As Kevin Barnes says (sings):

I am a happy yellow bumble bee, I fly around the flowers and trees and all morning long, I flutter about in the swirling breeze and the sun is yellow like me.

I am a happy yellow bumble bee, everything's so much bigger than me but I'm not afraid, for if something gets too close, I give them a sting that makes them howl and scamper away...

No I'm not afaid, though sometimes I get lonely because my parents are dead and I can't find my brothers or sisters...

At night the sky looks so black and I can't find the sun. It doesn't matter how hard i try, but when i feel like I'm covered in darkness, and that light won't touch me anymore... I hear the cardinals singing and I know who they're singing for when I see the sun...

That makes me a happy yellow bumblebee, all my friends are beetles and centipedes and all summer long we laugh and we play, but we don't talk to spiders because they're mean and they try to trick us, because they want to eat us...but they'll never beat us...

Got a blister playing mario party today; it was well worth it because I won for the first time! I'm taking it as a sign that finals are going to go well tomorrow and the next day. Also my job interview tomorrow.

In my Peach voice: oh, did I win?

Ancestors, hear my plea: help me not to make a fool of me!

Wow, this is why I'm using the OED from now on:

From dictionary.com:

cede means to give over, surrender or relinquish to the physical control of another - while a seed is a small hard fruit or a mature fertilized plant ovule consisting of an embryo and its food source and having a protective coat.

Thanks a lot...

From Monday, June 27, 2005:

I went to East Tawas this weekend. It was sunny. There was water and suntans. And Sunburns. I wore my sunscreen--like a good kid--and was rewarded with pasty white instead of lobster red. And the jetskis were great too, but jumping off can be dangerous: be careful kids and land legs first. The best time during the trip was when the paddle boat I was on sank. My cellphone was a casualty, but my wallet survived. And now, I believe I might have bumblefoot--Derek certainly does.

Man, I love how he gives you the eye just before it's halfway done. I must learn this.

Once when I was very little, my cousin/babysitter gave me a toy. It was a small dye-cast tank and when I would hit a button, a piece would rotate and a guy would come out and be standing on the tank. I loved it so much! It amazed my little brain. I remember also becoming obsessed with the toilet flushing. I would flush the toilet-paper, flush the tissues, flush the soap--it was all magic to me. So I decided to combine my two greatest joys and I flushed my tank. I remember pressing the button right before I dropped it so the little guy would come out before it disappeared. It was beautiful, but I regretted it immediately. Oh tank dude, will you ever forgive me?

Now, I know how:

It's not the technology I love here, it's the 1984 (macintosh commercial) references turned upside-down by Kiss. I would get the Hilary Duff Brush.

Supposed to write poems tonight, amongst other longer term projects that need starting. Wednesday is the creative writing award thingy--I'm not feeling too lucky, but I know somebody that I know will win. In Anthropology class, we've been learning how ethnographers immerse themselves in other people's culture. Sometimes all it takes is some time and a gift to be recognised as a good person, sometimes it takes more. One of my profs, a cultural anthropologist, during his field reaserch in a small village on hudson bay, was making no progress because nobody would talk to him--until he helped them bring boats ashore during a storm, which is nice.

Anyway, does anyone remember the pop "Mr. Green" by Sobe? It tasted like Dr. Pepper and was in a green bottle, but what was the actual color of the liquid, inside!? The last post by the way is sarcastic and a little bitter about not getting into battle of the bands for reasons I don't really get.

We got into battle of bands, Rem-Oh-Dee-Uh. Come see us april 13th at the int. center.

I don't know about you guys, but from now on, I'm going to type foofle.com

This week, I had an insane paper and presentation due Thursday about Native-American Musicians. Tuesday and Wednesday, I was going insane so I almost didn't finish: Sponge Bob Square Pants

Heidi's got this on tape.

Even odder preview of the show:


Anybody? Showtime? Ah well. I'll have to start reaserch on TV looking or the show will have to leak. Midnight Nap.

Say, does anyone know a TV that shows Showtime (no limits!)! In a hotel lobby maybe? Let me know soon, for This American Life, the TV version, is premiering the 22nd.

fun brook so far. lots of visiting. relaxation!

The video in the last post is so good; though, it might only make sense to you if you've seen The Summerstick, a near full-length documentary they showed last year at the EL film contests in wells.

Even though the soundtrack is stolen and the movie was made by kids my age, this little film (The Summerstick too) is better than anything Jeff and Ivan have made at MSU. My tips for them:

1) You can waste your time making bad movies, but don't dupe your interns into working night and day for you on a piece of shit. I realize that any experience is valuable, but it's just depressing when the finished product is The Final Curtain...If it's going to be bad, make it ironically bad. Like SAM raimy's The Evil Dead.

2) I realize that Jeff and Ivan are, you know, veterans in the industry and everything, but they need to realize that you can't make a movie if there's nothing in a script but a chupacabra plot(?)line--with no sense of humor. (Who writes a horror script about the legendary goat-sucking creature without making a few self-reflexive jokes about the ridiculousness of it?)

3) They can't rely on shirtless MSU film professeurs to provide all the chills.

