I'd decided prior to this halloween that I was not going to let myself get excited for halloween. The past couple years it's been a dissappointment of New Years like proportions and I decided that I was going to treat it like any other weekend night, you know, with costumes. On this particular halloween night, however, we were asked to play a set of Screeching Weasel cover songs at the Charleston in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in front of a roomful of pop-punk dorks and semi-celebrities. Jim Testa from Jersey beat was nice enough to document each of the bands here. He was also nice enough to up to me after the set and tell me we didn't suck, which was awesome. Truth be told, it was some of the most fun I've ever had playing music. Everyone knew the words, we played pretty close to the originals.. and everyone was drunk, in costume, dancing, and stealing the microphone to sing along. I mean, Hallie Unlovable, who's very lovable, was chief microphone stealer.. who'd a thunk it? Role reversal much? So, it ended up being the best halloween in a long time. The best thing about not having high hopes is the rare occasion when something kicks your ass with awesomeness. And Saturday night certainly did that and more. --

I prefer Wired News' quick video game reviews to the PR crap that IGN and Gamespot kick out, and highly recommend giving yourself a minute or two to check out this review of Shadow of the Colussus... the game that essentially cost me about $160 because I had to buy a used Playstation 2 to replace my broken one just to play it. Funny thing is, I haven't even played it yet after owning it for over a week. I haven't even opened it, in fact. These past few weeks have been dizzying and the only thing I've managed to do that was the least bit constructive was fold the monstrous pile of laundry I've had piling up forever (let's just say that when I got to the bottom of the pile I found bathing suits). Regardless, once the smoke clears I will be playing the shit out of this game. **

This weeks time eater is the Hot Cops show on Saturday in Brooklyn. It's a halloween show in which all 9 bands performing will be covering an entire set of another band. We opted to do Screeching Weasel and at this point have three more days to learn about 8 or so songs. We've been pretty good at picking them up thus far, but knowing that Mr. Larry Livermore will be in attendance at the show certainly makes it a bit tougher to settle for "pretty good". I don't know whether to laugh or cry at the fact that our opener is I Wann Be a Homosexual and that I'll be dressed up, literally, as a Hot Cop... short shorts and all. My mom would be very proud. **

So, it goes without saying that in.circles pretty much sucks. After six years, the thing is finally going to be killed off. I'll provide more details when I have them, but I'll be moving my whining, fuzzy cell phone pictures, and whatever the hell else it is that this thing is, elsewhere. Paul's coming, too, even if he doesn't know it yet. --

Thus far I've watched the Devils ugly loss to the Rangers and the slightly less ugly victory over the Panthers. I have no doubt that hockey will pleasantly supplement the lack of baseball in my life these next few months. If you're offering up chips, Paul, I'm thurr. I'll bring the balloons, crackers, Orange Juice, soda bottle bongs, etc. **

While moving along at a dizzying pace, these past two weeks have been pretty awesome. Lots of fun, friends, booze, music, ringing ears, etc. etc. Fall is indeed living up to the hopes I had for it. **

The Hot Cops pictures from last weekend can be found here, courtesy of Miss Toni:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/toniluca/sets/1178392/

I think the pictures make the performance seem a whole lot better than I remember it being.**

We also played a party on Saturday night at my friend Oliver's house in Queens. I had really, really good time both playing and partying there. Dr. Frank from the Mr. T Experience was in attendance, which kind of rattled my nerves a little bit prior to doing our set. Four Budweiser's in about an hour calmed that down with the quickness, though. It ended up not mattering, he left before we went on.

Here are a few pics:


Clock-wise, from the top left:
Chadd as Wario and the Slaughterhouse Four, Some metal dude passed out on a couch, Carla giving a thumbs up that looks more like a punch, and Janelle and Anya almost making out. Sort of. --

hay guys

ugh. bag of hell and such.

so chris, dive into the nhl. i got the info you need. personally, im a fan of the devils, cause i gotta be. but above and beyond im just a fan of the sport. and when i think of all that hockey is and the teams that know that and understand it, i dont think of the devils.

the exciting teams to watch, in my opinion, are (so far) the nashville predators and the minnesota wild. the predators. they are a young and new team. they made it pretty far along last season. most of all they have an eskimo on their team. his name is jordin tootoo. hes 5'8" 198 lbs. thats a pretty big boy for that size. he likes to dance with the big boys and he throws the body around like hes a whole foot taller and a couple waist sizes bigger. unfortunately he isnt playing with the team much as of yet, but they are having a good early season so i wont say shit. the wild, on the other hand, are coached by ex-devils coach jacques lemaire. this guy is impressive, he coached the devils team that everyone remembers. he also runs a good game. he knows who to put on the ice. case in point hes playing this guy boogard, from saskatoon canada, who dials in at 6'7" 270. hes had 3 fights so far this year, in the two games hes played, 2 in 1 and 1 in another. in his first 2 fights he knocked one guy out and took on an ex-philly player, used to be called the fridge, fedoruk. an absolute beast. he hasnt lost any fight. thing is hes just a good rookie and he works well with lemaire's little empire. on the ice when they need him.

