still need to check out. In fact, I think tonight's post-sleeping selection will be the Red Crayola, so come on over if you wanna check it out as well. Hmm, I promise I'll write again this week, and I'll probably edit this page a little, but not now, okay? Oh, you're so sweet...
February 27, 1999 Hi, I'm back again. I just want to have something new to replace the dumb writing I made last Saturday night. It's not like I really have much on my mind. Anyway, I just got back from seeing the triumphant return of my beloved Gold Sparkle Band at the Eyedrum. Good stuff, and the cheap beer was good too, but I felt a little weird throughout it and was ready to head home. Why? I don't really know, but it could have to do with spending a lot of money today. I bought a Krazy Kat retrospective, 2 CDs, going out to eat, paying to get in the door, and the beer, which means my newfound wealth has been mangled pretty quickly. Oh well, maybe the 15th will get here soon...
Don't you hate it when 2 things go on in the same night? At the same time as this, Smog was playing in East Atlanta. I guess I could've gone to both, but I hadn't considered it beforehand and it seemed too late to think about it, not to mention it'd just make me feel worse about my money. I'm trying to save so I can get out of this suburban nightmare, and I did do a good job by putting most of it up, but still. Like you want to hear about my economic trials.
So what do you think about publicity for cult things? It's a controversial topic. Nirvana would be a popular example. When they got big, jocks got into them who seemed to be missing the point. It's sadly ironic to have homophobes championing a group like Nirvana. On the other hand, Kurt made sure to mention his favorites constantly in interviews, which is what helped turn me on to a lot of music. So I'm personally in favor of it. I'm thinking of this primarily because of this upcoming Andy Kaufman movie with the despicable Jim Carrey playing my favorite comedian. While people report that he's uncanny, I'm still wary as hell. However, this Kaufman interest has spawned some stuff, like Comedy Central airing specials about his life and E doing a True Hollywood Story on him. So if nothing else, you can't argue with that. I think that a lot of people who worry about this are just insecure in their standing, afraid to lose whatever inside cool they may have.
By the way, you may be on the lookout for a comeback Sunday Special hosted by moi on the ever-beautiful WREK Atlanta 91.1 FM. The topic: sex, violence, drugs, and rock and roll. 2 hours devoted to excess, with artist pairings you may not have considered before. I've still gotta get it okayed, but I feel alright about it. After all, I don't seem to remember any ix-nayed specials in my life. We'll see.
Oh well, it's time to move on. I should point out that as I've been typing this my ears have been exposed for the first time to the sound of Os Mutantes, and I have to say its been a good time so far. My spending guilt is now waning.So until next time (hopefully sooner than later), ...

February 20, 1999 Can you believe it? I'm actually writing here! Well, big deal, but it hasn't happened too often lately so I thought I'd go for it. Also, as is usually the prerequisite, it's not exactly a joyous occasion for me, but I don't want to bring you down or anything. I don't really know why I feel strange because the day's been going well up to now. I don't think it's because I'm upset with the new Melt Banana offering, although that may be somewhat related (gee, it take a lot to get me upset). But that's one of the worst things about the internet: making your little insignificant depresso-attacks and then unleashing them for everyone in the world to see. I don't really have time for self-pity (I do have time for playing my Monopoly CD-rom 200 times a day, though).
Anyway, enough about that. The times have been okay. I'm speaking with the post office about possibly getting an internship, and the insurance company I used to work for is letting me work as long as I want with them and they'll pay me nicely for it. So who knows, maybe I'll be getting enough cash so I can move back out to midtown on my own. I don't know what that'll do to my page, since I may not have a computer should the situation arise, but I'll worry about that some other time. On the other hand, it may be upsetting because I'll lose my loser status since I won't live with my parents. While this is undoubtedly a good thing, the drawback is that people will discover that I didn't have the loser status only for that reason. Oh well, we'll just see. Prospective roommates, you have been warned!
