2008: The year in review

January 2008:

Jeanne and I welcomed 2008 at Regina and Jheri's house in Houston. We were drinking wine coolers and playing Nintendo when the clock struck twelve. My resolution was to not be working at Texas Art Supply by New Year's Eve, 2008 (and I've kept it!).
Jeanne began her final semester of graduate school at U of H, and we mostly hung out with her fellow MFA candidates. We had fun much of the time, even if not all friendships would survive by the middle of the year.





This is a good example of the phase I was going through a month after our show at the Joanna Gallery. I hated my art, and the art world in general and this sketchbook page was a way of venting and trying to sort things out.





Above is a picture of Jeanne, who had just been crowned as head of the Department of Glitterology at U of H. Despite how we might have felt about the Joanna show, great paintings and drawings were still being made in Jeanne's studio.

February:

My attention was turned more toward drawing in my sketchbooks, especially Out, C.K. than to painting.



It was also around this time that the combination of crack- head waiters and rancid marinara sauce caused us to stop eating at the 59 Diner in Houston. There was a very delicious banana split that we didn't expect to be so enormous, though:



We were accompanied on our outings by Regina and Jheri quite often. Here they are, amused at the idea of us consuming so much ice cream.


March:

Easter came early that year, and I paid tribute to the Holy Easter Bunny in my own very special way:




This was around the time I was going back to my roots, and busting out the 64 box of Crayolas as well as using Blo-Pens for the first time. Meanwhile, Jeanne was presenting her spectacular installation piece called "You Are The We of Me" at the small projects gallery in the U of H Fine Arts building; an installation which even the famous critic Raphael Rubinstein admitted was a superb and progressive piece of art. Below is a panoramic shot of the installation:





The opening for the show was a lot of fun! We went to the big Spec's in mid town Houston with Regina and Jheri to get snacks and booze the night before, and Jeanne had purchased a snow cone machine at Arnie's Party Supply with which to make snow ball daiquiris for opening night.


April:

April was the month of Grimace. It was here that we discovered the unwholesome truth: the former purple mascot of McDonald's restaurants was a monstrous serial killer!





May:

Jeanne and I officially get engaged! Five years after meeting her, I am sure that I have found the perfect companion with whom I want to share the rest of my life!




Here we are at the MFA show standing in front of one of Jeanne's hottest paintings, "Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise". It was then that we knew the inevitable changes that 2008 would bring were just around the corner...

June:

We went to Dallas to install "Playing With Fire", Jeanne's new video/installation piece at Central Track.





July:

The month where change became something very real and scary. Early on, there was serious talk about moving back to the New Orleans area now that Jeanne had finished graduate school. By the middle of July, Jeanne was not feeling well at all and she did not begin to feel better until the end of the month. Then, on the last day of July, we got the news that her dad, John Cassanova, had fallen down in his house and was suffering from sub-dural hematoma. Suddenly, moving back to New Orleans was not just conjecture anymore- it was a plan.

August:

I spent most of the month alone in Houston because Jeanne was with her family in Metairie and I had to work. It was also necessary for me to pack up Jeanne's studio at U of H and move out all of her stuff. By the end of the month, John Cassanova was in stable enough condition for us to commence with the move. I quit the job I held for three years at Texas Art Supply and immediately began looking for work in The New Orleans area to be met with little success. (As of this writing, I still do not have a full time job.)
Hurricane Gustav loomed in the Gulf as a potential Katrina-type threat, and our move back was complicated by it. But we made it back, and managed to find a nice house for rent in a quiet neighborhood for less than $1000 a month. Fortunately, New Orleans dodged the bullet this time.




September:


Still in the throes of hurricane season, Ike destroyed Galveston and damaged much of Houston.
For once, we were on the safe side of the Mississippi River. Meanwhile, we were settling in to our new home, even though Jeanne was looking after her dad during the day. Thankfully, his recovery was rapid and his spirit was strong.
I did find temporary employment as an art instructor for The LA Artworks Saturday Academy, but this would only last for seven weeks and I would be paid a stipend of $600. Still, it was good because it gave me a chance to get reaquainted with New Orleans every weekend.


October:

I set a goal for doing one drawing for every day in October, and I met that goal. By the end of the month, Mr. Cassanova was walking on his own again and feeling the mental and physical benefits of therapy.