4) Finally, they should rely on their interns' slave-labor for more than just menial tasks like mic'ing and heavy lifting. Some talented kid is going to win the Creative Writing Awards in scriptwriting this year and it will be better than anything Jeffy B. and Ivan R. have put together without the help of their brothers. What about using a good script?

Oh, I also feel the summerstick-shaped void.

My top five postmodern movies;

1) The Never Ending Story
2) Adaptation
3) Blade Runner
4) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
5) The Princess Bride?

This clip reminds me of the time I was fighting a grendel-like monster in the middle of an earthquake and there was a knife-shaped rock and I was lucky there was.

Telex.



You may notice that the lead singer is relaxed. He had this really cool and humble idea that pop music always should be light, and always disposable.

I'm thinking of a number between 450 and 850, do you know what it is? It's my fucking credit score.

Cool performance. But also, this video makes me feel better about past trumpet fracks and anti-climactic saw solos. Play it Laura!

[good day today]

Happy Victory in Europe Day everyone!

For some F.ruckus and some of Matt's pontifications musings, go to this page and under WDET Program Archives, go to "Front Row Center" for the fourth of February (2007) episode--3/4 of the way through.

The vulgar thus through imitation err;
As oft the learned by being singular.
So much they scorn the crowd that if the throng
By chance go right they purposely go wrong[...]

--Alexander Pope talking about indie-chic, three centuries into the future.

Strange Weekend:

Friday. Confused me and the Justin Timberlake party.

Saturday. Great band practice (which is a better stress relief than 20 of those little squishies), dinner with my dad and ben, and then a poetry/frontier-ruckus folks party mixed with unexpected things (foosball) and people (Ali, Killer Miller, Sara K., Carolyn, etc.)--all chased with the apple juice of these thoughts: 1) "must write." 2) "must read."

Sunday. The Powwow of Love at the field house: it's a very fun, very warm, very friendly place. Nobody could come-with, but it was nice going alone nevertheless. Met people; watched dancers. Ate fry-bread; drank cola. Then, I helped Seth and Natalie make my delicious dinner--spicy lentil soup and bread.

That north duh. That north duh coda!
That north duhha! That north explode's ya!
--lyrics by Zach Nichols
[I'm an idiot].

I went to the J.-T. party last night and against all expectations, and despite Ben's (and others') great costumes it wasn't very fun. Atmosphere was lacking something; I as in a weird mood, and there was a creepy guy hitting on everyone--no, not JPamp--another guy. A quote from him: " what would I have to say to get you to give me a massage?" That with his incessant back-rubbing left most of us wondering who he knew at the party. I was relieved to find out he was more than 4 degrees of separation from me [Creepy-guy :: random people down and hallway and to the left :: ~disconnect~ :: Ben P. :: Me]. Though, somehow I can empathise with him. Lately and often, I've been making a fool of myself, dishearteningly.

Friends got cought underaging it this weekend. I am untouched because I left the party early to do HW. Also, cops are mean.

It's recently come to my attention that the photagrapher or, at least, the saver of the digital photographs for the big green thinks I'm cute.

http://www.thebiggreen.net/article.php?id=653

Take a look at the picture of me playing saw 3/4ths down and check the properties or save it to see what it's saved under:


[f. ruckus cute guy with a ha(t)].

I want to thank all my buds who came to see Fruckus last night; and also, all the buds that tried to go but couldn't make it.

For Stew:

3 lamprey cleaned, peeled, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 carrots, peeled and diced into medium size chunks
1 yellow onion, diced into medium chunks
2 stalks celery, diced into medium chunks
2 cups hearty red wine
2 cups fortified veal stock
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste


Heat oil in a medium-size, heavy-gauge stock pot. Add lamprey and vegetables, then sear until vegetables are tender. Add the wine and reduce liquid by two-thirds. Add veal stock and bay leaf, reduce heat and simmer for 2 to 3 hours. Season with salt and pepper and serve on a bed of mashed potatoes as prepared below.

-Science News Online, "Food for Thought," August 10, 1996.

Ben and I just noticed that Little Pete's band The BlowHoles has a sitar-guitar player. I wonder if they borrowed it from Polaris.

It makes me want to put a buzzing bridge on my old Fender Squire.

I saw some folks from breathe owl breathe tonight and it was pretty. Aside from going there I learned how to One Man Jam which is not masturbating, it's more like playing paino and guitar and drums and rapping at the same time. Also, I saw other people and they were good. "It's later than you think."

My classes are all great so far, but aiming to be challenging. Poetry with Wakoski--Art History of China with Jing--Contemporary American-Indian Culture--and the Literature of the 18th Century with Arch. I think the two English classes will be the most time consuming, but the other two classes require almost as many readings. There are nine people in my Anthro class, the American-Indian class, so there's a lot of participation required: presentations, reaserch papers, and event reports (I plan on attending the East Lansing Pow-Wow of Love). I learned in my Lit class already that thomas jefferson never wrote his name with capitol T's or J's. It's undemocratic! That T and that J looming over the rest of the letters in his name so much like monarchs. in fact he wasn't for capitolizing the initial letters of sentences--same reason. also, I'm learning a lot about Neolithic Chinese culture from their pottery. the folks from the ancient city of Bopan made cool fish designs on their bowls, which may have doubled as urn caps. yep. in poetry, we're going to find our muses. and read our best poems tomorrow, which is scary. I know folks with five and a half classes, but I think all these intense classes are going to cut into my rowk time.

