Voices inside my head

We live on a very busy thoroughfare. Our apartment sits across the street from a bar and there is an even more popular bar just down the street from us. Given these facts and the traffic (i.e. many trucks, early in the morning), we run a fan at night; white noise to cancel out that weary, wacky world. This being said, that blessed buzz does not always overcome the sonic assault.

Which is why I woke up at 4am this morning to the sound of people screaming.

Or so I thought.

Maybe it was really happening or perhaps it was just bleed over from a dream I was having and couldn't remember. Either way, I then thought I heard sirens. Fearing the worst (a shooting at one of the aforementioned bars, a fire, 9/11 redux, the apocalypse), I got out of bed to look out the window.

The street was empty and quiet.

Chalking it up to dreamy leftovers, I got back in bed.

And still heard sirens.

Figuring they were perhaps in the distance and that this explained why I hadn’t seen anything on the street, I got back out of bed and turned off the fan. Absolute silence, in so much as that is ever possible in our neighborhood. Not wanting to wake Susan, I turned the fan back on and got back into bed.

More sirens.

I now assumed that it was some trick of the air flow from the fan or some such, so I did my best to ignore it and go back to sleep. This was only partially successful. Those phantom sirens continued and a short time later I could have sworn I overheard snippets of the President speaking. The subject matter was unclear, but it was obvious something REALLY BAD had happened. This got me thinking about the fact that the Pope is in town, so being the good little "I was in NYC during 9/11" boy, I started spinning disaster scenarios in my head: car bomb outside his hotel, 9/11 Junior with a helicopter instead of a jetliner, etc.

You get the idea.

These types of thoughts (not to mention the granddaddy nightmare of New York’s now long overdue Flood of the Century) are not really conducive to sleep. Mild fear and pronounced curiosity really do keep Morpheus away from the door. Unable to slake my need to know and unable to turn on the radio (Susan is a heavy sleeper, but the tones of our local news station can hardly be described as "dulcet"), I quietly made my way into the office in hopes of garnering what was going on from the internet.

Nothing.

Not a god damned thing. I had essentially spent the last two hours have aural hallucinations. The Pope is fine, hanging out with all kinds of people, and living it up here in our "nation of prayer" (just love THAT new Bush-ism). The President has nothing beyond the usual dire state of the country to talk about and there is nary a drop of water to be found in the middle of our street. Catch ya later, Flood of the Century.

Don’t ask me why this is happening to me, as I have no idea. All I do know is that this shit makes it simply impossible to sleep. Hopefully this is just a one night stand (as it were) and I won’t have similar struggles tonight. Perhaps a good jog (I hesitate to call it "running" yet), some bike riding, and some swing dancing will be sufficient to tucker me out.

Either that or I go a week without sleep and finally end up losing the fight with my inner misanthrope, no doubt with disastrous results.

Haggard.


Echo… things that you said:

The Dustmite – Assassins Of Memories
(the dark, the hop, the dark hop)

Various - Future, Jazz
(more downtempo goodness)

Immortal - Blizzard Beasts
(grrrr! roaaaar! grrrr!)

Still Stupid - Still Stupid
(vintage DIY punk from Philly, circa 1985)

Neotropic - Mr. Brubaker’s Strawberry Alarm Clock
(close to as weird as it sounds)

Pope-A-Dope

Suffice to say that while I was pleased that Pope Benedict has recognized child molestation as "gravely immoral behavior" (I think most of us are on board with that one), I can't say I was all that impressed with his comments around the various RCC sex scandals.

"Many of you have spoken to me of the enormous pain that your communities have suffered when clerics have betrayed ... their obligations. It is vitally important that the vulnerable are always shielded from souls who would cause harm."

Obligations?

Safe to that we all have an "obligation" not to rape children. With you on that one too, Joey Ratz. But the RCC has failed in to shield the vulnerable from souls who would cause harm by concealing evidence, failing to report these crimes to the police, paying off victims, and shuffling pedophile priests from one parish to another.

Eaten all the tasty young dishes on the menu, Father? OK. Here's another menu.

"Rape schmape. What am I supposed to do about it?"


How about some nice excommunications and jail time?

Some of the reasons for why I’m going to hell:

Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts
(sound bites blessedly devoid of Trent’s whining)

Burial - Burial
(dubstep mastery)

Bjork - Telegram
(the pixie gets revamped and renewed)

Nitzer Ebb - That Total Age
(auld skool)

Redman - Whut? The Album
(funk doc in da house)

Still stumblin

OK. So it's been over a month, in fact damned near two, since I've made an appearance here. No doubt that means I've lost what pitiful level of readership I may have already had and am now officially talking to myself. However, I'm in a writing kind of mood and have a couple of things to mention. So here's me being all throw-caution-to-the-windy.

First off, I have not been sitting around twiddling my thumbs. I've been slaving my butt off at work, but have still managed to compose the soundtrack for a workout video. I was approached for the gig by a fitness trainer I met a while back. The video has been shot and I've finished the music, so there should be a finished product soon. My fingers are crossed on this, though, 'cause I've been down this road before and things have always gotten fucked up. Still, I've almost been paid in full (What up, Eric B!) and while it would suck if things didn't pan out, at least I brought in some ducats.

Secondly, I spawned another mix.

Yup. I was possessed by the muse about 2 weeks ago and threw down a really eclectic one this time. It started out as a dubstep comp and then mutated into all kinds of downtempo goodness. There's some dark hop in there, as well as some near ambient pieces and some straight up weirdness.

DJ Abstract 23: The Eventide Mix

01 Ashtech - R.E.M.
02 Off Land - Time
03 Death In Vegas - Rematerialised
04 LKR - Listen
05 The Dustmite - See Into My Face
06 Building Castles Out Of Matchsticks - Days Like Television
07 Tekniq - Get Unchanged
08 Troy Scalpels - When I'm Peepin
09 Witchman - Desert Ill
10 Puzleboy - Out In The Rain
11 Nick Cramer - Organs On The Moon
12 Neotropic - It's Your Turn To Wash Up
13 William Orbit - Water From A Vine Leaf (Underwater Mix Pt 2)



If you'd like to download this inner-tripper along with the rest of my mixes, meander on over to my site and get to work.

Thirdly, Susan the Mighty procured herself a new job. She is working hard (so hard it makes me look like a slouch), but learning lots and feeling challenged. We are still engaged and plan to stay that way for about another year. Come next May we'll put the finishing touches on the whole wedding/marriage thing and then it's on to the next 50 or 60 years...

Keeping this old blood pumpin':

Belladonnakillz - Perverted And Proud
(breakcore and jungle shit done by a guy who sounds like he should be singing annoying freestyle)

Lividity - Used, Abused, And Left For Dead
(play this to impress your girlfriend)

MJ Harris / Martyn Bates - Murder Ballads (The Complete Collection)
(these ain't yo daddy's folk songs)

Various - Silent Season Dub
(these aren't the beats you're looking for)

Final - Guitar & Bass Improvisations Vol 1
(getting to the inner space via the outer space)