Nothing To See Here

Kansas…It feels like home when I go back, but the weather is just one of the reminders of why I don’t live there anymore. Granted, had I never moved to LA or if I had moved to NY, I never would mention the weather, but it sucks. It was in the nineties every day. Going to a wedding in a suit when it’s in the nineties should be illegal. Hell, having a wedding when it’s in the nineties should be illegal. The good did outweigh the bad while I was in Kansas. Sitting under the moonlight in the backyard of an old friend’s house was bliss. The trains went by every hour or so and lightning bugs were playing all around. It was heavenly. The company was wonderful and the moment just seemed perfect. Really, it could not have been a better time.

Spending time in Lawrence always makes me want to go back. The town is relaxed. There’s no rushing around. It’s a college town, so there’s a good mix of people. The residents of Lawrence are the best though. You wouldn’t know, but Lawrence is filled with talented artists, authors and a rich cultural history. Walking along the Kansas River near my old house, I was reminised about my years spent there. The walks I used to take with Holly along the railroad tracks are also vivid recollections. One square block of Lawrence has more character than most of LA, but the weather…oh man, the weather…

As much as I want to do a jeansandatshirt.com web radio station, it just doesn’t look like I can afford it. I guess you’ll just have to settle for the monthly mixes. You’ll live.

1) Do you live in a house, an apartment or a condo? I live in an apartment. It’s a two bedroom/two bath in West Los Angeles (or as some like to call it, Beverly Hills Adjacent – GROSS, but true.)

2) Do you rent or own? I rent, though I used to own when I was still living in Kansas. My mortgage payments were $300 less than I pay for my apartment in Los Angeles. It’s ridiculous on some level. I really wish I could have found some way to keep the house in Lawrence. It was such a beautiful place and Lawrence is tops. On a visit home a couple of years ago, I knocked on the door of my old house and asked if I could come in and look around. Though a little hesitant, the guy let me in. His family lived there and had totally messed the place up. It was terribly traumatic.

3) Does anyone else live with you? Yes, Holly, my dog, lives with me. The building I am in has ghosts, though my unit doesn’t seem to be one of the haunted ones. There are dust bunnies as well.

4) How many times have you moved in your life? I’ve moved a total of four times, which is pretty low, I think. When I went off to college I didn’t live in the dorms. I got an apartment instead. Next to my house, it’s my favorite place I have lived. I bought the house after about two years. Three years later I moved to an overpriced shit hole of an apartment in West Hollywood. It was charming when I saw it, but I soon discovered that my neighbor had six kids in a two bedroom apartment. It was pretty miserable at times, though for a first apartment in Los Angeles, it wasn’t bad.

5) What are your plans for this weekend? I’m visiting Kansas right now. Tonight I’ll be having dinner with my sister and a mutual friend. After dinner I’ll be hanging out with a long-time friend of mine. Tomorrow is the wedding in Lawrence, which will take up most of the day and part of the evening. I’ll pay a visit to some friends in Lawrence on my way back to my parents’ house. Sunday I’ll spend some time with my parents and then fly back to Los Angeles, where the weather is much nicer.

I flew home to Kansas today. Flying Southworst wasn’t as bad as it usually is. Aside from the man with the annoying voice speaking to his business partner in a volume that required earplugs and the baby that was screaming bloody murder, the flight was fine. I saw a beautiful sunset and even flew over a thunderstorm. Seeing lightning from above a storm is amazing, to say the least.

It was wonderful to have my parents pick me up at the airport. It had been several months since I last saw them. They commented about my shaggy hair. The last time they saw me, I had a shaved head. My mom added that she likedit best when my hair was long (down to the middle of my back). I’ll never forget how diappointed she was when I cut it all off.

We finally got home and I gave my dad his Father’s Day card and showed them the magazine I had been published in. They were proud, and I still love to please them. I’m sure the album reviews will be on teh fridge sometime soon. I felt like the timing was right to break the news about the gift I had given myself for my birthday. Shortly after showing them the magazine I said, “I have something else to show you.”

I then lifted the left sleeve of my t-shirt to reveal the tattoo (I’ll post a photo of it soon) that now covered my entire shoulder. My mom was digusted. She looked for a few seconds. The anger was in her eyes. She was disappointed. I tried a little humor…”Mom, you can design the next one, if you want.” Nothing. No response. Dad took it fine. He didn’t look much longer than mom, but it didn’t visibly bother him. He later explained that it was my body and I could do what I wanted. There were more important things to be concerned about and he was just happy I was in town.

“Did you know about this?!” my mom shot at my dad.

“No!”

“Does your brother have one too?” she asked me.

“No, he does not.” Not yet, I thought to myself.

My brother called shortly after the unveiling. He wanted to know how it went over. I explained, in the company of both parents, making light of it for the most part. My sister called while my brother was on the phone.

“Your brother is here with a big tattoo,” she yelled as my dad was talking to her.

Dad handed the phone over to me and I told her about it. She glossed over it and told me that Friday would be good for dinner.

“The message is clear – there is no place on the Internet for services that exploit creators’ work without fair compensation,” added Edward P. Murphy, President and CEO, NMPA.

Right, Ed. AudioGalaxy is just one of many such Internet services that help artists find new fans. That’s not all these services do. They also help people decide not to by crappy albums based on the single songs they here on the radio. It hurts, doesn’t it? You know what hurts more? When I fork over nearly $20 for a new CD.

