Cat Toys Need Names

Like, ZOMG, I have a blog!

Venus — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:18:09 +0000

I’m a liar. I’m lazy, and I don’t know what’s good for me. I’ve not kept any of my promises to provide blog posts on a regular basis. Alan’s new-found interest in blogging reminded me that I have a blog that I should be utilizing. There are people out there in the world with similar interests with whom I should be connecting. I mean, who doesn’t name their cats’ toys or listen to awesome music?

2012 seems like an appropriate year of resurrection for this “sw33t blagh”. Wilco has a new album, Dr. Dog is releasing a new album next month, fIREHOSE is reuniting (as well as Ben Folds Five), and all sorts of other stuff.

And then, there’s Phish. There’s always Phish…

There’s always money in the banana stand.

Cars III

Venus — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:53:28 +0000

*Yawn, it’s morning…stupid, boring, nearly winter weath–ERRRRRRRRR, CRASH!!! GRRRRRRR, VRROOMMM, BOOM!!

WHAT THE WHAT!!? That’s our lawn!!!

Overheard: “You didn’t have to do that! I’m here for you, it’s OK, just let me know and we can talk anytime. There was no reason for that” *big hug*

RETRACING THE TRACKS….

the neighbor’s car…whoa

and the neighbor’s lawn

OK, now let’s gawk at the car on our lawn again:

Smile for the birdie!!

OK, so, here’s the sequence:

The SUV person drove through our neighbor’s yard (to the left of our house), plowed through our neighbor’s car (blue) in their driveway, skidded through our yard, hit our tree and bounced back about 2 meters from the impact.

The airbags deployed. The driver (not shown) and the cockatoo (shown above) were OK.

Let the Tiger Woods jokes begin…

Cars II

Venus — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:45:57 +0000

Our car woes continue. We’re lucky to have something to drive, for sure, but that doesn’t mean karma should go around creating obstacles for us. When I spend all morning at a funeral, then get into a car accident that afternoon on the way home, I think it’s bad karma overkill. I was in a four car pile up–second in line from the front. The person in front of me had a trailer hitch attachment which blasted a hole into poor Alan’s already battered front end. No damage to the back. I’ve got a touch of whiplash and an attitude.

I’m still waiting for my own car. In the last update given, we were told the $400+ in parts that I bought don’t fit. My buddy Kurt believes my car may have been created in the early half of its release year–then, halfway through the year, they created new parts because blah blah blah, words words words, my car sucks.

I swear I’ll get back to the heart of the matter concerning this site. I just needed to vent again. I’m seriously going to talk about The Flaming Lips in a few days. Then we’ll get into some Monsters of Folk or The Duchess & The Duke, alright? Phish tickets, for Cobo Arena in Detroit, go on sale this Saturday at 10am. Set yourself a reminder. OK. Peace.

First concert babble

Venus — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:07:00 +0000

Recently, Alan’s little sister (12) attended her first concert. It was a Miley Cyrus show. I won’t be critical…my first show was Luther Vandross. Certainly, young girls need to find their own musical road to follow. Alan’s first show was Garth Brooks. He’s not much of a “new” or “young country” fan now, but I can see how that type of rough-and-tumble music influenced his current tastes.

It makes me wonder what type of influence Miley will have on Lauren in the long run. Will she always be attracted to bubbly pop, or will she rebel against her younger self and become a heavy metal goddess? In the 80′s, I only listened to what my folks liked–Rick James, Michael Jackson, 70′s R&B, and what ever was force fed to me by MTV (yes, they actually played music videos at one time). I listened to a lot of R&B in the 90′s and early 00′s as well. I happen to think that era was the rebirth of R&B–En Vogue, Babyface, Jill Scott and tons of R&B boy bands like Boyz II Men. Now, it’s all too fluffy for me. None of the newer R&B artists make as much of an impact in my world as they did then. But I realize I’ve changed a lot since then…

So, maybe I’m just getting old? If rock n’ roll enthusiasts were stifled by naysayers in the 50′s, we would have lost out on a lot of great music. So, by trying to push the youth away from the teenscene machine are we just delaying the inevitable?! Will the kids growing up today consider the Jonas Brothers to be the Beatles of their generation!? Ahhh, nooo, make it stop!!!!

