rb

Hybrid Yellow Cabs of New York

2008-05-14T10:25:00.002-04:00

By 2012, all cabs are supposed to by hybrids. On the streets yesterday I saw the following hybrid models: Toyota Prius, Camry, and Highlander; Ford Escape; Nissan Maxima; Honda Civic.

history of confrontation

2008-05-14T10:24:00.003-04:00

from ~~knife fights~~ pocket knives to pocket vetoes

irreverence

2008-05-14T10:24:00.001-04:00

can it be taught?

positive psychology

2008-05-13T09:58:00.000-04:00

not my favorite thing

Assholic Comment of the Day

2008-05-10T15:32:00.003-04:00

I just helped move my brother out of college, and somehow we ended up talking about the song used in a recent Dockers commercial*. We googled the song, and found it on this message board. One user who comments on the song says:

I love songs with live musicians playing in the background !!!!!!!!

?!??!?!

Is there any other kind?

*I will attempt to launch an advertisement immunization program here soon.

The Greatest North Carolina BBQ Webpage Ever

2008-05-09T08:30:00.003-04:00

From Rob Lott: An interactive trail map from the NC Barbecue Society.

It looks like a noble plan, but it is weighted toward variety and not vinegar (that's another link from Rob). Truthfully, I quest to find non-standard, rural, Eastern joints, where the dip is nothing but vinegar and peppers.

Skylight Inn is amazing (I wear their t-shirt a lot). Wilbur's is pretty good. B's was closed when I went. In order for Eastern North Carolina BBQ to be a true tradition, it must be served at more than three places.

Almost all family-run BBQ joints are closed Sundays, so we have a Friday, a Saturday, and part of a Monday to eat as much as we can.

"Praying at the Pump"

2008-05-08T17:25:00.001-04:00

Speaking of gas, Zach West comes across an article about religious activists praying for cheaper fuel.

White Flight:

2008-05-08T13:07:00.002-04:00

LET'S RUIN CITIES AND THEN NOT LIVE IN THEM AND THEN TELL OUR CHILDREN NOT TO LIVE IN THEM EITHER

Doing Stuff is Awesome

2008-05-08T11:27:00.002-04:00

Session Americana at the Lizard Lounge Tueday
Some show at Wally's or Toad tonight
Johnny A at the Regattabar tomorrow
"The Importance of Being Earnest" at the Palace Theatre Saturday
Lettuce at the Knitting Factory Sunday

I will continue to blog compulsively as I work from home for most of the summer.

Dawn Report #1

2008-05-08T08:15:00.005-04:00

5:45 am, May 7th. Sun fully risen (!) but also fully obscured by rain clouds. Newsradio blaring about gas prices and food prices. Voice suggests we should only blame ourselves since we have barely adjusted our driving habits since crude oil crossed $1xx per barrel. I think: I have no driving habits. Fuck you. And I go back to sleep until 8.

Sunrise, Solstice

2008-05-07T22:22:00.004-04:00

Melissa tells me that the sun is already up at 5:30! Indeed, weather.boston.com confirms that the sun will rise at 5:31 tomorrow! This is one of my favorite differences between Boston and New York: the summer days are 30-50 minutes longer. (And October through April is gray).

Shit! I didn't think this started happening until mid- to late- June. One of my pipe dreams during a particularly miserable summer was to wake up and do a bike ride every day at sunrise. I never got up once, and I haven't had an operable bike since August.

I need to get up early tomorrow, and then I need to get a new bike.

Session Americana at the Lizard Lounge

2008-05-07T12:45:00.003-04:00

I was so glad that I didn't read their website before I ended up at their show last night; having no preconceptions is often a good thing (even if a challenge for a judgmental bastard). The band provided an unimaginably fluid mix of roots, rock, bluegrass, even a little soul. More than worth the $8 cover. See this show.

Gas

2008-05-07T00:46:00.004-04:00

I don't have a car. I don't need a car. I save money instead of spending it on gas. I don't care how much gas costs at retail establishments. I'm tired of hearing about it.

GROUNDSWELL!

2008-05-06T18:00:00.001-04:00

required momentum building

Proclivities Live

2008-05-05T11:20:00.004-04:00

It must be noted here, on this "gravestone in the ether," that db and rb did an impromptu performance of the grindfolio "Proclivities" at db's house party in Middletown, Conn. last weekend.

