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In the morning, I went back up to James Davis to have the issues looked at. The thing with the extra jacket was just that they'd left a pin in. He removed it and the fabric didn't look bunched up anymore and we tried it out and it was fine. But I had they lengthen the pants. They even did it while I was there in the store. It'd just be a little bit of a wait and I was already there. It was funny 'cuz I'd randomly got a last minute work meeting sent to me between checking my calendar before I left and getting to the store. But it worked out funny enough because I was able to get on the call while I was waiting for the tailoring to be done anyway. But I felt a little goofy being huddled in the corner of the back room of the store on the phone (it was an empty room and isolated so again, it did work out). Then later after work, Mary Beth and I went on another short walk around the neighborhood. So that was good. Oh, and I keep forgetting to mention that the other day (Monday), I made a dumb little list thing for the books I read back in 2005. So that's could be a fun way to waste one of your precious minutes!

In the evening Mary Beth and I went for a short walk around the neighborhood. When we came back we were greeted once again by Peanut so we had a little hang-out session with her. That's about it!

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!

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.

We 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.

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!

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.

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.

We were originally going to go to this birthday thing yesterday but it ended up getting cancelled. So we just hung out at home and took it easy. Not a whole lot to report about it.

Pretty 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!