more or less the other teams i usually watch are vancouver or toronto. i watch em all but you know, everyone has favorites. toronto ruined their team with a bunch of veterans, and also liquidated most of the players i came to love last season. i dont think we'll be seeing owen nolan, joe niewendyk, brian leetch or alex mogilny with them anymore. instead they opted for eric lindros. the guy with all the concussions on the rangers. hes doing better with the leafs, but, you know, i used to put them as my priority, now i have other priorities. oh, im pretty sure ill always watch X vs philly, because i want everyone on philly to be injured and their coach, ken hitchcock, who looks like alfred hitchcock, should be hit with a puck in the jaw. hes a prick. i do not like them. basically there are two teams that are undefeated so far, nashville is the surprise, and ottawa is pretty much a given. once we get later into the season i promise everyone that hockey will be very exciting to watch. i have to hold this as an evident truth because i invested alot of time (just now) and alot of money into this season. so if you ever want to watch a game you can be sure ill be watching. let me know. ill get chips.

It's channel seventy-two. But perhaps I should stay away as I clearly jinx whatever sports franchise it is that I choose to follow these past few years. Brodeur's slow start should probably be more attributed to my desire to follow hockey intently this year than anything else within his power. Sorry, dude. **

Saturday night the Hot Cops played a show. All told it was kind of a let-down, as far as the performance goes. 75% of that let-down can be attributed to factors out of my/our control, though. We'd been led to believe that we'd be going on at either 11:30 or 12, but didn't actually get going until 1:40am. I can't remember ever, ever going to see band that went on at 1:40. During the band before us, The Terrible Friends, whom I genuinely enjoy hearing and watching which is a rarity for local bands, the one microphone on the stage stopped working. After 20 minutes of playing with wires, etc.. they got it working again.. but that was just the initial snowball that started the avalanche to follow. The mic they gave me was the same one I've seen at Radio Shack for $19.99. The monitor speaker was shot so I couldn't hear my singing at all. The PA speakers sounded like they were emitting sounds from the bottom of the ocean so pretty much no one else could hear my vocals, and the bartender / sound guy (oh yes, he was pulling double duty) was hell-bent on keeping everything as quiet as possible. Those little frustrations multiplied by the fact that I spent that extra two hours waiting time at the venue nervously pounding Budweisers led to a pretty sloppy over-all performance. I tried to ease the tension with self-deprecating stage banter... but I think that probably just made it worse. I guess they all can't be winners. It didn't really bother me too much except for knowing that a lot of people had given up their evenings to come see us and that it probably wasn't much fun for them.

It's worth noting that I was incredibly happy to see so many different people from so many different parts of my life all together. Old Wayne friends, current Wayne friends, Boston friends, New York friends, Internet friends. While that warmed my heart for sure, it also made the poor performance all that much more embarassing. However, most people have said they enjoyed themselves and I even read a review of the show from someone who has no clue I've seen their blog and it was 100% positive. I really am very happy to have the friends I do although I probably don't do a great job of helping them realize it.

Friend and photographer extradionare, Toni, will be uploading some pictures from the show tonight. I'll be sure to link 'em here.**

Two cell phone pics, one of Grandpa from earlier Saturday from dinner at my grandparent's house... and one of Jimmy just prior to us taking the stage, which I don't remember taking:


--

I still haven't watched hockey. I should probably start with tonight's Devils/Rangers game. Paul says Devs are on channel seventy-something. Bitchin'. **

A few nights back I had one of the creepiest dreams I've ever had. I was lying in bed and all of a sudden felt a decent amount of weight on my body, like something way laying on top of my covers. Without opening my eyes I instantly thought that it might be my cat. I then remembered that my cat is no longer at my house... My second thought was to turn over and see if it was the person sleeping next to me. I then remembered that I was sleeping alone. At this point I started getting an uneasy feeling that someone had come into my room and was crawling up my bed slowly towards me. At this point I opened my eyes, became fully awake and saw that no one was there. The only thing I'm unsure about is whether I was awake the whole time or didn't wake up until I actually opened my eyes. I've had a tough time sleeping since then... **