Next: The Flaming Lips — Embryonic

Untitled

Venus — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:37:09 +0000

So, ever since the accident, my great-grandmother has been in and out of rehabs and emergency rooms. After the stroke, she was weak and unable to walk on her own. There was no one in our family that could care for her properly so we left it up to the professionals. When she was unable to progress at the rate expected by Medicare (the speed of light), we had no choice but to place her into a “nursing home”–we couldn’t afford continued rehabilitation on our own. Unbeknownst to us (and the doctors, surprisingly), she’d developed a blood clot in her leg which traveled to her heart last week and caused a cardiac arrest. EMS arrived to keep her stable. Her heart stopped 4-5 times total before she was revived and placed on life support at the hospital.

She was in and out of consciousness for over a week; we were told the hospital could only keep the ventilator tube in her throat for 10 days. Yesterday they took it out, after which their goal was to make her “comfortable” by pumping drugs into her system to slow her breathing and prevent distress. She passed away this morning. She was 94.

She was totally awesome, and I’m going to miss her dearly.

Cars

Venus — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:50:39 +0000

Sometimes I wish I lived in an area where at least 90% of my necessary daily destinations were within 10 feet of me. But, alas, I need reliable transportation in order to remain a productive member of society. I bought a Buick from a car auction a couple of years ago. It lasted about a year and a half before the fuel pump assembly broke. I was in school, I had no rainy day funds or disposable income, so I let it sit in the driveway for about year. I’ve recently graduated and now my priority is to regain my transportation independence.

Which brings me to this week. I finally got enough funds to fix my car! Or so I thought. The $350 quoted to me last spring for installing a new fuel pump assembly has nearly doubled due to my neglect. The fuel lines are rusted ($200), the filler neck is corroded ($80), and the battery, I’m guessing, is completely dead ($70). The shop will still fix it for me but I may have to wait until next payday to get it back.

Anyway, I’ve been sharing a car with “Alan, the boyfriend” for almost a year now! Sunday his car stalled. It may have been a battery, starter or alternator issue, who knows. It all translates to more money being plucked from our money tree to make sure the problem is completely solved. I blame autumn.

Monday we got it working again. Yaaay! I don’t recommend it, but all we did was bang on the starter with a wrench.

Tuesday, he hit a deer on the freeway. Boooo. The driver side front quarter panel is dented, the left headlight is FUBAR, and the ripple effect also put a dent in the door.

Have we finally insulted the car gods to the point of retribution? If so, I guess it’s not unwarranted. Do the 500+ walnut pods falling from our neighbor’s tree (incessantly pounding our cars) have anything to do with this series of unfortunate events? I bet they do. It acts as reminder: when it rains it pours.

POSTER NUTBAG

Venus — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 01:47:30 +0000

Here’s a hobby: I collect art. I bought myself a flat file last year and it’s filled with posters and prints collected from concerts, online art sales, trades, and EBay. I joined a site five years ago called ExpressoBeans.com–it’s a place to share my obsession with (somewhat) like-minded individuals from all over the world. It’s a sickness. Whenever I attend a concert, I lineup an hour early, and I rush directly to the merch table upon entering the venue to grab a gigposter. I get at least 20 separate email newsletters from my favorite artists each week!

The White Stripes--Lyon/Villeurbanne, France, 2003

Just like my music interests, the prints and posters I collect vary. Of course, I love to get gigposters from the concerts I attend, but sometimes I’ll buy a poster for a band I don’t like just because I love the artist’s work or the imagery. Print-wise, I don’t know yet. There are certain genre’s I enjoy (Pop Surrealism, Urban Art, etc) but I haven’t quite nailed down my tastes. I’m still a noob.

I don’t just collect for the sake of collecting, I like to frame prints as well. It’s an all inclusive hobby that’s getting more expensive by the day. Take the band The White Stripes, for instance. If you were lucky enough to buy a poster at a show in 2003, it would have cost you around $30-40 bucks. If you decided to buy it on EBay the next day, it would have cost you $100-150. If you want to find it today, expect to pay at least $400-700. The rarest items from this era will set you back $2000-2500+…

City Living?

Venus — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 08:20:55 +0000

I was born and raised in Detroit in an east side urban area where the only animals around were squirrels, birds or common household pets. Now, I live in a former historical-ish home in Ypsilanti that has been converted into 5 apartments. We’re about half a mile from the EMU campus in what I still consider to be an urban area. We have a decent sized backyard with lots of foliage, a few trees and a shed. What amazes me about the backyard is the amount of animal activity. When I step outside late at night, it sounds like I’m in a rainforest! The chirps, clicks and blinking bugs startle my senses. As far as furry creatures are concerned, I’m not a fan of zoos so there isn’t much I’ve seen up close. Forgive my naivete, but here are some backyard highlights:

Skunks: rancid, smelly skunks. Late summer nights are the worse! We can’t keep our windows open for fear of the permeating stench.

