all the news that print will fit.
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| notes from underground - societal whispers all the news that print will fit. |
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Tuesday, September 25, 2001 np: i wish i was in new orleans... we got these sheets of paper towards the beginning of the trip about "culture shock." apparently it has four stages. going from initial elation to crabbiness and irritability to gradual acceptance and finally bi-cultural status. i keep trying to measure myself against this and see where i am. and at moments i'm all like, 'yeah, i'm so bi-cultural.' but then i get bad days. days where dreary weather and a lot of sleep combine to make me the walking equivalent of a landslide: this ever collapsing, yet quickly moving sadness of cold. but the saviour of it all is this: people. i've had the most amazing week for meeting people. last week we went to a party out in stratford with lizzy's aussie friend damon. i met a girl named alex who does art restoration for a living. she works at the tate museum here and actually restores paintings. it was the coolest career i'd heard anyone talk about in awhile. then i went to see gary numan and what a wonderful show it was. i actually got to meet him and despite the fact that he'd been wading through well-wishers and various fans for almost two hours he was very gracious and nice to me and i've nothing but love for one of the dreariest men in rock and roll. he's an amazing live show by the way. then at a night bus stop on the way home, i met an ex-pat israeli woman with whom i proceeded to enjoy a half hour conversation about middle eastern politics. i was having trouble catching the right bus and she seemed worried about me as she got on the bus. a hurried, half smile, half concern wave as she boarded the bus and she looked back at me as it drove off. it was nice to see someone care about someone they didn't really know. i felt fuzzy. then last night lizzy, james and myself met this girl named rae. she's an american from detroit who has been living here for a few months. and she knew who tom waits was. that's enough for me. she's also seen the flashing lights live and met the members. and the fact that she even knows who the flashing lights are! brilliant. she lives out in zone six (quite a haul from marble arch) and stayed the night with us rather than making the trek out to the hinterlands of london. we stayed up until about seven in the morning having really nice conversation about all kinds of stuff and we found even more bands we enjoyed and ended up laughing ourselves silly over that ridiculous skit on snl from one of the episodes where christopher walken hosted and he was a record producer working on a blue oyster cult song. and there's this guy playing a cowbell in the song really loud and the band members are getting very pissed at him for being at the front of this song, when walken comes out to intone: 'i've got a fever, and the only cure is more cowbell.' and it's all in the enunciation of cowbell where the joke lies. crazy. josh rouse is this friday. god's gift to nebraskan songwriters. and the new jay farrar is out in america. and i'm missing an acoustic superchunk show at gate city noise. and all sorts of thing call me home to america. endless things. which is where the np: came from. tom waits' small change album. beautiful, "i wish i was in new orleans." the only songs on the record that top it are "invitation to the blues" and "tom traubert's blues (six sheets to the wind in copenhagen)." and so forth. so yeah. i'm loving it here. patrick wrote me and sent much love. and i miss my good friends. i miss laughter. which is why last night made such an impact on me. i just hope i'm not alone. i opened gödel, escher, bach: an eternal golden braid today. it's going to be good. i'll let you know... posted by J. Neas | 9/25/2001 05:23:00 PM
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