My theremin is alive and working and I can play all sorts of things on it, but it still needs some work. I'll get a picture up eventually and maybe a recording.

Over break I bought the new zelda game and I beat it today and was happy.

I found a tape recorder that had been lost for 6 months when I was home. Look forward to sound tapes friends...with theremin on them.

I read a really great short story over break, amongst other things. It's called 'after I was thrown in the river and before I drowned,' or similar, by Dave Eggers.

I had some F.ruckus things, which were great and La Remodea played with a drummer, Sandi's little bro, Ryan who could fit in nicely with us.

My mom got an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner for Christmas and it vibrates in such a way that, through the air, it cleans my brain too. Yay (ouch)!

Last night, I visited my Dad and got some gifts and gave some gifts and then I worked on my theremin deep into the night. The front panel is complete! And it looks really cool! And all I need to do now is connect it to the main circuit board and then buy/attach the antennae to the box! Yay!

I forgot to post something about the most recent detroit night: The Train Station. It's insane. And by insane I mean haunted, yet seductive. Like a ghost candybar.

That's not him! Nor is that the guy! <---worst obscure reference ever.

Ben and I went to zeitgeist last night to see (L)oretta and the Larkspurs. It ended up not being the Larkspurs, but instead, a combination the Larkspurs and some solo performers--a really hip group on a really cool looking stage complete with dolls and a scarvèd, moving bass drum. They played “Hello, my baby!” amongst other covers and originals, all sort of creepy and old timey which worked with the atmosphere. 'The Winged Lady' was the closer…I probably won’t forget the song or the lady.

Later, we ate the local Château de Blanc and then took a tour of Milford. As part of it, we stopped at the new hookah bar where we ran into Skody and couldn’t figure out the house flavor-mix. I think there's strawberry in it. And watermelon?

The theremin is going to be harder to make than I thought—I found a good casing for it, but I just found out that the instructions assume that you've ordered the optional (and lame) casing, so there’s nothing about what size to cut holes etc. But, I’ll figure it out and I’ll finish before break’s over.

More than 1/2 done with theremin--I need to work out a casing for all the circuits. Also, I'm still alive with minimal brain damage.

Theremin making is...tedious. Here's a record of my thoughts while trying to find a resistor:

"Brown black red, where's that brown black red...no, that's red brown black, that's brown black orange, there's another brown black orange. I should put all the resistors together, diodes look too similar. Nope. Ah, there it is! brown black red. Is that too much solder? Naw. I feel dizzy. Is it the fumes? I should use a fan. But how bad could lead be really, the Greeks used it for plumbing, the Romans for plates--never mind. I should use a fan…the next resistor is purple red orange. I just saw that one...!"

Yeah, how 'bout that. Anyway, I'm in Milford and it is great. I watched Tuj- play some FF12, which is not better than 7 (yet) and I played some banj- (thanks Heid-'s).

I picked up my Wakoski-poetry final paper today--it had the long division done right on the first page. And, the grade was a relief because I'm never sure how my revisions are going to be taken in that class. My other classes, IAH 208 in particular, are more precarious. But, I'm looking forward to the Detroit concert Saturday.

Is it the chrismas glow swarming or the christmas glow's warming?

Is everyone looking forward to christmas? Do we all still get good presents? Mary M., Matt's Mom, has doozie of a present planned for him, she told me. Ben P's present from his roommate is something grand too, (in an inside joke sort of way), a Kenny Loggins concert.

uhhhhh, Serge Gainsbourg?:

The show at (scene) metrospace was pretty good I think. Everyone played awful well and many a zach-friend came.

This morning, at 6:45, I was up to see the ROTC running around campus and screaming there little heads off. Ugh, a rush of poems and papers for class has me in a funk--Everything social and academic gets concentrated in these last few days.

Just got out of a good poetry class--our second to last session this semester. Randall felt spewy and had to leave. Tune in tomorrow for the Ann Arbor Radio thing (see previous post) and come to the show Saturday if you can. It's right on abbott street at the place with the TV's in the windows: (Scene) Metrospace. Also, April 13th is a Friday--already looking forward to it.

Friends, if you live in Ann Arbor you should, on wednesday, 9ish, tune in to WBCN, 88.3, to listen to FFFFFFrontier Ruckusususus play a little from radioland. Better yet, come to the studio and give me a hug and wish me luck and listen with your portoradio in the cold outside the studio.

If you don't live in ann arbor or have a radio you should tune in from www.WCBN.org

Did anyone else read about Tom Tancredo's visit to MSU? He's great...I happened to read the best blog ever about him today. And because of its compelling arguments on the subject of immigration reform, I just can't not support Tom Tancredo for president, 2008! *shudder*


Tancredo on Miami: "It has become a Third World country....You would never know you're in America."

