on a more personal note...

i'm down in san luis obispo for the weekend for work. the last time i was in this town was 11 years ago, halloween weekend, and on a shit-ton of acid. the second-to-last-time i tripped, with only slightly less traumatizing and frightening results...

anyhow, i'm here again, for work. i am, as a friend so eloquently put it, herding the homeless. i gather a small group of down-and-outters, hand them each a sign exclaiming "GOING OUT OF BUSINESS!" or "30% OFF!!!" or "EVERYTHING MUST GO!" and set them out at pre-determined street-corners like little chess pieces in this grand game of overconsumption.

and the reason that i do this is because it pays well. the more class-conscious among us are probably at least a little disgusted. i know that i am. but i also know that without this little side gig (and the catering one, all thanks be to derek) i'd never get out of the city. i realized this morning when i was driving to the beach (nice directions, gretch... not!) that i hadn't left the bay area for months. i think i made it to oakland for a tool show a while back with the laura's, but that's really it.

and also, the guys working with me: they're great. they like that they're getting a little cash for sitting around holding a sign. one of the old timers said yesterday that he'd be sitting downtown anyway, and the fact that he's getting paid to do it pretty much blows his mind. one of the guys is actually trying to get his shit together again, and dropping forty bucks in his lap for a few hours of work helps him get a shower and a new shirt for an interview.

i recognize that if it weren't for capitalism's requirement of about 5% unemployment i wouldn't be able to get these guys at all. i see that the consolidation of ownership in all sectors of the economy is what is leading to the going-out-of-business sales that give me something to do. i'm well aware that the company i'm working for is a carrion-eating parasite, leeching it's subsistence from the dead and dying life-long efforts of the mom-and-pops. but shit, motherfucker's gotta get paid, ya' hurrd!

seriously though, this is a bit of a dilemna for me.

any suggestions?

musical happennings in the city this week

who knew? the onion actually has a pretty good breakdown of what's going in the city each week... for example: tuesday at twelve galaxies (for twelve bucks) is vetiver ("freak folk" in the flavor of joanna newsom and devendra banhart, but more accessible) with women and children opening. also on tuesday, at the hemlock, is beach house (for six smackers) with over the atlantic and the parish. at mezzanine on tuesday (for ten clams) you can find lady sovereign (think m.i.a., but younger and faster) with mickey avalon and young blood opening. all of the headliners are in our emusic repetoir (lady sovereign on laura's, the other two on mine) and should be explored.

sometimes i fucking love this city... looks like tuesday night will be one of those times!

(also looks like emusic lost its distribution with vetiver's publisher. that sucks.)