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Mary Beth and I went back out to Paradiso for some more MetOp, this time for Richard Strauss's Arabella. It's later than Salome and after he had gotten to where he was going so out there in dissonance and all, but it's still good and has quite a lot of the Strauss feeling still. Even the parts with traditional kind of waltz stuff has this dense layered and near-collage kind of effect. So yeah, that was fun and a nice four hour extravaganza. At night I worked some on my music-loading script. Something seems to have happened with the python discogs library I'm using (it's has a built-in backoff for requests when you hit the limit...I use it to download album art). It had been working forever but I ran it recently and I would get about ten images downloaded and it would hit a limit and then just start erroring out for the rest. This is only speculation, but while looking up the issue I was seeing things about their requests going through Cloudflare...so since there was a huge Cloudflare outage a few days ago, could it have been something changed with the way they're handling those errors or with the response structure, etc and that's broken the way the library processes them? I haven't seen anyone else reporting this issue at least not yet. But I just made my own, very non-optimal, backup solution to handle it when the library doesn't backoff correctly. Okay, boring stuff!
Got some cds in the mail: Anne Gillis: Archives Box 1983-2005 and Anne Gillis: Vhoysee (and I think they even came late the day before and were missed until the next day). Also a little later I got a package with a Diamanda Galás shirt with the cover of You Must Be Certain of the Devil. Alright! Then in the evening Mary Beth and I went to UofM to see a night of some Italian operettas. The first was Il Segreto di Susanna by Wolf-Ferrari and it was my favorite. The other two were both by Puccini: Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi (of those, the latter was my preference...classic comic-opera stuff of identity switching but with more of a base of black humor...the former was religious and sappily melodramatic). But it was a fun night with a lot of opera and now we're about to go out and possibly get an even bigger dose of opera!
Mary Beth and I went up to Crosstown for a screening of Tav Falco's movie The Urania Trilogy. Alex Greene and the Rolling Head Orchestra did a live score (didn't realize it until it was over but it was Jim Duckworth on guitar!). The movie to me was kinda if Guy Maddin was Mike McCarthy. It's done like it's an old silent film though there is some sound, usually not synchronized (but then towards the middle in part two some of the dialog does start being synchronized). There is some interesting stuff and it can be quite funny at times. It is probably a bit overly long. Though one funny incidental thing is that after the part two ended and the title for part three came up a WHOLE bunch of people got up and left, probably believing that the third part was going to be as long as the first two. But then the third part was like MAYBE five minutes and then it ended. (The abrupt end was a very amusing part.) After it was over we went upstairs to Art Bar and hung out for a little bit.
We did our Fresh Market run during my lunch break. Then after work I went back to James Davis to get fitted for my suit that finally came in after about a fuckin' month! But I got fitted and I also picked out a second jacket for non-suit jacket-wearing and was fitted for that and a couple of shirts. So in a bit, I'm bound to be very fancy.
After work Mary Beth and I went on a short walk around the neighborhood. It was practically almost warm even. Upon coming back home, we were greeted by Peanut so we hung out with her a little bit. Then at night we did our Superlo grocery run. And I guess that's really about it.
How Do You Live?
Nov. 18th, 2025 08:01 amWe went back out to Paradiso once again and saw a screening of The Boy and the Heron. It was very good, probably one of my favorite Miyazaki movies now if not favorite (but I also haven't seen a huge chunk of his oeuvre either). I'm also reminded of something from the Coward play we went to on Sunday. This woman behind us had been talking a bit about reading the script while the actors were working on it or whatever, I guess she has something to do with the company. Then during the intermission she was saying what happens at the end of the movie adaptation and then it's like, gee, spoiler alert now! But then the play itself doesn't quite end that way (I mean, you could take it as implied in going in that direction but it's more ambiguous (in a comedic, not serious way)). Okay, that's it.
Mary Beth and I went out to the Tennessee Shakespeare Company to see Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit. It was another reading (they're part of a little series, we caught the first one with the Chekhov and this as the last one) and not a full-on play production. On the way home we stopped by Kroger for a few things they didn't have (or have enough of) when we recently went.
In the afternoon, Mary Beth and I went to a birthday party thing for Laura. It was supposed to have been last week but the host got sick. It was over at a work colleague's of hers and most of the other people there were Rhodes professors. Gretchen was there (not a Rhodes professor but married to on...and Karl's currently in Finland). Other than Graham, didn't really know the other people (but most I think we've kind of met in passing). But yeah, it was a pretty good low key time hanging out. The place was pretty close by and almost around the corner. There were two cats. Important fact!
