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No, I'm not ghosting for a porn trasncription website....although that's got to be a great job. Those are some actual no shit (!) lyrics from one of my favorite bands...Eisley. And what better way, really, to demonstrate one's fanship than to grossly misappropriate the names and intellectual property of said band? For the slow, that means this is a parody. I had this idea for Little Man involving Christian indie-rockers. I think Alan is going to to make it more Murfreesboro specific, since that's where his readership is...but I had so much fun writing this I thought I'd share it with y'all. Names have been left intact to indict the guity.


Dateline: Tyler, TX


Remember when your pastor told you that listening to records like "War Pigs" from metal groups like "Black Sabbath" would corrupt your soul? Remember when the preacher on TV told you, specifically, not to listen to those LP's backwards, because there were Satanic messages encoded in the lyrics? Well, some of you listened. And now, for you, the credulous and the easily led, there is a new movement in music. Christ's messages of love, cleverly hidden inside popular music.

There's a popular subset of music today known as "indie-rock". It encompasses a vast strata of American culture, and one increasingly well defined niche is Christian indie-rock. But labels and musicians know that being openly Christian is a sure ticket to being called "the next Stryper". Remember them? Thought so. But yet, boys and girls of faith are making the rock and roll their parents condemned! How can they stay true to their faith and still move product? Answer: by hiding those powerful messages inside their songs, where Rolling Stone reviewers can't get to them.


One such band, "Eisley" is no slouch when it comes to the glitz and glamour of modern day "indie-rock". This small family band of Christians from the hill country of Texas professes great familiarity with modern day music. They have seen the Behemoth and they have touched the face of Mammon. Yet in doing so, their own faith became strengthened and they resolved to lead the wayward and stray indie-rockers into God's guiding love.

Their father, and marketing leader "Boyd", had this to say, "We realized about halfway through our first tour that Christians were over-represented in our audience, but under heard. You could spot them in the bars and clubs that we played, the kid sitting towards the back in his Newsboys shirt and a cloth backpack with a NLV Bible inside. They clapped, but they didn't yell. But these kids kept showing up, night after night. We decided, after a family meeting and I don't mind telling you, a lot of coffee, that we had to reach out to them."

And reach out they did: backwards. In the first vinyl LP, "Room Noises", there is not a lyric or chord that suggests anything about Christ. "We had to conform to the Man's demands. You know, The Man" said guitarist Chauntelle Dupree. Her sister Sherri interrupted. "It was like, totally sad. We were told by Warner (their record label) that unless we wanted to be pigeon-holed as a Christian band, we couldn't sing about Jesus. So we hid our messages!" she exclaimed, her bright eyes twinkling with mischief. Chauntelle explained. "A lot our songs don't make much sense," she stated flatly. "That's because you're listening to them frontwards. But played backwards..." She smiles.

I was able to get a transcript of some of the original lyrics for one of the band's most popular songs, as they were originally written. I can't tell you what song it is, that's all copyrighted. But see for yourself:

"Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy make up the holy Pentateuch
But nothing compares to Lord Jesus's wonders
And Satan is a big fat kook"

You'd never think that such a message was hidden, but when I got home and unwrapped the Room Noises vinyl LP that Boyd had thoughtfully given me, I discovered it for myself. I called him immediately afterwards to ask two followup questions. I caught him on his cell phone at a local Starbucks. "What about the CD market", I asked him. "I mean, who listens to vinyl?" He was silent for a moment, and I heard only slow measured sipping. Then he replied, "Indie-rock is all about being different. A lot of people, not just kids, are demonstrating their independence from conventional audio formats by getting into records. They saw their parents old turntables, and Who albums, and want something like that for themselves. And because everything sounds better on vinyl." "What about your band", I asked candidly. "They've toured with a lot of secular humanists, amoral rock bands, and been on stage in I imagine some pretty rough places. Not places where God's love is readily apparent. Can you keep your faith strong and stay Christian and how hard has it been?" He replied as only as a good Christian can. "With prayer, Macintosh recording software, and a lot of caffeine we can do anything."

