creating noise online in one
form or another since 1997
new windows? yessir!
Archives
2001.12
2001.11
2001.10
2001.9
2001.8
2001.7
2001.6
2001.5
2001.4
Blogger Archives
2001.3
2001.2
2001.1
2000.12
2000.11
2000.10
2000.9
2000.8
Somnolent.org Radio (beta)
66.28.49.158:9620
email: theremin[at]somnolent[dot]org
AIM: jas0nschupp
ICQ: 21747694
the title attribute is your friend and trusted ally. hover over most links for more info, love.
[remember] lets you link or bookmark something specific. [say something] is your ticket to speak your mind.
© 1999-2002, sucka, except for the photo of yr host, © 2001 SdlC.
Tuesday, December 31, 2001
Wrap-up for v2
To wrap up the year (and I realize that this is coming after the end of 2001, but I found where I could change the date of the post, so I could keep things tidy in the archives), here're some random thoughts I've been meaning to post:
Our poetry reading back in November (remember how I was going to let you know how that went?) was well-received. For the most part, we tag-teamed through our own individual pieces. One of Kurt's pieces was converted into a four-voice piece that we all performed towards the end, and it came off alright, but it was more a narrative poem than a co-mingling of voices. That's my personal preferences talking, though... it came off fantastic. Overall, it was a good beginning to a promising group. (On a sadder note, it turns out we were to be one of Word Gourmet's last features. About a month later, the café at which it was held decided that they didn't need a Friday-night poetry event to bring people in. Right, because a lot of people are going to a café on a Friday night. One in the South Loop, where there's nothing going on for blocks around at that time of night, save maybe a bar or two. 'Kay.)
Nearly a week after that reading, we all read for Listen & Be Heard via videophone. That came off pretty well, although we were unaware of the venue's format until about 15 minutes before we went on. Our first poems were supposed to be truncated verse, or poems under a minute. What? Do any of us have that sort of thing? Under three minutes, sure (especially Samaiya, as she's a child of the slam), but one minute? Watch us all talk as quickly as possible. After that, we each got to do one poem each, alternating with the Vallejo crowd, and we had a spot for one of us to go once more. We let them put it to a vote, and they asked for me. Actually, they asked for "that stalker guy," since I read my anti-stalking-but-sounds-like-pro-stalking poem. Oops. Try living that down from half a continent away. Still, we got a snappy review.
As for the group, we came up with a name for our ensemble shortly after these two shows. From back when the only page our last names brought up was the St. Louis Obituary Index 1942 S - Z, I took the introductory text of that webpage, printed it out, and cut up the individual words. With those in an envelope, I had everyone draw out a word so we could put together a name — except we drew crap. We tried it again, and again got nothing useful. So we dumped out all the words onto my coffee table and mixed them around and finally got Saint Action. We then played a word-association game Kurt knew, and somewhere in the list we generated was "swallowing minnows." Pulling the verb, we are now Swallowing Saint Action. Long live, and all that. (The best part of the name is that our acronym would be SSA, meaning we can bill ourselves as ass-backwards.)
For now, I'm completely freaking out on the inside because we're applying to head out west and the deadline for applications is the 10th. Still enough time, but not enough time, you know? It would be cool to get out to Seattle, with enough time to visit webfolks out there, but this is the first such event I've applied for, and I've no idea how to present ourselves. Luckily, Kurt's done this sort of thing before, and we've got all of our individual tracks recorded for our press kit's audio CD, but for that we still need some group pieces. Fortunately, I have some multi-voice pieces. Inconveniently, Samaiya's out of town until the 7th. Never mind that after that, we have to pull a show together for the 18th, and for another piece for a cabaret in mid-February, for which we not only have to worry about material, but music and costuming as well...
Stupid bar gimmick idea #51: Have karaoke, but the singer must stand in a bathtub set up with a showerhead. If you think they're doing a horrible job, you can go up and turn on the shower on them, similar to the Gong Show gimmick. Call it Rub-a-dub-a-doke.
New Years' was a ton of fun. Had a nice home-cooked stir-fry dinner with some friends, then headed over to a party at the Ashland Kids' flat, where we played improv games (my team won, thankyouverymuch) and wouldn't have had a guy handy to kiss but for one of our straight hosts volunteering.
