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ateolfstarting from the beginning i guess...thursday at work i finished reading Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais...then i left work early and then came home, Josh retrieved Mario (it was so weird not having to take care of him we'd been doing it so long and it took up so much of our day...) then it was off to Wisconsin! (and i would have still been at work when we left...it's fun doing things like when you'd otherwise be at work...) we made a lot of progress that evening...we made it a bit into Illinois...i was expecting to make like maybe four hours, but we made more like six hours...so the drive the next day wasn't bad at all and we were in Madison before five pm...the weather coming up was really nice, by the way...
we got to Madison and um...first we went to Ella's Deli, a place Jacques and Amber had been when they went there before...it's like a Jewish food place with kugel and blintzes and all that sort of goodness...and then there's all these goofy things flying all over the place...like Spiderman with a gaping anus and other superheros flying around on wires and motors and such...it's pretty awesome...then we wandered around downtown Madison, went to a record store but didn't get nothin'...we read in the local section of The Onion about some show that seemed interesting and cheap and i wanted to go but no one else did so we stayed in and ordered pizza...
the next day was when i started getting sick...i was sick for like two days, to varying degrees of sickness...i had a tummyache...the worst was the night of the Throbbing Gristle show, unfortunately, but more about that later...saturday we drove to visit House on the Rock...it was pretty stupid and awesome...a few times i thought we might die...well, of course there's the "ifninity room"...a room the dude that built it had jutting out of the house over the mountainous valley with no extra support...i forget the numbers, but it's like a hallway that sticks out for quite a few yards and is supposed to look like it goes on infinitely, but clearly looks like it just gets small and narrow and slopes up in obvious miniature imitation...but yeah, it wouldn't've been the heights issue, but the fucking thing creaks with every little step and as you get out towards the end you really don't trust the architectural prowess of the loon that devised this goofy house...then there's the loon that devised that goofy house's final goofy triumph: a giant model of a blue whale fighting a squid (instead of being in miniature, it's much larger than the real thing...) it's like three or four stories tall...this is in the exhibitions area, not part of the main house, but this kind've warehouse-like extension in a separate building that has all this goofy crap...many automatons that you have to stuff with tokens to play...anyway...the squid-fighting-whale room: you go up this long ramp that goes around the walls to the top of the sea montster battle that has all these nautical-related cases of more junk in 'em...fine and dandy, i didn't pay too much attention to the contents of the case because i'm, again, fearing for my life as with every step of the way the entire cases along the wall are shaking and rattling next to you...the best part: after you survive making it all the way up there, you have the walk back down the same perilous ramp...nice...so the best part are all the music automatons that you have to stuff with quarters to play...though the electric guitar-playing octopus ate my money...they made cds of the music, but i fear they were recorded when the instruments were in their prime and not slightly out of tune and not with some of the mechanics getting off (the drums in quite a few were playing at a completely different tempo...it was awesome...) as well as just finally having that old quality about them...i wanted the cd but i was scared the music would sound too "good" and not at all as awesome as it sounded when i took the tour...but maybe it'd still have that weird mechanical feel...i don't know...i didn't take the risk...i wish they made shirts that said "I survived the House on the Rock!" on the way back through narrow winding rural Wisconsin roads we visisted a little petting zoo (though it was raining and the animals weren't all out) and got some awesome cheese at a place that was just about to close ('cuz the place we originally wanted to go to had just closed...)
well so that night was the Bottomless Pit show that brought us to Madison in the first place...i think when we walked in the club some girls made fun of us...as we walked in and next to them (there was hardly anyone there...it's a small venue) one said "looks like a real rockin' crowd here tonight" and then her friend elbowed her in that shut-up-they're-right-there way...if they were indeed talking about us, as is almost certain, it's pretty funny 'cuz they look like they shop at hot topic...anyway, the show: Wereworm opened and i liked them quite a bit...next was The Bismarck who i thought were pretty bad...Bottomless Pit was alright...i don't have much insight...this is after a few nights of not a whole lot of sleep so i was pretty tired at this point...i'll add here that the trip was pretty awesome 'cuz for a whole lot of it we were at that point of tiredness and sleep deprivation in which EVERYTHING we say is completely hilarious and we're laughing nonstop at about everything...i find that to be quite a fun state to be in...well, it makes up for missing sleep anyway...
