coffee, walking, bad shoes, and meat.

So, yeah. I'm tired, as in my body is tired and I want to go home from work and take a nap. That's right, I'm at work on a day many people in this country have off. This place is very eerie when mostly empty, and I'd do just about anything to get out of here early.

At lunch today I walked down to the yuppie part of Berkeley where everyone were shopping shopping shopping to their hearts content. I ate some pizza and listened to everyone complain about anything and everything. Nobody around me seemed happy at all, so I went next door to the record shop where you can listen to all sorts of CDs. I listened to a few things, including The Walkmen, The Makers, Archer Prewit, and that new Get-Up Kids record. I found them all dreadfully dull and boring in their own ways, so I got out of there before I decided that music was not worth listening to anymore.

A little over an hour left here, then I'm off to buy cat food.

anywhere, usa

The glasses project examines the effects of Americana on a random sampling of the public. Shot in glorious black and white, this is my favorite.

Similiarly, the photos at bellmas.org have been beautiful the past couple of weeks. I wish I could gather the confidence to ask strangers if I could photograph them.

I took down my SLR camera from the shelf the other day, the one my mother gave my father in 1972, and then a couple years ago my father gave me me. I dusted it off with a paper towel and some cotton swabs, fiddling with the knobs and the shutter speeds and shooting repetitive images of the cat as he ran around the room taking swipes at a crumpled up piece of paper. I wish I knew how to use it better.

On the Fourth of July, I will either be:

1. In Sonoma with friends, watching fireworks explode above me instead of from a distance.
2. In Vacaville with my oldest friend and his kids, playing in the sandbox in the backyard and chasing their pet chicken around.
3. In San Francisco watching all the people running amok in the streets.

I'm not much for pre-made plans these days.

There's a new Bruce Springsteen album coming out on July 30th. It's his first album new material with a full band since the decade old Human Touch/Lucky Town duo-flop, and his first with the E Street Band since the classic 1984 album Born In The USA. This is cause for celebration my friends, especially since Springsteen has compared the sessions to those for Born To Run, where most tracks were recorded live and overdubs added later. Furthermore, the entire crew plan a tour later this summer across the US and probably Europe as well. The first single from the record comes out in two weeks, but is available for download now.

Miller High Life + Open Car Window = Telephone Wires

Yesterday's Amscray show was fun, thanks to all those who came and clapped. If you missed the scene, it looked something like this. It was hard to tell who was male and who was female at times, and some drunk old guy in the bathroom told me that "it's always small when you're peeing, but when it gets time to do what it's made to do..." Well, you get the picture. The free beer was nice, and we hit up some atmospheric Mexican food before riding the subway home, sleepy and sedated by the sun.

MP3 of the week: It's the last day of June, and I live on the West Coast, and I'm all into the upcoming new Bright Eyes record that's due out in August. Trust me when I say that it's more good stuff along the lines of Fevers & Mirrors, complete with field recordings, moodiness, and a healthy barrage of instruments to keep things interesting. Bravo Mr. Oberst.