Alright.

Happy Halloween everybody. I can't wait to celebrate death and gore tonight - if you know me, you know that this is all I ever talk about.
This sudden cold snap and the witchy-poo feeling in the air reminds me of some significant Halloweens' past from my mis-spent youth.
I remember a particularly gruesome Halloween from the year 1984. I was fourteen and experiencing a rather awkward transition from nerdy-kid to nerdy-kid-in-high-school-with-pimples-and-tacky-clothes. It was the last hurrah for dressing up - well, at least for awhile. My friends Bar (Bear) and Chris and I all wore commando-style clothes and gruesome, ghoul-ish face paint. Up in the tree, next to their house on Gainard street, I smoked my first clove cigarette with Chris before we went out to terrorize the smaller kids in our neighborhood. Eggs, toilet paper and general scare tactics were our weapons.
After pelting several kids/cars/houses, we disbanded while running from the local fuzz - without getting caught, of course. This never happened.
I ended up with the worst of my bad-seed friends - the lamentable Justin DePew. This kid was evil; I swear, he was like Jim Morrison trapped in a kid's body with a mean streak a mile wide. I only hung out with Justin as a last resort, when I was feeling most masochistic.
So, we get the bright idea of climbing up onto the abandoned, five story building in our town - the Surf Hotel - and dropping stolen pumpkins off of the roof onto the street below. We can't believe the pure genius of our plan - surely no one has done this before in our town.
On the way, we run into our friend, My Do (Mee Doh). He decides to join us on our treck of devastation.
As we walk, Justin drinks a 40 of Colt 45 that he procured from an adult friend. *smash!* It goes through a nearby storefront window. We run.
We finally get some pumpkins - only two - and make our way down to the glorious abandoned building. Now, the only way to get into the Surf Hotel is through a broken-out second story window that features shards of glass still sticking out of it. We scuffle up the side as far as we can, toss in the pumpkins we stole, and then hastily scramble up into the broken-down carcass of a building from our little town's heyday. I go in last and while pulling myself through, I cut my hand on the broken glass. Blood is dripping everywhere. Justin and My cruelly laugh at me. I just wrap my sleeve around it and keep going.
The inside of the Surf Hotel is awesome - this will not be the last time we walk the crumbling, abandoned halls and stairways of this hallowed, creepy structure. Five stories high, this was once the most beautiful building in town, until the tidal wave of 1964 came and wiped out half of downtown Crescent City, leaving a high-water mark above the second story of the Surf. After that, it kind of went to shit and closed a few years later.
Anyway, we start making our way to the upper levels, determined to make our Halloween drop onto the clean, nearly abandoned streets below.
Suddenly - *crash!* - we hear some scrambling noises from the floor above us. "Holy shit!", Justin whispers loudly, " there's a fucking bum in here!"
We can hear him muttering as he ambles along above us, getting closer to the staircase a few feet in front of us. My Do drops his flashlight. I drop the pumpkin I was carrying. We all scurry into the nearest doorway we can find - unfortunately, it's on the third floor and a streetlight is literally right outside the window, streaming bright light on us. We picked the brightest room in the whole building to hide in.
Justin and My pick the closet, leaving me to scramble into the bathroom. Just my luck, the old bathroom is full of broken tile and rubbish, so with every step I take, I make a loud, crunching sound.
The bum is growing closer now-we can hear him making his way down the hallway, just outside of where we are.
"damn kids...what do you think this is-some kinda party...*grunt*", the bum is drunkenly muttering obscenities and coughing as he ambles on down the hallway.
I'm clutching a cheap pocket knife, blood dripping off of my hand, trying not to make any noise as he passes. Finally, we hear him back up on the floor above our heads.
Quick as three little klepto kids stealing a Playboy from a 7-eleven, we scramble back out of the well-lit room, back down to the second floor and literally bail out the second story window and run our juvenile asses back home, not to return to the Surf for at least a couple of months.

Happy Halloween!

Holy shit! I tend to procrastinate on things until they can't be put off any longer and then demand my utmost frantic attention. So, today, I have to a.) Finish all my end-of-month accounts at work b.)Practice with the almighty Metal Detector one last time before we kick some major ass tomorrow at 5th st Public Market (at 4pm, no less) and c.) Get a damn costume together for myself at the last possible moment, facing the herd of other procrastinators. Why don't I just save myself the stress and get things done on time? That just wouldn't be me, I suppose.

At least the coffee rules this morning. I do make a good cup, if I do say so myself.

