i am not a monkey

2009-06-09T14:06:00.002-07:00

i have two inguinal hernias, surgery on the 19th.

i'm looking forward to the pain pills

2008-12-21T11:44:00.001-07:00

i wish everyone could hear the music in my head

not to sound pretentious or anything, but it's that fucking good

2008-12-18T19:26:00.002-07:00

hello hello
is there anyone that can see and or hear me
yes i am talking to you
the one with the broken shoe
please tie it, sir or ma'am
i don't want to see you fall so hard when
the cold is already awaiting your arrival

you see there are just some things
that were always meant to be
and whatever has happened will pass by
and we will sit and watch the sky
you and i
goodbye goodbye

the end of the whole mess

2006-09-09T11:05:00.000-07:00

there is no longer a need for "i am not a monkey". i pretty much update for Nancy Drews News, but now that we have www.thenancydrews.com, this "blog" is irrelevant.

the new website is in blog format, so feel free to leave comments and such. thanks for your readership, hope to see you at a show.

love,

little spanish eddie

The Nancy Drews: LIVE at Three Kings Tavern

2006-08-08T14:49:00.000-07:00

here are some pics from The Nancy Drews' Album Debut Celebration last friday at Three Kings Tavern. it was a fun time. buy our album!!!

this is the only good pic i have of pat

the original Drews

it's gonna be (alright)

2006-07-21T09:48:00.000-07:00

it's been a while, i have missed you.

i had to take a leave of absence for a bit because blogging just isn't what it used to be, for me. anyway, just thought i'd give a little update for no one in particular because i can't imagine anyone cares that much.

brahburns, my longtime compadre/amigo/friend, is moving to denver and i am very excited about that.

i'm finally moving out of chuck's at the end of september, something that is loooooooong overdue.

the Nancy Drews Album Debut party is at 3 Kings on friday, August 4th.

the Ween are performing at Red Rocks a week from tomorrow.

i get to go to Washington on August 18th for a cousin's wedding.

other than that, life has been the usual rollercoaster: ups and downs, strikes and gutters. i think part of the reason i don't write on this thing anymore is because i don't want to expose myself too much. i don't know, but there you go.

hope to see you all August 4th!

is transcending all that difficult?

2006-06-27T21:34:00.000-07:00

i'm going on vacation tomorrow, driving to washington [state] where i will golf, go to the mariners/rockies game, drink beers, and do other things.

i don't like to write blog entries anymore and i'm not sure why.

the Nancy Drews Album Debut Celebration will be at 3 Kings Tavern on Friday, August 4th. we'll be giving away a bunch of free shwag.

peace out, i may post from washington.

i'm looking through you, where did you go?

2006-06-06T07:09:00.000-07:00

sorry hubs, but i've got to mention the Drews yet again. the show we're playing at 3 Kings got bumped to Friday June 16th. apparently the 3 Kings double-booked and Rising Up! got asked to play the following week. so i hope all who were planning on coming down this saturday can still make it next friday.

we've been recording lately and just finished all drum tracks for songs that could potentially be on the album. it's nice to have a phase completely done. next will probably be rhythm guitars, recorded by yours truly.

it's nice to be dating someone again, especially someone who is not high maintanance (e.g. my last two gf's not counting budapest girl). it's nice to double date with my friends. it's nice to go watch a movie at an air-conditioned apartment. the house on ogden street is literally an oven right now. we haven't put the swamp cooler in the window yet, and won't until some parts are purchased at the home depot. i do not know how long this will take, hopefully not too long otherwise the Nancy Drews will have to find another lead singer because i'll be dead from heat exhaustion. that's how bad it is, mofos.

less than a month and i'll be doing the long drive back to washington [state] to see my friends and family whom i have not seen in about a year and a half. it's going to be the bomb except for the driving part. why am i driving? you may ask yourself. well honestly i don't know. at first it was because i've got to pick up a bunch of shit my mom has for me, like old toys, tires, a chair, baseball card collection, things of that nature. but now i'm just wondering if i should buy a damn plane ticket and ship all that shit back to denver because all of that combined might actually be cheaper than gas there and back, not to mention i could save a ton of wear and tear on my 2002 chevy S-10 pickup which already has 81,000 miles on it due to several road trips such as the one i am about to embark on. i don't know, we'll see. if anyone has a buddy pass or frequent flier miles they don't want to use, think of your old pal spanish eddie.

new drews show

2006-06-01T05:34:00.000-07:00

it'll be a breeze

2006-05-31T06:28:00.000-07:00

oh memorial day weekend, how thou kicked my bootay. it all started thursday night when an old college bud was in town for work, and we hit up lodo because it was his last night in town and technically my friday night. after a couple happy hour drinks at kokopelli's, we hit up the Chophouse for some company-paid-for filets and a bottle of francis coppolla merlot. then it was a couple bars and drunkenness.

friday casey and i drank way too much before band practice and thus everyone played really loud and sloppy. but that's fun sometimes. afterwards i finished my bottle of ravenswood zin. it is my new favourite wine.

saturday i had to go out to the field to do a bit of work but i was done in a half hour so it wasn't that bad. that evening the chica took me to sushi hai, and for dessert we walked across the street to the coral room for a couple glasses of reisling. then we watched shopgirl at her place which i found to be ok. jason schwartzman is hilarious as always.

