October 29, 2004
Lost Boys
Consider this a warning: we practised last night.
October 28, 2004
T Drex and the Golden Ghost
T Drex emailed today and said this:
Here's a picture of my new band! T. Drex and the Golden Ghost!
October 27, 2004
Election Protection
The democratic prophylactic.
Since voting in 2004 has become Monopoly, then this is yr don't-fuck-with-me card. Get 'em here.
Mini Kiss
This is a big week for music in Little Rock. Tonight American Music Club and The Court and Spark are at Sticky Fingerz. Friday Mulehead plays its final show at White Water Tavern. Saturday The Easys get lost at the Living Room. But the big big show has got to be Mini Kiss at the Uptown Tavern. The semantic mirroring going on here is astounding enough for me. (Coupling the words Mini Kiss with the words Little Rock portends a doubling of each constituent's powers, don't you think?) But I feel as a true lover of rock in all its shapes and sizes, I need to attend this show. Sorrry Mulehead. I'll try to catch your show as well. But only if Mini Kiss keeps their set — ahem — short. (Sorry Mini-Kiss. I couldn't resist.)
Cautionary note. Tickets are advertised as $10 but historically, the Uptown Tavern has levied a $5 membership fee for "non-members". And please don't ask me how I know this.
October 26, 2004
AIGA
This evening, NPR ran a piece about the AIGA Get Out the Vote 2004 poster campaign. The descriptions of the posters sounded so good I checked on the site. I wasn't disappointed.
Court & Spark
Wed, October 27 - Anthro-Pop Records instore, Little Rock, AR at 4 PM
Wed, October 27 - Sticky Fingerz, Little Rock, AR (opening for American Music Club)
John Peel dead at 65
Here's the BBC coverage. What an incredible champion of independent music this man was. I was surprised to find out that he held his first job as a DJ in a station in Texas. (How ironic, seeing that the same state has also produced another radio giant in recent years, the great squasher of free thought, Clear Channel.) John Peel, you will be missed.
In memoriam, Radio 1 broadcast Peel's favorite song, Teenage Kicks by The Undertones.
Make the Pie Higher
This following poem is composed entirely of actual quotes from George W. Bush:
Make the Pie Higher
I think we all agree, the past is over.
This is still a dangerous world.
It's a world of madmen
And uncertainty
And potential mental losses.
Rarely is the question asked
Is our children learning?
Will the highways of the internet
Become more few?
How many hands have I shaked?
They misunderestimate me.
I am a pitbull on the pantleg of opportunity.
I know that the human being and the fish
Can coexist.
Families is where our nation finds hope
Where our wings take dream.
Put food on your family!
Knock down the tollbooth!
Vulcanize society!
Make the pie higher!
Make the pie higher!
October 24, 2004
Its a Doll Revolution
Last spring, the 'rents sent a box of books. They were cleaning out their attic. Most of the books were children's classics — "Charlotte's Web", "Goodnight Moon", "Mother Goose". But they also sent a real curio called "Holiday for Edith and the Bears". Flipping throught it, I was initially amused. It seemed kitschy. I've since learned there's a lot more to this book.
"Holiday for Edith and the Bears" features a blonde doll, Edith, and two teddy bears. Photographed in black and white, these three friends are posed playing at the beach. Edith's long hair blows in the ocean breeze. The bears wade in the surf. Its quietly surreal.
Maybe its the medium. Black and white photography ain't the current norm for children's books. But also its something about the dolls. These days we, as readers, are used to vivid animation in children's books. In comparison to Little Miss Spider, for instance, Edith is a stuffed shirt.
Also in Wright's book, set changes drive the narrative. Mis-en-scene is extremely important. And overall I think that's the key to what's so strange. Its the author's attempt to create a believable microcosm that's so haunting. After looking through the book a second time, all I could think was, who created this?
Fast forward to this weekend. While wrapping picture frames in newspaper, I stumbled upon this article from last Sunday's NYT. In September, Henry Holt published a biography of "Holiday for Edith and the Bears" creator Dare Wright. Also in the past 5 yeras, Houghton Mifflin has brought several Wright title's back into print, "The Lonely Doll", "Edith and Mr. Bear: A Lonely Doll Story", and "A Gift from the Lonely Doll". Its a doll revolution.
Obviously over the past two days this subject has become a minor obsession. From what I've learned, Dare Wright was a fashion model and photographer. Alternatley bullied and ignored by an eccentric mother, Wright began creating "The Lonely Doll" books in the late 1950s. Was this troubling relationship the key to Wright's creativity? I guess I'll have to read her biography to find out. The main question now is why the hell did my parents send me this book?