Gee, does any of this stuff matter to people? I kinda doubt it. Unless you're a friend of mine or else you want to be (the line forms to the left), this is all just self-important nonsense. Better fill this up with something you might care about.
Hmm...I can't seem to think of anything. Not that I wrote this as a punchline, but I honestly can't grasp anything right now. I think I'll just quit and maybe in a few days I'll think of something. Ah well...

September 9, 1998 And it has dawned upon us. I am out of Georgia Tech now, and currently living back home with me mum and dad awaiting for some company to come barrelling down our driveway to offer me some huge luxurious job. So while that's waiting to happen, I guess I have some time on my hands. I guess you noticed that there are still no memoirs on my web page like I promised. Well, it takes time. (and to be honest, I still haven't started yet, but you better keep that a secret) I do want to start doing things with this page, though, since I have nothing else to do. And besides, looking at my show list is the only way I know that I'm doing something these days. And if you look, you'll probably see a couple of cool shows happening within the next month or so. Cool, huh? Oh well, now is not the time to write. I guess I should work on sending out my resume to a couple more places. Sigh...
August 6, 1998 Wow, 2 months since I've written anything? And I guess I'm not even writing anything now, since I've gotta be at work in 27 minutes. I just thought I'd drop in since there continue to be numerous visits to my web page, which has been suffering from rigor mortis. It's just that this is my last month at school, so I've been pretty busy doing--ah, who am I kidding? I've been doing about as much schoolwork as I've always done (not much), I just don't know why I've been writing so little. Well, I think I've just completed one of my courses and in a few days I'll be done with another, so maybe I'll have time to do some last things. Besides, I still want to write my whole "memories of college" thing which might be fun and interesting, even to people like you who don't even care (but then again, you are at my web page for something). We'll just see. I guess I should plug a few things while I'm here. I will be doing 2 more Sunday Specials on WREK-Atlanta 91.1 FM this month: August 16, the music of Tomita, and August 30, showcasing the Old Gold record/tape/CD label based out of Atlanta. Actually, I'm just the medium, there will be other people who are hosting it, but I'll be there and I can contribute too. So be on the lookoiut for that, and write me if you have any questions. And, as always, write if you want to. I can think of no better thing in this world than to receive unsolicited emails, but then again you always want what you never get, don't you? Well, a boy can dream... More soon, but that's all for now.
June 5, 1998 And once again I return. It is almost the end of the school quarter (only finals left) so it's time for my usual procrastination. Well, it's Friday anyway, which means that I'll always avoid work no matter what the situation. It's one of those nice lay-about days, and I just got out of the shower and my hair is drying. You know the feeling you get when you can take a shower in the middle of the afternoon and it's not really to get ready for anything but just to relax and then you can get out and listen to some relaxing music and maybe look at some comics or just stare out the window? Well, maybe you might have some more fun things to do than what I've just listed, but that's all it takes to make me happy for a while. The only sucky thing is that I had to put on a collared shirt (we're going to the Spaghetti Factory tonight, and even though I realize that place is far from classy, I still don't feel right about walking in there wearing some 70s shirt I thrifted that features the old Atlanta Falcon symbol flipping the bird) which means I have to wear jeans. Well, it doesn't really mean I have to wear jeans, but I just don't like that look of wearing a collared pullover with shorts. It's like some kind of preppy look to me. I think it has to do with the fact that when I was growing up I didn't have any cool t-shirts (I always wanted one that had writing on the back of the shirt) so I had to wear Izods (actually, Izods were too upper-middle class for our family; I wore the dragons, if you remember those) with those ridiculous jam shorts (what can I say? I was 10 years old) back in the 80s so many times that it totally warped my overall opinion of the subject. So even though it's a billion freakin' degrees outside I've got to wear my jeans so that way I can achieve my internal harmony. Boy, what a timekiller that was. Hold on, my CD just ended so let me go put on something else.
