Regarding my political pessimism.

Regarding my political pessimism.

In regards to my fatalistic views on the current primary process, and the chance of a Democrat taking the White House, I guess my pessimism stems from this: I couldn't even conceive of Bush being re-elected in 2004, and the fact that he was made me lose a lot of faith in the American public as a voting body. And it made me realize how differently many folks perceive the world. And how narrowly they define policy stances.

And yes, I'm being overly dramatic, and no, my views are not binding and are subject to chance in with the speed in which the political winds change, and, further, yes I open myself up to the notion that at some point one candidate or the other will truly sweep me off my feet, apply the kool-aid directly from their nipple (male or female) to my lips, and I will drink long and strong and fall under the stupefying graces of the blind adherence to political ideology.

Nobody puts Baby in a corner.

Nobody puts Baby in a corner.

The title of this post has come up, I kid you not, no less than seven times this week. What is up with that? Secondly ... well, obviously someone DID put Betty in a corner!


Please note, there are TWO other beagles in the room ... methinks the high ratio of beagles to other dogs should tell you something ...

In my dreams and nightmares, this exists.

In my dreams and nightmares, this exists.

My first thought? Awesome! My second? Terrifying!

There would be no way to keep things out of reach from this one.


UNRELATED: So, anyone going to panic! tonight? I'm not usually a fan of the DWD DJs, but i suspect once they have to follow Pogo and Arturo they might actually deviate from their usual set-list and pop out some cool stuff.

So, are you going? Should I? Or should I just unleash my evil twin and risk a black eye?

Via the sporadically hilarious The Onion.

Self-sabotage.

Self-sabotage.

This is going to be cryptic, primarily since it's really only for my own point of reference years down the road when I read it and laugh, but I'm pleased to see that despite my best efforts, I seem to have finally outgrown my natural inclination to ruin a good thing.

I have a real bed!

I have a real bed!

Many thanks to Sarah for selling me hers as she leaves town for the wilds of NYC. Good luck out there and keep a guest room spot open for me if I can ever get enough time off to actually visit.

Beagle update!

Beagle update!


Man, if I'd known posts about Betty would be so popular i would have made this a dog-blog years ago! O.K., maybe not, but I'm pleased to see that the line in my bio that reads that I live with "a beagle named Betty who may actually be slightly more famous than most musicians out there."

Anyway, doggie daycare is going really well. They have a webcam in the room the pups play in, and even though it won't work on my computer -- I'm guessing it's not compatible with my company's firewall or something -- Photogal has been sending me screenshots whenever Betty is on camera. The first day she hung out in a corner and only moved around when a person came in the room, but yesterday she was actually moving around a bit and sniffing some butts, so I think she's adjusting!

If I'm going out I still give her a doggie tranquilizer to keep her calm and my neighbors sane, but I'm hopeful that won't have to continue since she seems pretty tuckered when I bring her home each night.

It's expensive, so I've got to figure out how to stretch my budget a bit, but it is so worth it to keep Betty from stressing herself out.

Happyu Birthday to Evil!

Happy Birthday to Evil!

Well, to be more precise, happy birthday to my friend Jenny Evil! She's celebrating tonight downstairs at Liar's Club with a bunch of bands (Hushdrops, Milk At Midnight, and Two Of Us). Between acts her sister Chandressa and I will be DJing. Upstairs at Liar's JB and Lisa will be spinning music all night long.

Sisyphus triumphant!

Sisyphus triumphant!

For the first time in years I have completely caught up with every single one of my podcasts.

I thought this day would never come!

Free eMarketing advice.

Free eMarketing advice.

Dear everyone,

Stop sending emails where the body of your message is embedded in an image! Not only is it so 2002, it also guarantees 80% of people will never read your email since most email clients automatically block images nowadays. Images are cool, but don't make them the focus of your message. Dorks.

Love,
Tankboy

She's just not that into you.

She's just not that into you.

So last night, I was out with JB, and we ran into some mutual friends, one of whom was a girl I had hit on rather unsubtly* shortly after I became single. Since that initial meeting I have still been friendly with her, since a) well, she's pretty cool and b) we share many of the same friends and c) well, why not? Since that initial meeting I have actually taken pains not to make a pass at her though. I only like looking like a fool once ... until I get to know you and then I pretty much look like a fool all the time.

Well, last night JB and I run into this girl, and within minutes -- through some sort of super-secret female mental telepathy -- JB turns to me and says, "You're never going to land that one. It just ain't gonna happen."

Immediately a list of things ran though my mind.

1. I wasn't trying to get the girl anymore, so what?
2. Wait, why isn't she into me?
3. Wait wait, what is she saying about me that people know she's not into me?
4. My ego! My precious fragile ego!

Here's the thing: I don't mind being turned down, but no one wants to know they have no chance. The possibilty is what drives much instances of male/female interaction, right? No one in their right mind really believes that every girl (or guy) wants him (or her), but we all sort of thrive on the chance that they might. Or at least that they entertain the notion that we're desirable.

