June 5, 2004

Laurie and I went to Dayton, OH to see Guided by Voices last night. We rented a car. Like that was going to be fun. After having a great car rental experience in California, I thought that it would transfer over here to home. No way. I walked into the car rental place where an angry mob was already referring to the business as “unprofessional” and “ghetto”. The word “unprofessional” means nothing to me but the “ghetto” claim - pot calling kettle. Not a good scene, man. I won’t be renting from that location again. It took until we were halfway to Columbus, OH before I stopped worrying that the car was going to blow up and that is to say nothing of the smell that the former smoker who owned the car left in it. Stink. We got to “The Foundry” in Dayton, OH and local opener was already playing. Timing is everything. Ours could have been better because we had to look at local opener for a half an hour. Local opener seemed to be appreciated by local crowd but they did not do it for me. Don’t let my sour grapes bring you down, dudes. Guided by Voices came on at about 10:30 p.m. I thought it was going to be an early night. No. Guided by Voices played a three hour set. Unfortunately, I only had two hours in me. More unfortunate still was the fact that my wife is a rocker and stayed up front until the last note was played. It was rough. I began checking out the crowd for fun during the first encore and then went and sat in the car for the rest of the show. Laurie said the encores were good. I don’t feel like I missed anything. Guided by Voices played many new songs. The new songs were good. Guided by Voices were drunk and sloppy. A bottle of tequila was on stage. Guided by Voices were periodically brilliant. They played “Game of Pricks”. Looking at the crowd. I often feel like Cleveland, OH is a lame place to live. Dude, not compared to Dayton, OH. Let’s just leave it at that. I don’t want to start a turf war here. Also of note was the fact that Bob Pollard was his usual great self – probably even more great standing in front of a hometown crowd. My favorites came from his explanation on why Guided by Voices does not put politics in any of their songs. He said, while referring to his “charmed life” that “I don’t fucking care about anything.” That was sweet. He also said in the same rap: “I don’t vote because I don’t give a shit.” Another classic. I certainly would like to get a transcript of the whole “Bob Pollard on Politics” speech if it ever becomes available. It takes less than three hours to drive from Dayton, OH to Cleveland, OH at night with no traffic and one pit stop. I sometimes feel like I was born for overnight driving. I recounted many tales of overnight driving with the Revelers to Laurie on the way home. I could have fell asleep on Warren Road. We got home at 4:30 a.m. I am tired and I think that I have a full day ahead of me. Later.

posted by Thea at 10:18 AM

June 2, 2004

The day started off good enough with me finding a dollar so I did not have to walk up to Detroit Avenue to catch the slow bus because I did not have that one last quarter to catch the Clifton Boulevard bus when I left home. And then the teenagers got on the bus for a field trip. It was the sound of not silence. Annoyed by teenagers, I got off the bus and hurried to my quiet office. I had 18 voice mail messages. The best was from A.C. of Westlake, OH who asked, two days after I left for California, if I could practice tomorrow – meaning sometime last week. I had 73 e-mail messages. The best was from X.X. of Xepper Xike, OH who simply wrote: “Are you here today?” on a day when I was not there. The e-mail was only made better by the news that I was being paged repeatedly on the same day. A.C. and X.X., your prizes are in the mail. Thank you for making me feel wanted. Next, I spoke with Chuck, who was the runner-up in BOTH the e-mail (“Bitch better have my money.”) and voice mail (in a whisper: “UNDISCLOSED FAMOUS PERSON is in the office next door to mine.”), who brought me up to speed with the running jokes and gave me some good news that I have been waiting for. Thank you, Chuck. And then I got nailed with an assload of work. I worked like an idiot all day – leaving the office at 7:30 p.m. Yeah, I was planning on easing into next week. Thanks a lot. And now I am back into it full on and in a pretty bad mood and know that it is going to get worse before it gets better. Work. A four letter word. So is bull. So is shit.

posted by Thea at 8:44 PM

June 1, 2004

We are home from our vacation in California. From my brother’s family’s house in Hesperia, CA to George Frank’s wedding in Tillman Park, Berkeley, CA to Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles, CA – it was a lot of driving. Shit, man, it was a lot of driving. And a lot of flying. And a lot of other running around. Vacation mania. I am pretty tired right now and am not looking forward to re-starting my normal life tomorrow. That’s about it. Later.

posted by Thea at 9:38 PM