Okay, I'm back. For your information I am now listening to the Future Bible Heroes, and I just finished listening to Sonic Youth's Experimental, Jet Set, Trash and No Star. Please stop cringing like that. You know, I think I'm the only person in the world who really likes that album. It seems like everyone slags that album, I guess because it was such a quiet followup to all of that Goo and Dirty stuff. Well, that's what's appealing about it to me. I mean, I really like both of those albums too (actually, I guess there isn't a Sonic Youth album that I don't like, at least not out of the ones I have), but the somber sound of Experimental is so mysterious to me. The record is also dated to me, not as in a dated sound, but as in dated memories. It came out the last month of my status as a high school student, and I remember constantly listening to it. I mean constantly. My favorite songs on there are "Tokyo Eye", "Sweet Shine", "Waist", and "Starfield Road". Oh yeah, "Screaming Skull" too. Maybe I'm blowing my cool by admitting stuff like this, but I don't really give a fuck. As for Sonic Youth, I saw them play two nights ago at the Roxy, which was pretty good. I have to say, though, that I didn't care for the crowd at all. I hope this doesn't make me sound like some bitter old man, and I hate making stereotypes like this, but there were a bunch of high schoolers around me and they just pissed me off. I was wondering what half of these people were doing there. For example, Pelt opened up. I had wanted to see Pelt when they played Under the Couch a few months back, but I didn't have the cash, so I looked forward to seeing them. They came on and played one continuous drone with interesting embellishments for about 30 minutes or so. This did not go ever very well. I could give better justice to their music, but I'm not going to rack my brain for 4 hours so I can write something that nobody cares about anyway, so if you really want a fair description you can always right me (beg for communication #413). But back to the show, some guy behind me yelled "Play some music!" Play some music? Does this guy realize the show he's gone to? Does he realize that Sonic Youth are largely responsible for noise being what it is today? Then the aforementioned high schoolers in front of me apparently kept going on about how much Pelt "fuckin' sucked", according to Amy, and then threw some pennies at them after their performance. Also, people kept starting up applause during their set most likely to drop the hint that they were ready to get them off the stage. But when SY started doing some loud improvisation at the end of their encore following a totally rockin' "Death Valley '69" then they are ecstatic. Go figure.
You know, I hate talking about music so much. It makes me feel like I'm just a one-track mind and that I can't function when I talk about anything else. To be honest, when I talk to most people music is the last thing in the world that I want to talk about. People always get the wrong idea, and think that because I buy lots of albums and read music magazines and the like that I'm open for discussion on the subject. The worst is when they try to compliment me to others. This always happened in high school, and I hated every minute of it. They always said I listened to "cool" music, but if it was so cool, then why was it that they never listened to it? Were they admitting to me that they weren't cool (well, actually, there could be a case made for that, but I really doubt that was their intention), or were they just try to build back some self-esteem in me since they ripped me apart from it back in junior high school? Well, who really cares? I guess I don't see any of them anymore. Good riddance. Okay, I think I've taken my happy day out-of-the-shower vibes and ruined it by dwelling on the worst times of my life, so I think I'll stop for now and do something more productive.
May 21, 1998 Hello. I haven't written anything in a while, and I have about 5 minutes before I go to class, so I probably won't write much here. I just thought I'd say that things are kinda busy right now, so the last thing on my mind has been about spending hours on a keyboard typing in stuff like this. Anyway, chances are if you're reading this then you probably know me up close and everything already, so you don't really have to ask me what I've been doing in the first place. If you don't, well then you can always be friendly and write me. I'm a nice guy, I write back. It kinda freaks me out because when I randomly look at my web page the counter has always been raised by a considerable number (well, at least considerable for me), which is strange because that means that someone has been looking it over but it remains a mystery to me. Hmmm. Call Encyclopedia Brown! Oh well, this pointless excercise is over. It's now time for class.