So, even when you're no longer after the girl, "she's just not into you" is still a pretty big blow to the ego.

*I out-and-out asked her if she wanted to take me home and she, eyes open wider than a Grecian discus, politely -- and smartly -- turned down my offer.

C'mon folks ... let's be honest. There really is very little difference, so stop fighting about it before it's too late.

C'mon folks ... let's be honest. There really is very little difference, so stop fighting about it before it's too late.


I was thinking about Obama and Hillary again this morning, and have to admit I'm pretty amused by folks that choose Obama because he practices some sort of different set of politics.

Seriously?

Both candidates are beholden to special interest groups and both have some pretty shady charachters lurking in their past. Both candidates have gone negative, in both debates AND campaign ads. Hell, both have almost identical stances on every single issue!

So what does it break down to?

Well, Obama has charisma. LOTS of charisma. The dude got an audience to cheer when he blew his nose! You have to admit, that's pretty fucking impressive. Plus, even though he's been around a while, most of his experience is on the community level, so he's relatively new on the national scene, and therefore untarnished in the eyes of much of the Democratic voting constituency. On the flip side, the man has the momentum now, but when it comes time to start convincing voters on the other side of the aisle they should pick him, his charm isn't going to be as important to them as his policies ... and his lack of real-world political experience is going to hurt him in most Republican voters' eyes.

And what does Hillary have? Experience? Yes, but that experience is also tempered by a long national hangover regarding the drama-filled years of the last Clinton presidency. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Bill Clinton and would vote him back in office in a second, but anyone old enough to remember can't forget that is was the republican's hatred of the Clintons that drew the party together into the mightily impressive force they were until George W squandered all that political capital amidst a flurry of bombs bursting in midair. Hillary would make a great president, but I don't think the public perception of her past is going to let her.*

So, yesterday, I came to a chilling realization: A Democrat isn't going to be president next year, John McCain will be.

Even with the world going to hell, in the face of an election that is theirs to lose, the Democrats are going to blow it. Democrats are so busy singlemindedly fighting over, and tearing apart, their own two candidates, that by the time November rolls around, neither will be electable in Middle America due to the tenacity of the two warring, and might I add tragically myopic, camps.

Fuck.

*And how ironic is it that the man that probably killed her campaign starting in South Carolina is also one of the greatest natural politicians, well, ever?

First day of school.

First day of school.

I dropped Betty the Beagle off at doggie daycare this morning -- at a location I feel really good about since it came recommended by quite a few friends -- but it still didn't stop me from feeling like I was dropping my kid off to the first day of kindergarten.

See seemed nervous, and probably will remain so for a couple days, but I have a feeling she'll grow to love it. And hopefully in a few weeks, once the anti-anxiety meds have worked their way into her system, we can resume home training so she can hang out in our place comfortably when I'm not there!

RELATED: I also tested the tranquilizer she's supposed to take when I'm not around at night on her and I have to admit I'm stunned at how long it took to set in. More specifically, I'm stunned at how hard Betty's anxiety fought against the sedative. Eventually though it did relax her. In fact it realxed her so fully she peed in my bed while sleeping next to me last night! Poor little Betty!

Inside joke.

Inside joke.

Teeny tiny lightbulb!


RELATED: Last night's Liar's Club employee party was bowleriffic and so much fun.

Deal with it: Breeders come full circle.

Deal with it: Breeders come full circle.


The new Breeders disc, Mountain Battles, sounds an awful lot like the very first Breeders album, Pod. Most of the songs unfold at a sluggish pace, with Kim Deal's ethereal vocals often the heaviest component of the songs within. In fact. there's very little here reminiscent of the pop leanings explored on Last Splash, although the bouncy "Walk It Off" could have fit in alongside any of that album's tracks. And were this a Major Label offering I suspect they'd bring in another producer to scrape the grime off "It's The love" to reveal the shiny pop tune underneath.

I wasn't a huge fan of the "comeback album" Title TK, but I'm enjoying this return to form more than I thought I would. To be honest, when I first heard Pod, I hated Albini's production and though the whole thing dragged, but after listening to the album over and over during the interminable wait the group made us sit through before finally recording Last Splash, I grew to appreciate the subtle intricacies Pod offered up. Mountain Battles plots the same path, and while it doesn't outdo its almost 2-decade-old predecessor, it does prove the band is slowly marking a clear return to form.

This review was originally posted by me on donewaiting

Beagle breakdown.

Beagle breakdown.

My poor, poor neighbors. Here is what they've been putting up with day in and day out, during the work week:

60-70 yelps a minute
60 minutes an hour
10+ hours a day
The fact that my fellow tenants haven't busted down my door and tried to strangle Betty is a testament to the deep well of their understanding. I'm getting worried though. The anti-anxiety drugs are having no effect. The training I've been doing doesn't seem to be making headway. Long hour-plus walks tire her out until the moment she hears the door latch lock at which time she snaps to attention and commences barking. I'm at the point where I am seriously considering a shock collar*, but I doubt even that would silence her, so I'm worried it would only end up really hurting her.

