In Other Decrepitude...

So, my back injury appears to be more serious than either the doctor or I had anticipated. It's been about two weeks since I first experienced the crippling pain, and though it subsides pretty dramatically, it keeps coming back. The pain is severe enough that I have to walk with a cane, which I purchased from that weird medical supply place at 12th and Madison that carries the extra tall brand canes. It's just like the one Dr. House uses (thanks to the influence of certain wives).

The weird thing is, and I guess it's not that weird really, but everyone just assumes the cane is an affectation, like I might not actually need it, but just like the way it looks. I do, actually, but I don't think I would ever be able to appropriate something as drastic as a cane in public, even though, like my top hat before it, the cane makes a certain kind of sense to/with/for me. But it mainly makes sense in the context of actually needing it to walk so that my muscle spasms (if indeed that is what they are) don't send me into wild contortions of agony. If the pain persists and the cane becomes a regular part of my life--which would be only too perfect given all the other bullshit I am dealing with right now--I'm seriously going to look into getting one with a sword or a flask inside it.

With that, here is a recent picture of me and my cane, which made its public debut the other night at the Three Imaginary Girls 69 Love Songs Tribute, where I sang "Underwear," "The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure," "Acoustic Guitar," and "Busby Berkeley Dreams."

Voila:

Demiversary

Today marks my six-month mark at my job. It began with a little vibration on my cell phone to accompany a memo that said "Do you like your job yet?" The answer, sadly, is no.

I do like it better than the Holiday Inn Express on Aurora where I've been staying the last few nights, alone, afraid. Truly, it is a depressing hovel.

"And in a globe of frogs, the moth unfurls its moistened wings."

2006 is not my favorite year.

Hey Guys! I'm Trying Out a New Look and Sound!

I don't want to get into too many details, but rock'n'roll feels like the tip of the iceberg that represents my whole musical flavor. With times being what they are, it just seems crazy not to at least try to communicate my vision to a wider audience. With that in mind, I ask you few, you happy few, you band of bloggers, to savor the possibilities of the new me I might become. You can read more about it HERE and HERE.

Meanwhile, here's the picture my new management team has put together:

That List, Second Installment

Guns 'N' Roses
The Jam
The Ramones
Jimi Hendrix (post first record; thanks for the reminder, Pete)
Sufjan Stevens

TO BE CONTINUED...

At the risk of total irrelevancy

A list of music I have been enjoying lately, though some of it is unlikely for me to enjoy, at least by my own standards, which are nothing if not paltry:

The Move: Message From the Country (CD reissue)
Sleepy Brown: "Me, My Baby, and My Cadillac" (single) [god bless the J5 sample!]
Broadcast: Tender Buttons (CD)
Ray Davies: Other People's Lives (CD)
Boogie Down Productions: Sex and Violence (CD)
The Byrds: Younger Than Yesterday (CD)
Gene Clark: No Other (CD reissue)
Norman Blake: Down in Sulphur Springs (download)
Mariah Carey: "Don't Forget About Us" (single)
Jeff Tweedy: "Pecan Pie" (MP3)
Liz Durrett: "The Mezzanine" (MP3)
Th' Faith Healers: Peel Sessions (CD reissue)
Salt-n-Pepa: "My Mic Sounds Nice" (MP3)
Lord Invader, Macbeth the Great, and the Duke of Iron: "Calypso War" (MP3)
Schoolly D: Smoke Some Kill (Vinyl eBay purhcase! incl. "Signifying Rapper"!!!)

also, here's another list, one I won't spoil by characterizing it, except that i'm just going to call it "That List" and I'll update it every so often under the heading "That List (continued)" or something like that, and you and I will know what's going on, but everyone else will be like, "whayt?" and we'll be all "Oh, SNACK!"

That List Installment One:
Bruce Springsteen
Wilco
James Brown
Patti Smith
John Cassavetes
Fugazi
50 Cent
Arrested Development (the TV show, not the '90s hip-hop collective)
Modest Mouse (except for like 5 songs)
Pink Floyd (post-Piper)
Miles Davis
The Libertines
Babyshambles
The Clash (basically)
Bright Eyes
Rilo Kiley
Interpol
"Don't Let Me Down"
P.I.L. (post "Public Image")
Quadrophenia (the ultimate exception to all rules, though I'm trying again, because that's how much i care!)

tbc...