Yikes. That's not something I'll attempt again for at least a year. I was talking with a friend today about the idea that as I get older I become more insular and detached from people. I know a part of it is getting involved in the projects I find myself spending all of my time on. Lincoln Calling this year was such a huge part of my life once summer rolled around. A lot of my friends were out of town on internships or having graduated moved away for jobs.
But it was fun (for the most part) to work on Lincoln Calling this year, and seeing so many of my friends at the shows this weekend felt great. I saw displays of raw emotion that are rare in some of the people I know. And knowing that I contributed to an all out dance party at Box Awesome was a great feeling as well.
One of my favorite moments was walking into Duffy's Tavern while Gito Gito Hustler was playing and there was a standing room only crowd in the music room. Smiles everywhere and a band full of Japanese girls on stage with the lead singer in a heavy accent yelling "are you ready to rock and roll?!" The crowd responded with a resounding yes.
People who interviewed me in the media asked "why, why do you do this Jeremy?" And I might have been able to give them a stock answer at the time, but I managed to put some thought into really answering the question.
I know a part of it is my ego. I want to prove to myself and everyone else that I can handle the challenge of something this big and arduous and be successful when it's go time. Is the monetary pay out at the end of the day worth the time that I put in? No? Do I feel validated when people tell me I did a good job of putting it together? Not really. But seeing people let themselves go, if only for a little while, and knowing I played a little part in that feeling that I love so much in myself, is all I think I really need.
I know I'm gaining invaluable experience that I'll be able to use in some occupation later in life...maybe. If anything I'm passing the time until something better comes along.
Goodbye LC '07, it was a good run.
10.07.2007
8.01.2007
Thoughts on Lincoln Calling preparation
It's crunch time guys. Last few weeks before school starts and I still need to confirm with at least ten bands. Some of those not yet confirmed are pretty close to it, but not definite. I'd like for them to be so I can start spreading the word in earnest. At least the weekend is a little later this year so I have some time to work with.
It's great to think that this is something that I do the bulk of the work putting it together. When the weekend comes I sometimes feel like downtown Lincoln is all mine for three days. But until that weekend I have a lot of anxiety and stress that comes from doing this in my spare time. It's still work, but it's work I do after I do the stuff that I get paid to do.
But I think all in all I've had a rather productive summer. I wrote probably 40 articles, reviewed 20 or so CDs, worked 30+ hours a week at a warehouse and found a job bartending. I'm still broke all the time, but at least I'm progressing.
Listen to kexp.org, it's good stuff.
It's great to think that this is something that I do the bulk of the work putting it together. When the weekend comes I sometimes feel like downtown Lincoln is all mine for three days. But until that weekend I have a lot of anxiety and stress that comes from doing this in my spare time. It's still work, but it's work I do after I do the stuff that I get paid to do.
But I think all in all I've had a rather productive summer. I wrote probably 40 articles, reviewed 20 or so CDs, worked 30+ hours a week at a warehouse and found a job bartending. I'm still broke all the time, but at least I'm progressing.
Listen to kexp.org, it's good stuff.
6.04.2007
On a ratings scale of 0-6
I have no idea where I'd rate on the Kinsey scale. Even after I finished "The Inner Circle" this morning after waiting the whole weekend to read the last 20 pages. Guess that's what happens when you have to leave the book at work.
Another offering from T.C. Boyle, and I'm realizing I think I've already read his best works in "Drop City" and "The Tortilla Curtain." "The Inner Circle" is a fictitious account of the period of time when Dr. Alfred Kinsey was doing his now famous sex research. Told from the point of view of an assistant, it blends facts with a fictional story to give Boyle a background in which to tell a story about sex and ultimately love.
An interesting story, but it dragged on (430 pages) and ultimately the point was something he could've gotten to much quicker. Still like his writing style, just wish he had stronger plots at times.