March 5, 1998
Oh am I bored right now. It's kinda nice that I don't really feel any pressure at the moment, but it's kinda bad because that means I'm bored. This usually happens on Thursday nights when I'm allowed to stay up late since I only have one class at 2 on Friday. I bought a couple of albums to make the time go by (FYI the new records by Tortoise and BOB) but I still feel like I'm missing something. Oh well.
I think I'm going to start doing music reviews, due to the overwhelming requests I got from everyone. Actually, I never heard from anyone, but I'm just trying to figure out ways to kill time. I guess I can do comic reviews even though I don't really buy too much of them right now. I think comics are in a rut. However, I did receive the new Spit & A Half catalog yesterday, and I highly endorse them. In fact, I saw about $25 worth of stuff that I'd gladly send off for, but I'm afraid that I shouldn't really do so with my monetary state. At least it's getting that time of the quarter to sell books back.
I'm afraid that I don't have too much on my mind. Not much has been going on lately, except for my little feud that's been going on in the letters section of Creative Loafing. You can check it out for yourself by going to Creative Loafing's web site and viewing the letters to the editor. If you're like me, you won't be disappointed. But aside from that, things have been rather dull. No shows recently, no fun activities done with anyone. For you completists, I've been surviving by listening to albums by the Kronos Quartet, Big Star, Van Morrison's Moondance, and Yoko Ono. Yeah, Yoko Ono. I've received shit from several people for purchasing one of her albums a few weeks ago, and it pisses me off. Not that people don't like Yoko, that's their prerogative, but when they go around slamming other people I don't care for that. I asked one such interrogator if he had ever heard one of her songs. To which he of course replied no, but then said that he would never want to hear one. I told him that wasn't the question. The thing about Yoko is that she was someone making avant-garde music who got mixed up with someone who was not making avant-garde music. Therefore, people could not identify and instead went on and on about how awful she is and all of the damage she caused. Of course, people consider the best Beatles albums to be the ones that happened after she got involved with them, and everybody goes on about how "Plastic Ono Band" is a classic (although I've never heard that album, but I'm gonna look for it at the next record show). I guess they don't realize that they're contradicting themselves. I've also heard people complain that Yoko is very pretentious, calling pieces "art" that are debatable. Well, I can't really make an argument for this; I guess it's just interpretation. I agree that some moments seem like they're up for debate ("Radio Play" off of the album I bought), and that makes me think of a great quote from Calvin & Hobbes: "The thing about being avant-garde is knowing who's putting on who". However, I like a lot of things that other people would dismiss; "Cambridge '69", the most difficult piece on the album, is intriguing to me. I also dig things like Voice Crack and Charlie Parker, which would drive a lot of folks crazy (strangely enough though, the Voice Crack track on the Live At WREK CD was the one my dad tolerated the most). I don't really know how to define my fine line of what noise I like and what I think is just for being pretentious, but if I have any insight I'll let you know. Or you could always do the same.
February 4, 1998
Yeah, I haven't updated as often as I thought I would, but then again I never promised nobody nothing (triple negative makes it all right). To be honest, I'm just writing right now because I've been working thermodynamics problems for the majority of the afternoon and I need a break before I start studying for my facilities design test tomorrow. I think I'm going slightly mad this quarter. At least I have the Kronos Quartet performance tomorrow night to realign myself. The tickets for that show, along with a copy of the Harmony of the Spheres triple-LP set on Drunken Fish records, are my birthday presents from my parents (well, I decided on them; mom and dad aren't exactly big Flying Saucer Attack fans, nor do they like any kind of chamber music). For those of you who don't know, I turned 22 this past Monday (Lee Ranaldo's birthday! I'm so glad somebody cool has my birthday and not just Garth Brooks!), and I actually had a swell time in the process. Having a nice dinner with my favorite people, even despite the infernal "Happy Birthday" song (but the employees were likable, so even that number was okay with me; I still had to kick Amy in the shins for it). Ah, if only every night could be like that. Okay, on to a completely different topic.
