some place green

My family has been gone for a week now. And what I always think are going to be laid-back times turn into busy times. I have to say that our house seemed incredibly empty when they all left, and very lonely. I feel that when we discuss bonding with our children and how they bond to us is really measured well by how much I miss them all when they leave. Shirley has called and left a couple of messages, which I saved and listened to them again later on. Her messages are always so cute. I discussed this with our friends Josh and Becky when they had me over for dinner last Thursday; Josh recalling trying to decipher Shirley's lengthy message to them in Spanglish inviting them to Brad, Traci and Joel's house for dinner. So I miss them terribly, finding that filling my time with movies and video games are not what they used to be. I will see them soon, though, leaving Thursday morning and spending a long weekend in PA. I am looking forward to it and thought about trying to extend the days there for three days longer, but I don't know what the reality of that would be...

So I have been busier than I thought I would be. There have been plenty of invitations to do things, so many that I have had to turn some down just so I could do my own thing here. And my own thing has consisted of a variety of movies, vids, recording music and reading screenplays for movies. My favorite, by far, has been recording music. I got in the zone last week and recorded four songs (not all complete) and have been dabbling with them since then. One completely drives me crazy, and Josiah asked why I don't just get rid of it, but I always like to hold on to them for the chance that they evolve into something else later. My favorite is a song that I recorded 10 years ago over Thanksgiving break while in my first year of Bible college. I have long since lost the tape (recorded on a borrowed analog four track) and had difficulties remembering the parts in my head. But memory prevailed and I was able to lay down the tracks and roughly master the song in about 3 1/2 hours. I plan on doing more today, perhaps even helping Josiah with three tracks that he has wanted to record. We'll see. We tried to do another Frog Brother recording yesterday, but it just wasn't working out, so we scrapped our ideas. We'll see.

I did end up going to Built to Spill last Saturday night. Josiah came through and met me at the venue. The Boggs opened up for BTS and were entertaining, but overall not that great. They had two drummers and a keyboard/singer who really did very little either. One of the drummers looked like he was about 6'10", which was really accentuated when he stood next to the other shorter, more portly drummer. Interesting. I am not going to buy their album. BTS arrived late due to their van breaking down on the way to the venue. It seemed that they were already in a bad mood when they started, so when Doug Martsch's equipment began malfunctioning it was a recipe for disaster. He was not pleased and displayed his frustrations by flailing his arms and kicking his equipment. I thought we were going to get completely ripped off because of his attitude, but it got better after about 6 songs. They played for about an hour and forty minutes, which was very nice. I had hoped for a couple of songs that they didn't play (The Plan, Goin' Against Your Mind), but was extremely pumped up when they played "You Were Right" as the finale of their set. They encored with a fifteen minute jam session which left the crowd in a frenzy. It was a good show, for sure. Late night, though.

This week will be a short one for me. I will only work two days, even taking off early on Tuesday to get good positioning for seats at RYAN ADAMS! I am excited. My buddy Turner is going to pick me up around 3 and we will go stake our claim in line in anticipation for the show. I have heard terrible things about Ryan Adams shows, that he is ________(fill in whatever derogatory term you would like), and that he shows up drunk half the time. I read recently, though, that he is sober, so I am hoping that we are not disappointed. They are calling for afternoon storms that day, so it might be a damp show. Regardless, we are going to push through and hopefully have a great time.

So one of the movies I watched this past week was Fast Food Nation. I found it to be utterly disturbing. I would not recommend it for everyone, mostly because of some of the material within the film, but for the presentation of the peripheral implications of the fast food industry, I would recommend it. I have eaten Chick fil'a since then, but I don't think that I will eat at other fast food places, nor will I make CFil'a a common stop anymore. I can't even begin to describe the film, other than to say that the impact of our convenience and ease at getting what we want when we want it has more ripple effect than we might possibly consider. Sometimes you receive information and you don't really know how to react, what to do, or necessarily even want the information, but with this, there are really few options if you believe the artist's picture: a stand must be taken. Most people that I have talked to who have watched the film have not eaten fast food since. Maybe it is worth your time.

The screenplay I read was one that was given to me by a friend at work. He loves film and has filmed two shorts that he submitted to Sundance and other film festivals. I watched one of them recently and was impressed what he did with a budget of $1000 (which he filmed both for under that price). He gave me the script hoping I would know someone who might be interested in investing in his next film. He has worked on several movies already and has connections in the industry with actors/actresses. He already has some b-list actors who have accepted his invitation to take part in this film. . .if he gets funding. I read the script and found it to be good. I would recommend re-writes in a couple of places, and he seems very willing to do that, which is good. Overall he is looking for $300,000. Any investors out there? It doesn't have to be the full amount. He does have a good eye for directing. Just checking.

Anyhow, I hope all is well with you all. I hope it is cooler than the weather here, too. We need to move to some place green...