This is not about Music...kind of...ok...maybe a little music

Oh, snow. Every once in a while B'ham gets some decent snow. To the right of the frame is the apartment: CE3 (Aka, the Basement, Aka The fly-house--because there's graffiti of a small house fly on the wall across the alley, Aka Stef's apartment). And further up, there's Film is Truth, where I spent too much money and time renting "hard to find" foreign and domestic films...and where I first discovered the lovely Mumblecore films, and became obsessed. They also have an amazing selection of Iranian films. From 11:30am to 12:30am, we could hear the footsteps of FIT employees and customers (quite a pain when recording anything with audio). After a while, we got used to it. Though, they'd constantly complain that we were too loud (if we were singing or playing music too loud) or if the store smelled like Weed. (I was never a part of this, but Chad and the boys never learned their lesson. They smoked Weed and played music/movies too loud all the time, and eventually, they got a notice or two from the landlord and FiT.

I first went to that apartment when I became friends with Stef after working with her on Nate and Natalie and then she started singing with The Braille Tapes. Anyway, before I moved in with Chad (it was supposed to be with David Woods, but that is another story for another time...sorry Dave). But when I think of B'ham I think of two "homes." One being the original Coat Exchange on the corner of Indian and Ellis. If you've ever lived or been to B'ham, you've passed it. Two being the CE3. I had poetry readings there, shot some films, had parties, and a couple records were recorded there (Plus many other things). The Keaton boys moved from Southern California and all (but Bill) moved in. I used to get paranoid. I was never on the lease, and once, the maintenance guy, Richard, found me sleeping in the closet (my room), and freaked out. I pretended to be asleep, and Stef had to call him and tell him to watch out for her friend who's visiting and is sleeping in the closet. He said, "I thought you had got some dude fucked up on psychedelics and locked him in there to trip." No, Stef said, "That's just Josh." So, when I moved out and in with Emily it was like I was never there, legally, and my friend Tamara who wasn't living there, and never did, put her name on the lease, and then the Keaton boys moved up. I'm glad I moved out. I would've been a panicky-mess. While I was living there, I'd walk home the back way, double check for Richard or anyone's truck. I don't think I would've survived the paranoia with all the boys leaving shit around the house that screaming, "HEY THERE ARE AT LEAST FIVE OF US LIVING HERE! AND NO ONE NAMED TAMARA." When I'd say things to Chad, he'd just say, "It's not a problem" or "You worry too much." Then they started getting notices. But I'd go over there and they'd still be playing music loud and smoking Weed in the kitchen (which was basically right below the office upstairs." I was surprised they never got evicted. When we lived there with Stef, she was clean. I'm not a clean person (ask my wife), but living with here, I tried extra hard to be clean, while Chad got messier and messier. Stef was gone a lot on vacations or on tour with Idiot Pilot (or other bands), and Chad seemed to think that it was OK to be messy as long as she wasn't home, though I'd always end up cleaning it.

Now, someone else lives there. Chad and the boys moved out and into Bill's place. They had been practicing there for a while. The cops had come out for their midnight practices to tell them to shut up. The funny thing is that right across the street is the Wild Buffalo, where concerts go till 1ish. So, when I lived there, we never had any problems. Though, I guess we weren't as loud, nor did we play as long. It feels weird to think that two other dudes are there, living where a big part of my life had taken place (same goes with the Coat Exchange--I think hippies live there), and that they're probably using my old closet-room as a closet. The apartment, though a basement level was huge! HUGE. And a perfect location, minutes from the Horseshoe, steps from Film is Truth ( got a job offer there right after I started at Bramble Berry...God that would've been awesome!), a block from Old Town Cafe, and a couple blocks from the Bus Station.

We were downtown! And rent was CHEAP.