Posted by Aaron at 7:49 PM | Permalink | Comments

Random conversations with people in bars, some good writing, and maybe a little bourbon are percolating through me right now. Last night, I walked over to my pub to see my friend's wedding ring (date set for April...wedding #4 I have to attend this year). In the process, a very friendly guy from the East German side of Berlin talked to me about religion for a bit, and how apparantley in Berlin every year all the big religious groups get together for a mass prayer session at what I think is Alexander Square. We tried to figure out why people just couldn't get along, and then I turned around and got in on an animated discussion about Art vs art, and arttists vs craftsmen, and what the role of Artists in society was. It got awfully pretentious there toward the end...fascinating conversation. We bitched about Ayn Rand, and I tried to understand what would make someone believe that Artists should be their own caste in society, and that Art could only be understood by Artists. "Intellectual development" kept getting bandied about by one guy. I ended up walking away after about half an hour, because the pretension got suffocating.

Watched an old Dr. Who episode today (The 5 Doctors...downloaded and burned to DVD), bought a Raymond Chandler collection of shorts, and wrote a bit. Oh, also got last night's episode of Battlestar Galactica. The first 5 minutes had me worried I had missed an episode somewhere along the line, because the nature of the drama changed so abruptly. It was, as usual, very good.

Today is my first Day Off since...since I was on leave. Enjoying it very much. Started reading "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, One of Christ's Childhood Pals" by Christopher Moore. It's better than I thought it would be, but hell, Christopher Moore usually is.


By the way, if the opportunity comes up to watch the "Babe I'm on Fire" video by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: do it. Just don't expect the usual 4 minute MTV exhibition. Wow.

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A story is like water
That you heat for your bath
It takes messages between the fire
and your skin. It lets them meet,
and it cleans you!

Very few can sit down
in the middle of the fire itself
like a salamander or an Abraham.
We need intermediaries.

A feeling of fullness comes,
but it usually takes some bread
to bring it.

Beauty surrounds us,
but usually we need to be walking
in a garden to find it.

~Rumi (trans. Coleman Barks)

Posted by Aaron at 6:10 PM | Permalink | Comments

Fairies stop developers' bulldozers in their tracks

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Yes, I'm back to capping posts with enigmatic lyrics. Can anyone name the artist and title? Anyone? Yeah, I thought so.


This bit is going to irritate some people, but here it is. This morning, after I got out of work early, I walked down in warm San Diego weather to the local coffee shop, but I got sidetracked by one of the used bookstores between my apartment and the cafe. I stopped in, bought a $2 Borges paperback, and then kept walking, where I got my mocha and sat down and read for a bit, since Arcade Fire's Funeral was on the cafe speakers.

Yeah my life is OK. How's yours? insufferable

I read a bit more into my Sunshine/Noir book, because I have literally a very old habit of reading textbooks before class starts. Seriously, I started doing that in 1st grade. What I'm finding is that there is not very much creative writing inside. The fiction is all South-Of-The-Border surrealism, and the rest of it is mediocre poetry and gringoes whining about how much San Diego has lost it's soul...because of all the rich white people. I don't know if this is an intentional ironic selection by the editor, but I doubt it; and I imagine that when I point this out in class it won't be fun for me. Ah well. Why can't people just write good short fiction and we can read that? No, the beast of story must be laden with the basket of being Commentary.

I'm finally back to normal hours tomorrow, which means that I get the weekend off! First day off in 2 weeks...I have plans, oh yes I do. Poker night on Friday!

I have been collating tuition information on colleges...going to the places I'm interested in, checking out the academic programs, and how much it costs. Best deal so far? Austin Peay University in Clarksville, TN...also University of Florida in Gainesville. both have Journalism programs...hmm.

Oh, and I took this test and found out that I'm an ENTP, or Inventor in Jungian archetypes. Here's what it had to say:
risk taker, easy going, outgoing, social, open, rule breaker, thrill seeker, life of the party, comfortable in unfamiliar situations, appreciates strangeness, disorganized, adventurous, talented at presentation, aggressive, attention seeking, experience junky, insensitive, adaptable, not easily offended, messy, carefree, dangerous, fearless, careless, emotionally stable, spontaneous, improviser, always joking

We are only 3.9% of the population...and for desired professions, the first thing that popped up was "dictator".

So vote for Aaron. England prevails!


Er.

Posted by Aaron at 4:22 PM | Permalink | Comments

That's the title of my ENG Intro to Creative Writing text...it's a collection of San Diego and Tijuana based short stories; edited by my professor I think. 'Cause when you're a teacher, you get to foist your own stuff off on students and bump up the royalty payments. I already read the introduction, and there are some good points in there...things I noticed fairly quickly about this place. Here's a taste:

"Perhaps the suffocating banality of official San Diego's pious "America's Finest City" mantra has led even those who know better to think that nothing is possible here other than the affectless pleasure that comes from drifting back and forth between the beach and the mall."