XHTML is refreshingly easy. Getting CSS-based designs to degrade gracefully in non-CSS-supporting browsers is either easy or maddening, depending on what you're trying to accomplish. Sleep-deprivation doesn't get any easier. You are not Jack's anything but his incessantly droning internal monologue.
Got some photos I took of a couple bands put on their respective websites. Please reference Vortis and Mr. Scott Free.
Really short notice: I'm featuring at Grinder on the 3rd, and Swallowing Saint Action features at Higher Ground Poets on the 18th. (Check the Word Circuit's Friday venue rundown for a link to Higher Ground info.)
And that's it until 2002... er, Somnolent.org version 3. Anything else will wait for the relaunch. Still working on the new design, but it shouldn't be too much longer. Before then, I have to do some housecleaning, as I'm getting close to reaching my server quota. Happy new year!
said Jason, at 09:57 AM CST [remember] [5 comments]
Thursday, December 20, 2001
Unbeknownst Spontaneous Cross-Atlantic Weblogger Encounter
So Tuesday, right? Tuesday a few of us get together to celebrate Corey's birthday by going out to dinner. It's a few of the regular irregulars, and also joining us is this cartoonist guy, a friend of Sukie's from back in England who's also corresponded with Corey over email in the past. He's in town on vacation with his boyfriend Kevin, so he and Corey finally get to meet in person. The evening looks promising.
Cartoonist-guy arrives and we head out for Mediterranean food. A fun evening, involving tasty dishes, an expedition into a storage area ("What's behind these panels?" "I don't know." "I'm going to find out!" -- mad rush as everyone heads back behind them -- "Wow. Chairs." "Hey, check this out." -- displaying of black and gold-trimmed blouse thinger -- "Oh, that's gorgeous." "Look at these baskets!" "Here, put it on." "It's my burqa!" "No! You're a Dalek!" "Exterminate!" "How about this vest?" "This is nice." "That is nice!"), and a musical phone toy for Corey (because he doesn't have a real phone at the moment). Cartoonist-guy's boyfriend arrives, and after dinner, we decide where we're heading next. We pick the only logical destination: the K-Mart on Peterson, east of Western.
No, seriously. We have two Brits who I think have never been to the states before, and they want to see a K-Mart before they leave. So we go to the closest Big K-Mart, right then at 10pm. Really, we are not the people who should be going to a K-Mart at that time of night but there we are, and our guests' eyes light up like children's at xmas, the joy of discovering the promised land that is K-Mart plain on their faces. Out comes Cartoonist-guy's Lomo and my digital camera as we terrorize the toy section. Then it was off to electronics to scope DVDs. My favorite part was getting to show Cartoonist-guy how the vending machines at the front of the store worked, the one enticingly labelled "Sticker Magic."
(Yes, Cartoonist-guy has a name. I'm getting there, honest.)
"How does it work?" Cartoonist-guy asks me.
"You put 50 cent in it, push it in, and out comes your sticker."
He puts a quarter onto the tray instead of in the slot, so I show him where it goes, and with another quarter he receives a head-of-some-spikey-haired-punk-kid sticker. I get a devil-head sticker. Sweet!
On to Jackhammer for karaoke, part of the true middle-American experience except it's a Japanese phenomenon but what the hell. Lynda and I again half-butcher "Whip It" ("I thought that was the part you were gonna sing." "No, you're Mark Mothersbaugh. I'm the other guy." "That's not helping."), and Lynda, Corey and Kevin completely slaughter another song, though I can't recall what. Much dancing, drinking, some guy in a questionable jacket hitting on nearly everyone -- not me, but I think that might have been a good thing -- and Cartoonist-guy and I switch email addresses and URLs before we all hug and they catch a cab back to the hotel. A happy birthday for Corey, a pleasant evening for us all.
Yesterday I check out his webpages, and I'm given pause when I realize: Oh, cripes, he's that Gr0c!
