Wonky.Blog Home Blog Bio Media Features Forum Buy Things Buy Yogi albums! half-pint demigod (2005) at the Wonky Store at CDBaby.com Salve EP (2003) at the Wonky Store at Amazon.com at CDBaby.com Any Raw Flesh? (2001) at the Wonky Store at Amazon.com at CDBaby.com Sister Sites: HalfZaftig.com Wonky-Records.com MySpace 6/29/2003 Petey Come Home! Pete is still in the hospital, though he seems to be getting stronger by the day. We're hopeful that we can bring him home tomorrow. Yesterday I visited him, and he was shaky (a mixture of the drugs he's on, plus the highly efficient air conditioning in the exam room). He fell asleep on my arm. Beta Girl and Brian checked in on him today, and apparently he was walking on his own (albeit haltingly). Heck, you try that after two back surgeries in two weeks. I'm missing him right now, so I'm posting some pictures I have of him, all taken long before this difficult month began. 8:36:23 PM 6/25/2003 That Boy's A Fighter Pete the dachshund has made it through his second back surgery. Apparently, it went well, and we can see him tomorrow. I am the very definition of "relieved", times a billion. 9:21:06 PM Blogging To The Oldies Winamp: "Victrola", by Veruca Salt. Fighting my feelings of listlessness. Beating them down, pushing their faces into the dirt. I'm being paid lately to do mostly absolutely nothing, which doesn't help. Though there are indeed worse fates to have to endure. Winamp: "Til The Day I Die", by Garbage. Had a real good music high last night, when I finished up part of a demo for a new song I've got called "SubLimeInAll." I finally wrote a bridge that really does it for me, with a sort of lead guitar thing that leads into it, though it's more of a written melody part than a "weedly weedly weeeee" kinda thing; in my mind's eye, I hear Lizzy playing that part while I do the rhythm part underneath. Winamp: "Spasm", by Meshuggah. Gonna hit SKIP, not in the mood for Meshuggah right now. Instead: "III - Dionysus" by Rush. Weird to hear only one section of "Hemispheres." Gonna SKIP again on priniciple. OK, now its "Angel With The Scabbed Wings", by Marilyn Manson. I wonder if the pronunciation is SKAH-bed? Naw, he just said SKAAHBED. OK. I've really been having a lot of fun when I sit down to write lately knowing that Lizzy is ready and able to play just about any part I wanna throw at her. Most of the songs I've done in the past don't really have prominent second guitar parts - sure, there's been plenty of overdubs and whatnot for little textured things, but I've pretty much kept to just one main guitar part - now, though, I can really think in larger guitar terms. It's neat. Winamp: "Something I Can Never Have", by Nine Inch Nails. Brian Timpe has a Web site now. He also copied over his journal he started about the stuff we started recording in April. What comes out of that stuff will be another EP, called blinkedMissed. I look forward to having some more money to spend on that stuff. I've been practicing a lot lately for the "studio tracks" that I need to get my parts down on. More stuff about the new band members: they sure are good sports. Monday night at practice I started showing them a really complicated song called "Numbered Days", without giving them a chart or demo or anything. They didn't even complain! I was pretty amazed at how quickly both Pete and Lizzy picked up and then remembered a bunch of the weird changes. I did the same thing with Brian Timpe with this song, made him learn it in rehearsal. I have no idea why I'm insisting on that with this song, I am the worst at learning things on the fly in rehearsal. Perhaps I'm just mad with power! BWAH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA! Winamp: "Sleep", by Jack In The Box. Pete has a "ruptured disc" in his back. We're sending him into surgery again at 4:00 PM today, as I write this, that's 12 minutes from now. I'm trying really hard not to think too much about it. Hang in there, little buddy. Winamp: "Haunted Wind", by Mike Keneally. I have an advance copy of Bryan Beller's View. It's just fantastic. I love it, love it, love it. I'm biased because Bryan is a friend, and I even play on the album. It's still freaking brilliant. Winamp: "Island Girl", by Elton John. Yeah. SKIP. 3:59:07 PM 6/24/2003 A Note To Callous Deities This is an open letter to the Powers That Be. To The Cruel Fates. To Whatever Might Be Up There. I'm not religious, so I'm being purposely vague as to cast the widest possible net I can to address whatever Supreme Creator Types who might be listening. OK. So - listening up