Look - I know 'Hedwig and the Angry Inch' is old news, but I just can't hold back my praise of this piece of work. I watched it again last night and today and had to choke back the tears while I jammed along with my guitar. Among the most inspiring movies that have come out in recent years.
THEN, on my way back to work, I hear Sleater Kinney's version of "Angry Inch" from the 'Wig in a Box' comp on the radio - coincindence? Yeah, of course it was; like I say: it's old news, but Hedwig fuckin' rules.

Dream last night :

Cosmo and I are taking care of my friend Billy's undertaking business while he is out of town. There is only one corpse for us to take care of and we can't blow it. We're driving the recently deceased to the funeral parlor in a kind of hearse/van vehicle. It seems like we're in Seattle or Lake Oswego or somewhere. We pull up to the parlor. There is a special door for loading the coffin in - it's a giant, two-piece cast metal door with an intricate design and a strange locking mechanism. It looks like the vault door on the Price is Right, during the combination game. We slide the clear, glass coffin into the door, latch it and then walk around to the inside through a different door. Once inside, Cosmo and I have a hard time lifting the coffin onto the high platform that it is to be displayed upon. We drop the dead guy a couple of times; at least he doesn't roll out. He looks like a likeness of Lenin, but with red hair and beard. Finally, we get him up on the platform. It seems like the parlor smells kind of musty and death-like. Now, Billy and Raenie are there. They're back from wherever. We're all rather non-plussed, talking about music and recordings and caring for dead people. Now, it's time for the funeral. End of dream.

Tuesday - the eternal limbo between Monday and the rest of the week.
It's always fun to run into Scottk at Albertson's. His ankle still seems pretty tweaked.
Halloween is virtually here and I haven't even got my costume together yet. I have got some work to do.

I love all the freaks that come out of the woodwork during the pre-Halloween season. I saw the local warlock-dude who is usually dressed like a leather-clad witch all the year round last night, walking through the gas station where I was filling up. He looked totally appropriate. And the freaky alcoholic/junkie with a heavy bag of God-knows-what, stumbling across Lincoln street - he, too, somehow seemed to not be out of place. I imagined him with a load of freshly robbed body parts for some heinous recipe. Yum!

Please come down to the 5th street Public Market at 4pm on Halloween to see Metal Detector perform a half hour of punk rock hits by the Ramones, Cramps and the Misfits. Later on, it's Vagiant UK at the McDonald Theatre.

ALRIGHT...

A very good weekend it was. Friday's show at the TONIC lounge in Portland was great. I drove up with Eric Jensen and Cosmo + a load of amps (we had to be prepared to be extra loud). Cos was dropped at his cousin's house in NE for the weekend. Off to the Tonic...
And, upon loading in, the sound guy, Neil, was very uptight yet helpful. We squared away the order of bands, etc...
Billy and Raenie showed up and we had time for a quick soundcheck before they ate some food. The Tonic Lounge is shaped like a slice of pizza, and, having such an irregular shape, sounds fucking awesome. Neil dials up some great stage sound and we're stoked to play to the PDX hipsters that seem pretty damn young compared to us... I'm nervous, as per usual, but fuck it - we came to play.
First chords of Molecule - holy shit! I'm borrowing Eric's 4 x 12 cab for my amp and it sounds fucking amazing! This cab is beat to shit and used to belong to me and now, I'm regretting giving it away. Our set goes really, really well. I'm always hesitant to play the acoustic numbers, but they go over great. I love it when people who have never seen you before are really digging it. We keep it to the point and get the hell off the stage. Time to talk to friends we haven't seen in awhile, etc... D.TRO, Toby, Rob Jones are all there + several other PDX friends...anyway, you get the picture.

Dorian Crush are next and are really good- alt pop with a boy singer that can actually sing. They kind of remind me of the Smiths, although they have a more American-Indie sound. Altogether good but they play a loooong set. I am a fan of 30 minute sets. Long sets+4 bands=a very long night.
The next band was kind of an indie-prog rock band with guit/bass/drums/sax and go over like an aluminum balloon. I can't remember their name.
PELLET GUN played a fantastic set. The dynamics were sounding great throught the sound system. The crowd stuck around for their whole set and were digging in. They definitely have a style that goes over well in P-town and I'm sure they won some new fans that night. Plus, Eric did the splits onstage and didn't miss a beat.
THE REST OF THE WEEKEND... I snuck off to the coast with TIna and it was very nice.

