COT 2 - ELECTRIC BLOGALOO: 2005-08-28

COT 2 - ELECTRIC BLOGALOO

Saturday, September 03, 2005

Surprise, Surprise!

Yeah. Another uneventful day in Y-Hicka. Surprise. Yeah. But, I did have a pretty decent day (though it was also kind of sad and frustrating). I went to my favorite cafe (THE VILLAGE GRIND) in Yreka, and had me some coffee. Then, I went to Miner St. Park with the intention of reading Spengler's Decline of the West and/or listening to Berlioz's Symphanie Fantastique. Instead, I sat on a bench and listened to Husker Du's Warehouse: Songs and Stories in its frickin' entirety. It reminded me of being 15 and sitting in Miner St. Park listening to Husker Du's Warehouse: Songs and Stories in its entirety (on cassette, though). I realized:

1. I am suspicious of anybody who has not listened to Husker Du's Warehouse: Songs and Stories at least 10 times in its entirety.

2. My Sony CD Walkman cost me less than my Sony Cassette Walkman almost twent frickin' years ago.

3. Music sounds better on a Sony Walkman. Especially Husker Du's Warehouse: Songs and Stories.

4. Warehouse: Songs and Stories is probably the best album ever made. Yes...even better than Pet Sounds.

5. If you were alive in the '80s and Husker Du was not one of your favorite bands...you make me suspicious.

I'm actually enjoying listening to music again. It's funny (or not), that when I was a 15, 16 &17 year old kid sitting in Miner St. Park listening to Husker Du, all I wanted in life was to get the fuck out of Y-Hicka and be in a band and tour and write for a magazine and do record reviews and interviews. Well, I got my baby wish...and all of the above did more to sour me on music than enhance my love for it. Now (again) one of my favorite things to do is drive around listening to music. I might even start another band...

I wanted to go see some British film tonight but I done got delayed because I had to stack a bunch of hay in the barn because it a-looks like rain. Now I don't know what I'm going to do. If it rains, that would make me happy.

Well, 10 months left to go here in Hick-Spew (Sis-ki-you) County...can I maintain what little there is of my sanity. How long can I maintain my C.O.T. Normal Person Disguise #23 before I am tired of looking like a square? Will I ever find a frickin' copy of The Mighty Lemon Drops Happy Head on CD? You don't care, do you C.O.T. Agents (and Spies)? That's okay, as Lee Ving once said...As Ever, your Bobby Kielty, FELIX

¶ 8:43 PM //

Friday, September 02, 2005

The End of An Era

Howdy again C.O.T. Agents (and Spies). Well, me thinks it's the end of an era...the Yreka Denny's Era (for me). I realize that this needs some explaining (even though it's not that interesting). Well, it went something like this:

1. Friday night in Hick-Spew (Siskiyou) Co. and there's nothing to do (that I feel like doing), so I drive to the Yreka Denny's.

2. There are lots of people there.

3. I don't see a seat for myself.

4. I ask the D&D kid who is often my waiter if there's a place for me to sit.

5. The girl waitress who has a nosering but is probably not at all punk warns him (and me) that Denny's will soon be flooded (oh, bad word choice) with drunks from across the street at any time (thus, I would be forced to relocate...even though I was there first).

6. The pencil-neck manager (who looks like a cross between Ichabod Crane and...Ichabod Crane) says they (the drunks) shouldn't arrive till one (a.m.). Of course, I have no ideer what time it is.

7. This is already too much fucking trouble to sit and drink bad tea and read Spengler's Decline of the West.

8. I see (or think I see) in all of the above's eyes a certain confusion/pity concerning me (a non-Denny's employee with a Master's Degree).

8a. You ever see yourself in another person's eyes and dislike them for what you see?

8b. I do (and did).

9. I don't mind being playing Don Caballero (in fact, I do it purposefully)...BUT. I am not okay with a Denny's employee's pity/forbearance on my behalf.

10. I just left. I was a-gonna drive up to Ashland, OR (about 40 miles North), but I just drove home and cracked a Miller Lite and sat down to write this.