there? Thanks. I'll be brief. I know you guys are busy, you've got pestilences to plan, sacrifices to demand, disasters to deploy. I just have a quick and easy request. Please stop picking on poor Pete. Pete is our little dachshund - you know him, you made him, right? That's what I'm told, anyhow. There is no sweeter creature in the known universe. He's just a little guy, trying to do his doggie work, you know, spreading happiness and love around down here. I've benefitted greatly from his mission. He only understands how to be a happy little boy. He doesn't know about the terrible unrest in the world. He just knows how much he likes to fall asleep in front of the fire, and how much he likes to get his ears scratched. And right now, thanks to You, he knows constant and debilitating pain - and he can't understand why it's there. And frankly, neither do I. Look, I'm a human being. I can reason, and I understand how unfair life is, and how painful it can be. I can handle trials and tribulations, in fact I expect them. You've given me the tools to manage these kinds of things, and I'm good at it. So look - obviously you've got to get Your jollies somehow, so I'm requesting you redirect Your ire; point it right at me, OK? Just please, PLEASE - leave my dog alone. I mean, shouldn't it have been enough to force him into back surgery two weeks ago? Wasn't it sadistic enough of You to have let him recover so quickly in the wake of that procedure, to have him up and walking, tail wagging happily - to let us all marvel at how complete and speedy a recovery he was having! Oh, how it must have pleased You to twist the knife this last Sunday morning - You remember, when without warning Pete started screaming in pain, frantically turning himself around and around, looking for a way to stop the invisible daggers from their constant jabbing. You saw the look on his face, didn't You? The anguish and confusion? What fun for You! Oh, You are very, very good at what You do! So tonight, Pete's far away in the hospital again, and looks like he's facing a second surgery tomorrow. It was hard visiting him today, because even though the doctors are able to make him more comfortable than we can - they have drugs - he was still in obvious distress. So, what I'm saying is: that's ENOUGH. He doesn't deserve this. I don't know that any creature does - but if You have the urgent need to shit on SOMEBODY, I volunteer myself. ME. Give me your best shot. Just let poor Pete get back to what he does best - being a little four-legged fountain of love and joy. You, of all people, are supposed to be able to appreciate that kind of thing. 1:09:30 AM 6/21/2003 How Convenient Addictions suck, no matter which way you want to slice them. If you are addicted to something, it means you are out of control of that facet of your life. You're going to break a lot of your own rules, go against your own morals even, to acquire whatever it is that you are addicted to. It's why addiction is so freaking insidious. You know it's bad, intellectually - but the addiction is buried deep - I don't know the science, but I know what it feels like. Even as you do whatever it is you know you shouldn't do to temporarily assuage whatever today's craving might be - you know it's wrong. I am addicted to convenience. Yes, convenience is my killer, perhaps because of my skewed perspective of time. I always catch myself talking about how I never have enough time. Saying that my time is very precious. How I jealously guard it, even if what I plan to do with said time is sit around and do... nothing. The time to do that is MINE! Where this negatively impacts me is a health issue. I have horrible eating habits. Not because I don't enjoy eating food that would be "good" for me, because I do. It's that eating anything of nutritional value, real nutritional value, requires... time. Time for shopping for it. Time to prepare it. And yes, time for eating, and cleaning up after the meal. How... inconvenient. America however, has solved this problem. There are "convenience" stores everywhere. Every gas station now comes equipped with a brightly lit "Mini-mart." And surrounding every aspect of society are the thousands upon thousands of establishments that offer a speedy meal, handily prepared and packaged to be devoured for a nation of people like me, all of us "on the go." Of course, almost everything that these places sell is absolutely horrible for your health. But by Gawd, it's deliciously... convenient. After a tiring day at the day gig, the prospect of stopping at the grocery store in order to procure