06/01/2001 - 07/01/2001 07/01/2001 - 08/01/2001 08/01/2001 - 09/01/2001 09/01/2001 - 10/01/2001 10/01/2001 - 11/01/2001 11/01/2001 - 12/01/2001 12/01/2001 - 01/01/2002 01/01/2002 - 02/01/2002 02/01/2002 - 03/01/2002 03/01/2002 - 04/01/2002 04/01/2002 - 05/01/2002 05/01/2002 - 06/01/2002 06/01/2002 - 07/01/2002 07/01/2002 - 08/01/2002 08/01/2002 - 09/01/2002 09/01/2002 - 10/01/2002 10/01/2002 - 11/01/2002 11/01/2002 - 12/01/2002 12/01/2002 - 01/01/2003 01/01/2003 - 02/01/2003 02/01/2003 - 03/01/2003 03/01/2003 - 04/01/2003 04/01/2003 - 05/01/2003 05/01/2003 - 06/01/2003 06/01/2003 - 07/01/2003 07/01/2003 - 08/01/2003 08/01/2003 - 09/01/2003 09/01/2003 - 10/01/2003 10/01/2003 - 11/01/2003 11/01/2003 - 12/01/2003 12/01/2003 - 01/01/2004 01/01/2004 - 02/01/2004 02/01/2004 - 03/01/2004 03/01/2004 - 04/01/2004 04/01/2004 - 05/01/2004 05/01/2004 - 06/01/2004 08/01/2004 - 09/01/2004 10/01/2004 - 11/01/2004 11/01/2004 - 12/01/2004 02/01/2005 - 03/01/2005 04/01/2005 - 05/01/2005 a firenze

Saturday, September 28

3:57 AM
Just got back from seeing Interpol in Detroit. They didn't start playing until 1am, apparently because all their pedals were stolen. Maybe the ones they used in the show were borrowed. Anyway, it was exhilarating to see them. For some reason this band really cuts into something in me, and probably does for a lot of people, because there were a lot of people (it seemed about 400-500). They are very well dressed gentlemen, which I guess is part of their schtick, but no matter. I didn't know exactly what to expect, although I'd seen one photo of them on allmusic.com, so I recognized the band members before the show and got Carlos' autograph. He was nice. I wish I had gotten everybody else's as well, but I was too shy for some reason. I didn't know how to connect the voice from the album with an actual person, so I was kind of surprised to hear it come from the singer, Paul; he looked too... of this earth. His vocals were kind of low in the mix, and the lead guitar was quite strong. They played the songs pretty much like on the album, but it seemed even more energetic. They played all the songs (save one) from their album and single, plus one other song. It was only about an hour, but it was worth the long wait.

Just for my own reference, here's the setlist as I recall it:
Intro (untitled)
Obstacle 1
Specialist
Roland
Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down
Hands Away
NYC
Say Hello to the Angels
Leif Erikson
PDA

encore:
Song Seven
Obstacle 2


A band called Midwest Product opened. They were a not bad electronic band.

Sunday, September 22

11:47 PM
Oh! Mr. Show has a live show called Hooray for America and will be in Ann Arbor this Thursday. It's too expensive for me, though. Wilco and They Might Be Giants will be at the same place next month (separately); also too expensive, and I've already seen TMBG this year. That's the trouble - the more music you listen to and like, the more you want to go see the bands, and it just gets exponentially expensive.

11:34 PM
Interpol are coming to Detroit this Friday and I'm thinking of going up to see them. It's only about $15 with fees... Mark Eitzel will be in Columbus again next month. I want to see him again and buy one of the cds he only sells at shows, because I've read they're even better than the proper albums.

I've had a weird feeling of hopeless despair simultaneously alongside hopeless optimism. It's like I know I'm going nowhere, or I'm definitely going somewhere. I wish I could put it into words because it might be interesting; all I know is I'm actually feeling it. I wonder how long it will last - my mood changes often.

Tonight I printed the second side of my reversed flag. I had some trouble lining the plate up to the already-printed paper, but I think I got a handful of decent prints. I still need to silkscreen the (still unfinished) text onto the same side I printed tonight. Meanwhile I really need to get started on my next print. I've been getting some good ideas for poems (one liners as usual), so I've got something to go on.

Saturday, September 21

10:26 PM
I took Connie to an Indian restaurant that I had been to once before and liked, and it was good this time too. We ate a lot and talked about the usual things like religion and people. Then we got some alcohol and candy to consume in my apartment, and we smoked some of Connie's French cigarettes, leftover from her last visit to her mom. After a small amount of drinking and smoking, we both were thinking "Why did we think this would be cool to do?" We weren't even drunk. But we had a good time talking and playing the guitar.

This morning I made calzones for us. Then we went to the art building (CVA) and museum. She had never been to Toledo before. Strange that I never invited her up in the past four years. She left early this afternoon, and I went back to the CVA and did some printing. And so here I am.

Friday, September 20

3:34 PM
Last night at school, SCAM (the second brand new student art group I've joined this semester) showed Metropolis, the first movie to feature a robot. I liked it. It seemed very advanced for the 1920s, but also of its time politically. It's a silent film, so the soundtrack was simply a selection of often incongruous classical music, but it didn't distract too much.

Connie is on her way up here right now to visit me.

Friday, September 13

10:19 PM
I've been working on my first print of the semester for a little while, but haven't printed anything yet. It's tough getting the design of this one together. It's an American flag, but the union (the field of white stars on blue) is reversed with the stripes, so that the thirteen stripes make up the rectangle in the corner and the rest of it is stars. It will be printed on both sides, so it will be almost a real flag, but one side will be in black and white with text on the stripes. Here's an interesting page on the proportions of the flag (but I'm being a little looser in my interpretation - meaning I already carved part of the block and it's too late to change now [but who cares?]).

& I dig Interpol.

Wednesday, September 4

11:16 PM
when things start to get good again (as i sense they are right now), i have a tendency to sabotage it, usually by being passive and letting the, uh, goodness slip away. so i will try again to keep it going for longer than usual.

Monday, September 2

6:35 PM
wah. someone is using my e-mail address to disseminate viruses, and the rejected receipts get sent back to me.
i have a headache too. it's supposed to storm tonight - i hope it does.