Do you ever have one of those revelations? You know, something that makes you go "how could I have ever lived before this?" Well, I've had one recently, and for that I'm making 1998 the year of the boxers. No, not that sport that only wishes it could be as cool as wrestling, I'm referring to the underwear (duh). I guess briefs are an appropriate representative of clothing for the south, what with their repressive acts of concealment, just adding tension, but boxers are the complete opposite. They're so cool that you can walk around wearing nothing over them and people don't look at you like you're some sicko. It's like you're wearing swimming trunks (a nice feeling for all of us, I'm sure), but you don't have any of that lining crap or the big-ass strings. Yes, they've changed my life. You see, this is the kind of stuff that made me realize to switch to this "what's on my mind" format. I wouldn't exactly devote a page to this.
And in the plug section, I have to wholeheartedly endorse the new issue of the Comics Journal. Yeah, I know it's $12.95, but it's worth every penny. Not only is it the 200th issue, filled with retrospectives, but there's a 45 page interview with Charles Schulz as well as a 55 page interview with Chris Ware. The Schulz article just endeared me to him even more, and the Ware interview shows him not to be a pretentious artiste, but a self-deprecating guy admitting that his ideas don't always turn out for the best, and even clarifying some aspects of the Jimmy Corrigan story. I know I wrote cautious comments about Acme in my last installment, but I still believe in the comic. So there's alot of good stuff in there. In fact, the only pieces I've read are the two interviews, because the issue is so huge that I can't devote any more time to it while I'm in school (well, I could be reading it now instead of writing this nonsense, but this is therapeutic for me). Bottom line, get it now!
I went home for the weekend, which eventually led to going to Jonesboro Road (thrift-store capital of the south side of Atlanta; 5 in a quarter-mile span). I was in for a shock. First of all, the DAV, my longtime personal favorite, has now deteriorated to a point where it's almost useless to go there. It's so sad, I've found so many great things there (my first Western shirt, records of all genres, lots of great books at 20 for a dollar, etc.), and now it's basically nothing. No records, no decent shirts, no books worth reading. Not even any Atari games I don't have, and that's always been the place where I stock up. The second huge tragedy to strike was that Last Chance had moved to Mt. Zion Road, miles away, which takes away the old routine of walking from one store to the next. I guess it's good that the Southlake Mall area has a thrift nearby, but it's bad when you have to drive out there to see what they have. However, it wasn't all tragedy on Sunday. I found numerous items (a couple of books, ranging from the Loch Ness Monster to the Godfather to the autobiography of Malcolm X, as well as some records and a cool Monopoly-type game that celebrates small businesses), but what took the cake occurred at Value Village. This time a year ago, I was searching for albums by the High Llamas, particularly Gideon Gaye after I read some great reviews of them. However, this was about 6 months before they were to be picked up by a US label, so I couldn't find anyplace in town that had any of their albums. Well, they got signed to V2 back in August and the US debut of Hawaii had everyone talking. V2 decided to reissue the LPs, which all came out last week. I could finally hear Gideon Gaye after all, but I didn't have enough money to get it when it came out. However, I found the original pressing of it on Alpaca Park for $2.40 at the checkout counter of the aforementioned thrift. As I told someone else, thrifts are truly a blessing from above.
So what's been occupying my world as of late? Album-wise, there's been that High Llamas album, the new Robert Wyatt record (given to me by Jeff for my birthday), the first Jessamine CD (given to me by Holli for my birthday), the Kronos Quartet's Short Stories CD (gotta get ready for tomorrow night, after all), and the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night. This has been the first Beatles album I've bought in 4 years, and this may take out some coolness factor in me, but I don't care. While I don't believe in the idolization of bands, I don't believe in casting them off either, and the Beatles will always be a big group with me, even if I don't play there albums as much as I did back in junior high. Comics-wise, I finally got the new Nowhere by Debbie Dreschler, which I remember being good. I haven't got much else, but I did receive another mega-load of minis from Australian correspondent Amber Carvan, so once I get through with my test tomorrow, I'll have to immerse myself into them. It's moments like that, along with my birthday dinner, that make me glad to be alive. Oh yeah, I need to mention that this past week's Space Ghost, with his grandfather sitting in, was the best new episode I've seen since the show that had Beck. It was terrific, especially if you're a fan of Randy "Macho Man" Savage (and why wouldn't you be?).
