knurl

Stick figures in peril.

That's a picture of a friend of mine who is a cook down at the local diner. The photo may not suggest it, but he is a very un-happy camper. I thought it was because he spends too much money on shampoo. I was wrong. Here's the deal: He trys to score on chicks that come to eat , but doesn't accomplish much , because when he is behind the grill, he must wear a hair-net . When he makes his move to chat up some bimbo , his hair is all haywire and it's difficult not to laugh at him and his hair. He can't use too much Aquanet because the smell gives him a headache and makes him nauseous. Thank God he still has his drumkit ; he vents frustations by banging on cymbals.

No. I wish I had a friend like that.  The pic above is from the new book American Hair Metal from Feral House publishing.  The book that I liked from Feral House was the one about 42nd and Broadway in New York, NY .  Damn, that used to be one fucked up intersection of human vice, I'll tell you what . 'Tales From Broadway' was the title, if I remember correctly, but it doesn't seem to be listed on their website.  And the 'Prisoner Of X' sounds pretty good, too. Don't get the one about the Metal kids in Scandinavia. Yawn.  Do get Tape Op ; the book about home recording edited by Larry Crane ( Chico State is in the house tonight!). It's a  great resorce for do-it-yourself, "lo-fi" recording strategies if you are into that sort of thing --  I'm not, and it's still interesting.  Yeah, whatever. Feral House is pretty interesting.

The Fresno Bee has been featuring a blog from a Captain in the Army who is a counselor attached to the 10th Mountain Division of the infantry in Iraq. It's a straightforward look Army life in Iraq.

I don't know what the deal is with the Record Searchlight. A photographer from the Record Searchlight named Roger Mullis was imbedded with the Marines near Fallujah and had some very good photo essays on the medical facilites , town hall meetings and patrols around the neighborhoods. For some reason, the website no longer features these blog posts.

You know what? Chicken butt!  That's pretty pathetic. But do you know what?  I just wasted about 30 minutes of my life listening to this couple talk about stuff.  Now that is really pathetic! 

 I had to -- I don't know why -- I just had to. My humble abode has never been broken into and I live in a decent enough neighborhood and my neighbors are all swell , but I still had to "Play It Safe!". 

 It's all here on this recording to keep burglars at bay while you're away : Sweaters that need to be darned, plans of a fishing trip to help out a dispirited kid, memories of fishing with pop, impending doom of a mother-in-law visit and the subsequent inquiries about what is really being written in letters being sent to said mother-in-law, fixing up some coffee ( black...with sugar...and cream), etc.