The introduction basically decries the fact that San Diego has no literary voice, tradition, or movement despite being a magnet for the talented. People here just don't read, or think, beyond their next excursion to the Zoo or Pacific Beach. Which is why I can never settle here. It's busy, and vibrant, but it's a Mastercard kind of life.

Posted by Aaron at 3:51 PM | Permalink | Comments

Mythology for Modern Times


“Finnish wizards used to sell wind to storm-stayed mariners. The wind was enclosed in three knots; if they undid the first knot , a moderate wind would sprang up; if the second, it blew half a gale; if the third, a hurricane. “ - from The Golden Bough by Sir James G. Frazer

KNOT FREE
There is a worldwide furor blowing about internet privacy rights, and how much online content providers have to conform to government regulations. At what point does bending over and taking it stop being good business and start being a human rights violation? For the first knot in our rope of wind, we go to …China!


Earlier this year, MSN Spaces shut down the blog of a Chinese national (Zhao Jing) whose blogs rubbed Chinese government censors the wrong way. He wrote about a high profile newspaper strike in Beijing, prompted by the firing of the independent minded editor of the Beijing News. 100 journalists struck to protest, which is very odd in a country that has almost no professional journalistic organizations, and even fewer protections for those who stray outside of reporting the State’s version of The News. But it gets better. Microsoft’s own blogging software is designed to filter out those dirty words like “democracy” and “human rights” from blog titles to aid the government in deleting posts and tracking down and arresting “dissidents”. Thanks MSN! And Yahoo is no better, after providing the Chinese government with information from a personal email account that led to the arrest of a Chinese journalist who was writing about Chinese returning to China for the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre. Google censors websites for Falun Gong, an “illegal” organization in China. Google “Taiwan independence” and see what you get. The servers for these companies are maintained here in the good old U.S.A., but spokespersons for these companies insist they are obligated to “follow local custom and law”. Really?


Do you want to know more?
Radio-Free Asia

So, fellow news-becalmed sailors, let’s untie the second knot and see what half a gale feels like. Why, it looks like porn! That’s right, the Guvmint is trying to revive the Child Online Protection Act, which will keep The Children safe from…wait. Hang on. The Supreme Court declared that act unconstitutional! Not because the Supreme Court likes pornographic material (well, not as far as we know. Paging Clarence Thomas?). It was because the Act would violate the right to privacy and the rights of free expression that we all expect from the Internet, our ISP’s, and our online content providers. You know, like MSN, Yahoo, and Google. But now the DOJ (That’s Department of Justice to canny Beltway-savvy bloggers) has requested…nay, demanded that these companies turn over the search results of you and me over. The idea being to illustrate how easy it is to find porn on the internet, and thus to justify censoring websites and tracking what Americans are surfing for. Of course, this is basically data strip-mining with a truck of ammonium nitrate…but Microsoft and Yahoo have already complied. Thanks guys! I’ll be sure to quit searching for Natalie Portman Nude on MSN Search. Thank God for Google, who is challenging this in court. Since most of these companies have bent over and dropped their pants for the Chinese government, it’s no surprise they are getting out the K-Y for our own. And it’s you and me, fellow Americans, who are going to wake up sore and wonder where our rights went.

Do you want to know more?

Reuters Story


And now it’s time to make a hurricane. Take 2 ounces of rum, ½ a teaspoon of grenadine…wait. No, I mean a REAL hurricane. How about domestic wiretapping? The former head of the NSA, General Hayden, had this to say today:
“The tools and techniques and tactics and procedures we use to determine ‘Is this an al Qaeda communications?’ are the same tools, techniques, tactics and procedures we use to tell America’s armed forces that ‘you can go ahead and put a 500-pound bomb on that target,’ ” Hayden said. “It’s the same art and science. So this is not done … idly.”
Oh man, that’s a relief. I mean…

Oops, Sorry Kurds
Oops, Sorry Afghans
Oops, Sorry Iraqis


I’m glad to know that we’re being careful.

Posted by Aaron at 7:35 PM | Permalink | Comments

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13687667.htm


Finally, the Sorkin-less zombie corpse of what was once the best thing on network TV will finally lay down and DIE! DIE! DIE!