November:

We watched as Obama won the presidency! It was also in November that the Saturday Academy ended and I was truly jobless. There were only a couple of paychecks and my savings to go through. Meanwhile, Jeanne was working two jobs, the first as an adjunct drawing instructor at UNO, the second as an elementary school teacher in Metairie.






December:

Snow fell on New Orleans for the first time in four years!





Above is my most recent attempt at a self portrait along with a donkey cut out that I painted for a live nativity scene. Daisy is also in the picture to make the works look much larger than they really are.
For Christmas 2008, Jeanne gave me a new bike! For the first time since before Katrina, I can ride a bike again! Thank you so much, Jeanne!


January 2009:


My new year's resolution: to stop getting angry about things that I cannot change or control.

Happy New Year!

The Installation Piece at The End of The Universe

Digital collage, 2008.

A recurring dream: Jeanne and I share some sort of large studio/garage/storage complex. We are always surprised and delighted to find even more space than we had previously thought there was. Also the lighting: There are rows of light bulbs at the top, sort of like those above our bathroom mirror.

Random thought fragments I thought I'd share

Ovid's Americana
digital collage 2008

On history:

One of the worst evils ever perpetrated against the world was colonialism. That and slavery would have to be the two biggest crimes of Western civilization. I wish I could proudly call myself an American, but this country was a product of both so that is something hard for me to do.

On the other hand, history is not my fault.

On work:

God did not intend for human beings to work pointless, unfulfilling, tedious jobs for the majority of their lives. Yes, we need to work in order to live, and in order to create things that are worthwhile, but our post industrialized culture is such that only robotic humanoids are adapted to survive, while people who have genuine callings fall to the wayside.
I would gladly work ten to twelve hours everyday on something that I genuinely love and care about for little or no money as opposed to some mindless and robotic job in retail for a large corporation that neither pays me for what my toil is worth, nor for what they can actually afford to pay me.

On religion:

There is no pomposity greater than telling another human being where they will go after they die.

Artists:

Depart from ordinary church.

Looking at a painting should be like walking into a Cathedral.

A painting should always make us feel as if we are standing on the threshold of something big.

An artist who cannot change the way people see cannot change the world.

Approach each painting as a conversation, not just as a statement.

Evaluate what is good and what is of value to the culture in which you live. How does it hold up and how does it fall apart under scrutiny?

Reconcile paradoxes as best you can.

Parallel universes exist in the eyes of the artist. Much of it is playing 'what if?'

IT IS NEVER TOO LATE! Stop lamenting the fact that you were not a child prodigy or that you did not make a name for yourself ten years ago! DO IT NOW!

Art as an experience remains mostly visual; even though we may view them, we are still very rarely allowed to touch sculptures or installations. The tactile experience is reserved exclusively for its maker, not for the observer.
How is this any less self indulgent on the part of the artist than action painting or other forms of painterly abstraction?

Lamenting for no good reason... (or the Tyranny of Originality)

"Nostalgia is the Opiate of the Masses"
Mixed media/canvas, 2008.

Jesus Christ! I can't paint cartoons! I can't paint abstract! I can't paint anything readable or it becomes "illustrative"! What the fuck am I supposed to paint?

So now that McCain lost, can we put SNL out of its misery too? It really just isn't funny anymore.

How 'bout dat Obama? I'm not one to put an inordinate amout of faith in career politicians, but I did vote for Obama and I am glad to see him win rather than McCain. Time will tell, of course, whether Obama can really fix anything and if he can do more than give pretty speeches. I'm not ready to sing his praises just yet, he still needs to wow us.
As for you Republican-types out there (if indeed any of you happen to read my blog at all.), your guy had almost half the popular vote and he conceded very graciously (despite the throngs of idiots chanting "USA!" at his campaign headquarters). If you're sore about it at all, then maybe now you can appreciate how us lefty-liberals felt eight years ago when we thought we had it made, and someone who did not represent us (or very few people in the world for that matter) won the election. History will serve as a reminder of how lousy a president we've had over the last eight years, and if anybody is better than Bush, then I'm glad that that "anybody" is Obama.

Happy Halloween!