Today I'm calling the vet to request the heavy tranquilizers. And a friend who is also a dog-walker starts coming by for 30-minute walks with Betty tomorrow. If those two things don't solve the problem I really am at a loss and see my only options being a) moving out and finding an apartment that has no neighbors or b) finding Betty another home. Since I'm locked into a year lease though, and I honor my legal obligations, the more heartbreaking option of the two looks more likely.

The one thing I can't figure out? Why didn't this happen when I moved the two previous times?

UPDATE: O.K., I'm going to have to board Betty somewhere during the day for the next 3 to 6 weeks. The vet can not believe that she is still this bad, and the only solution is to pull her out of this barking cycle while waiting for the anti-anxiety drugs to kick in. She's also giving me a heavy tranquilizer to give Betty when I have to go DJ or cover a show at night, and she swears that will knock her right out.

If I had known any of this was going to happen, I would have never moved into a building that wasn't a stand-alone structure, where Betty wouldn't have bothered anyone.

And, obviously, I'm going to have to start booking a lot more shows, and finding a lot more DJ gigs to fund this. Betty already sucked out my monetary safety net over the last 2 weeks, so papa's gotta start bringing in some more dough!

*And I am long on record of being an animal lover, so I won't countenance any self-righteousness from anyone that hasn't dealt with this same problem. At this point I am willing to try ANYTHING so I don't need to part ways with Betty.

Milestones and temptation.

Milestones and temptation.

So I was stuck at the 40-pound mark of my weight loss program since the holidays, which while a bit frustrating was totally understandable given all the parties I attended, sweets I ate, and booze I drank. The fact that I didn't put on any weight was actually pretty impressive and got me through the hump.

Well, I've finally broken through the barrier and am continuing towards my goal weight, set last July. On top of that I am clearly in the best physical shape I have ever been in (no manorexia here, don't worry ladies) and super stoked about that.

So of course it's fitting that today, the day I mark having lost 45-pounds since July, is the day that the three boxes of Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies I ordered two months ago shows up in the office!

Cool shock!

Cool shock!

Apparently I sponsor an energy drink or something. From South Korea, maybe? Thanks to Josh for stumbling across this one and sending it my way.


Where are my royalties?!

Original image location

Huey Lewis is still cooler than you thought.

Huey Lewis is still cooler than you thought.

The best thing about the Jimmy Kimmel "I'm Fucking Ben Affleck" video? Where else are you going to see Huey Lewis, Perry Farrel and Harrison Ford all singing together in the same room?

Bartending myths.

Bartending myths.

My friend Ellie came across an article written by a batrender that supposedly gives the inside scoop of what it's like to be a bartender. Read it, and her mostly right-on responses before going any further.

Now I've been a bartender. For many, many years. And the dude that wrote the article is a 100% complete douchebag. We don't -- or at least I and the folks I worked with didn't -- think like that.

O.K., maybe he got one thing right. You really should tip a buck a drink.

Are the candidates finally coming to their senses?

Are the candidates finally coming to their senses?

Judging by Hillary's behavior last night, am I insane for thinking she might be laying the groundwork for an Obama / Clinton ticket?

That would be super fucking awesome.

Barking mad.

Barking mad.

The Xananx is not calming Betty down. Well, more precisely, it's not calming her down when I'm not here. When I AM here it knocks her out, but when I leave her anxiety must rise above the calming threshold the drug is supposed to have. I'm supposed to gothroughthe weekend and see if it starts working any better.

On the bright side, she was actually asleep when I got home from DJing last night, so at least there is that ... although I know through text updates from my neighbors she was still barking well into the late hours. Ugh.

I really feel like I'm being held hostage by my dog. I can't even go out and hang out with the people I want to hang out with because Betty will start barking.

Maybe she just doesn't want me dating anyone else but her?

Birthday girl.

Birthday girl.

Today is my good friend --- and fellow Bomb Squad DJ -- JB's birthday! We're celebrating with a big ol' party at (where else?) Liar's Club tonight! There will be cupcakes! Rudy, me, Keep and 'Balls will be DJing!


It will be fun!

Scott, you're right, this is MUCH better than the McCain spoof.

Scott, you're right, this is MUCH better than the McCain spoof.

Three things that cheered me up today: Cut-N-Paste Edition

Three things that cheered me up today: Cut-N-Paste Edition

Honestly, I oddly like McCain, but this is just too genius.


And then there's this; proof that there are bigger geeks than I out there (although I have to admit that the two girls near the center of the shot are cute, especially Batgirl ... think they'd go for a sis-foot-two dork?).



And, of course, xkcd fucking nails it, AGAIN!

Expletive deleted.

Expletive deleted.

Really, it's just that kind of day. Thank gawd I have the Gutter Twins on hand to get me through it.