I lost my cell phone a week ago today. It surprisingly hasn't really affected me all that much. --

Out like a lamb and back like a tree falling in the forest with no one around to hear it, hockey's back. I, for one, am excited. But am still yet to figure out whether or not Devil's games will even be televised in my neck of the woods. I believe I need to locate the Outdoor Life channel... or something... which makes no sense to me considering hockey is a decidedly indoor sport. **

Terrorists are trying to blow up the NY subways today. Methinks I'll be walking this evening, za? **

Hot Cops (who soon may change their name to Laundry...? or The Casual Ties...?) had their first practice in their new practice space last night. Cable TV, DSL line, guitar stacks, drum sets that sound good, a refrigerator.. if we weren't paying for it ourselves I'd say I felt like a rockstar. We were able to conceive, pretty much from beginning to end, an entirely new song in just a few hours time last night...which is incredibly rare for Los Coppos Hottos. I think that practicing outside of Jeff's basement will be beneficial for cranking out new material and I'm pretty excited about it. Here's a picture of Jeff, drummer and part-time bassist, slinging back a cold one prior to getting started:

**

Last day of summer is tomorrow, the cold cometh this weekend according to weather.com. I'm breaking out my scarves... it's my favorite time of year.

Where were we when I left off? Ahh, yes. Staring down at the prospect of a relaxing weekend. That didn't quite happen. Friday night was a drunkin' romp throughout Hoboken watching various innings of the Yankees / Sox game at various bars, houses, etc. There was also an accidental trip into the bedroom of the girl that grew up across the street from me (i was looking for the bathroom and drunkenly looking for a non-existent light switch while swearing under my breath) and a three hour night of sweaty / shaky sleep on a stranger's couch. I think I went to Jimmy/Toni/Dan's pad, the Hot Cops/Mitsuko/some other dudes practice space, and The Loop Lounge on Saturday night, but it's all a bit blurry. As are the pictures that lead me to believe that these things happened...




--

Dr. Frank quoted me on his blog today. It was in reference to his book and a message board post that I wrote. You follow? It's just two words, "fucking perfect", but hey.. how many people get to say that they've been quoted by one of their childhood idols? If for nothing else, it's certainly a testiment to the strange way that the internet is able to bridge the gap from people of note to proles such as myself. Neat-o. Score one for the internet. Even if he was making fun of me (us).**

Paul and I grabbed a quick drink or three last night. I suck at 11-Ball again. **

I'm enjoying the Wolf Parade album immensely. I didn't want to like it. I didn't even want to listen to it, to be honest. But now that I have, I am hooked, and am proud to publicly state that it is head and shoulders better than The Arcade Fire. I've only been to Montreal twice, but I kinda wish I lived there sometimes. If I ever do, I'll send my regards to Omaha and New York, two cities full of bands that are no longer hip. **

Yankees / Red Sox. It feels like a holiday around here today. People anticipating all sorts of things. Baseball's just a came played by very wealthy people whom I will never meet. But for some reason it means more to me. Perhaps some day I'll be able to explain why. --

I sent Paul a text message that said "De-Op, Kick, Ban!" for pretty much no reason. I was bored at work and had the geeky IT guys behind me yammering in my ear which reminded me of my own geekier days. I didn't know that Paul had blogged at the time. There are probably three people in the entire world that can appreciate this incident.

am i even welcome here anymore?

well. shit on your shin in a pin if ya dish. its like that every once in a while. but sometimes you end up at the friz. let me tell you. ugh. there is non sense and none such sense, but this is where we stop. i went to the shins + whitestripes + m ward the other nite. there is an m ward song called from a pirate radio sermon. i dont know if he played it cause we didnt even see him perform. i went with pete kristen and miss gabby. all good people. but yeah, that is a good song. sometimes you hear songs and they inspire you to make these epic playlists/mixcds. i wanna give that a whack. but really, ive been moved by music lately. specifically back in the day by erykah badu and anything by barrington levy. they dont call it soul for nothin folks. well ive been ripping through flickr lately, i posted about 25% of the pictures i would like to have up there. in due time. but for the time being there are some interesting ones. i mean you can tell when you get the realworld to hit the lens with something nice and pleasant and maybe emotionally inspiring in some way. its different with every subject and every thing, animated things bloom in certain light with certain preconceptions of human behavior and even sometimes knowing an image in context due to presence at time of taking etc.

breathe

its something else, being inspired. its like psychic fuel. it motivates and pokes at some unseen machine. it sets a state of mind off towards the sunset, it brings images and visions to help unravel the present and gives a nod to your state of being. whether inspired by cynicism, bad mood good mood, its always fair to remember that in the end, back at baseline, its just me waitin there. me being you and such

thats what its about. its about bathing in shit only to wash it off. its like these quotes i have for you, sort of:

Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail -ralph waldo emerson

People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily. -zig ziglar

Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach. -tom robbins

The man who fights too long against dragons becomes a dragon himself -nietzsche

What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise -oscar wilde

sometimes there there for ya. but really, ziglar on far. im at the library whacked up on coffee... lots of coffee. i found two books for sale here, they were fifty cents, by haruki murakami. norwegian wood and bathe the sheep or something. i recently wrote two reviews at amazon. that was an experience. one for a murakami book i read and one for the alchemist. there is a book folks, check that one out if you have 2 or 3 hours. but where was i going with all this.

Blogger just made me input my username and password three freakin' times just to get to the posting screen. Perhaps they are trying to discourage me from blogging. Perhaps they're trying to say "dude, i know it's called in.circles and all. but do you really have to write about the same shit all the time?" I know, it's been years of the same ole drivel, but it's a good way to kill a few minutes at work and a good way for me to use as reference points for "what in the hell was I doing on date x?" So, no Blogger Gods - your incessant password prompting will not chase me away. I'm a stubborn fuck, ya know. *

Saturday I hung out with Grandpa at his American Legion Hall in Secaucus, NJ. Anyone who knows me knows I think very highly of my grandfater. Even though beers were only $1.50 each and I didn't mind paying at all, he took a lot of pride in the fact that I showed up to his first event as Captain of the legion, and sent free Coors Lights my way with a wink and a nod all day. He is the most youthful old person I know, despite his physical ailments, and I was happy to see him having such a good time in an environment I know he loves. Two pics from the day:

*

While watching yesterday's Yankees / Toronto game I damn near welled up with tears from all of the Bernie Williams love that the fans were pouring out. Coming back from a commercial break to an in between innings curtain call for Bernie prompted by overwhelming chanting was probably one the best moments I've ever seen in baseball. *

The HBO show Rome has really started to kick ass. Last night's scene in which Pullo tortured and killed Evander in the aquaducts was on par with some of the most intense Sopranos scenes. The show's taken a bit of time to grow on me, but I'm definitely hooked. --

The woman at the desk next to me is eating, and has eaten for the past four days, the most vile smelling sandwiches in the history of sandwiches. I asked her what she was eating today and she said it was canned chicken. She said she gets 10 cans for $3. I figure a 6-pack of Nuggets from McDonald's, which I'm sure is just barely passable meat costs about $4. If you do the math that's $0.66 per nugget. Her sandwiches contain about 4 nuggets worth of meat. Which works out to about $.06 per nuggets worth of meat. By my numerical and nasal observations, I'd say she is eating something akin to pure horse shit. *

I went to my second Yankee game of the year last night. The seats weren't as good as last time, but the game was far better and the fact that there's only 11 games left and the season's coming down to the wire created a far better atmosphere. Here's the view from Section 12 in the loge level:

*

I've been listening to Jets to Brazil a lot. Particularly Cat Heaven off of Perfecting Loneliness. My eyes have started welling up over the more romantic Lawrence Arms lyrics. So, it's happened again. Head's in a tail-spin, heart's in the blender. I hate caring and wish I could figure out how so many other people I know seem to be able to not give a fuck. --

Danny Suko and I went to go see one of the last four Q and Not U shows last night at The Knitting Factory. We opted for the earlier of the two shows, mostly because I'm getting old and the idea of being able to see a show in the city and get my ass in bed at a reasonable time seemed preferable to the alternative. I first got into Q and Not U in January of 2001. I remember this because they were the soundtrack to my bitterly cold commutes from Boston's Back Bay to the Warehouse district in which I did my first internship. Along with Frodus' ...And We Washed Our Weapons In The Sea, No Kill No Beep Beep, the soundtrack to my first stint as a full-time working man was happily littered with angular guitar shredding and lots of screamy vocals. I remember this time period very fondly. They've come through cities that I've lived in a handful of times but I was never able to convince anyone to come along with me. I wasn't going to miss them this time, come hell or high water, and I was very happy that Dan was willing to come along with me even though he ended up getting a $95 parking ticket on the corner of Church and White.

Maybe it's because my expectations were too high, but I wasn't as impressed with Q live as I thought i'd be. Performing those songs with three instruments at a time takes quite a bit away from the sound... and all of the instrument changes between songs becomes incredibly distracting. Regardless, they played a pretty solid setlist, mostly centered around Different Damage, and I'm happy to say that I got to see one of my all-time favorite bands before they dissappeared into the sunset.

