Back to Work in Lovely Ohio

Well, the vacation is finally over. I'm back in lovely Oxford.

Driving back from the Indianapolis airport last night, it was easy to tell when I was getting close to home. First, I started getting this pit in my stomach. Then, I noticed that there were kids playing this bored-to-tears midwestern game called "cornhole" on every street corner. By the time I spotted my first popped collar on a polo shirt, I was already on College, turning off U.S. 27 heading home.

After such an exciting trip, it is actually relaxing to get back to being a librarian. Life is good. Talked with Asti when I got home; she's still in Japan and I keep her company when I can whenever I see she's online. She's such a beautiful person to talk to - she's always very thoughtful AND driven. She's also extremely, brutally honest as well. Like I said in an earlier post, American women have a lot they should learn from Ethiopian women.

Also talke to my boy Mark down in Baton Rouge. Gave him the lowdown on the "Hanging with Clebrities" thing and the rest of the vacation. We caught up on a lot; he and I haven't talked in a long time.

A couple of friends e-mailed me about the Jen thing, rightfully voicing some concerns about the whole situation. For those just passing by, I was at one time in my life engaged to a very malicious woman who worked in adult entertainment. The friends who raised some concerns and "red flags" remember that situation all too well. Miss Jen is not the same person as Tay was by any means, but its so nice to know I still have some friends with the guts to say what they feel and not just go with the flow. It helps keep me balanced and focused and I appreciate that.

MORRO BAY, CON'T

More Morro Bay fun...

I ended up skateboarding at the skatepark with this guy Blair, who I hadn't seen in years. The last time I saw him, he was 13. Now, he's you're stereotypical surfer, living in a rusty 1980 Ford Econoline van down by the ocean. He still smokes a lot of weed, but admitted that he was probably going to quit soon.

Awesome board he loaned me...Element Thriftwood 8. I hadn't been on a skateboard since I lived in Morro Bay. Never was a good boarder, but I enjoyed it. Hit the half-pipe for a few passes. Unfortunately, being a dumbass, I washed out on a turn. Nothing serious. Think I bruised my ass. Hey, sometimes you just have to pay the plywood. Kiddies, please remember to wear pads and a helmet....

Also went kayaking in Estero Bay with my Old Man. Dad's a great guy to hang out with. We had so much fun, our simple hour trip turned into an almost three hour event. We explored the bay, crossed through the ship lanes, and went bird-watching. Then, off for some fresh fried local fish and chips. In Ohio, I can't even get a decent can of frigging tuna; I miss good fish and seafood. I used to know enough fishermen in this area to get enough free fresh calamari steaks, bluefin, flounder, halibut, salmon, and shrimp to last a lifetime. Mmmm...good eats, cheap!

DATELINE -- Paso Robles, Calif....

What an awesome visit to the ol' homestead in California! Wow, I've really needed to get out of Oxford for a while now...

Took a 2004 Ford Mustang GT convertible for a spin down the 101. For those not familiar with this piece of roadway, it is both California's angelic transportation artery and demonic traffic nightmare. I dropped the top, cranked up some Dr. Octagon, and worked myself into a 90-mile-per-hour ecstasy as I cruised down to SLO-Town for a little R&R.

Drove through Cal Poly's wonderfully droll campus and realized just how much I miss being at a college where students actually dress like college students. The sheer diversity of pink and purple hair blending with blonde, brown and black creates a visual landscape unlike anything that will ever hit where I'm living now. The mix of Goth kids, Campus Crusaders, Hippies, International students, Indie scensters, posers, surfers, skaters and Preppies forms the perfect salad of vegetative academic bliss on a hot May afternoon. I'm proud to be a Poly alumnus.

Stopped by the Graphic Arts building and talked up a pair of female KCPR deejays over cigarettes. We talked about many, many things, but mostly about how much music sucks nowadays and how what was cool three or four years ago is now just fodder for the trendy cattle.

I miss girls in battered jeans and unwashed t-shirts, girls that just seem to radiate sensual independence. There's something real about them, something beyond what is seen. I thanked them for the conversation, then booked it for downtown SLO.

Downtown San Luis Obispo is the quintenssiential college town...you've got your art house cinema, your coffee shops, your bookstores and head shops. You've got your hobby shops and your gamer shops, your record stores and Kinkos. I spent a good amount of time wandering the streets, hunting down ghosts of long-gone businesses and forgotten memories...

The best thing about coming back to SLO Co. is visiting my folks and my baby sister. It's been too long since I've gotten to hang out with them. Through everything I've been through in life, my family's always been there for me. I know the time will come when I'll have to buck up and be there for them, too.

