—-
‘The art of the tribute band involves creating as perfect as possible a representation of the tributed act. Many tribute bands go to great lengths to achieve this, both musically and visually. In some cases this involves seeking out vintage guitars, amplifiers and electronic effects, or having them specially built in order to capture the ‘authentic’ sound of the tributed act. Moreover, in many cases individual members of tribute bands attempt to emulate as closely as possible the image and persona of the musician they are portraying, learning to be him or her via repeated listening to live albums and/or viewings of film and documentary footage of the tributed act.
‘The success of the tribute band in achieving this aim is of course also highly dependent upon the willingness of the audience to buy into and go along with the ‘trick of illusion’ that the tribute band attempts to stage. The issue of audience reception also needs to be set in context. According to a leading exponent of postmodernist social theory, Jean Baudrillard, a centrally defining characteristic of the postmodern era is the dominance of simulacra. Everything, from works of art to significant historical sites and aspects of national culture is now experienced at the everyday level as a series of simulations. Tribute bands have assumed their place in a world where the replication and reproduction of objects and images is increasingly taken for granted and largely perceived as ‘normal’.
‘Already used to treating recorded sounds and mediated images as the primary text, from the point of view of the audience it could be argued that tribute bands are merely another medium for the enjoyment of their favourite music. The audience realizes that the tribute is not the ‘real thing’, but this is not the point. For decades, records, tapes and videos have had to stand in for the original. Tribute bands follow this pattern of standing in for the original, but with the added novelty of the flesh and blood dimension which they bring to the reproduction of the music. ‘ — Andy Bennett, ‘Even better than the real thing? Understanding the tribute band phenomenon’
Nearvana ‘Medley’
ZOSO ‘Kashmir’
Mr. Crowley ‘Medley’
The Smiths Indeed ‘This Charming Man’
Green Plastic ‘Paranoid Android’
Ovueen ‘Somebody to Love’
Sex Pistols Experience ‘Pretty Vacant’
Fascination Street ‘Just Like Heaven’
Mortallica ‘Master of Puppets’
Too Rex ‘Jeepster’
Bitchfits ‘Die die my Darling’
Absolute Bowie ‘Ziggy Stardust’
Fleetwood Bac ‘Go Your Own Way’
Feuerengel ‘excerpt’
Guns N’ Roses Real Tribute Band ‘medley’
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*
p.s. Hey. Happy Valentines Day to its willing participants. So, the deadline for Joy Division Day contributions is your bedtime tonight, and please send in something if you haven’t and if you’re so inclined. Thanks a lot! ** Empty Frame, Hey, man. Oh, it is that John Hawkes. Well, I guess my favorites of the ones I’ve read are ‘The Blood Oranges’, ‘Death, Sleep, and the Traveler’, and ‘The Lime Twig’. Oh, yeah, ‘Invisible Man’ is crazy great. Cool. Hope your weekend panned out beautifully. ** David Ehrenstein, Hey. Oh, I guess they meant the French-speaking Araki, and the comparison is probably loose. I’ll try to see ‘Heartbeats” if I can. Terrific post on the Losey film. Everyone, over on his FaBlog, David E. makes the case for eternity on behalf of ‘The Big Night’, Joseph Losey’s underknown remake of Fritz Lang’s ‘M’, and you would do well to head right over there and read/watch. ** Bernard Welt, Well, yeah, totally, on the US news re: Egypt. Shocking if predictable. Nope, haven’t heard or seen a peep from Lautreamont, not even on Facebook unless I’m missing something. Judy Davis is just insanely good in that Judy Garland movie. ** Thomas Moronic, Hi, T. Next Saturday, wonderful. Count me in. Where are you staying? Yeah, the ‘Dark Stars Rising’ book is real good. Shade spent at least ten years putting that together. Real labor of love rewarded. ** Pilgarlic, Oh, Sherman, fire, right, of course. Wow, my memory might be playing tricks on me, but I think during one of visits to Atlanta years ago, a friend pointed out Vaseline Alley to me, and I might even have a fuzzy mental picture of your abode’s facade somewhere in my banks. I was happy to see people giving you advice about the generics, and of course I hope your doctor can help you out big time. I would imagine on ‘Cops: In Russia’ they leave