frail and bedazzled

[CherubRock]

Dreeming is free

Last night Cecil Dreeme showcased eight songs for a small gathering on Long Island. I am pleased to say that it was a smashing success.

There are always a couple of key people you can rely on to be completely straight with you after a show. Most people will shake your hand and tell you that you were great whether they thought so or not. I'm sure that as improvisers, many of the people frequenting this site have encountered the same thing. I've learned to seek out the opinions of certain people that I know I can trust to be 100% honest. It's always nice to be complimented, but it's much more beneficial to get the criticisms that most people don't feel comfortable giving.

Because I respect the people who are always honest with my in my endeavors, I have always done the same for others. If I see your team improvise and you ask me what I thought, you can rest assured that I am going to be on the level. I might not have the knowledge needed to be as critical as another improviser, but I am always honest. Other musicians that know me know that they can count on me to not be a kiss-ass. A good friend of mine invited me to see his new band play recently. I told him that if every song was as good as the last one they played, they would have been a great band. He appreciated that. It let him know that they still had work to do.

The point: Every person that I trust was impressed by our performance last night. That is a very satisfying feeling. We have worked very hard to get to this point. Now we just have to finish capturing our particular brand of voodoo on tape.

Last bit of Cecil Dreeme news: We landed a gig playing at NYU's freshman orientation on 8/25. This is a huge audience. Big opportunity there. The only problem is that it is Cara's first day of class at college in PA. So Artie is going to drive down to PA on Monday afternoon, pick up Cara after her last class, and drive right back to NY. We're going to show those baby faced college kids that our kung-fu is the best, Artie is going to drive Cara back to PA, and then he is going to turn around and come home. It will end up being ten hours driven for forty minutes played. It's actually fucking ridiculous, but we don't want to let opportunities pass us by. For a quiet band, we're hard fuckin' core.

* * *

I recently bought all five full length albums released by The Police. They have been remastered and reissued on compact disc and I am very fond of the packaging design. I considered buying the greatest hits collection but ultimately decided that I would rather own the entire set. I was excited to venture deep into their catalogue.

There is a boxed set available also, but the songs are compiled in some strange random order. I really didn't like that when I was looking at it. It's been quite interesting and fun to get acquainted with the band from start to finish. That boxed set design makes no sense to me because it doesn't put the band in any sort of context. If you listen to their records from beginning to end there is a story to be told. You can really hear the progression of the band. If you haven't experienced the band in that way, you can't really understand them. Personally, I find it amazing that the Police went from Outlandos D'Amor to Synchronicity. I happen to favor their earlier work, but it isn't about personal taste. It's about growth, in any direction. In any case, I'm pleased with my decision to get the albums individually.

I think I might like to have a cat someday. And an air hockey table.

Yeah ... a big fucking air hockey table.

 

[CherubRock]

Birthday kisses from harold

What a great day. I turned twenty-four today and I really had a great amount of fun. I took a bunch of my friends out to harold night and they all had a great time. PCR and OI were both great. My favorite moment of the night was Chris Gethard as rickets. And I have to say that Amy Rhodes makes me laugh when she's not even saying anything. She conveys so much with facial expression. Solid, solid performances all around. A truly awesome birthday.

It felt really good to have friends there who enjoyed the show. It's a little difficult to describe long form to people and I think that seeing a show finally made them realize what it is that I have been talking about so much for the past year and a half or so.

I've been reading the threads that deal with improvisers and randoms and it has been very interesting to me. I really understand the frustration although it is strange for me as sort of a random myself. I have been fascinated with improvisation since I saw my first harold night. (Neutrino and Ice Nine) I took a UCB sketch writing class last year and a classmate mentioned this message board to me. I took a real interest in this site right away. I have learned so much about improvisation just from reading posts here and at the Corpa Boards. I am not really interested in learning to perform the form myself, but I have found that I appreciate it as an audience member more and more as my knowledge of it's complex inner workings increases. There are often threads on the IRC that allow me to learn an awful lot from the very people that I love to watch perform. That's a very valuable thing to have. And when I'm not soaking up information about what makes a harold truly amazing, I'm laughing at the biting that goes on in off-topic forums. It can be a truly wonderful place, this IRC.