Tired...sunburnt...still jet-lagged. Sister's dog is farting and snoring in my guest room. Need sleep and ventilation...

The Saturday Packing Playlist

Give You Nothing - Bad Religion

Getting me psyched to pack...

City of Angels - Distillers

Brody Dalle is so freaking hot it hurts...what can I say? Never be able to totally let go of those dangerous women...

Teenage Rebel - The Avengers

Note to self...spare toothbrush needed...

Insane in the Membrane - Cypress Hill

I don't miss being a substance abuser (Clean eight years in August), but there's something to be said for stoner music...

Load of the Boards - Guano Apes

The madolin part in the beginning of the track is awesome...

Saddle Tramp - Marty Robbins

Gotta pump the Robbin's Gufighter Ballads and Trail Songs. Those reading from the East Coast won't understand. It's a Western thing... :)

Statue of Liberty - Descendents

Classic...

Allure - Jay-Z (Danger Mouse; Grey Album mash-up)

If the Black Album had really been this bad-ass, Jay-Z would have the greatest album of all time.

We're a Happy Family - The Ramones

RIP Joey, Johnny and DeeDee.

Which Side Are You On? - Billy Bragg

The UK version of Springsteen and Dylan. For some reason, this track reminds me of playing Chess at Highland Coffee in BR with an amzing friend of mine, Mark P. He and I had some many amazing conversations over chess. He's still in the Big Red Stick. I miss chess...Christ, I am getting old...

Propaganda - Dead Prez

Now I'm psyched...revved up for the forthcoming deep political arguments with family. Ready to bring the Man to his knees, bring the System to the people.

Packing for Cali. Got a sinus thing in full effect (the Miami Valley is like a den of satanic spores), and need ome packing music. Flying out of Indie. The one thing that absolutely sucks monkey turds about Oxford is the lack of a decent airport within an hour's drive.

I guess flying out of Baton Rouge and Louis Armstrong (New Orleans) spoiled me. It took me 12 minutes to get from my doorsetep to BTR. If I had a buttcrack-of-dawn flight, I could make it in under ten minutes. It was exactly one-hour's drive to NOLA to the airport.

I think I've flown out of more "home" airports than your average non-businesss traveler. I have a head full of airport codes from the various airports I've flown out of. For the last five X-mases, I'f flown out of four different "homes." Man, being a 21st century drifter is a pretty bizarre thing. ...

Well, tell me something I don't know about myself...

Gee golly, Wally...this online survey thing puts me in this weird political box...

Your Political Profile

Overall: 20% Conservative, 80% Liberal

Social Issues: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

Ethics: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

How Liberal / Conservative Are You?

---

And apparently, my adjusted SAT score makes me "smarter" than Howard Stern...woo-hoo!

Your SAT Score of 1390 Means:

You Scored Higher Than Howard Stern You Scored Higher Than George W. Bush You Scored Higher Than Al Gore You Scored Higher Than David Duchovny You Scored Lower Than Natalie Portman You Scored Lower Than Bill Gates

Your IQ is most likely in the 130-140 range

Equivalent ACT score: 31

Schools that Fit Your SAT Score: Brown University Northwestern University Carnegie Mellon University Cornell University Reed College

What Does Your SAT Score Mean?

Welome to the Terrordome...

All right! Headed for Cali come Saturday! Yay! San Luis Obispo here I come!

I haven't been to slo-town in a few years...awesome place. I did a good part of my collegiate drinking at McCarthy's, the greatest hole-in-the-wall bar in the Golden State.

Looking forward to some Hot Dog Factory Chili-Cheese fries and a trip to Boo Boo's Record Store - the best record store outside of Berkeley...

R and R, here I come.

Who Needs Emo when there's Cash...

Okay, its sad when the highlight of your day is heading out after work to visit the new Super Wally World that just opened up here in Oxford...but I knew that was the only place where I could get my Uncle Sam's Cereal...my favorite foodstuff...haven't had any to eat since I left Baton Rouge.

While there, I perused the music section and picked up some new discs. Say what you want about Wal-Mart, but they are actually improving their music selection, especially in terms of back catalog stuff. Still won't buy one of their edited PG hip-hop albums, but they've loaded up on the Sony remasters of the old Johnny Cash albums, the classic albums like Orange Blossom Special, Live at San Quentin, Ride This Train, and the gospel stuff.