sunday i went to church and had an awesome time as usual, then began to prepare for the gigantor fish feed hosted by a member of the drews. my uncle sent me about 25 lbs of fresh-caught salmon and halibut from alaska. my uncle rules. so i deep-fried the halibut for a little fish & chip action and cooked a couple kings on the barbie and the oven. we also had muscles provided by casey's neighbor, and CV himself cooked up some shrimp. there was also a shitload of white wine involved and as soon as a i had a chance to sit down and socialise i started slugging white wine and subsequently got wasted. it was a good wasted, though, with casey and i sitting on the patio playing songs to a candle-lit crowd on a lovely sunday night.

monday i sat around the house and did laundry and ordered pizza and watched a movie or two. here's to you, memorial day weekend. you don't come around often enough.

i clung to the stretcher and drew them a heart (part 2)

2006-05-25T12:24:00.000-07:00

i clung to the stretcher and drew them a heart (part 1)

2006-05-24T13:19:00.000-07:00

The Nancy Drews: Rock & Dine!

2006-05-22T07:08:00.000-07:00

thanks to everyone who came out! you all made it a special night of food, music, and fun! i'll have more pics soon, the above are courtesy of kath. when i post the other pics i'll give a short review.

got the new chris harford album and i think it's pretty damn good. produced, engineered, and arranged by michael melchiondo aka mickey melchiondo aka dean ween aka mickey moist, and mixed by andrew weiss of ween, butthole surfers, and rollins band fame, Looking Out For Number 6 is a lovely album which is par for the course for chris harford as far as i know. the only other album of his i've listened to is 1992's Be Headed which was released by Elektra. Number 6 starts out with the apocalyptic "what we do not know" and moves right into the lennon-esque "this moment is all we've got". my favourite track thus far is "teach me" featuring harmonies by gene ween aka papa gener aka aaron freeman. the album ends on kind of a low note with "the glider to the queen". i've never been a fan of closing an album with a slow song, it just seems rather anticlimactic. while the technique does work on a number of records, i don't like it here and that's my biggest complaint. and that there are only eight tracks, which makes it feel like it ends abruptly.

anyhow, the album (released on Ween's own Chocodog label) just got picked up by Sony/BMG so the official release date has been pushed back i guess. i did the preorder thing so that's why i have it. i didn't mean to sound like i was bragging. i'm just going to stop now because i am so scatterbrained from the weekend's shenanigans and the beefeaters & tonic i had last night at barry's.

followed me down the neck to D

2006-05-10T07:01:00.000-07:00

i've been sitting on this post for like a half hour now. so let's talk some rockies baseball!

the rockies are playing out of their collective heads right now, and maybe o'dowd and hurdle are on to something. except why did hurdle take Fogg out of the game last night? colorado's starting pitching is freaky at the moment, with Jennings and Cook almost throwing back-to-back complete games, and Fogg pitching very well into the 8th last night. low pitch-counts, excellent ball-control, great catching, timely hitting -- these are all factors that have put your Colorado Rockies at the top of the NL West!

Garrett Atkins, Matt Holiday, Clint Barmes, Todd Helton, these guys are slugging with everyone else in the National League, and i think baseball is better for it. remember when Colorado was a new ballclub in the early nineties, and the Blake Street Bombers were raking homers like it was going out of style? Castilla, Walker, Bichette - hell, i wasn't even a Colorado fan and i knew of those guys. well this is not that team (although the aforementioned Four can hit the long ball when need-be) and that's not such a bad thing. home runs are fun to watch, especially when you're at the ballpark, but they won't buy you a decent run in the playoffs. a nice post-season is backed by good pitching - starters and the bullpen - and clutch hitting. what i mean by clutch hitting is not necessarily a walkoff home run, but a perfectly placed bunt, a long sac fly, a timely single with a man on second. the Rockies this year are not relying on the home run to help them win games, they're doing it by playing smart baseball and by getting the most out of their pitchers.

although when you play against the Cards, sometimes you'll get Pujols'd.

angels (russian) where i fear to tread

2006-05-09T12:42:00.000-07:00

as usual i have nothing to comment on...

IF YOU'D LIKE TO ATTEND ROCK & DINE AT KOKOPELLI'S BY THE NANCY DREWS, PLEASE CONTACT ME VIA EMAIL FOR TICKETS - UNLVTOGS_at_YAHOO.COM. THIS IS A SPECIAL NIGHT OF GOURMET FOOD AND GOURMET MUSIC BY THE NANCY DREWS AND JT NOLAN & THE LOVELY AND TALENTED. YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS OUT BECAUSE YOU WILL BE SAD YOU DID! I SHIT YOU NOT! TICKETS WILL NO LONGER BE SOLD AFTER WEDNESDAY MAY 17 BECAUSE THE CHEF NEEDS TO KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE TO COOK FOR. IF IT SEEMS LIKE I'M YELLING, I'M REALLY NOT, EXCEPT PERHAPS WHEN AN EXCLAMATION MARK FOLLOWS THE SENTENCE.