The ratings haven't been good, and I guess the writers finally realised that without Martin Sheen or John Spencer, nobody would watch. The show got disgustingly bad in the last couple of seasons, and more and more unconvincing.

Oh, and my supporting a football team on my blog seems to be the kiss of death. So I'll stop doing it. Fie on you, Carolina.

Last night I bought Spoon: Gimme Fiction at Borders. I really like it so far. Anyone out there recommend any more of their albums? Also considering Team Sleep:S/T but it's a bit pricey in stores and I can't get a Torrent to download. Pandora threw it out there as a Radiohead alternative, and I liked the one song that I heard, but I can't get decent clips online. Who has it? Who's heard it?

Posted by Aaron at 6:12 AM | Permalink | Comments

Things I have done today:

1) Actually made and ate breakfast
2) Listened to The Bends the whole way through, thanks to traffic jams
3) Did my bit for the daily Ops brief
4) Made and ate a big lunch
5) Worked out
6) Cleaned out my car
7) Did laundry
8) Watched the Steelers clobber the Broncos!!! I can't think of a more deserving team to go to S:XL


Things to do today:

9) Watch the Carolina Panthers lay some smackdown on Seattle.
10) Win a paid trip to London through the San Diego Herald-Tribune
11) Unemployed and bored, the San Diego Chargers cheerleaders show up at my house....

Posted by Aaron at 3:24 PM | Permalink | Comments

http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/suderman200601200838.asp

Or: A good review of Battlestar Galactica on National Review Online.

Posted by Aaron at 8:57 AM | Permalink | Comments

British Airways tells me that I can get a r/t flight from Boston to London for as little as $400! Hmm...take a couple of weeks, go to Boston which I've never seen and always wanted to...and then fly to London for a week to see what it is that the guys in Boston in 1775 were so pissed off about. Fun fact: England has more surveillance cameras than any other country in the world with 4.2 million cameras. Look Mum, I'm on the telly!


I filed my taxes at work today...H&R Block.com, as I have for 5 years. I'm getting a few hundred back, which I may just sock away for a London trip. I've always wanted to do this...it may actually be within reach.

Maybe that whale will still be there, assuming London bobbies haven't shot it for being a suspected Al-Qaeda operative.

According to face recognition software, I look like Karl Kraus who was a German Jew who repudiated his Judaism and Zionism....and I also look like Stephen Spielburg, who can't over the fact that he's Jewish. Now I know why people keep telling me I look Jewish. But when I took an online religion test, I scored Muslim. It's tough being me...there's a Partition Line from my nose to me navel.


Not really.


Good night!

Posted by Aaron at 7:08 PM | Permalink | Comments

I can't really recall the whole thing, but the important takeaway here is that there's a pilot whale swimming up the Thames RIGHT NOW. At this very moment, a lost whale is swimming by Westminister, under the Tower Bridge, past the House of Commons. Hasn't happened since 1913. http://www.channel4.com/news/content/news-storypage.jsp?id=926020

More coal miners are in danger in West Viriginia...reporters are standing by waiting for Pat Robertson to blame it on Satan. Or possibly Gaza. Or casinoes.

That's all I really have right now, but I've had coffee and done some actual, you know, work, I may be back.

Posted by Aaron at 6:17 AM | Permalink | Comments

Short post, because I'm tired. I just downloaded the latest Battlestar Galactica episode from BitTorrent...why? Because there's no way I'm springing for a cable package that includes Sci Fi Channel for the sole purpose of watching one show. And ITunes gets none of my money, ever. Screw you, Steve Jobs!

This show is so well written, with such believable characters...and it has spaceships! And it doesn't have plastic-forehead-alien-of-the-week disease like certain other sci-fi serials (koff Trek koff). The special effects are beautiful, and get this: the last episode features the largest space battle of the series so far. You know what? More time is spent following the characters, side plots, and letting dramatic tension build rather than an hour long orgy of pixels exploding. When was the last time a Hollywood writer had a nice epic battle sequence all done up and chose instead, to write people. Not that the battle isn't very pretty, but this is where science-fiction lies: with people.

Also reading Spider Robinson's Time Travelers Strictly Cash which I highly recommend if you like Heinlein or humans or booze. Or really awful puns.

Okay, maybe this post isn't short. I got all hyped up just writing it.

