ateolf | Okay, I guess that last one wasn't really the "Beyond"...

Before I continue, I forgot to mention that at the record shop I got a Birthday Party t-shirt with the cover of the "Mr. Clarinet" single. Pretty sweet. Mary Beth pointed it out to me too. Okay, so after Death grips it was back over to the auditorium for Harold Budd. This was a really good show. It was him with Keith Lowe, don't know who he is but he plays bass. It actually reminded me of Swans, at least the way it starts. This guy came on stage and started rolling on this giant gong. He had his back to the crowd. He went with this steady roll for somewhere between five and ten minutes. Reminded me of how last year's Swans show started. Then Harold Budd and Keith Lowe came out and he started bowing the bass and the gongist left. Once again, sitting in those auditorium seats and my current physical state I started nodding off a little bit. Still, it was the best show of the proper Moogfest shows we went to. I wasn't sure what to expect 'cuz all I'd heard was Ambient 2 from thirty years ago, but it was an impressive show. After that we went to the worst venue I've ever been to: Asheville Music Hall. We went to see Prefuse 73. There was a line wrapped around the block, we weren't sure we'd be able to make it in, but there was nothing else going on of interest so we waited. It was cold too. After a while we did get to the front, we're getting our id's checked and being let in when the owner comes out and lets two other people in so then they stop us and make us wait again (during which time the bouncer lets some young girl who walks up come in). When we finally get in, the show was pretty good. The venue did seem like a shady shithole. Okay, so we're off afterwards to our motel. In the morning we tried to have breakfast at Early Girl but the wait was too long (same for Tupelo Honey) so we went to the place that wasn't crowded: Jerusalem Cafe. Okay, then it's off to the drive home. We did pretty good. We got back home and I was lazy but I had to work. Being out of town for two weekends in a row kinda messed me up work-wise. Not terrible, but I've gotten behind in grading and have been playing catch up. A lot of lacking in sleep. Anyway, what else this week? Not too much I can think of. On Halloween, in between fits of grading, Mary Beth and I dressed up in our costume(s). We went as a painting: Magritte's The Lovers (the one with the couple kissing with sheets over their heads). We took some pictures. Then I unchanged and worked some more. Also, I got in the mail a book I'd ordered a while back: Red Sorghum by Mo Yan (yeah, being a Nobel groupie again, but his stuff seemed really up my alley anyway). I went to the gym alone last night. It had been a long time since I was out of town and busy and had skipped over a whole week. I was benching a weight I had been completing, but I guess it's been three weeks since I'd done that lift. I was going for my last one and I was stupid, I should have quit before but I couldn't get the bar up and some guys had to come over and help me. I had it up on one side but just missed the other then I tried again (same thing but the sides were switched). When the bar came down the second time it smack my face a bit. It didn't bruise or nothing but does feel mildly tender if I touch it. That was pretty stupid and amateurish of me. Anyway. Today at was was kinda crazy. There was a ribbon cutting ceremony at the end of the day for our new football field with some bigger folks attending, including Congressman Steve Cohen. So we herd all the kids up in the stadium. It was a pretty hot afternoon. Also there was an infestation of ladybugs. Now, I wouldn't take the latter to be a big deal, but these kids who I guess have never seen the outdoors before certainly did. They were being whiney brats over the heat and the ladybugs and were kinda flipping out over the latter. Then they all tried to leave before dismissed and I was up in the stands in front and had to play crowd control to a mob. They all got up and pressed forward and had to wait. It was pretty lame. Anyway, because of that though, I did get off just a teensy bit earlier than usual and now I've had an early start to the weekend! Weekend! Fucking yes! Oh wait, a tidbit I never mentioned from earlier, about the Swans show: before it started, I got a little peek backstage and all the band members doing a big round of giving each other hugs. That's all.