Was flipping through the music when I spotted this mopey looking high school kid ... you know, the fake "I'm rejected and alone" kind of kid who's neither rejected or actually alone, but likes the image that's marketed to his fragile id like crack in the ghetto. The Chris Carrabas/Dashboard Confessional stereotypical emo kid.

Emo - (n.) Short for Emotional pop music. A
musical form of marketing...er...music aimed at convincing people that, yeah, the world sucks, yeah, it'll never change, and yeah, that girl in high school didn't like you because you weren't popular enough. Wow...deep shit there. Get some therapy, people! Some of itis great music, but there's only so many sad songs one can listen to before going insane...

I made a bit of small talk with him, complimented him on his Ramones
t-shirt (I have a feeling he bought the t-shirt at some mall...sigh), and then
asked him what he was looking to buy. He was, of course, trying to decide
between one of two Bright Eyes CDs. He wanted to buy both, but didn't have
thirty bucks to blow on music.

He asked me what I was into, what I was looking at buying. I told him I was
debating buying out the Johnny Cash section with my tax refund money. He laughed
and said he liked the cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" because, well, who
doesn't like that song.

Goody. Time to corrupt Emo Boy and bring him back into the land of the
Living, Breathing God that Is the Soul of Music. I felt giddy, like a mad
scientist with a fresh brain to tamper with...

I showed him some of how to buy the good ol' fashioned Truck Stop 5.99
Compilation albums - more good music for your money. We talked and I helped him
pick out some great Delta Blues cheapies with the likes of John Lee Hooker
("Boom Boom Boom") and Lightning Hopkins, Etta James, Hank Williams, Woody
Guthrie, the Carter Family, Run-DMC, Tone Loc, Dolly Parton, and, of course,
Johnny Cash.

He wanted to take another comp. that didn't look as cheap; I told him if he
were going to buy a compilation of Cash, it had to include "Folsom Prison
Blues."

"It sounds too depressing..." The kid, James, said. Coming from a kid about
to buy Bright Eyes because MTV, FUSE, and the so-called "Indie" zines say its
cool, blew my frigging mind. I like Bright Eyes personally, but Conor Oberst,
from what I've seen and heard about him, is a brilliant, normal guy with the
same hopes, fears, and dreams as normal folks. Christ, he's from Nebraska!

"It is...a...very....dark...song," I said, slowly, like Satan tempting
Christ through plastic packaging. "It contains the sickest, most tortured line
in music history...

I killed a man in Reno/just to watch him die/every time I hear that whistle blowing/I hang my head and cry..."

Sounds cool. I heard Johnny Cash is a huge influence of Conor Oberst."

"Johnny Cash influenced everybody, dude. That's why he's cool."

The kid walked away with fifty dollars' worth of music - was so excited he decided to put it on his mom's credit card with the catfood and milk he'd driven from Indiana to pick up. Totally forgot the Bright Eyes stuff - sorry Conor, but Spin, CMJ, and Rolling Stone are making you enough money. And I think you'd be proud that the kid found something new.

That's the problem with so many younger music fans today....they listen to things. Music isn't a thing. Its not slick marketing or depressing songs or supermodel haircuts or clothes or merchandise. Music is a feeling, a conversation between listener and songsmith.

The "Music As Thing" model record labels push is worthless outside the packaging, marketing, and media relations; real music sets you free. Real music is about struggle AND torment, redemption AND vengance, passion AND heartbreak. And its about survival. And that's what makes it art, even in a Wal Mart bargain bin.

Christ, I thought this kid was going to hug me. I told him his high school buddies would probably call him uncool for buying this kind of music.

"Fuck 'em. If they can't like me for what I listen to, then I don't fucking need them."

Fuck 'em, indeed. Jamie Boy, you don't know it yet, but you've just become the coolest kid in your high school. Coolness of this level is monumental and cannot be contained by something as trivial as pop culture....

Coolness is, after all, eternal. So's Johnny Cash.

Star Bores - Revenge of the Sucks

I'm a science fiction buff. I grew up with it. I dig the original Star Wars series, but nothing has impacted my life like Star Trek. I plan lunchbreaks around DS9 airings on spikeI finally had a revelation about the difference between diehard Star Wars fans and Star Trek fans...

