:: TV IN THE RAIN ::

TV on the Radio played a free show at McCarren Pool in Brooklyn. It rained.

There's usually a line that lasts blocks for these shows, but we walked right in and were among the few willing to brave the rain.

We did a little more than brave the rain. Slip 'n' mutherfucking Slide!

The other side of the stage has a dodgeball court. It was extra intense with slippery balls.

It only really rained during the opening bands.

This was the most beautiful moment of the entire event.

By the time TV on the Radio went on, the crowds came out the umbrellas went away.

Aw sweet, right? No way! These kids were slopping all over each other from the minute we walked in three hours earlier. Everyone around them was making faces of disgust. Look beyond the romance and have some dignity.

Other than that it was a great show.

:: RIDIN' HIGH
ON THE FLY
::

(hoppin' trains with Soup and the Polaroid Kidd)

Taking a break from the raft for a bit, some work and travel are calling. Already miss the river, the raft, and the friendly faces like hell. Kind of feel like I am making a mistake, but I hope to get back there come September. Making the right decision is hard when there is no wrong choice.

- One topic of late night conversation: Communisim is akin to Religion in that their failure is due to the poor execution by mankind.
- Driving the pickup in a crazy storm blasting classical music.
- Eating spaghetti with Bud in his farm house.
- Getting jealous over stories of life in San Fran.
- Going back to amateur strip night, and our friend winning this time!
- Hanging out with David the Bike Guy in Rock Island.
- Waiting for two hours to get picked up by friends who are too high to find you/follow directions.
- Hearing stories of old friends in Chicago majorly dicking-over other friends.
- Resurrecting my soda addiction from last year.
- Serious group sleeping-around drama, and friends leaving.
- Realizing that I look kinda scary with lots of facial hair.
- Finding out that a crew member from last year was recently kidnapped in Palestine.
- Sitting among garbage cans so your friends will have better luck hitching a ride to the hospital.
- Piloting a 70 ft. long raft in high winds with weak engines our first day out.
- Exploring an island full of poison ivy and stinging nettles.
- Accidentally roasting a bunch of turtle eggs under our cooking fire on the beach (the embryos were really cute though).
- Having a bonfire in the middle of a huge sand pit.
- Remembering/joking about the time last year when we tied up to a dead tree and immediately got swarmed by flying termites that bit their wings off once they landed on the raft. . . and the subsequent frantic massacre of the termites to protect our raft.
- Having my clothes literally falling apart on my body.
- Buying girl's jeans cause they were the only ones in the thrift store that fit me.
- Polishing off a pint of Ben & Jerry's in the parking lot of the Kum & Go and watching the parade of locals and their attempts at starting fights with each other.
- Earl and the woman with the newborn baby monkeys.
- Jumping off a thirty-foot-tall ship in the dark.
- Hanging out at the homeless mission and eating hot dogs with a "bounty hunter" and the minister.
- Getting run out of Muscatine by the cops.
- Literally holding my tent down in a fierce storm that produced a tornado thirty miles away.
- Watching the most amazing lightning I've ever seen in my life. . . several nights in a row.
- Slipping, falling and busting my ass on the corner of a 2x4, broke a nice chunk out of my rear and it hurt for a week.
- Waking up one morning to find the river literally lapping at my tent.
- Cory falling overboard and getting cut up by the engine prop.
- Meeting a friendly drunk guy while we were stranded on a beach who invites us to his mobile home on the river. . . we promptly crash into his dock and bend it, but he was still really nice and really drunk.
- Wandering around the cutest small town main streets.
- Realizing that giving a phone interview while riding a loud bus when you haven't slept for two days is not a good idea.
- Hopping my first freight train, on the fly.
- Freezing all night on a mail express train hauling ass while riding piggyback.
- Getting run out of a public park in Chicago by an armed rent-a-cop "Because I said so."
- Dumpstering still-chilled boxed lunches from a kids summer program.
- Camping out at the end of an entire street of abandoned houses in suburbia.
- When you haven't had a meal in a couple days peanut butter tastes amazing.
- Funny thing about riding trains is that it's so loud you have to shout to be heard, yet it puts you right to sleep.
- Getting caught by the railroad police five minutes after arriving in Milwaukee, although after running our IDs he was nice enough to welcome us to Milwaukee and suggest a good cheap Mexican restaurant.
- Looking forward to the art show featuring Brodie (aka The Polaroid Kidd), Monica Canilao, and Soup.

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MP3:

Soup loves this song, and so do I.

- Huey 'Piano' Smith - Don't You Just Know It

A band's place in myspace.

:: REIGNITING A REVOLUTION ::

07.14.07
It was Bastille Day, as well as my birthday, so some wacky folks from The Danger concocted a celebration called One Night of Fire. Three-thousand people met on the Brooklyn Bridge and marched into Manhattan to catch a train to Coney Island for fiery festivities. I'm not much into glowsticks or shimmery body paint, but visually, shit was ill.

Extinguishing the flame.

But letting the revolution burn on.

:: INSIDE THE SECRET QUIET ::

Photos from exploring more abandoned buildings, more here.