Posted by Aaron at 7:38 PM | Permalink | Comments

I guess with a title like that I should use the word cubit, or prophesy something awful. Nah. I just finished reading Kafka On The Shore. Amazing book, with a lot of the same elements that were explored in Hard Boiled Wonderland & the End of the World... some plot devices here that would have totally imploded the story in the hands of a lesser writer. Once again, Murakami manages to walk the fine line between the soul-shakingly trascendental and the ridiculous.

Pretension in my mouth tastes like apple juice. Or is that really apple juice? Maybe it's a bitter, hungry ghost of the apple that became the juice. Yes, I am being mildly sarcastic here...but go read Kafka On The Shore. It's very, very good.

Hannah, I can't re-read the Murakami yet, because I read the first one only 9 months ago. I need forgetfullness time.

I spent a few hours today talking esoteric cryptologist talk with a couple of contractors...it was fun and I actually felt enthusiastic about the job, for a bit. The idea that I can change the way some things are done...I sure hope so. But I don't want to become that future.

Posted by Aaron at 6:32 PM | Permalink | Comments

CNN is acknowledging the gaffe. They really did mistranslate "nuclear energy" into "nuclear weapons."

D'oh! Iran claims it was deliberate, CNN says it was an accident. Until it gets resolved, you'll have to get your Iran news from other outlets, like BBC or IHT. Not Fox though. I'd rather have no news than Fox News.

Posted by Aaron at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments

Again I am misusing government resources to bring you this blog; again I am bored out of my mind at work. What I've learned so far: Iran has revoked the press credentials of CNN journalists because Iran believes they mistranslated the phrase "nuclear technology" into "nuclear weapons". Given that Christiane Amanpour, the lead CNN journalist in Iran is herself of Iranian descent and speaks Farsi, this seems a bit unusual. The alleged mistranslation occured during a CNN live telecast of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's press conference on Saturday.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4617754.stm

It's unclear if CNN is acknowledging the error. Sources vary.

Also, from China: http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/01/15/opinion/edmirsky.php and http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/15/weekinreview/15zeller.html

which tell about how the government of China, with the help of Yahoo, AOL, MSN, and Google collude to block "forbidden" websites from Chinese internet surfers. A search for "Falun Gong" on Yahoo China doesn't reveal any matching pages...do that on regular old Yahoo US and you get thousands of results. This is hardly new stuff, but it's interesting to me the levels at which Western web content companies are complying with this sort of censorship. Makes one wonder if there's anything they're keeping from us. Also, to what extent should multinational corporations be held responsible for upholding human rights where they do business? Again, nothing new. Just what's crossing my mind.

I have no days off for the foreseeable future, so blogging may be sporadic. By the time I get home I generally don't feel like typing. Plus, I have a sofa and loveseat now so I no longer have to sit down in my office chair. I can be horizontal and happy, so expect Aaron-Productivity to go way, way down.

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Questions for the day.

1) What am I going to do when I run out of Murakami books to read? I picked up Kafka on the Shore a few days ago and read more than half of it on the plane yesterday. Seriously...his books put my head and heart in the right alignment...not too many other word-mechanics can do that consistently.

2) Is there another deployment in my future? Iran, please stop enriching uranium. I would like to do an actual semester of college. Oh, and please stop the Jew-baiting. Pat Robertson is bad enough.

3) How many Borges short stories can I read without laying down the book and blinking rapidly before reaching for a drink?


4) Whither Journalism?


Those are my questions. Anyone have any answers?

Posted by Aaron at 4:53 PM | Permalink | Comments

Right now, this turtle is in the Nashville Airport, also known as BNA to airport three letter code afficianados. My flight doesn't leave for two more hours so here I sit, blogging for both of my readers. Really, it's an excuse to type on a wireless laptop in an aiport and drink chai, pretending I'm relevant.

It's been a grand trip, with a lot of adventures, alcohol, music, friends, driving, and Deep Thoughts. Soent last night in Nashville, at Cafe Cocoa and then to some bar named the Village(?) where I talked to with two Associated Press reporters and played darts with them and Alan. I am reconsidering Journalism as a career now that I've met people who can make a living doing it. I think working at Barnes and Noble for so long, so early really made me bitter towards liberal arts and huamnities majors, because they were so bitter about being over educated and underemployed. It's a bitter root, this college stuff.

Several people in Atlanta and Murfresboro reacted favorably to the caustic bit I wrote for the Little Man: if the zine thrives I expect to write a lot more for it. Upcoming college Writing classes have me upbeat about further honing the process.

