A bad habit (newly formed) / Portland travelogue Part 1

First, let me say how much I can't stand the sound of screaming children. Particularly on airplanes. Or in Target. I can at least choose not to shop at Target (which I do -- as in, I do choose to avoid the place as if it's an epicenter for airborne cancer). But I must use air travel services if I want to quickly arrive at a far-off destination. And I unfortunately do not pull in the kind of cash that would allow me to charter a private jet. So commercial airlines shall remain the way to go for little bearded me.

Strangely, after I wrote the first two sentences of this petty rant, the kid who prompted my wholly unnecessary intro paragraph clammed up real good. Meanwhile, some non-commotion ensued over the guy next to me having settled into the wrong seat here on United flight 522. He was in 9B, but his ticket was for 8B. Fortunately for this visually challenged passenger, people in the Bay area aren't terribly picky about such details, and the misplaced man's fellow passengers stepped up to assure the flight attendant, who was twitching over the fact that the flight was 100% full, that it was all good. Seemingly upset that the fight he tried to pick was instantaneously quashed by good will, he turned to his female co-attendant and sarcastically remarked, "are we on Southwest or United?"

But oh yes... the bad habit (newly formed) that this trip reminded me of, which was what prompted me to put pen to paper (literally -- this is an after-the-fact transcription).

So I'm about to hop on a flight to Portland, using some miles I had accumulated via the generous folks at United Airlines, and I had it in mind that I should pick up a bottle of wine for my friend Chris and his wife, who both graciously invited me to visit. While scouting around for a place in the labirynth that is San Francisco International Airport where I could purchase some kind of zin or syrrah, I gave in to the temptation to stop at Compass Books. Never mind the fact that I had intentionally left behind my half-read copy of Dan Matovina's Without You: The Tragic Story of Badfinger specifically so I would be forced to write, rather than read, while in transit. Granted, I'm writing now, but still, I'm not writing what I had intended to write (as in, the next batch of reviews I have due). And what I'm writing now is partially inspired by (or in response to) (or not) what I ended up buying at Compass (thanks a lot, Chuck Klosterman)!

So now, by my count, I have started reading five different books, and that's not counting the used copy of one of a handful of Bob Dylan tomes I bought last Fall that I have yet to start, nor the book on vampires of New England written by an ex-girlfriend's father that I got halfway through before my Halloween spirit started to evaporate. I swear I will finish it once that urge to tramp through graveyards in search of ghosts returns. And mark my words, it will return, because it happened once, and that in turn means I will want to revisit it again, because anything I find pleasurable can't happen only once. It's the law. Or "a" law.

But anyway, the fact that I have not finished reading six different books does not make me proud. It's not "me" to leave a book unfinished, or a drink, or food. I won't even watch a movie halfway (unless someone else is in control of the DVD player) or listen to an album halfway (unless I've heard it all the way through at least once and I really need to watch my time). And yet, I can't seem to help myself. It's like a private rebellion against myself (or against the idea of another ex-girlfriend so proudly proclaiming that she always finished everything she started, so it's like I'm creating a reason to justify the fact that we're no longer together since it makes more sense to me than the real reasons behind the split. Or not.) to indulge in that gross form of American excess where we can just take a bite of, say, a donut, toss the rest, and then start munching on a cheesecake, toss that, and then wash it down with some diet cola. I hate living that way. It makes me sick just to watch people who indulge in wasteful and unhealthy habits, especially if they can't really afford to do it but insist anyway out of some sense of either entitlement or having to keep up with the SUV-driving beyond-their-means mortgage holders living next door. And to be honest, my newly formed habit of not finishing things is really only limited to books at this point (and songs too -- I make Axl Rose look prolific, since I've never released an album in my life). I simply do not have it in me to leave any morsel of food and drink undigested, except for that awful bottle of pinot grigio sitting in my fridge thath I probably won't even cook with since there are so many pieces of cork floating in it. Nope, it's just books for now. And that includes the one I started writing. I got to page 10 and I ran out of writing vibes. Someday I'll finish it. I hope. But not this week. Or month. Or year. Not that I'm giving up. I have other things to write. Reviews, mostly. And I will finish reading the Badfinger book first because there's an artist guide riding on its completion. Actually, I could write the artist guide right now, without having to finish the book, since I know Badfinger's catalog front to back and have enough of their history up in my head to make for a decent guide. But I've convinced myself that reading this book first -- which I should have bought and read seven years ago -- will enable me to write a better guide. And for that reason, all the other books I started shall remain untouched for a while, in hopes that new distractions do not cause me to forget that I own them once the Badfinger dust settles.

