Break was good, being back is good, bad.

School hurts. School scars. School wounds. School mars.

I edited some Pitchfork by writing the news editor!

I wrote:

I liked Zach Vowell's article, which was well written and everything, but the song that Jeff came onstage for, 'The Arrow Flies Close,' always has the line "...and I hope Jeff will sing me a song." It wasn't slipped in as Vowell’s source thought. On the Elf-Power album called "When the Red King Comes," Jeff sings a descending part just after that line: "aaah." But last Tuesday at Mac's Bar in Lansing, the Jeff-less Elf Power had John Fernandez, of Olivia Tremor Control, cover his part on clarinet. -Zach Nichols

P.S. http://www.knerd.com/~sashwap/Arrow.mp3

And then:

hey-- thanks for the tip, you're right! i'll fix the story right now.

-- Amy Phillips
News Editor, Pitchfork Media Email: phillips@pitchforkmedia.com, news@pitchforkmedia.com

Here's the fixed story (didn't they do a good job?)...I didn't have the heart to mention the typo: "Elepant 6." Hopefuly they see it on their own.

• Jeff Mangum sings with Elf Power in NYC

The concert last night was fun. Ben summed it up pretty well.

I used to play this game called The Neverhood. I was reminded of it and its great soundtrack today and I want to play it again: my download's at...100%. I'm counting down the hours (0).

I'd call it a cake made of...

3 pints of Myst.
1 1/3 cups of klezmer.
3 tablespoons Wallace and Grommit.
5 pinches of silent Marx brothers.

Today I played a song I wrote for a presentation in TE250. It went well!

You can play it too! It's easy and has 3 chords in it!

Intro: A

A_____E________ A______ D
In education, differences with gender
Depend on location: how so? I wonder...

A (1, 2, 3, 4)

A______E_________ A______ D
In Great Britain it would seem the girls do better
I wonder if the boys are dumb, or are the girls are just clever?

A (arabian segue)

A______E________ A_____ D
In Saudi Arabia all the schools segregated,
C’mon now Arabia, ain't that unfair and outdated?

A (eastern segue)

A_________E________ A_______ D
In that far off Asia, where the emphasis is on effort!
Those tests don’t care at all if you're wearing a skirt...

A (Solo)

A_________E________ A_____ D
But back in the United States the jury is divided,
Girls with books and boys with science, isn't that one-sided? [Hold D]

End on A

I'm so glad I didn't spend more time making it good when I can get by with crap. Sigh.

The concert was really amazing.

Some highlights:

• Talking to Laura Carter about the zanzithaphone and rocking out.
• Andrew Rieger about FableFactory and Eye Sight.
• John Fernandez about the OTC show in NYC and playing clarinet.
• Singing jeff's part in the Arrow Flies Close. (Closer all the time).
• Fernandez's Clarinet and Violin solos.
• The other bands.
• That drummer from the Jevalin's facial expressions.

I didn't sleep last night and I was feeling bad this morning until I read all of the letters in the state news about mike ramsey. Oh, that would cheer anyone up.

Hey, it's 2:11 and I just got two calls. One from Taaja, who'd happily finished her homework, and one from Zach McCune or McZach as he is affectionately called in some circles. Appartently he and Matt Milia are at the best dance party ever in the basement of some nearby house. Wasted, they dance to Ace of Base and Aqua. Costumes: pants on heads, wigs, shirtless people without sweaters. I could hear the music over the phone mixing with the other dancers. Sounded like a blast, really. Rock out guys, but pass the french quiz tomarrow McZach. Anyway, I like late calls.

I'd better update before people stop visiting. I wrote a new song, it starts with "Em" and resolves on "G" if that tells you anything. Sometimes characters from the cartoon strip "prince valiant" say stuff like "Dag." What does it mean? Anyway, I'm writing papers tonight. TE and TE. I heard that class was going to be easy...Ah well:

Prince, would you like a mint?

"mhmm"