The Human Pixel Project

I am taking part in a colloborative art project called the human pixel project with several other artists. 10 of my paintings "pixels" (size 1 inch X 1 inch)will be included with hundreds (thousands?) of others to form larger 5 foot X 7 foot pieces. This is all being put together by a dude named Peter Smuts in Somerville, MA. More information and visuals are available at this website:
www.TheHumanPixelProject.com

terry plumming pentagram soundsystem

I will be performing in a large improv ensemble (up to 100 performers) on Wednesday April 27th as a member of the terry plumming pentagram soundsystem during versionfest 2005. The show will take place in South Chicago (Bridgeport neighborhood) at the Zhou Brothers space on 35th and Morgan. This will be going on from 1pm - 7pm.
for more info:
www.versionfest.org
www.diabolical.org (terry plumming site)

rain now

rain now intense slapping against the window glass. freezing winds blowing through the cracks in this poorly constructed apartment. should go to sleep but i'm wound up with caffeine. hope and worry battling it out in my mind and guts. a little sunshine would do wonders.

over/underwhelmed

after midnight....cigarette after cigarette....many many months of unemployment... waiting for the mailman like my crazy grandma carol used to, checking the email ten times a day, picking up the phone that doesn't ring just to make sure it's working....lots of time on my hands....room full of unfinished paintings....notebooks full of poems that need some serious revisions....movie after movie on the vcr. earlier tonight it was woody allen's manhattan and now it's key largo....insane with songs in my headphones.....so much to do, too much time....still cold in chicago, locked up inside with cabin fever on the first day of spring

poem in THE CLIFFS

I've got a poem in THE CLIFFS "soundings". This is the first issue of a new poetry magazine edited by t.k. splake from vertin press in calumet, michigan. if you'd like to purchase a copy send $8.25 to:

THE CLIFFS "soundings"
P.O. Box 7
Calumet, MI 49913

music at hotti biscotti-tuesday feb 15th

i will be playing some skree & krang this tuesday feb 15th

come check it out at
hotti biscotti
3545 w fullerton
chicago il
show starts around 9:30
other performers TBA

oscar dummies

just watched garden state for the third time and i just can't believe that it got snubbed by the academy. never mind the mostly shitty soundtrack. never mind that zach braff is on a lame tv show. never mind that if you are "twentysomething" you are supposed to like this movie.
it's the best movie of the year. well written and very original. when you're first introduced to "sam" played by natalie portman, you're annoyed by her. By the end of the film you love her as much as he does.
this film is funny. it's absurd without being ridiculous (a motorcycle w/a sidecar, epilepsey helmets, a couple living in a boat at the top of an "infinite abyss")
and such a sweet ending that makes you want to cry for joy of being alive.

best movie of the year. no contest. those folks at the oscars are dummies. similar to the outcome of the recent presidential election no matter who wins they're all losers.

the aviator: come on. martin scorsese is turning into a disney dope. he sunk so low as to have U2 in the soundtrack of his last film-gangs of new york. and what's the deal w/making leonardo dicraprio his new leading man? maybe he'd be a more believeable howard hughes if he didn't have to glue a fake mustache on. even with it he still looks 15 years old.

sideways: a pretentious movie only pretentious wine sipping assholes would even consider for best picture. if you liked this movie you probably also like hanging out and drinking coffee at barnes and noble.

finding neverland: johnny depp playing pirate again. another actor who needs to lay off the disney schlock. don't use having kids as an excuse for making whimpy movies.

million dollar baby: there is not enough web space on the entire internet for me to rant about this hunk of shit so I won't

ray: i don't think biopics should even be eligible for oscars, unless they create a special catergory for them. seems pretty easy to tell a story that's already been written. best picture? best e true hollywood story.

bob dylan chronicles volume one

being terminally unemployed, when i am not chasing down a job thru the want ads or going to time wasting interviews, i am sitting around the apartment trying to get some reading done.
as i get older i find it harder to be impressed and even harder to be inspired. i don't think the last 10 books that i've read made any lasting impression at all. this is not true of bob dylan's autobiography-chronicles volume one.
this book is the real deal. after decades of hearing every possible perspective & critical analysis but his own dylan dishes the dirt.
when i was 17 the two biggies for me were bob dylan & the minutemen. every few months (maybe every six) i'd go dylan crazy all over. what can i say, i share a kinship w/the man being from the midwest & sharing the same birthday- may24th. but the last five years or so, dylan didn't have the same appeal that he once had.
the critics and record geek friends urging me to check out time out of mind and dylan's newer albums.their message being is you don't love this stuff-you're an idiot. sorry folks, but it just wasn't doing it for me. his voice that once had alot of "character" is totally wasted. he sounds like a frog w/throat cancer.
last year though the man really dazzled me w/his movie-masked and anonymous. here he was in a whole new genre, making something revelant and downright exciting. michael corcoran from the austin american statesman named it one of the worst "rock" films of the year (or maybe of all time I can't remember) but what does he know? he thinks toni price can sing and spoon is a great "new" band.
masked and anonymous is way more than a rock film w/so many layers and levels to it. even if you're not a dylan fan, you'd probably find something to like there (directed by larry charles of seinfeld fame) and if you are a dylan fan this movie is essential (more so than time out of mind)
chronicles volume one is the first (i hope more is forthcoming) installment of dylan's autobiography. it skips around and focuses mostly on his arrival in NYC, his dropping out of the woodstock nation, and strangely enough the new orleans recording sessions for the OH Mercy! lp. so many insights and revelations contained in these pages. he tells the reader who he was reading, what he was listening too, and what he was thinking. and he proves to the world he is a true artist whether it is songwriting, film making, poetry (you gotta read tarantula), or as a writer of philosophical memoirs, bob dylan is still the man, and more than just a moldy living legend. what will he do next?

coupla poems online

i've got a couple of poems online in the latest gnome. check it out at www.asteriusonline.net/gnome/

back in illinois

back in illinois after 8 years in austin.
but living in chicago is a first for me. austin? i don't miss it. sure there are some folks i miss, josh,spencer,taco. and i miss eating swad (best indian food in town, austinites take heed and head to swad)
first few months in chicago were emotionally cold & cruel. lived in a shitty basement apartment under a morbidly obese psychopath. went out and wondered-where is everyone?is this all there is?looking behind pillars in the subway station for "my people" hiding behind them.
moved into our new place two weeks ago and the city has blossomed, or i have in the dead of winter.got a show coming up, an internship at a great record label,and a poetry reading being organizied.things are going on.
hello chicago