...except to pimp my band.

i can forestall the sun when two of the raiders come

2006-05-05T10:21:00.000-07:00

so tomorrow is cinco de mayo. i always call it Cinco de Rob because a friend of mine from college, his birthday is May 5th and his name is Rob. so every cinco de mayo he had a party called Cinco de Rob. it was pretty fun; we'd make up a bunch of margaritas and daquiris and get all wasted outside playing this card game that i can't remember. but i do remember it seemed like an east coast card game.

i probably won't be going all out or anything tomorrow night because just like St. Patty's Day, it's friggin amateur night. i'm still waiting on brahburns to upload pics of the nancy drews to glide, which is where we store all of our media. it's cool. and also i always forget about the pics kath sent when i get home.

it looks like the fog is lifting a bit so perhaps i'll be golfing with joe today. i don't know though, i'm pretty slammed at work which is not cool on a friday. fridays are supposed to be lackadaisical and i am missing The Smack Off on the Jim Rome Show. it's a great day to listen to The Jungle and i'm stuck in the gas chamber.

you melt chocolate hearts

2006-05-03T06:28:00.000-07:00

i've been waiting to post the post-Drews show report for some pics but i can't access any from my work computer. saturday night the Nancy Drews rocked the shit, bad sound system and all, to a lively, exuberant, slightly drunk crowd. it was awesome. thanks so much to everyone who came: kath, hdw, hubs (& later on G), brahburns and a-bomb, pez, etc. i'm trying to think of anyone else who reads this and can't think of anyone right now cuz it's still early in the morn. we truly appreciate everyone's support and i hope you all had a good time.

so we went on after the Lords of Fuzz (not the Captains of Fuzz) who did a nice job rocking the stage. by the time we got on stage, all of our people had arrived (which kicked the two other bands' asses i must say) and we did the best we could with no sound check and one monitor that faced zach the drummer. i mean the sound system was really a joke, and the sound man was all, "well i'll let you know how it sounds after the first song and then you can adjust." um, excuse me? what the fuck is that all about? that was the most ridiculous statement i've heard in a long time but we rolled with it. it's quite difficult to sing when you can't hear yourself but i think i pulled it off. as for the rest of the band, they're pros, what can i say.

my favourite song of the night was probably "touch my tooter" because it's rockin and i don't have to play guitar on it. also, we had to cut four songs which ended up costing the Old Curtis Street Bar a lot of money, seeing as how the entire bar cleared out after we stopped playing. it's bad karma to tell the Nancy Drews to stop playing.

The Nancy Drews: LIVE! at the Old Curtis Street Bar - 2100 Curtis, Denver - Saturday 4/29

2006-04-28T08:42:00.000-07:00

welcome to paradise

2006-04-24T07:01:00.000-07:00

one day at colorado rehearsal studios i went to drain the sea monster in between songs because we had been drinking beer. when i approached the urinal, i saw the above sign posted. "jimi" is the "landlord" (i.e. slumlord) of the colorado rehearsal studios. apparently some tenant had taken such a gargantuan shit that it clogged up the toilet. this was a bad thing to do because jimi actually lives in the building. jimi was mad, so jimi wrote the above note and posted it for all to see. i don't know what jimi did for a toilet while it was out, and quite frankly i don't want to know. however i DO know that even before this sign was posted, that would be the last place i'd take a dook.

martha, my dear you have always been my inspiration

2006-04-20T06:23:00.000-07:00

got the first sunburn of the year yesterday and i look terrific. sometimes i wish i didn't dream so much, that i could just sleep and not have weird adventures in my subconcious. i mean, i am seriously a dreaming machine. it'd be a lot cooler if they were lucid so i could just do whatever i wanted. i remember my first lucid dream, i was at my friend limey's dad's house in richland, washington and we were driving around in my car when all of a sudden, for whatever reason, i realised i was in a dream and that none of it was real, so i tell limey this and he says something like "well let me out of the car so i don't die or anything" so i let him out and i just start ramming my car into houses and other cars because it didn't matter, none of it was real! i get out of my car (which at the time was an '83 honda accord - it was the balls) and i start to fly and it felt so awesome to be flying free through the clouds and that's when i woke up. waking up after a lucid dream sucks.

lying in beds of garlic and orchid

2006-04-17T07:41:00.000-07:00

i know the colour is a bit askew but i think it gives a kind of nostalgic feel. that was where i sat at yesterday's game which is pretty damn sweet. everything was much closer than it looks in the pic. and what a tremendous day for a ballgame at coors field! man oh man i got a sweet farmer's tan on my knees and neck. it was my first ballgame with no beer since i was a kid watching ken griffey, jr. dominate the kingdome.

so yeah, it was quite the wonderful easter. an awesome service at city pres, baseball game on a beautiful day at coors field, and i guess that's about it, but that is plenty. i would've thrown in a new sopranos episode and performing at an open mic, but i'm just not that into the sopranos and i opted against doing the open mic. i wrote a new song over the weekend and i don't know if it'll ever see the outside of my room because it's the most personal thing i've written.