1. Some Star Trek fans may dress in silly costumes at conventions, but those acts pale in comparison to the sheer insanity of the folks who wait in line for DAYS dressed as a wookie to sit and watch a movie.
2. Star Trek has inspired generations of doctors, scientists, philosophers, and great thinkers. The Original Series promoted civil rights, equality, and hope. Star Wars, with the exception of Kevin Smith, has given us a generation of career slackers who collect toys, bathe infrequently, play video games, and Jar Jar Binks.
3. Stoners cannot watch Star Trek because it makes their little heads hurt.
4. No Star Trek fan ever tried to declare their religion "Vulcan" as several Britons declared "Jedi" their faith a few years ago.
5. Why is it in Star Wars, all the females are skinny little white girls in skimpy clothing? Nichelle Nichols (Uhura from the firstStar Trek series) had such sensuality in the 60s, I find it hard to believe ol' Geoge Lucas couldn't find one female lead of color to put in his films. And Gen Roddenberry was the master of making even his female aliens hot...part of the whole theme of equality.
6. Star Wars never tackles race as an issue. How did Lando Calrissian ... just turn up as the only brother in space?
   
7. I once dated this girl (hey Beth!) who hated watching Star Trek and Sci-Fi, but would INSIST on watching ST Voyager because it featured a Belanna Torres, a half-Klingon, half-Latina engineer and a Native American first officer. She felt she owed it to her ancestors to support the cause. Does Star Wars have any real cultural signifigance with that kind of power? Nope. Beth was a Kappa Delt in college...how many shows on television can say they were so important that a sorority girl would have to drop everything to watch it out of Chicana pride?!?
8. Star Trek is a cultural phenomena that spans nations. Star Wars is a popular movie franchise.
9. The galaxy in Star Wars is so black-and-white. Reality doesn't work like that. That's why so many very lonely people are addicted to it.
   

Hey, I love Star Wars. The battle between good and evil is definitely a theme lost in today's cinema. It represents a part of the moral decay and ethical failings of the Western world that needs to be addressed. Good fantasy...

Star Trek, above all, gives hope and inspiration to build a better Earth. Without Lt. Uhura, black actors might still be left to play roles at the back of the bus. Without addressing the underlying causes of evil, the complex nature of decision making, the sheer valor of exploration, we don't get anywhere.

Okay...done...

Sunday Morning Playlist

Hard Life - Will Oldham

One of the saddest, most beautiful songs of all time.

American Made - Lordz of Brooklyn

I've dug these guys since I was 17. One of the most underrated rap acts ever. Probably the closest to a true hip-hop patriotic anthem. Reminds of Goodfellas and Once Upon a Time in America simultaneously. Awesome guitar loop and the little kid at the end repeating part of the refrain is both glorious and slightly disturbing. This track will always remind me of kissing this girl named Fernita on my grandmother's porch in Virginia, shooting off a friend's pistol at abandoned cars, and drinking Mad Dog.

Avantcore - Busdriver

Busdriver always makes me wish Boogie Down Productions was still around. If this cat had been rolling back in when hip-hop was less about pulling fake gangster routines and more about empowering the People. I dig this cat. He's got what made KRS-1, Chuck D, and Rev Run the Kings of Rock back in the day - brains and the brawn on the mike.

I Got a Man - Positive K

Okay...I dig Positive K. I still Jump Around. I dig 3rd Bass and Digible Planets. I secretly miss cross-colors, cats with gumby cuts, and Malcolm X hats. Can't help it. If you can't dig it.

Sanity - Bad Religion

"Sanity is a full time job..." one of the greatest lines in punker history. While Mike Ness fed my soul, Dr. Greg Graffin, Ph.D., fed my mind and made me feel less self-conscious about questing for the truth in knowledge.

Time - Tom Waits

One of my Top 5 Waits songs of all time. Perfect Sunday Morning song for drinking coffee, smoking cheap cigarettes, and updating a blog. I wish I'd tried to talk my sister and her husband into playing this at their wedding.

My Mind's Playing Tricks on Me - The Geto Boys

"I sit alone in my four-cornered room, staring at candles..." Another deep line. There are so many cats I've known - hoodlums I grew up with, the bangers I lived next to in Greeley, the former gang members I mentored in Morro Bay - who still glorify the violence that's wasting so many precious lives in America, in places like Liberia, the Sudan. This is the Post Truamatic Stress track. I play it to remind myself that I'm a survivor, not a victim. The memory of the victims of violence keeps me going.

I've Got an Idea for a Movie - the Vandals

Every time I hear any track by the Vandals, I have to dance. I could be in church, in my boxers, in the shower, eating green eggs and ham with the Son of Sam, or at my own funeral. The secret to Jesus bringing Lazarus back from the dead: he was humming

Uzbek Information Shut Down

Okay... for those reading who think fair and equitable access to information is a certainty in today's world...

Read the story here.