Another day do doo da doo

I can't even remember what day it is or what I am doing...oh yeah; it's Friday, I'm going to Portland tonight & dropping Cosmo off at his cousin's for the weekend while I go and play down at the Tonic lounge. Please come, Portland people, if you're not grieving too hard about Elliot Smith.

For some reason, I feel pretty good about the (nearly) straight-edge lifestyle I've fallen into lately, regardless of how fun it sounds to be fucked-up and depressed and on drugs and drink all the time.

Okay, alright; I'll toss my hat into the ring of misery along with everyone else.
Sad to hear of Elliot Smith taking his own life. Spirit called me at work this morning to break the news.

I'll relate my one Elliot Smith moment.

It was the Fall of '96. I was stoked that Elliot was playing at Sam Bonds on an off night. At the time, his hair was long and greasy (big surprise) and he had a baseball cap on. He seemed like he didn't want to be approached, so I left him alone.
Out back, I was smoking with a friend when Elliot came up and asked for a light. I lit his smoke and struck up a short conversation with him:

me: "So...I try to play along with your records...I can't. What the hell do you tune your guitar to? It's unbelievably low."
him: " I don't know. I never know. I just kind of tune it up. Or down. I don't really remember. I was going through a break up at the time and it was my girlfriend's guitar and she never kept it in tune. I'm not sure I could ever tune a guitar that way again if I wanted to."

I wonder if he heard me mutter "sheesh...what's up with him?" as he walked away.

Later, when he was playing, I noticed that he tuned his guitar very accurately to a low "C" for "Clementine". It sounded just like it did on the record.

No new tale to tell...other than that I've been enjoying the wonderful perversity of re-watching old South Park episodes lately. Sometimes, when I'm laughing my ass off so hard that tears are streaming down my face and I can't breathe, I realize that I don't laugh nearly enough. Long live Cartman!

In related news, the ladies in my office were wondering why any and all random homeless guys in the neighborhood always choose to piss on the exact same spot on the church across the parking lot from our office - always in full view. I thought about their question, but I really didn't have an answer for them as to why. Perhaps, possessing an enhanced sense of smell due to the fact that they are indeed feral humans living in the wilds of Eugene, they are marking their territory after all.

Well...

The NW mini-tour with Pellet Gun and Ed Cole has gone from four shows to three shows to two shows...to ONE AMAZING SHOW! This Friday, at the Tonic lounge in Portland, we will rock you hard. Many thanks to Eric Jensen and Dave Clark for offering to back me up...now, I'm back to my core band of Raenie on drums and Billy on bass. Practice was great last night.
Other stuff...has been going really well. More new songs are in the works; more whacky sets are coming up for Halloween. I'm considering taking most of November off from music-too much of a drain to try to do it all. Rock and Roll is over-rated sometimes.
As Mr Random points out, it is unseasonably warm for being October in the NorthWest. It is absolutely beautiful today, with the clear, bright light filtering through the just-now-turning-yellow trees. I feel like burying myself with leaves.

Another Awesome Weekend of RO...

I guess I didn't really post anything about the Perverts or the plastic-coated fairy band's sets on Friday. VAGIANT UK's set was fun but somehow alienating at the same time. Kind of like working the counter at a porno store - everyone keeps their distance and no one wants to make eye contact. The PERVERTS sounded really good - the best set I've heard from them so far and people were up close and digging them. Very nice guys, too. The Courtesy Clerks...yadda yadda yadda ...totally awesome. I think I already expressed my love for them on my 10/18 post. Glad they'll be continuing- But who will their new bassist be? Can't wait to find out.

...And on to Tom Heinl's CD release on Saturday. WHAT IS UP WITH TOM??? How can one little guy be so charismatic and lovable and hilariously, piss-your-pants funny in a time-capsule, 1970's country karaoke kind-of way? Tom rules. Cosmo and I went to the early, kids-for-free show. A perfect little nugget of a show, Tom and Dustin's " Captain and Neal" act was short and hilarious. Tom's official karaoke set was performed with dance moves and props and he never lost the attention of the entire room...Tom Heinl belongs in a Las Vegas Hee-Haw revival. During his closing number, "I Love...", he had all the kids in the house(+ Scottk and Ty Connor) up onstage, sitting on hay bales while he extolled the virtues of "Drunk driving in the day...(don�t do that, kids!)", " Ass" and "you too" I really wish I could quote some more of his witticisms etc...sorry - mind failing.

BACK TO MY MONDAY

AT THE TOP OF THEIR GAME...they could've put us on the map.