Alan and I discussed over breakfast at IHOP this morning why the gargantuan music festival business is doing so well. Go back 10 years and there were only a few...most of them dedicated to very targeted groups, or trying to recreate the 60's. Now we have Coachella, Lilith Fair, SXSW, Bonnaroo, Ozzfest, Jazzfest, etc. Why the jump in popularity? What is different now about the music business that it supports such endeavors, and how does that impact musicians, record companies, and labels? Is it a good thing? If you have an opinion, weigh in.

Two fantastic new books opened up to me from Alan - King of the Ferrett Leggers by D. Katz: an incredibly well written collection of journalistic shorts that covers a wide ground. The opening story is an interview about a Yorkshire man who stuffs lives ferrets down his pants for hours at a time. It moves on from there to cover voyeurs, Bill Mauldin, business, and other sundries. The other book I'm less familiar with but even more enthusiastic about because it's by Bill Kovach and it's called Elements of Journalism. He is the founding director of the Committe of Concerned Journalists, and something of a god among journalists, or at least in certain circles.


When next I post, I will be in San Diego, back to the grind. I will try to bottle and ferment the vapors of the last two weeks and drink from it, from time to time.

Posted by Aaron at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments

Yes, I'm really listening to Twista. I'm in the Georgia Tech dorms, watching a bunch of people are are far smarter than me play Halo 2 while a thumping subwoofer makes sure I'm listening to the wisdom of Twista.

So, as hesitant as I am to declare it, if you follow the link for the Little Man webzine on this site, you'll see content written by yours truly. Do not read it if you are an easily offended Christian, or a coal miner. I told Alan to use a psuedonym...oh well.


It's been a busy and high mileage week...the Little Man Release Party was a success with hundreds of dollars pouring in to the coffers of this plucky little orphan, challenging the piblishing Giants of Tennesee with nothing more than impetus and a bourbon soaked vocabulary. Now I'm in Atlanta visiting the extended family that is scattered around the area. Tomorrow I return to Murfreesboro, and then back to San Diego.

I saw a teeshirt for sale in a Hastings in Tennessee that had a big chrome 'Jesus Fish" on it and the shirt read: "Jesus Got 'R Done" . The South seems more alien to me every time I come back, and that's not a good thing. I need to be repatriated, quickly.

Posted by Aaron at 6:22 PM | Permalink | Comments

Now I'm in Murfreesoboro, TN staying with Alan trying to get some content on his new online 'zine (The Little Man, linked on this site). Uzbekistan may feature heavily, as will the Wholphin which I have been watching. Sheer brilliance - if you can rustle up Believer magazine, the Wholphin DVD is inside. Get it and prepare to laugh your ass off, and be stunned into silence by some beautiful cinematogrpahy.

Yesterday spent tooling around D.C. with Pete. Accomplishments include riding the Metro, visiting the Capitol, going to the Smithsonian Air and Space museum, touring the Pentagon (it's good to have friends in low places). Caught up with friends, watched some Rose Bowl action (USC got hooked by those 'horns). Also ate dinner at the oldest Irish pub in the US, which was was very small and friendly. Odd: with that sort of history (established 1847) you might expect The Oldest Irish Pub to have its own line of t-shirts or at least souvenir magnets, but this was not the case. Good food (sauerbraten and dumplings) and good beer (Yuengling). Patrick's on Pratt Street is the bar. Go there next time you're in Baltimore.

Tomorrow is going to involve local bands, beer, and college kids. Ah, flashbacks.

Posted by Aaron at 7:46 PM | Permalink | Comments

Well, Glen Burnie, really. The long road trip is over - boy was it fun. Highlights? Driving through the rolling fog and rain along I-95 listening to Black Adder on CD. Eating at a Waffle House. Going to Pedro's South of the Border, a true American icon if ever I saw one, and one that deserves to be in some surreal Americana novel. Low points: my God, the rain. And the rain. Not having rear tail signals. Traffic in Richmond.


But now, here I am, in fabulous Maryland, in Pete's apartment, listening to the upstairs neighbors tread the floorboards heavily. Hopefully I can get my cellphone soon, and hopepfully a guided unofficial tour of the Pentagon will happen tomorrow. Thursday it's off to Nashville, and then Atlanta.

I finished the first Sandman comic, and it was good. I will end up getting the rest of them, eventually. I would keep typing but there's an elderly cat demanding I pay attention to her and not the laptop, so adieu.

Posted by Aaron at 6:24 AM | Permalink | Comments