first yearrrr

i'm sorry, i just love this video.

Two things.

There's a few reasons I teach, and this video is one of them.






and there's a few reasons i teach english, and this poem is one of them. glad you agree, quille.

Song-Allen Ginsberg

The weight of the world
   is love.
Under the burden
   of solitude,
under the burden
   of dissatisfaction

   the weight,
the weight we carry
   is love.

Who can deny?
   In dreams
it touches
   the body,
in thought
   constructs
a miracle,
   in imagination
anguishes
   till born
in human--
looks out of the heart
   burning with purity--
for the burden of life
   is love,

but we carry the weight
   wearily,
and so must rest
in the arms of love
   at last,
must rest in the arms
   of love.

No rest
   without love,
no sleep
   without dreams
of love--
   be mad or chill
obsessed with angels
   or machines,
the final wish
   is love
--cannot be bitter,
   cannot deny,
cannot withhold
   if denied:

the weight is too heavy

   --must give
for no return
   as thought
is given
   in solitude
in all the excellence
   of its excess.

The warm bodies
   shine together
in the darkness,
   the hand moves
to the center
   of the flesh,
the skin trembles
   in happiness
and the soul comes
   joyful to the eye--

yes, yes,
   that's what
I wanted,
   I always wanted,
I always wanted,
   to return
to the body
   where I was born.

                       San Jose, 1954

Vooooteee for your (least?) favorite blogger to go to bonnaroooo!

Go vote for us over at

http://www.lightning100.com/bonnaroo.php

we are video # 4--"Bonnaroo Band" --You can vote everyday til Friday. Caitlin Stubner will make out with you if you vote every day!

josh ritter, joe pug, and two double gin and tonics later

The minimum charge for a credit card at the vic theatre in chicago is 25 dollars. this is also how much it costs to park directly across the street. two things i learned the hard way. luckily, one can get two double gin and tonics and a bottle of water for just this price. (I would never pay such a price at Mercy Lounge)--HOWEVER, josh ritter and joe pug did not play @ mercy lounge, but they did play "speak plainly, diana" together--a song that's somewhere else on this blog-- and rock a sold out crowd for abbbouttt 3 hours last night.

and then joe pug seemed really creeped out when i told him i had his phone number already and then asked where he lived. i'm not sure why.

he's really sexy. got some smashing blue eyes. i don't think i told him that. he'd heard enough.

anywho. josh ritter's epic set made me feel good about the state of the musical world, and joe pug standing on a huge stage playing just a little ol' acoustic guitar while douchebags talked too loudly =awesome.

i think this was one of my faves. it is so obvious that he loves what he does.

steeplechase and 3 nights at mercy lounge later...

i'm still alive. barely. local natives last friday, no school all week due to flooding, delta saints on tuesday, deer tick X2 and dr. dog on thursday, apache relay & space capone on friday, steeplechase all day saturday. needless to say, intense week. caitlin managed to score 4 free wristbands to steeplechase (unfamiliar? think: huge frat party with horse races) from a 50 year old rich guy named bill who hangs out with titans cheerleaders and us, apparently.


the door guy at mercy said this to us on friday night:

"I'm just checking IDs. But I've already seen yours like, 3 times this week. Wait. What? You guys are teachers? No. No way. You've been here a million times this week. Out all night? No way."

WE DIDN'T HAVE SCHOOL THIS WEEK, SIR; DON'T JUDGE US.

and in case you missed the nashville floods:



and for good measure

Josh Ritter: Change of Time

the dead weather. that's all.

i was recently told that if i blogged about my life, people wouldn't believe it. but, i beg to differ. if i blogged about my life (like i pseudo do now), people wouldn't read it. haha. this much is true. yesterday, the stubs and our lovely neighbor rafael went to an invite only dead weather show downtown at thirdman records.



no, we weren't invited. who the hell would invite us? did we just stand outside until some of the lameass industry people didn't show up? yup. open bar and everything. open bar with patterson house cocktails, to be specific. who doesn't want an 11 dollar cocktail served in a plastic cup while the super-douche "door guy" drinks an entire fifth of jameson during the show? SWEET.

Watch the stream on their myspace here.

oh, and tonight it's off to the rabbit release party and the delta saints DVD release/hollywood ten show. two places at once. we can do it.

Rabbit Press

Delta Saints

Hollywood Ten

I wonder if it bothers bands when people arbitrarily leave off the "the" in their band name?

Also-check out the new good old war album review/sample track!

No i didn't forget about the flood. it's insane. went around and saw a lot of the damage--hoping my students and their families (and others as well) are doing okay. second school day off because of the damage/road closings etc.

oh my god charlie darwin

well, not really, but i finally got to see local natives last night and dear lord it was a beautiful thing. i also appreciated them letting me walk in and sit in the van for no good reason, store my posters behind the merch booth that a rando bought for me because i didn't have any cash, leave my phone number for whenever they inevitably will not need me on tour, and take brian, the drummer from suckers, to late night at cabana with my new friend samantha where we stayed until 3 a.m. eating pie and bbq sliders and cheese plates and french fries and, well, anything... for free.

A little moment with suckers: that's my new buddy in the stripes.



suckers were wild and the lead singer asked me if i had any coke, and then asked me if i had any LSD, and i had to explain the misleading look of my appearance (or perhaps my approach to interpersonal interaction in general?) and that no i didn't have any drugs. and local natives couldn't get their bass right so they played world news ( my new fav song) twice through and then proceeded to play a lengthy set to the BEST CROWD i've ever seen in nashville. usually we're kind of assholes to play for.

good stuff.

other things that happened this week:

auditioning for a jewel music video (hmm?)
black and milds + fat tire in the courtyard of a retirement home
"ms. riggs, you look like a hot mess!"
dominating yazoo brew with 3 growlers needing to be filled
a solid neon leggings purchase
being in the car with someone getting a field sobriety test (SHE WAS SOBER)
meeting my favorite japanese person, shuhei yamamamamamtytfou, and getting locked out of my apartment while he had to pee in the bushes (make sure you check out his band, pet lions)
and, seeing local natives and suckers. and naturally being the last person to leave the venue.