I cannot accept that the Courtesy Clerks are no more. It has to be a put on. What I saw last night was a band at it's peak with the entire crowd at John Henry's on their side. Those guys ripped shit up! The talented and hunky Mike B might be going to Florida, but he'll be back. I hope. We hope. DAMN! I am so jealous yet appreciative of how good those guys are.

HOLY FUCK, BATMAN!!! I JUST CAN'T GET EXCITED ABOUT WORK TODAY!!!!!!

It is so dark and rainy today - beautiful. I love this last ominous week before daylight savings time switches back an hour - it feels like a semi-permanent twilight.

Was glad to run into Sleeve last night when I popped in to Sam Bond's for a beer. We had a fun chat about Tiny Tavern, sleazy internet sites and he gave me the full recap from the John Henry's fetish night thingy, which actually sounded pretty fun. I should have scammed my way in there but oh well.
Coming up this weekend (aside from the aforementioned Fireballs of Freedom/Courtesy Clerks/Vagiant UK show on Friday) is the Tom Heinl cd release (2 shows; 6 and 9) at Sam Bond's as well as the Ovulators/Shudders/Toad in the Hole at Lucky's, both on Saturday. I'll try to make it to all, but...it's only Wednesday and I already need a nap.

Better get back to the grind...

UUUUUHHHHHHHHHNNNNGGGGGHHHHH...

No, not much to report. Life is swell; the sun is shining after a few days of rain; it's definitely feeling like fall.
I skulked into John Henry's yesterday to track down Eric for some practice scheduling...he'll be the interim drummer for a couple of NW shows. It's kind of fun switching bandmates around at the last minute-it could lead to some surprises for everyone. Eric also had some cool artwork for my next "interim" CD release. A cool turntable-thing + some stamp art also.
A beer or two later, I was hiking up Skinner Butte with Tina and experienced near-vertigo when I realized that we were at the top edge of the rocky cliff part with a nice 100-or-so foot drop right at our feet. Yikes! Be careful hiking with beer, kids!
UUUHHHHHH....Vagiant Uk this Friday at John Henry's with Courtesy Clerks and Fireballs of Freedom...should be a killer show.
Ok, Ok - back to work.

Not too much to update about. The weekend was nice - went out to the pumpkin patch w/ Tina and Cos...not very punk rock but totally fun + good coffee and lots of mud. I didn't make as much headway on the studio set up as I'd hoped but it's still at the top of my list. Tony Figoli has been helping me with a website and it's looking awesome - stay tuned for the grand opening. I'll be playing with the plastic-coated fairy band (Vagiant UK) at John Henry's on friday and after that I'm off to Seattle w/ Pellet Gun next week. Also, putting my hands together and chanting pagan prayers for a new job that does not include the telephone. Otherwise...life is good.

http://cul-de-sac.oops.jp/pv/ Total system failure - a blog by a depressed Japanese guy (teenager?) who loves Syd Barret and Pet Sounds... cute but depressing.

I don't know about anything rad or rockin' going on this weekend. I do believe my PDX friends Tracker are playing at Sam Bond's tonight; I might sneak down for a short while to soak in some suds and tunes.

Nothing else groundbreaking, save the anxiety of having to scrape together a rhythm section at the last moment before heading to Seattle and Portland next week.

Working on putting the home studio together this weekend. I now have enough mics and cables. All I need is a decent mixing board and a coat of paint...voila! I've already got a few bands lined up to record, so it looks like it could be a fruitful winter. Anyone out there with a 16 channel (or better) mixer they want to get rid of?

edhead101@hotmail.com

later

Dream last night...

A surreal, wild-west version of 5th street at Willamette. The street is dusty. It's as if a tornado has just blown through - no, it is blowing through. Holding on for dear life. Shit is blowing everywhere. Things calm down. I walk over to the train station - it looks like a post-apocolyptic heap of trash, but it's nicely overgrown with vegetation. Inside the train station, a group of kids and adults are hanging out. The kids are playing video games on an ancient TV set. Everyone seems resigned, yet content.

Dan sent me this cool link on The Stooges recent gigs in Europe, written by Mike Watt. I love Watt's writing style and aspire to live similarly someday. Sounds fab - i hope I make it down to LA for the November 9th show.

Stay tuned for edcolerocks.com in the near future

A great weekend, but I'm glad it's over.