Big Muff II
The greatest thing about moving is finding stuff you thought you'd lost. This amazing fuzz pedal was given to me by the world's greatest tone patron — E. It saw a lot of action in the last 2 years of Stella's life and then disappeared when we moved to AR.
Found! When? — yesterday. Where? — deep inside a blue gym bag in the SE corner of my attic. The only question left — does it still work?
Unfortunately I couldn't bring this to the Easys' recording session last night to test it out. The worst thing about moving is...
October 23, 2004
Orion
A good dinner last night — lots of red wine and political talk. Everyone shared recent bits of antiBushness. (Borowitz's 4th Debate is excellent.) And then it occurred to me how much we draw from satirists. In our conversation, we relied on them like navigators relying on stars...
And then we were leaving and H and I were in the front yard. "Look I see the big dipper!" he exclaimed and "Look there's a green star!" And I tried to find him Orion and I tried to show him how Orion stands in the sky. "Orion is a hunter," and I spread my legs wide and drew an imaginary arrow back to my eye. "He has three stars in his belt and a sword hanging from his side." But we couldn't find the hunter last night in the sky.
October 21, 2004
2004 Ballot Issues
Here's some informative pamphlets, published by the UA Cooperative Extension Service, that outline the ballot initiatives before Arkansas voters this election.
October 20, 2004
Help Preserve Hillcrest
Some developer is trying to build a four house gated community on a lot at the end of I Street. To add insult to injury, said developer wants to build a new access road to this Shangri-La and also wants to rezone the neighborhood so that they can build an 8-foot high privacy fence. This is Hillcrest not the Heights! Anyway, if you want to express objection, the Hillcrest Residents Association asks that you do so before Thursday October 21 (i.e. tomorrow).
Call 501-371-6821 or Click here to email:
Donna James
Little Rock Planning Commission
723 West Markham
Little Rock, AR 72201
Neighbor's Concerns (from HRA / Concerned I Street Neighbors flyer):
- I Street is too narrow (only 22 feet wide) to accommodate the increased traffic. The proposed private drive would service four large homes, creating the feel of a gated community and inflicting increased noise, traffic and congestion on the neighborhood.
- The property is too small for the four houses the developer plans to cram into the space. Two houses would be adequate for the land, rather than the proposed four — the sizes of which are unspecified by the developer.
- The developer wants to rezone the neighborhood. They have petitioned the planning commission to allow construction closer to the property lines and to the street — and to permit 8-foot privacy fences around the property.
- Allsopp Park may be endangered by the development. There are concerns from neighbors and from the park department that this over-development of the property could cause environmental damage to one of Little Rock's most enjoyed parks.
Concerned residents are also encouraged to attend the next Planning Commission meeting on Thursday, October 21 at 4pm on the second floor of City Hall (northwest corner of Markham and Broadway).
October 19, 2004
Pleasure Club
I first saw James Hall perform in the summer of 1995 at the Nick in Birmingham, Alabama. James materialized from behind the bass rig, blew a terse introduction from his trumpet, and led his band through one of the most exciting sets of live music I have ever witnessed. It was like seeing a Southern version of Nick Cave (circa the Birthday Party) or, better yet, David Bowie.
This Saturday night, nearly ten years later, I saw James Hall perform again. His new band is called Pleasure Club and you know what...
he's gotten even better.
October 17, 2004
Sonic Youth
The local-rock-radio-DJ came on stage, screamed "Sonic Yooouth!" in his biggest, local-radio-rock-DJ voice, and we watched an empty stage. It felt like 10 minutes. This wait game was more than a pregnant pause. I think it is safe to say it was the first song. Let's call it "Dis-associative Silence". If you are Sonic Youth, you play whenever and whatever you want.
October 15, 2004
This Card
I received an extremely handsome birthday card yesterday. And though this is not it, it is somewhat like this, in that it was lovingly handcrafted by this very own this.
October 14, 2004
Going Back to NOLA
Last time I was in New Orleans, me and the boys had us a real good time.
Vote
You can now check your current status as a registered voter, confirm your polling place, and/or stare longingly into the eyes of our Pulaski Circuit / County Clerk here.
October 13, 2004
big wheel keep on rolling
Remember that cool British ad where all the little car parts roll into each other? I think I like this ad more.
Juliette Voodoo
Its 7 hours from LRAR to NOLA. If we can leave by 4pm on Friday...
