Dear Friends,
What’s happening? It feels like it has been a long time since I have interacted with a lot of you. Been on a bit of an island out here in the desert and fully immersed in a couple of ideas, mainly The Trees and last week’s topic, being in a band. There is so much more to say on both, but I also have been living a life, too.
I didn’t talk about it here, but I went to see my Bourbon Witch bandmates, Eric and Jx, play in their new band, Bright Sunshine, a couple Fridays ago. They were so good. It is not often there is such highly entertaining material from a brand-new band. I won’t give away what they are doing because it is totally brilliant. You just have to go see them when they play again.
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I also watched the Apple TV show, Physical, last week and just, WOW. It was not what I expected at all. It covers all the bases: hilarious, thought provoking,
, great music, beautifully written, and well-acted. Rose Byrne continues to do great TV work (not that she’s any slouch in a movie). I highly recommend it. Between that show and Severance, Apple TV is well worth a spin for a month or two.
I started watching the Velvet Underground documentary there, too. Will probably add a review to the reviews page when I complete it. Like The Last Movie Stars, I am finding the VU doc to be pretty packed full of information. Some of the footage from early on is very cool, though, and Todd Haynes has done a great job with this.
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I’m shocked to see that Brainiac is playing some shows in the UK with Mogwai. This is a band that I could really devote a lot of words to, for sure, and one that I love, but I can’t imagine how they are going to do this without Tim Taylor. For those who don’t know, Tim tragically died due to a C02 leak in his car many years ago and he was the vocalist and leader of the band. For me, I don’t see how you could do the songs justice without him, but maybe they can.
To the credit of the surviving members, I can’t imagine they would play if they didn’t think they could live up to the legend they created. With technology being what it is, you could recreate the sound of the band, but it would be hard, of course, to recreate Tim’s presence and energy. I was lucky enough to see Brainiac several times over the years and they were an amazing live band. There is a documentary on Amazon, I believe, that is very cool. Everyone in Ohio should watch this as they were a great Ohio band.
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I did post a review of IDLES from last month which was the last big concert I saw.
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I do not like going out in public right now. I keep hearing from people that I know who are getting COVID yet I don’t see anyone wearing masks in public. At IDLES, I’d say less than 5% of the crowd were wearing masks. At the Bright Sunshine show, I didn’t see anyone wearing a mask other than myself.
I know that wearing a mask is a drag, but if it saves you from getting sick, why not? Some people will debate me on this, but when I wore a mask religiously (it had a cross on it), I didn’t get sick. It wasn’t until I stopped wearing one that I got the crap. I don’t want it again, so when I go out in public, I wear one. The only time I didn’t have my mask on at IDLES was when I was having a beverage and even then, I felt nervous.
I hate feeling like I don’t want to see people but right now, it is difficult to justify a lot of socializing outside of the core group. I wish this stuff was over, but I don’t think it ever will be. I think COVID is just something we have to live with for now. As the days get closer to me heading up to Maine to fetch the dog and the car, expect to see less of me in public.
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I should probably report, as well, that Liam finally beat me in racquetball. He was very happy about it. We have been enjoying our time at the gym and racquetball has been a good source of exercise. My knee, the one that I had to get the ACL repaired in 2018, is not a huge fan of it, but I listen to it and when it says stop, I stop. That’s one of the fun parts of getting older.
Your body says, “Hey! You got to abuse me for a long time. Now I will be HEARD.”
There is also no telling the body to shut up. I just doesn’t work for me anymore. Even a few ibuprofens will not always do the trick and they certainly used to. Maybe it will be better when the heat dissipates. I hope so.
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As I inch closer to the final quarter of the year, it seems possible that I will complete my 365,000 + words with ease. I don’t want to jinx it, of course, but there were times in the beginning of this calendar year when I had my doubts. Getting started with the fiction was hard, at first, but it has now gotten to the point where I don’t have time to write all the things I want to write. I’m going to have to keep this going, I think, for another year, maybe.
There are still true stories that I have to tell. I feel like the “Being in a Band” thing can go on for a while longer. There is so much I have not covered yet. I’m also remembering how I learned some of these lessons and I want to share some of those stories as I move forward. I can easily see getting a few more weeks out of this stuff, if not an entire book. If I were to do that, I would make it a more all-encompassing book and talk to different people I know about these things to expand upon it.
There is a lot of The Trees left, too. I won’t finish the first draft on the blog this year unless I almost exclusively post excerpts from it. I’m guessing it would take about 100 more days, give or take, to add the whole thing here at Ergonomic Mischief. That’s too much. Another reason to keep going into 2023.
Then there is Rye’s Above and The Baseball Story. I want to write those, too. Noisy World/Bukake Culkin…I haven’t forgot about them and continue to tinker with those in my head (and, thanks to Siri, in my notes). I also haven’t written about working in a women’s prison for almost five years. I need to do that, too. People like to read about prison.
Then, there are a lot of stories about my life that I just haven’t gotten to yet because they are going to expose things about myself that I’ve been skirting around for years. 2023, I guess. We shall see. There are a little over 100 days go to on 2022 and lots to write.
See you tomorrow.
Mickey Mouse is definitely dead.
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