too much joy and cheer last night. you were definitely missed. sorry about calling when you were trying to sleep. and sorry about putting you on the phone with the screaming drunk girl who wouldn't leave me alone. it was the only way i could get away from her. she was saying some things that i didn't like at all; like "i love that bitch," and some pretty explicit stuff about your booty. seriously. sure she meant well, but i wasn't appreciative. your dad witnessed a little of that.
just back from dinner at your parents', and you're right. once i smelled those chitterlings, i decided against trying them. i also smelled nothing else BUT them for the rest of the night. (interesting note: blogger's auto-word corrected my spelling of "chitlins" to "chitterlings".) your mom told me chitterlings are considered a delicacy in France, which doesn't surprise me. the French seem to have an affinity for smelly things. cheese, cigarettes, armpits, Jerry Lewis.... i could get past the fact that they're intestines but they just smell SO awful. maybe it's all the waste that travels through them? do brains and heart, or other offal, smell that bad? even if it doesn't taste as rank as it smells, i don't think i could get it past my nose. i told your mom maybe i'll try 'em next year, if you do too. vive la France!
LRV, b
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Friday, December 31, 2010
the Twenty-Second Day
just getting myself together before heading to NYE party. hope yr frustrations have smoothed out; maybe things working a little easier for you, or even just a simple resolve to deal with it another day. i gotta tell ya, nothing does crispies quite like a cast-iron skillet! weeeeee doggies! these Louisiana Hash leftover crispies? you'd love 'em.... i'll probably have to field a thousand "where is she"/"how's she doing" questions tonight. luckily your parents will be there too. they can take some of that rap for me. and i promise i'll keep that cow away from your father if she's there tonight. (or rather, just keep your dad occupied away from her.) by the looks of how she left the last throw-down though, in tears and without saying goodbye, she got the message loud and clear: stay the hell away from married men and boyfriends, you pack mule. i'll take plenty of photos for you, and maybe post them here tomorrow????
starting tomorrow we'll do Frenchie week, per your request. for tonight, in honor of our lovely hostess (who will probably corner me and tell me, drunk and in her second language, how much she loves you, and me, and your parents, and fuck everybody else if they don't like it) our second favorite Turk: Selda!
i LRV you, and i'll call you 'round midnight, our time.
b
Selda Bagcan- "Yaz Gazeteci Yaz"
starting tomorrow we'll do Frenchie week, per your request. for tonight, in honor of our lovely hostess (who will probably corner me and tell me, drunk and in her second language, how much she loves you, and me, and your parents, and fuck everybody else if they don't like it) our second favorite Turk: Selda!
i LRV you, and i'll call you 'round midnight, our time.
b
Selda Bagcan- "Yaz Gazeteci Yaz"
Thursday, December 30, 2010
The Twenty-First Day
yep, 21. we's all grow'd up now, huh? nah. it's just another day. (only 70 more to go!) boring day today. slow at work, not much going on around the house although i promised myself i'd finally cook something this evening. think i went grocery shopping like a week ago today and have barely touched any of it. tonight i will make the breakfast i've been dreaming about for weeks... a home version of Dixie Grill's Louisiana Hash. mmmmmmm
so okay. Louisiana music... Dr. John, Louis Armstrong, Li'l Wayne, Allen Toussaint (i would LOVE to post "Soul Sister" but it's not on YouTube), the Meters, George Lewis... i got it! Eddie Bo! sure as your bone, we got us a sho' nuff bucket, babygirl. (and i'm talkin' 'bout GOOD!) sorry the video is so... absent, but the song is right on point.
LRV, b
Eddie Bo: "Check Your Bucket"
so okay. Louisiana music... Dr. John, Louis Armstrong, Li'l Wayne, Allen Toussaint (i would LOVE to post "Soul Sister" but it's not on YouTube), the Meters, George Lewis... i got it! Eddie Bo! sure as your bone, we got us a sho' nuff bucket, babygirl. (and i'm talkin' 'bout GOOD!) sorry the video is so... absent, but the song is right on point.
LRV, b
Eddie Bo: "Check Your Bucket"
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
the Twentieth Day
people keep saying that our time apart will "go by quickly". guess i'm still waiting for the clock to run... seems like a crawl these last 20 days. i honestly can't remember what our longest stretch of time apart has been; maybe seven, eight days?
it seems redundant to write about stuff we've already talked about over the phone. the opposite works fine; i write it and then we talk. maybe i can drop a hint or two, or leave out a crucial detail, to entice you to read. but if we've already spoken, and you know about lunch and my trip to the record store, then why chronicle it here?
after 20 days this process is starting to reveal its vanity (which i suppose is the nature of The Blog anyway). so how necessary is it? we do have the phone, and soon hopefully all our Skype wires will connect. so is this just for my satisfaction then; so i can know that i did indeed write you a letter everyday like they did in the movies? it's not as easy as it sounds.
still i won't give up or abandon it, even if it feels flat at times. the Main Idea is to keep as many fires burning as possible. yes, we're on the phone at least once a day. but what if there's a lapse? it's bound to happen sometime. our time tables are a lot different. if there is a day we can't connect, at least there's this page. even if it is just a one-sided conversation, it's still time well spent because it's dedicated to you, and only you.
maybe that's its most resonant purpose: my daily devotional to you. may it never die.
this is from one of the records i bought today. hope you like it, too!