out the parts where the cops take whoever they want out to some remote spot and execute them, and their friends and relatives don’t make a fuss because … well, for the obvious reason. ** David, Interesting about the film’s Americanness. I hadn’t thought about that, and yeah. ** Postitbreakup, Hey. Hopefully, we’re beyond the visa crisis and injustice phase now, but I have no idea. Thanks for the petition idea. Honestly, the last thing in world I want to do is get my life caught up in the kind of media coverage, etc. it would take to make something like that work. I don’t know, right now I’m just holding out hope that he’ll get the visa, and that all of the years of crap will be over. If he doesn’t get it, then we’ll see. Thanks a lot for the thoughts and help to Pilgarlic. ** Dan Callahan aka Keith, Tell Keith his avatar made me happy. Yes, please link us up to Xavier Dolan piece on THND. Actually, I should … Everyone, are you familiar with The House Next Door, a wildly good and very addictive culture blog to which our pal d.l. Dan Callahan is a contributor? If not, you really should visit and explore it. It’s really something, and it’s here. ** Steevee, I hope ‘LBS’ gets a French release and even an earlier than summer one. I’ve never seen Allen’s films as proposing an objective realism. They seem like the dreams and fantasies of an auteur. I don’t see titling his film ‘Manhattan’ as necessitating an accurate portrait of Manhattan at that point in time any more than, oh, X’s ‘Los Angeles’ is problematic because it’s not an accurate LA in the mid-70s or, oh, ‘The Last Days of Disco’ is problematic because it only addresses the end phase of disco for a particular set of New Yorkers. ** Alan, Yeah, completely, about the Ashbery translation. His trans of Roussell and Reverdy, et. al, have been just splendid. Well, I was using the technical meaning of revolution, or one of them: ‘the overthrow of a government by those who are governed’. As far as the long term outcome, no doubt you’re right, but I just mean the intentions and actions and the immediate results of the people deserve credit. ** Matt/ Nicole, Will do on ‘Tron’. Interesting parallel there with ‘EtV, huh. Cool. Ha ha, yeah, wow, on that link/video. Very nice. Everyone, courtesy of Matt, and vis a vis video game space, and for your delectation on Valentines Day, check out ‘Best sex menu/bed in second life’ here. ** Amccartney, Hi, Alistair! Yeah, we’ve decided to try again. Yury’s in the strongest position he’s ever been in by far, and it would probably be a slam dunk if not for the three denials, and, as you know, I guess it’s going to be all about what interviewer/ decider he gets, and the outcome will be dependent on his or her mood and prejudices and sense of empathy, etc. There’s not much we can do at this point apart from dotting all the required i’s and hoping against hope. Your good wishes are very mightily appreciated, man. Lots of love to you, and I hope that neck gives you a break. ** Daveyhoule, Hi, Davey! Thank you again so much, man. It went great! ‘Vicki Christina Barcelona’ is one of my favorite Woody Allen films too. I guess my other faves might be ‘Manhattan’, ‘Zelig’, ‘Broadway Danny Rose’, ‘Deconstructing Harry’, ‘Crimes and Misdemeanors’, and ‘Hannah and Her Sisters’. The word over here is that the new one, ‘Midnight in Paris’ is a real gem, but we’ll see. ** Sypha, Oh, that’s interesting and makes sense about your fondness for the thin line between ridiculousness and seriousness. Makes sense. ** Bollo, The General Idea show is really energized and wacked and beautiful. I wish you could see it. I’d imagine the catalog is pretty good. Their work is very reproduction-friendly, obviously. HVD right back at you. ** Kiddiepunk, Hi, M. What’s going on down there? I just noticed last night that someone here has a locked airport signal entitled ‘RecolletsInternetSucks’, ha ha. You good? Let’s talk and etc. and everything. ** _Black_Acrylic, Thanks, Ben, re: the visa thing. Come Thursday, I’ll let you know. I hope the YnY guys feel the magic of your ‘Trash Humpers’ idea. Sure seems like they would. ** Misanthrope, Hey. Well, yeah, his lack of range makes the minimalism. I like that. It’s all taste, like you said. Man, there are lots of really good movies being made now. France alone has a ton of amazing active filmmakers. The problem, as you pointed out, is in their limited distribution and the consequent lack of