Being a non-improviser, I made it my business to keep quiet while frequenting the boards. I felt that it wasn't really my place to jump in, and for the most part I still feel that way. I have to agree with the improvisers on that point. This is their home. I keep my posting to a bare minimum. I post to this journal, which no one has to read if they don't want to, and I have on rare occasion posted elsewhere if I really felt that I had something relevant to contribute.

It saddens me to think that there are some that would like to create a separate "improvisers only" message board. I definitely understand their point, but it would be frustrating for me to lose the ablility to silently observe. God knows that I don't want to get involved in the stupidity that is running rampant out there in the off topics, which is why I'm keeping my two cents contained within the walls of my own journal. But the anti-random people are right. This place used to be a lot funnier, nicer, and more interesting. I've been lurking behind the scenes here for well over a year, (not under the same username, mind you) and it is obvious that the people who used to make this site really awesome are now frustrated and put off. I don't know what the solution is.

I just want to keep learning and laughing.

with boundless love
farewell and goodnight

 

[CherubRock]

Uncle Bob doesn't seem to like life very much.

My mother has three siblings. Her youngest brother, my Uncle Bobby, tried to kill himself last week. He didn't come nearly as close this time as he did twelve or so years ago.

I barely care. Is that horrible of me?

Uncle Bob was married to a woman named Caron when I was ten or so. The only things that I remember about my Uncle Bob before the "accident," was that he was A) always yelling at somebody, and B) always drinking. It's hard for me to recall what Uncle Bob was like back then, but that's what sticks in my mind.

One night Aunt Caron came home and sat down my Uncle Bob to tell him that she wanted to get divorced. Do you see where I'm going with this?

Bob locked himself in the bathroom with a bottle and refused to come out. After pleading with him and getting no result, Caron phoned a friend of hers to tell her that she was coming over. Caron's friend stressed to her that it was very important to get my Uncle Bob out of the bathroom, and she went back to the door to plead with him some more.

Caron managed to annoy my Uncle into finally opening the door, at which point she could see plastic sleeping pill wrappers everywhere. At this point my good ol' Uncle Bob started mumbling, "Are you happy now? Do you see what you've done to me?" Anyone see a sitcom coming out of this? I'm seeing Alan Thicke and Kathy Griffin.

So the ambulance came and my Uncle Bob was by then unconscious. You know, from the sixty or so sleeping pills he chased with hard liquor. He was in a coma for quite some time. The way I see it, the fucker is lucky he got a second chance. When he came out of his coma he was pretty fucking brain damaged. (That is the official medical term.) He speaks very slowly and with a slur. His thought processes are a little skewed. He's been collecting disablity pay for years. As of late he has been scamming the government by not letting on that he has recovered a little bit more than they know, and he's convinced that his phone is tapped.

That pretty much brings us up to speed. Now my uncle has been living in Florida near my grandparents and other aunts and cousins, so I almost never see him. My mother informed me just a few days ago that he had been taken to a psychiatric hospital after another suicide attempt had failed. Oh, Uncle Bob, you lovable scamp.

Apparently Uncle Bob had showed up at my grandparents' house babbling about how they should look for signs that he might not be okay. It became clear to them that he was at that moment absolutely unwell, and he confessed that he had taken some pills and once again washed them down with a refreshing bottle of alcohol.

Can I request a smilie that pops pills and drinks itself nearly to death?

I think it would look really cute right here at the bottom of this post.

 

[CherubRock]

Sweet electricity

Yesterday I was at work browsing through these boards when the blackout happened. It was very strange because it didn't happen in one quick burst. The first flicker was pretty crazy, but then the lights and computers went through a very slow process of shutting off. Then there were machines beeping like crazy when the whole office went dark. I don't know what machines were beeping or how they were beeping with no power, but they were beeping nonetheless and it was quite creepy.

A twenty-five minute drive home took me an hour and that night I wore out the battery on my mp3 player. This morning I still had no power at my house and as far as I know nothing has changed yet. Ninety-Five percent of Long Island has power restored, but I don't. Fantastic.