An open letter from Betty the Beagle to our neighbors.

An open letter from Betty the Beagle to our neighbors.

I shot my across the hall neighbors and update on Betty earlier, and then sent another friend of mine who lives in the building a similar message (with a little more background) , so Betty looked at those, combined them, and turned them into this. I now turn the floor over to Betty the Beagle.

Hi my-so-far-most-understanding neighbors,
I don't know how much of my barking has been filtering out to your apartment, but I figured I'd bring you up to speed. Friday my dad dropped a couple hundred bucks to get my full blood work done --- and I don't mind telling you that for once I was VERY well-behaved while they drew the sample from me! -- so we could look into the possibility of some sort of medication for me since, according to him, my "separation anxiety has been so out of control."

The good news is that my blood work came back and I am in 100% tip-top shape! After a long discussion with my vet, my dad and she decided that medication is probably the best bet for me right now, while we work with other things to try and help get me adjusted..

Usually they would put someone like me on an anti-anxiety pill that takes 2 weeks to go into effect, but due to the "severity of my problem" (my dad said the vet said, "Really, she barks for 8 to 12 hours straight?!" and you bet your little butt I can when I'm unhappy about something!) they're going to start me on both Xanax and an anti-anxiety drug.

Hopefully this should help me adjust better to my new home and give you -- and everyone else in the building -- some peace. There might be a day or so while we make sure the initial dosage is correct so please be patient ... and if it doesn't work please let my dad know!

I wish I knew the other tenants so I could bring them up to speed too. I really am very lovable when not freaking out and barking my little head off!

Lotsa love and lotsa licks,
Betty the Beagle

P.S. Hopefully this will do the trick. When my dad got the prescription for Xanax from the pharmacist they couldn't believe it was for a little 34-pound pup like me ... apparently the dosage I take would knock most humans out, but apparently my little body processes this stuff differently. O.K., I have to go, I'm feeling a little sleeeepy...

Is Curtis White Philo T. Farnsworth?

Is Curtis White Philo T. Farnsworth?

I don't know why I suddenly thought about this, but Curtis White is a college professor in Normal, IL, and when I took one of his classes in 1991 one of the first things he showed us was a sound collage by the Emergency Broadcast Network, so even then he was showing a strong interest in the re-purposing of existing sonic material to create a new message. Plus Oh Astro is from Normal and that just seems kind of a little too convenient.

Huh, it just sort of came to me over the weekend while I was listening to an interview with Greg Gillis, and I haven't done ANY research beyond responding to a gut feeling, but it certainly seems plausible that White could be the mystery man behind Illegal Art, huh?

Still adjusting.

Still adjusting.

Now that I have a couch AND a chair in my apartment it's feeling much more like, well, an apartment. I bought a bunch of incidentals that I've been needing yesterday; things like a shower curtain to keep a lake from forming on the bathroom floor every time I bath, a Brita water pitcher so I don't have to resort to drinking beer to avoid consuming undiluted tap water, and a Nylabone to add to the arsenal of tools I'm employing in hopes of getting Betty the Beagle to shut up, if even for a little while, when I'm not home.

To say the beagle is having a hard time adjusting would be an incredible understatement. I took her to the vet last week only to discover that, for once, I was actually doing everything right from my end when it comes to trying to train Betty to not freak out every time I leave the apartment. I actually dropped a couple hundred dollars that I really don't have to get complete blood work run on the pooch to make sure that if we decided to put her on some anti-anxiety medication during this transition that she won't have a negative reaction to it. However her barking is making me feel like a prisoner in my own apartment since I'm consumed by guilt when I dare to venture out, since I'm super stressed about what she's putting my neighbors through. Believe me when I say that little beagle makes A LOT of noise ... I have no idea how she hasn't lost her voice yet!

Super Furry Adventure.

Super Furry Adventure.

Saturday was full of unexpected twists and turns. I totally forgot Super Furry Animals were in town until the previous evening, after all my contacts at Metro or the label had long gone home. I hadn't seen the band since the awesome show they did at The Abbey a few years ago -- when they brought in their own custom soundsystem -- so I was feeling a little overdue for some Super Furry Love. Love Kraft made it into my top 10 list last year (the full version of which has YET to be finished for donewaiting!) and I just wrote a glowing review for Neon Neon, so lately Gruff Rhys has been occupying more of my head-space than usual.

Well, as fate would have it, my friend Danielle was able to hook me up with a ticket to the show and the 150 person afterparty that Rhys would be DJing. Color me incredibly lucky, huh? So we got there in time to catch part of Times New Viking, who turned in a reasonably shambolic indie-'90s set. It wasn't bad, but they seemed like a bit of an off pairing with SFA. I did meet a bunch of their friends and the girl from the band (quoth her friend: "It certainly helps to have a hot and sassy lady in a band, huh?") between sets when I snuck out for a smoke.