11. Thus, I don't know if I can ever go back into the Yreka Denny's to read Spengler (or Camus--who was on deck).

12. Thus, I don't know where the hell I can go (past 5 p.m. to read Spengler (or anything) or write within a 39 mile radius.

13. Thus, me probably will go CRAZY.

14. Because, though I can go long periods of time without meaningful human interaction, I cannot sit in one place. I done did that in Murray KY for a spell and me went CRAZY CRAZY!!

Oh well, Agents (and Spies), I start school on Monday. Maybe that will keep me sane. I doubt it, though. Why do I do this to myself? Maybe I've become so accustomed to adversity I deliberately will it to myself. That's my diagnosis. This whole 10 month tenure in Hick-Spew Co. is all my doing. Maybe it will force me to focus on my writing. Maybe me go CRAZY CRAZY!!

Fucking A, I'm a-whining like The Elusive Leather Pirate. But don't you feel sorry for me Agents (and Spies)? Ah, who am I kidding, I'll probably be back at the Yreka Denny's next week having the employee's pity me and think I'm "weird". I'm sure there's a spiritual lesson here somewhere...somewhere.

Anyway, I'll try to begin composing Blogs that are more meaningful in the future. Until then...As Ever, your Danny Joe Brown, FELIX

¶ 11:29 PM //

Junk Shop Clothes Will Get You Nowhere...

That there's a lyric from The Auteurs from their superb album New Wave from way back in the '90s. Never heard of The Auteurs, eh? NO YOU HAVEN'T!!! Anyway...if it's still in print, it's a a must-own. Oh, yeah...I haven't updated the damn C.O.T. II: Electric Blogaloo in a couple days. I've been too transfixed with The Simpsons SEASON SIX! I was good to see a few C.O.T. Agents responding on the damn blog...such as The Hon. Rev. Garren Hanon, and Dawn (as always), and wonderful Loryn, and Joey Nova. Oh yeah, and Corinna a/k/a/ Corinna. I get so doggone lonesome up here in the frickin' Hinterlands. Oh yeah (2)...that flood thingy. Let us hope that our C.O.T. Agents in the South Eastern U-Ni-Ted States are all alive and well (as well as their families, etc.).

Well, I've been trying to kick my d.b.'s addiction. I even went so far as to start listening to frickin' Let's Active (another of the 80's Southern Guitar/Jangle Pop bands, for the less musically erudite of ya'll). But there's only one thing that can help you kick a d.b.'s addiction--BIG STAR! Oh, and I sort of took The Hon. Rev.'s advice (if one could call it that), and resumed my AC/DC listening...I'm even listening to Brian Johnson-era AC/DC. But not Back In Black or For Those About To Rock..., nope--Flick of the Switch yo! What a great album! Really. But not as great as The d.b.'s Stands for Decibels. Okay, enough about The d.b.'s. Maybe that's why I don't have any friends--all I can talk about is music and Spengler's Decline of the West. Speaking of Spengler and music...I came across this quote from Spengler (whilst reading in the Yreka Denny's): "Ordinary people [...] regard music generally as something for which one is or is not in the mood." Oooooh, it's true! And it doth piss me off!! Of course Spengler is referring to Mozart and Beethoven and not The d.b.'s and Let's Active. But the same premise applies. Ordinary people (as I hinted at in the last Blog) can't stand to actually listen to music. I've even heard people tell me that they like Classical Music and/or Jazz as "background noise". Sick fucking reprobates! It's the same as having a print of a painting on your wall to take up space that you don't look at. If you don't know what I'm a-talkin' about, you're not a-gonna learn in the next few paragraphs. But for those more erudite amongst you--doesn't that bother the fuck out of you?! Thus, I drive around ALONE listening to music ALONE in Y-Hicka. And I've never heard of Metal Circus magazine. I've heard of Circus magazine (which I stopped reading when I was 10). Husker Du has an album called Metal Circus. But I've never owned that one. And if you saw the "chicks" in Y-Hicka...well, you'd probably rather be reading RIP magazine or driving around ALONE listening to music ALONE. At least I would. No offence to Yreka chicks, I guess. Imagine Footloose without Keven Bacon. That's Yreka. Which is, kind of, why I like it. And why I don't. Fall is still nice here. But it's even better in Ashland (40 miles North). And, it's especially better (if I had to re-live my Falls somewhere) in Santa Rosa (5 hours South)--which does have a copious supply of attractive women (who even read and listen to cool music...though, none who listen to Molly Hatchet as some C.O.T. Agents might claim). Where was I? I'm confused by Cheap Trick blaring on my computer. Oh, that's all for now Agents (and Spies). As ever, your Joe Charbonneau, FELIX