Opossum: Here’s a story for you. A couple of months ago I noticed some kids huddled together on the other side of the fence near the corner of my backyard. I approached the group and at their feet was an opossum who had just died while giving birth. With the help of those kids and their guardian, the joeys were plucked from the mother’s pouch, put in a shoe box, and later given to the Humane Society for care. Cute, huh?

Rabbits: Awwwwwww!

Bats: Ahhhhhhhhhhh!! Seriously?!

Raccoons: They’re annoying! They tip over our garbage cans and tear apart the bags on a weekly basis. A former neighbor once told me she awoke one morning to a baby raccoon in her bedroom…she’s on the second floor! Apparently, it crawled up the pillars on our back porch and clawed through her window screen to get inside.

Groundhogs: Not the worse things to have around, I guess. I don’t have a garden nor do I play golf so it doesn’t matter much to me. Usually, they run and hide as soon as I step out the door.

Birds: A hummingbird was literally a foot from my face last week! I was so excited, haha. Cardinals are common, bluejays, woodpeckers, etc. Our most recent visitor was an OWL! I’ve never seen an owl in the flesh. As soon as I walked through the backdoor to the yard, I saw the renowned three quarter head turn, and I was in love. I hope it comes back–it would have plenty of food to eat…opossum, raccoons, skunks…

Let’s talk about phish–just one more moment of your time please

Venus — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 20:13:00 +0000

There’s a NPR blog run by Carrie Brownstein (of Sleater Kinney fame :rawk:). She allowed herself to experience Phish (the music, fans, culture, etc) for one week! All Phish, all the time; a complete immersion (no live shows unfortunately). It’s a cool experiment for a person so opposite in tastes (quite humorous as well). I won’t give away the ending.

I hate to push you away from my awesome blog (lolz) but this is a fun read.

Carrie: Could I learn to love Phish — a band that occupies the unique position of being criticized and shunned without further, if any, inspection — in the course of a single week?

Let’s Talk About Phish

Venus — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 05:34:04 +0000

The first notes that crossed my ears were as confusing as the lyrics were nonsensical. I came from a background deeply rooted in old R&B, jazz, and the occasional 80′s pop (Rick James, anyone?), so it was foreign to me to hear things like: “I’d like to cut your head off so I could weigh it. What d’ya say?” said in such a matter-of-fact tone. My impression now? Phish is quite possibly the most talented band touring at present. Each member has an extensive musical background that spans almost everything: classic rock, rock, jazz, latin, bluegrass, classical, and avant garde. It’s like Pink Floyd meets Grateful Dead meets Frank Zappa. They’re the reason I even ventured towards the aforementioned bands. Well, actually, I think Pink Floyd was the band that opened my ears a little more. But this blog post is about Phish, so I’ll give them the credit for now…

In order to appreciate them, I had to stop listening to the lyrics. The substance is in the music: the melodies, the harmonies, the improvisational jams involving the entire band–not just one person playing self-indulgently for 10 minutes in every song. They cover others’ songs as well. They actually make it a point to cover an entire album anytime they play a show on or around Halloween. I remember the first time I heard them play “Cities” by Talking Heads. Instead of the lean, upfront, hyperactive cadence to which I was accustomed, Phish turned it into an airy, laid-back groove.

I’m also grateful for a band that makes you feel at home in a crowd. I have no qualms about belting out lyrics at the top of my lungs, nor am I ashamed of my hip-hop noodle dancing technique since everyone around me is following the same groove in their own way. How cathartic, really. To shake and shimmy your troubles by the wayside in an instant is almost like cheating in life! Don’t get me wrong, like any band with a massive following, there are scenesters who use Phish as an excuse to get high and drunk all night. I’m not judging anyone, but why would you give 50 bucks to ticketbastard for that?

If I had to suggest an album for you, I’d pick A Picture of Nectar, Story of a Ghost, or Junta, but really, Phish is a concert band. So, if you don’t mind stepping over wookie piles left in the lot following each show, I suggest you check them out, ha.

Here’s one of my favorites: The Moma Dance. It’s funky. The title is a play on words (phonetic mix-up)–since the lyrics actually read the moment ends.