Super Furry Animals came on and turned in an hour and a half set of music filled with just about every song I could possibly want to hear. The Abbey show still stands out as the slightly more intense experience due to it's use of sound and visuals; who could forget the loop of that sun-kissed golden retriever that played behind them at that show? As far as solid hardcore fan-pleasing goes, though, Saturday's show hit all the right buttons.

The afterparty was enjoyable. While I was there Phys stuck with spinning a bunch of psych rock while I attacked the pile of free pizzas and free beer. Man, Metro should get someone to sponsor free pizza after every show, since all that bread and grease cut through the booze to give me a second wind. After a while I forced Danielle -- quite possibly the biggest SFA fan I have ever met -- to pose for a picture with Rhys while he was DJing. I couldn't see the viewer on her camera, so I was shooting blind, but luckily it came out O.K. See, doesn't she look absotively stoked?


So thanks to Danielle for getting me in, thanks to Metro for the hospitality (as usual), thanks to the cute friend of Times New Viking for amusing me between sets, and, most importantly, thanks to Super Furry Animals for being that rare breed of band that actually, impossibly, remains and intensely terrific live act while getting better and better with each record they put out.

Well, this is rather distressing.

Well, this is rather distressing.

Now two of my bandmates have had to go to the ER this weekend due to the germinating illness we all seem to have come across last week. I'm feeling relatively O.K. now, but am a tad worried that whatever is ailing them is just laying low and getting ready to attack me ...

Weird.

Weird.

Only I would walk in on a date between my best friend and a girl I hung out with a while ago -- without either of them initially realizing I was involved with or knew the other one -- and then end up spending the whole night with the duo. Even stranger? They saw me and picked me up while I was waiting for a bus and it turned out we were all headed to the same destination.

The kicker? We all ended up having a blast together!

Tonight? Perhaps I will meet some local bloggers? Perhaps I'll try to figure out how to see SFA for free sine I forgot to request a +1 until 1 a.m. last night? Perhaps Hideout for LDW? Perhap, perhaps, perhaps?*

*And now if you suddenly feel an urge to see Coupling your just as much of a dork as I am.

'Balls!

'Balls!

Figures, I was doing so well, but I seem to have caught that low-grade flu that's going all around. It was making the rounds at my office this week, and I was doing a good job of dodging it, but I think my sustained exposure to the feverishly ill 'Balls last night did in the last of my built up immunity.

Dang!

America's #1 Holiday Band.

America's #1 Holiday Band.

Happy Valentines Day, lovers. Who else feels a little sick today? And I don't mean just being nauseated by yet another commodified holiday meant to stress out the majority of the population for either having or not having a sweetie to spend the day with? No, I mean getting a cold, or, God forbid, that flu that is making the rounds again.

Yes, I'm feeling a bit under the weather but, as they say, the show must go on. America's #1 Sweetheart is playing a FREE show at Liar's Club tonight with Muchacha. I have a long history with Muchacha, and I think they might have even been the first local band I reviewed for the UIC paper when I started working there way back when. As if that wasn't enough we'll also have two floors of Bomb Squad DJs as we tap into the impressive talents of June Cleavage, Amber Waves, Rudy Tuesday, and Miss J.

And remember, Valentine's Day ain't for couples, it's for lovers; and you don't need to have a significant other in order to be a lover, baby.

Who is the girl with this monkey?

Who is the girl with this monkey?


Speaking of trips in the wayback machine ... I have zero recollection of this person, or this picture even being taken a few months ago. To be fair, I'm reasonably certain that the dude pictured is not, in fact, me, but is instead my evil twin. Regardless, I do look like a monkey, don't I? I should make that face more often since the ladies seem to love it, right?

UPDATE: She has been identified! She messaged me and it appears as if she's actually pals with a really close friend of mine (as well as knowing the Panic! boys rather well, which would explain why they would bother including my silly mug in a photo in the first place). Man, is it a teensy tiny world or what?

Step into the wayback machine.

Step into the wayback machine.

Photogal and I were talking about Coyote Ugly a few days ago, and how she went there when she lived in NYC, and how it was kind of lame. I just remembered I wrote about a Coyote Ugly rip-off here in Chicago* a few years ago. So if you'd like to read about what it's like when Tankboy enters one of the upper circles of Hell, take a ride in my own personal wayback machine.


*Yes, sadly, Chicago now has it's own Coyote Ugly, but this is before that happened, I think.

I know I saw it a year and a hlaf after it actually aired but...

I know I saw it a year and a half after it originally aired but...

The series finale of Life On Mars was perfect. just perfect. It couldn't have been any better.

And while I'm on a TV kick, my prediction for the Project Runway finalists are: Christian, Jillian, and Chris. (I know, I said after the early American Idol years I'd never watch reality TV again, but ...)

Uno won!

Uno won!


This is very exciting news. So exciting that Betty, apparently, barked for 4 straight hours.

O.K., I'm torn ... a beagle winning "Best in Show" is a good thing, but Betty's behavior is not.* And now thousands of yuppies will probably be out adopting beagles.

