legendary divorce is such a bore

well, our drummer decided that old man was not going to be his thing. without getting into the gross details, we'll just say that the split was due to creative differences. however, neil and i are not letting this minor setback hinder us in the least bit. we've got two gigs in november that we plan to rock. we also ran into ryan from green formica table last night, and (other than still drawing breath, much to our relief) he still seems interested in playing bass with us. he may even have a lead on a new drummer. if you want to get out and hear some wonderful music in louisville, november maybe your month:

november 9, 2002; 11:00 pm; za's pizza
-green formica table
-the english station
-dadaist and his mentoies

november 14, 2002; 8:30 pm; twice told coffeehouse
-old man

november 26, 2002; 9:00 pm; the rudyard kipling
-old man
-lucifigous prick

cheers.
posted by paul 12:48:45 PM

my favorite inside source

one week of sobriety and i'm still going strong. the weekend was the first real test of my new alcohol free existence, and to tell you the truth, i didn't really miss drinking. friday, i went out with allison and some friends to see the delightful punch-drunk love and then a bar. i had soda and still enjoyed myself. saturday consisted of a surreal halloween party that was busted up by the police. the large amount of tremendously drunk people reaffirmed my new m.o.

the world seems bent on giving nirvana a well deserved revisitation. it has been 11 years since nevermind exploded all over the place and 8 since kurt said goodnight, so i think it's about time they were held up and praised again. i was senior in high school when smells like teen spirit came out and, yes it sounds cliche, it totally spoke to my manic-depressed, potentially suicidal self. mr. cobain was truly a symbol for a generation of young people more likely to pull guns on themselves than each other. the landscape of rock was changed forever.

oh, and by the way, you know you're right kicks so much ass.

cheers.
posted by paul 12:16:53 PM

certain damaged lemons

it's been a couple of weeks since my last post. it's not that things have been boring; quite the opposite, actually. life has been good to me in the last few months. i've got this incredible girlfriend that i can't stop thinking about, my band has a drummer now and we're set to do some recording and some shows, and i've got my health. everything has been going great... until friday night.

it's the same fucking story: i don't know how to stop drinking after i've started. i was at the guided by voices show, with friends and having a wonderful time and i just kept pounding back the beer. by the end of the show, everything was a haze. i have snapshots in my mind of brief bursts of light, flashes of occurreces. a real nicholas cage "leaving las vegas" night, for sure.

i'm tired. i'm tired of trying to find excuses for this sort of behavior. i'm tired of endangering every relationship that ever meant anything to me. i'm tired of saturdays that are spent alone in bed or on the couch in front of the telly. i'm tired of being sick and tired.

so, as of yesterday, i have quit drinking alcohol, completely. i gave up cigarettes, it was rough but i did it. this will be even harder, i'm sure, but the only way to get some kind of piece of mind while dealing with this problem is to isolate myself from the sauce completely. i've gone without drinking for about a month or two before, which has always be helpful, but eventually i'm right back where i started. i've got to stop this cycle once and for all. i'm just lucky that i save my drinking for the weekends, and that i don't partake of the booze throughout the week. i used to.

now this doesn't mean that i'm going to isolate myself from my friends and nights out on the town. not by a long shot. those who know me are quite aware of my insane behavior even while sober. i'm still going to have fun, just with a clearer head and a cleaner conscious.

cheers.
posted by paul 3:47:46 PM

thoughts from above hit the people down below

i remember one early spring evening back in '97, i was sitting in the attic in a country house outside murray which i shared with my roommates wug and boogie. wug and i had just polished off enough beer to drown a st. patrick's day parade and were nursing the last of our cigarettes while listening to new order: substance. we hadn't spoken a word for about a half hour when wug said something to the extent of, "wouldn't it be great if we could build a time machine just so we could go and hang out at the hacienda in manchester and dance?" i agreed with a grunt; wordless due to my coma-like state yet slightly perplexed since neither of us were much of the "get down" variety. but the notion of being in the birth canal of such a great and underrated moment in music history would have been amazing.

of course, this story may or may not have gone exactly like that. but in the words of tony wilson (quoting some other bloke), "when choosing between fact and legend, i choose legend."

24 hour party people is a film that tells the story of this moment/movement in rock 'n' roll history. it is told through the words, thoughts and eyes of the man responsible for this bit of cultural impact: tony wilson. tony and his friends' lives are forever changed when the sex pistols roll into manchester for the first time. there are only forty-two people at the show, but as wilson states everyone of them will leave changed. wilson and his pals start factory, not just a record company but a forum for unleashing bold, new music on manchester, england in the late '70s. there are no contracts and the artist own all their material, a radical and unheard of move. by the end of the film, wilson fails as businessman but succeeds in never selling out. icarus indeed.

the film also spotlights the bands that kept factory afloat, especially when all the money was being dumped into the company's infamous nightclub: the hacienda. the two bands that get this focus is joy division/new order and the happy mondays. we witness the rise and fall of joy division and their rebirth as new order. we are seduced into the drug-laden world of the mondays as they try very hard to self-destruct. if you are a fan of either of these bands, the film is a must see for the careful reconstructed performances. these are so good, they're eerie (especially those of the actor playing ian curtis).

director michael winterbottom keeps the rapid visuals and pace reigned in barely. the visuals are stunning and eloquent, yet with a feeling that it all could just slide off the screen any moment. i haven't seen any of his other films, but i am curious to see his range.

although the film is based on true event, steve coogan's performance of tony wilson simply is divine and steals the show. one can only wonder where coogan ends and wilson begins. though all his lines are delivered with a fairly even tone of deadpan sarcasm and matter-of-factness, coogan still is able to project a variety of deep emotion through body language, eye contact and subtle vocal inflection. hopefully, we'll be seeing a lot more of this gentleman; he already has my oscar vote.

if you love music, this is your film. if you have ever been passionate to a fault about anything, this is your film. if you love english comedy with dose of heart, this is your film. spendid and entrancing.

4.5 tabs of ecstasy out of 5.
posted by paul 7:17:41 PM