And by the way, I'm done.

Double feature: Slayer and Minnie Riperton!

Now *that* would be some duet! No... actually, it just happens that both The Complete Idiot's Guide to Minnie Riperton and A Chat With Tom Araya of Slayer were published online this morning on jefitoblog and bullz-eye.com, respectively. The Slayer interview was conducted on May 8 and turned in later that week. The Minnie Riperton guide was turned in last weekend. Now both are available for you to read and enjoy.

So read and enjoy!

30 days till the rock drops; and more updates (always more)

That's right -- on Thursday, June 28, my as yet unnamed workshop band will perform live on stage at the Red Devil Lounge at around 10 p.m. Our set spans twenty years of contemporary rock and pop, with old songs by Prince, U2, R.E.M., and more recent material by Modest Mouse, Queens of the Stone Age, Snow Patrol, Jet, the Arctic Monkeys, and others. We're still a little rough around the edges, but we should be in prime rockin' form in one month's time. Next rehearsal is Thursday...

In other developments, I have nearly completed my third 'Idiot's Guide' for the always entertaining jefitoblog.com. Just a few minor tweaks and it should be ready to go. More on that when I get closer to finding out when it might run.

And, I've started the painstaking process of writing my first ever long-form work of fiction. I have no idea how this is going to turn out, in spite of my rough notes and outline giving me a guide to where it *should* go... I'm subject to changing my mind mid-sentence on this thing. All I will say for now is that I envision it as a philosophical drama with some elements of comedy. I just finished reading Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle" and I decided it probably shouldn't be quite as damning of the human condition, but there will be some of that, because the human condition is always ripe for damnation.

No word yet on when the Slayer interview will run. But it will run soon...

An introduction, part 2

So here's the lowdown on FrontParlourblog:

Most of the posts you will read here will likely revolve around music in some form or another. And when I say music, I mean that in a very broad sense. I enjoy listening to, reading about and writing about everything from the Beatles and Bob Dylan to Prince to Ornette Coleman and Miles Davis and Juliana Hatfield and Slayer... and the list goes on.

I also enjoy playing guitar, and as I am due to start playing in a band workshop next month, I may be posting about those goings on as well.

I am taking a course in web design at AcademyX in San Francisco, and when I start really practicing the skills I am learning in earnest, I may be posting about that here. The site I mentioned in the previous post, the Front Parlour, will receive a makeover in due time to become part of my portfolio.

Whenever I have a piece of writing published somewhere, I will post about that here. Some outlets that have carried my writing include Performer Magazine, the Rasputin Manifesto, the Harbus, Ear Candy, jefitoblog, and even ucsf.edu.

And then there's the miscellaneous stuff... comments on current events, other blogs, all that good stuff... will go here.

As you see in my profile description, I am currently working as an office manager. How exactly I manage to make it work when my brain is going in so many other directions, I can't quite say. My desk is often a mess, and my brain feels that way a lot of the time too. Yet somehow it all comes together. And it must, for this job must feed my passions, as they cannot yet pay their own way. And so it goes for, I presume, at least a million or three other like-minded individuals out there. Raise your hands in solidarity!

So stick around, and think of this place as your own little front parlour, where you can kick back and relax while reading and tuning out. It's good to have you here!