much media coverage, which means people have a really hard time finding them. ** Chris Cochrane, Hey. Yeah, the Paris ‘Them’ stuff is exciting. Yeah, I know you think we should do Utrecht, and you know I don’t but will if that’s the decision. ** Inthemostpeculiarway, Hey. Oh, is Bieber a Youtube kid gone viral phenomenon? That makes it a little more interesting. Just a teeny weeny bit, mind you. I think ‘Born This Way’ is a tired, completely unexciting, Madonna-infused, standard fare rehash. I’m kind of shocked by how weak and conservative and overly familiar sounding it is after all of that fuss. It’s not even ridiculous fun, it’s just so usual sounding and blah. Most of the characters in ‘Epic Mickey’ are really old, pre-me, from like the ’30s and ’40s. But, so far, Goofy and Daisy are there, and they’ve been dismembered, and their heads are being kept alive by a machine, and Mickey has to find their body parts and put them back together. It’s dark for Disney product, and it gets more and more interesting. ‘Damp concrete is alway unpleasant’: nice! Oh, that’s cool about your friend’s shirt’s compliment. Hm, I think I’m going to avoid ‘Let Me In’. It doesn’t sound like it’s worth it. Loved your ‘love’ dialogue, and, yeah, I’m glad she wasn’t driving that day. Effusive love and driving are a dangerous combination. I saw a few bits of the Grammys this morning. The Gaga and a few other bits. I guess the surprise about the Arcade Fire win is good ‘cos surprises are good, and Eminem’s acceptance speeches are always so boring. 30 hours awake? I’d be dead. Hope you crashed. My weekend: I didn’t get out much. In fact, I even forgot to go out and buy food for the weekend, and so I had basically nothing to eat last night unless stale tortillas and a few pieces of cheese count. I played a bunch of ‘Epic MIckey’ I just last night helped some pirates from ‘Pinocchio’ escape from jail and then ran around a seaside pirate port fighting things and doing tasks in order to open the way to an area where I think I have to fight Captain Hook who has been turned into a super robot pirate by some machine or other. I did visa related stuff. I was going to buy the plane tickets, but I’m so irritated that I have to buy them that I procrastinated until today when I will have to buy them. A lot of theater stuff happened that required a bunch of emailing and phone calls: ‘Them’ might get a great Paris gig. Gisele’s and my big upcoming maze piece ‘Last Spring’ might be exhibited at the Centre Pompidou, which would be just amazing ‘cos it would be in the museum and on display/usable for months, and it would be a really prestigious and all that. But it’s not a done deal yet. I really needed to get my haircut, but Yury was too busy to do it. He was also too busy to see ‘Black Swan’, so I don’t know when I’ll see that, if I do. As I’d suspected, ‘The Marbled Swarm’ is going to be really tough to translate, and my French publisher has already had two big translators read it then decide it’s too difficult for them. Yikes. The laundry room is still closed, and I’ll ask them about that and about the internet situation today. Gosh, I don’t know. It was a busy weekend, but most of it was spent in one chair or another. I’ll stop there and wait for your Valentines Day report, and thank you in advance. ** Dusty rose, Hey. Well, very few people get to write for a living, if that makes you feel better. I don’t quite make a living from it. Sometimes it’s okay, and sometimes I’m a stressed out broke person. Yeah, I like ‘Epic Mickey’ I recommend it as long you like that kind of adventure game format and don’t hate classic era Disney animation. ** We’re there, it seems. One more please on the Joy Division Day thing. I think the post today probably speaks for itself, no? Okay, I have a day ahead of theater rehearsals and visa worrying and related task-doing. What about you? Catch up with you tomorrow.
Hey Jimbo!
You know, i dont care if that was a joke. Jimbo you are now, deal with it, haha!
Ok, three things :
1 – I fucking love "Last Spring". Awesome name. reminds me of the Rite Of Spring/Sacre du Printemps, which is just too damn gorgeous, and actually now i'm thinking you should have the last movement, the Sacrificial Dance, play in a dark little corner of your labyrinth, because it's just too incredible and violent and gorgeous. Here, have listen here to refresh your memory.
Oh dear, i'm off to listen to the whole thing now.