I'm al
most done with "Fast Food Nation," which I'd been reading at home but I picked it up at work after finishing the Boyle, since it is also in stock at the warehouse. I wonder how long it will be until I eat fast food again. It's been more than a week now and I don't even want to buy hamburger at the store and cook it myself. A fantastic story in its own right, a non-fiction documentary style account of how fast food became a national obsession and all of the costs, economical and human that have come with the transformation. It name drops Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" a lot, a 1906 account of what kind of conditions meat packers worked in in Chicago's meatpacking district. might be worth picking up as well.
But I think when I'm done with this one I'm going to try and find something a little fluffier. Or the new Chuck Pahlaniuk. One of the two.
I grabbed The Police's new double disc greatest hits collection and I think I'm having a rediscovery of how good classic rock can be. At work we listen to a lot of classic stuff on the radio and I hear songs from time to time and I realize that I miss them. Being super hip and keeping up on the next big thing has its drawbacks. At times it seems like every band has a very short shelf life and for the most part bands are more likely to break up than make even five albums, making it difficult to find long lasting loyalty to any given band.
Go Pink Floyd!
Another offering from T.C. Boyle, and I'm realizing I think I've already read his best works in "Drop City" and "The Tortilla Curtain." "The Inner Circle" is a fictitious account of the period of time when Dr. Alfred Kinsey was doing his now famous sex research. Told from the point of view of an assistant, it blends facts with a fictional story to give Boyle a background in which to tell a story about sex and ultimately love.
An interesting story, but it dragged on (430 pages) and ultimately the point was something he could've gotten to much quicker. Still like his writing style, just wish he had stronger plots at times.
I'm al
most done with "Fast Food Nation," which I'd been reading at home but I picked it up at work after finishing the Boyle, since it is also in stock at the warehouse. I wonder how long it will be until I eat fast food again. It's been more than a week now and I don't even want to buy hamburger at the store and cook it myself. A fantastic story in its own right, a non-fiction documentary style account of how fast food became a national obsession and all of the costs, economical and human that have come with the transformation. It name drops Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" a lot, a 1906 account of what kind of conditions meat packers worked in in Chicago's meatpacking district. might be worth picking up as well.But I think when I'm done with this one I'm going to try and find something a little fluffier. Or the new Chuck Pahlaniuk. One of the two.
I grabbed The Police's new double disc greatest hits collection and I think I'm having a rediscovery of how good classic rock can be. At work we listen to a lot of classic stuff on the radio and I hear songs from time to time and I realize that I miss them. Being super hip and keeping up on the next big thing has its drawbacks. At times it seems like every band has a very short shelf life and for the most part bands are more likely to break up than make even five albums, making it difficult to find long lasting loyalty to any given band.
Go Pink Floyd!
6.02.2007
The Icky Shuffle
more like the WinAmp shuffle since I'm not a big fan of iTunes. Maybe I should be. I made a playlist of all the random songs I have on my computer that aren't in a folder for a particular album to see what kind of stuff I've picked up over the last three years (length of time I've owned this piece. It's all over the place, songs like Garth Brooks' "Somewhere Other Than the Night" and Toni Braxton's "Just Another Sad Love Song" I don't think you'd expect to find on my computer. But there are some treasures that I would never think to just listen to just because, like School of Fish's "Three Strange Days" and The Toadies "Possum Kingdom." That Toadies song comes on the box sometimes at the Watering Hole and it's always a treasure.
Went to Art Walk First Friday for the first time last night. Got downtown a little late because I was procrastinating but it's great to see a vibrant arts community out and about. Saw a lot of people I knew and more that I didn't but in all I was impressed with the amount of people roaming from gallery to gallery. My friend Alyssa came along and told me about a list she's compiling called 1001 things to do in 101 days. Obviously supposed to be sort of motivating and full of things you don't usually do or have thought about attempting but haven't yet.
I know of a couple things that will probably make my list:
____ number of pushups. Will have to do the math and come up with a reasonable number, like 2,000 or something. That's only twenty a day.
Talk to my brother Jason, it's been more than two years since we last spoke.
Write my brother David a letter. He will never talk again and that's a shame, but he can hear just fine so I'll have to put that on there.