Egotism comes with many negative connotations. But we all have egos, so why is it bad to be egotistical? Is art making possible without the ego to act as a filter? Is subjectivity possible without an ego? Say what you will, but I feel strongly that the answer is no.
Every artist, myself included, is a practicing egotist. That's why it's art, and not commodity. It is shaped by the ego, not by need, by use, or by nature. Perhaps the most humble thing an egotist can consider himself to be is a mere filter through which sensory input flows.
Art is more than just the application of skill, art is a cultivated means of interpreting the outer world subjectively. This is the function of the ego for artists and non-artists alike; the only difference is that the artist has something to show for it. A master carpenter can build some beautiful cabinets and be very proud of them, but all the while his mind might have been occupied with something beyond building cabinets. But if the artist is putting the necessary amount of contemplation into his work, then the painting, or drawing, or sculpture, or whatever is the physical end result of a mental process.
Input-thought-nerve impulse-muscle movement-tool manipulation-art object. A sequence that cannot exist without the ego to act as a filter. Even photography and digital art follow this sequence, though the tools are much more sophisticated.
The cabinet-maker also follows this process while cutting, assembling, and staining wood, but at its inception the decision is not to make something aesthetic (though pleasing to the eye his work might be), but to make something functional and useful. His input is filtered through the demands of his client who needs cabinets for his kitchen. "Shall I go with cherry stain, or maple? Maple would match the furniture in the living room, so I want you to stain them maple." And, since this is his livelihood, the carpenter complies.
This is why artists are not generally hired to design kitchens. The artist might want to paint the cabinets fuchsia with chartreuse pin stripes. In fact, he might not even give a damn whether they open or close properly, so long as they look good. "Useful" and "functional" are not words commonly used to describe art.
Is art, then, useless?
Yes, it is. It's completely useless. It might occasionally serve the purpose of earning its creator money, but the art itself does nothing. It just sits there or hangs there and people look at it.
Art objects are fossils of the ego. They are records of this one human existence. The right of that art to exist is the same as the right of that person to exist. "Useless" is not the same as "worthless". An original Picasso is useless, but it is not worthless. A person can be useless, but unless you're thinking like a sociopath, then no person is worthless.
Human existence is inexorably tied to the ego, and art is a product of the ego. Art can be good or bad just like people can be good or bad. Good art might be made by a bad person, while bad art might be made by a good person.
So to say that, "He sure is an egotistical asshole" might be accurate but egotistical is not necessarily bad. Artists are extremely egotistical people, but not all of them are bad people, in fact, some are rather nice. Artists are egotistical in the sense that the ego is a vital part of what they do.

seal in a fur coat
watercolor and ink on paper
2008

There was a rush of blood to my brain when I was walking back home from the library today. It felt good, almost euphoric. It was also kind of embarrassing, so I didn't really let myself enjoy it.
I was thinking of a song I liked, and also about drawings or paintings I could do. It all just clicked.
I checked out some books about architecture that I think I can mine for good samples. I'll take advantage of being between jobs and become a more productive artist. It just sucks to not have any money.

Jeanne Drawing
Graphite and watercolor on Bristol
2008

Lonely Frog
Watercolor and graphite on paper
2008

Self Portrait 10/08/08
Prismacolor pencils on recycled paper
2008

Sky Scape
Watercolor and Ink on paper
2008

Today, I walked to get an employment guide and contemplated my current condition. I applied basic Buddhist philosophy (which can be very helpful at certain junctures) and tried to pinpoint the cause of my current suffering: Jobless, idle, losing money, etc. Desire for work, desire to have an income, this is the cause of it.
We all need money to live. For money, most of us need to work. The desire for money is a necessary one. It goes beyond desire and into need.
I do not avoid work. Anybody I worked with at Texas Art Supply will tell you that I was no slacker. I do avoid people and situations involving them, however. This shyness and lack of confidence is something that I need to overcome. "Fear is the mind-killer", and all that stuff.
Hence, the removal of my plight involves the removal of the jobless state. It needs not be elaborated any further. The only hurdle I face is that which is imposed by my own mind, and only I am in control of my mind. Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action: These will remove any impediments to my advancement in life, and end this miserable state.

Pepto-Bear
Prismacolor pencils and ink on recycled paper
2008

Happy Spocktober, Everybody!
Prismacolor pencils and graphite on recycled paper
2008

The Law Offices of Robot, Nudibranch and Cowboy
Watercolor and ink on Bristol
2008

Mutes in the Emerald City
Watercolor and ink on Bristol
2008

The world is so ridiculous. We all have to pay for things that should be our birth right. We have to travel far away just to see something "natural".

What would you really give to be president?

Hey John McCain! If I vote for you, will you give me one of those 13 cars you've got? I sure could use an extra set of wheels and I could always sell it when our economy crumbles and a guy like me can't even afford a loaf of bread. Okay, just thought I'd run that past you! Thanks!

