Category: Life

Last night I went to Memphis to check out Steve Vai‘s show at the New Daisy Theatre. My previous two experiences seeing Vai were both abbreviated G3 appearances, but this was a full 2+ hour show. Quite a difference. I heard many many notes. Several of them high and squealy. Steve make guitar go zoom zoom. I think they may have had an off night, though. I’m a fan of maniacal guitar abuse, but even I was a little worn out by the end. We were in the balcony so we missed all of Billy Sheehan‘s bass; the signal probably just went straight under us. And the venue…good lord the New Daisy needs some ventilation. It was like living inside an enormous cigarette. Bleah. I still smell it.

My drums arrived yesterday as well. I would be putting them together right now were it not for the fact that it’s painfully cold outside in the garage. The weather should warm up soon, though. Hopefully it will be tolerable tomorrow.

Also I met with Mara Leveritt from Arkansas Times today. She’s doing a piece on blogging and wanted some info on blogging in general and me specifically. I have to admit I’m a little concerned about the publicity this might generate. I mean, what if people actually started reading this crap?

Next Tuesday brings new releases by two of my most favorite musicians: Tori Amos and Steve Vai. So much for trying to save money. But I should be able to increase my budget, as I will be getting a roommate soon: Matt Ellinger. Most of y’all know Matt as ex-roommate Holly’s ex-boyfriend, and my occasional partner in duo restuarant gigs. So another musician roommate. This will help save much bank, and expedite the remodeling of the garage into a rehearsal space. And most importantly this will allow me to spend my tax refund on…DRUMS.

I had been keeping this hush-hush for a couple weeks, lest I jinx the thing. But now it’s officially mine. Here are the stats:

Hillcrest, just north of War Memorial
950 sq. ft.
2 bedroom, 1 bath
Living room/dining room/kitchen
Detached garage
New kitchen with fridge, microwave and washer/dryer
Gas range and stove (yay!)
Hardwood floors, new tile in bathroom
Good size backyard

If anyone wants to lend a hand moving, I’ll need help this weekend, so let me know.

New sprawling, expansive plog today. I thought about dividing it in two, but that’s just more work than I need right now. I’ll likely have even more pics coming next week. I’m not going to tell you of what. But I will say that it’s something very big, both physically and financially.

Special note to Google: Nancy Nolan is an Arkansas photographer. She rules. Put her in your cache already. I’m tired of waiting.

My photo log is one year old today. It began on this date in 2004 with a series of pictures of the dearly departed Atomic Guitars, and random scenery across northern Arkansas. Fittingly, we come full circle, as that first edition of the Plog featured an expansive pictorial of the glory that was my beloved tree.

New plog details the aftermath of an event predicted in the previous plog. The big tree outside my apartment finally fell. It took a couple of cars with it. Part of it remains, leaning against my the roof near my living room. I’ll miss you, tree.

20 years ago, Transformers the Movie came out, and after the opening credits, the ominous voice of Victor Caroli says “It is the year 2005. The treacherous Decepticons have conquered the Autobots’ home planet of Cybertron.” I remember thinking then that 2005 was so far away, and I wondered what life would be like then. Would we have robots running and flying around? Ever since the birth of science fiction films in the mid 20th century (boy, referring to the “20th century” like it’s some far away place feels weird, too) I think we consistently set ourselves up for disappointment when The Future arrives. Even the one film that was regarded as a reasonable depiction of the future, 2001: A Space Odyssey turned out to be overly optimistic. We can barely keep a rustbucket International Space Station open for business, much less commercial flights to the moon.

I’m beginning to wonder if, in general, we gorge ourselves on films (high quality, artistic films mind you) that set us up for disappointment. I’m reminded of the first chapter of Chuck Klosterman’s Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs in which the author points out that very often movies set us up for an ideal of what love and life is supposed to be like, a standard that inevitably our messy lives continually fail to reach.

But here I am starting off the new year on a down note. Actually 2005 looks very promising. Superflux will be doing some recording this month, so I’ll have something creative of my own to point to. I’ll be putting together a new computer for home recording soon. I’ve got a ton of great DVDs to watch (such as Garden State and De-Lovely). John and Susan want me to work on a website for their London-based art consulting business. Last but not least, I’m inviting Jamie to come visit for a few weeks at the end of the month. So to quote the immortal poet Ethel Merman, “everything is coming up roses.”

Oh yeah…and there’s a new plog.

I hope the cats are OK. I didn’t go home last night because of the torrential winter weather yesterday. Brian picked me up from work and I stayed at his place up the hill from my office, which is where I am right now. Had I made it home, I would not have ventured out today. It’s madness out there, I tell you.

In addition to giving me a spare webcam, Brian also took some fab pictures of Superflux at Cajun’s last Friday. Here’s a picture of me I actually like:

Kind of a nice, Dennis Quaid-esque smirk on my face. And my oh-so-rare Obvious Moose t-shirt…could I be a bigger obscure music nerd? Only by playing a long-discontinued Ibanez JPM P3.

Pictures now in the new plog documenting my weekend road trip to Indiana and Chicago. I probably took more pictures of the rural Midwest just because the depths of its peculiarity seem to grow every time I’m up there. I saw a lot of “Adult Superstore” billboards and just as many “Pornography Hurts Everyone” signs. So that’s nice.

What I somehow failed to take more pictures of was the people, namely my hosts Craig and Jamie. Or Jamie’s adorable Mini-Me, Ella. I’m still trying to figure out how I neglected that. The depths of my confusion reach levels not seen since…well, November 3rd.