I had poked around Ginger several months ago, and really, really liked it. But Tuesday night, I never made the connection that the guy responsible for it and the guy I was running around K-mart with were the same guy. Among other things, Gr0c’s also got a lo-tech art site, and of course, a weblog. It was an international weblog mini-get-together and we didn't even know it! Crazy. We'll have to do it again, Grocko. Come back soon, eh? Or I'll find my way over there (and hopefully get to visit the Original Blogger for Europe as well)!
said Jason, at 04:26 PM CST [remember] [1 comment]
Sunday, December 16, 2001
What Day Is It?
Dreamhost apparently hiccupped and I lost my last post. Basically, all I said was "Lots to write about but I've been elsewhere but it's coming soon but for now the Vandals sing you a song for the holidays." Ding.
said Jason, at 01:02 AM CST [remember] [7 comments]
Saturday, December 1, 2001
Link and Think
Several days ago, I was at one of the neighborhood bars with a couple of friends, both older than me. I was at the bar talking to one, while the other was talking to another guy who couldn't have been older than thirty. When he was done talking to this guy, he came back over to us and said, "What an asshole."
"What'd he do?" I asked.
"He's twenty-eight, he's HIV-positive and he doesn't have a problem with barebacking," he said, and ordered another drink.
The next half hour was a recounting of how lucky one had been not to have ever contracted HIV, how they both lived through the beginning of the AIDS hysteria, and how they had seen their friends die one by one back when they were back in Las Vegas or England, how all their friends from that time are dead. How one had been to so many funerals that he stopped going, couldn't keep going to them. They talked about the other guy, the twenty-eight-year-old, how he didn't have to live through that, how he didn't understand what he had gotten into, what he could get others into. "They don't think anything of it nowadays," one of my friends said. "Now they've got drugs to fight it and so they think it's okay to get it. How stupid. What a fucking idiot."
"They figure the cocktail will keep them alive, but when it stops working..."
Eventually, they noticed the joyless expression on my face, and one of them said, "We're sorry, we're depressing you."
"No, it's alright," I said. "I want to hear this. I should know our history."
I grew up getting the facts about HIV, its effects and how it's transmitted. No one in my family had contracted HIV, none of my friends were positive. It seemed to me that there was no reason anyone should have to get HIV if they were careful.
Guys like the one back at the bar piss me off. I have no idea what he's thinking, how many he could hurt with his recklessness. I don't understand how someone my age could have that kind of attitude. Those who went before us and lived through the beginning of the AIDS epidemic had to see their friends and loved ones die quickly, sometimes just a couple months after being diagnosed. My generation has the benefit of hindsight. But now, some people think it's no big thing to be HIV-positive, even hip? I can't even wrap my head around it.
I have friends now who have HIV, who are on the drug cocktail. These are brilliant people, artists and dreamers, who could get sick and fade away. I would feel the loss if Bill passed on. I don't want to see Scott die. I've just made these friends in the last couple years, just met these incredible people. I don't want to lose them now, now when I've just gained a family.
I told my friends all of this.
One of them reached out and took me by the back of my neck. Before pulling me into a hug, he said, "We know. That's why we want you to hear all this. We don't want to lose you, either."
said Jason, at 04:09 PM CST [remember] [2 comments]
Tuesday, November 20, 2001
What It Is
Jinkies. Given the response to the last entry, I feel the need to clear some stuff up. First off, this webpage is not going anywhere. I am so going to keep rambling on at you, and I was never intending to quit cold turkey. This wasn't even a declaration of needing a break. Hell no. I'm sorry if I gave that impression (and the outpour of support was really touching, guys, thank you! Totally what I was trying to avoid, but it was sweet, nonetheless ;) ). What I'm trying to determine is how viable the format of a weblog is to where I want to take my writing, and admittedly, there's been a couple external factors coming into play.
Here's the deal: I want to become a better writer, both poetic and prose. When writing poetry, I'll write a draft, then leave it for later, or send it off to the myriad someones I have available for critiques, or read it to someone. I'll find the rough spots and clean them up or completely rewrite them as need be. That's S.O.P. with writing, yes? Sure. I seem to skip that step, though, with new weblog entries. What some critics have said about weblogging software making it too easy to publish is starting to gain some merit with me. I'll churn out an entry, maybe skim through it, post it, then give it a read over again and discover bits that could be tightened up, edit, repost, and sometimes edit and repost again. That's not very good practice.