in other news, brahburns and his gf ariel will indeed be coming out at the end of this month to see the nancy drews rock the shit at the OCSB (saturday april 29) and i'm pretty pumped about that. does anyone know how to hyperlink a pic on blogger so that you just click on the link and a picture pops up? i can't figure that out because apparently i am a dumbass. so instead, pics of brahburns and ariel:

a paragon of virtue and hope

2006-04-12T06:55:00.000-07:00

this month of sobriety is going surprisingly well. sure it's a little boring at times but in the end, i feel much better all the time, i'm saving some dough, i got my singing voice back. of course this means that i had to take up cigarettes again but i'm ok with that.

i've been reading the Ween show reviews on the ween forum and it sounds like they've basically been kicking everyone's asses since day one in Ft. Lauderdale. they opened with fucking Nan at the Tabernacle in georgia on monday which i'm kinda pissed i missed. hey that rhymed. anyway it'll be a much different experience seeing the Ween at red rocks rather than a small club, but cool nonetheless.

one fun thing about going out to bars with your friends and you're the only one not drinking is: it is quite the scene to watch people go from sober to drunk. the smiles become wider, laughs become guffaws, the overall volume in voices increases (exponentially when doing shots), jokes become more crass, eyes turn glassy, pool skillz diminish. also when you're sober people don't become more attractive after an hour and a half. it's really quite an anomoly.

so we're left here to wonder why the stuffed toys do not come out to play under the quite blue rays of the moon, and the answer lies not in perfecting the underbelly of the sickening sky but by knowing that the stars will never align as you desire.

kiwi sifts through all that's left of humanity gone awry

2006-04-07T07:52:00.000-07:00

so here we are in lovely denver, colorado, where the bureau of tourism would have you believe that denver gets over 300 days of sunshine a year! but the national weather people say it's more like 255, and while i'm more inclined to agree with the people who aren't necessarily trying to sell people on visiting and/or moving to denver, i suppose it really depends on what your definition of a "sunny day" is. does it have to be the whole day, from dawn to dusk? a partial day? what if it is sunny for only a matter of minutes? while these haunting questions are racking your brain, rest assured, today is not one of those 300 (255) days.

fucking snow.

one of the problems with living at chuck's is that thursday night is reality tv night. granted, i don't have to watch. i could stay in my room and write songs, which i usually do anyway but then i come out to make dinner and sit down to eat and 'survivor' is on so inevitably i get sucked in, not just 'survivor' but also 'american inventor'. now 'american inventor' is apparently a simon cowell spinoff. i just learned this from chuck that simon cowell is a snide british 'judge' on 'american karaoke'. so of course these 'inventor judges' have to include another snide brit. well this motherfucker, let me tell you what he said. this old man comes in with his invention which is a toilet seat that sucks away bad odors in through a filtration system so you're left with no bad odors, instead of spraying stuff around that masks bad odors. this british fuck is like "well, i hoff to tell you, i've never had that problem. if i do staht to have that problem, i just change what i eat." what? you think your shit doesn't stink? the guy got voted out, but his invention was better for the people that enter the bathroom when you're done because believe me, your shit stinks just as much as mine. i mean where does that asshole get off?

tonight my resolve is really going to be tested because i'm going to hear dj luccy spin at 3 kings tavern tonight and i will more than likely want to get a beer, but i've got to stick to my plan and just not drink until april 29th when the Drews rock the shit at the Old Curtis Street Bar.

i hear they're doing wonderful things with club soda these days.

the Ween Forum Tribute Album (WFTA)

2006-04-06T07:48:00.000-07:00

to listen/download mp3's of any or all of these songs, click here. notice the Nancy Drews made it on. twice! which is pretty sweet because there were more than 22 submissions. anyway, as the Beeze says, there is a lot of love on this album. imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and i'm very proud to be a part of this.

now going on the Ween Forum can sometimes be a bit dangerous/adventurous, especially at work, but the link i provided is safe. enjoy!

realize that path's not made of gold, don't disguise the nature of your soul

2006-04-05T06:24:00.000-07:00

man sometimes, sometimes i just want to quit everything and start over fresh and i'm not meaning to sound too depressed but every once and a while my mind takes on this defeatist kind of attitude. i've never succumbed and actually taken any drastic measures, and i'm not talking about suicide but just quitting things like work or extracurricular activities. i try telling this to casey but of course he just started wigging out about the band and was like "what? are you going to quit, are you quitting the band, because let me know now before i buy anymore shit!" and i'm all "dude, i'm just trying to talk to you as a friend, i'm not quitting the band" and it really makes me miss my oldest, dearest friends who are so far away like limey, brahburns, and pez. well pez is coming back but i still won't see her as much. she would say that this little diatribe is further proof that i am indeed bi-polar and this is my depressive stage. i don't know, perhaps alcohol has something to do with it. this is my alcohol-free month so maybe i'm going through mental withdrawals or something. we'll see by the end of the week because my body should be detox'ed by then from monday's binge.

this weather is certainly helping things, although i think there's a chance of snow on friday.

give me that can of beans

2006-04-04T12:31:00.000-07:00

i'm all tore up today because of yesterday's 12-hour bender. what can i say, it was Opening Day.

after killing jason off and countless screaming argonauts

2006-03-31T09:22:00.000-07:00

the time of year is fast upon us where i will be tempted to leave work early to play golf. especially now that i know i have two months to prepare for my company's golf tournament on June 4. i used to pull that shit in high school and first two years of college all the time, namely skipping out on class to play a round or hit balls. there really is a feeling of accomplishment and "good vibes" for lack of a better term when you can go out on the course and put the ball where you want 80% of the time.