some ingredients that must then be combined and prepared, and then cooked and cleaned up after, pales next to the ease and time-saving ability to drive right up to this window here to receive a bag of greasy goodness. And even though this fast food doesn't really taste good at all, and an hour after consuming it I feel vaguely ill - I still have that satisfaction that I have used my precious time wisely. I am ahead of the game. I know if I want to live a long life (and I do), I've got to beat this thing. I made good progress last year, but I got complacent. Last April I tipped the scales at 267 pounds, something that is very hard for me to admit in a public forum. I might have actually weighed more at some point, but I had gotten into the habit of not weighing myself - out of sight, out of mind and all that. For most of my adult life until I was about 27, I weighed in the neighborhood of 175-180 pounds. It was around that time that I began my years of working 18-hour days, office job while the sun was up, Top 40 band at night. At that time, there was no other option for eating other than the convenient one - any down time I could manage had to be spent sleeping, just recovering from the unending grind I was subjecting myself to. However, even after I left the Top 40 world, my convenience addiction was well in place, and I continued unimpeded down the same path for three years. Then last Ides of March my beloved Nana passed away. Even though she suffered greatly the last couple of years of her life, she lived to be nearly 90 years old. Now, I know that in general men don't live as long as women do, and that's definitely so in my family - still, it dawned on me that my current habits weren't doing me any favors. And that come to think of it, I'm very interested in hanging around as long as I possibly can on this mortal plane. Call it curiosity. I wanna see what happens. So last April I embarked on a new plan - and I started up with the Atkins diet. I read the book cover-to-cover three times before I began. The Voice of Convenience was still whispering at the back of my mind, but I had found some leverage against it. Instead of drive-through windows, I went to the grocer. I prepared every meal. I even got to be proficient at it. And boy, did the diet work. I started it April 9, and by August 1 of last year I had gone from 267 pounds to 219. I had to buy new clothes since the ones I had became far too large for me. I felt great, and even went to the doctor somewhere in there and found that my blood pressure and blood work were about as good as can be wished for. In fact, I was so pleased with myself, I got complacent, even though I was short of my goal - I wanted to get back to rock-star trim at 180 pounds. But I knew that I was on my way - and the Atkins way of eating suited me just fine. I'm not someone who loves the "idea" of food. I don't love eating, necessarily. I want to not be hungry, so that I can engage in other pursuits that interest me and not be distracted by a growling stomach. I'm not the kind of guy who dreams of banana splits, or Philly cheese steaks. So, flush with success on my new paradigm, I hardly noticed that on occasion I'd be hard-pressed for time and find myself pulling into the occasional fast-food pickup lane. Or ordering things off the restaurant menu that weren't "Atkins safe." Heck, it's just this one time, the little voice in the back of my head would say. I got this weight thing beat! I've gone down three jeans sizes the last three months! Which brings me to where I am now. I've been coasting since last fall. Today I'm at about 235 pounds, so I haven't fallen all the way off the wagon, but I'm a darned far cry from 219. But it's time to get serious again, and I realize that I can't get complacent, EVER, if I really want to escape this beast. Because it's complacence that the little voice is counting on. And so maybe by sharing all this on a public forum, I've found some more leverage that will be useful in this regard. I sure hope so. All this typing has made me hungry. 