¶ 2:38 AM //

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Home Is Where You Hang Your...Self

Isn't that a Replacements lyric? Anyway...it feels like Fall in Y-Hicka, and it almost is. Now I can drive around with my windows rolled down and listen to The d.b.'s. That's the best thing about being in Yreka (or, specifically, Grenada)--Fall (the season). It brings back great memories of horrible times in my life when I was 16 and 17 and driving around Yreka with my windows rolled down and listening to The d.b.'s. Being alone in a small town gives one time to do things...like drive around listening to The d.b.'s and The Troggs and The Dream Syndicate. And my newest favorite, The Fruitbats. Some people are incapable of driving around and listening to music (that's not programmed for them by Central Control on the radio). Some people can't just shut the fuck up about things that don't matter and listen to music. No wonder most of today's music sucks--no one really listens to it. When I'm not driving around listening to music or drinking coffee and reading Spengler's Decline of the West at my favorite cafe (THE VILLAGE GRIND in Yreka), then I'm hiking or going to the Yreka Denny's and reading Spengler's Decline of the West. If you ever feel like you're too smart, read Spengler. Then, unless you're smarter than me, you'll feel dumb. But it won't make you happy. Because just the fact that you're reading Spengler means you're smarter than 99.8% of the population. It's a lose/lose situation. Oh well. I could be a negative bastard right now, or I could stop writing and go watch ESPN and make sure the A's are still in first place proper and then go to Denny's and read Decline of the West. I think I will do the latter...especially since Cyndi Lauper's "Money Changes Everything" is playing right now. As ever, your Rocket From the Tombs, FELIX (p.s. You do know that you're supposed to google the phrases between As ever...and...Felix, right? That's how you attain Top Secret--well, not anymore--C.O.T. Agent information) Let's try it once more... As ever, your Decline of the West, FELIX.

¶ 8:28 PM //

Sunday, August 28, 2005

Yeehaw! It's this week's CHURCH ON THURSDAY TOP TWENTY!

Howdy again C.O.T. Agents (and Spies), it's that time of the week once more. The time of the week I get even lazier and decide to plague suspecting and unsuspecting alike with a useless TOP TWENTY based on my frickin' playcount on my bastardface computer whilst working on the samdamn website.

1. The Auteurs - "Junk Shop Clothes"

2. The Only Ones - "The Whole of the Law"

3. Morrissey - "The First Of The Gang To Die"

4. Kingston Trio - "Scotch and Soda"

5. Love & Rockets - "Sweet Love Hangover"

6. The Beatles - "Happiness Is A Warm Gun"

7. Pulp - "Help The Aged"

8. Shooter Jennings - "4th of July"

9. Madness - "Waiting for the Ghost Train"

10. Billy Bragg - "To Have and to Have Not"

11. Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass Boys - "Wicked Path of Sin"

12. Eno - "I'll Come Running"

13. Buck Owens - "Made In Japan"

14. Schneider TM - "Eiweii3"

15. Willie Nelson - "Darkness On The Face of the Earth"

16. Burnside - "520 North Oregon Street"

17. Big Star - "The Ballad of El Goodo"

18. Merle Haggard (w/ Roger Miller) - "I Won't Give Up My Train"

19. Pere Ubu - "Non-Alignment Pact"

20. The Primitives - "Crash"

Do with this useless information what you will Agents (and Spies). As Ever, Your Another Green World, FELIX

¶ 9:28 PM //