It's always strange how time seems to stand still when you are wandering around inside an abandoned building, regardless if it's day or night.

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MP3:

This seems somewhat appropriate for this post, in a weird way.

- Tears For Fears - Pharaohs

A band's place in myspace.

:: THE AURORA'S RISIN' UP BEHIND US ::

Sorry for the lack of updates. I had some things to do.

I actually ended up hanging out in Dolores Park in San Francisco on July 4th with my friend Sandy. Listen to the Bruce Springsteen song "Sandy" to mark the occasion.

Hey Sandy girl
Sandy's the best. She has star quality.

Them boys in their spiked high heels ah Sandy their skins are so white

And the wizards play down on Pinball Way on the boardwalk way past dark
I guess hotdogs and fireworks weren't enough. This 4th of July called for Chun Li and tiger punches.

Forcin' a light into all those stoned-out faces left stranded on this Fourth of July

Chasin' the factory girls underneath the boardwalk where they promise to unsnap their jeans

Parked making love with their babies out on the Kokomo

Well he ain't my boss no more Sandy
FecalFace darkman and Unpiano proprietor Jesse Pollock.

I spoke to 'em just last night and they said they won't set themselves on fire for us anymore

The pier lights our carnival life on the water
That is fresh urine homegirl is prancing through. I know because I have the pee photo.

Now the greasers they tramp the streets or get busted for trying to sleep on the beach all night

And the boys from the casino dance with their shirts open like Latin lovers along the shore
Young Ghost and the 19th Street Lords.

Down in town the circuit's full with switchblade lovers so fast so shiny so sharp

Well the cops finally busted Madame Marie for tellin' fortunes better than they do

Oh Sandy the aurora is risin' up behind us

Sandy the fireworks are hailin' over Little Eden tonight

Sandy, the angels have lost our desire for us

_____________________________________________________________________________

A couple days later, I found myself in Berkeley.

Woke up and found Galen Jackson wearing a shirt for shorts.

He got juiced up and took me on a ride.

We went to the Chancellor's house at UC Berkeley so Galen could ride down the stairs.

Ulitmate pull-up championships.

Found some blackberries.

Ate some spikey things.

Along the ride we met Tut, a member of a growing faction of Afrocentric Egyptians. He appeared very wise.

And we find ourselves treading on flower pedals, unsure where to go next.

:: KEEP AMERICA BEAUTIFUL, GET A HAIRCUT ::

Photos from the rodeo in Andalusia, IL, right next to where I've been sleeping/living for the past month.

All I can say is MUTTON BUSTING!

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MP3:

Also digging this, for no particular reason.

- The Octopus Project - Adjustor

A band's place in myspace.

:: YOU ACT LIKE YOUR ASS AIN'T NEVER BEEN KICKED ::

Roadkill dinner.

Overly-friendly drunk man in liquor store parking lot.

MUDCANO.

The Polaroid Kidd watching Mudcano from a safe spot.

The Polaroid Kidd's eye after Santiago smashed his glasses [Santi needed stitches].

Boat bursting out of the trees.

A taxidermied something playing the saw.

Brandy showing off her bug in a light bulb.

A dead flat possum.

I found Camelot.

Brandy busking late at night in a deserted downtown.

Bonfires and Sparks.

Been spending a lot of time with roadkill and bonfires out here on the Mississippi River.

- More abandoned buildings.
- Watching Mutton Busting at a rodeo happening twenty-five feet from where I normally sleep.
- Exploring a cool boat graveyard.
- Sneaking late-night showers at a campground.
- Riding your bike for over two hours in 90+degree blazing sun on a highway kinda sucks.
- Watching your friend hack hunks off a roadkill deer for dinner.
- Talking to the ex-bear-wrestler about bear wrestling, and mountains.
- Exploring the muddy shores of the Mississippi at sundown.
- A friendly local recounting how he bought an RV for really cheap at an auction, and then drove his tractor through it.
- The bottom of your toe might be the worst place for mosquito bites.
- One hell of a disturbing pet name for a classic car.
- I will never understand people's tendency to be so defensive of their garbage (ie. we got busted dumpstering).
- Having my contributions to the group's website censored (ie. I will no longer be posting there, only here).
- When stripping during karoke in a woman's American flag bikini bottom, make sure all your junk stays put.
- Helping to feed someone's dogs: two cans dog food, two cans chili, cause "Eh, it's pretty much the same thing."
- Using a shower in an abandoned house that was covered in mud and cigarette butts (but I still felt cleaner afterward).
- The band Parts & Labor stopping by to perform a solo set by Dan Friel.
- Spending an entire night evading the Police's K9 unit (yes, that one is a long story).

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MP3:

Dunno, I just like this. Might be the heat.

- Clique Claque - Neavue Riche (Radio Action Refix)

A band's place in myspace.

:: POCKET-SIZED MEMORIES FROM THE WILD RIDE ::

I just finished the Emerica Wild Ride. And it was just that. Part of my filming job was acquiring releases and taking Polaroids to match those that signed. Here are those and some of my own to give you a glimpse of the trip before I get into the real story.