This was sitting in my inbox after I sent a short (and somewhat incoherent message to trav after finishing reading "Ham on Rye" at work this morning. Something to the effect that C. Bukowski reminded me of Travis a little bit. Reminded me of myself a little bit, too. He's an influence even if I'm unaware of it. Just like Hamson. In many ways it's a lot like music. For example, the day I realized that there is a huge Clash influence on the Dead Milkmen. (or there seems to be...) which in effect afforded me an appreciation of The Clash before I started listening to them (beyond the standard London Calling Rock the Cashba Combat Rock crap that everyone seems to think of as Clash.)
******************Trav Wrote******************
i guess i have those as well...
i need to do it. i know that i do. the world needs to know. about me. whatever.
do you depart this eve? have you already departed? i hope you enjoy your trip...i need to go to the treasure mart tomorrow for betsy's annual creepy gift...i wasn't even thinking about that the last time i was there...i'll affix your name to it as well. hopefully they'll be some girls in bikinis washing motorcycles again this time 'round...never a dull moment at "buck's"...remember joe falling under one of their "spells" last time? something about how she wanted to be a nurse and blah, blah, blah, she was a "good spirit" (like "casper", though per his title he was more "friendly"); and i said something to the effect of "you do realize that before you got here she was washing a motorcycle while wearing a bikini? that should tell you all you need to know..."
i'm so stuck-up.
trav
***************************************************
I had completely forgotten about the bike wash last summer and the girls in bikinis, etc... Too much cycles of consistent patterns make the aberrant events fade into the mundane. I've been here before. I've done this before, a million times. The special events scattered throughout fade due to the layers of weeks piled on top of them... or something. Whatever.
I'm feeling a bit nostalgic about the fact that I've got three days left at the copy shop. I've been "working" there for close to four years now. (yeah? yeah. time flies.) It's a bit weird to think back to when I started working there and the progression from paranoia of being fired every day to slipping into a comfort zone of being "the 2nd shift" crew (since when did 2nd shift start at 8:30 AM and then run till 9 PM?) consisting entirely of myself and my thoughts. I also proved my worth in the "hickory danger smoke pit" when I started diggin up my old adobe software knowledge. Suddenly I was known as "the computer guy" as well. (Yeah right.)
There's a part of me that wants to list that job as "Unskilled Labor". It didn't take much to do it. Just the patience to take a box of paper and turn it into two identical boxes of paper while you stare at the bulletin board of ideas and thoughts in the back of your mind and plan out the scant few hours in the evening to tackle a project or whatever. (Watch TV. Eat popcorn. Skateboard.)
But as I sit here and write this, I really don't feel sadness at leaving. It's more just a uncertainty of leaving the established rut for the untested track that leads somewhere else (probably just another dead end so what's the worry? Not much really.)
Other than that, I've got a few more hours left and then I'm out of this dirty town for a few days to relax and kick it with my adopted niece (and her family).
(Ugh... '85 Metallica? Terrible!)
2 comments:
You cannot call yourself stuck up. That's just not how it works.
The Clash is the Dead Milkmen as the Dead Milkmen are to Dieselboy. It's just not fair to compare them but they are the most logical extension of the underlying spirit of making music on ones own terms. Sum41, Greenday, Avril Lavigne, Linkin Park and the rest are punk by the labels. Anything innovative in punk is by definition influenced but not the least bit concerned with what came before. Yes there's an early I wish I knew another cord but here's some punk from both band. And yes, Combat Rock = = That Video With The Hasidic Jew and The Arab. It's no London Calling but then again have you seen what's become of London Calling? Combat Rock did give us "Know Your Rights" and even though it's no "Punk Rock Girl" I really do love "I Dream of Jesus." I love songs that tell a story. I love them so much I'll even put up with the annual Thanksgiving noontime spinning of "Alice's Restaurant". Anyway, I realize I just drew a line from The Clash through The Dead Milkmen and straight into Dieselboy. OK maybe Dieselboy doesn't deserve to be called punk since the only punky thing they did was cover "Punk Rock Girl." Maybe I should re-write this post and make it about The Atari's.
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