 

[CherubRock]

All the colors are wrong

The storm that passed through here last night had a very strange aftermath. The thunder was so loud during the storm that car alarms were going off like mad. I could hear them from blocks away. At one point lightning touched down on my street. We lost power very briefly a couple of times.

But back to the aftermath. Once the storm has passed there was a surreal sort of look to everything. I thought I was crazy at first but the phenomenon was observed by others as well. All of the colors outside were slightly off. Nothing looked right. I've seen a strange colored sky after a large storm, but this wasn't just the sky. The cars looked wrong. The grass and the trees too. It looked as if someone had taken a photo of the outside of my house and then fucked with the hue and saturation in photoshop. Very odd. But that wasn't as odd as what I found this morning.

This morning when I went out to my car I noticed a large grayish rectangular outline next to the curb where my father's car had been parked. I then saw that there was another outline underneath my own car. Scanning the block, I could see the gray rectangular outlines next to the curb at every spot in which a car had been parked during the storm. I examined the outline where my father's car had been and I determined that the outline was made of some sort of dust or sand. It appeared as if the gravel outlining all of the cars on my block had turned to dust. I did not notice these outlines on any other streets as I drove to work. Fucking bizarre.

The only explanation I've been able to muster up is that the lightning somehow caused it. Perhaps the rubber on the tires of the cars somehow caused the dusting when the lightning struck the street? I'm going to do a little bit of research on lightning this afternoon. I need to know what caused this.

* * *

I decided to drive in to Manhattan Saturday night to catch the Palomar show. I'm glad I did it. Palomar is a lot of fun. I like musicians that smile when they play. I'm slightly smitten with their bass player. Well, I'm slightly smitten with all three of them, but there's something about that Sarah that really gets me.

* * *

I'm thinking about making several little road trips to see Mates of State on their fall tour. There is only one NYC date, so I'm looking at CT and PA as potential destinations. I've seen them four times this year already and I'd like to raise that number as high as it can reasonably go. I sometimes wish infatuation wasn't such a bother.

 

[CherubRock]

We've got magic to do

House of 1000 Corpses is *fucked up*. I'm not generally a horror movie fan, but this movie scared the shit out of me. It has some of the most disturbing visuals I have ever seen. I read a lot of really negative feedback about the film on IMDB. I was astonished at how many people claimed that this movie was "boring" and "not scary."

I don't even want to know what kind of movies a person has to watch before they would become desensitized to House of 1000 Corpses.

* * *

Update on Uncle Pop N' Chug. He's out of the mental facility. In his own words he "bullshitted" the doctors and told them what they wanted to hear. He's laughing about the whole thing. Such a comedian, my Uncle Bob.

* * *

Does David Blaine actually perform magic? Is there really a trick to what he does, or is he just a sick asshole who tortures himself for the amusement of the public? I don't see where the "trick" is. He's going to lock himself in a glass box for six weeks with only water for nurishment? That's not fucking magic, that's just stupid. If David Blaine is a magician for being able to survive with no food for weeks at a time then so is all of fucking Cambodia.

Unless the trick is that he is never actually locked in that box at all, in which case he would be a brilliant genius. So it's one of the two. Crazy asshole or brilliant genius. You decide.

Ok ok, I admit it. I'm just bitter because he got to make love to Fiona Apple and I didn't.

If I was ever in the same room as fiona I think I would probably just die. Just keel over and die. Oh wait, I totally was in the same room as her! Roseland 2000. And I'm totally not dead.

Fiona. HOT.

* * *

I'm very close to finishing my third solo album. Electrogeek Nintendo Rock! I've got two new mp3's up, plus one from my last album. I think this record is going to kick your lily white ass.

http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/325/glenn_garthwaite.html

Rock it.

 

[CherubRock]

Please don't leave, we're not a rap act.

Last night was our showcase at NYU's freshman orientation. A nerve racking but ultimately triumphant day.

Soundcheck was supposed to be at 7:30. This left me with no time to return home after work to load up my drum kit, so I was forced to leave it roasting in my car all day in the parking lot at work. Not a very comfortable thing to do. Drums tend to sound like shit after being cooked for eight hours. Luckily nothing went out of tune. Crisis averted.