such is the love-hate relationship with golf that i know i share with others. i guess that's one of the few sad things about growing older, is having to make decisions about giving up certain things you like for a number of reasons. i wish i could do all the things i ever loved all the time, but i suppose it's better to be really good at a few things than just ok at a lot of things. golf is one of those activities i'll probably always do but never be really good at like when i was 19. and i can live with that.

fucking shit there is this person in the file cabinet area behind me that is making the kind of noise like shutting file drawers and other shit that is driving me mad and there's nothing i can do about it except leave, right? i mean what choice do i really have i just have to go otherwise there will be hell to pay oh yes there will be actually probably not. if i decided not to leave then i'd just slap the earbuds in and crank up the Nancy Drews' new demo or "birdhouse in your soul" by They Might Be Giants which is probably one of the greatest songs ever written i mean it's just amazing how damn catchy it is. definitely one of the greatest melodies ever written and part of the reason is it doesn't follow your typical I-IV-V chord progression format which in this day and age is quite refreshing sometimes. ok i'm going to leave now.

lead me to the land that you understand

2006-03-30T07:37:00.000-07:00

last night's episode of Lost was a pretty good one and i can't believe it but yes they indeed are going to have another new episode next week. sometimes i get annoyed at myself for "having a tv show" but then i think 'what the fuck? who cares?'. i used to be one of those people who consciously did not watch television and then someone would say 'oh have you seen this show?' or 'did you see that commercial?' and it would piss me off to no end and inevitably i'd feel bad for feeling that way. then there are some people who just love to mention that they don't watch tv, they read, as if people who watch the boob tube don't read they just loaf on the couch all day. now while there are some people who do loaf on the couch and watch tv all the time, there are many who will watch the occasional show on television and also find time to read or do other non-tv related activities. and that is ok. we all just need to get along and not feel superior to those who don't do exactly the same things that we do. that is part of what makes life interesting, is that we are not all the same. it'd be pretty boring if we were. i recently saw this photoshopped pic of an ipod where the song title read "i have a better taste in music than anyone else". it's funny because it's true. admittedly there are times when i'll think something like that because it makes me feel good to be superior, it feeds the ego. but then shortly after i'll realise what a mistake it is to feel that way and push those thoughts away. this is why i have to stay busy all the time because i will overanalyse the shit out of everything. including watching television.

"everyone must listen to me filibuster vigilantly"

i'm your only friend i'm not your only friend

2006-03-29T07:56:00.000-07:00

there's a new Lost on tonight for the *gasp* second week in a row! heaven forbid there be a third new episode next week. but we here at i am not a monkey will not count our chickens before they're hatched.

as we did with our IRS refund. turns out way back in 2001 and 2002 i forgot to file my tax returns so the Internal Rectal Service is withholding my check until they are filed. which actually will be a good thing because those years are refund years as well. but my Les Paul Gibson Studio will have to wait at least four more months.

we finally have the final bill for the Old Curtis Street Bar and it is (in particular order, from first to last):
Captains of Fuzz
The Nancy Drews
Zeut
if you were at our show at Cricket On the Hill you may remember Zeut, who headlined that show as well. they rock and it is our pleasure to play with them again. as for Captains of Fuzz, i've never heard them but Kosta at the Old Curtis Street Bar said they rock. and of course i need not tell you about the Nancy Drews.

i've had "birdhouse in your soul" stuck in my head for like four days.

it's simple to say "trust me, i will not forget"

2006-03-27T08:15:00.000-07:00

the Nancy Drews have completed our first demo. i thought the recording would take a long time but it doesn't even hold a candle to the mixing/mastering process. that shit is tedious. the page to listen to the songs is not finished; the picture is of brahburns giving the thumbs up, which is important because you know that if brahburns is giving approval, it's a damn good thing.

http://desktop.glidesociety.com/user/page.aspx?id=24b05c30-8314-4389-8570-02a88e2d0fbd

http://myspace.com/nancydrewsmusic is also a place you can go to that has some of our music.

so there you have it. i don't know why i continue to get Beefeater's and Tonics at barry's for $2.50 you-call-it sundays. gin is my archnemesis.

when the lights go down, don't go around

2006-03-23T08:01:00.000-07:00

last night's Lost was just ok. i suppose it's a testament to the writing and acting that i continue to watch a program that has multiple plot lines left for dead and 10 minutes of commercials for every 5 minutes of show. i mean it's fucking ridiculous! enough with the bombardment of advertisements! answer some damn questions!

but i'll sure as shit watch next week. fuck me.

it might be time to get some new kicks because i dreamt last night that i was shopping for some brown pumas.

the fog outside has not lifted yet and i am glad. the fog makes everything looks so eerie and different. in between my truck and the office door, the leafless trees were silhouetted by the fog and a crow cawed out to the emptiness. it was all very film noir-ish. except there was nobody murdered. but there could have been!

everything's so easy for pauline

2006-03-22T07:58:00.000-07:00

i bought new skis yesterday and i'm already getting excited for next season although i'm damn ready for summer and sick of winter. my feet have almost forgotten what it's like to roam free.

