Burning Down The House

11:00 PM: Oven on... nachos
11:15 PM: Doze off
2:30 AM: Art

“Piece A Pie”

5:03 AM

Wake with my laptop, still there and KEXP (www.kexp.org) streaming loudly Negativland’s “Piece A Pie.” It’s an 8 minute song (?) with a 3 to 4 second sound loop that resembles dialog from a Jimmy Stewart movie. Within each loop an annoying waiter offers a piece of pie to a couple. I believe I’m in a hotel room with noisy neighbors and get progressively annoyed by these people who can’t complete their conversation. Then I wake up, sort of.

Coffee, then my mix...

Goldspot, Friday
Goldfrapp, Number 1
The Cure, Pictures Of You
Shout Out Louds, Very Loud
My Morning Jacket, Anytime
Handsome Boy Modeling School, Breakdown
Placebo, Special Needs
Rilo Kiley, Portions For Foxes
Slender Means, Telepathic Lovesick Heart
Slightly Stoopid, Killin' Me Deep Inside

Seattle - A Good Place To Be From

Seattle has had rain every day for what seems like 2 years, but it’s only been 30 days, December 19th to January 17th. This means a constant overcast sky, heavy rain at times, some wind and 1 million people contemplating why they live here. Much like a traffic jam; it’s not going to change quickly, it’s out of our control and the chosen path is questionable.

Seattle is beautiful when it’s sunny, in fact, exceptional August through September. But often it both sucks and blows.

My morning showers have gone from cold to freezing and I have a hunch what is wrong, but I don't want to deal with it. During my 10 second shower, I shout “shit”, “god damn it” and “f**king house” repeatedly in a “may I help you” tone of voice. This of course can’t go on, so I open the crawl-space door and find my gas furnace and water heater in a foot of water. Natural gas, electricity and water in a 5 foot square pit does not appeal to me, but either does a cold shower, so I pump out the water, clean the appliances, light the pilot light and wait 30 minutes to savor a hot shower.

It’s still raining.

Eating Words

“I will NEVER go to a concert at a casino.”

This is a reasonable statement, except the “never” bit, considering they normally host the likes of Foreigner and The Commodores. These groups are talented, but not down my alley, neighborhood for that matter. So why does Joan Jett, the trail blazer of women in rock decide to play the Emerald Queen Casino, an ashtray with a nice stage? No matter, she has a great voice, strong stage presence and still belts it out.

A better question is why did I get the date wrong? Stacy and I drove 60 miles round trip on Friday and discovered we were first in line for the Saturday show.

Happy New Year

While at Stacy's mom's house tonight, two 60 to 80 foot trees, joined at the root ball, fell on the house. One hit the chimney, while the other landed flat on the roof. The fireplace kept both trees from going through the roof.

The city was warned a week earlier about digging too close to the tree’s root ball while widening the road. The inspectors said it was OK.