We were sitting in the darkened living room, where a few xeroxed copies of "Proclivities" (2004) and Dan's "Sticks and Rocks and Stars" (2003?) beckoned from the bar. As usual, I wasn't sure what was happening when someone handed me an acoustic guitar. Its action* was so poor that only the first two frets were playable. "Get me a real fucking guitar and a beer," I said, then resumed speaking to the people around me. Within seconds, people I don't know handed me a phenomenally expensive Yamaha acoustic and a fresh cup of Long Trail from the keg. So something had to happen.

Dan demanded blues, so I did some standard riffs and all the new Infrastructure material. Once I started playing, I noticed that Erich was now playing basslines on the busted-ass guitar. Dan thrashed about the living room awkwardly, reciting such grind classics as "i can't talk; i'm too busy remembering the alamo" and "same dead animals, great new taste" in a nerdy, loud monotone. Sometimes people clapped.

I don't know what anyone thought, but I don't care**. We didn't perform under a name, but this was as close to a Future Suicide Heroes show I've gotten since 2003.

*Distance between strings and the fretboard.
**I didn't even remember that this happened until this morning. Since doing this show in Middletown 8 days ago, I've been to dinner in the Bronx, home in Queens, in my office in Manhattan, back in Boston, presenting stuff in Guelph/Toronto, at a function in Austin, spent the weekend in Austin, and got back last night. I am very happy that I actually do things while I'm getting things done.

Now taking my life back.

2008-05-02T21:09:00.000-04:00

INFRASTRUCTURE vs. Austin!

partnerless, exahusted

2008-05-01T23:38:00.002-04:00

Entering Hour 54 of this work week in an Irving, Texas Holiday Inn Express.

Making a Stressful Day Slightly Less Terrible

2008-04-30T10:48:00.002-04:00

Landlady just offered meatballs and ziti for lunch!

What will be opposite SkyViewParc in the new Flushing?

2008-04-30T09:05:00.003-04:00

Apparently this.

This is River Park Place, being developed by Lev Real Estate. The warehouses that were there disappeared about a year ago.

TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS OF PEOPLE, PLACES, AND THINGS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH 9/11!!!

2008-04-29T09:41:00.002-04:00

Nothing brought this on. Just a reminder.

Medford Fire Detail

2008-04-23T23:59:00.006-04:00

Police details at construction sites are a sore topic in Massachusetts politics. (For those of you just joining us, "details" are a required, privately paid police presence at all road construction and utility sites. Almost no other states require these, and the cost is ultimately borne by the taxpayer/consumer.)

Even more arcane, outdated, useless, and wasteful is the fire detail, which is required in the Boston area at a variety of events (link to Cambridge's regulations).

Across the city line in Medford, Tufts University recently bought the Sacred Heart Church and Rectory from the Archdiocese of Boston, helping the church pay off its dozens of abuse victims and fanning the anti-intellectual, anti-"expansionism" fears of blue collar Medford.*

Apparently Tufts is making the church into some type of convention center. Its rectory was just torn down, which surprised me, and I passed by the demolition zone at about 6:30pm. Pacing around the rubble was a Medford fireman talking on his cell phone. A beat up old Medford Fire Crown Vic was parked across from the demolition equipment.

I suspected that this might be one of those strange fire details. So I returned on foot around 10:30pm to see if the firefighter was still guarding the ruins of the rectory, watching the jagged chunks of brick and plaster for a wisp of telltale smoke. The cruiser was still there and the scene dark. As I grew closer, I spied a weak white light coming from within the vehicle. The firefighter was reclining under the reading lamp with the driver's door slightly ajar, relaxing with a newspaper.

So the fire detail does exist, and in Medford, firefighters receive overtime pay to guard piles of rubble 24/7. Both satisfied and disappointed, I walked to Davis to take advantage of the weather. There I found that new pavement markings were being applied in the square. And the striping crews were being protected by cops and cruisers from Everett and Somerville.

cul-de-sac people

2008-04-21T22:04:00.001-04:00

are not really trying
not really trying at all

from the debut INFRASTRUCTURE album, The Price You Pay
Fall 2008!!!

Jobs should be limited to 40 hours per week.

2008-04-21T21:48:00.000-04:00

Perhaps 50.

Thanks, Universal Hub!

2008-04-21T10:09:00.003-04:00

Universal Hub is a great Boston metablog that often links to posts here and brings me all sorts of interesting visitors. Thanks to Adam and the folks over there who author that site and its links to this blog. You guys should have some sort of UH social so that all the bloggers can drink with each other and the commenters who hate me can tell me to my face.

Revere Beach, April 19

2008-04-20T22:58:00.001-04:00