11:08:30 AM 6/19/2003 I Need A Saga! I had band practice tonight! It was fun. The new version of the band can now play seven songs. We'll need about seven more before we can start thinking of playing in front of folks again. Next week we're going to start goofing with "You Fell", a song that has never been played live before. Bryan Beller has finished his album View. I played on a track called "Projectile." He says it'll be out in September. What I've heard of it is just too bitchen for words. I've been listening to a lot of new CD's lately, and I usually hunt down album cover pictures and post them, but I'm tired tonight and don't feel like it right now. So here's a list: Hail To The Thief, by Radiohead: It's cool. It's like a combination of their more recent boop/beep stuff with the OK Computer rock band approach. I've only heard it through twice, so not many comments yet - but I like it. St. Anger, by Metallica: not as bad as the die-hards are saying, but not great, either. Pluses are no Hammett solos (thank you, Jaysus), raw and punchy arrangements, and a very frisky set of Hetfield vocal performances. Minuses are that it's way too long, some of the lyrics could've used some more work, and the rhythm guitars could generally have been louder. They got me to buy a record, something I haven't done since their Black Album. Rated R and Songs For The Deaf, by Queens Of The Stone Age: This is my new favorite band. They're sort of alt/punk/metal in a way that reminds me of both Black Sabbath and Screaming Trees (heh, ST vocalist Lanegan is on SFTD). And their singer reminds me of - me. The first time I've ever thought that about another vocalist. I'm not saying that's like really cool or anything - but hearing this guy somehow reassures me that I might actually be qualified to be a lead singer, even though I can't make the noises that Doug Pinnick and Layne Staley can. Deftones, by Deftones: Pretty darned good, but nowhere near as good as their last, White Pony, which I thought was fabulous. Some nice, giant, crunchy detuned riffs, but the singer is doing more of his screaming thing than his singing thing, and I really like his singing thing. But it's a good head-banger record. Black Like Sunday, by King's X: The King's X diehard fans are not too pleased with this album. It's a weird concept - they've been around since 1980 or so - and they decided to go back and record a bunch of songs that they wrote in their earliest days as a band, with the sensibilities they have now. So a lot of the lyrics come across as pretty dated, and naive. On the other hand, the band sounds like they're having a great time on the album, in a way that I don't know has ever really come across on their recordings. All I can say is that there are some fantastic pop tunes on this album, served up in the new Metal Blade era super-beefy King's X style. This album is fun. I smile when I listen to it. That's good enough for me. Mit Gas, by Tomahawk: I'm slowly warming to this. I haven't been sure on the first few listens - I really liked the first Tomahawk album. Mike Patton is one of my all-time favorite vocalists, and that's because with just about every project he does, he finds some crazy, wildly inspired way to reinvent himself. And I guess that's what's lacking on this album. It feels like he's coasting on this. Of course, Mike Patton's coasting is another singer's Mount Everest - a height never to be scaled. I guess Mike has so consistently wowed me in the past (with Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, and Fantomas) that it's weird that I'm not blown away by this one. Fantastic packaging, though. The Kaviar Sessions, by Kevin Gilbert: Again, this isn't new, except to me. This was the project Kevin was working on when he met his untimely demise. Possibly the most cynical, bleakest album I have ever heard - but also one of the funniest, and staggeringly clever as well. The lyrics on this album are just monumental - and the music is killer, too. I can't believe I just started hearing Kevin's music last fall. This is not the first Kevin Gilbert disc I'd recommend to a newbie (you should get Thud and The Shaming Of The True first), but it is absolutely essential listening. Because... because... I would be. 11:52:27 PM 6/17/2003 Turnaround Pete the dachshund made an extreme turn for the worse on the 9th. Where he'd seemed to be rebounding on the weekend, he suddenly seemed much, much worse than we'd ever seen him. He could no longer control his bladder. His back leg was all curled up underneath him, and he wouldn't (couldn't) walk. Doing what we always have done when his back flared up, I was trying to coax him out of his crate with his evening meal - which didn't work. I relented and put the bowl into the crate with him, which he made short work of - through all of this, his appetite never wavered. He then attempted to turn around in his crate to get comfortable, and I guess he must've failed. Pete let out a sound that I hope to never hear again, from any creature. It wasn't a whine, or a whimper - instead, it was a long low moan of pain and distress. Beta