Chicago Libra

Landmine Marathon interview

2009-05-10T16:19:00.000-05:00

I interviewed Grace Perry from Landmine Marathon a couple weeks ago. LM is a metal band out of Phoenix, AZ and they played Chicago's Beat Kitchen where I was able to catch lead-singer Grace for a few minutes to have a little chat. The place was dark, so I apologize in advance for the quality of the video. I have an HD video camera with a light now, so future interviews won't be so ... floating head.

Thank you, Keith.

2008-11-16T10:27:00.001-06:00

MSNBC Keith Olbermann on Prop 8, Marriage and more.

ring ring

2008-11-14T08:10:00.002-06:00

I can hear someone's phone ringing. It's not mine. It goes for a minute or two, and stops. Then is goes for a bit again, and stops. I thought it was my laptop making a weird noise, at first, because it's very far away and the ringing happened to synch up to my downloading pics out of someone's myspace gallery. But it wasn't that. Please, answer your phone.

I'm back. Wooo!

2007-12-16T23:38:00.000-06:00

So yeah, I haven't posted in about two years. Please forgive.

I still love OTEP though, so not much has changed. Please check them out here:

or use this link to open a tiny player in another window:
http://www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/98689

----------------
Now playing: OTEP - Special Pets
via FoxyTunes

2005-11-30T00:37:00.000-06:00

I walked a long way in the cold today. Vermont is cold but there isn't as much walking in the cold as there is here. My knees both almost gave out when I tried to jog across a street. My roommate assures me this is normal when it's effing cold. In other knee news I bumped my knee really hard on the back of a seat on the el. Apparently, knees bruise.

Oh...and I got locked out of my apartment for a few tense minutes. Luckily my roommates got home early and were inside. The sucky part was coming out of the cold and being so relieved, then climbing 46 stairs only to find out that the door KNOB was locked in addition to the deadbolt. No one has a key to the knob. I went around back, up another 3 floors, and verified that I have no key for that door. Back down and around to the front and back up 46 steps to wait for someone to come home or call me back, and upon receipt of call I found out they were inside. :) But really...I was pretty miserable when I thought I'd just have to wait.

N.P. Concrete Blonde - "When I was a Fool"

And now for sleeping.

Magic Box

2005-11-06T02:33:00.000-06:00

My mom found my long-lost camera today in a random box we took out of storage to transfer into the U-Haul. Now I don't have to worry that it fell into evil hands. Sadly, the charger is in another box as are all other wires pertaining to the camera's usefulness so any pics I take on the drive will have to be taken with what little time remains on the battery. Oh my, a paltry 33 minutes. I will have to choose wisely.

The U-Haul is 1/2 full and I only have to put in what came into the house. I think it will all fit. I will Tetris it all in.

Reading: "Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk" by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain. Status: must hurry so I can give it back to my brother.
also reading: "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman. Status: lost in a box. I'm sure I'll appreciate the added weight of that hard cover monster when I'm going up to the 3rd floor to my new place. The fun should begin Tuesday!

I probably won't get to write for a couple days, so Happy Birthday to O.S.

Happy Halloween

2005-11-01T02:10:00.000-06:00

Living on a dead end street means, in my case, that very few kids come to the door. Sadly, my masterpiece went largely unseen. I post a picture of it now. It's camera-phone quality, because my camera is in a box in the storage unit until I find it again. I think.
I used one of Otep's drawings as the pattern and the letters are the band's logo.

Monday I'm moving. I didn't even call U-Haul yet...better get on that.

2005-10-27T14:42:00.000-05:00

Holly Knight wrote back and thanked me for my email. :D Let me list some of her credits (solo or co-written):
Device - "Hanging on a Heart Attack"
Heart - "Never" and a bunch of others from the "Heart" album and later
Divinyls - "Pleasure and Pain"
Animotion - "Obsession"
Scandal - "The Warrior"
Tina Turner - "The Best," "Better Be Good to Me," and "One of the Living"
Lita Ford - "Stiletto"
Cheap Trick - "Space"
Pat Benetar - "Love is a Battlefield" and "Invincible"
Aerosmith - "Rag Doll"
A couple for KISS's Psycho Circus and Hot in the Shade CDs
Ozzy Osbourne - "Slow Burn"
The "Angel" TV theme (I *know* I've lamented that I wished I liked the show as much as the theme. Now it makes sense. It's like when I for some reason really really liked the Fruitopia commercials then later found out they were Kate Bush. :D)
Those are the highlights as far as the songs I know best. The whole list is here: http://www.hollyknight.com/disco.html

Weird day. Lots of things stirring up. I think I'm overtired.

