I promised myself I wouldn’t let another month go by between blog entries, but once again I’ve failed, due mainly to equal parts creativity drought and space/time acceleration. So, for no other reason than to mark time for future reference, here is some condensed bloggage:
SXSW – 2010 was a slow year for me at SXSW. No super-exciting shows, the bizarre cold snap kept me from hanging out with my sister and her kids, I missed the guitar convention and record show, and I missed Linus of Hollywood. Oh, and Alex Chilton died on my birthday. Still, it was nice to get some sunny days of biking around. And Tara is becoming quite the chef.
Meat Loaf – My friend Aly had a conflicting engagement last Wednesday so she sent me to a small album preview gathering at The Hit Factory for Meat Loaf’s new album. I got to meet Meat and listen to the bombastic new record (featuring Steve Vai, Jack Black, Brian May and more) in a nice studio with sandwiches and cookies. Score!
Colleen – My virtual friend Colleen became real a week ago when I met my longtime Flickr bud in realtime. She’s putting out her first children’s book, Hamster & Cheese, and was doing a women’s author panel at the NYPL (where I finally got my library card).
Easter brunch – I was invited to a fellow Arkansan’s gathering of other Arkansans, so it was nice to meet new people from old places. Even if they were all distressingly young and insanely pretty.
Greenberg – Director Noah Baumbach did a Q&A after the premiere of his new film Greenberg at BAM. Very cool to see him in person, as I’ve been a fan of his for a long time.
Lucas – Corey Haim’s early death prompted me to head over to J&R after work to find a copy of Lucas on DVD. It’s still a heartbreakingly great movie, and it makes me wonder if Haim might have had more in him than his hearthrob marketing allowed him to use.
The General Electric Building – Man, is this place a temple to electricity or what? It was the home to RCA then GE before Rockefeller Center was completed. Check out the sides, the deco carvings, the subway entrance.
Books – I tallied up my books today. The unread outnumber the read by about 5.
Moving – As mentioned earlier, I’m in search of my own place, but now my roommate is moving back to Tennessee. Whatever happens, this is the end of a chapter for both of us. Hopefully the new chapter for me begins with central heat and air and lots of natural light.
I completely forgot to mention this but a former executive at RCA who used to work in the GE building was the person who used to live in my house in Hillcrest. His last name was Combs. I don’t know his first name. But anyway, when they were doing some remodeling of the building before he moved to Little Rock, he asked if he could have the old clock that used to be in the lobby of the building because they were just going to throw it away. It’s rumored to be in my house somewhere because his children never located it after he died or at least that’s what my neighbor told me. I’ve looked everywhere except the basement. My basement is scary. Too many cave crickets.