that or i'm not as liberal with the flip-flop wearing as i used to be. you know how a lot of guys will wear flip-flops with khakis or something else nice? i started that. back in vegas one could almost wear flip-flops year-round, and so i'd wear flip-flops with all my clothes and pretty much people caught on to how awesome it was and it took off.

that's right, i am a trend-setter. there are other fads i've inadvertantly begun but i won't get into it right now. it's too hard for some people to take, and i don't want anyone getting riled up on a cold ass humpday.

there's a new Lost on tonight and i hate that i keep coming back to those fuckers but it's so damn compelling and riveting i can't help myself. i really don't understand why they do one new show and then three weeks of repeats. it just doesn't make sense to me. and no questions are really answered, they just put older shit on the backburner and raise new issues. but admittedly i will keep watching.

i think thai basil is on the menu tonight.

Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

2006-03-20T08:57:00.000-07:00

i'm listening to Neko Case's new album Fox Confessor Brings the Flood for the second time in a row while i enter data and i'm thinking that it will have 5 more listens today, that's how awesome it is.

for those unfamiliar with Neko Case, she's a pac-northwesterner with one of the best voices ever. and i've also been in love with her for two years.

basically i have ginormous crushes on neko case and natalie portman. last year at her show at the bluebird i was going to ask her out for a drink but i barely stammer out how great i thought she was and pretty much i just gushed and turned red.

so anyway this new album is just spectacular, a marvelous listen. and if you're not into the whole "alt-country" thing she's awesome on all three New Pornographers releases (Mass Romantic, Electric Version, & Twin Cinema). oh man. it's just that i'm still listening to "fox" and with each listen it reveals more and more layers.

damn. Hold On, Hold On and The Needle Has Landed are absolutely beautiful. then again, so are Star Witness and Lion's Jaws and That Teenage Feeling. ok i'm going to stop now because pretty much all the songs kick ass.

stare into the lion's eyes and if you taste the candy

2006-03-14T07:31:00.000-07:00

the next official Nancy Drews show is april 29 (arbor day), but casey and i will be flexing our acoustic muscles (look out for the guns) at kokopelli's this sunday during their open mic. if anyone wants to come down, there's no cover and it really is a sweet bar.

the april 29th gig is at the old curtis street bar at 2100 curtis st. there will be three acts with the Nancy Drews headlining, as it were. cost will be approx. $5 and of course we will be rocking the joint in true Nancy Drews form, with an almost entirely new setlist (yes we will still play 'ocean man').

saturday april 29th may seem like a long time, but it'll sneak up on you faster than something that sneaks up really fast on people.

big news and big losers

2006-03-13T07:38:00.000-07:00

so this was the weekend where i was to come away with many stories of drunken shenanigans and debauchery. i don't really have any. i mean zigler and i did get pretty wasted a few times but there's nothing really to report. zigler snuck a beer out of sobo 151 and i sang karaoke - twice - one song which was the "summer nights" duet from "grease". yes, i love "grease" and that is how i roll. but other than that, we watched our alma mater lose in the MWC tourney, went skiing at Copper on saturday, and that's about it.

and now for the big news: WEEN is playing at Red Rocks Amphitheatre the day after my b-day -- JULY 29!!!!! actually i'm not as stoked as them playing at the boulder or fox theatres, partly because i'm not too huge on Red Rocks, and because the Flaming Lips are playing with them this time, but it is still Bad Ass! Celebrate Good Times Go Ween. kath you absolutely must see this show. the live Ween experience will indeed melt your mind, even without drugs.

oh yes, it's Bracket Time people! fill out your brackets and enjoy the NCAAs. go Zags, go Huskies.

so don't you be late

2006-03-07T07:46:00.000-07:00

one of my fellow UNLV alums is flying into denver tomorrow from las vegas for the Mountain West Conference Championship, held for the last time at Pepsi Center. when we were in college it took place at the Thomas & Mack on campus, but the MWC brainiacs thought UNLV had too much of a home-court advantage because they either won it or made it to the finals every year. turns out UNLV just steps it up during tourney time because they've done that the last three years the tournament has been held in denver. it also turns out that (surprise!) more people show up for the MWC Championship when it's held in las vegas! big shocker! so this is the final year the tournament will be held in denver and i'm ok with that because that means i get to go to vegas next year. yeah it's sweet that the tournament is held here and i can drive 5 minutes to the Can and see my runnin rebels play some uninspired tarkanianless b-ball, but a trip to vegas somehow makes it more special.

if i had my druthers:

- denver would have las vegas's october weather year-round
- the light-rail would be finished like yesterday
- thai basil...well i don't know, i just wanted to say i love thai basil
- i'd ride my bike to work everday (which depends on the weather thing above)
- it'd be easier to join a softball league. seriously i can't find one anywhere.
- there'd be a garlic knot in denver (city of)
- my neighborhood would have permit parking due to the popularity of ogden st. south on weekends
- barry's would not be sausage fest all the time
- the shamrock would still be in business. not that i don't like the rover, i just miss the shamrock.

george clooney is an arrogant horse's ass

2006-03-06T13:05:00.000-07:00

yes i watched them. i wasn't planning on it, but matt & sue were making dinner and i did not want to miss out on homemade crab-cheese wontons and sesame chicken. and believe you me, it was delicious.