2005-10-27T05:56:00.000-05:00

I just wrote a letter to Holly Knight to thank her for being such an important part of my musical youth. <3 Holly. Songwriting royalty right there, dear readers.

I hung out with my brother tonight and played his new stand-up bass. It's really pretty and he's getting really good. I borrowed "Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk," which should be a good read. I finished "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" in about five hours over the last couple days and had to find something else. I've read just about everything I can reach in my room (the closet is packed with books and if there's some unread stuff in there it's way in the back).

I scheduled my move for the day I'm supposed to get my period. Genius. *sigh* If we'd been able to go a week earlier we might have been able to see GWAR at the House of Blues. Oh well. If I have garbage bags to hide under they're packed and I have no idea where anyway.

Still...awake....

The Chariot

2005-10-25T23:30:00.000-05:00

Moving very soon now. I hope everything fits in the trailer, and that the tires don't shear like they did on my last long U-Haul trip (damn you, U-Haul). But as of November 7th I'll be out of the NE. The plan is to reach my apartment in Chicago on the 8th with enough daylight to unpack and get the U-Haul back to wherever it goes. I hope the cats are enjoying the freedom they have now, even if they don't have a window. Poor little guys are stuck in the basement so they don't ruin my parents' furniture. And then a cage for 2 days. Damn, they're going to hate me.

So this is written from my ad hoc computer set up and is transmitted via the wireless network I wrestled into submission. Listening to iTunes sort of song-at-a-time rather than letting it shuffle up my 4 and 5 star faves.... I was largely w/o music from the 10th to the 23rd and I missed some songs more than others.

I'm kicking ass in fantasy football. "McNabb isn't a good fantasy quarterback." \/\/hatever.

My brother and my new roommate told me that cat and dog food is grade C meat and Taco Bell is grade D meat. Is this true? wtf?

Is 1 am too late to make a pizza? *sigh*

The Wait is Over

2005-09-21T04:15:00.000-05:00

Just now finished listening to the world premier of Kate Bush's new single "King of the Mountain." Kate...thank you so much. For everything, since the first time I heard you 20 years ago.

I couldn't be happier with the way the single sounds. I'm so relieved that I like it, too. After 12 years without anything new, who knows what direction she could have gone in. I can hardly wait for the new CD, and it's a double disc at that!

<3

Round and Delicious

2005-09-12T03:16:00.000-05:00

Golden Oreos,
How I love thee.
Please feel free
To rot in Hell
Riiiiiiight next to
My will power.

Awwww...look who made a journal and neglected it....

2005-09-09T08:38:00.000-05:00

When I write in a journal I usually write in the one I made on livejournal. However, I had this one long ago as well. I just don't feel like attending to two journals (or really...even one).

I will, however, update this with a really lovely sentence from a recent missive from my former employer:

"You have accumulated vacation time as reflected on your payroll stub will be included in your last check and mailed and mailed to you on 9/15/05."

How wrong is that? This guy judges anyone's performance? Come on.

P.S. I think VT law states that they have to pay me all owed money w/in 72 hours of termination. That will be 5 o'clock today. Hm....

NP - Mountain - "Nantucket Sleighride"

Assault and Battery

2004-04-12T23:32:00.000-05:00

I had a revelation tonight. I don't love Hawkwind, I love the fucking mellotron. Yes, the MELLOTRON. WHY DID I NOT KNOW THIS BEFORE? How did this happen to me? A quick trip to http://www.mellotron.com/mellolis.htm reveals a ton of CDs that I listen to: Amon Duul II - Wolf City, Amon Duul II - Dance Of The Lemmings, Grobschnitt - Rockpommels Land (I was listening to this when I read the list), Hawkwind - Hall Of The Mountain Grill, Hawkwind - Warrior On The Edge Of Time, Heart - Little Queen, Heart - Bebe Le Strange, Illusion - Illusion, Illusion - Out Of The Mist, and Renaissance - Song For All Seasons. Could this be the missing link in my weird musical taste? Mellotron?!? WTF! I've been drooling over this Illusion song called "Isadora," and guess what it features prominently. Luckily, I didn't find any Ultravox on any of the lists. My world might have unraveled. :)

This site: http://freespace.virgin.net/andy.thompson/reviews.htm informs me that the Amon Duul II CDs are a case of mistaken identity and that they used an Orchestron. I don't feel better.