In the evening, Mary Beth and I went up to Crosstown to look at the current art exhibit. It was kind of like a triple exhibition of works by Brantley Ellzey across the different galleries. We enjoyed that and afterwards we went downstairs and had dinner at Bao Toan.
I finished reading The Female Quixote by Charlotte Lennox. It was somewhere between alright and okay. There were things good about it and it could be funny at times, but its main conceit could be pretty repetitive (especially in the first half). I finally got word back from Nathan about that hat we thought was his lost hat, and the mystery is cleared because it is not! So we found a hat and I messaged him and then I saw it was an NRA hat and was like, oh that's probably not his, so I took a picture and sent that shortly thereafter to confirm. His response the next day was pretty much "thanks!" so I took that as, oh I guess it his hat and went back and got it from the venue. But I finally followed up again and it's not his hat. So now I have some random weird NRA hat. Anyway! Mary Beth and I went over to Studio to see a screening of Ghostbusters. When we got to the theater a guy standing outside told me he loved The Terminator live score and was very nice and it's cool to still get recognized from that! He'd also been to the DVOA show (he said he didn't know them before but a friend was a fan and told him he needed to go). Anyway, Ghostbusters was fun. Oh, and I came dressed for the occasion as I happily wore my "Oh! Oh! You have been sloimed by Ghost Buster!" shirt. And that's about it for now.
Mary Beth and I went back out to Paradiso for the Met Opera showing of La Bohème. My seat was apparently squeaking during it and at one point, Mary Beth asked "are you alright!?" thinking the sound she was hearing was me farting a whole bunch (I didn't even notice the sound, though I had my earplugs in). Then the guy sitting next to be left during the first intermission. Had he been hearing the sound and thought some guy next to him was farting constantly throughout the opera? I don't know!
After work I went and met Mary Beth up at the Park. Went around the pond with her. Then we lay down in the Greensward as the dusk came down. Late in the night, while watching some Golden Girls, I felt the need to break the slanket out of the closet so I got fully snug for the weather.
Mary Beth and I went out to Paradiso to watch Back to the Future, which is screening in theaters for its fortieth anniversary. It almost looked like we'd be in the theater by ourselves, but a few other people showed up. Not really a whole lot else to report for now. It's gotten cold.
Car, Walk, Hat, Store
Nov. 9th, 2025 12:37 pmI went and took the car to the dealership to get the next six months maintenance knocked out (been just over a year now!). Then Mary Beth and I went to the Park. We walked around the Old Forest and the pond and lay down on the Greensward as it got dark. We're in some nice peak fall-lookin' trees now. After that I swung by B-Side real quick to pick up this hat that one of the touring musicians had lost. (We'd found it after they left as I mentioned in my last post, but weren't sure if it was the right one, but I sent a pic and he confirmed it so I went back for it.) Then Mary Beth and I did a big quarterly or thirdly or whatever Kroger run (for those things we can't get at Superlo, etc.). It's sad that I've had doms in my legs the past couple days for the very minimal loading of equipment (mostly just the projector and screen) at the show. At least I caught up on sleep last night.
Couple things I did remember to mention that I forgot in my DVOA post. They were all in very humorous spirits, joking around a whole bunch (on stage as well as off). And they'd break out into song quite often. While they were setting up and messing with the projector, they all burst out singing "Practice Makes Perfect". And then afterwards, because some version of it was playing on the overhead, they all burst out singing...maybe it was "Close to You"...I think it was that or another Carpenters song, but not one hundred percent sure. Anyway, them and Kevin were all bursting out with it together. And it was just a big loud sing along and it was fun and funny. Also Joe the sound guy was very nice and attentive and it sounded great. I've always heard great things about the sound there from musicians who play there, but sometimes when I'm there I haven't really heard it myself, like it didn't sound bad but didn't seem all that great, but this time I thought it really did. I think that's all I can remember to blab about for now.
Couple things I did remember to mention that I forgot in my DVOA post. They were all in very humorous spirits, joking around a whole bunch (on stage as well as off). And they'd break out into song quite often. While they were setting up and messing with the projector, they all burst out singing "Practice Makes Perfect". And then afterwards, because some version of it was playing on the overhead, they all burst out singing...maybe it was "Close to You"...I think it was that or another Carpenters song, but not one hundred percent sure. Anyway, them and Kevin were all bursting out with it together. And it was just a big loud sing along and it was fun and funny. Also Joe the sound guy was very nice and attentive and it sounded great. I've always heard great things about the sound there from musicians who play there, but sometimes when I'm there I haven't really heard it myself, like it didn't sound bad but didn't seem all that great, but this time I thought it really did. I think that's all I can remember to blab about for now.