Lord help us all.

*Honestly? What am I going to do?** I don't know. But I have to figure something out pronto before my neighbors form a lynch mob and take me AND Betty out.

**I've tried anti-bark collars, crating, dog walkers, distracting with treats, leaving on the TV / radio, ambient noise, etc. So what am I left with? I can't give her up for adoption. This is, so far, the absolute worst side-effect of moving out and getting my own place. I forgot just how bad Betty's separation anxiety got ... but if she doesn't get over it I'm going to have to do something drastic. I can't imagine living without her ... but, something has to give. And it's not going to be my neighbors' sanity that's the casualty of this situation. Oy vey. I'd rather sacrifice Isaac than give up Betty but ...

My profile on Black Mountain is up!

My profile on Black Mountain is up!

I did a profile on Black Mountain for the most recent UR Chicago, but due to space constraints it got bumped. However it's now online as a web exclusive. Check it out.

By popular demand ... MORE BEAGLES!

By popular demand ... MORE BEAGLES!

People seem to be loving the beagle today. And I have to admit, my day started out so horrendously (and it was beyond even the car thing) that this is a tonic I deserve, even if it is edging towards being overly cute. Well, screw it! Bring on the cute!

From the Westminster Dog Show, it's Uno again!



And this is Daisy, she lost to Uno but she's still adorable.


And, next year's winners via tie? Betty the Beagle and Lucy the Dog!


Images of Westminster doggies via the AP
Image of Chicago pooches via my own bad self

Winter woes.

Winter woes.

Just screamed my throat literally raw. Yesterday the cold sucked the life out of my car battery, forcig me on a last minute CTA trip from my place to Oak Park (not the easiest route to take, especially since the North Avenue bus only seems to run twice a week). Last night Photogal came over with her Jeep and some jumper cables and we brought my car back to life. I drove it around for a while, stopped it, filled it up, and it started right back up again. Drove it some more to recharge the battery and then parked.

This morning it's dead again.

So I sat in my front seat for a good two-minutes screaming things not printable in a family publication, and barely printable even here. Luckily I was up super early to hit the gym, so even with the crap CTA service I should get to work on time or a little bit early. This sure fucks up my plans for the next few days since I have practice tonight and was going to get new drum heads tomorrow. Well, I STILL have practice and I HAVE to get those drum heads tomorrow ... it's just now going to be a huge pain travel-wise and time-wise.

Sorry, just had to vent. I'll deal with all of this, but I think all these little disasters cross pollinated with this seemingly unending deep freeze we're under, is seriously starting to affect my usually sunny and optimistic disposition. Grrrrrr.

Oh well, at least tankPOD 2006 seems to be working O.K. (knock on wood) this morning, after another recharge!

Go, Uno, go!

Go, Uno, go!

Uno the beagle, best of the "Hounds" group at the Westminster Dog Show, has the chance to be the first beagle EVER to win "Best of Show!"

He's also the first beagle to win the "Hound" group since 1939.

And how does an award winning beagle act? Surprisingly (or, unsurprisingly) in an unshowdoglike manner. That is to say, they're adorable little terrors.

Uno barked at his handler, bayed at the crowd, tried to grab his leash and took a flying leap at a piece of filet mignon. Oh, and he gnawed away at a newly printed sign...

While Uno aimed at best in show, the precocious package of personality certainly deserved one title: noisiest in show.

“Ah-rooo!” his howls echoed all over the arena. It didn’t take much to get Uno going, either. A click of a spectator’s pen, a wave of the judge’s hand, any effort by Wilkerson to hush him. "Ah-rooo!" [msnbc]

Hmmmm ... sounds like another beagle I know. Maybe Betty was a show dog and I just never knew it?

Good luck Uno!

iPod woes.

iPod woes.

So poor little tankPOD 2006 seems to be getting sick. Whenever In try to sync it up with iTunes at work, the little "Do Not Disconnect" screen freezes and I can't reboot it or anything, and just have to wait for it to run out its own battery before starting it up again. Luckily I have the little original diPOD as a back-up, but it'll be a pain DJing with it and the other diPOD 2006 while I save up money in case I need to replace tankPOD 2006.

Wait, that's a lot of "___PODs" isn't it? Maybe we need a legend to keep things straight.

Tankboy's legacy of iPods:
tankPOD - the original 3rd Gen iPod that started it all for me (06/2003)
diPOD - 4th generation iPod given me by Lielli so I could stop using CDs or records when DJing (2005?)
tankPOD 2006 - 5th generation iPod bought for myself as a Christmas present (12/2006)
diPOD 2006 - ibid, including funds donated by my mom and Photogal (12/2006)
tankPOD Touch - the iTouch I recently got as a holiday present from my job (12/2007)

Hmmm, that's a lot of iPods through the years, huh? And tankPOD 2006 is the very first one that's been acting up at all! Maybe he's just not feeling well and will snap back into shape soon? Let's hope so.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF TECHNOLOGY or UNRELATED CHILD-PROOFING QUESTION: Betty the Beagle knows how to open even my new refrigerator, and unlike my old place, I can't gate off the kitchen. Are there any simple, easy-to-install locks or guards or barriers for refrigerator doors? I'm guessing readers who have kids might know the answer to this one? Or readers with super-smart, extremely lovable, but big ol' pain in the ass sometimes beagles?