Email my friend Jacob. He emailed probably ten days ago and I haven't replied yet. We met in fourth grade (1987) so we've known each other 20 years. Long time. Good memories, and bad times that are laughable now, like fighting each other when we were on the same soccer team. Then we went to the baseball card shop and bought and opened a box worth of 1988 Score.
Send my mom a poem I wrote her on her birthday when I was a junior in high school, it's pretty basic and not at all good, but the sentiment is there. I'll share it with ya:
She
Special times in our lives, those are times we do hold dear.
Those times are over oh too soon, that's the time that we do fear.
We're here right now so live today as if it were your last,
'Cause when you're done you can't go back to it that was your past.
Tomorrow is forever; today is just for now,
if you've never lived before today I'll show you how,
because eternity is a long time for me not to have shown,
all the emotions and the feelings I wish she would've known.
pretty corny if you ask me. Instead of ever sending it to moms I wrote it on a little piece of paper and stuck it in my crush's locker while I was pretending to go to the bathroom. I saw her read it after class but I never told her it was me.
The day's have been up and down as of late. The end of each school year means more friends leave to explore their futures after college. Most don't return. We keep in touch, but most close friendships are based on proximity which doesn't exist nearly as much when Lincoln and Little Rock, Portland and Montrose are so far away from each other.
But I learned something when I moved to Lincoln. Your future is what you make it. I don't even play Powerball meaning my chances of winning are nil. But if I want to get of any funk I'm ever in I know I just need to get busy. Summertime for me is organizing Lincoln Calling, saving money for the next move and reading books. Sure there's drinking and video games and movies and whatnot, but keeping busy is the key. At least for me.
No particular point to this post, Michelle was giving me hell for being so non-existent in the blog world so I thought I'd just ramble a little bit.
Went to Art Walk First Friday for the first time last night. Got downtown a little late because I was procrastinating but it's great to see a vibrant arts community out and about. Saw a lot of people I knew and more that I didn't but in all I was impressed with the amount of people roaming from gallery to gallery. My friend Alyssa came along and told me about a list she's compiling called 1001 things to do in 101 days. Obviously supposed to be sort of motivating and full of things you don't usually do or have thought about attempting but haven't yet.
I know of a couple things that will probably make my list:
____ number of pushups. Will have to do the math and come up with a reasonable number, like 2,000 or something. That's only twenty a day.
Talk to my brother Jason, it's been more than two years since we last spoke.
Write my brother David a letter. He will never talk again and that's a shame, but he can hear just fine so I'll have to put that on there.
Email my friend Jacob. He emailed probably ten days ago and I haven't replied yet. We met in fourth grade (1987) so we've known each other 20 years. Long time. Good memories, and bad times that are laughable now, like fighting each other when we were on the same soccer team. Then we went to the baseball card shop and bought and opened a box worth of 1988 Score.
Send my mom a poem I wrote her on her birthday when I was a junior in high school, it's pretty basic and not at all good, but the sentiment is there. I'll share it with ya:
She
Special times in our lives, those are times we do hold dear.
Those times are over oh too soon, that's the time that we do fear.
We're here right now so live today as if it were your last,
'Cause when you're done you can't go back to it that was your past.
Tomorrow is forever; today is just for now,
if you've never lived before today I'll show you how,
because eternity is a long time for me not to have shown,
all the emotions and the feelings I wish she would've known.
pretty corny if you ask me. Instead of ever sending it to moms I wrote it on a little piece of paper and stuck it in my crush's locker while I was pretending to go to the bathroom. I saw her read it after class but I never told her it was me.
The day's have been up and down as of late. The end of each school year means more friends leave to explore their futures after college. Most don't return. We keep in touch, but most close friendships are based on proximity which doesn't exist nearly as much when Lincoln and Little Rock, Portland and Montrose are so far away from each other.
But I learned something when I moved to Lincoln. Your future is what you make it. I don't even play Powerball meaning my chances of winning are nil. But if I want to get of any funk I'm ever in I know I just need to get busy. Summertime for me is organizing Lincoln Calling, saving money for the next move and reading books. Sure there's drinking and video games and movies and whatnot, but keeping busy is the key. At least for me.