between Madison and Chicago i lost my "My other guitar is a theremin." sticker off my car...we had to drive through a lot of skyarrhea so i guess that blew it away...sad...i can't get another one...i was lucky to get that one (i had it on my previous car and when i got my current car i wanted it again 'cuz it's so awesome but they'd just stopped making it...they were kind and had a few extras and sent me that one for free...) we got to Chicago and met Rob...i feel bad 'cuz i wasn't quite all there being tired and having a really upset stomach...checking into the hotel was nerve-racking....the attendant was all super-professional and polite in that over-the-top way for fancy hotels and all (which is odd 'cuz we were staying at a Days Inn, albiet the one in the city and kind of downtown-ish...but i guess city Days Inns are fancier...) well, of course to stay there it was a little more expensive so we lied about how many people are in the room as is customary and right...but the guy checking us in (just me and Mary Beth, of course) had that air of knowing but not letting on excpet maybe through obsequiousness...it's hard to say exactly how, but it made me a bit nervous...we got off without a hitch, but by the time we went in next (after the show) he was gone...oh and we got upgraded for free to a fancier room with big beds so that's pretty sweet...i'll add here i was extra nervous because when i bought the room i ordered online and had the price for two people and all up...just out of curiousity i opened a new tab to see how much it was for four people, then closed the tab went back and purchased the tickets at the two person price...well, i guess it fucked up the cookies or whatever 'cuz after i bought 'em it was the price for four people...and this was a buy-it-now-save-$15 nonrefundable deal...so i had to call the 800 number and get a supervisor and then they had to call the hotel to verify it and all...so i was even more paranoid they knew...anyway...that's a long boring story...now to Throbbing Gristle!:
we were pretty short on time but we made it...i was surprised because we got to the very front of the stage...i bought merch first: a show-specific t-shirt, a tour-specific cd (The Third Mind Movements that i'm listening to now) and a commemorative pin...well, they played their first set which was awesome...i may have liked it just slightly more...they improvised another soundtrack to In the Shadow of the Sun with the film playing...so we're excited and up front and then of course because there was two shows with two ticket prices everyone had to leave and come back in for the two shows...we were pretty good in getting back in but the people with vip tickets had a slight advantage on us so we couldn't get right up front...the others went up in the balcony but even though i was having terrible stomach pain i couldn't not stand in front of the band (i'll add that i watched Throbbing Gristle with my pants completely undone, just held up by my belt...my stomach hurt really bad...) but i'm tuff...i was still pretty close, only a few people back...the opening act was some guy making noise (i forget his name) and he had a pretty nifty light show...he wasn't on the stage, but at the back i guess working the lights and effects pedals...i liked what i heard...then Throbbing Gristle played their "hits" set...it was mostly stuff i'd expect, but they opened with "Very Friendly" and i did not expect that at all and it was awesome...my only (very mild) complaint about the show was that most of their songs were very downbeat heavy with the bassdrumish sounds...it got all the "industrial" doofuses there stompin'...but they were really good...they played "Five Knuckle Shuffle" which was on the top of what i wanted to hear...they were also in a real amicable, jolly mood...lots of joking and good-naturedness...Peter looked like a kindly, old professor...
i finally got some good sleep which was good for the drive back...before leaving Chicago we ate at some place that's apparently had a lot of hype but deserves whatever hype they've ever received: a vegan bakery called Bleeding Heart...and being all vegan and organic and all that stuff their chocolate is "fair trade" so i had the first chocolate out at a restaurant/whatever i've had in FOREVER! and their stuff was so fucking good...we all ate a ton...that was our breakfast/lunch...we still have some we brought home with us...oh yeah, i took full advantage of chocolate privileges and mostly got chocolate stuff...i had to indulge in that luxury...the drive back had a lot of rain too...oh well...when we were almost home, just outside West Memphis, the traffic was stopped just a few cars ahead of us and we had to wait like twenty minutes...it looked like a truck had been on fire and there were tons of emergency vehicles and we had to wait for an ambulance to leave...i don't know what happened but it looked really bad...pretty unsettling...
but we got back and had a good trip (me too in spite of being sick and Throbbing Gristle was totally worth it...) back to work today...i start my working nine fucking days in a row...(i couldn't take vacation time off and had to just stack two weekends together so i've got a long stretch til my next weekend...) it was worth it by far, of course...but still now that it's over the lots of work isn't thrilling...not that my job's that hard or anything, just having to get up and go somewhere nine days in a row to do anything for eight and a half hours a day is kinda lame...anyway, as far as the not-lame i finished reading Complete Works: 3 1963-1969 by Harold Pinter today...oh yeah, and the cats are super happy Mary Beth and i are home now...if i forgot anything maybe i'll remember to post it later (and sorry for the long boring post...though you most likely didn't make it this far so the apology is lost...)
