April 30, 2004
Oh man, if you were to look up, "Busy" in the dictionary, you'd see a picture of the DDC Factory Floor, and just maybe, it'd be a little animation with a shift's worth of motherfuckers dilligently "getting the job done."
Listen, when the people come knockin' with new business, we roll the sleeves up. So it goes.
We aren't bankrolled by trust funds, settlements or sugar mamas. We take responsibility for our future and our well-being. We make our money with our hands...clicking mice, pushing type around...creating things. We are proud, but this set of truths comes at a price: Time.
The nights have been full. The phone has been ringing off the hook. The G5 silently hums, with hopes of a break.
Real Glad™ it's Friday.
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Matt Cooley is in town. He's a little mouthbreather. He needs a roof over his head. Someone take him.
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In other industry-related news: Listen to the Preston School of Industry.
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"It's the only world we got, let's protect it while we can.
That's all there is, and there ain't no more." –Jello Biafra
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Hello to Jaime of Sullivan's Gulch.
April 27, 2004
April 23, 2004
ON THE PLAYER TODAY...
01. Bill Frisell - Nashville (thanks to Geoff Schley)
02. Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
03. Decibully - City of Festivals
04. Calexico - Convict Pool
05. MC5 - High Times (A little nugget from the hand of Rob Tyner, Brother.)
Jesus H. Christ, are we glad it is Friday.
Guys like Chris Soli and Josh Nelson...those fucks are glad it is Friday. Take Evan Rose, we'd put a couple bucks down on the hair-backed assumption that he's glad it's Friday. Goo didn't say shit about this and well, some things are better left unsaid, but, we KNOW he's down with Friday.
I mean, take Ed "Little Hands" Morales. The guy just wears a smile all week long, but for the love of all things Beaverton, he's got to be glad it's Friday.
The fuck who drags our trash out at 6am, waking up every soul within a three block earshot; the way he drags that shit, we'd bet he's glad it's Friday.
Be glad. Don't let the bastards get you down.
April 21, 2004
April 19, 2004
DOWN, BUT NOT OUT
FROM MOM, CONCERING THE LOSS OF OUR FIRST BID ON A POTENTIAL HOUSE: Maybe their deal will fall through.......then they'll come crawling back to your offer. If not, find another gem out there. Wish we could be there to boost yer' spirits......
It will be fun to be with you when you move, Dad's one hell of a packer and I can clean (just ask Sarah).....
Good luck - keep on lookin'
April 18, 2004
Patent Pending Industries (Jeff Kleinsmith and Jesse LeDoux of Sub Pop Records) had a show that opened back on the 1st. The show was at Powell's upstairs by the art/photography/design books. An impressive pile of stuff.
Lots of rad shit.
April 17, 2004
April 16, 2004
Had a "heart-to-heart" with Brad from COAL headwear last night. Hashed out some ugly details, lined up our projects and ended the meeting with a firm handshake for COAL's 2004 design look & feel. Brad's a standup guy, and well, we're real proud to be of service to him.
After our heated, high-level negotiations, we cruised down to Zergebel's, and met up with their respective "better half" units. We went out for a celebratory meal at the Montage. Good people, all of them. Sitting at our table...a clothing designer, oil painter, headwear designer, outerwear designer and DDC Factory Floor janitor...wow. I find myself so thankful to be surrounded by such creative individuals. (Goo and Fran should have been there too. More badasses.) Thanks again to Brad for supper.
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01. Happy Birthday to Scott "Hair Issues" Zergebel. Dirty Thirty.
02. Happy Birthday to Dean "Lung Butter" Gross. Dirty Thirty.
Guys, it's over. Give up. 30 is old. I turned 30 and well, things seemed good. I had a gal I loved, a job I loved and good town to call home. Not two weeks into it and I got dumped by that gal I loved, my job got tough and well, it started to rain real hard in Portland. Life is a bitch and so it goes and goes and goes and goes, so with you guys turning thirty and all, I thought I'd warn you a bit and offer up a, "Watch yer back. Things might get wild." Men, we wish you the best and many more good years.
I've been doing my damnedest to kick the hell out of my 30's. My 20's are still hurtin', as we did our best with what we had to work with, and you can take that one to the bank.
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Oh yeah, I'm going to check out a possible joint today. Real excited, goddamn. It's official: We are going for it.
April 15, 2004
Been running this one a bunch.
Turns out some fans have organized recent crystal-clear live performances of the new material into the upcoming tracklist, and have been distributing it for some time now amongst each other. I think the fact that Wilco offers up the final mix as a preview shows complete confidence in their music and momentum. People will still buy the album.
April 13, 2004
With all the tough talk from that asshole Fred Green, coupled with the "yearly itch" we enjoy around mid-April (due to previous mid-Aprils where we'd be leaving for another rotten summer-on-the-rails up in Alaska) well, we thought we'd share our favorite shot "from the rails," courtesy of one John "Johnny Rad" Marshall, photographer of all things "Midnight Sun, Alaska."
Thanks John, hope things are good for ya, you wild sonofabitch.
April 12, 2004
ANCHORAGE MEMORIES...
Just in from Fred Green, who created this shit-ass piece of ill-literature while violently caught in the grips of a delusional, chafed, Kerouacian sweat...