Now, granted, this weblog isn't high literature. It does what a weblog is supposed to do, and no one's expecting it to be perfect, and that's fine. I've started to wonder, however, if I should be doing what a weblog is supposed to do. Or rather, should I continue in that style, when I could be doing something different? My writing in other spheres is starting to get noticed, so why shouldn't this site follow suit? This brings me to the first of the external factors that I mentioned:
Kurt has been plugging the hell out of this site... not that I mind. In preparation for our ensemble's debut/trial run, and our telepoetic reading the following week, any time we've needed to prepare any materials about ourselves, Kurt has taken the chance to plug this site as well as his own. The mailing on the e-poets list about our reading? There's Somnolent.org, listed at the bottom. When we were on the radio? He made sure I got a chance to say something about it. After our reading at Word Gourmet? He's on the mic plugging it. When I ask if it's relevant to my bio for the Vallejo reading? Yeah, Jas, put it in there. And we've got a tentative reading in January, where this site will most likely get plugged again, as well as at a reading I've got by myself that same month...
All this publicity prompted me to stop and take a look at this site, to see if it would make sense to someone not familiar with this whole weblogging brouhaha. And, well, maybe they would. Would they come back after the first time? I'm not so sure. While we're all passionate about this, outsiders may not catch on so quickly, and to be honest, I'd rather like it if people outside of the weblogging world got into something I was producing. I've got some really sweet pieces in here which could be really solid works with just a bit of touching up, or perhaps they're already good to go. But they're stuck in between shorter, goofier bits, and you have to do some digging to find them. I figure that I could do some reorganizing to make them more prominent, and still have room for the sillier stuff that I enjoy. This has the added benefit of making it clearer to me how long it's been since my last concrete entry, and prompting me to get off my butt and start working on another piece if too much time (however much that is) has passed. This relates to the second factor:
Very strong hints that I should be writing for one of the local queer rags have been dropped. "If you were to write book reviews for the paper, what kind of books would you review?" and "That stalking poem, could you stretch that out into a column-length piece?" These came from the mouth of a certain associate editor/head features writer. Hints? Hmm, ya think? Just maybe.
I like the idea of a semi-regular column, or even being a guest columnist from time to time, but they won't just hand it to me. I'll have to come up with some writing samples, for one thing, and writing weblog entries isn't quite the same thing as writing sample columns. If I wish to pursue this, I need to get into the habit of writing longer pieces, I need the motivation to write often (at least as often as would be expected of a columnist) and I need to work on writing with clarity. I get motivated by deadlines, and deadlines carry more weight when you have a reading audience. LO AND BEHOLD, I have a reading audience. (Hi!) I should use that fact to my advantage. And what if I never get a column? Easy, I still have this site! Woot!
So that's where all this talk of formats and better writing and whatnot comes from. This site isn't going anywhere. Quite the contrary; there's a file sitting on my box at work named v3somnolent.psd, and so far it's turning out very nicely. I've figured out how to organize the page, and I need to start digging through old photography for the new site design.
I realize that the stance I'm taking is suggesting that mainstream culture will never get the weblog and I'm ditching the new form for more traditional forms of writing. Shouldn't I stand up for this new medium? Extoll the virtues of this new form to the masses! We shall overcome! Well... that's nice and all, but it's not going to help me take my writing where I want to go with it. And I'm not really giving anything up, I'm just going to be presenting it differently. There will still be room for the silly stuff. You betcha. There's also the added bonus of rethinking what I'm putting out, pushing me to finish up the html for a weblog project I've been sitting on for months, so I can send it off to Sam, who's doing the coding, so that I have a traditional weblog thing going on, too. I should finish up the html right now, actually.
Thanks again, truly, for all your comments. I was trying to avoid a big love-in and instead get critiques/comments on what about my writing drew you in, but what the hell. For those that had helpful, specific comments, thank you! It's helped to clear my head a bit. For those who just jumped in with the love-in, well... rock on, thank you, too. :) (What, I'm going to turn down a love-in? Screw that, let's cuddle.)
said Jason, at 10:22 PM CST [remember] [3 comments]
Wednesday, November 14, 2001
Rut
So I'm feeling really stuck, here.