Interestingly, the blog cites MSU as being "one of the most conservative strong holds [sic] in the Midwest." Disgusting—I was hoping that however loud the College Republicans, Kyle "freedom fighter" Bristol, and his followers (YAF) were getting, they wouldn’t be confused with the rest of the populous at MSU, which is either apathetic or diametrically opposed to conservative causes. In spite of a minority of scary people, East Lansing is a college town, and certainly not a conservative stronghold.

La Remodea did a near impromtu concert at some co-op tonight--and it rocked! Natey Bliton took the drums for a song called J.S.M. and it was beautiful; t'was La Remodea's first time they played that song live too.

Anyway, afterwords we went to Ben's and it was pretty fun--beers and buds, but I headed home due to tiredness, spaciness, happiness and homework.

The concert went well--I really liked segernomics (magnus organ) and camerata (xylo and 2 glocks).

Also, the word wasn't popular until Edison recommended it for telephone usage. Good-bye.

I saw Colbert's condemnation of the decemberists coming as soon as they started their greenscreen contest without crediting the best pundit ever. Lame. If you take an idea, you should at least allude to who had it.


In other news the wii is cool, but I might rent the zelda game for gamecube over break and try to beat it in 5, or whatever, days. Also, ff12 because it's supposed to be great.



Fruckus concert right now, gotta go.

Today, my Journalism Prof., Bonnie Bucqueroux, expounded on the importance of keeping one's blog updated, so:

1) Last week a PE teacher, and wrestling coach from my school was arrested for something that was thoroughly suspected by us students but not from him.

2) For fun, I've been messing around with guitar tunings and lately; mostly, I've been working on modifying the Ripley (believe it or not), which is a guitar with strings all tuned to the same note. It's been giving the guitar a sound similar to an indian banjo, except for the low notes, which sound distinctly guitary. I've been messing around with the Ripley form by replacing one or two of the unison notes with a major or minor 3rd, or a 4th, or a 5th--with interesting sounding, if not interesting to explain, results.

3) With some help, I've been writing a christmas song. It's about Jasper, one of the magi, and his trip to see the baby christ. I turn him into a cowboy and he wears a hankerchief.

To my Secular Friends: Don't fear, I haven't been 'saved' or anything...Fruckus has just been asked to do a Christmas song for a compilation and I'm giving it a try.

To my Religious Friends: Hallelujah!

4) Speaking of F. Ruckus, we just got done with basically all the recording except bass. Our recording engineer, Vince, isn't happy with the EQ of the tracks layed down previously, so we need Eli to redo them, all of them. Vince is almost certainly right, but...I wish we were done already.

5) Speaking of talented musicians recording, La Remodea has been making a demo that's coming along ok. Songs worked on so far in the secret sessions include Oak Grove and Central Park. Songs left to do include JSM; Too Cool, Too Coy; According to Wikipedia; and Gal Cadet. I plan on doing most of that Tuesday night.

6) I would like a wii because of the new Zelda game. I think I'm going hang out with Seth M. over break in Spring Arbor and watch him buy one. Sigh.

7) Over break, I'll be having big meals with my families in Farmington and Milford. Farmington on Thursday and Milford on Friday.

8) Of Montreal is sold out now I guess, but I can't help but love the absolute correctness in the choice of "Every Day Feels Like Sunday," for a stock market commercial. The story of the song is about a guy recovering from suicidal depression--the commercial doesn't last quite long enough for us to hear "I get further and further, away from the fall," but isn't that perfect for a NASDAQ commercial? Of course I don't approve, but I can shrug it off because at least they put thought into it:

ARgamdasd, Temple Club is closed down indefinately as of yesterday--I called to confirm the rumor today:

*ring*
lady: Temple Club?

me: Hi, I heard a rumor that you were closing, is that true?

lady: yeah,

me: ok, thanks.
*click*
*sobbing*

I hated, playing upstairs because of the awful sound, but where are bands going to play now? Animal-Collective-type popularish bands won't fit at mac's.

I heard that there used be a cool spot underneith Beggars Banquet. Lizard Lounge or something, the stones played there? Anyway, is mac's really the only cool venue left? What about The Litterbox? Magdolina's? Gone Wireless Cafe? The Gilchrist Pub?



Also, I got this late today:

Greetings Temple Club Friends,

���

��� I'm sorry to have to pass this information along, but effective immediately the Temple Club is closed for business.� I would like to thank each and every one of you that has supported us over the last five years.� We have had a great run with many adventures, but the time has come for us to close.� To all of the patrons; we could not have lasted this long without you.� To all of the performers; we owe a huge debt of gratitude to each and every one of you for every person you ever brought into the club.� To our staff; you will forever be family.

��� For those of you that have purchased tickets for upcoming Temple Club shows, refunds will be available at point of purchase.

�

Thanks again Lansing.

�

Jerome White

Temple Club General Manager�

(Compare to this)

I wish of Montreal would quit that shit. Does every band that can sell out, sell out?

P.S. Don't eat at outback.

UNDERPANTS!
This little skit reminded me of the tiny toons episode where the baby daffy duck character starts flushing everything down the toilet. Cute!

Yes, we folked those peoples' brains out and it was fun, but now a break in the F. Ruckus concert calender.