"the room was five feet from mine. two small beds and some piece of shit power computing machine which kept running out of power. It had Dinosaur junior stickers that were always a little too greasy--if u know what I mean. And all through the night I could hear Draplin and his roommate and best bed buddy: the arayan academic(1), who hated just about everybody in existence--including jews of which I am one --having digested enough matzoh to feed all the damn dreadlocked NADARtarians living on belmont st.(2) Anyway, Draplin every night yelling at B "shut up what do u know" then B yelling: " u dont even read u just make those F*ckin' stickers."
Two losers lost in the middle of the midnight sun (3) arguing about how dumb each other was. Meanwhile me and poor matt leonard with his red thinning hair that he used too much hair spray on every morning trying to stick b5 and b6 (4) hairs down. Let me explain that matt had some kind of mason-like secret governmental grid design plan that he used to make sure every actual hair had some stick'um on it and then he would push it down cementing it forcefully on his head. I'd be knocking on th door for 20 minutes so i could clean my butt because of all the cheap beer i was drinking in anchorage was seriously make a little butt fire (5) every morning. And the girl (6) i was seeing or burping with once got mad at good ole draplin and when we did not have any keys to get in she opened up Draplin's window and stepped on his bed with very muddy sneakers leaving tred marks all over his pillow and sheets. But i am getting different years mixed up with different stories of all the suffering I was forced to endure. Oh the sight of Drap in his boxers (7) in the heat of anchorage squirming around on his blow up mattress--the sound of his skin sticking and then ripping up and out with wet sweat suction. I have been harmed greatly. I have had cheese thrown at me and when he sees me now he comes up to me makes a fist and fakes like he is gonna hit me. (8) Oh all the same riffs of the same old uncle tupelo songs that Drap has fantasized to himself so in love with the lead singer. I Hear his newest project is to be called "Sideburns of Jay" 45 poetical odes illustrating one man's love for another's insurgent country face hair.
UPCOMING POSSIBLE ANCTEDOTES:
-THE ORIGIN OF THE TERM PORCH AS THE WORLD KNOWS IT AND WHAT DOES IT HAVE TO DO WITH STINKY.
-WHAT DRAPLIN REALLY MEANS WHEN HE SAYS "NAILED IT"
-Why cant matt leonard get mad
-Matt annoying habit of making sardine bagels sandwhiches with a whittling knife.
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Deciphered for those who night actually care:
(1) Brian Johnsen, token Communist and Indiana Hoosier.
(2) By where Fred lives. Fred has chosen many districts to suffer in, Belmont being one fo them.
(3) Anchorage, Alaska.
(4) His thinning head was mapped out with a calculated grid. Hairs has strategic places to rest, etc.
(5) Very commonplace for Fred to "shit himself" every couple days.
(6) She had the body of Elle Macpherson with the face of a Rottweiler. Plus, she was mean and drunk.
(7) We like being comfortable, at all costs.
(8) "Well-warranted," believe us.
April 11, 2004
MC5'd
Oh man, the MC5 documentary….whoa. What a different time. Detroit was burning. The counterculture was speaking out and getting beat down by police.
These five guys were a pure sonic assault. They were dangerous on the stage and off. They “played” the ’68 Democratic Convention in Chicago, finishing up moments before the deadly riots broke out.
“Motherfucker.” That word alone would get you arrested and torn off the stage. And of course, Tyner would start the show with the loudest, clearest, “Kick Out The Jams, Motherfucker!” precisely directed at the Michigan State Police circling behind the crowds. Think about that for a second.
I spoke with my mom about them this morning. She laughed and said, “Oh yeah, the MC5…wow.” She saw them at the Grande Ballroom once, and attended the infamous “Love In-Turned-Riot” at Belle Isle. This was heavy shit back then. People were afraid to attend their shows.
My mom attended MC5 shows. That is some cool-ass shit.
April 10, 2004
Gonna check out "MC5 - A True Testimonial" tonight at the Clinton Street Theater.
A comprehensive MC5 site, complete with timelines, show archives and testimonials. Spend some time here.
Brothers and sisters, testify.
"Let me be who I am,
And let me kick out the jams,
Yes, kick out the jams,
I done kicked em out!!!"
April 09, 2004
April 07, 2004
THERE IS ONLY ONE "RAF." WELL, SEVEN OF THEM, ACTUALLY.
"It's a beautiful thing."
Spent the day with Raf of Rafael Astorga Studios. We were high in a warehouse building, deep in the Pearl, kicking ass in his full-service photography studio. Rad shit. Working on top-secret Nixon stuff. Lips are sealed. Had a good time with the guy. Let’s just say this much, “Ol’ Raf likes to have a good time.” and “He’s isn’t afraid to bust one’s balls.”
Quote of the day, in his thick-ass Venezuelan accent: “It is Astorga nature to distrust.”
I love the third person dialog, especially the type that takes generation after generation of family temperament into consideration. Turns out there has been some five colorful Rafael's before him, as well as a son who goes by, well, "Rafael," too. Lucky little guy.
Special thanks to assistant O’Brien, that Irish clover, as well as all his pretty assistants Mica and Jaclyn.
April 06, 2004
April 03, 2004
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Happy Birthday to Sarah, her 29th, homeowner, Alero driver, shopper of goods, pride of the Michigan Audiology field.