2 – dammit about the Marbled Swarm translation. Did they ask Claro? He loves challenges. And he's amazing. How about the dude who co-translated Mason&dixon; with him… Whatshisface… Brice Matthieussent. You'll find someone, i'm sure… Pity i can't speak french for shit anymore, hehe… ! Tell your published to check out whoever translates Cormac McCarthy. I haven't read them in french but i heard good things. I mean, anyone who can translate Suttree can do you, right?
3 – Oh, i thought i had three. Mmhh. Well, maybe not.
Oh yeah, i'l send you my JDD later today. But that wasn't what i was gonna say… Oh Whatever.
Oh my, if that isn't a Random Top Of Page Fail….!!!!
Hey Dennis, you forgot the Morrisey tribute bands, covered by our friend William E. Jones in his magnificent Is It Really So Strange?
Dennis, heh-heh-heh, Vaseline Alley, that works even better than Vaseline Valley, or, even, my own updated moniker of K-Y Gulch. According to a dear, departed friend of mine, who happened to be gay, and lived right next door "Oh, you just can't believe the fucking and sucking that went on in the woods right behind where you live, now ! It was like a scene from "Cruising"! And, the swimming pool, oh, don't even get me started !" I replied " Man, I bet that pool looked like a big vat of egg drop soup on Monday mornings !" His face went white and he said "Oh, you're even sicker than me !" Which was true.
The Grammies…I was pleased and surprised about Arcade Fire's win. I wish they had taken the opportunity to engineer some sort of anarchy moment, on live t.v., but, I guess they're too Canadian for that.And, that dang Marshall Mathers, wins a Grammy and STILL doesn't smile ! Dude, it's okay, be happy, pop another Vicoden, or, some damn thing ! I have a newfound respect for Female Person Gaga, from her Anderson Cooper spot on "60 Minutes". I found her to be more honest and forthcoming than Madonna ever thought about being. Those bondage shoes kinda gave me a semi-stiffie, which is a real upside to coming off of Cymbalta. A downside ? Breaking into tears when I saw film of the Chilean miners at Disney World, grown men adorned in Mickey ears, celebrating life.
We Atlantans lost a local radio personality, last week, one Ludlow Porch. Once, on the subject of music at funerals, when asked what he'd like to have played at his own, he replied "Volleyball."
Which explains the plethora of volleyballs at his memorial service. While I don't think that Valentine's Day has anymore to do with love than Christmas does with Christ, I want to quote Ludlow, in closing :"Whatever you do today, find somebody to be nice to."
Happy Valentine's Day!
Pilgarlic, yeah, I thought Gaga's interview with Anderson Cooper was very interesting. As for the song "Born This Way," it's not her strongest song but I thought it was pretty good when it was performed live at the Grammy's. I dunno… I guess I find it kind of amusing that so many people were expecting the new Gaga single to be the most outre/bizarre thing ever and it turned out just to be a fairly standard dance song/anthem. But I guess I'm just easily amused.
Man, I should probably get working on that Joy Division entry, no?
They probably never gave you any reasons for the past denials, right? I sort of know how it feels from past experiences to have so much depending on the whim of some invisible bureaucrat. Sending you love and hoping for the best.
Happy Valentine's Day, Dennis and everyone. Dennis, you can't forget to buy food. Old tortillas and cheese ends don't hold body and soul close enough together.
Speaking of tribute bands…
Yesterday I came up with a neat way of taking an audio file and chewing it up into little pieces. Here’s an example based, for better or worse, on the famous pop hit Maneater. Everything here was sampled from the music and reconstructed; nothing of my own was added. . .
http://mwp.jaycloidt.com/MPPHOTO2006/maneater%20ZC55.mp3
god i love tribute bands. such a generous way of pretending. nonspooky [usually] seance calling stuff back.
i agree w wolf, 'last spring' is a powerful+pretty name.
the Husbands and Wives weekend was interesting. ive never liked Allen but never thought much of it either. i torrented h+w and gave it a go. wanting, as usual with a woody allen film, to turn it off almost immediately, i left it on for ~45 attempting to catalog why. 'it is really straight.. which shouldnt matter cos you love greenaway.. it is really american bourgeois.. which shouldnt matter cos you love stillman.. it is really white.. which shouldnt matter cos you love all kinds of really white things.. it is 'ugly' doesnt matter.. uhhh.. i guess it is just that you find woody allen too annoying/unsympathetic for continued onscreen viewing, along with some inflection of the aforementioned things.'
so yea daveyhoule thanks much for the day, although i'm not a fan your careful presentation made me eager to engage. i suppose i'll check out a film without allen in it.