The last two albums I've procured have been the new Decemberists and the new of Montreal--I'm just starting to get into both at once. And even if The Crane Wife has no pirate songs, and Hissing Fauna: Are You the Destroyer? marks Kevin Barnes' complete tranformation into Prince, I still love them both.

About to go to the Punk Vs...concert and I'm excited. We're going to folk those peoples brains out!

Tomorrow there's a frontier ruckus concert at Temple Club--Punks Vs. Pokes. We're the pokes.

Anyways, me and some folks went entering this weekend and it was an adventure. Entering is when you go visit a building that's dark and empty:
And, I don't know how much you guys are into really awesome stories, but there's a million of them in the archives of this american life's website.

Could someone explain to me the hand/whatever through glass trick? Is it a trap door?

I saw this on TV where david blaine or someone just like him crawled through a deli window--more recently I saw this:



anyone?

My friend heidoid made a movie this summer with her Fargo friends and film society.

Popfest memories:

Yeah, so a band I really wanted to see when I got down here is called the visitations. the visitations used to be Fable Factory but they broke up due mostly to some e6 gossip stuff. We weren't disapointed. the visitations were excellent and later, when we went to go say something to the guy before we left, (we had been up for 40+ hours), he seemed really excited to have Fable Factory (FF) fans there for him (actually, he kissed both of us). Great guy!

Then he, Davey, told us why they broke up and expressed his grief that, though his Fable Factory partner, Johnson, was in GA, he wasn't coming to the athens popfest. We told davey about our favorite FF song and he told us it was also Johnson's favorite--then Davey asked us to email Johnson at suchandsuch an email address. We were to write him to ask, as two fans, to come and play. So, we emailed him yesterday and today we got a the mailer daemon. Maybe it needs and underscore?

Anyway, lots of fun down here. 80 music shops on each corner, great liberal styled nicknack etc. stores, yummy vego-cuisine. The heat.

Greetings from Georgia. My last day of work was last friday. I'll miss not speaking spanish every day, but I won't miss the labor and boredom that went along with trabajo del fabrica (sp sandi?).

That night, the night I quit, ben and I met up and went to Sara's party which was a lot of fun--I met a one friend of Sara's and one interest, both shy and nice. The next day, we recorded a final draft of Sweatpants Kid, but had a horrible time trying to send it to Heidoid for use in her movie. In fact it wasn't properly sent when we had to leave for Milford to meet up with Amy and the gang to go up to Tawas. When we got back we tried again, but outragous computer issues ensued again and it only partially worked out for us, before we were off for Athens. Athens, Ga.

Ok, you have to admitt that Zidane is a good guy though.

Today, I finished a 66 hour work week, yo estoy cansado!

Italy won the world cup. I'm glad they won, but I was rooting for France, at least for the first part.

For most of the game it was 1x1 and then Italy scored a goal but it was discounted due to a bad off-sides call (so I wouldn't have been happy with France unless they won by two points, anyway). Then, in the second over time, France's best player, Zidane, who was/is retiring after this World Cup, head-butted some Italian player just because he said something. So yeah, France deserved to lose.

I am the grunt!

Soccer today during lunch break, caliente!

Been looking for a job a lot lately, listening to NPR, playing guitar, and hanging out with the gang members. Today there was a fly over for the parade, it was rumbly. I imagined I was being bombed and that was scary.

I apologize folks for not updating, but I find solace in the fact that I've been updating more often then Seth's academic comic-blog, Logos.

Elodea is dead, but will be reborn as another band when Ben and I do some recording work the weekend of June 1st, probably in GR. I've been using the trumpet a lot lately to make loops and stuff and Ben's been recording a new song about one of this nation's great colleges--can you guess which one? No, not MSU.

The job hunt is slow, but I think I'm onto something. I'll update you if I get one. I have a lot to save up for, so far I have $10 towards the list. Did you see the new Zelda stuff from E3?

I'm back in milford. Comfy bed.

Today, I was writing my final paper that I wasn't doing too well on for a class that I'm not doing too well inand I wanted to double check the defintion of the word foil before I used it to describe a character. But, when I typed it in to dictionary.com I made the Freudian mistake of putting an "a" where "o" belonged. I'm such a bad student.

First it was the freshman fifteen

Now it’s the sophomore slump

Why must alliteration control my life the way it does?

Milford Album (Milford Memories)

1. Central Park
2. Highland
3. According to Wikipedia, The Elves of Milford
   
4. East Street, and Commerce
   
5. Maybe She Died, our first Milford Highschool Reuinion
   
6. Too Cool, to Coyly, or Romance at Milford High
7. J.S.M. or Milford Memories
8. Oak Grove
9. Central Park Part 2
10. Milford Historical Society
11. The Ice Festival
    
12. The Old Church (Hypnotist Clinic)
    
13. The Inventor Weeps for his Mills and power plants (secret track: Where the Helium Goes From Milford Memory Balloons)
14. Farewell to our Friend who left Milford (Claire Song).
    