:dead voices on air:
Nov. 8th, 2025 10:42 amPretty crazy night last night! I went up to B-Side pretty early, right after work to get the projector set up (I had borrowed Jacques's projector and screen...though the screen's been stored at my place anyway so does that even count as borrowing? I had grabbed the projector from him a few days ago 'cuz I figured it'd be good to get up there early to set up). It was good I got there early 'cuz the screen is huge and unwieldy, though it wasn't too bad to set up, but figuring out how to get the projector set up took a while: finding the position and what to prop it up on to get high enough and adjusting the keystone since I had to set it on a table off to the side. Anyway, while I'm doing all that boring stuff that I talked way too much about, Dead Voices on Air are setting up and soundchecking. So it was cool to get to see them soundcheck! They were also all super nice! (And it's not super surprising as Mark was very nice all the time talking to him leading up to the show.) As they were wrapping up and getting ready to go check out airbnb and eat before the show, Jacques showed up to set up and all. About this time I went back home to eat, myself (note the comma!), and pick up Mary Beth to take back up to the show. Also, Graham had asked for a ride so I picked him up on the way back too. We pulled into the parking lot right at the same time as Jay and Dan, so we all get in and Artificer sets up and stuff!
Okay! The show! Artificer was first and was incredible as always. Skipped the projector for this set as we did a test and given how much room there was left on the stage, they set up right in the corner in the path of the projector and, sure enough, it was blaring right into their eyes. But yeah, great set. Revenge Body was next and Jacques even had a new song! Great set as always too! Then it was Dead Voices on Air! They were incredible. They did new stuff and (as hinted at) even went back to do some Download songs! And the big surprise was they closed with a cover of "Convincing People"!! The contingent of Skinny Puppy-fan-friends was pretty strong at the show so they were all going nuts at the Download songs. Lloyd was really flipping out and getting into it and for the last third of it, got up and started dancing in front of the stage which caused a few other people to get up and dance! So some real energy from the audience and not just my typical nerdy-completely-devoid-of-energy silent and still enjoyment of a show! Before they played, Mark said that the two openers were some of the best he'd seen (with a I'm really serious and truly mean it addendum). As always, I was nervous about the crowd that would show up but it was pretty respectable. It was definitely not empty, though not full, the groups spread about seemed decent at least. But then I'm also worried with a more known band like DVOA if that'd be a disappointment to them but they seemed really into the experience. I mean, they are super nice and I'm sure wouldn't have voiced displeasure, but I think it tends to come through when people really do mean stuff like that.
Talked to a bunch of people there. Hit the merch table after a bit (a good sign that the merch table was crowded for a while after the show, a lot of it was people talking to the band members but it seemed almost everybody there picked up Mark's book). Nathan, the guitarist (and the one American in the group, based in Denver) talked to me a bit and was saying how Memphis and Denver scenes seem kinda similar and seemed pretty gushing about how awesome Memphis is. I think the openers made an impression of Quality and also they seemed to be impressed with the turnout. He said they'd just played Dallas and not a lot of people came out. I'm also sure that the energy that Lloyd singlehandedly brought did a lot to lift their moods! And he was talking to Jay and was like, so Mark is REALLY picky about the music his likes and touring and all you see a lot of openers and stuff, but he leaned over and tapped him and was like "this is REALLY good" when Artificer started playing. (It brings a tear to my eye!) Yeah, so I picked up a bunch of merch and got his book Explicit in Purpose by Mark Spybey and all the cds they had: Jochen Arbeit and Mark Spybey: The Camel Corps and Other Stories; Dead Voices on Air: Wass; Dead Voices on Air: Jamiel:Spybey; Dead Voices on Air: Silence, Melt and Mourn; Dead Voices on Air: Silence, Melt and Mourn: Residuum; Xqui and Dead Voices on Air: Pennine; and v/a: My People: a Tribute to Vince Wald. The Residuum thing is a limited edition tour cdr of outtakes from that album and they had only forty copies and they had only two left when I got it (made me feel like "close call!" when I'd waited for a bit to hit the merch!).
