TAGLINES:
harder than i remembered
The Mats
I've applied for so many jobs now, and heard so little back; I'm beginning to wonder if my applications have the SARS corona virus attached. The electronet is no fun on 56K. At least not for me. And besides. I became so used to being without the Internet that it's, well, I don't know. Unfamiliar now. Before travelling, I never went more than two weeks without going online. And that two week period only happened once. In 2000. On my honeymoon. I'm not working. I'm not online. So what's there to do all damn day?
I Read.
I'm reading old-school, again. Things printed on paper. Books. Library books. I don't have money for new magazines, so I read old ones. We used to get a lot of magazines--fifteen or so a month. Now I'm actually reading them.
I just read an old article on the Replacements reissues. Something I missed before. Reading about School, Hootenany, Sorry Ma Forgot to Take Out The Trash, and Let It Be. It made me nostalgic for a largely unpleasant time.
The Replacements are one of those bands that somehow slipped away from me. I was crazy about them in High School, after the very first time I heard Pleased To Meet Me. Crazy. They spoke to me. Singing songs of suburban angst and apathy (remember apathy?). They sang about the things I felt but didn't understand how to express in any way other than petty vandalism. I devoured their music. Pleased to Meet me was the soundtrack to my first year of high school. And then there was Tim. Tim! We are the sons of no one. I didn't know what the kind of music I liked was called, but I did know that these guys sounded like a munch angier, drunken version of whatever it was. And that was good.
There weren't any independent record stores in the town I came from. Just Turtles and mall chain stores long since driven out of business by Tower. I'd never even heard of Sorry Ma until I saw it in my friend Todd's room, and got him to make a copy for me. Suddenly I had a whole new world of Replacements. I would scream along in my car, rolling past suburban Alabama smoking dope, feeling like I didn't belong.
Tapes, tapes, tapes. I had all the tapes. I crooned to Don't Tell and Soul and felt cheated by All Shook Down. But it was allgood. Allgood, yo. Whatever. Pass the bottle, cut me a line and roll me a joint. It's Tuesday. And I'm feeling alienated. Paul Westerberg wrote lyrics that made me want to cry and laugh and punch things and fall in love. Fuck New Edition, this is the teen music I want to hear. Give me the 'Mats. I mean, they're the Mat's! One T. Just like me.
And then they were gone.
Paul Westerberg's solo stuff was good, but it didn't speak to me the same way. Na-na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na-na. And by then I was in college. I had a different agenda. Different feelings. And I had Nirvana. Entertain me. And somehow or another, The 'Mat's didn't make the switch with me to CDs. (I'd had CDs in High School, but I was predominantly a tape guy until 1992 or so.) Every once in a while, I'd stumble across and old tape and put it in and be blown away all over again. But not very often. And some things that should not have been forgotten, were lost.
So here's to old magazines and Replacement reissues. And hoping for jobs so I can afford to buy them.
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06.05.2003
Happy Birthday Jack Strang
Welcome to the world, little buddy
6lb 10oz
(for the record, i still prefer "anakin")
Go ahead. Give me Hell
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Top Ten Reasons I'm Still Not Updating Every Day
I don't have broadband
I've been doing a lot of freelance work (which is not to say I'm making much money)
I'm looking for a job
I've been away
I've had guests visiting
There was an earthquake
A terrible flood
Locusts!
I have a rash
My joints are achey
I'm still recovering from reverse culture shock
There aren't enough hours in the day
What was the question
Where can I find some Beer Chang in san francisco
I don't think that was the question
No, that was totally the question
You're sure?
Well that's what I want to know
Oh. Um. Well I don't know
Damn straight I don't know. That's why I'm asking. You expect me to answer?
What...
Don't be an ass. Just give the people what they want
Oh, alright
No, not that
What then
Answers
But I don't have any
Quick! Blame somebody
It's all Dubya's fault!
There we go...
I feel better
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Mine are...
The Minutemen
Yo La Tengo
Stereolab
Pavement
Neutral Milk Hotel
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