I still love Hawkwind for themselves and not just for their Mellotron. After all, it wasn't any of the mellotron albums that got me hooked. But Simon House just might be my god now.

Woke Up This Morning...

2004-03-08T01:23:00.000-06:00

I have the place to myself for the next few days, so I decided to celebrate by renting movies and getting pizza. I also cleaned the disgusting sink, but that wasn't part of the celebration. Anyway, I rented the first season of The Sopranos. Yes, all four discs. I watched the first six episodes tonight, in a fit of unprecedented TV-caring. It's not grabbing me in particular, but I like Tony's relationship with his therapist who looks like Kate Mulgrew. I also rented Legends of the Fall, because I like the title and was thwarted once in college when I tried to see it. Oh, and look, Karina Lombard from the L Word is in it.

I spied the hammer, but have not gotten it yet. Perhaps tomorrow.

And now for downloading.

shocking discovery

2004-03-07T02:39:00.000-06:00

I found a new use for lube tonight. I have just spent a fair amount of time over the last few hours trying to change the strings on my bass. Problem: the low B string's rear end is too thick to get through the metal hole. Solution: put Astroglide on it and try to ram it in with the handle of a screwdriver. I'm not sure how many more inappropriate tools for the job exist, but if I stay awake much longer I may find out. Don't worry, I put a blanket between the wood and the screwdriver handle so I wouldn't scratch the wood. My roommate is gone and she knows where the hammer is. I bet I could get it in with an actual hammer.... Do you suppose this would be a qualifying use of the "emergency" number she left?

It's 3:19 am...do you know where Jenna hides the tools?

Thankfully, I know better than to take all the strings off at once.

NP: Renaissance: "Love is All" -- Oooh, pre-Annie-Haslam Renaissance!! Vocals by Jane and Keith Relf (siblings, not spouses). ~1970 goodness. This isn't the best track on the disc. I kind of like Mr. Pine, which later donated bits of itself to become "Running Hard" for Annie Haslam's Renaissance.

Note to self: if Media Player (which I use ONLY because of its stats tracking) loads up all your mp3s on startup, do not encourage it by hitting "shuffle" and "play." You will not like it.

I had to doublepost this here and to www.isamonkey.org/sillylibra because I couldn't get isamonkey to post. Apologies to loyal readers of both blogs: I will try never to repeat.

And now for a brief Hammer Hunt.

Secondary Space

2004-02-18T22:28:00.000-06:00

I've been granted blog space overy at www.isamonkey.org/sillylibra, complete with comments. Lenka tried to hook me up with code for it here, but um...yeah. I can't even get the ones on her page to work for me, so I doubt I'll be able to get my own working. :) Lenka out-dorked me! Well how's this -- do YOU have the first 4 seasons of Babylon 5 on DVD yet? I don't believe I put that in print. I can just hear all the girls running away. Might as well make it worse: I don't like Ani DiFranco. Last nail in the coffin right there, my friends. And even though I'm wearing a Tori Amos shirt right now, I have no great love for her either (minus iieee, January, and a couple of others...oh, Past the Mission. Aw, damn. That's three already and I was only thinking for 5 seconds.). More: I saw Melissa Ferrick twice but only liked her the second time. I am reading Frank Herbert and loving it. I used to play Magic: The Gathering and still have the cards, minus the many I suspect my cousins stole from me. I watched all of LEXX, but only for Xenia Seeberg. I don't really like Angelina Jolie. Is that enough? Cool. "American woman, stay away from mee-hee!"

I just bowled a rocking series for my work league: 81, 90, 161. WTF?? My avg is a 120, mind you.

And now for a shower and more self-deprecation. ;)

The Twain Have Met

2004-02-17T13:40:00.000-06:00

My friend Chris and I finally like the same band. We both like chick rock, but I require that they be able to play their instruments (sorry, dude), so that leaves a lot of them out in the cold as far as I'm concerned (anyone see the Donnas on SNL - oh, the horrors). But now we both like the Guano Apes. Well, yeah, because they rock. Not really chick rock (only singer Sandra Nasic is female), they're hard without being non-melodic, thrashing w/o screaming like death rock, but then also sonic and spacey in parts...just tasty. I'm still having issues with their name though. I mean...come on. I'm getting to the point where I have to almost roll my eyes along with my answer when someone asks what I listen to, because I have to say "Guano Apes," Amon Düül II," "Hawkwind," or something similar. Even "Kate Bush" is sorta funny. ;)

Got the "Lawfully" episode of the L Word last night. Where's my Marina?

