thankfully, amy mosley had an art show last night. She likes to tie knots in string just so you and i can have the pleasure of untying them....very giving. She's a healer and a gem. I had the pleasure of accompanying her on a beach walk last year out at Pt Reyes; we talked and read and ate some snacks, and both realized that we like to go off the path when we take hikes. We ended up getting into some pretty dense thicket (it always looks less dense from far away) and made it out only by the good grace of a passage of deer trails. I found the largest antler I've ever found that day. Amy said she had never found an antler before so offered it to her, but she wanted me to keep it...very giving.
a week ago, I, david, flew home to central Massachusetts to visit my family and dig the last gasps of winter. whenever I reenter my family's house I am always showered with the residue of my kidhood, layered and layered, and it's always a trip. I feel like I spend so much time these days collecting old things and imagining who they belonged to and how they were a part of some life ago that it's extra wowerful (thanks for the word frank) when the old things discovered are mine, and the life ago imagined is a shape of my memory! it's VERY consuming, and I usually have to bring myself back after not too long for fear that if I excavate too hard I'll get lost in memory land and be trapped, a little bit like Bill Murray in Groundhog's Day...it's a departure from the present for sure, but a healthy does of that does a person good (especially when you get to look at comics you drew when you were in 2nd grade).
one thing I was especially searching for were these drawings I did of my mom's hands and feet when I was 9. my mom really was hoping to find them too, so we looked through all of these old portfolios and found them buried in a folder marked in my little dave cat-scratch: "relalistuk drawings" (realistic). I don't need to call myself a child art wizard, but I was pretty impressed.... ....I also found it hilarious that at the same time I did those drawings I was doing THESE drawings (this is the real stuff): YES those are scenes from my comic book series Diacy (about a ninja whose face got melted into a skull by gang) YES that's a flyer for my 4th grade metal band "Outlaws of Metal" (my second band...first being a solo acoustic metal project called "Powerline" with the hit single "Satan" from the platinum album "To the Head"), and YES that's a portrait of George Bush the first (I don't really get that one, but I like it).
anway, here's some more goodies from even earlier days:
what a trip!
here's my brother josh emailing his new lady love, very much in the present. and my mom ellen reading in a chair that they've had longer than they've had me. and my dad howie in our greenhouse (just kidding, this is at a botanical garden near where we live).
they're my family, and they're what's hard about living in California.
this would be the perfect title for a naval themed gay romance set in the mid nineteenth century...it also perfectly describes how I felt as the guest percusser for Jeff Manson's set the other night at the Red Devil lounge. I listen to his songs all the time on my home stereo, and I love him, so this was a real treat.
check out these videos from the show
White Rainbow/Valet/Atlas Sound tonight at the Bottom of the Hill...go surrender.
"WHAT. IS. IT? IT'S IT. WHAT IS IT?" -faith no more.
great band, deep question. The it above is a lil musical video of Ship that Josef Lucas of KNOWProductions made one and a half years ago and just posted. It happened right at the birth of Tree, our collection of songs inspired by a choral chant from a cosmic celebration that frank stumbled upon. people singing the word 'tree' as if they were singing the word 'amen.' over and over. we had just had our first outdoor show up in the Eucalyptus grove in berkeley (with Snowblink, and Nat Russell, and Mariee Sioux, and Joseph Childress). Josef had done some filming that night and he wanted to flush out the footage with us scampering around a bit. It feels young, and silly, but it is as we are. so there you go. The footage of Snowblink from the Eucalyptus grove is quite precious. I forgot about how i nearly set daniella's hair on fire.
anyway, it's funny to see this early stab at video play having just completed our TreeVD. and it's always nice to share. Thank you Josef for finishing this project even though it is well past its conception. That's a mark of good character... finish what you've started.
here's a video that Josef made at our second outdoor show, the Tunnel Show:
With the past weeks of soaking in some rays, I'm beginning to power up and remember all the lovely things I haven't done in awhile due to months of art show consumption and rain hibernation. My inner protestant is finally chilling out. Loosen up dude, give yourself some leash, go get some livin.
An solid first step in learning to live more is attending heart shaking cultural events with your best friends. that's what i, David, did with max goldberg, on tuesday night when we went arm in arm to the Great American Music Hall to be pummeled by Huun-Huur-Tu, the throat singers from Tuva (presented by Frank's new esteemed place of work, Aquarius Records). It was huge! If you're not familiar with throat singing, behold...
...i thought so. I felt like a baby in a stroller getting pushed over a long bumpy road causing deep stroller reverberations while my mom, dad, and grandparents all whistled to me at the same time. All of their songs were about horses and missing their girlfriends (which I can relate to), and they explained that they each have the spirit of 10 of their ancestors with them at all times so as they sing it is actually the resonance of many at once. whoa.
anyway, it was a real treat and I love them for singing to me. And I love max for being such a great friend, and taking me along to special shows when he gets free tickets for being 007freelance Guardian writer (he is a really great writer...check his blog to get read his delightful musings on film and his interviews with the likes of Bill Callahan, the Finches, and White Magic...it's all there...maybe if we're lucky he'll write his version of getting throat sung).
this is a photo I took of him nearly 3 years ago, just weeks after I moved to California and we moved in together... people often say we look alike, sometimes people say we look like brothers, once a pizza delivery man asked if we were twins, and ONCE, at stinson beach, max walked to the beach while I was getting my surf board off the car, and then I walked to the beach in my wetsuit, with my surfboard, and this stoned dude freaked out as I walked up to him and said "WHOAAAAAA! didn't you JUST walk by me!?!?!?!" that was the best ever.
here is max and I when we played one of 3 shows together as "Brothers"..... this was a house show that we hosted, also not long after I moved here, just days after Daniella moved here. This was our first Bay Area Snowblink show, it was a brown bag potluck (pack yourself a complete brown bag lunch and swap it with a friend), daniella's wonderful idea, one of many and many and many......geez, nostalgia's abrew for me right now, celebrating the good days is a healthy part of learning to live more i guess.
A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of watching pocahaunted play for a third grade class in oakland. You can see in the foreground, in a brown striped hoody, their splendid and inspired teacher jeff leboeuf, the man who put the whole thing together. This is jeff's family. They really know how to party! After their first song, they opened things up and handed out various instruments and pieces of percussion to the class. That's amanda spreading the sound around. She is an incredible person, and can dance a hole through a wall. This little guy was ready to slam the tam tam. And finally, there was a beautiful and interesting question and answer period. Amanda and Bethany were both very communicative and neat. Their connection is clear and special. My favorite part was when a little kid asked them what they call there music. Amanda and Bethany both looked at eachother quizzically and ventured, "It's sort of like rock & roll," and then, a little kid nearby me whispered, "but more haunted." Dang! If you haven't checked out pocahaunted, or the many releases on their FRICKING amazing label notnotfun, you should. They make some of the best art around, I'm not not not joking.
So, as an aside? Who's sick? Me, I'm out like a broken dog, and in my few waking moments, when I drift to the surface through the viscous yet billowing layers of nyquil I'm buried beneath, I like to compare the current state of my throat to things. Just things...
my fav three: 1. A fiberglass spiderweb. (has a nice ring does it not?) 2. A dooooooom review on the aquarius records website. If you don't know, check it, I'll be writing there soon, as its my *new job*. 3. Like I've been smoking cottage cheese. CAN YOU IMAGINE!
