Feedback Is "It."

Caught J Mascis last night for his gig at the Blackbird. It was fucking amazing. Acoustic to screeching feedback to acoustic to screeching feedback. Music to my ears. He played old favorites and some new stuff too. He's getting old. That mop has a lot of gray in it. Mike Johnson opened, and droned through a raspy set of sad Seattle songs. It was a muggy night, and the place was packed. The crowd handled the event pretty well. J looked good, and seemed to be enjoying himself.

Giant News Involving Creation

News from the Womb: Bry-n-Tracey Aleshire are expecting. Good news from good people. Bry called and had such an excitement to his voice. It's pretty amazing. I'm already thinking it's gonna be a boy, as I'm gonna be the reckless Uncle Aaron who lets him swear around me and such. Congrats to the Aleshires.

Word to Tracey: You are gonna have to lay off the drinkin' and fightin' stuff for awhile, to insure proper incubation for the little one. I know, I know, it ain't easy, but just until the little one is out and about.

Bry and Tracey met back in the Fall of '92, in one of the harshest autumns known to mankind. Against all odds, they prevailed and have built quite a life and homestead in Northern Michigan. Have that many years already gone by?

I'm proud to be on Bry Aleshire's team. He's passed on many things to me over the years, from knowledge of skateboard tricks to innovations in upholstery technology. He's gonna be a such a good Dad. Good news that made my whole weekend. Congratulations.

Friday...

Friday, go figure. Couple days away from the two month mark.

Things are good in the Northwest. Matt Cooley is in town from Minneapolis . He'll be here for the summer doing intern duties for the dungeons and dragons playin' fools at NEMO design. He's excited.

We battled a squirrel this morning in the penthouse. Just before taking off for work the little beast scurried in through a cracked window. He was big too, well over a foot long with large fangs and red eyes. Fuck 'em, we were in for a battle. And go to war we did. I apprehended the cats and quarantined them in the mudroom. They were safe and weren't gonna be needed. (The last thing I needed was Melissa's allegations concerning any feline mistreatment or rabies inquiries I'm sure they would have put up a good fight, but a naive one, as Melissa has successfully raised 2 of the wimpiest cats known to the domestic kingdom.)

Things were getting heavy. Matt flanked him while I stood on a chair. No, wait. Matt prodded him with a broom while I directed the operation. The little critter was spry and dashed to and fro throughout the inner confines. Spaces below couches and corner were suddenly popular and the focus of our attention. More than a couple time the little fucker would make a break for a window only to bounce of a molding or something, get spooked and retreat to another corner of the flat. We were screaming like small children.

He finally got savvy and scampered out a window back onto the roof. All in all the altercation lasted well over an hour, making me late for the daily grind. God's little creatures, big and small don't get any breaks on the Draplindustries Factory Floor, you can bet yer little furry ass on it.

- - - -

No big plans are scheduled for this weekend. Prob'ly some graphic arts, and some tube, and some more graphic arts.

Different Itches

Had a good weekend, full of absolutely nothing. In fact, I think I left the house once or twice. Just hung out and dug my time off. Daily activies included: doing laundry, watching tube, making graphic designs, playing charged games of Monopoly, listening to talk radio, playing my guitar and napping. It was really nice.

Matt Leonard and Pam-Pam Lanckton showed up for a bit too. It was good to see 'em. They brought their pooches Cleo and Butch along. They were up here for some family duties in Tualatin. They are doing really good down in Central Oregon, enjoying their new house in Redmond.

I have an itch to buy a home too. Hmmm.

I'm hooked on talk radio, Art Bell specifically.

Lots Going On

Wednesday, already. Good. Before I know it, it'll be Friday afternoon and I'll be itchin' for my weekend time. My weekends have been good. City stuff, relaxing, freelance baloney, etc. Keeping busy and digging the place.

- - - -

We enjoyed busy days this last weekend with all sorts of activities:

1. Day trip to the Mt. Hood wilderness area to get a bite to eat in Government Camp, take a ride up to Timberline and reminisce a bit about my time at High Cascade in the summer of 1995. That was a good summer, carting broken snowboarder kids to and fro to the hospital in Gresham.

2. Saw "101 Reyknavik" at a litle indie theater. Subtitles, arctic conditions and a bunch of icelandic phallus.

3. Dropped in for a visit to the "Western Bigfoot Society 3rd Annual Symposium." The cryptzoology field's "prominent researchers" and fans were gathering in Hillsboro at the fairgrounds.