we got to Madison and um...first we went to Ella's Deli, a place Jacques and Amber had been when they went there before...it's like a Jewish food place with kugel and blintzes and all that sort of goodness...and then there's all these goofy things flying all over the place...like Spiderman with a gaping anus and other superheros flying around on wires and motors and such...it's pretty awesome...then we wandered around downtown Madison, went to a record store but didn't get nothin'...we read in the local section of The Onion about some show that seemed interesting and cheap and i wanted to go but no one else did so we stayed in and ordered pizza...
the next day was when i started getting sick...i was sick for like two days, to varying degrees of sickness...i had a tummyache...the worst was the night of the Throbbing Gristle show, unfortunately, but more about that later...saturday we drove to visit House on the Rock...it was pretty stupid and awesome...a few times i thought we might die...well, of course there's the "ifninity room"...a room the dude that built it had jutting out of the house over the mountainous valley with no extra support...i forget the numbers, but it's like a hallway that sticks out for quite a few yards and is supposed to look like it goes on infinitely, but clearly looks like it just gets small and narrow and slopes up in obvious miniature imitation...but yeah, it wouldn't've been the heights issue, but the fucking thing creaks with every little step and as you get out towards the end you really don't trust the architectural prowess of the loon that devised this goofy house...then there's the loon that devised that goofy house's final goofy triumph: a giant model of a blue whale fighting a squid (instead of being in miniature, it's much larger than the real thing...) it's like three or four stories tall...this is in the exhibitions area, not part of the main house, but this kind've warehouse-like extension in a separate building that has all this goofy crap...many automatons that you have to stuff with tokens to play...anyway...the squid-fighting-whale room: you go up this long ramp that goes around the walls to the top of the sea montster battle that has all these nautical-related cases of more junk in 'em...fine and dandy, i didn't pay too much attention to the contents of the case because i'm, again, fearing for my life as with every step of the way the entire cases along the wall are shaking and rattling next to you...the best part: after you survive making it all the way up there, you have the walk back down the same perilous ramp...nice...so the best part are all the music automatons that you have to stuff with quarters to play...though the electric guitar-playing octopus ate my money...they made cds of the music, but i fear they were recorded when the instruments were in their prime and not slightly out of tune and not with some of the mechanics getting off (the drums in quite a few were playing at a completely different tempo...it was awesome...) as well as just finally having that old quality about them...i wanted the cd but i was scared the music would sound too "good" and not at all as awesome as it sounded when i took the tour...but maybe it'd still have that weird mechanical feel...i don't know...i didn't take the risk...i wish they made shirts that said "I survived the House on the Rock!" on the way back through narrow winding rural Wisconsin roads we visisted a little petting zoo (though it was raining and the animals weren't all out) and got some awesome cheese at a place that was just about to close ('cuz the place we originally wanted to go to had just closed...)
well so that night was the Bottomless Pit show that brought us to Madison in the first place...i think when we walked in the club some girls made fun of us...as we walked in and next to them (there was hardly anyone there...it's a small venue) one said "looks like a real rockin' crowd here tonight" and then her friend elbowed her in that shut-up-they're-right-there way...if they were indeed talking about us, as is almost certain, it's pretty funny 'cuz they look like they shop at hot topic...anyway, the show: Wereworm opened and i liked them quite a bit...next was The Bismarck who i thought were pretty bad...Bottomless Pit was alright...i don't have much insight...this is after a few nights of not a whole lot of sleep so i was pretty tired at this point...i'll add here that the trip was pretty awesome 'cuz for a whole lot of it we were at that point of tiredness and sleep deprivation in which EVERYTHING we say is completely hilarious and we're laughing nonstop at about everything...i find that to be quite a fun state to be in...well, it makes up for missing sleep anyway...