LRV, b
the Soft Machine: "Kings and Queens"
it seems redundant to write about stuff we've already talked about over the phone. the opposite works fine; i write it and then we talk. maybe i can drop a hint or two, or leave out a crucial detail, to entice you to read. but if we've already spoken, and you know about lunch and my trip to the record store, then why chronicle it here?
after 20 days this process is starting to reveal its vanity (which i suppose is the nature of The Blog anyway). so how necessary is it? we do have the phone, and soon hopefully all our Skype wires will connect. so is this just for my satisfaction then; so i can know that i did indeed write you a letter everyday like they did in the movies? it's not as easy as it sounds.
still i won't give up or abandon it, even if it feels flat at times. the Main Idea is to keep as many fires burning as possible. yes, we're on the phone at least once a day. but what if there's a lapse? it's bound to happen sometime. our time tables are a lot different. if there is a day we can't connect, at least there's this page. even if it is just a one-sided conversation, it's still time well spent because it's dedicated to you, and only you.
maybe that's its most resonant purpose: my daily devotional to you. may it never die.
this is from one of the records i bought today. hope you like it, too!
LRV, b
the Soft Machine: "Kings and Queens"
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Day Nineteen
just one of those days. "nothing particularly special or exciting." that isn't a very good segue into a musical recommendation but.... heard this song again this morning and remembered i meant to put this group on your iPod before you left, but never got around to copping it. you may remember we listened to them a bit at C&E's while they were away; at their kitchen table using the Pandora on your phone? anyway, what i like about this group is that they don't over-do anything, and they're not trying to fit into any niche. they just make songs; very simply, only doing what is necessary. they don't even really need a name, just two X's. the lyrics are nice and sweet, too. it's a good couples' song.
LRV, b
the XX: "VCR"
LRV, b
the XX: "VCR"
Monday, December 27, 2010
Day Eighteen
set up my Skypes today! i am SOOOO excited to SEE you tonight! i may even comb my hair.... good day today. went down to Isaac's and got me a navy blue Kangol, very sharp.
also got to see Joe and Joan for a bit, which you know. Joan is a bit under the weather. allergies mostly, but she's also got a gall bladder issue. surgery in mid-January. we'll let you know how it's going, but can you send her a card? it would mean the world to her.
AND i had the always lovely opportunity to hang out with Will and Carol, at your parents' house. those two are too much. (they send their love!) Will told me i looked like Gil-Scott Heron with this beard. i knew he meant it in the most flattering way possible --even from a guy that likes to bullshit as much as Will-- but at first i was like "that guy's gaunt as hell from years of drug abuse, and he has HIV!" of course we talked a lot about music and Will was genuinely appreciative of the Wax Poetics issue i gave him with the article about Airto. that meant a lot. Carol's cello playing has reached a new level, she says. she finally feels as if she's got an instructor who will not simply supply her with the tools to play, but provide her with the wisdom of how to use those tools and the inspiration to take her wherever she may want to go. exiting stuff!
so now i'm looking through YouTube, trying to find my beard in Gil-Scott Heron videos. (my hair is a lot less, how do you say, curly than his...) there are plenty to choose from but i'm going with this one for several reasons:
A) it's probably the most beard-ly accurate, if only a pixelated drawing
B) cuz it's about Detroit
C) because it's badass and has a ton of familiar samples in it
D) it follows Stravinsky better than "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", or Comment #1.
Gil-Scott Heron: "We Almost Lost Detroit"
and, a last minute addition, because "i got stars in my beard, and i feel real weird, for you"
T. Rex: "Mambo Sun"
LRV, b
also got to see Joe and Joan for a bit, which you know. Joan is a bit under the weather. allergies mostly, but she's also got a gall bladder issue. surgery in mid-January. we'll let you know how it's going, but can you send her a card? it would mean the world to her.
AND i had the always lovely opportunity to hang out with Will and Carol, at your parents' house. those two are too much. (they send their love!) Will told me i looked like Gil-Scott Heron with this beard. i knew he meant it in the most flattering way possible --even from a guy that likes to bullshit as much as Will-- but at first i was like "that guy's gaunt as hell from years of drug abuse, and he has HIV!" of course we talked a lot about music and Will was genuinely appreciative of the Wax Poetics issue i gave him with the article about Airto. that meant a lot. Carol's cello playing has reached a new level, she says. she finally feels as if she's got an instructor who will not simply supply her with the tools to play, but provide her with the wisdom of how to use those tools and the inspiration to take her wherever she may want to go. exiting stuff!
so now i'm looking through YouTube, trying to find my beard in Gil-Scott Heron videos. (my hair is a lot less, how do you say, curly than his...) there are plenty to choose from but i'm going with this one for several reasons:
A) it's probably the most beard-ly accurate, if only a pixelated drawing
B) cuz it's about Detroit
C) because it's badass and has a ton of familiar samples in it
D) it follows Stravinsky better than "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", or Comment #1.