No particular point to this post, Michelle was giving me hell for being so non-existent in the blog world so I thought I'd just ramble a little bit.
5.13.2007
Whenever I was a child I wondered what if my name had changed into something more productive, Like Roscoe.
Short post here, but if you are a fan of Midlake, a modern day Fleetwood Mac in my opinion I just found a remix of the band's hit "Roscoe." It's good to know that music can still give me the chills even if I don't smoke anymore.
Check it:
http://www.worlds-fair.net/mail/MIDLAKE.mp3
Check it:
http://www.worlds-fair.net/mail/MIDLAKE.mp3
5.09.2007
25 books this summer?
The title of this post may or may not be a ridiculous attempt, but I'll know in a couple weeks. I took a summer job at the Nebraska Book Company. Nothing crazy, about $8 an hour, basically moving books around and sorting them alphabetically. Kind of like I did as a kid with baseball cards by number, player or team. It's been slow so far since a lot of the shipments won't come in for another week or two, giving me a few minutes here and there to sneak in a couple pages.
I finished my first book today, T.C. Boyle's latest, "Talk Talk."
Boyle is one of my favorite authors and I consider his book "Drop City" one of my favorite all time reads. In "Talk Talk" he goes about telling the story in his same whimsical manner, adding all kinds of minute details that leave me in awe of his ability to craft a scene.
The story basically revolved around a man and a woman who date, the woman is deaf and the man isn't. They figure out when she gets arrested for outstanding warrants that someone has stolen her identity and is racking up credit card debt and felony charges against her all over the West Coast. The two spend the entirety of the book tracking down the thief and much craziness ensues. I was a little let down with the book. I didn't care much for the protagonists because they seemed to make some pretty stupid decisions, and the identity thief didn't go down in flames in a manner that I was hoping for at the end of the book. But I do realize that Boyle isn't about creating stories that tell us what we want to hear. Instead he crafts characters who have realistic flaws.
We get angry at our friends and family and ourselves for doing stupid shit all the time. So these characters are realistic, but that doesn't necessarily make them likable. In any case, it was an enjoyable read, it just didn't meet my expectations.
After I finished the Boyle book I immediately picked up "Smashed" and started reading.
I'm only about 30 pages in but I guess it tells the story of a girl who starts drinking at the age of 14 and takes the habit to some pretty extreme places. It hasn't gotten dramatic yet, she's still a freshman and wanting more opportunities to lush it up, but I'll keep you posted as to how it turns out.
In other news I got my grades for the semester and the lowest was a B, by far my best semester ever. Go me.
I finished my first book today, T.C. Boyle's latest, "Talk Talk."
Boyle is one of my favorite authors and I consider his book "Drop City" one of my favorite all time reads. In "Talk Talk" he goes about telling the story in his same whimsical manner, adding all kinds of minute details that leave me in awe of his ability to craft a scene.The story basically revolved around a man and a woman who date, the woman is deaf and the man isn't. They figure out when she gets arrested for outstanding warrants that someone has stolen her identity and is racking up credit card debt and felony charges against her all over the West Coast. The two spend the entirety of the book tracking down the thief and much craziness ensues. I was a little let down with the book. I didn't care much for the protagonists because they seemed to make some pretty stupid decisions, and the identity thief didn't go down in flames in a manner that I was hoping for at the end of the book. But I do realize that Boyle isn't about creating stories that tell us what we want to hear. Instead he crafts characters who have realistic flaws.
We get angry at our friends and family and ourselves for doing stupid shit all the time. So these characters are realistic, but that doesn't necessarily make them likable. In any case, it was an enjoyable read, it just didn't meet my expectations.
After I finished the Boyle book I immediately picked up "Smashed" and started reading.
I'm only about 30 pages in but I guess it tells the story of a girl who starts drinking at the age of 14 and takes the habit to some pretty extreme places. It hasn't gotten dramatic yet, she's still a freshman and wanting more opportunities to lush it up, but I'll keep you posted as to how it turns out.In other news I got my grades for the semester and the lowest was a B, by far my best semester ever. Go me.