- - - -

I'll elaborate:

I couldn't pass it up. A Junior Sasqualogist myself, I had to check out where the latest information was at in this phenomena. I've been hooked since my single digit years. In fact, the first paperback books I read were about bigfoot encounters.

"Exhibits" included: vials of bigfoot scat(shit), various plaster casts, examples of Bigfoot in popular culture (I.E.: Remember the Bigfoot deal Little Caesar's had?, toys, etc.), tapes of bigfoot yelps and other peculiar bits.

First off, I thought it would be a bigger deal, y'know, being a "symposium" and all. Well, I have to say, it was bit of a sad deal. Roy Crowe, Director of the Western Bigfoot Society, may God Bless him and his ailing wife, were putting the event on. I guess I just sort of felt sorry for the whole thing because whatever credibility may have been present was buried in hokey presentations and speculation. I guess I just sort of felt sorry for all of it. All these years, so interested and fascinated by thoughts of hairy bipeds roaming the woods of the Northwest, my interest in it had me expecting so much. The whole thing was sort of thrown together. Who was being taken here? The organizers or the interested attendees? Maybe everyone? Nevertheless, it was interesting and entertaining.

I missed some of the different speakers presentations. One guy brought in a video of a sasquatch in Idaho. You should have seen the crowd gathering around to study it. People were taking notes, others conversing on the details of the topography. It was really uncomfortable in a way.

Melissa almost didn't make it through the afternoon. She had this to say regarding the gathering, "That has got to be the stupidest thing I have ever been to."

I'll make a believer out of her soon enough.

I'll go back. What the hell. Just think about it: Say they find somethign out there. Would you ever go camping again?

- - - -

Hope everyone is doing well.

Cinco Two Month Mark

Friday, go figure. Couple days away from the two month mark.

Things are good in the Northwest. Matt Cooley is in town from Minneapolis . He'll be here for the summer doing intern duties for the dungeons and dragons playin' fools at NEMO design. He's excited.

We battled a squirrel this morning in the penthouse. Just before taking off for work the little beast scurried in through a cracked window. He was big too, well over a foot long with large fangs and red eyes. Fuck 'em, we were in for a battle. And go to war we did. I apprehended the cats and quarantined them in the mudroom. They were safe and weren't gonna be needed. (The last thing I needed was Melissa's allegations concerning any feline mistreatment or rabies inquiries I'm sure they would have put up a good fight, but a naive one, as Melissa has successfully raised 2 of the wimpiest cats known to the domestic kingdom.)

Things were getting heavy. Matt flanked him while I stood on a chair. No, wait. Matt prodded him with a broom while I directed the operation. The little critter was spry and dashed to and fro throughout the inner confines. Spaces below couches and corner were suddenly popular and the focus of our attention. More than a couple time the little fucker would make a break for a window only to bounce of a molding or something, get spooked and retreat to another corner of the flat. We were screaming like small children.

He finally got savvy and scampered out a window back onto the roof. All in all the altercation lasted well over an hour, making me late for the daily grind. God's little creatures, big and small don't get any breaks on the Draplindustries Factory Floor, you can bet yer little furry ass on it.

- - - -

No big plans are scheduled for this weekend. Prob'ly some graphic arts, and some tube, and some more graphic arts.

Happy Birthday To Cinco

Tonight is the CINCO 4 year anniversary party. It will be a good time. Everyone invited their friends and colleagues from around town. Hopefully we'll have a good turnout. Shit gets going around 7pm. Bring a friend and get loaded.

Melissa starts her job today. Imagine that. She's working at the 5th Avenue Embassy Suites in downtown Portland. I'm so glad she's employed. Phew. Things have been tight a bit without her contribution. Our economics are so much more reasonable up here. It was a never-ending battle down in fuckville, California. That place was expensive and misleading. I hated the feeling of knowing that unless you were making some giant bucks, things were gonna always be tight. I'm excited that she's gonna be able to get caught up fast in our new situation. She'll do just fine up here, and have some pocket money too. I hope the place works out for her.

The new Wilco album is great. Get a listen. The packaging is really nice. The whole production, music and design and general feel, makes Chicago look enticing.

Hope everyone had a good workweek. Things are good up here. Portland is treating us really good.