The writer's strike is over!

The writer's strike is over!

Here's something to hold you over until they get back to work and get 24 back on the air.

Well, it is a wee bit chilly.

Well, it is a wee bit chilly.

The coldest room in my apartment in my bedroom. Go figure. I discovered my window had a few drafts, but I've covered those up so I've noticed a big improvement since then. Also it doesn't hurt that my own personal beagle-shaped space heater moved in.

I realized the biggest adjustment I'm going to have to make regards that little beagle. Everywhere I've ever lived with her was outfitted with a fenced in backyard so I could just open the door and let her out without any forethought. Now I live somewhere without one, necessitating the need to leash her up, throw on a few layers of clothes myself, walk down three flights of stairs, and accompany her around the block a few times. Whew!

O.K., I guess all that is actually a small price to pay, huh?

My new roommates.

My new roommates.

today is the day. Betty the Beagle and Pickle the Kitten move in. They've been staying with Photogal while I got settled in, but I've missed the dickens out of those two. I was worried about Betty's barking -- she tends to do that when I leave -- but considering my next door neighbors (and friends) ALSO own a beagle, and there's a guy on the first floor who practices his drums from time to time, I'm not so concerned she'll be the loudest beast in the building. (And if ANOTHER of my friends actually moves in the unit downstairs, we'll have yet another doggie neighbor.)

Oh yeah, thanks to everyone who came out to The Burlington despite the temperature drop last night. Thanks also to everyone who made it to SubT to see Rudy's band. While I couldn't be there, he told me the turnout was pretty great. Yay!

Well whaddya know.

Well whaddya know.

Apparently bloggers ARE good for something!

or as Keep would say I would say, "Aaaapparently ... blogger aregoodfrosomething!"

I am the DJ and I bring the jams.

I am the DJ and I bring the jams.

Tonight? Chicagoist staff dinner. Sorry, you can't come. But do meet me at Darkroom afterward for Airiel!

Tomorrow? Options, options, option. I -- with lots of help from Rudy -- put together a show at Subterranean Saturday night. Hot As Hell, The Midnight Shows, and Butterfly Assassins will be playin. It' 18 and over. Also SND ON SND is at The Note for their EP release. Go pinch Lizz's butt and say "Fagballs" five time for me. Pinch her drummer's butt too. Heck, pinch all their butts.

What else? I'm missing something? What else is going on. Oh yeah! This!



Thanks to tink for letting me steal her butt. Hell, pinch that too.

Insanely optimistic or just insane?

Insanely optimistic or just insane?

Have you ever had a 24-hour period where all sorts of stuff just started to go wrong, but none of it could negatively impact your mood? Between leaky ceilings, frozen locks, soaked socks, cold showers, freezing temps, non-stop snow, and general moving woes I really should be incredibly depressed right now. But I'm not!

I'm actually a pretty optimistic person. I wasn't always that way, but as I've grown older I've learned it's really not worth it to get too worked up over most things. The effort it takes getting upset is better directed at resolving whatever it is that you're upset about, right? man do I wish I'd known that when I was an angry young man / art student / English major.

Speaking of angry young men, while my cable guy was setting up my sweet, sweet internets the other day, some kids that share the courtyard with me decided to throw out their couch ... from their third floor balcony. Now, I've tossed shit off rooftops before, but back then a) I was young and an idiot and b) I threw shit into alleys while aiming for dumpsters. These kids threw their couch into an enclosed courtyard, directly onto my poor cable guy's ladder, totally busting it.

Of course they didn't tell us they did it. Instead, they did it and then scurried back into their apartment. Fair enough. If I was some young 20-something and had just busted up someone's ladder, the flight instinct would've probably taken hold of me as well, if we're going to be honest about it. I could understand that. What happened next completely floored me though. The cable guy figured out which unit housed the couch tossers, climbed up three flights of stairs, knocked on their door, and the conversation went something like this:

CABLE GUY: Hey bro, were you just throwing a couch downstairs?
NEIGHBOR KID: Yeah.
CABLE GUY: You broke my ladder, bro.
NEIGHBOR KID: What?
CABLE GUY: You broke my ladder. That's not cool.
NEIGHBOR KID: I don't think we broke your ladder.
Me thinking: It's pretty obvious they broke the ladder.
CABLE GUY: You did.
NEIGHBOR KID: Well, is it yours or the company's?
Me thinking: What difference does that make?
CABLE GUY: It's mine.
NEIGHBOR KID: Oh, sorry.
CABLE GUY: Well?
ME: (to neighbor kid) Hey, I've got to go to work can you lock the cable guy out when you're done talking?
NEIGHBOR KID: Whatever. Yeah. I mean, what?
ME: I've got to go. Can you lock the gate behind him.
NEIGHBOR KID: (shrugs) Whatever. Yeah.