Gil-Scott Heron: "We Almost Lost Detroit"
and, a last minute addition, because "i got stars in my beard, and i feel real weird, for you"
T. Rex: "Mambo Sun"
LRV, b
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Day Seventeen
you know half of this story already. forgot to tell you the continuation. so in the interest not telling a partial story, (and for the benefit of any lurkers), we'll take it from the top.
Christmas morning: first thing i do when i wake up is put on a kettle for coffee. fill it up, set it on the stove, crank the dial. the stove's a little cluttered but whatever. you're not home and i'm not expecting company. grind some beans, go to bathroom. use bathroom, brush teeth... what's that smell? something is burning. i run to the kitchen, toothbrush in mouth, and discover i'd turned the wrong burner on and a box of aluminum foil is smoldering. (we have an electric stove, thank god.) i quickly pick it up, throw it out onto the deck and think to myself "hope that's not an omen".
when i came home from dinner, i finally put the missing string on my guitar (xmas gift to self: pack of strings) and played until my fingertips were black. over the course of playing i took a couple smoke breaks. it was getting late and as i grew sleepy i smelled something strange again, like a synthetic burn or something, so i checked the kitchen and nothing was odd. i go out for my last smoke of the night and the citronella candle that we carelessly use as an ashtray is billowing smoke. i suppose an earlier cig lit up a few of its fallen comrades. i poured what was left of my beer on it and the beast sizzled out. "well ain't that some shit."
so yeah. your boyfriend set two accidental fires in your house on Christmas day. (cue Gilly: "Sorry!") this is how much i need you. but i promise the house will still be here upon your return, just maybe a little crispy around the edges. you love crispies!
most folks would probably post "Burning Down the House" as musical accompaniment to this story, but that's too easy. Kermit the Frog's rendition of "Once in a Lifetime" is great but hardly applicable. (will find use for it later....)
THIS is on the money. growing up, we listened to a lot of classical music in our house, more so than even mom's beloved early Beatles or oldies radio. mom would always pick up the music that whatever the orchestras or ensembles sis and i were involved in were playing. Ravel's "Bolero", of course. Holst's "The Planets" (Mars and Jupiter kick ass), "New World Suite", Dvorak. all that. i think sis played "Firebird", and it stuck with me. it's so haunting and moody, and it builds this great momentum and this really dramatic yet affirming finale. this video is fantastic too, the Maestro at the helm. simply sublime.... i don't listen to the classics too much anymore. too hungry for the esoteric. still these linger in the blood, and they're a hell of a lot more entertaining than the Talking Heads. don't you think?
LRV, b
Igor Stravinsky conducts "The Firebird Suite"
Christmas morning: first thing i do when i wake up is put on a kettle for coffee. fill it up, set it on the stove, crank the dial. the stove's a little cluttered but whatever. you're not home and i'm not expecting company. grind some beans, go to bathroom. use bathroom, brush teeth... what's that smell? something is burning. i run to the kitchen, toothbrush in mouth, and discover i'd turned the wrong burner on and a box of aluminum foil is smoldering. (we have an electric stove, thank god.) i quickly pick it up, throw it out onto the deck and think to myself "hope that's not an omen".
when i came home from dinner, i finally put the missing string on my guitar (xmas gift to self: pack of strings) and played until my fingertips were black. over the course of playing i took a couple smoke breaks. it was getting late and as i grew sleepy i smelled something strange again, like a synthetic burn or something, so i checked the kitchen and nothing was odd. i go out for my last smoke of the night and the citronella candle that we carelessly use as an ashtray is billowing smoke. i suppose an earlier cig lit up a few of its fallen comrades. i poured what was left of my beer on it and the beast sizzled out. "well ain't that some shit."
so yeah. your boyfriend set two accidental fires in your house on Christmas day. (cue Gilly: "Sorry!") this is how much i need you. but i promise the house will still be here upon your return, just maybe a little crispy around the edges. you love crispies!
most folks would probably post "Burning Down the House" as musical accompaniment to this story, but that's too easy. Kermit the Frog's rendition of "Once in a Lifetime" is great but hardly applicable. (will find use for it later....)
THIS is on the money. growing up, we listened to a lot of classical music in our house, more so than even mom's beloved early Beatles or oldies radio. mom would always pick up the music that whatever the orchestras or ensembles sis and i were involved in were playing. Ravel's "Bolero", of course. Holst's "The Planets" (Mars and Jupiter kick ass), "New World Suite", Dvorak. all that. i think sis played "Firebird", and it stuck with me. it's so haunting and moody, and it builds this great momentum and this really dramatic yet affirming finale. this video is fantastic too, the Maestro at the helm. simply sublime.... i don't listen to the classics too much anymore. too hungry for the esoteric. still these linger in the blood, and they're a hell of a lot more entertaining than the Talking Heads. don't you think?
LRV, b
Igor Stravinsky conducts "The Firebird Suite"
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