between Madison and Chicago i lost my "My other guitar is a theremin." sticker off my car...we had to drive through a lot of skyarrhea so i guess that blew it away...sad...i can't get another one...i was lucky to get that one (i had it on my previous car and when i got my current car i wanted it again 'cuz it's so awesome but they'd just stopped making it...they were kind and had a few extras and sent me that one for free...) we got to Chicago and met Rob...i feel bad 'cuz i wasn't quite all there being tired and having a really upset stomach...checking into the hotel was nerve-racking....the attendant was all super-professional and polite in that over-the-top way for fancy hotels and all (which is odd 'cuz we were staying at a Days Inn, albiet the one in the city and kind of downtown-ish...but i guess city Days Inns are fancier...) well, of course to stay there it was a little more expensive so we lied about how many people are in the room as is customary and right...but the guy checking us in (just me and Mary Beth, of course) had that air of knowing but not letting on excpet maybe through obsequiousness...it's hard to say exactly how, but it made me a bit nervous...we got off without a hitch, but by the time we went in next (after the show) he was gone...oh and we got upgraded for free to a fancier room with big beds so that's pretty sweet...i'll add here i was extra nervous because when i bought the room i ordered online and had the price for two people and all up...just out of curiousity i opened a new tab to see how much it was for four people, then closed the tab went back and purchased the tickets at the two person price...well, i guess it fucked up the cookies or whatever 'cuz after i bought 'em it was the price for four people...and this was a buy-it-now-save-$15 nonrefundable deal...so i had to call the 800 number and get a supervisor and then they had to call the hotel to verify it and all...so i was even more paranoid they knew...anyway...that's a long boring story...now to Throbbing Gristle!:
we were pretty short on time but we made it...i was surprised because we got to the very front of the stage...i bought merch first: a show-specific t-shirt, a tour-specific cd (The Third Mind Movements that i'm listening to now) and a commemorative pin...well, they played their first set which was awesome...i may have liked it just slightly more...they improvised another soundtrack to In the Shadow of the Sun with the film playing...so we're excited and up front and then of course because there was two shows with two ticket prices everyone had to leave and come back in for the two shows...we were pretty good in getting back in but the people with vip tickets had a slight advantage on us so we couldn't get right up front...the others went up in the balcony but even though i was having terrible stomach pain i couldn't not stand in front of the band (i'll add that i watched Throbbing Gristle with my pants completely undone, just held up by my belt...my stomach hurt really bad...) but i'm tuff...i was still pretty close, only a few people back...the opening act was some guy making noise (i forget his name) and he had a pretty nifty light show...he wasn't on the stage, but at the back i guess working the lights and effects pedals...i liked what i heard...then Throbbing Gristle played their "hits" set...it was mostly stuff i'd expect, but they opened with "Very Friendly" and i did not expect that at all and it was awesome...my only (very mild) complaint about the show was that most of their songs were very downbeat heavy with the bassdrumish sounds...it got all the "industrial" doofuses there stompin'...but they were really good...they played "Five Knuckle Shuffle" which was on the top of what i wanted to hear...they were also in a real amicable, jolly mood...lots of joking and good-naturedness...Peter looked like a kindly, old professor...
i finally got some good sleep which was good for the drive back...before leaving Chicago we ate at some place that's apparently had a lot of hype but deserves whatever hype they've ever received: a vegan bakery called Bleeding Heart...and being all vegan and organic and all that stuff their chocolate is "fair trade" so i had the first chocolate out at a restaurant/whatever i've had in FOREVER! and their stuff was so fucking good...we all ate a ton...that was our breakfast/lunch...we still have some we brought home with us...oh yeah, i took full advantage of chocolate privileges and mostly got chocolate stuff...i had to indulge in that luxury...the drive back had a lot of rain too...oh well...when we were almost home, just outside West Memphis, the traffic was stopped just a few cars ahead of us and we had to wait like twenty minutes...it looked like a truck had been on fire and there were tons of emergency vehicles and we had to wait for an ambulance to leave...i don't know what happened but it looked really bad...pretty unsettling...
but we got back and had a good trip (me too in spite of being sick and Throbbing Gristle was totally worth it...) back to work today...i start my working nine fucking days in a row...(i couldn't take vacation time off and had to just stack two weekends together so i've got a long stretch til my next weekend...) it was worth it by far, of course...but still now that it's over the lots of work isn't thrilling...not that my job's that hard or anything, just having to get up and go somewhere nine days in a row to do anything for eight and a half hours a day is kinda lame...anyway, as far as the not-lame i finished reading Complete Works: 3 1963-1969 by Harold Pinter today...oh yeah, and the cats are super happy Mary Beth and i are home now...if i forgot anything maybe i'll remember to post it later (and sorry for the long boring post...though you most likely didn't make it this far so the apology is lost...)