So I leave. As I'm driving off I see the neighbor kid get into a buddies car ... and then see the cable guy leaving our backyard! Obviously the kid didn't lock the gate. I sat there for a minute, watched the poor cable guy snap a few shots of his busted ladder, then tie said ladder to the roof of his car, and drive away. I headed back and then locked the gate.

Now I'm not going to pretend that I was never as irresponsible as the neighbor kid was. I was. For sure. But it's so far removed from me now that seeing someone not only unwilling to make amends for a wrong done to another person, but also obviously totally unaware that they've even DONE something wrong just completely floored me.

Ah, welcome back to apartment living, Tankboy. Welcome back.

Thax attack!

Thax attack!

I just read a really great interview with local rock poet Thax Douglas. Most interviews with him tend to skew Thax's image, often playing up certain details to create some sort of drama, but this is the first interview I've come across where someone actually allowed Thax to share his thoughts on the Chicago music scene without filtering it through some bullshit. Thax makes quite a few astute observations, and I'm pleased someone finally gave him an open forum to do so.

We sort of had a falling out a year ago (apparently when you Googled his name for a while, a Chicagoist story would come up and the text Google pulled was from some dickhead commenter saying mean things, and Thax thought I had some sort of control over that, which I don't) which still sort of bums me out, but I'm pleased to see folks are starting to give him his due. Actually, I've got a DVD documentary on him I've been meaning to screen and review, so maybe I'll try and get around to that in the next couple of days.

Also, he mentions one of his favorite shows ever was Graham Coxon at Double Door, and I think I have to agree with him 100%. That's show was just stellar. Churning rocking pop songs surging with high energy from start to finish.

Credz Bill for turning me onto the interview in the first place.

A return to music writing with a sampling of a Pringle (not the chip).

A return to music writing with a sampling of a Pringle (not the chip).

A friend of mine recently turned me onto George Pringle, an English singer-songwriter who specializes in bedroom computer beats over which she layers sing-song stories that pay such close attention to detail you can taste the charachters. Her stuff seems to only be available via RCRD LBL, and via MySpace stream, but if she can keep up the high standard the handful of songs she's put out there, then I greatly look forward to her debut. But honestly, if all she ever manages is an EP, I'm pleased with that too. I'd rather she has a couple great songs instead a mediocre catalog.

My current favorite is "Carte Postale." The sound, delivery, and story are cinematic and, to me, it sounds like the sonic equivalent of the movie adaptation of Bet Easton Ellis' The Rules Of Attraction. There's something heartbreakingly desolate about it that make you want to sit next to Pringle and reassure her that the vindication she discovers at the end of her narrative isn't just borne of the need to escape the love that pains her, but is in fact an internal victory that she should keep hold of.

You can download "Carte Postale" and hear for yourself.

If that whets you whistle you can download more George Pringle music, and stream other songs on her MySpace.

Janeane Garofalo, I used to love you most of all, but Sarah Silverman has usurped your place in my heart.

Janeane Garofalo, I used to love you most of all, but Sarah Silverman has usurped your place in my heart.

Really, just too much genius going on here.

A solution.

A solution.

Duh, just because I don't have the internets at my place yet that doesn't have to mean I can't still write in the morning. I can just slap the post onto a thumb-drive and put it up when I get a chance!

Saturday's show was a blast. I think we're starting to really come together live and I think I would have called it an unqualified success if we hadn't butchered Eddie Money's "Take Me Home Tonight" at the very end of our set. Our apologies to Mr. Money and to anyone's ears that had to withstand that assault. Loads of friends showed up, including my little brother, so I spent a lot of time running from person to person trying to visit.

Also, I'm surprised more local bands haven't shown up to our shows to heckle me. C'mon, how easy a target is a music critic onstage?

And to be honest, if you wanna heckle me, you're going to have to do it fast. After only four shows America's #1 Sweetheart is really starting to get pretty tight. The nervous energy has been replaced by confidence and a stage show that I'm told is lots of fun to watch. What more can you ask for?

Major kudos are due.

Major kudos are due.

I'll write about last night's show when I can, but I really needed to mention just how hellish my move was on Friday -- through a foot of snow, and up three flights of stairs -- and just how unbelievably awesome Kip, Tom, and Photogal are for helping me out in those terrible conditions. I fell down some steps and put my leg through a gate so I was out of commission for a while, and even when I suggested we just park the truck somewhere and finish later when I could be of more help Kip and Tom said no a soldiered on. Those two were just amazing. And Photogal was a huge strategic help both in moving out og her place and coming over while I was down to help move into the new place. That is an ex-girlfriend going way above and beyond her duty.

Heartfelt thanks to all three of you ... I could not have gotten through that day without you.