I just got called out for dancing in my chair at my desk. I'm "such a white girl," apparently, and Steve expects to "hear that song next week on Smallville." For the record, it was "Quietly," by the GA. I still have fond memories of the day I was really rocking out and looked up to see EVERYONE staring at me. Good times.

And now for reviewing and sending files.

yay weekend

2004-02-15T02:48:00.000-06:00

So you can tell by the time stamp on this post that I've been up for hours and hours playing Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. I don't have a lightsaber yet. So glad for the weekend hours, so I can do pointless things like play this game. I have a couple of good books that I'm going to read tomorrow. Mustn't let the entire weekend go to waste. It's wonderful, though, to feel really really tired like this and be able to go to bed knowing that you can sleep as long as you want in the morning. And my bed is really the best bed ever w/o being a waterbed.

Tomorrow I fully expect the cats to lie on me all morning, making it impossible for me to read. They just look so comfortable sleeping that I have to take naps too. Plus they're pinning me down and I hate to have to move them when they're being all cute and fuzzy. I am indolent and enjoy sleeping. Sue me.

Jenna and I went on a chocolate run to the local Mobil station tonight. The Cadbury mini eggs are out again. I won't go into what else we got, except to say that the M&Ms promotion to find the colors baffles me. Is that their way of hiding the fact that they ran out of food coloring, or what? Black & white M&Ms?? Whatever.

And now for sleep.

Hahahahahaha...spell check wanted to replace Cadbury with cadaver. Ew.

So There!

2004-02-10T22:25:00.000-06:00

This is why my cat Simon is cool: I can point to a bug and he will eat it. Today's taste treat was a really leggy spider in the bathroom. There's still one leg stuck to the floor as proof of the spider's former state of being, but it's sort of crumpled and I'd have to point it out to you. In my other apartment he found something especially nasty that had so many legs that it looked like a clump of hay. Yes, he ate it. Please do not draw any conclusions about my housekeeping skills from the fact that I have had these gross bugs visit or that I didn't bother to wipe up the spider leg.

I hope he finds whatever bit me in my sleep. And dammit, shut UP about the housekeeping.

/DROOL MODE ON/ On a different note, I woke up early (!!) today just to watch the L Word. Finally, hot lesbians. I tend to want to call the show "Straight Girls Kissing," but as Jenna pointed out, "at least they're straight girls who aren't afraid to kiss other girls." Good point.

Found a magazine in Borders today with a long-lost Kate Bush interview from the late 80s, complete with probably the most delicious picture of her that I've seen. Please, someone, get me one of those for Christmas. /DROOL MODE OFF/

And a special thanks to the girls of Middlebury College who almost made me rethink the whole gay thing. Were 18-21 y/o girls that fucking annoying when I was that age? And that's not to say that I'd be straight if not gay. I'm just going to be a equal opportunity disliker (EOD) for a while. Women mentioned in drool mode are exempt from my EOD mood, as they are unattainable anyway, but at least they seem to have grown up into people in whom I might be able to take an interest at some point EVER. "Kooky"-dressing, fuzzy-hat-indoors-wearing, hippy-wannabe-trust-fund-brats be gone!

And now for sleep.

Now Playing

2004-02-09T17:05:00.000-06:00

Recent discovery: The Guano Apes. Ok, I don't know what's up with their name, but all I can say in their defense is that they're German, and it's possible that they got popular before they had a change to change their name (I heard that about the Gin Blossoms, for instance). I'll be making a CD for my car soon, and it will temporarily kick out Amon Düül II. At least I'm keeping with the German theme. And the "what-the-Hell-are-you-listening-to" theme. Big surprise there. No, I don't do it just to be different.

I've almost gotten up to H$11 million on the Hollywood Stock Exchange (www.hsx.com).

Most of these entries will probably be called "Now Playing." However, in this case it's doubly accurate because I talked about hsx too.

Also playing - Hungarian band ColorStar (www.colorstar.org).

And now for dinner!