Back in NOLA!

We have returned to the New Orleans area after living and working in Houston, TX for three years. Yes, it does feel good to be back home. We mostly returned because of our families, but also because of a general quality of life that we felt was missing back in Houston. Yeah, there were good times and great people in Houston, but to us, nothing beats the Crescent City.
So for better or worse, here we are, and here we shall remain.

Things that happen on a work night around 10:30 when I should be sleeping:

1. Neighbor turns his stereo way up.
2. Phone rings.
3. Dog wants to play (after sleeping most of the evening).
4. I fuck around on Flickr and deprive myself of sleep.

So you see, I have only myself to blame...

Hello everyone!

The incredible secret behind Bob's good posture...

It's Saturday night/Sunday morning, and I'm staying up late just because I can. So there.

It's Not A Party 'Til Pink Shows Up

Digital collage, 2008

I've been griping a lot in these posts lately, but doing this collage made me happy and hopefully it'll do the same for you. The past week was pretty busy for me, what with moving stuff out of Jeanne's studio and with my job, which I'll only have for another six days. Goodbye U of H, goodbye Texas Art Supply, and after this month is over, goodbye Houston!

A CYBERSPACE MILESTONE!

Elated because my Flickr account just hit 500 views. Pathetic, I know, but if I don't indulge in checking it every five minutes, I just start to miss Jeanne and feel sad. Another accomplishment I made this weekend was scarfing down a dozen cake donuts over three days (well, Daisy helped a little..)- I'm trying to gain back all of the weight I lost since I stopped eating fast food.

The meat in an asshole sandwich

10:30 should be my bed time, but I'm usually up for a couple more hours doing shit like this. My asshole neighbors upstairs are playing their stupid music at absurd volumes and scampering back and forth like tree dwelling rodents. There's a Penske truck downstairs blocking three parking spots with more assholes moving their stuff into an apartment close to ours. Daisy won't stop barking at them. I'll be glad to move out of this place.

down

Nothing is more depressing than looking for a job...

"The Verdict is Read"

Acrylic and colored pencil on canvas, 2007.

You can see a lot more than this if you visit my Flickr.

The back story: Here, the embodiment of evil is being sentenced by the most perfect system of justice in the universe: a newly hatched chick. The crowd is there to witness the joyous event of evil being banished once-and-for-all and it consists of some of the greatest champions of the imagination that ever have or ever will exist. Try to spot some of the famous faces in the crowd!

Have a Marvel-ous Sunday!

For those who can't read my scrawls: "Wants to look like Wolverine, but can't grow the sideburns."

"Thor comics read:10,084. Girls kissed: -5"

For more of my characters and drawings, check out my newly updated Flickr page! Excelsior, True Believers!

Human = Obsolete

Robots can now play instruments! Watch out, human session musicians!

They're also picking up chicks at dance clubs! Once they come up with a penis attachment, we're screwed!

As you may or may not know, robots have infiltrated every aspect of human society, especially when it comes to our music! Nobody has embraced this mechanized march toward supremacy like our friends, the Japanese. Robots are now making all of their music for them and by the year 2030, they will surely provide entertaining background music for the giant battling robot wars to come! This is what will probably be heard on the radio during this era:

1. "Robot" - The Futureheads
2. "Feel The Machine" - The Chalets
3. "My Heart Rate Rapid" - Metronomy
4. "Alala" - CSS
5. "Plastic Stars" - Freezepop
6. '"Sex, War And Robots" - Super Furry Animals
7. "Boatfriend" - Black Moth Super Rainbow
8. "Do The Whirlwind" - Architecture In Helsinki
9. "Ready For The Floor" - Hot Chip
10. "Is It Medicine" - The Knife
11. " Freedom Of Choice" - Devo
12. "The Good Thing" - The Talking Heads
13. "Miss Teen Word Power" - The New Pornographers
14. "14 Zero Zero" - Console
15. "I Am The Alphabet" - Black Moth Super Rainbow
16. "Mine Is In Yours" - Mouse On Mars
17. "Cosmic Country Noir" - Stereolab
18. "Rainbow Flag" - Matmos
19. "Their Prayer" - The Kleptones
20. " Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots pt 1" - The Flaming Lips
21. "Robot Rock" - Daft Punk

Schnoonupp!

Have a Great W.E.E.K.E.N.D. , Everybody!