Anyway, I better get to writing my endnotes for class today. I got a lot to say. Later Gs,

Joshua

Another Post about Music

So, this picture is taken at the Vera Project in Seattle, back when we opened for MILEMARKER (who is this amazing band I've been listening to for years). i don't remember much about the show, just that there were a lot of people and we saw Milemarker play, and they had two drummers (I had seen them a few years earlier and they only had one drummer). I'm not certain now, but this is what made us want to have two drummers in the band (and later we asked Wendelin to join). The show was great. My friend Ryan took this picture. He was a fan for a long time (even of our other bands). I even played in a really bad band with him that didn't last very long for reasons having to do with drugs and the fact that I didn't give one fuck about the band. I just liked hanging out with Ryan, but that rapidly changed. But this was a long time after that, and he was clean and sober and born again, and he came to almost every show we played. Here's the thing about Ryan. He's a good guy, and it's he's a good example of someone whose political views I find disgusting and ignorant, but as a friend he is wonderful. He's a good man and I have a handful of good and bad memories with him.

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Speaking of politics. I got this kid in my class who said, "Anyone who gets help from the government is lazy. We're enabling people by helping them. They're taking advantage..." This went on for a while and I told him that he needed to shut his mouth, because I don't tolerate ignorance in my class. He kept saying, "I know a guy who says, 'if we keep having kids, we keep getting money and I won't have to get a job. easy money." he says this as if this ONE example is enough for the class (many of which are getting money from the government from Fin Aid, to food stamps) to agree. People just yell at him. After class I had to explain to him that Capitalism and Hard work are not mutually exclusive, and that you can't call Healthcare a handout, and quote something about how the American Dream says that we have to work hard to get the things we want. He totally doesn't get the fact that poverty is a hard thing to get from, and it's not about "Wanting" help, it's about help being the only option to survive. Ugh. I could go on forever, but instead, I'll just grade him down if he keeps arguing with fallacies and bullshit and weak claims.

Peace out, Homies,

Joshua

First Show

This is a picture of The Braille Tapes' first show. It was actually about ten people (our friends) in the Coat Exchange. We sucked pretty bad (my friend Ryan recorded it. What i remember most about this show is that we tried to do a song with Chad on drums, but that didn't go too well. We played all of out songs. At that time, we were still an improv-band. We had what we called "sections." So instead of saying, "What song next?" Chad would start playing a riff, or I would start a drum beat and we would know that we're playing the section that is a back beat with distorted arrpegios in the key of D. As the years went on (After Chapter 1: I Want to Be Victor Ward) we started writing more "songs." But our process still came from "sections" and many of our songs were written from numerous attempts at just improving our way from a section into a song. But by Robot Meat I had started writing songs, and we sort of left the section-idea behind. Maybe when/if we ever record this Geriatrics EP, we'll do a couple sections, instead of all songs.

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The Coat Exchange was the house (one of the only houses still available the October Chad, Bill, and I left Snohomish County for Bellingham). It was cheap, shitty (my room would shake when trucks drove by the house and we hat rat problems by the time Dave Woods moved in--ask him about the rat who was licking ketchup off the plate he left in his room), and perfect for us to practice and have shows. A few months after this picture, we had a show with Treasures, Autumn Poetry, In Praise of Folly, and Red Robot. The place was so packed that our kitchen was full of people, trying to stick their head out to see the show. The hallway leading to the door was the same. At one point, some people gave up trying to see, and just listened, staring out our side windows. The front room had way too many people, and the friends of the bands had to stand in front to form a wall, in order to give the band enough room to play. I'm trying to remember, but this might've been the show where We had six bands: The Robot Ate Me played without mics and walked around the room playing his songs, and at one point made every puts an arm around everyone else and sway while he sang. And Green Hills Alone played too (they were touring with the Red Robot). And I think I opened the show, playing a few paper airplane songs. Though, many of our shows (little and big) have blurred together so that I can't remember.

Looks like I got some research to do.

That's all I got to say today. Oh, except that the wind was blowing so hard yesterday, kicking up dust. Our apartment smelled like dirt and the sky was the color of dirt (tannish-brown). Couldn't see the mountains, couldn't see the sun. The dirt was in my teeth and eyes, and when I drove to the store, I saw that the wind had ripped the roofing off the local church...yikes.

OK. that's all I have to say,

Later

Joshua