Ultra-recap: Friday's Cosmo art show was a blast - thanks, people, for checking it out. Saturday's John Zorn show was outa sight, even though the bastard New Yorker was wearing camo pants and an ugly pea-green t-shirt onstage at the Hult-great display of juvenile attitude for a middle aged man, I suppose. Truly, my favorite part of the show was the fact that Shawn Mediaclast could not hold in his whoops of enthusiasm during hot parts of the program and really got other people in the audience loosened up. By the end, everyone was very vocal in their appreciation for drum fills, bass thumps, alto skronks and trumpet blasts. Probably the most unruly audience I've ever seen at the Hult, actually. At different points, the drummer was actually playing with his fingertips, transitioning to brushes, sticks, mallets etc...without skipping a beat. I could go on...I'm still pretty stunned, actually. My friend Billy said Cobra was equally enlightening & very fun to watch also. Too much.
So...last night I played a low-key gig at Sam Bond's with pop songwriter Jim Basnight and Phamous Phaces...didn't stick around for the whole show but Jim I'd seen before and he was very polished with his songwriting and performing and a decent guy to boot...very much in the vein of modern 70's jangle pop along with 80's/90's guitar crunch pop...maybe too pop, actually, but like I said, very good. We (Billy, Raenie and I) played one of our best sets ever (I always say that whenever we play decently) even though (or maybe because) not many people were there. No new tunes or anything; sometimes, you just really, really want to play for playing's sake and it turns out to be very fun without a whole lot of pre-meditation...well, that is what I speak of.
Now, I'm glad to be back to work.

Awesome show last night - John Zorn's Masada at the Hult center performing insane klezmer jazz. Zorn's cramped posture and extreme alto playing were out of sight and drummer Joey Baron was among the best drummers of any genre that I'd ever seen. Some people might view Zorn's punk jazz as all squeaks and skronks, but I view him and his various ensembles as musicians who can squeeze every possible sound out of their instruments to a musical effect. Bird chirps, breathy blatts, muted skronks + amazing jazz runs, all delivered with virtuosity on all the players parts. An expensive ticket but well worth it.

Hey, thanks to all who came by Cosmo's art show. He even sold three paintings, which rocks! I regret not getting out and checking out some of the galleries along the art walk last night, but I was highly agitated and annoyed with all the normal people herding themselves along to the Jerry Seinfeld show at the Hult, so it's just as well that I didn't venture out into the mean streets of Eugene.
There are more events I want to see than I haver money or time for. Today, of course, is John Zorn in two performances - one Cobra and the other his klezmer-jazz outfit Masada. I pick Masada, as much as I want to see some local friends like Jake play at the Cobra performance.
Now, it's supposed to be a laid-back Saturday Morning but instead, we're gearing up for a 10:30 Metal Detector practice and then...geez, I can't even think. More Coffee!

Alright! Another Friday and this one is going to rock. I like to sneeze my thanks to Mr Random and Eric for helping spread the word on my kid Cosmo's impending art show tonight at Feinstein's Museum of Unfine Art. A SMALL TIME CORRECTION: The opening is actually at 6:38 pm tonight; not 7:11 pm as was previously reported. Art, spasmodic improv music, food, drink and lots of interesting people to look at. For all those out there that aren't familiar with Eugene, Oregon - this town rocks! We have the greatest core underground art and music community that really crosses all boundaries - punks, hippies, musicians, photographers, artists, alienated weirdos, gorgeous people, total oddballs - we've got it all and we make the effort to support our own without staying in our own little niches.

OK, OK - enough on that spiel. I just got lost in a conversation with a co-worker about the large homeless 'family' group that sleeps in the adjacent church parking lot - we're talking 15 + kids and adults in sleeping bags every morning. As far as homeless folks go, these are decent people who clean up after breaking camp every morning and then head off to do whatever it is they do during the day. There's definitely a heirarchy - a young blonde hippy is the ringleader who seems to direct things and it trickles down from there. Another layer of the American caste (-off) system. Makes me evaluate whether I truly need to go across the street for that luxurious cup of coffee every day.

Ok - back to work

Sick as a dog / nothing to do but blog...

Glad to almost be feeling better. Nothing much to report. I hope that some of you can make it down to Cosmo's art opening on friday at 7pm at the Museum of Unfine art in Eugene/5th & Willamette. His pieces all look great and are affordable also.

Otherwise, come check out Ed C + College Girls of Tora Bora Sunday night at Sam Bond's Garage, opening for Jim Basnight (a songwriter that once played bass with Johnny Thunders)

Back to work...