There hasn't been a whole lot of value on this site, lately. I mean, lately it's been a lot of self-promotion (understandable, given my recent media encounters and poetic appearances), product endorsement (or unendorsement), glamour shots (if having leaves and giant paper clips in your hair is glamourous) and a lot of noise. Maybe it's just been this past month draining the fuck out of me (and those of you on Somnambulism know what's up there), but it seems like this site is getting nowhere.
There's a lot of stuff I'd like to do here. I'd like to share the occasional poem, but I'm prevented from doing that as often as I'd like to because of the submission regulations many publications have. If a piece has been published anywhere, ever, in whatever form, they don't want it; that would include here. I've thought about doing longer essays, but lately it doesn't feel like I have the time to do this. Maybe I should make the time. I don't know if that would be worth it. Assuming I could come up with enough material to write an essay, say one a week, would I have enough of an audience to support the effort? And why would I do it here, on the web, when I could shop it around as a column to one of the papers here, in Chicago? (Yes, I've received offers, or at least hints of offers.) If I did that, what could I do here on this site, then? I don't want to stop doing this, but I feel like I'm on the verge of reinventing myself, or at least my writing, and I don't know if this format is even useful anymore, or if it will be when I'm done figuring out which direction I'm going. I mean, posting ANOTHER HOLE WOULD BE DISASTEROUS STOP is fun and all, but if no one comments "HAHAHA" in response, it feels like I'm letting you all watch me laugh at my own jokes, and that's just depressing.
This isn't "I'm taking a break from weblogging/journalling." This isn't "I give up." I'll always be producing stuff for the Web, I think, because I love the medium so much. What this is is "It's starting to feel like I'm in a vacuum, or at least a very small room with a few good comrades, but I think I can do better." (Without losing you guys, of course... I'll drag you guys kicking and screaming with me wherever I end up.)
I want you to do me a favor... a big one, but it will help me out a lot. If you enjoy this site, I want you to email me or leave a comment below and tell me what you've enjoyed about this site. I'm not fishing for compliments; I want to know what service I am providing that makes you come back as often as you do, because honestly, I can't tell from this side of the glass. Send me some constructive criticism, too, because I haven't gotten any criticism at all, lately. At the very least, slap me a comment that says "jason if you stop posting you will make me all :(" if that's how you feel. I want to know what my audience is like and what they (you!) like, because I don't know. Sure, I know who links to this site, but that's no indication who actually reads this site, you know? Hopefully your response will help me get a better idea of what I'm doing and why doing it is (or isn't) worth it.
And when you're done, hit me with a "p.s. YOU'RE THINKING TOO MUCH LIKE A MARKETER LATELY! REPENT! SAVE YOURSELF! DANGER WILL ROBINSON!" or something. You know, just in case. Thanks.
said Jason, at 12:09 PM CST [remember] [19 comments]
Tuesday, November 13, 2001
Drinkies
Turn away if blatant product endorsement gets your goat.
This is the best stuff ever. I've had better chai, but it may be because I've been using 2% milk to make it. It's also a deal at $6 a bottle... I've used a little less than half the bottle, and I've gotten six or seven mugfulls (and a few of those were big-ass mugfulls). That would've cost me about $9 at the local cafés.
There you have it: it's like an overpriced café, right in your home, but without the overpriced and without the café!
Okay, endorsement over.
said Jason, at 10:52 PM CST [remember] [1 comment]
Debunked
Damn. On the bright side, all those wrappers that I saved as a kid and then lost somewhere weren't a big deal.
I'm reminded of this because Ryan, one of the Grinder regulars, brought us all Tootsie bouquets at Friday's reading. Aww....
said Jason, at 11:03 AM CST [remember] [say something]
Monday, November 12, 2001
Meal Identity
I am getting way too predictable. I say this because I now have two Chinese restaurants that know my regular order and my name, usually when I start to give them the address. I'm becoming boring. Help, I'm dying. (Help, I'm being a dramatic queen, but boring = death in my book. I should start ordering differently, but I just know what I like. And what doesn't have meat.)
said Jason, at 02:09 PM CST [remember] [3 comments]
This Better Not Be Foreshadowing
Out of curiosity, I did a Google search for "schupp tully ewing heintz". Only one entry popped up.
