dallas is a city and green is a colour

i'm sure that a lot of you are sick to death of my shamefully incessant mentioning of dallas green on this blog- but i don't really give a shit so open up wide because here comes another spoonful.

dallas green (of alexisonfire fame) released a solo record of accoustic songs that are so beautifully melodic that you have to actually be completely deaf (or stupid) in order to not appreciate them. in carrying on the tradition of the modern musician, dallas released a video for "save your scissors" which is getting mad airplay currently on much music.

you can watch it here.

also- i've recently discovered a band from the famous flat lands of kansas- famous for the wizard of oz, tornadoes and nick seaman. the new amsterdams hail from the booming metropolis (i jest) of lawrence and i'm growing enormously fond of their folky sound. preview their tunes here.

three random things that i'm to lazy to contextualize and therefore must put into list format:

1. i find it very disturbing that the cream cheese i purchased from the store a few days ago doesn't expire until july. i demand an explanation.

2. people in my building have been posting strongly-worded notes on the security door proclaiming their dissatisfaction with the irregular floor mopping schedule of the super. in response, some resourceful buddhist has begun posting karmic messages reminding us all that 'words have wings' and 'namaste!'.

lastly...

3. i'm making creme brulee tonight for the first time. wish me luck.

we'll cut these rows of goodyear like a knife

tonight i went to see the documentary why we fight.

Somehow, no matter how many times i witness the calculated deception that has come to personify the bush administration- i am still shocked.

it's just all so depressing.

in a dream

today i went to a funeral for a baby.

for six months he was perfectly healthy. at one point barb asked me how old most babies are when you can put them in a highchair because daniel still couldn't hold his head up. a few weeks later she stopped coming to work.

eventually we all found out that he had a degenerative disease that prevented his body from absorbing sugar. there's nothing that can be done for it. i'm completely in awe of how incredibly strong barb was through the whole thing. she was at the hospital every day with him, sleeping in a chair beside his crib. in fact, she was so optimistic about the entire thing that i didn't fully realize the severity of the situation until she told me one evening that he was completely blind and deaf and rhymed off the list of sedatives that he was recieving via i.v.

he died in the hospital on wednesday. seven months old.

this afternoon at the reception she said she was feeling surprisingly relaxed because the fact that he's no longer in pain is a tremendous comfort. she said that she feels like she's floating in a dream and that everything will be ok.

it's freezing cold today...but at least the sun is shining.

too late tonight, i'm gone. you're miles ahead and i'm lost...

MONEEN was rockin last night. the opening bands were good, but i have no patience for opening bands, to be quite honest- and so i was somewhat annoyed that there were three of them to sit through. i've seen videos of live performances of moneen before but i still was surprised by how much energy kenny has. he jumps all over the stage in a manner that can only be compared to my four year old nephew after he eats too much chocolate birthday cake. they played all the songs i had hoped they would, including one that they re-recorded with alexisonfire. at the end of it all, kenny hugged everyone that was standing near the stage (myself included) and told me to feel the puffy screen print on his dallas green t-shirt.

a good time was had by all. i bought this shirt.

in other news, i am going to see nine inch nails again at the beginning of march. it's in london, ontario and so i had to look up the cost of greyhounding it out there. it's 27.50 one way which made me want to throw up in my mouth a little. good thing vic is driving us back otherwise i'd be sending trent a nasty letter demanding reimbursement for the fare as well as for the t-shirt that i will inevitably feel compelled to purchase.

good grief.

moneen, evergreen, and bon voyage baby (maybe)

tonight i am going to see moneen at the underground in metropolitan hamilton. all are welcome to join me while i nod my head and sway around singling the wrong lyrics (quietly, so as not to seem completely retarded).

if you're still not sure you want to go to the show, you can preview some of moneen's greatest hits at their myspace website here.

also, i picked up my passport from the passport office today. i now have permission sanctioned by the queen of england to leave this country. not that i've planned to go anywhere or anything- but i do have five years in which to get something together before it expires.

stay tuned for my epic story of how i pissed off everyone in my apartment last week whilst attempting to sneak a dead christmas tree out of my place (yes, in february).

it's a doozey.

drowning or just waving?

i'm really bad at days off.

mostly what i mean by that is that i'm bad at days off alone. as i have no phone, no internet, no cable and no newspaper subscription to speak of, i am literally cut off completely from the civilized world (if you can call hamilton civilized...which i normally don't, but will- for the sake of this explanation). all that considered, i always feel like i'm in the middle of some bad dream on my days off when i nothing/no one to see/do. not a nightmare, by any stretch- just one of those weird bad dreams that always involve people from the office who you can't look in the eye at lunch time for a week or so afterward. i guess the bottom line is that i just feel bored. also- i'm annoyed with myself at how inadequate i have become at passing the time when i'm stuck with myself for the day. in fact, just reading over that last sentence has me feeling a bit bored and inadequate already.

let's move on before i lose the will to live, shall we?

i went to see brokeback mountain this evening. the whole story going on there just made me feel sad and further depressed about my current living situation. i love how everyone is always patting me on the back and pinching my cheeks, telling me how wonderful and fabulous it is to be young and out on your own and how i should cherish this time because i'll look back on it in years to come as some gloriously freeing experience and blah blah blah.

anyway.

my goal for the month is to learn how to just be alone- without feeling lonely.

respeck

this is a round-up post, nick style.

so i got blog-recognized yesterday, yo.

the celebrated and introverted purveyor and performer of buckshot blues, alfie smith told me that he googled his name and saw that i made mention of him on a blog back in july. based on photographic evidence (so much for plausible deniability), he deduced that it was i, west town waitress extraordinaire, who had ripped one of his songs onto my algonquin tape this past summer (alfie, i swear i'd give you the money for it if i hadn't donated every cent plus most of my clothes to starving children in africa...err...)

blogebrity a-list, here i come.

in other news, paul has recently introduced me to da ali g show, which is a uk import (much like paul himself). watch it, learn it, love it, lest you die, old and withered, with an unfulfilled soul.

also- as i have previously mentioned, city and colour (featuring dallas green of alexisonfire fame) is currently rocking my world and thus i suggest you all purchase it immediately for your oral- oops i mean aural- pleasure.

oh yeah, before i forget, some of you may have had the joyous opportunity of watching bush's state of the union extravaganza last night. for equally insightful and awe inspiring commentary on young dubbya and his gay lover condoleezza rice, head to matthew good's blog here.

for real- that's a maaaaaan, baby. these are even more unbelievable. if you buy three, you don't pay the s&h on the second, third, OR the mounted head of an arab that they send out FREE OF CHARGE. with deals like that, you can't afford NOT to get in on the war on civil liberties- er, i mean, global terrorism.

sniff you jerks later, nick-style.