--

I've received two text messages from Paul since he gained the feature on his phone. The first one, a few weeks ago while I was walking down 7th Avenue: "sno dome Cock floater!". And the second one, last night while I was watching Rome: "sno dome You are gay". Now that I look at it I'm sure the sno dome at the beginning is probably applied to all his text messages. At any rate, I wish he sent more. They're clearly worth the $0.02 incoming fee.*

I went to Boston this weekend for a friend's moving away party. The fact that he's moving to New York, will now be working in the same office building as me, and that I'll probably see him a few times a week wasn't enough to keep me from heading up for a party. It's been awhile since I've been to Boston.. and his departure is significant because the amount of people I know that still live there has been widdled down to very few. I'll guess that from here on in my trips to Boston will find me sleeping in hotel rooms, instead of people's floors and couches. I guess some might see that as a step in the right direction, but I disagree. I have a conflicted relationship with the place. I love it. Being there makes me want to move back there. But there's also a part of me that feels like I'm passed it and should embrace the bigger, badder New York. I've been slow out of the gate with that embracing.. but I think that in due time I'll step up to the plate. Just a few more months stowing away some loot and then it'll be on... *

On the way up I listened to the new and very forgettable Death Cab for Cutie album, Plans. I disliked the last two so I wasn't really surprised that I wasn't too in to this one.

While in Boston I picked up the new Sigur Ros, Mount Eerie, and a CD by a tri-state area band, The Ratchets. All three provided fucking excellent listening on my solitary drive home. The new Sigur Ros is definitely the cream of the crop, though. The songs are way shorter than usual.. but still pack the same emotional highs and lows as the older stuff. This is the first Sigur Ros album I don't feel like a total pussy for enjoying.

The new Mount Eerie is a winner musically... but lyrically it's almost cringe inducing. From what I can tell it's about a solitary camping trip Phil took in which he accidentally forgot his flashlight. For the most part he gets into how different things like lakes, mountains, etc. look different at night with no unnatural light. It's certainly an Elvrum-ish topic, but I don't feel like his elaborations offer up any insight like his obsessions of old and don't feel like it warrants an entire full-length. It's nowhere near the brilliance of The Glow Part 2, but I think that it's something I'll end up listening to often and enjoying more and more as time passes. I haven't had the chance to examine the packaging yet.. but the LP+CD version I bought (which I think is the official and cheapest version) looks like it has a ton worth checking out.

The Ratchets are a rootsy punk band that have some killer riffs and catchy as fuck choruses. Jimmy sent me an MP3 a few weeks back and told me that Dan from Plan-A Project (and the willowbrook mall skate shop) was in the band. He sent me Heart of Town, which I thought was great, so I figured I'd give their EP a shot. It sounds like a lot of things I haven't listened to in years.. but was certainly worth picking up. I believe their website is simply www.theratchets.com, check 'em out if you get a chance. --

Two things happened to me yesterday on the lunch break I skipped to go to the post office to apply for a passport.

The first thing was that I walked by a truck that was parked along the street. This truck had a hose connected to it that was apparently sucking out trash from one of those sidewalk-cellar doors you'll often see in Manhattan. The portion of the truck I walked by must have been a vent of some sort because holy fucking hell I was treated to a blast of the most vile smelling air that I've ever come across. I literally doubled over and and was a half-second away from throwing up. Thankfully I kept it down... but the for the next few hours I could not forget the smell. Awful.

The second thing that happened was that I realized that I forgot my birth certificate at home. I remedied that today, though.. and am now pending passport approval. --

fuck ya'll nigga

I just got laughed at for eating Cookie Crisp for breakfast. Are you kidding me? Cookie Crisp is, and always will be, the supreme champion of sweetened breakfast cereals. Working in an environment in which Cookie Crisp consumption isn't deemed "awesome" is terrible. I really can't wait to get outta here. *

This cell phone photo doesn't really do the view any justice, but I had amazing seats at the Yankees / Devil Rays game last thursday:



Too bad the game was miserable. I'll forgive the Yanks, though, as they provided exellent baseball viewage Vs. The Sox this weekend. *

Dr. Frank blogs about a blog about the various changes to the cover of Catcher In The Rye over the years. His comments section revealed this cover, which I've heard about but had never previously seen:



Ouch. Pretty awful. The original blog author describes his dislike for the current off-white cover with the rainbow lines in the corner.. but having grown up with that cover and having never seen the maroon cover in which he is so fond, I think the real point here is that it's not the cover at all that matters. This book resonates with a time in all of it's admirers live's, and the cover only serves as a visual reminder of what we like so much about it. --