Then after the show during the denouement, I guess a bunch of weird kinda stuff happened! For one, the crowd at B-Side as the night moves on is pretty weird and on the obnoxious side but whatever. One thing is Kiefer's car had been towed during the show and he was kinda freaking out (understandably!). We were going to give him and his girlfriend a ride home but Jacques ended up leaving first and did it. I had a wait a bit to take down the giant screen while DVOA was tearing down so we were there a good bit. Then Nathan from DVOA was missing his hat so we were looking for it a bit and then they left. But shortly after they left Kevin found a hat. So I took it outside to try to catch them before they left but I'd missed them. While walking back inside, this woman that was at the show was yelling at me. I didn't catch at first what she said, I wasn't paying attention. But then she was like, yeah, keep walking away you pussy. And I'm just like, okay, I don't know what this drunk person is on about and I'm ignoring it. Went back in and then shortly after that realized I couldn't find my jacket. And I'm looking all over but can't find it and am getting a bit upset as that sinks in. Then I'm kinda like, did it have something to do with the woman who was yelling at me? I didn't realize my jacket was missing at that point. But we're finally leaving and go back out and walk past where she was, this picnic table out there behind the venue. She's not there anymore and just as we've already walked past my brain registers the fact, wait, I did see a jacket just laying on that picnic table. There are still some other guys around the table and I go back and ask if that's a jacket someone had lost. And then one of the guys was like, "yeah I told her to leave it, she came out and was all 'Look I found this jacket!' and was going to take it." Sure enough, my jacket! So I thanked them and was happy to have not lost my jacket after all! (And the Pac-Man knit hat that stays in its pocket.) Also, before they'd left, all the guys from DVOA were super nice and encouraging about what we're doing in Memphis so I was surprised and glad it all seems to have turned out well!
I've got stuff to do today so I was a little bummed about setting my alarm, having gotten in to bed late. But then I woke up all early anyway. Sometimes you just gotta roll with how the sleep comes! Also, sure I've forgotten to say some stuff but if I remember later then I'll jot it down later!
Okay! The show! Artificer was first and was incredible as always. Skipped the projector for this set as we did a test and given how much room there was left on the stage, they set up right in the corner in the path of the projector and, sure enough, it was blaring right into their eyes. But yeah, great set. Revenge Body was next and Jacques even had a new song! Great set as always too! Then it was Dead Voices on Air! They were incredible. They did new stuff and (as hinted at) even went back to do some Download songs! And the big surprise was they closed with a cover of "Convincing People"!! The contingent of Skinny Puppy-fan-friends was pretty strong at the show so they were all going nuts at the Download songs. Lloyd was really flipping out and getting into it and for the last third of it, got up and started dancing in front of the stage which caused a few other people to get up and dance! So some real energy from the audience and not just my typical nerdy-completely-devoid-of-energy silent and still enjoyment of a show! Before they played, Mark said that the two openers were some of the best he'd seen (with a I'm really serious and truly mean it addendum). As always, I was nervous about the crowd that would show up but it was pretty respectable. It was definitely not empty, though not full, the groups spread about seemed decent at least. But then I'm also worried with a more known band like DVOA if that'd be a disappointment to them but they seemed really into the experience. I mean, they are super nice and I'm sure wouldn't have voiced displeasure, but I think it tends to come through when people really do mean stuff like that.
Talked to a bunch of people there. Hit the merch table after a bit (a good sign that the merch table was crowded for a while after the show, a lot of it was people talking to the band members but it seemed almost everybody there picked up Mark's book). Nathan, the guitarist (and the one American in the group, based in Denver) talked to me a bit and was saying how Memphis and Denver scenes seem kinda similar and seemed pretty gushing about how awesome Memphis is. I think the openers made an impression of Quality and also they seemed to be impressed with the turnout. He said they'd just played Dallas and not a lot of people came out. I'm also sure that the energy that Lloyd singlehandedly brought did a lot to lift their moods! And he was talking to Jay and was like, so Mark is REALLY picky about the music his likes and touring and all you see a lot of openers and stuff, but he leaned over and tapped him and was like "this is REALLY good" when Artificer started playing. (It brings a tear to my eye!) Yeah, so I picked up a bunch of merch and got his book Explicit in Purpose by Mark Spybey and all the cds they had: Jochen Arbeit and Mark Spybey: The Camel Corps and Other Stories; Dead Voices on Air: Wass; Dead Voices on Air: Jamiel:Spybey; Dead Voices on Air: Silence, Melt and Mourn; Dead Voices on Air: Silence, Melt and Mourn: Residuum; Xqui and Dead Voices on Air: Pennine; and v/a: My People: a Tribute to Vince Wald. The Residuum thing is a limited edition tour cdr of outtakes from that album and they had only forty copies and they had only two left when I got it (made me feel like "close call!" when I'd waited for a bit to hit the merch!).