Girl, Brian, and I were all horrified - and Pete just stared up at us miserably. Things were not going as usual. Tuesday morning, there was no improvement. Beta Girl elected to take Pete to emergency care, to see a doggie neurologist. Now I don't know what all the medical terminology means, but we knew already that Pete had some bad discs in his back. What we found out was that there was some additional complication that if we wanted the doctor to try to fix it, would require a procedure that got right in there around Pete's spinal cord. This is dicey stuff that apparently many vets wouldn't attempt - but our doc was willing. We swallowed hard, and decided that it was time to try and fix this problem once and for all, and Tuesday evening, Pete went into surgery. The posted success rate for this procedure was high, and the doc said that if all went well, Pete's back would be nearly "good as new" once he healed up. But it's always a scary thing when you put an animal under anesthesia - they often arrest and never wake up. We don't know how old Pete is, we got him from a rescue, but we think he's six to seven years old. There's a chance that he'll live at least that many more years - wouldn't it be better to give him the chance to live out his days relatively pain-free? We thought so. But I was scared all the same. It's amazing how attached you can get to your canine buddies, and Pete with his exuberant sweetness, is even easier than most dogs to fall in love with. Pete made it through the surgery, though the doc said that it got "rough." There was more good news the next day. Pete was wagging his tail, and still had a voracious appetite. He needed to stay at the hospital, but we could go and visit him. When they brought him to the exam room where we were waiting for him, he was pretty doped up. There was a square shaved patch in the middle of his back, with a neatly sewn up incision right down the middle of it. Pete looked like a little stoned piggy bank. But I was never so happy to see the little fella. As we spent time with him, he seemed to become more "conscious", and recognized us with a start, and wagged his tail enthusiastically. Even better news the next day: Pete could come home! After only 48 hours of hospitalization, Pete was able to leave, after invasive back surgery. Pete continues to do well. He's confined to his crate for another 9 days or so, and he's already well enough to feel frustration with this predicament. He's up and walking, and is gaining confidence when we take him outside a few times a day to do his thang. His sutures come out in about a week. And we are happy and relieved. I'm finally able to sleep at night again. 3:44:07 PM Salve is out everywhere today! Here we are, it's the "official" release day of the new album, Salve. Bunches of you already have the album, since it's been available at the Wonky Store for a week or so now, and I thank you so much for purchasing it. Reviews are starting to pop up here and there, I'll link to them when I find them. Many are still having issues using Paypal to buy things from the Wonky store, sorry about that. If you've been unable to get Salve from here, you should be able to pick it up now at CD Baby, and Amazon. Progress is being made on the new Wonky Records site, but it's still not live and raring to go. Sorry, it's been a nutty few weeks. There will be some stuff of interest for you over there - I've transcribed my first-ever interview with Gruno from The Dividing Line's Guilty Pleasures program, and I've got some new commentary about the Funhouse CD that I've been giving away as a bonus disc with orders from the Wonky Store. There's also information on what's coming up in terms of recordings and such. So, it's always a happy day when a new album is finished and out there in the world. I've been rehearsing with the new band, and I'm starting to get really excited about what we're going to be able to accomplish on stage with this music - we sound so full and large, and so much of the pressure on me is relieved now that there's another guitarist in the band. It's a whole new ballgame, to use that old cliche. I'm liking it. 6/9/2003 Africa Hot It was unbelievably warm, unbearably warm, here in the Pacific NW this last weekend. It got all the way up to... 91 DEGREES on Saturday, and near that on Friday. This will not do, I say. We don't usually see actual summer-like conditions until late-July at the earliest, and most years it isn't until August. I realize for those of you who live in the desert southwest that 91 degrees is "sweater-weather", but up