summer fun time!

Well things are finally warming up around here...thank goodness! The warm weather along with the Summer plans I've made this week have put me in a delightful mood. In June I will be returning home, sooner than I had thought, for a belated birthday visit to my mom. Then in July the husband and I will be celebrating our anniversary by seeing 2 shows in 2-weeks. First is the Death Dance Tour with Buck 65, Sage Francis, Buddy Wakefield and Alias. This will be followd up by Sonic Youth performing Day Dream Nation, front to back along with GZA doing Liquid Swords...crazy!
Both shows are in Chicago, which is a bit of a hike, but well worth the drive. I can't tell you how long I've been waiting to see Sonic Youth as well as Buck 65. I am over the moon about this!

Ugly, ugly, ugly

So the other day we wandered into UO for giggles... the place is just out of hand, if people knew the real deal with the company, I don't think they'd be so into shopping there, but I guess in reality it wouldn't even matter to most.

Anywho, I'm just not a big fan of the place, but it's always interesting to see how things filter down to this level and the shopping options here in Madison are pretty limited. Upon entering there were several crates filled with t-shirts and keffiyeh scarves, in this rainbow of colors, a little wrong and telling of how dated this look is becoming. Once inside I was off to the shoe area, happened upon jellies! What is this 1984? I didn't like them the first or second time around and I do believe UO had these during the second revival, what are these left overs? Seriously if I see somebody wearing these, I don't know that I'll be able to resist breaking down and laughing...plastic shoes are just so wrong.

Speaking of wrong, what wolf pack came and did this to the girl's department? Better question, why had nobody bothered to pick it up? I especially like the coffee cup that's probably been sitting there all day.

It's really hard to shop or look at anything when there's so much crap thrown about in what is already an overcrowded store. This is just my opinion, I dig boutiques and shopping on a more intimate level than this I suppose.

Overall I found UO to be a claustrophobic mess. And am seriously questioning their buying direction, they're currently a little too all over the place. You just can't be all things to all people in retail.

It's been a while

Things have been a little havoc ridden as of late...all made more intense by crappy weather. The sun is now shining and things don't seem quite as bad. I'm alive, as are my friends and family; one does not need much more than that.

Last week I started a post and it was all full of anger and hate, I thought better of posting it and am glad I did. What had me so upset then, just sort of makes me laugh now. I'm a firm believer in what comes around, goes around and what you put out will come back to you. Needless to say the source of my frustration is putting out the bad and in the end that will all come back on them, me putting out hate would've only brought that back upon me and is something I don't want in my world. That and what I was upset about seems so silly in the grand scheme of things, people have bigger issues and I've dealt with worse.

It's funny, I keep looking outside and it makes me smile. Growing up in a sunny place makes you take things for gannet I think. Once that sun is not around, you have a real appreciation for it when it comes back. It just makes all seem right with the world, even if it's not. That and some good old-fashioned punk rock.

The past few days I have been listening to "Punk" (that's the name of the channel) on my Sirius radio. It's funny how a genre of music can bring back so many memories. I guess it's more about the people I hung out with when I was into the music...not to say I'm not into it, in fact I still really dig it. Heck when we got home last night, the husband put on some Minor Threat, on vinyl I might add, and we just sat and giggled, well he sang along and I giggled. I must say there is something really nice about being married to somebody who has a love of music, although we don't always see eye to eye on what we like, we can both always appreciate it.

this will be the best week ever!

the first week of march is going to be great! on the 6th mickey avalon, dirt nasty and andre legacy= dyslexic speedreaders will be at the metro in chicago. then on the 7th the reverend horton heat will be at the high noon, here in madison. the poor husband is going to be tortured by my musical schizophrenia, but too bad, i am finally looking forward to doing something in the midwest. yay music!

fashionable male?

ah wisconsin fashion at it's finest. see i'm half joking here, i actually kind of like this guys outfit. heck kids in nyc and la would probably love the hat and jacket if they could get their hands on them. the best part is you know he most likely put no thought into what he put on that day, jacket, check, warm hat, check. this was a man choosing function, not fashion, but that's what makes it so brilliant. i only wish i could've gotten a picture from the front, so you could get the full effect. the guy was hauling butt down the street and well it's too friggin' cold to be chasing people down.

brrrrrrrrr!

the past few days have been out of hand COLD! i keep hearing that it gets this way every year, but my body is in shock. this just doesn't seem right for it to get so chilly. the sun has been out and one would generally think it would be warm when you walk out the door, but no such luck. the worse part is the phone calls from my mom telling me it's been in the 70's and my dad in nor cal telling me it's been in the 60's almost all winter. he lives in the sierra nevada mountains and they usually get feet of snow. i guess my ca native self has yet to adjust to the thought of my future winters. next year at this time i say the husband and i head to hawaii or something. shouldn't we all?

goodness

growing up in southern california kroq was a staple as far as radio goes and loveline was a show that i listened to often. they typically had really good guests and there is something oddly funny yet comforting about hearing people talk about their problems. the show is now nationally syndicated, but does not air in madison. anywho, last night their guest was mickey avalon, which quite possibly could've been one of their best as he has been through everything, literally. it was ecspecially nice to hear because he hails from l.a. and is a quintessential hollywood kid. click on goodnes up top should you want to take a listen.

thieves!

today i saw one of the most blantent acts of art theft.
( images and info found here )



the first image is the original, done by mike giant and the other, produced as a t-shirt for profit was done by this guy. he has already pulled the shirt from his site, but this does not excuse what he has done. look not everybody was meant to be an artist, it's o.k. to be a "normal" guy, go punch numbers, drive a bus, whatever, but don't pretend to have talent you don't. to take something that somebody else has done and pass it off as your own, is just ugly. the guy didn't even try and change it! the amusing part to me is that when the husband was attempting to show me how to use illustrator, i used this image to practice on. that being said i was just messing around and having illustrator by no means makes me a graphic designer. stop fronting people!