4.17.2007
ONe of those days where you'll remember where you were...
It's about 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday April 17. I went to bed last night a little after one a.m. and woke up just a little bit ago to the sound of trains warning as they passed through the intersections of a sleeping Lincoln. A new friend asked the other day how I ended up in Nebraska after growing up in California. I suppose a decent answer would've been "it's nice to hear trains at night instead of sirens." It might've needed further explanation, maybe not, but the answer in large part is as simple as that.
Yesterday some 30 plus students were shot and killed by another student on the campus of Virginia Tech. I remember hopping on the Internet yesterday morning and seeing a Yahoo headline saying a student had been shot and killed on VA Tech's campus and thinking, why do people feel the need to resort to gun violence so often? Just a few hours later the situation became much more dire, and I spent the rest of the day juggling homework, class and being glued to CNN to try and figure out the same details the rest of a stunned nation wanted to know. It's frustrating to watch press conferences where media seem so eager to find a place for blame. Questions were shouted at the president of the campus as well as a local high ranking police official demanding to know why they hadn't done a better job of warning a campus of more than 25,000 students and 10,000 employees plus who knows how many visitors, that a tragedy had struck. How is anyone to fathom that a person could commit an act so heinous? Anything like that is just so random and unpredictable that officials can only do what they can to try and control the situation when in reality there is no great way to control someone with the type of mind to do such a thing. To try and place blame on a group of people who want nothing more than for innocent people to be able to go about their daily lives is a farce of monumental proportions.
Add to that a statement made by representatives for the White House in the first moments of a press conference: "The president believes that there is a right for people to bear arms, but that all laws must be followed," and you have to wonder how we've gotten so far away from the actual facts of the matter. People are dead. Virginia Tech's legacy as a public institution will forever be scarred. And America has a media that's trying to figure out how to make someone else the scapegoat and an administration trying to make a political issue out of the situation. It's quite appalling.
School's almost over for the year. The weather has turned nice and lately I've felt like there is a purpose in life and I'm getting closer by the day to finding it. Some coversations lately have got me to thinking about what my purpose might be. Hopefully the next few weeks will be filled with good times and creating memories that I'll hold dear because it's nice to know that people love me. Sometimes I lose track of that. Don't forget what's important in life is all I can say.
Yesterday some 30 plus students were shot and killed by another student on the campus of Virginia Tech. I remember hopping on the Internet yesterday morning and seeing a Yahoo headline saying a student had been shot and killed on VA Tech's campus and thinking, why do people feel the need to resort to gun violence so often? Just a few hours later the situation became much more dire, and I spent the rest of the day juggling homework, class and being glued to CNN to try and figure out the same details the rest of a stunned nation wanted to know. It's frustrating to watch press conferences where media seem so eager to find a place for blame. Questions were shouted at the president of the campus as well as a local high ranking police official demanding to know why they hadn't done a better job of warning a campus of more than 25,000 students and 10,000 employees plus who knows how many visitors, that a tragedy had struck. How is anyone to fathom that a person could commit an act so heinous? Anything like that is just so random and unpredictable that officials can only do what they can to try and control the situation when in reality there is no great way to control someone with the type of mind to do such a thing. To try and place blame on a group of people who want nothing more than for innocent people to be able to go about their daily lives is a farce of monumental proportions.
Add to that a statement made by representatives for the White House in the first moments of a press conference: "The president believes that there is a right for people to bear arms, but that all laws must be followed," and you have to wonder how we've gotten so far away from the actual facts of the matter. People are dead. Virginia Tech's legacy as a public institution will forever be scarred. And America has a media that's trying to figure out how to make someone else the scapegoat and an administration trying to make a political issue out of the situation. It's quite appalling.
School's almost over for the year. The weather has turned nice and lately I've felt like there is a purpose in life and I'm getting closer by the day to finding it. Some coversations lately have got me to thinking about what my purpose might be. Hopefully the next few weeks will be filled with good times and creating memories that I'll hold dear because it's nice to know that people love me. Sometimes I lose track of that. Don't forget what's important in life is all I can say.
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