Here's a poem I wrote, which received mixed reviews, about the Wakoskiness transcribed in my last post, doublespaced for your editing pleasure:

Ringed

say the Californian Desert has a

snake even you don’t yet know about.

stretched out,

it’s shorter than a one-dollar bill;

coiled up,

it’s rounder than a quarter—

yeah, a quarter—

with guess-who hissing silver, well, mostly copper,

excuses for his leftmost finger.

this snake’s bitten me there,

at my finger’s root,

and it didn’t unbite me,

even as my pinky,

(which quickly became my bluey,

then my purpley,)

began to die—now,

I’m afraid I’m drinking tea politely,

with my blacky finger extended, and

adorned, you could say,

with my fierce, little companion,

whom luckily,

is venomous enough for

only one small finger, that I never really used

for much. Though,

it was helpful for some guitar chords,

scratching an itchy ear,

the shocker, (of course),

and making promises with left-handed friends.

and sometimes, it talks to me,

but I can’t understand it.

conversation’d be tough enough without

its face stubborn in death-flesh, still,

I ask, can it feel around in there,

with its forked-tongue,

for what nation’s moniker is carved into

my piano-key bones?

and sometimes, when I think I notice a change in color,

I think it must be reminding

me what mood I’m in, but then

I remember how mood-snakes work—

cold-bloods can’t tell a bad or nice temper!

it’s never green and yellow—it’s

always, always chartreuse!

that desert sense of temperature must be off

in Midwest sands.

and sometimes, on late dune walks, or

in quiet, white, museums,

I think I hear it thinking

through my finger to my palm,

elbow, armpit, throat,

and brain: “take me off, you phony!

pry me off, for your sake!,

you look ridiculous!”

But, I know what happens when you do. The

black-moon boy—

he became poet too, but only sort of:

no more “pinky-ring shit.”

We assumed

his would evaporate by midday,

anyway.

But, my ring and I must,

hold fast in our judgments,

like a toupee-wearing gentleman

that’s been laughed at and by his coworkers—

you know, back in Washington’s day,

even wigs were cool.

But my chance to wear it and

not be embarrassed, in my

pinky of pinkies, I know

is gone with the 60s—

you’ll see the decline marked in history-book timelines someday.

oh, I hope you don’t hate me for being obstinate,

it’s just that now the snake ring is rebellious, but

when next it sheds its skin,

I’ll let you have it, if you like.

Transcript of rings on little fingers:

I think that once of things that’s actually gotten me well through life so that I don’t have to get angry about things like our current political situation is that I’ve always had these very strong black and white views of things and I think of them as my prejudices and I live with them because I think they show me how to live in a good way. One of my prejudices, and don’t ask me where it came from because, truly, I do not know and I doubt a psychiatrist could figure it out either, but I have always thought, that people, but particularly men, that where rings on their little fingers are fakes and phonies, they’re superficial, they’re amateurs—they don’t know what they’re doing, they’re pretending to be something they’re not.--*laughter*--And, well, it’s useful to have these, so I don’t need to talk to a man with a ring on his little finger--*laughter*--whatever, or that’s why he doesn’t love me: he has a ring on his little finger. Um, and you’ll notice, that I really always have been ringless. Twice in my life, I’ve had rings and they’ve always been disasters and fortunately haven’t lasted very long, but rings of course are traditionally symbols of power. I wrote this poem in the late 60s and I had gone to the Guggenheim Museum to hear poetry reading by a poem by a poet who I loved then and I love now, Gary Snyder, and of course, those of you who know Gary Snyder and his work, know that there’s no way you could call this guy who lives without plumbing and electricity, you know, phony or superficial—he’s a person who has always involved with all the things are genuine sincere—all the things that the 60s were about. So, I was backstage talking to someone and imagine what I felt when I looked over and saw that Gary was wearing a ring on his little finger—*laughter*--Oh I knew I’d have to do something with that.

Ringless:

I cannot stand (this is one of my angry poems, right).I can not stand the man who wears a ring on his little finger.A white peacock walking on the moon,Splinters of silver dust his body. But the Greek man George Washington, cracked in half in my living room one day and I saw that he was made of marble with black veins. It does not justify the ring to say someone gave it to you and the little finger is the only one it would fit. It does not justify to say Cocteau wore one. And still made the man burst silently through the mirror. Many beautiful poems have been made with rings worn on the little finger *laughter* That isn’t the point! Flaubert had jasper, Lorca had jade, Dante had amber, and browning had carnelian, George Washington had solid gold, Even Kelly once wore a scarab there, but I am telling you I can not stand a man who wears a ring on his little finger. He may indeed run the world--that does not make him any better in my needle point eyes *laughter* walleye? is a storm, there were heaps of fish lying shimmering in the sun with red gashes still heaving and the mounds were knee-deep with lovers they were gold and green with glass balls bobbing in their nets on the wave. there were black-eyed men with hair all over their bodies. there were black-skirted women baking break and there were gallons and gallons of red wine. the girl spilled one drop of hot wax on her lover’s neck as she glanced at his white teeth and *loud cough* thick?hands? there were red and silver snakes coiling around the legs of the dancers there was hot sun and there was no torrent?? How do I reconcile these images with our cool president George Washington walking the street, Every bone in my body is Ivory and has the word “America” carved on it, but my head takes me away from furniture and pewter to the sun tugging at my nipples and trying to squeeze under my toes. The sun appeared in the shape of a man and he had a ring made of sun around his glittered finger, “it will burn up your hand,” I said. But he made motions in the air and passed by. The moon appeared the shape of a young negro boy and he had a ring made of dew around his little finger, “you’ll lose it” I said. But he touched my face not losing a drop and passed through. Then I saw Alexander Hamilton whom I loved and he had a ring on his little finger but he wouldn’t touch me and Lorca had rings around both his little fingers and suddenly everyone I knew appeared and they all had ring around their little fingers and I was the only one in the world left without any rings on any of my fingers whatsoever, and worst of all there was George Washington walking down the senate aisles with a ring on his little finger, managing the world. Managing my world. That’s what I mean. You wear a ring a ring on your little finger and you manage my world. And I am ringless--Ringless; I cannot stand the man who wears a ring on his little finger. Not even if it is you.