Okay, that's quite a lot, even if I didn't really philosophize about anything. But in case you haven't heard from me in a while, at least you'll know what I've been up to.
January 20, 1998
Hi, there. This is the first installment in what I hope will be a continuous piece. Instead of typing up a brand new page every year or so, letting everything remain stagnant except for occasional reviews and show announcements, I thought it would be better to occasionally just write about whatever I want to. That way, there's something new, and something that I might not otherwise be inclined to devote a whole page to. At other times, I may just write a selected review or 2 and give shoutouts to whatever strikes my fancy at that particular moment. Unpredictability, what more could you want?
As for what's been going on with me lately, I've just been going to school and attending shows as usual. Artists currently on my mental top 40 include the High Llamas, DJ Shadow, and Can. Can has been one of those bands I've read about numerous times in the past, but just have never done anything about it until recently. I bought Tago Mago, which has really been fascinating me. It's not exactly as I pictured them to sound (not as crazy/experimental as I imagined), but it has blown me away on several different levels. And it came out in '71, too! Also, I've been looking for Blonde on Blonde by Dylan on vinyl (for "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands"), and after being unsuccessful at the major record shops in Atlanta, I found it for $5.99 at a record show! Yay!
I haven't really been reading many comics lately. Maybe it's just me, but there just hasn't been much out there that looks terribly interesting. Well, the new Nowhere is out, which I've been wanting to read, but I decided I couldn't afford it. So instead I bought the new Acme Novelty Library. I don't know, I have some mixed feelings about the comic. I absolutely love Chris Ware's artwork. Everything about it is so appealing (the colors, the right amount of detail, and of course the various formats). But as for the stories, while I try to understand them, I don't know if I say that I like ANL because I get into it or because everyone else says it's cool. It's almost definitely the most pretentious thing I get down at Criminal. Everyone regards Ware as a genious, and while I think I would agree, I would do so a little hesitantly. To me, it's a little like Chester Brown. Underwater confounded a helluva lot of people upon it's release 2 years ago. People quickly wrote it off as just being gibberish, and while it definitely seemed that way, it is slowly but surely turning into a work that marks it as truely original. Things are starting to make sense now. As for the tale of Jimmy Corrigan, it's a struggle to stay with the narrative, particularly when Ware jumps from the 1800s to the 1990s without a major style separating them (after all, every Corrigan has that homely look). I can make sense out of some of it, and I can identify with some of it as well, but there are just some parts that bewilder me to death. I stare at a particular panel with text that seems unconnected, and I try to figure out what significance it has. Maybe I'm just slow, and everybody else has it figured out, I can't really say since I don't talk to other people who read this title. I occasionally go back and reread them, and I gather new wisdom sometimes, but others I get even less of a grasp of what's going on! Who's to say? If you have any particular ideas of Chris Ware and why he is or isn't a modern-day genius, please let me know. I'm still trying to make up my mind. Of course he's one of the most interesting people on the scene, of that I have no doubt, but I don't know if he's someone who'll go down in history. Maybe I'm showing off my ignorance here, I don't know. Then again, to show it off, I need an audience to do so. So go ahead, make me an idiot!
I guess I don't have a need to say anything else right now. Oh shit, I just forgot, Bach on a Hook is playing Live @ WREK tonight, and I don't have a tape to record it with! I guess I'd better get to my room to listen to it. Until I decide to write again, I depart.