Overwhelmed.My body is rested but my mind is not. I took Friday off as a gift to myself, an unexpected three-day weekend, but while I certainly caught up on my sleep, the pulling and nagging at the strings around the perimeter of my brain hasn't subsided much. I can't figure out what the source of this mental decomposition is.
Maybe it's the weather's refusal to just repel all the remaining cold to finally definitely usher in the Spring? Maybe it's the residual ripples of readjusting to living in an apartment on my own? Maybe it's the extra $400 a month ($4,800 a year!) spent on Betty's daycare that is making it near impossible to keep ends meeting that's doing it? Maybe it's the feeling that I never have enough time to stop and relax long enough to actually read a single book all the way through; instead I keep munching and snapping at bits and pieces of novels, trying to fit them in amongst the never ending stream of RSS feeds, magazines, and newspapers?
It's probably all of the above, and more. I know there are lots of positives I should be reflecting on to turn back this dark tide: job, relationships, the band, my music and entertainment writing, DJing, Betty getting snuggly next to me on the couch, Pickle just generally being an adorable kitten ... but it's Monday, I just woke up after a late-night bout of insomnia, and I just don't feel like exerting the effort to actually replace the blahs with the smiley-er moments I should be stuffing my brain full of this morning.
The funny thing is that by the time
you actually get up and read this, I'll probably already have eaten, dropped off Betty, gone to the gym, and settled in at my desk at work, and by then my mood will probably have improved considerably, and the usual optimism I try to employ in my day-to-day living will have settled back into place, and I'll already have started to find ways to solve the problems and worries that plague me and shroud my mood at this very second. The darkness won't be eradicated but I'll have already started doing what people just have to do and figure out how to deal with it.
I hate it* when a band releases my favorite song off their album as a single.
I missed bingo at The Burlington last night -- thanks for listing the wrong time Nixon! -- so I didn't have a chance to beat my bingo nemesis. Next time Melissa, you're going down! And then I found out that the Local H afterparty was headed to the bar. I love Local H, but portions of their crowd freak me out. Luckily the folks that did show up were cool. And Rick Ness and JSJ popped in, and I hadn't had a chance to really chat with either in forever, so that was nice. And I saw Jen who regaled me with a story of bad dog owners causing her pooch distress, but luckily the tale had a happy ending.
In Chicago they're trying to shove through a new ordinance that would force independent promoters to purchase a "promoter's license" and insure their events even if they're promoting an event in a venue that's already insured. This would put me out of the promotion business. Local blogs and fanzines would no longer be able to book a bill at Double Door or Hideout. Fundraisers would cease to exist.
I've had a chance to listen to most of the new Weezer and I admit I'm pleased with the majority of it. The first five tracks are the bands strongest opening salvo since Pinkerton. In fact, the best tunes on this disc sound like Pinkerton and The Blue Album had a baby. It also comes across as the most personal Rivers Cuomo album since, here comes that name again, Pinkerton. The opening trio of "Troublemaker," "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)," and "Pork And Beans" are all ruminations of stardom, and the fourth song "Heart Songs" outlines Cuomo's development as a music fan into a full fledged musician. Things remain strong until "Thought I Knew," sung by 
The Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Warped" came on at the gym yesterday and I guess I never realized just what a weird little hybrid of a song it is. It came from the single album with Dave Navarro on guitar, and it sounds a LOT like Jane's Addiction, only I didn't really think so at the time. Especially the little chorus nits with the cascading guitar lines. And of course the solo.
Sorry Hillary, it's over.
I met the guys in The Milwaukees years ago through Woolworthy. I can't remember if the bands shared a label, or if they had toured together, or what, but I've kept in touch with The Milwaukees -- who are actually located in New Jersey -- over the years. There last album was titled American Anthems Vol. 1 and it was a raucous dose of rock and/or roll Minneapolis stylee -- yes, I'm just going totally location name-happy here -- that got a couple spins on the tankPOD.*
Well, kind of.
As I predicted, Nine Inch Nails have released their new album The Slip, via download, and entirely free. 
Maybe it's the weather's refusal to just repel all the remaining cold to finally definitely usher in the Spring? Maybe it's the residual ripples of readjusting to living in an apartment on my own? Maybe it's the extra $400 a month ($4,800 a year!) spent on Betty's daycare that is making it near impossible to keep ends meeting that's doing it? Maybe it's the feeling that I never have enough time to stop and relax long enough to actually read a single book all the way through; instead I keep munching and snapping at bits and pieces of novels, trying to fit them in amongst the never ending stream of RSS feeds, magazines, and newspapers?
It was almost ten years ago I accepted the job as talent buyer at The Note, with my only condition being that I be allowed book rock bands and phase out the jazz, swing, and funk bands. No offense to any of those genres, it just wasn't what I wanted to book 7 nights a week. In fact it was at The Note that I met the guys I'm currently in a band with, although it took them about seven years to pick my drum sticks back up.