Job huntin'!

Ok so there's this band that I sorta like despite the fact that it sounds like one big inside joke and that it only came out with one album, and that I can only really listen to 3 or 4 songs without cringing. It's called Major Organ and the Adding Machine and it's an early collaboration of Elephant Six members, but the names of the members have never been released. However, you can hear Jeff Mangum, Kevin Barnes, and Julian Koster's voice on the album. And, I found on the elf power website, in a listing of their shows, a concert that they had with Major Organ--the members present were listed:

Jill Carnes, Julian Koster, Jeff Mangum, Corin Tucker.

Also elephant 6 related:

I really, really want to see this movie (there's more information on it here). It's all made by people in bands I really like--it's probably very weird.

Man, Lucero.

Also, I have a title for poem coming up: The Anti-Semitic Vehicular Defenestration of an Anne Frank/Holocaust Documentary. It's about this kid in my 8th grade class that threw a movie out of a bus window. Later, in my senior year of highschool, I would see him knocking out/killing some rolly pollies with "FlyNap" which would trigger my memory of the time in 8th grade.

--deep outside, the sirens wailing far from me on this still night--

We were feeding ducks at midnight because we had some left over pizza crust from seth's pizza and we wanted an adventure. One of the ducks was named limpy and we gave him the most bread.

This was the night after we entered the abandoned building that used to be a bank that used to be a movie theater next to sushi-ya. After feeling this rush, we decided to look around campus for other places to be entered. Almost as soon as we got to the aud, we found a place to get in (that was open), but we dared not to enter because of some constantly flickering red lights, some tapping and some voices--or did we dare after all?

We decided to come back, but after first walking over to kresge where Natalie saw a cat-raccoon. Her calls were unsuccessful so we wandered around until we came to an entrance into a garage-type structure full of ovens and kilns and clay. It was cool looking, but we didn't explore further into the building due to odd hooks and a work-in-progress, a hat and a coat, and an open water bottle at a desk.

Then, we went back to the aud and entered at the place we found before. The clicking was just a blown out exit sign and the voices were echos mixed with loose imaginations. The first room we entered was a storage room where we found a ye olde mountain dew jug that I want to take a picture with some time, a guitar case, many trunks and knick-knacks, a violin and case, and many other stage props for the theater down there in the basement. Upon further exploration, we, Natalie, saw a mannequin room which in the dark was as creepy as you can imagine, and a bathroom where Seth could wash out his finger-cut from first coming in the building. We gave eachother 'lifts' out of place.

The places that we went into this weekend have more to be discovered, so we'll have to go back.

doo digadoo--dig--dig--dig--dooo= A--G#--F#--E--A

"Stupid fucking horse anatomy!" is being yelled in my room by the studying kind! "Oh Clam anatomy!"

I was reading about this one tree that Charlemagne took time to burn down. A pagan idol, it was supposed to be invinsible. Somehow I doubt there were too many converts out of that transaction though.

Here's the state news story on the battle of the bands--it's an interest story told from Bad Mamma Jamma's perspective. It explains why the journalist seemed upset when she came by to interview Matt.

This has been a very Frontier Ruckus weekend:

First,We played at battle of the bands.
Then, we did well. And many a wonderful friend and fan came to root us on.
Third, we all celebrated.
Fourth, we recorded in the Landon basement for most of the next day.
Then, we recorded in the com. arts building, until late.
Finally, we recapped the weekend with a delightful breakfast at IHOP (thank you Eli and Matt).

This scares me because its creator is completely serious. Check out his profile, by the way--speaking in tongues? Scary.

Speaking of creators, Taaja posted an awesome video of this guy's PC game he invented called spore. It's pretty amazing.

So this guy writes poetry with page/breaks and it starts a national discussion about paper waste. Ecologists protest, ecology poets are confused, or take sides, the apologists of/for poetry recite at the top of their lungs, red in the face: CREATIVITY, FREEDOM OF POETICS, ETC.!

I have written the worst paper I've ever written and the worst paper I'll ever write. I could list the things that went wrong on it, but they would make you cringe, then cry. And that would be mean of me to make you cringe, or cry. No I won't list them. It's too embarrasing. No. Fine, I will:

1. Too short (by more than half).
2. Blue ink.
3. Printer messed up making somewords almost illegible.
   
4. We had an assigned title--I used my own.
5. I forgot to attach the works cited page.
6. I'm pretty sure I accidently copied down the wrong page # once or twice for the in-texts.
7. It was a bad thesis in the first place.

