i'm alive, if you want to call it that

Over the past month, I've had a host of interesting and wonderful and frightening experiences.

1. I went to Texas for South by Southwest, the music industry's biggest schmoozefest. I drank a lot and saw a ton of cool bands. I interviewed some of my favorite artists, including the Meat Puppets' Curt Kirkwood, who took me to his house for the interview and we hung out for almost two hours. When we were done, his brother Cris gave me a ride back downtown. It was an amazing experience to hang out and speak with artists who had made such an impact on my life and it was even more amazing that they weren't dicks to me. I also go to see them live for the first time since I'd seen them play a free show for Earth Day at the South Street Seaport in Manhattan. I think I was 14 or 15 years old, and it was the first time I was ever in a mosh pit. They put on a killer show in a medium-sized, packed club in the middle of the day. I drank a bunch of free drinks and stood in awe of Curt's guitar playing. He can just fit so much into a song that doesn't seem like it should be there; somehow, he makes it all work. They played mostly new stuff, and I found myself liking it even more than some of the old stuff, though their version of "Plateau" gave me chills. A couple days later, I got to speak with Paz Lenchantin, who in addition to being amazingly beautiful, is also one of the most talented musicians in rock music. She was extremely nice and open and I got to meet her dog. Later that night, I checked out her band and they put on the best set I saw at the festival. They're called Entrance, and if you get the chance to see them live, you should probably get off your ass and go see them. I also had to stay in a hotel room with about seven other dudes for a week. That sucked. But the BBQ was good.
2. My sister got married. My baby sister. I flew to NYC and attended the wedding in NJ. I was a groomsman and ushered my new sister-in-law down the aisle. I'm stoked that she's apart of the family now because she was really funny and can drink me under the table. It's weird having in-laws, and I'm excited that my family's larger, but I just wish I was closer to everyone to actually enjoy it.
3. I interviewed Tori Amos a couple days ago, and I was really nervous about it. It was just over the phone; in-person probably would have driven me nuts. I'm not as much a fan of her as I used to be, but when I was a big fan, I was completely obsessed. People who'd spoken with her before informed me that she was a great person and a great interview as long as you asked good questions. That little caveat got me working harder than I have in months to make sure everything went well. I read and researched and listened to albums for four days. The interview went off 20 minutes later than scheduled, which in the rock world is pretty much right on time. Tori was funny and friendly and really passionate. I was pretty happy with how things were going, but 12 minutes in, the publicist got on the line and told me that we had to wrap it up. Then Tori said, "No, I want to give him more time," which is the first time any artist had ever done that for me. I was honored. We talked for another 12 minutes before we had to wrap it up. When we were done I thanked her and said I really enjoyed the conversation, because I did. She said to me, "Well, J. You got a lot more out of me than most people, because you're so darn sweet." Swear. I giggled and hung up. Ten minutes later, I got an e-mail from the publicist that read, "Tori absolutely loved you." I added the italics, but you get the picture. I'm pretty fucking awesome.

I've spent a whole lot of time away from home and am slowly coming to grips with the fact that I don't have anywhere to go or any major thing to do for quite some time. I'm pretty bummed about it. It's hard to go through all this crazy activity and then readjust to your regular boring life. It's not helping that the climate at work is getting more and more tumultuous, and I'm not sure where that leaves me. I'm kinda nervous about it, but I've been pretty good about checking all the usual sites for jobs just in case. Nothing's really jumped out at me thus far. In the meantime, I'm trying to treat myself as much as possible, mostly in the food department because the bars are getting pretty boring. I made the best T-bone steak I've ever had on my barbecue, and made killer shrimp fra diavolo for Easter. My roommate chipped in on the latter by making fresh pasta with black pepper mixed into the flour. Afterward, we checked out this Pavement movie and I remembered how awesome I thought they were. I've had these two songs playing in my head ever since. I think it's time for a money-grubbing reunion tour, guys.


Pavement - "Cut Your Hair"


Pavement - "Shady Lane"