Finally tracked down the new Sparklehorse today, mellow beautiful goodness from Mr. Linkous and friends (PJ Harvey, etc). Wonderful so far, this is my first listen.

Today was a gray day. Cold and cloudy all afternoon, we still gathered at the valley park in San Francisco and had a real game of baseball with some nice kids. We played for a couple hours until some trashy loonies kicked us off the field 'cause they had a permit. I guess it was their right, but there was only 5 of them, and about 20 of us. I think we should have just kept playing until they called the big bad Recreation Department on us to come kick us off the field.

So, I'm a new Filepile junkie. I've managed to avoid most of the pictures, but the MP3 section is pretty rad. It's alot, mellower than say, Napster was in its heyday, but I like only having a few things to choose from. I applaud the concept, and will probably post all the MP3s of the week up there as well.

Waiting to shower, generally hang out for a bit, try and rest, let my legs recover, possibly go out, catch a movie, sit on the couch, look out the window, smell the lack of summer.

Holy Moses is work slow. There's nothing more boring than 5 or 6 people milling around looking for something to do, but being to afraid of asking for something to do since they know they'll be giving filing or some related torture. I'm in the same boat, I already left for an hour to do some deliveries, there's not much else I can do.

I'm hitting the record store after work today (payday, hells yes), to scope out the new Sparklehorse and Built to Spill records. I got the new Cursive EP in the mail yesterday, so it's something new to listen to. Sat on the couch all night and drank plum sake and watched bad videos on MTV, as well as the Gorillaz video. Kept the TV on and watched part of the KISS special on VH1. Saving the energy for tonight. Friday means dinner and wine and sleeping on the weekend side of the bed, far away from the alarm clock.

Today was strange. The weather has gotten colder, although not rainy or altogether cloudy, just, different. I was in semi-dream state as I drove around Sonoma county, not feeling quite with it the entire day. I gulped down some lunch in a hurry and then felt even sicker, a headache kicked in, and the rest of the day I battled my foggy head, losing in the end. I finally hunted down a pack of Advil and chased it with a cup of Flying Goat coffee as I tried to ignore the fact that my head felt like it was ripping open, and my stomach was trying to digest the gigantic rock I'd apparently eaten. I still feel, well, funny.

I tried to read my Springsteen book on the train back from practice tonight, but these idiot shopping girls from the suburbs were gabbing the entire way home. Not like I have a problem with people talking on the train, go right ahead, but these girls were annoying the hell out of me, going through their Gap bags figuring out which tank top they were going to wear around the house that night. A lady behind them kept leaping up at every station and frantically yelling "Is this the train to Concord? Do I have to transfer!?" Everyone groaned a "yes" and a "no" respectively. She started talking to the teen next to her about how she had been a teacher for 14 years and just how damn proud of herself she was.

Practice was the highlight of my day. We finally learned Anything, Anything by Dramarama and it took about five minutes. It made me realize just how simple most pop songs are, I couldn't believe how fast we picked up the song. We listened to the parts for a few seconds, played along, stopped the CD and then went through the entire song. Done. Finished. Ready to go. I got a ride up to the train station and made it down from the platform just in time to see the sad red tailights of my train disappear down the tunnel. Twenty more minutes of sitting on the floor followed.

I hurried home to catch Radiohead's guest appearance on Southpark. I don't usually watch the show (although I'm a fan of the pinball game), but was perplexed as to how Radiohead would fit it. What I got to see was Thom saying "that boy has cancer. On his ass." As well as Phil, Jonny, Colin, and Ed saying "Your'e a big dumb crybaby." I'm still a bit perplexed as to how they got involved in the show, but it was interesting nonetheless.

Beer: Boont.
Music: Soft.
Body: Feeling worked.

So Webvan finally went bankrupt. I knew it was going to happen, which is precisely why, a little over a year ago when I was job searching, I decided not to work for them. They were offering delivery drivers, my occupation by default, a hefty salary, great benefits, grocery discounts, and a nice, new truck for deliveries. It was tempting, their huge warehouse in southeast Oakland was close to home. In the end, my pessimism and mistrust of the new dotcom industry around the bay won out, and I accepted the pharmacy delivery position I'm in now.

Police around Oakland and the suburbs to the south are gearing up already for the influx of crime and violence that will hit the area when Webvan's employees receive their pink slips. I feel like such an adult because the economy has actually affected my job decisions.

So tour booking is getting tedious and difficult. We're touring right after (before?) CMJ, so all the venues around New York are booked solid. By around New York, I also mean Philadelphia and Washington D.C. Yes we do need your help. We had a listening practice last night where we went through old practice tapes to pick out songs and pieces of songs to work on. I think we're going to finish our cover of Dramarama's Everything, Everything. By finish I mean actually learn the parts. Of course.

MP3 of the week: I've had a turbulent past with the Afghan Whigs. During my 120 Minutes days of high school, I caught their video for Gentleman on MTV and promptly bought the album at my local Warehouse music store. Shortly thereafter, I went through my famous "purge all major label records" phase, in which I sold Gentleman and purchased a Cows record instead. A few years later, during the "scam the Warehouse music store" phase that some friends and I concocted, I picked up Black Love, and was again, a Whigs fan. Since then I've been tried and true to Dulli's songs about love and politics, but never saw them live. I regret missing a few of their shows, since they've now broken up, and all I'm left with is this 4-song mini live album Live at the Howlin Wolf, New Orleans. It's OK though, 'cause their cover of Curtis Mayfield's If There's Hell Below (We're All Going To Go) will keep me rocking for years to come. Can you say HELLS YES?

After a day of trying to fix things from work, the MP3 of the week is now functional. You can name the file yourself, I've decided to just leave things simple.

Wa-wa.