weird trips...

...happen sometimes. This road trip was especially weird. We started out fine, but then a series of emergencies cast a pall over our wanderings. First, our car broke down in Pennsylvania and we had to rent a minivan to make it to our gig on time. Then, our dog sitter had a family emergency and had to split, so we had to find a replacement while we were 600 miles away. Still weirder, when we got to camp, a students dad had died and she had to leave, the piano player had Lyme disease and was unable to come, and the fiddle teacher was stuck in New York, undergoing tests for a heart murmur. Other than that, the camp was great. I played uke like a madman and even did a solo in the camp show and despite all the tragedy, we had a really good time.

Now I'm home and Sharon is in Lake Placid with her family until Saturday, which is good because I'm working on her massive birthday surprise. An ambitious and, some might say, foolish, undertaking. I'm building a wall to divide our garage in two. One half for storage and tools and one half for a music practice/lounge area. But that's not the surprise. I got her a drum kit for her birthday as well. She's been making noises about wanting one for years and after performing with the percussion ensemble at Ashokan, she's really hot to have one. After camp she was going on and on about how she wanted me to find her an old snare drum at the flea market so she could practice. Little does she know that she will actually be getting a whole kit. This should be good!

So, I was...

Googling the word tattoo, because, as you know, I got one, and one of the results of the search was a picture of a Hooters waitress showing her tattoo. Curious to see what kind of tattoo a Hooters waitress would get (come on, you'd do it too), I clicked on the link. I was redirected to this site. It's worth a look, especially if you feel like your life is pathetic, because I guarantee that your life is better than this. Fucking creepy. If I was to title this photo it would be something like "10 minutes before we strangled her and disposed of the body" That photo, believe it or not, is actually titled "The Sultans pose with Mandi". And if that isn't the title for an art-rock song, I don't know what is. I'm also fond of the shot called "Another shot of the drive thru liquor store". And the gold just keeps on coming with "Mandy, not to be confused with Mandi" and "G3RZP cozys up to Mandi" This photo essay leaves one wondering...Why do all these guys have droid names? and...Why do they live at Hooters? Hell, check 'em all out. You'll feel better.

Shit is always happening...

Whew, well, yeah. We got Lucy adopted already. She went to a nice couple. So now we have Dot, her sister. Dot is a little more damaged but, in time, I think she'll be just as great. We're taking her with us to New York and dropping her at Sharon's parent's house for a week while we work at Ashokan. But first, we stop in NYC to wish our good friend, Dawn Hampton a happy birthday. Every year the dancers throw her a huge bash and now that we're on the East Coast, we get to go. Yay.

In other news, I got my hair cut today. I don't like it. I went to a new place and had an appointment with someone of ambiguous sexual orientation. So, I thought, cool! This will be a great haircut! I don't know why I thought that, and he/she went on to prove that the transgendered can fuck up a haircut just as good as anyone else. Hooray for equality. Also this week, I got a tattoo. That, thankfully was done correctly. It's the logo for the city of Oakland. I've been thinking about it for four years and finally decided to do it. It makes me happy. Besides, if you're going to have a premature midlife crisis, a tattoo is a hell of a lot cheaper than a sportscar and a trophy wife.


The New Dog


The New Ink

The Dog parade...

rolls on. We have a new charge. Her nname is Lucy and she's 4 1/2 months old. Cutest thing ever.

Stumbling toward...

Discovered this super cool sound site today. It's glorious, it's weird, it just is.

Rocking my Dad's sunglasses...

Piecasting...

So, I have a new piece. It's another assemblage of sound. This time it's an interview subject and, using select vowels and consonants, I made this. And speaking of sound, there's a new documentary sherriff in town and his name is Shea Shackelford. Shea is a graduate of the Salt Institute for documentary Studies and, mark my words, this guy is going places. He's got a nifty little corner of the internet called Radio Pie that is sort of like a really involved game of audio tag for Shea and his friends. Also, this Sunday, he'll be running one of my pieces, so check it out!

Off the face of the earth...

Yeah. So, no blog lately. Shit has been happening. Not important.

Went to the Hi Mom Film Fest last night in Chapel Hill. Great. It's so DIY, so Punk Rock. Great little movies. It costs 5 bux to get in. It's outdoors. They serve pancakes. You getting the picture? In addition to the great movies, the Swallows decided to put on an amazing airshow last night. About 400 of them emerged from the chimney of one of the buildings on Franklin St. They flew in circles for a half an hour and then flew back into the chimney. Awesome.

Got a new washing machine today and while that sounds boring, it's not. Our old washing machine looked and sounded like an old Soviet machine gun. Bad. So, I went to Sears, closed my eyes, and wrote a check. Voila! It looks much better, is nearly silent and does what it should. Still, it pains me to spend over $300 on something as mundane as a washing machine. $300 buys alot of crack.