so because i wanted to eat this awesome dinner i had to watch the academy awards and while there were many moments that made me physically ill (see "oscar pre-show" or whatever they call that drivel) i must say that jon stewart was funny. while i'm afraid jon stewart is on his way to become the next bill maher, he still puts out good material and last night is proof of that.

but george clooney came with the smugness to end all smugness. i want to kick my own ass for even having an emotional response to anything about hollywood patting itself on the back, but he was too much!

you want a "star" who's in check and has his shit together? see dave chappelle. i think he's the only sane person in hollywood. i'd set you up with the youtube link but i can't because it's blocked at work, so just go to youtube.com and search for "dave chappelle" and check out his interview with james lipton on "inside the actor's studio".

touch my tooter, smoocher!

2006-03-03T13:37:00.000-07:00

yet another reason WEEN is the greatest rock n roll band on earth

please would you like to be somewhere floating free

2006-03-03T08:16:00.000-07:00

one part of my dream that stands out from last night is the heat. i was walking along somewhere and the heat was almost unbearable; i was sweating and thirsting from the unrelenting heat. and at that point i woke up and realised i'd left my space heater on when i fell asleep and now my room was sweltering. so i turned it off and opened my door to let the heat out and fell back asleep into dreamland.

it was at this point that i began dreaming of my family's place in the mountains, which i don't think really exists. i'm not even quite sure what mountain range this mythical "place in the mountains" is, but it's probably the cascades. anyway, me and a bunch of other family members, which happens to include michael j. fox, go up there because mike has just inherited the place. thing is you can only get there by "land or air", although it's too high up to be dropped from a plane or helicopter so basically you have to hike there. i don't know how, but there is electricity and running water. the electricity comes from these power lines that obstruct some of the view from the house. we are all sitting in front of the cabin which sits right in front of a huge, downward-sloping meadow and basically opens up to a view of these magnificent snow-crested mountains. it's probably spring-time because the grass of the meadow is green and there are wildflowers in bloom. and everyone is chillin like villains outside.

for some reason i throw a rope around the power line and start swinging like a madman, and i mean i am going waaaay out there and into the air because the meadow goes down so quickly and abruptly so if i were to slip i'd fall a long, long way to my death. but i'm not even afraid of slipping, i'm just swinging like a madman and having a blast and mike (j. fox) is exploring the place and my great-grandmother (whom i've never met in real-life) is on the meadow with everyone else. and when i'm swinging, i'm really swinging! and it feels tremendous to have that kind of confidence and to be on the meadow with the family one second and the next second they're looking like ants because of how high i'm swinging on this rope attached to power lines.

when i tire of the rope swing it suddenly occurs to me that i'm not being electrocuted when i'm on the ground holding the rope and i can't remember if that's because the rope is not a conductor or if the power lines are shut off because i should be electrocuted because i'm grounding the power line. soon it doesn't matter though because someone has climbed the pole and tightroped over to where the rope is tied and he cuts it with a knife. so no more rope swing.

it's at this point i go inside with michael j. fox and we're raiding the fridge but all we can find is almond roca and sliced ham. that's about all i remember.

looking up to the sky

2006-03-01T11:43:00.000-07:00

holy shit, man! last night the nancy drews drank booze and rocked the house. it kind of pains me to say it, and it's kind of wrong in a good way, but playing music with a buzz is really, really, really, ridiculously fun.

that was basically our mardi gras celebration and no, i don't believe any of us gave up anything for lent. i was going to give up being awesome, but then who would you all look up to for a role model of awesomeness? so fear not, i gave up nothing.

i am eating a pbj, apple (fuji, gala, or golden delicious), and banana for lunch these days. i've given up drinking diet wild cherry pepsi because i need to drink more water, so i'm forcing myself to do so. i miss it, i'll admit it. i'm just not the same without it. hell, I need it. i miss it's scent...i miss it's musk. i was thinking maybe we could get an apartment together.

seems my destiny

2006-02-28T09:23:00.000-07:00

last night when i got home from work, i did the usual and avoided running in the park and opted instead for a small ham sangwich and an episode of Seinfeld. after that i decided to take a nap which ended up being four hours long. yes i am going somewhere with this.

so after my nap i go out to watch some tube with chuck and Return of the King is on and i desperately want to watch it but there's no way chuck is having any of that, so we watch Executive Decision with Snake Plisskin and then some HBO Undercover thing about dog kennels in Arkansas that abuse the shit out of dogs.

anyway i decide i should go to bed after that because it's already 1 am but i'm not even tired. so i'm in bed trying to sleep and all i can think about is abby who is living in budapest and all the people i met in croatia who changed my life in many ways and i felt the pull i had not felt in so long, that desire to live in slatina or dubrovnik or some other village or city and teach english and learn croatian and be a part of another culture because i feel the longer i stay in the states the smaller my world becomes and it's so easy to dismiss things you can't see firsthand. all the faces of those i met in slatina and osijek and the times abby and i shared when i went to visit her exactly a year ago and my friends ben and carmen who let me stay in their guest room and were such great hosts but who i never talk to anymore because i think ben got pissed at me for writing stuff about abby when i got back to the states, all these things are running through my head for like 2 hours which kind of freaked me out because normally i can fall asleep like it's nobody's business. and it wasn't like a wrote bad things about abby when i got back to the states. i just felt as though the relationship was over for whatever reason, like she was walking too fast my last night in budapest or some other stupid neurotic shit my brain wrestled with.

the fact i'm writing about this a year later makes me wonder about a lot of things. one thing's for sure though: if i lived in europe i'd still be able to see ween because they occasionally tour europe.

buggy, why's my brain so muddy?

