Apostrophe S

Five days is not that long. I mean, really, I just wrote on Monday. And I haven’t really done much between then and now. Honest.

OK, I watched a couple of movies. Roxy recommended this bizarre love story, “Secretary.” It’s about a dominant/submissive relationship. I recommend it highly. I like it more every time I think about it. Plus it’s got James Spader, and he rocks.

The other movie we watched was this Japanese import called “St. John’s Wort.” The premice was this girl was using a house she inherited from her psycho father as location for a new video game her company was working on. The film was shot in a very video game-like style, and the plot was about as thin and rediculous as most of my favorite scary video games. It was a decent amount scary and gross, especially at the end when one person stabs out his/her own eyes with a big knife. (You know, a big knife.)

We actually watched “St. John’s Wort” first, but I thought I’d tell you about them in the order that I liked best. “St. John’s Wort” was made by people who had something to do with “Ringu,” so we thought it couldn’t be that bad. (You may be more familiar with “The Ring,” an American film that was based on “Ringu.”) I’m looking forward to seeing the latest one from those guys, “Ju-On (The Grudge).” Except, before I’d even heard of it they started remaking it, too, this time starring that one girl from Buffy.

THIS NEXT SECTION WRITTEN ABOUT 24 HRS AFTER THAT LAST BIT

Sorry for leaving you hanging like that. Talula was leaving work and I had to go with her. I barely had time to email myself the text you just read, so I could finish it later.

So where was I? Oh, yeah, talking about the remake of “Ju-On.” Blah blah Sam Raimi. Blah blah WHY CAN’T AMERICANS LIKE MOVIES THAT DON’T STAR ENGLISH-SPEAKING PEOPLE? We’ll never learn.

OK, so it’s Saturday afternoon. I woke up pretty late today, so I’m posting this pretty late. Last night was fun. Let me tell you about it.

Last night was spent in Philadelphia, a city I’m beginning to like more and more. While there, I had a traumatic experience with a haircut. This woman, who runs this salon called Le Bomb Chele, comes very highly recommended by Talula and Mouse. I thought, “Why not? Maybe she can make even me look cool.” So I trusted her with my hair, which had grown to a considerable length. I told her that I liked having the length, and that I just wanted it trimmed up and cleaned up, maybe some layers, a little shaping. You know what I mean. As you are probably guessing at this point she cut off a lot more than I expected or really asked for. But I guess I had to trust her. She cuts a lot of rock stars’ hair. It’s not a bad cut. It actually looks pretty cool. But it’s a lot shorter than it was…

After Le Bomb Chelle, we went to this Italian restaurant whose name suddenly escapes me. It was very classic, though. The restaurant itself was pretty homey. Michael Corleone could have walked out of the restaurant at any minute and wacked the chief of police. It seemed like that kind of place to me. But the food was good. I had no complaints. And I wouldn’t have told anyone there if I had.

The real point of the trip, I suppose, was the show we went to after that. It was in a part of Philly that we seemed to have a little trouble finding, plus with Talula driving…

Anyway, we arrived just after one of the bands, The Starlite Desperation had finished their set. Talula was bumbed, because she had really wanted to see them play. Not that she particularly cared about their music, but she’d seen a picture of them on their Web site.

The next band to play was The Greenhornes. A very garage-rocky kind of band. They were quality performers. A little bit of a shoegazer type act, but their stage presence was strong. They had the stage lights turned off, so the only thing illuminating them was a light that was shining into the drummer’s big drum. They played well. Check ‘em out.

The last band was The Dirtbombs. They are apparently very important in the so-called Detroit scene. They were energetic performers, although their music didn’t really connect with me. They were fun to watch, though. They had two drummers on stage playing in tandem, two bassists, and one lead guitar and singer. One of the bassists had her instrument tuned very high, though, so it made for an interesting sound.

So the night was good, and I ended up liberating the glass my rum and ice came in when we left. It’s sitting on my desk next to my computer right now, serving temporarily as a change holder.

Man, it seems like all I ever post about anymore is the bands I’m seeing out here. It’s kind of cool, though. I’ve seen a lot of people since I’ve been out here. In my final post, I’ll try to list everyone I’ve seen and maybe give them a rating.

OK, I’ve got stuff to do. Take care…

ON AIR: The Greenhornes - Shame & Misery