...Fucking Internet.
said Jason, at 12:00 PM CST [remember] [3 comments]
Sunday, November 11, 2001
Oh So Whatever
Some photos from yesterday morning:
(photos by Sukie de la Croix)
said Jason, at 01:03 AM CST [remember] [say something]
Friday, November 9, 2001
Swing Nothing
I just got spammed with an offer for a method of genetalia enlargement. The subject line: Swing LOOOW, Sweet Chariot.
What the hell is wrong with people?
Here's some text from the body of the email, plus comments, showing just how widely they missed their audience:
If You Are A Man, You Need To Read This.
It Is Very Important For You To Read This. So Important That I Am Willing To Risk Spasms In My Little Fingers As They Continuously Have To Reach For The Shift Key.
If You Are A Woman.....Then Your Man Needs To Read This!
Unless I'm a lesbian and don't have a man. Or I'm a single heterosexual or bisexual woman who doesn't need a man to define myself. And what if I'm transgendered? Then what? Or if I'm transsexual? Which "if" do I heed?
Don't be fooled by imitations and rip-offs!
...Except us!
The Male Performance Method is the ONLY way you can:
End your performance problems and enlarge your equipment without pills, pumps, or sketchy snake-oil remedies.
It will not, however, teach you the proper use of a colon.
Nearly THREE THOUSAND smart men like you have already learned the secret and only a handful of them have failed to see results. - but they were just lazy :)
We are going to be passive-aggressive and preempt any complaints of product ineffectiveness by putting all the blame on you. I'm sorry, that's All The Blame On You. YOU. ALL OF IT. On You.
Results are GUARANTEED. Period.
Unless you're lazy. (YOU.)
Click The Link Below To Learn More:
The Link Enjoys The Shift Key.
The link is also omitted here. No free advertising.
The Women In Your Life Will Thank You For It!
GUARANTEED
Let's ignore the fact that there aren't any women in my life that will thank me for this and look at how they flat out claimed that the thankful ones in your or my life will be The Women. That's plural. More than one woman. The way I see it, if I've managed to get to the point where there are multiple women that I'm having sex with, then I must be doing something right, and therefore probably shouldn't be messing with anything. If it ain't broke, why fix it?
I remain an unconverted consumer.
said Jason, at 02:39 PM CST [remember] [3 comments]
Thursday, November 8, 2001
Looking Under the 'Hood / Listen & Be Heard
One more announcement and then I swear I'll shut up about it.
The fab four read on November 9th at Word Gourmet. Details previously, or click the flyer on the right. Show starts at 7:30pm.
Also, on November 15th, we'll all be reading at Listen & Be Heard at the Fetterly Playhouse, 3467 Sonoma Blvd., Vallejo, California, without leaving Chicago, thanks to some crazy video technology. Let's hear it for the future.
said Jason, at 07:18 PM CST [remember] [say something]
Tuesday, November 6, 2001
Sudden Contestant
Oh my fucking word!
So I did this haunted bar crawl bus tour thinger the weekend before Halloween, right? The one where I said it's hard to teach people how to Time Warp on a moving tour bus, yes? The first stop of the night was Buddies', and someone was taking pictures, I dunno, mine sucked, I didn't think much of it.
Apparently I very well should have thought something of it because now I'm in this costume contest thinger. That's so damn funny.
But hey, there's a big prize, so vote for me. :)
Actually, I'm friends with a bunch of those folks: #1 is Scott, #2 is Drake, #3 is Joker, #7 is Lynda, #8 is this guy John I kind of know, #10 is Kirk, and #13 is Sukie. And I've no idea who #11 is. Nope. Nuh-uh.
said Jason, at 06:18 PM CST [remember] [say something]
Oneiric Career Advice
So in a dream I had the other night, I was told that I should be writing for a specific magazine... something like Port or Porté or I'm not sure I remember exactly what. Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if such a magazine exists?
said Jason, at 10:26 AM CST [remember] [2 comments]
Desire
"I want to buy a husband who, every week when I sit down to watch 'St. Elsewhere', won't scream, 'FORGET IT, BLANCHE ... IT'S TIME FOR "HEE HAW"!!'"