David E- well, the UK's Smiths Indeed are here w a very cute rendition of the This Charming Man video. though, i agree their Los Angeles counterparts Sweet+Tender Hooligans are far more interesting. fun fact, my ex is in the photos at the end of Is It Really So Strange. i am too but my face is out of frame.
lol, my wv is 'outed'
xmath+
hey D…cover bands…yikes! did my time in that salt mine…Epic Mickey, yeah Jagger was epic at the grammys…oh wait wrong Mickey! Of course Jagstone did show exactly how shitty the other participants were just by forgoing the obligatory overblown choreography and vocal gymnastics of, well, everyone. weird when a 69 year old is more exciting than a twenty something…of course many of the most exciting shows I ever saw were done by folks in that age group…for instance Dr. Isaiah Ross was one of the greatest things I ever had the honor of seeing. Or Joe Turner sitting in a chair and singing for that matter…Bo Diddley, Lee Dorsey…blah blah blah.
My ear is still ringing but it doesn't hurt anymore so that's good. I loved the post from last week about places that no longer exist. Julie visited with Joel last week…I did not due to not feeling so hot. Next time.
Did you ever see Gene Clark? I saw him twice at the Troub in the early mid 70's…for some reason I had a dream with him in it the other night, hence my asking.
Did you spend much time in the San Gabriel Mountains when you were wee bitty bonny? I've been dying to get up in them recently, but the brakes in my car are a little wonky…still the desert and the mountains are singing their siren song to me lately…hopefully I'll get out to one or the other soon…even if it's just Wilderness Park.
Happy Valentines to you…we love you…we do (sung in an epic mickey voice)
xxoo M
I'm fascinated by the endless parade of cover bands that play B.B. King's here. Recently, a Gentle Giant tribute act played there! I don't even think a Gentle Giant reunion itself could draw several hundred people in New York.
As you probably know, THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO has indeed been criticized for ignoring the scene's black and/or gay roots. As for X, I think their music was consciously trying to counter the glamour that people usually associate with Los Angeles. LOS ANGELES is the equivalent of the scene in MS. 45 where a guy commits suicide at the spot by the river featured on the MANHATTAN poster.
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Hey Dennis, folks. Man. 37˚C here today, and it just gets hotter in the evenings. I sent in my submission for the Joy Division day.
I love it when tribute bands are coincident with truly horrible puns, like Sorta-Kinney (they don't exist, but they oughta), or when the whole concept is extended to Pierre Menard extremities, like The Australian Pink Floyd Show playing at David Gilmour's 50th birthday party, things like that.
Fingers continue to be properly crossed tight on matters of work, holidays, and all that stuff. Rooting for you both, D. Sleep tight.
Latest FaBlog: Fait Diver — Pants On Fire
Hi Dennis,
I heard back from Les Recollets. They seem game to host me but say I need to find an institute (Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Bibliotheque Publique d'information, etc.) in Paris to sponsor me and validate my request to stay, so I'm going to get started on that. Do you know from other residents, or from your experience, which might be the easiest to get sponsorship through? And, do prefer the Pavillion Sud or Pavillion principal? 1st floor, 2nd floor, 3rd floor? Exciting to be making headway…
Happy Valentine's to all! I'm eating an entire box of chocolates right now.
Interesting mix of, hmmm … tributes? A strange but fascinating collection of bands to look through today.
I've just emailed you something for Joy Division day Dennis. I'm staying at the Eurostar Panorama next to the Gare De Nord. I remember meeting Kiddiepunk in there the first time we both met up in Paris and thinking it looked pretty decent. My friend Sian (who you met last time I was in Paris) is coming along too, which will be ace. Maybe email me your mobile/cell phone number so I have it just in case. I have a number for you, but I've had it a while, so I don't know how current it is. I might look into how much the Owen Pallett gig is, and start looking round for any decent exhibitions to go feed my eyes with while I'm over there. Can't wait!
Big love
Thomas x
Andrew Breitbart — YOU HAVE BEEN SERVED!!!!!