Then after the show during the denouement, I guess a bunch of weird kinda stuff happened! For one, the crowd at B-Side as the night moves on is pretty weird and on the obnoxious side but whatever. One thing is Kiefer's car had been towed during the show and he was kinda freaking out (understandably!). We were going to give him and his girlfriend a ride home but Jacques ended up leaving first and did it. I had a wait a bit to take down the giant screen while DVOA was tearing down so we were there a good bit. Then Nathan from DVOA was missing his hat so we were looking for it a bit and then they left. But shortly after they left Kevin found a hat. So I took it outside to try to catch them before they left but I'd missed them. While walking back inside, this woman that was at the show was yelling at me. I didn't catch at first what she said, I wasn't paying attention. But then she was like, yeah, keep walking away you pussy. And I'm just like, okay, I don't know what this drunk person is on about and I'm ignoring it. Went back in and then shortly after that realized I couldn't find my jacket. And I'm looking all over but can't find it and am getting a bit upset as that sinks in. Then I'm kinda like, did it have something to do with the woman who was yelling at me? I didn't realize my jacket was missing at that point. But we're finally leaving and go back out and walk past where she was, this picnic table out there behind the venue. She's not there anymore and just as we've already walked past my brain registers the fact, wait, I did see a jacket just laying on that picnic table. There are still some other guys around the table and I go back and ask if that's a jacket someone had lost. And then one of the guys was like, "yeah I told her to leave it, she came out and was all 'Look I found this jacket!' and was going to take it." Sure enough, my jacket! So I thanked them and was happy to have not lost my jacket after all! (And the Pac-Man knit hat that stays in its pocket.) Also, before they'd left, all the guys from DVOA were super nice and encouraging about what we're doing in Memphis so I was surprised and glad it all seems to have turned out well!
I've got stuff to do today so I was a little bummed about setting my alarm, having gotten in to bed late. But then I woke up all early anyway. Sometimes you just gotta roll with how the sleep comes! Also, sure I've forgotten to say some stuff but if I remember later then I'll jot it down later!
Office Business
Nov. 7th, 2025 07:59 amI went up to the office for a little bit yesterday. It was just a big group meeting because the same person was in town who we meet up for last time we went to the office. Just kind of businessy status report kind of stuff. Then we were taken for lunch to Maciel's and that always rules. Later, I went by Burke's to pick up a gift card for someone and while there picked up a few used books: Sons, Daughters b y Ivana Bodrožić, The Edna Webster Collection of Undiscovered Writings by Richard Brautigan, Claudius the God by Robert Graves, The Death of a Beekeeper by Lars Gustafsson, and Pan by Knut Hamsun. Then at night Mary Beth and I went up to Studio to see a screening of Risky Business. I hadn't seen it in a very long time and I enjoyed this revisit. It was better than I'd expected. I remember its weirdly dark tone, but I got it better this time (probably because I imagine I was a teenager last time I saw it).
Not a whole lot going on, but I was pretty glued to watching Mamdani's election results last night (also the other across-the-board little bits of good news). Like, it's not something that impacts me a great deal personally, but it's been mesmerizing to watch the whole campaign. And a side effect has been the joy of seeing Cuomo get trounced twice...get embarrassed nationally and then jump right back in for more embarrassment. By the time yesterday rolled around, I was pretty confident Mamdani had it, but I was hoping he'd clear a majority of the votes and hoping it at least wouldn't be close. And while there are still votes left to be counted, they're mostly in and it's looking pretty clear that he has that majority, so that's good to see. Anyway, stayed up too late obsessing over that kind of stuff.
Degeneration
Nov. 4th, 2025 07:57 amI got the first two (only two so far) issues of D-Generation magazine in the mail. Mykel Boyd had some copies to distribute as he's in the latest one. I had recently discovered there's a little something about Mike Honeycutt in the first one and had wanted my hands on it after that (it's a small thing but nice...and given the release date of that first one my guess is that it was probably added pretty last minute). They also both come with cds so I look forward to those as well. Mary Beth gathers scratch'n'sniff stickers from far and wide to send to people. She got some new ones in the mail and one of them is called "silent but deadly." I was morbidly (very morbidly) curious and the bad ones often don't smell as bad they seem they would, so I took a sniff to find out and jesus. Yeah, that one was pretty wretched. Its smell was how I feel. In other news, I found out I have to go into the office on Thursday. Don't love that, whatever. At night we did our grocery run. I don't know. I guess that's about it.