Friday night! No work tomorrow! I have a play list for just such a sweet deal:

1. "W.E.E.K.E.N.D." - Arling & Cameron
2. "Nothing To Do With Me" - Stereolab
3. "The Model" - Belle & Sebastian
4. "Light of Love" - Music Go Music
5. "Saturday Night" - Jason Anderson
6. "Sunday Girl" - Blondie
7. "Lazer Beam" - Super Furry Animals
8. "Debbie" - Architecture in Helsinki
9. "Less Talk More Rokk" - Freezepop
10. "Kelly Watch the Stars" (Moog Co remix) - Air
11. "Shake A Fist" - Hot Chip
12. "Faberge Falls For Shuggie" - Of Montreal
13. "For The Price of a Cup of Tea" - Belle & Sebastian
14. "She's My Shoo-Shoo" - Os Mutantes
15. "Three Women" - Stereolab
16. "Gammal Sang" - Veronica Maggio
17. "Le Flic et la Fille" - Arling & Cameron

As always, thank you , Jeanne, for the stuff I never would have heard if not for you. It is you who makes my weekends worth working for!

"Spare the Goats and Spoil the Lambs!"

Listen to these songs in the order that I have compiled them! Quickly! The Four Lego Horsemen of the Apocalypse are coming!

1. "Psychiatric Explorations of the Fetus With Needles" - The Flaming Lips
2. "Thalassocracy" - Frank Black
3. "Hermann Loves Pauline" - Super Furry Animals
4. "I'm Sleeping in a Submarine" - The Arcade Fire
5. "Vegan In Furs" - Of Montreal
6. "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk" - Pink Floyd
7. "The Way To Salvation" - King Missile
8. "Drain You" - Nirvana
9. "Peek-A-Boo" - Legendary Pink Dots
10. "Bad Dreams" - Lyrics Born
11. " The Owls Go" - Architecture in Helsinki
12. "Kono Samurai" - Yamasuki
13. "Syrtis Major" - The Flaming Lips
14. "Million Miles" - Devil's Gun
15. "Father Father #1" - Super Furry Animals
16. "This Devil's Workday" - Modest Mouse
17. "Space Hole" - MarchFourth Marching Band
18. "Space is Gonna Do Me Good" - Frank Black
19. "Another Devil Dies" - Badly Drawn Boy
20. "Rock 'N' Roll Suicide" - David Bowie
21. "Father Father #2" - Super Furry Animals
22. "Atomik Lust" - Super Furry Animals

Enjoy it, you heathens!

What is there better to do?

For some people, doing this seems as compulsory as ass scratching. But my posting is often hindered by the attitude that I really don't have anything to post about, and this time is possibly no exception. For the two or three individuals who do check this blog regularly, I apologize. I know fully the disappointment you must be suffering through.
Woofoink will never be BS Artblog. Nor will it ever, in my wildest imaginings, be something like Neatorama. But on the other hand, I can assure you that it won't degenerate into some pretentious, faux-art forum for my own warped ego whose title borrows from music I didn't even know I liked until I found out that some cooler person liked it...Oh wait-that's exactly what this is turning into. Dammit!
Yeah, I'll spell it all out for you: I'm pretty boring. But then, why the fuck do I have to entertain you? There are millions of ways you could have a better time on the Internet - right now you could jerk off (or finger yourself!) to some porn! In fact, why don't you go and do that, then wash your hands, and come back here when you're done. It's OK, I'll make a new play list on itunes while you're gone...


Ah, you're back! Had fun? Are your hands clean? Did you use soap? Cherry soap? Cherry shampoo?
What I actually did while you whapped your dang was take the dog outside to defecate. Fun? You betcha!
Was there actually a point to this post? Oh yeah! Woofoink is not so much about amusing hipsters as it is about Reg being a total jackass who only does posts about his own nerdy hobbies!For example, instead of drawing or painting right now, I am currently working on play lists to keep myself occupied. The following was composed over the last few days and I haven't really made up a name for it yet:

1. "Black and White Blues" (Leadbelly tribute) - Nirvana
2. "Plateau" - Meatpuppets
3. "She Purred While I Grrred" - Wild Beasts
4. "Everything Disappears When You Come Around" - Of Montreal
5. "Kite" - Kate Bush
6. "The Great Beyond" - Aimee Mann
7. "Mason City" - The Fiery Furnaces
8. "Believo" - Enon
9. "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter" - Nirvana
10. "They Punctured My Yolk" - The Flaming Lips
11. "One Chance" - Modest Mouse
12. "The Couple In Bed Together ..." - Of Montreal
13. "In The Pines" - Leadbelly
14. "Eight Line Poem" - David Bowie
15. "Holy Grail" - Badly Drawn Boy
16. "Stay (Just A Little Bit More)" - The Do
17. "The Vanishing Spies" - Frank Black
18. "The Whistling Song" - Meatpuppets
19. "Oh Me" - Nirvana/Meatpuppets

Play lists are like recipes to me - I didn't make the ingredients, but I did combine them to make a meal. Half of the songs on this list I can't even take credit for discovering - they were found by Jeanne who does much more diligent music research and stays much more current than I do.
What I was going for with this one was kind of a tribute to Nirvana Unplugged in New York, hence the use of Leadbelly, Meatpuppets, and David Bowie. But in addition, I selected music that gives me sort of the same feeling of listening to that album. I will provide a bit of explanation as to why I made some choices:
"Black and White Blues" is a somewhat fumbling attempt by Kurt Cobain to render a Leadbelly classic. I admire it for this reason, since we always think of Kurt Cobain as a rock star, but seldom as a fan of other artists. And clumsy as it might sound, I doubt that any guitarist I personally know could perform the song any better.
"Plateau" and "Oh Me" are both songs written by The Meatpuppets. "Oh Me" was performed along with Nirvana on their Unplugged album, and even after about 14 years , it remains one of the most hauntingly beautiful songs I've ever heard. But just because The Meatpuppets kick ass of their own accord, I threw in "The Whistling Song".
Wild Beasts are a group I'd definitely like to hear more of. "She Purred While I Grrred" is Jeanne's favorite song right now, and I'm digging it too. The singer's screaming is a little reminiscent of Cobain. "Stay" by The Do is another find I'd like to thank Jeanne for. Clever lyrics combined with the mellow strumming of what sounds like a ukulele will always win me over. And truly if not for Jeanne, I probably wouldn't have heard of Enon or The Fiery Furnaces, either.
I will admit that it took some time for Kate Bush to grow on me, but I have come around to being an admirer of her versatility as demonstrated in the song "Kite", with its reggae-like beat. (Incidentally, Kate Bush was only 19 when her first album, The Kick Inside was released back in 1978, and some of the songs on it were written when she was just 13!) Does "Kite" really fit in with the overall theme of this play list? Absolutely not, but then it doesn't really have to.
As for Aimee Mann, I first read about her in the letters column of Image's Savage Dragon comics (of all places) when cartoonist Erik Larsen cited her as one of his favorite musicians. That was in the early to mid 90's, but I didn't actually hear any Aimee Mann until I first saw the film, Magnolia after 2000. Her most recent album, @#%&*! Smilers is worthy of picking up. And while you're at it, get Lost In Space too because it's phenomenally good. Lost In Space also features a comic by the cartoonist Seth in its liner notes, which will reward you for actually buying the CD and not just downloading it. ( I guess Aimee Mann just scores big with comic book guys.)
Of Montreal is one of my favorite bands, and "Everything Disappears When You Come Around" is one of my favorite songs. This Beatles-esque bubblegum ditty tells the plight of a young man who is so enamoured that "birds have no heads" and "everything loses its legs" when his love is near him. (Sort of what happens to me when I'm around Jeanne.) This track from Cherry Peel (1997) certainly sounds "unplugged" compared to the group's more recent work which is a lot more techno, but still good.
When it all comes down to it, I'm just a big, sentimental fool and that was what helped me to decide that Badly Drawn Boy should be on this play list. Not that "Holy Grail" isn't a great track from an outstanding album, but the fact is that listening to One Plus One is One always takes me back to pre-Katrina New Orleans, riding in a car with Jeanne along St. John's Bayou at night, and looking at all of the rich peoples' houses with that CD playing on the car stereo. Though not BDB's most recent offering, I vastly prefer One Plus One is One over anything released in the last four years. Every song is a finely-arranged gem featuring such elements as Damon Gough's nimble piano playing; the Latin-jazz rhythm on the track, "Another Devil Dies"; and Jethro Tull-like flute featured all throughout the album. I highly recommend it.
I'll wrap it up with "Eight Line Poem" by David Bowie. Another of my favorite songs, this lesser played track from the album, Hunky Dory literally is a poem set to music. The lyrical content is somewhat akin to that of Bob Dylan to whom Bowie dedicates a song later in the album. But to me the beauty of "Eight Line Poem" lies in the accompaniment of no other instruments besides piano and guitar. It is a marvel of simplicity and grace, but flowing over with feeling.