I arrived at the building at 7:00 and landed a *sweet* spot right in front by the door. All non-NYU students were required to carry security passes in order to gain access to the building. Loading my drums into the building brought me by the same security guard six or seven times, and I was required to show my pass for each trip through. Logic?

The show was on the tenth floor and the stage was in front of a gigantic window. The view of the city was absolutely awesome.

Artie had left for Pennsylvania at 1:00 in the afternoon with his friend Matt flying co-pilot. Artie had never driven off of Long Island before. Having allowed for the possibility of getting lost, they made it safely to Cara's college a lot sooner than they had intended. Walking around the campus for two hours, they made several friends and attempted to pick up some girls. I phoned in to check on his situation around 5:00 p.m. and was put on the phone with a student they had met. Our conversation went as follows.

Her: Hello?
Me: Hi! Who's this?
Her: (laughing) Kerri
Me: That's awesome! I'm in New York right now.
Her: . . . okay
Me: And you're in Pennsylvania, right?
Her: (laughing) yeah
Me: That's CRAZY.
Artie: (In the background) Okay, say goodbye.
Her: (laughing) Goodbye.

Later I phoned Dan to report in. He advised me to call Artie back and "tell him to bring the girl."

Kerri opted not to make the trip, and I really don't blame her. Artie, Matt, and Cara showed up around 8:30 p.m. We still hadn't sound checked. The show began at nine. We still hadn't sound checked.

The first act was an acoustic duo. Tired college boy fluff. His guitar playing, his vocal style, and even his little foot shuffle was a shameful Dave Matthews impersonation.

Second act was the NYU Pep Band. These guys were FAN-freakin-tastic. The Pep Band kicked my ass. Really fun, really awesome. We would have loved to follow them. But then we got raped in the ass with a broom handle. Following the pep band was a rap act.

Three dudes got on stage and began to perform some of the most awful rap I have ever heard in my life. People began to get up and leave in large numbers.

Well let me tell you, Cecil Dreeme will be GOD DAMNED if we're gonna let that shit happen. We didn't have our singer driven in from another fucking state so that we could play to five people after these assholes cleared the place out. Fuck no. Julia bolted for the door and stopped every single person on their way out, asking them to please stay. Dan and Artie sat down with every single table and made sure people knew that there was another band playing. In all cases, people were assured that we were "really good." Did it work on everyone? No, it didn't. I would venture to guess that half the room had left by the time we took the stage. But it worked on enough people to make it worth the trouble we went through to be there. What did I do through all of this? I sat at my table with Cara and looked real pissed off. Petty and unproductive? Guilty as charged. But a few good laughs resulted.

Cara: (referring to the one wearing a backpack while he rapped) What do you think he's got in there?
Me: I think he forgot to unpack his fucking talent.

Finally, after what seemed like a thousand years of physical torture, these three douchebags got off the stage. We had our shit set up in five minutes and played an intense forty minutes. The pressure was definitely on because we had promised everyone there that we would be worth the wait. The set was certainly a success, and culiminated with a very lively "Dreeme Awake." Dan was pulling out moves like I've never seen *anyone* do before. We were even throwing things in on the fly. It was a crazy fun time even despite losing half of the audience.

We ended up filling three pages of our mailing list. Hot.

* * *
Today the Two Towers was released on DVD. Tomorrow night my friend Kristy and I are watching Fellowship and Towers back to back from six p.m. to midnight. Total geek-out.

"Stupid, FAT hobbit!"

 

[CherubRock]

It's been nice

Out of respect for this community and its wishes, I have decided to cease updating my journal. I understand the desire to steer the site back towards improv focused content, and while I don't think that I personally get on anyone's nerves, (At the very least, I've never met any negativity from another poster) I also don't think that my posting here is helping the situation.

I don't think that I had very many readers anyway, so I'm sure this won't really effect the reading habits of many people. :up:

I will, however, continue to browse the forums and post sparingly when I feel I have something worthwhile to contribute. (That doesn't happen often, but I just can't resist those music threads.)

:love:

g