I'm sorry, here's a napkin.

I was watching the Jeopardy rerun just now and I saw that a commercial for the local 10 news channel. Among the list of headlines and Skysearch 10,000 nonsense, there was something about how "it's saint patricks day on the MSU campus and there's also basketball game. Cops are ready for anything. Jeez." *cue scary-news music*

Wren-Ovation

So, last thursday, I think, I ran into this old friend of mine named Wren. The last time I saw her was back in Sylvan, Michigan probably the last day of my 8th-grade year.
I had a huge crush on her. I visited her and she gave me a hug and said she missed me. the end.

Just got back from a frontier ruckus gig at the detroit film center where we were the soundtrack to an old, old movie. It went great!

So matt then had this idea where--matt owns a projector by the way--we would film, or at least play, footage behind all of the frontier ruckus shows. Which is cool and OTC like. I wish I had a projector. At least a camera.

Schedule:

Wednesday: meet pa for lunch, 11:30. UPDATE: I'm going to ann arbor tonight, ambitiously, so I can be at the blind pig at 11:30 in the morning.
Thursday: of Montreal in the evening--must get there early as there are a limited amount of reserve tickets.
Friday: Spring Arbor is on. 12-ish-evening-ish? Depending on the tour.
Sat-Sun: Free.

Do Milford people want to hang out? I don't really have any homework...Use the comments to organize when you want to see Zach.

Forget what I said about that elodea-listening in the submission office being a good sign. We weren't one of the top 11 demos there--we're not in. I've been looking foreward to this for too long...sigh. I think the overall shittiness of the recordings and their lack of drums was a major problem.

Next year it's possible we'll have a place to practice and a place to record etc. but 'next years' don't always pan out as Ben and I've been planning this battle of the battle of bands since last march. I just wish I had something else going for me.

What's good though is that Frontier Ruckus made it and I know Molly-Jean made it, so congratulations to Matt and Molly--their songwriting is great.

I'm home and my bed is comfy and clean. And though the suberu is hurt with two flats and a dead battery, I am confident that I can repair it and go to Farmington, Ann, and Spring Arbor.

However, The action stops here, on 522 East Commerce, at 10:30 most fridays.

Heidi called and left a message today when my phone was napping. She was submitting her movie AJ Goes to France (in theater's soon) to the EL film contest the secretaries were listening to some Elodea from our submitted 6-song demo. A good sign? Heidi and I think so.

Also, I wrote a poem the other day that my great poetry prof. liked, which made me feel great. It was about ice-cream, YUM! A flirtatious poem, it characterized my personality as I exited that class and the building. Oh the songwriting and short stories! The poems! I've been feeling creative lately because I've had to.

MSU changed its website this morning. Now, it displays the apparent ugliness of our school and a change of mascots from the lesser-respected Sparty to the professors of this institution and, of course, the god-being that is Tom Izzo.
http://www.msu.edu/

Come to the Frontier Ruckus show Tuesday, February 28th at 8:00 at the Temple Club. Arrange rides using the blogger comments under this post! Also, it costs money. $7?

I just got back from the there's Stars in your Bones concert. I played the saw mostly and it went well, importantly. I'm glad it's over: those rehearsals this week, though fun, were eating up my life. Taaja and Seth came to see the concert, they weren't too bored.

And Ben called this morning from somwhere, it was great.

Also, I need money and or stamps to send him a couple american items. If you'd like to donate you can reach me at:

nicholsz@msu.edu

You will recieve a poem written about the topic of your choice for just $1.25 and an song (with MP3) for $2.50.

So much creative stuff to do! Last night, I locked myself in a practice room and didn't come out until I had a song. There were daybirds peaking beyond the dormroofs by that time! Tweet! The guitar tuning I used was AAABBB! It sounds Indian, but it's a song about the Old Order of Mennonites!

Ma's horse-drawn McCormick reaper, that hand-me-down sickle keeper,
"it dragged him" my father's yellin', "for as far as, there's no tellin'" and so on.

Yeah, I knew I'd write about my Kansas cousins someday. Speaking of that side of the family, my Pa's engaged to Karen, his girlfriend for a while now. I'll looking to pick up a lot of steps. 39?

So today I was quail hunting and... just kidding. ha.

I'm translating one of my haiku from an american one to a british one. Don't forget to use a british accent.

vibrating mobiles
in ecology lecture
croaking pocket frogs

laters

Yeah, poetry. I wrote 12 haiku and one or two worked like they're supposed to. I was happy with myself. Also, I've been writing songs and short stories. This semester is great at forcing me to be creative. You should try one like mine sometime.

Here's the haiku that wakoski and natalie liked best:

vibrating cell phones
in ecology lecture--
croaking pocket frogs

Here's the poem that randal, my friend from that class and songwriting, liked best:

shipwreck survivors
bobbing in the water white
a balanced breakfast

Some other people liked this one:

green yellow brown black
they don't last too long, do they,
banana seasons?