Well, I'd love to write about music all night, but tomorrow I have work and it's past my bed time. Go ahead and download or rip all of those songs and listen to this play list if you want to. Or just make your own damn play list. This is how I've been spending most of my free time this week, and it would be nice if it wasn't all purely selfish.

A For Attendance!

Very good, class! All of the cool people were at Jeanne's show tonight! You all get A's for attendance! We're all very proud of you, Jeanne! Keep the good stuff comin'!



(The Governator himself couldn't make it, but I'm sure that if he could, this is what his reaction would be...)

In the Wake of Awake! You NEED to be there!

On Friday, July 11, Jeanne Cassanova's ArtHouston show, In the Wake of Awake opens at the Joan Wich gallery on Montrose. I will be taking roll for this event, so if you don't want me to mark an absence down on your permanent record, you will be there between the hours of 6-8 PM (unless you have a doctor's note, or just a well written letter from your parents or legal guardian on Monday) . If you see only one show for ArtHouston, make it this one! It'll be even BIGGER than the Big Show! In fact, don't even bother going to the Big Show - all of the good work got rejected! (And no, I didn't enter this year, so don't accuse me of sour grapes!)
Just come to Jeanne's show! This is what contemporary art in Houston is really all about!

My announcement to the world!

Just wanted to let everyone know that after five years of dating, Jeanne and I have taken the next step and are engaged to be married! Jeanne has changed my life for the better from the moment I first met her, and with this new commitment, the future holds many more wonderful things in store! Now that Jeanne has graduated and earned her MFA (Mutha Fuckin' Awesome), change is in the air and all of it for the better! I love you, Jeanne, and congratulations on your magnificent achievement!




Here we are in May 2003 at the no-longer-existent Mystic Pizza in New Orleans on our first real date.



And here we are in 2008 at home in our Houston apartment where we have lived for almost three years now! Life is good!

Today's Oxymoron: "Bright Black Hole"

I'm just saying, I think it would be neat to see a giant squid get sucked into a black hole. That's all.

Today's Oxymoron: "Zen Party Trail Mix"

Sure, Europe had its vagabonds and its disreputable characters, but our modern day concept of what it is to be a loser is more American than a McDonald's fried apple pie! After all, are we not the land of great opportunity where anyone with the right amount of gumption can climb to the top of the ladder and get as filthy stinking rich as Howard Hughes, Donald Trump, or Thurston Howell III? Well, if that is true, then the rest of us must be somewhat more mediocre and, by comparison, losers in the game of Life (or Chutes and Ladders, or Candy land, or Boggle). Therefore, America presents to the world its most ubiquitous invention since the start of The Industrial Revolution: The Loser.
Of course, it's all a state of mind. Theoretically, anyone who's ever suffered disappointment is a loser, in as much as what this person has always wanted does not come his way. Even people we think of as successful might actually fit this description and consider themselves to be losers. Conversely, one can be poor but happy. As Lao Tsu (or maybe it was a fortune cookie) said, "He who knows he has enough is already wealthy."
What we are concerned with here, however, is the American-made loser. Once upon a time, everyone had his place- there were many occupations one could fill in the cities and the towns, and if that wasn't to your liking, there was always the wilderness of the Great Frontier. There were equally as many ways for Americans to live off of the land: to hunt, to farm, to fish, to trap, or to just live as simply as possible.
Sadly, our country is not the same place it was when Thoreau penned Walden. There is no more frontier, and what wilderness there is has been fenced in and tamed. There seems no escape from suburbia, or urban sprawl. There is no more refuge for those who know they do not fit in and want to disengage from this society. Such individuals are forced to live and work within the cities and within the suburbs, and even the most sparsely populated settlements demand a conformity from them that is just as oppressive. This is how our modern loser has come into being.
So many people taking up so much space results in great homogeny. Go from city to city, across the continent, and you'll find that all of the highest to lowest occupations are the same. But what of those who know that nothing on this spectrum really suits them? Those who have the means to break away do, while those without the means have no choice but to languish. Here's your loser, ladies and gentlemen.

Fuck Yuppies!

I hope that the blue tooth you're wearing lays eggs in your brain.