here, it's downright life-threatening. The hard part is that very few residences in this area actually have air conditioning - you just don't need it most days. But when the two or three really hot days we get each summer actually roll around, it's nearly impossible to sleep at night, since the house just simmers in all the hot air it loaded up on during the day. I just re-read that last paragraph and am feeling bemused that I'm complaining that two or three times a year my room at night gets uncomfortably warm; shouldn't I just be grateful to HAVE a room at all instead? I probably should. Pete the black dachshund is having a distressing time with his back injury, some bad discs in his spine that flare up every couple of years. It's very hard to watch such a cute little guy suffer to the degree he is suffering. The treatment we usually give him in these cases is taking a long time to help him this time. Hang in there, little guy. Band practice tonight. Looking forward to it hugely. It means I'll miss the Stanley Cup Finals on TV. That's OK, I don't watch hockey. But Brian Timpe does - I'll hope he won't hate me, or that maybe he has TiVo. 5:09:56 PM 6/5/2003 Music Is The Best I am home after the first rehearsal of what is going to be the next incarnation of the live band, Yogi & Half Zaftig. I am happy and very satisfied. I played like absolute crap at the rehearsal, since I haven't practiced these songs at all over the last two months, but it was cool, because the new drummer (Pete) and the new guitar player (Lizzy) are new to this material and so were just feeling their way through things; so me being really sloppy and unrehearsed just made me fit in so much better. It's going to be great once we get used to each other as a band - it's gonna be like the Crazy Horse version of Y&HZ. We sound so much larger and full with the second guitar in there. And we're gonna work on backing vocals in this edition - oh, it's gonna be fun. I've sent the first wave of orders of Salve out over the last couple of days - you kind folks should be getting yours soon. Thanks so much for the ordering! I have to hurry up and finish the Wonky Records site for June 17. I think I can, I think I can. You're all cool, and I'm sleepy. 11:16:06 PM 6/4/2003 Cast Off, Cast Back On So I was laid off from my job (again) today. And then I was un-laid off a couple of hours later. I got... un-laid. Huh huh huh. Definately an interesting day. It's amazing how comfortable and secure I felt in my job this time last year - and then there were the big layoffs in January, of which I was a member; then they called me at the end of February and hired me back. Since then, the company's been fighting and scratching to stay alive - with a staff of four where there had once been over 20. They first gave me the news today in the morning. I went to lunch at a Redmond cafe to think and decide what I'll do next. A quick IM with my little sis resulted in her telling me (paraphrasing) "Duh! Move your ass down here, like you're supposed to!" Heh. She's relentless. Heading down to LA wasn't on the immediate agenda. Figuring out how long I wanted to wait to work again was - and I think I had decided to stick it out as long as possible WITHOUT working upon my return to the office. Where I was asked not pack my stuff - some work had come in. Okaaaay... I'm trying to look at all these challenges as exciting possible opportunities - I could get all worked up about the uncertainties of life, or I can embrace them, see them as a challenge to do something new, or outrageous. This is something I've been pseudo-expecting anyway - and yet I recently took the risk of increasing my debt load to get the new album pressed up, and I got a new car loan. The car had to happen - the old one was dying, and in today's world, you gotta have a car. The new album, well - that risk came from the heart. If you're an artist, then you've gotta do whatcha gotta do to get the art out there; I'm gonna trust my ability to handle the consequences. So why don'tcha go over to the store and buy a copy or five of the new album? 9:05:50 PM 6/3/2003 I Did It Salve is now available, if you don't mind using Paypal to pay for things online. Those who would rather not use Paypal will have to wait for the 17th, when the album will be at Amazon and CDBaby. Awesome. So glad to have it out there. Time for bed. ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. 