@ DavidEhrenstein, thanks for The Big Night feature. It's been added to my DVD list accordingly.
I'm watching Coraline on DVD right now. I put it on the rental list back when it looked the producers might do the God JR. adaptation. And maybe that could still happen, right? Anyway I'm just kind of watching it out of the corner of my eye and I'm catching some interesting sights.
There are a number of films from that period of considerable interest. Around 51 and 52 "film noir" took an especially dark tone seen in Losey's M and The Big Night, Cy Endfield's The Sound of Fury (aka. Try and Stop Me), Abe Polonsky's Force of Evil and Jules Dassin's Night and the City.
Dennis, Yes, exactly. It's the distribution -or lack thereof- that hurts us more rural/suburban moviegoers, as well as the filmmakers themselves. At least with music, it's a click or a bootleg away. There are movie bootlegs, yeah, but they're usually the blockbusters and I haven't seen one yet worthy of putting into a DVD player.
Plus, there's something great about the theater experience for a really good movie that you can't get on netflix or ondemand. Though I did catch the last half of Last Days the other day, which I really enjoyed.
Have you done Doors tribute bands in earlier "Gigs?" I'm assuming you did and I can't remember. There's one -I'm lapsing on the name- that's really great. In general, I love these tribute bands. I love the sincerity and the passion and they're keeping these bands music alive once they're gone. Not the real thing, of course, but the heart is there and that's what I like.
Fuck, that guy looks so much like Sid it's eerie.
Oh, shit, Joy Division Day deadline! I'll get right on it.
And you won't believe this, but I'm sick again. Just threw up like a madman. Little Show was over this weekend and was getting over a virus. Guess I got it now: achy, chilled, temp's on the rise, and can't keep anything down. What the fuck?
Dennis, I'm catching up on this visa thing, best of luck! I hope you can finally get back to LA. I plan to be there in a year or two. Hey, they opened the Doughnut Plant in Chelsea Hotel today. Haven't been yet. I'll get a coconut doughnut in your honor and eat the shit out of it. Did I tell you about my Captain and Tennille tribute band? Misanthrope is Captain. Oh, you know what will keep us together? Don't you? LOOOOOOVEEEEE. God, Green Plastic is insufferable. I can't believe there is a Rammstein tribute band. Seriously? I gigglesnarfed at that. Gun's N Roses, no thanks, I'm going to the piano bar to hear some Journey! I won't ever stop believing!
math, I liked your interior monologue.
nb, Cool, did you grow a tail?
Hey Dennis,
Bieber might be. I'm sure if I took the time I could Wiki him, but honestly I'd rather look at the history of the vacuum cleaner than his.
I agree with everything you said re: Born This Way, and that makes me incredibly sad. My friend heard it and just sat there and said she wanted to go back in time to Bad Romance. I kind of agree. Oh, and this is pretty funny, speaking of Born This Way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2wVsABJP74
I've seen a few cartoons from the 30's and 40's but probably wouldn't know any of the characters. Wasn't that whenever every cartoon character's mouth had to be a small, constantly open 'o' shape? And I'm surprised you have to find dismembered parts of Goofy and then rebuild him. That doesn't sound very Disney.
I wasn't really surprised about Arcade Fire, actually. I think because I read a few of those 'Who Should Win' article things online and they kept getting mentioned.
It was more than 30 hours, but only 37 or something. What's the longest you've ever stayed awake?
Captain Hook's a super pirate robot? Is that crocodile with the clock there? I always liked him.
I hope the ticket buying is okay. For some reason, people I know either have no problems buying tickets or it's the most difficult process in the world on that particular day.
Wow, those are both amazing things, if they happen. I hope they do, both of them, and I love the idea of Last Spring (I love the title, too) being at the Centre Pompidou for so long. That's so cool.
Maybe Yury can cut your hair before or after you see Black Swan, so you'll have something good come out of that day. Or maybe it's cut by now. That'd be nice, too.
I'm sorry about The Marbled Swarm's translation problems. Somebody will be able to translate it, and soon, hopefully. Isn't the writing style supposed to be deliberately complicated, though?