-- Berke Breathed, "Bloom County"
I think that's what we all want.
said Jason, at 10:04 AM CST [remember] [say something]
Monday, November 5, 2001
Schemata
Had a good meeting last night with the other three writers with whom I'm performing on Friday. It was our second planning meeting, though our first was mostly spent jabbering and dishing. That was for the best, though... Kurt, Samaiya and I all knew each other previously and were familiar with some of each other's work, but only Kurt knew Rose, and we needed a night just to get a feel for each other. This was especially important, given Kurt's secret, nefarious plan to get the four of us together as a regular poetry/performance ensemble with a queer focus, revealed to the rest of us that first evening. All of us were all for the idea, and Rose is the best: strong, whipsmart... I absolutely adore each of these three people. I can't wait to see what we do, honestly. They're going to blow my mind on a regular basis, I just know it.
Back to last night: Kurt and I got to reveal to the others our adventures in radio, and if we get asked back, I think we're going to send Samaiya and Rose to be on the show instead. (That touches a bit on something that bothered me about the show on Saturday... It was cool to have a Big Queer Show, but all the guests were white guys. Maybe the guest for which we were substitutes wasn't a white guy -- I've no idea -- but... it just didn't seem like we were a good cross-section of the community. Still, I guess if you have to fill an hour on short notice, you take what you manage to get.) We got around to deciding which pieces we were going to perform and in what order, and one of Kurt's pieces has been modified for a group reading. It's an excellent combination, and we're giving it a final read-through tonight.
We each have similar but varying styles, all powerful in different ways. If we were a mercenary team, we'd be seriously hooked up. Kurt's style is sometimes subtle, with bits you might not notice until the second or third time around, but he's more than up to the task of organizing disparate items into a seamless plan. Samaiya simply tells it like it is, without apology, a one-two punch of unsentimental criticism, the big smoking gun. I've got a penchant for telling stories that didn't quite happen, slightly-off narratives that sometimes pretend at first to be something else, in a sense shifting into personas that are somewhat, but not quite wholly, myself. Rose keeps tabs of the facts, attentive of the details, able to engineer creations of recursive delight.
Oh, fuck, wait, that's the A-Team. Never mind!
said Jason, at 04:37 PM CST [remember] [say something]
Saturday, November 3, 2001
The Next Best Thing to Being There
Attention Bay Area folks: Agreeing to one reading apparently leads to more, and I've been invited to another one, this time a telepoetic event (meaning that we use videophones to connect to another place entirely and read to each other) with a hook-up to this venue in Vallejo. It happens on the 15th, at 8:30pm PST. Only $5!
Suddenly, I'm a marketer.
said Jason, at 10:20 PM CST [remember] [say something]
Connections
Tonight I had a drink with a certain weblogger whom I cannot name because you're not supposed to know where he is right now. The clever and well-wired among you will most likely figure this one out.
This happened before I went to see this fantastic play and went out for dinner with some folks from the audience, and I met an ex-coworker of another webguy, showing me once again how small the world can be. It's no longer surprising, just entertaining.
While there's little chance you'll read this before it occurs, Chicagoans may want to tune into Live from the Heartland on 88.7FM WLUW, Saturday morning at 9am CST. Non-Chicagoans with generous bandwidth can listen to the broadcast online through WLUW's website. My friend Kurt (referenced recently once, twice) was drafted as a guest for the show at the last minute, and will be doing... well, something, I don't know what, reading his work, pushing our upcoming show, talking about e-poets, whatever... and he said something tonight about getting me on the show with him, since I told him I'd go to the Heartland to see the show (as much as one goes to see a radio program), seeing how it's within walking distance of where I live. I don't know how the folks running the show would feel about that, and I don't know how I'd feel about it, either, but who knows. Tune in for Kurt, though, he's worth it.
(I just rememered, If you miss it, the show gets rebroadcast on the same station on the following Wednesday, again at 9am CST.)
said Jason, at 01:15 AM CST [remember] [2 comments]