10:59:50 PM PRE-ORDER SALVE NOW!!! AAAAAGGGHHH!! Salve pre-orders can be made as of this very minute, head on over to the Store, if'n you want yerself a copy. I hope you'll take advantage of the free bonus offer that presents itself! I stayed up very late getting the site ready for this. So I'm not being very wordy and such, but I can say that I am so relieved that this album is finally coming out. And now I hope you like it. And when I say pre-order, it only means that I'm selling them before the release date of June 17; if you order your copy today, I'll ship it today. It's just that you won't be able to get the album at Amazon or CDBaby until the 17th, so. So yeah! Order it! Tell me what you think at the message board! Yeah! Good Day Sunshine Absolutely stunningly beautiful here in the Seattle area today. Just sublime, cloudless skies - and the air smells so good. Ahhhhh. Poor Pete, the black dachshund in the picture below, is having back trouble again. He's had chronic problems with his back since we've had him, and I guess he always will. It's tough when the issue flares up - he has a hard time walking, and will suddenly begin shrieking in pain at the drop of a hat. When I try to assist him, he gets scared and pees. Sigh. I feel awful for him when he's in this state, but with increased medication and rest, he tends to recover and get back to being his sprightly self. I am going to set a goal tonight of having Salve pre-orders up and running by morning tomorrow. It's mostly been procrastination at this point keeping me from getting it done. I'm very un-fond of the current President, but I honestly wish him well as he attempts to get the middle east peace process going. This is a problem that needs solving, now. I read today that Hillary Clinton's memoirs will be published soon, and that there's dirt in there about her disastrously received health care reform plan, and even Monica Lewinsky. I very much hope that Hillary runs for President in 2008. I'm not saying that I'd vote for her, but I'd like to see a truly viable female candidate - and I don't know who else is really in her league in that category. Run, Hillary, run. Can you imagine the apoplectic fits her candidacy would cause on all the righty talk radio programs? For that alone, she has to run. None Radio played one of my songs again last night, as did Gruno on his Guilty Pleasures program. Though Gruno's show won't be archived for a while, I guess they world premiered some tracks from the new Spock's Beard album last night. I tried to listen but there were too many concurrent users. I think it's neat that a band like SB has that many fans, that they can clog up an Internet Radio broadcast. It'll be neat to see how the fans like their new album, and I sure hope that Chris G gets the gig as tour drummer. 3:51:24 PM 6/1/2003 A Small Thing You Can Do This relates to the last entry, here's a site gathering signatures to make your voice heard. 10:44:35 PM I Fear For Our Democracy There are some very disturbing things happening in Washington this week, that haven't seemed to attract much attention. Here's another article by Ted Turner on the same subject. Some very large and powerful companies, who already have done much to disrupt and erode the ability of differing viewpoints to be heard, are about to get even more powerful. And our Big Dumb President won't lift a finger to stop it. I'm no kneejerk lefty, either - but I'm really starting to worry about the future of free speech in this country. 10:39:06 PM My Canine Friends And Puffy Packages These guys are just about the coolest. That's Pete on the left, and Bojangles on the right. Both of them dachshunds, and crazy great kids, to boot. Gonna go up Mount Si again today, though since it's cloudy it's once again not such a great picture-taking day. I've been sending out lots of puffy packages this week, containing copies of the new album to the people who get it first: those who played on it, those who made the artwork, those who can review it on their music sites. And there were a couple of contest-winners from the Gruno show on the list, too. Soon I'll be sending batches to the places besides Wonky.Net that will be selling the album. Having a new album is cool. 8:57:31 AM Current .Blog Newest Entry Older Entries Old School .Blog July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 Blogalicious Bryan Beller An Altruist's Blog katy needs a job Darin DiPietro B Naz known johnson pissshiver Celebrity Blogger Rabbit Kitten Andrew Sullivan Slog Linkonia Keneally Saves Crooked Sixpence TROOP! Salon Oh, You Are Sick Frank atticus wolrab You Rebel Scum Andre LaFosse Force Of Nature Bumpcity Lizzy Daymont Pete Johnston 1 + 1 = 2 Diaryland my profile shill for me contact