My day:
Wake up early, shower, stare and don't smoke, because I couldn't. So after my shower and the towel was curling inbetween my head and my hand, I was staring at the half empty of (real, wonderful, thank god) Marlboro Red 100's and two of my many lighters, one of which was located directly on top of it. Went downstairs to avoid it, and ended up staring at the half empty orange juice in the fridge (Minute Maid has a new bottle, it's clear and looks nice) before closing it and just watching the news and finishing drying my hair.
Go to the surgeon, get several types of laughing gas, an IV, all that, wake up and am told I can leave very soon and who's on Cougar Town, because I said the assistant looks like her?
"Oh. Busy Phillips."
"Is that the one with dark hair who was on Friends?"
"No. Busy Phillips is the blonde friend of Courtney Cox, the one with the dark hair who was on Friends."
(yells) "He said not the dark haired one, it's Busy Phillips!"
(assistant, yelling back) "Who's she?"
(yelling surgeon) "The blonde one! The uh, the friend! Courtney Cox's friend!"
(yelling assistant) "I have to go home and look this up now!"
They were pretty loud, so I naturally reached for my ears, but noticed that while one's still ringing and the other one won't really pop, the pain was gone. So that was wonderful and if it hadn't felt so strange, I would've smiled more. Damn numbness.
The assistant came back to hand me a pouch with my four wisdom teeth in it, and I stared at it for a little while because a) why the fuck would I want these? and b) the surgeon was very proud of himself for getting them out ("they're so big!") so relatively intact, so I would look up at him and then down and nod.
Left and waited for the really very cute pharmacist to fill my prescription in the parking lot after getting a vanilla shake (vanilla is better than chocolate, I just have to say that right now) because my face was swollen, get the Vicodin, go home, take one, sleep.
Wake up and feel incredibly depressed about everything, because it's Valentine's Day, which means a lot of things, for me, anyway. I guess it could've been the Vicodin, because I sort of remember how it felt whenever I took some with Bendy, and it was this kind of unhappiness after it wore off.
The rest of the day was mostly spent in bed, watching some of the movie channels, but mostly the ends of various movies and answering my friends texts on how much she loves her presents. They're all books and she really likes reading, but she'll go a few months without reading anything (books, anyway) and then read four or five books in two days. That's not really related to anything or important, but I've always liked how she does that. She said Aimee Bender reminded her of a toned down Trinie Dalton, but she still likes Bender, so that's good.
Changed the gauze in my mouth three or four times (they're bleeding pretty heavily, you have to double the strips), refilling the ice pack and eating dinner and that's about it. I'm not sure if tomorrow will be better, but I'll probably have watched some things or read some things or maybe written some things (that'd be nice), so that's exciting. How was your Valentine's Day, Dennis?
Hey Dennis – cool day, some of these bands performances made me laugh. I needed that. Today has been pretty crappy, I've dealt with a pretty severe migraine all day. It starting to come back a bit. Bleh.
I sent in my Joy Division stuff but I forgot to include my username along with the email. Oops. My bad.
Some exciting wrestling news! Remember The Rock?! He returned to RAW. He's hosting WrestleMania. I'm actually quite excited to see where/how WWE goes/handles this! WWE is running PG now, which you're probably aware, but, The Rock's segment was more PG-13 which is awesome, hopefully this is where WWE is headed.
I hope you had a good Valentine's Day. I absolutely HATE this day…with a passion. I always have and always will.
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Awesome tribute day. Tribute bands are fun 🙂 Spent half weekend watching British comedy on YouTube at a friend's house – what a great weekend-activity. Ross Noble, Jimmy Carr, John Bishop and shows like QI, Big Fat Quiz Of The Year etc. Some things were better than others but we certainly laughed a lot. I found out I kinda like Jimmy Carr despite him being the kind of stand up comedian I usually wouldn't appreciate, but he's just so relentlessly filthy that I sort of gave in. Even though it's just juvenile joke and even more juvenile jokes he's pretty good at it and especially in his banter with the audience he's very quick and brutally mean. I think it's something I'll have to be in the mood for but when I'm in THAT mood I think it's hilarious.
math-
I'm glad you gave H&W; a try, at least. I can understand all your reservations – but as an obvious Allen fan they just don't whatever prevent me from enjoying his films. Match Point and Vicky Cristina Barcelona are fantastic and Woody-actorless!!