2006-02-27T15:35:00.000-07:00

as soon as i posed the question i knew i was doomed. the three of us, we were just waiting for the words to be uttered: wanna go to barry's for one?

what started out as a pleasant evening of lasagne dinner with friends ended up with me and joe wrestling on the floor and max eating my freshly-made ham sandwich while i was putting joe in a headlock. max is chuck's dog, btw.

really the wild card was the beefeaters & tonics. $2.50 you-call-its at barry's on sunday and monday nights means i can drink stuff like beefeaters and, say, yukon jack without repose. and i'm starting to realise that isn't necessarily a good thing. i don't really like getting hammered on sunday night, and i'm starting to not like getting hammered at all these days. sure, it's fun at the time but it's like you got mugged because your head hurts and the wallet is empty.

that yukon jack shot sure was a blast from the past though. my friend limey may recall some drunken las vegas shenanigans involving yukon jack, although he may not want to recall everything.

ween just announced a small southwest u.s. tour and ft. lauderdale is first on their list. it just so happens that my good friend ami lives there and lo! today i received an email from travelocity with a roundtrip fare of $200. i just about shit myself because that is a great deal and i can almost afford it, esp if i get my damn refund check soon. if you have not seen ween live, you must.

The Grobe and Like a Hurricane

2006-02-23T07:50:00.000-07:00

i'm doing my OSHA 8-hr Refresher today so here are links to the Nancy Drews performing The Grobe by Ween and Like a Hurricane by Neil Young at Cricket On the Hill on february 4th.

enjoy

another sunny day

2006-02-22T08:40:00.000-07:00

thin mints taste so much better when they're frozen. i mean it's a like a completely different cookie, although frozen or not, it is The Balls. this dude at work who sometimes i like but often don't like just gave me a whole sleeve of thin mints for some unknown reason. but i did not argue and now he's on my Good Side. you don't want to see me angry.

now i've been hearing quite a bit about this "diet cherry vanilla dr. pepper" and i don't get it. why does dr. pepper feel the need to mask it's already delicious flavour? is being the oldest pop (fuck off, "soda" people) not enough? what would the good doctor say about all this? and why even try and go against diet wild cherry pepsi? diet wild cherry pepsi is probably one of the 21st century's finest innovations. diet wild cherry pepsi is so insanely awesome that once you get that first sip, it's very near impossible to not start buying 12 packs everytime you go grocery shopping. yep, it's that good. i haven't even tasted diet cherry vanilla dr. pepper and i know that it can not match up to the heavenly nectar that is diet wild cherry pepsi. and this is a non-debatable point.

you can talk of the future, you can talk of the past

2006-02-21T13:50:00.000-07:00

so i am single once again and this means the usual thing is happening: i am thinking of girls i've dated in the past couple years and wonder 'why did we break up? we had such Good Times!' but what i don't remember are the reasons we broke up to begin with, which were valid reasons (i.e. not "Seinfeld" reasons. ok there are probably a couple of those). this is a prime example of selective memory, and a good example of why witness testimony in a court of law is not always terra firma.

i sit here chewing on ice cubes with my sensitive teeth, because i am a maniac like that, and wonder if Roald Dahl books are still popular with children today. RD was a masterful storyteller and i absorbed his books for many a year. i never really got into Rudyard Kipling, though. or those stupid R.L. Stine shitheaps.

just found out that the number one song on the day i was born was "Bad Girls" by Donna Summer. this is not the worst thing to ever happen. having your legs torn off by a wood chipper is worse, por ejemplo.

my cubicle is a gas chamber

2006-02-21T09:17:00.000-07:00

and that could have multiple meanings.

i've never really been into watching the olympics, never really understood what all the hubub was about. i remember dan and dave from so long ago, the supposed olympic champions who never were. i remember when the mini-olympics were held in seattle and my hometown played a little part in that.

there are some people who will endure in olympic memory and some who will fade even before their 15 minutes are up. i hope in my heart of hearts that bode miller and shani davis fade in like two seconds. it's statements like "if the circumstances were a little different, i could have four medals right now, maybe all of them gold" and "a lot of guys put in 70, 80% and get results. i'm not going to do that" (paraphrasing) from bode miller; and shani davis snubbing his american teammates on a number of occasions that upset me. i understand that winning at the olympics, even just getting there, is a great personal achievement. but i also understand that these athletes are there to represent us, the US of A, and that winning a medal is as much for us as it is for them.

i don't know, maybe being arrogant, selfish, and rude is representing us somewhat. maybe we should think about sending people abroad who display integrity as well as possess athletic ability. i know i'm in the minority here, but i'd rather not win any medals but still display good sportsmanship than tarnish our image as brash, drunk, and selfish vis-a-vis these two a-holes bode miller and shani davis.