Uzbekistan has become the latest government to pull the plug on portions of its information infrastructure to control its population during political uprisings. This is a disturbing trend. Nepal rencently did it, too, and other governments are learning.

It's clearly government cesnorship. The Uzbek government knows that infomation is power. And, like other forms of power, people and governments will kill to keep it.

The Saturday Morning Playlist

The 6th Sense - Common
Neutron Bomb - The Weirdos
Nightshift - Positive K

Old School joint from 1992. Takes me back in the day, to a time when I was mesmerized by the sistas around me in high school. If you're some suburbanite whitebread, you probably don't know the meaning of the word Shorty - and I don't care how many Eminem albums you own, you'll never understand where I'm coming from.
Prince Edard County High School produces shorties by the handfuls. Can't listen to this track without smelling Cocoa Butter or shouting out to those "shawtays" I dreamed about as a teenager.

463 - Buck 65
Drive - Snowdogs
Vampire Girl - Devil's Brigade
All Hell Breaks Loose - Misfits
So Lonesome I Could Cry - Hank Williams

If you don't know Hank, you're officially a waste of oxygen.

Nihilism - Rancid
Story of My Life - Social Distortion

I'm a firm believer in starting every morning with Social D. Not only am I a diehard fan, but I look up to Mike Ness as inspiration. I've listened to his lyrics to help ease heartache, to have a good time, to kick a nasty addiction, to help keep inner-demons at bay and to find new ways to love life. People talk about Emo being the touching music. Punk is touching and heartfelt music; Emo's usually just bitter kids whining. Thanks Mike for saving my ass too many times to list.

Kublai Khan - Jedi Mind Tricks

Naked as We Came - Iron and Wine (Sam Beam)
Things I Don't Remember - Ugly Casanova

This track always reminds me of McCarthy's, my favorite bar in San Luis Obispo, California, and my time as News Director at the greatest college radio station in the world, KCPR 91.3 FM. As a friend of mine from that time, Byron, would say, "Good Times, Good Times." To any female folks I knew from that place, hey, I was probably madly in love with each and every one of you at some point.

You Can Have It All - Yo La Tengo

If I'm listening to this song, I'm probably thinking about a girl. Some friends of mine in Baton Rouge re-introduced me to this song.

I Hung My Head - Cash

The Man in Black will always remind me of my childhood on the ol' family farm in Green Bay, Virginia and the days of riding in my Grandpa's 76 GMC grand Sierra pick-up, listening to WSVS 800 AM, drinking Pepsi from a glass bottle, and trips to the Southern States in Burkeville (Va.)to buy farm supplies. I learned how to fish, hunt, and drive a tractor.

Its Saturday morning...still in my drawers, eating Luna bars and drinking coffee and filing my new, legally acquired MP3s that I've data mined from AlltheWeb and Dogpile. Tons of obscure hip-hop and lots of freebes from Absolutely Kosher Records (Berkley, California! Woo-hoo!). Click on the picture for their web site. Totally digging the new Bottom of the Hudson disc. Heard very good things.

As for the Luna bar thing...yes, its marketed as a "women's" nutrional bar. I know. Not very masculine. A girl I was mixed up with years ago turned me onto the damn things, and like a Bakersfield tweaker, I'm addicted to the damn things.

This girl had about every eating disorder known to man. She would, at times, eat a single 180-calorie Luna bar as her only meal for the day, sometimes two days.Often, the only edible foodstuff she had were these woman's bars. When I spent the night, I'd have to eat something in the morning. So I'd swallow my pride and eat these things.

"If you've never had a Luna and you're a man, there's perhaps nothing more humbling to the primal male urges than eating a freaking candy bar with women dancing on the wrapper. The first thing you want to do is kick in the glass ceiling and embrace your own internal Margaret Sanger."

New Open Source Thin Client could Offer hope for SSA Information Poverty...

Just came across this piece on the Ndiyo Group's new Nivo thin client on the BBC's UK Site...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4496901.stm

At less than £100, this could kind of development could have a major impact for developing countries, esp. Sub-Saharan Africa, which, according to the latest Neilsen Net Ratings and pop. estimates, represents 14% of the world's human beings yet only 1.5% of them are Internet users.

Since the contemporary, typically Western idea of bridging the divide has traditionally been the "Dude, Your Country's Getting an Outdated Dell Loaded with Proprietary Software that You Can't Afford" model that has been pushed for years, this is a major breakthrough, especially for libraries, digital libraries, archives, and other repositories in the Developing World.

Keep on Rockin' towards an I-World...

JWJ