“This should serve as a wake-up call to the other networks that facilitate unauthorized copying. The responsibility for implementing systems that allow for the authorized use of copyrighted works rests squarely on the shoulders of the peer-to-peer network,” said Hillary Rosen, Chairman and CEO of the RIAA.

Tell you what, Hillary, you and the labels get together, come up with lower prices, take time to develop some artists, don’t treat us (consumers) like we are morons, and then we can talk. You and I both know that these networks will not go away. You made the biggest mistake of your career, and one of the biggest mistakes in the history of the music business when you shut Napster down.

The Napster model was pretty easy to control because there was a central server. Well, now look what happened. People are trading directly with on another. You have no control. You will never have control and until you treat consumers with respect and offer realstic solutions to the decline in music sales, you will be continue to lose the war.

I know I have said it before, but I’ll remind you that I am available if you would like me to consult and help solve some of your problems. I want to help.

I was on the unemployment web site today, getting everything ready to submit and wouldn’t you know it, I’m not eligible. Why? Well, my good old boss decided to let me go just weeks before my three-month employment mark. As it turns out, you have to have been employed for three months to be able to collect unemployment. Here I was thinking he was being nice because he gave me a couple of days of extra pay. Now I don’t feel so bad for taking a nap on my last day.

10) A window that opens and has a scenic view of Los Angeles.

09) Two Macs in front of me (if I’m in the office)

08) Getting to test out the latest versions of the Mac OS

07) Learning that Apple is a company that does do wrong…very wrong.

06) A boss that isn’t afraid to tell a senior engineer at Apple that they their company sucks.

05) A boss that takes me bowling and is good competition.

04) Meeting cool people and going to cool places (i.e. getting a tour of Dolby Laboratories).

03) Listening to my boss go off on people, espeically Apple.

02) Learning more about Macs than I ever really wanted to know.

01) Working 2 miles away from home, three days a week.

I’m tired of laziness, especially the musically lazy. You know the ones. They listen to the radio and think that it’s gospel. It’s not. Sure, we can’t all be on the bleeding edge of music, but how about picking up a music magazine besides Rolling Stone or Spin. Hell, even a mainstream weekly from the UK has some decent reviews and suggestions.

Realize, radio listeners, that there is amazing music that you are not hearing. The labels aren’t pushing these bands, and if they are you may not have a station in your area that will play them. Don’t even get me started on payola. How do you think the labels are making up all that money their losing from music piracy? Anyway, you’d think that Los Angeles would be on the cutting edge with great radio stations playing all the coolest stuff. We aren’t, with the exception of KCRW. Even they don’t play it all. I’m still not forgiving Nick Harcourt for glossing over The Twilight Singers album. He’s a snot-nosed, elitist who, upon taking over Morning Becomes Eclectic, played a lot of classic rock until someone elbowed him. I’ll give credit where credit is due, and despite my unfounded personal dislike for Nick Harcourt, he plays the best music in Los Angeles. I’ve discovered a lot of new stuff by listening to the show.

Aside from KCRW, KROQ is the mainstream alternative station in town. They play the same stuff over and over. 10% may be good music, but is it worth listening to for that? No. Again, giving credit where credit is due, Kevin and Bean still make me laugh, give great interview and KROQ does sponsor a good show now and then, but only when KCRW doesn’t get to it first.

What’s the point of this rant? Well, I’m thinking that there should be a jeansandatshirt.com web radio station, so I’m checking into such an undertaking. I’m convinced, based on the response I get for the monthly mixes, people will listen.

I’m finally going to start participating in the Friday Five. It’s been a long time coming, so here goes…

1) How often do you do laundry? Once a week. This may or may not coincide with a laundry interception by one of The Cunts, whereby one of them figures out that I’m doing laundry, times it, takes my load out of washing machine and loads their’s in. The Cunts are the two people that live above me. They don’t like me and I don’t like them. I’ll tell you the story another time.

2) What’s in a typical wash load? Clothes, for the most part. I split them up into darks and lights. See, this is the type of question that is making me re-think my participation in the Friday Five.

3) Front or top loader? Powder or liquid detergent? Top-loading, piece of shit, expensive, rental machine. Liquid is really the only way to go. Who likes the left-over grains of detergent on their clothes? It’s inevitable, really. Of course I always use perfume and dye-free detergent. I don’t need to smell like detergent and anyone who leaves that smell behind as they exit an elevator deserves to be shot.

4) Do you use fabric softener in the rinse cycle? What?! Fabric softener is for the dryer. The end.

5) Dryer or clothesline? Unless you’ve got a really nice dryer, which I do not, they ruin clothes, especially denim. Anything I don’t want to fade, I hang up. Underwear, socks and light-colored stuff goes in the dryer.

As of Friday I will be unemployed again. Five months of searching for a job, two months of part-time employment, and now back to unemployment. The good news is that I got laid off, which means I can collect some unemployment. It’s a comfort to me. Last time around, I quit my job. I still don’t regret that. It was probably one of the best decisions I’ve made.

I’m thinking of doing some private Mac tutoring and consulting, but I’ve got this wealth of knowledge that I could certainly apply to something else. There was something about working part-time, still being able to pay the bills and working on personal endeavors during the rest of the week. I could get used to it.