Magic Jewball

I’ve had a fantastic vacation, I know I forgot to write. Tomorrow is the US Open and then I’ll have to post because I’ll have pictures. I think I also have pictures of Nine Inch Nails with Peter Murphy but I don’t know, I had to take three showers after that show and then I sort of forgot about my camera. In case you’re wondering, yes, I did just take an Ambien. That’s what happens when you’ve been getting up at 1pm every day for a week and then you have to get up at eight suddenly.

But after reverting to my natural sleep schedule for a week (sleep at 3am, wake at 1pm) and thus watching 12 or so episodes of Sex and the City, I would just like to ask, without being catty, is Carrie really as stunning as the show makes her out to be? I mean, she’s awfully pretty, but everyone’s so wowed by her, is she as hot as all that? Maybe they hired the wrong actress. I think Charlotte is much prettier, honestly. I don’t know. What do you think?

Tomorrow (well, today now, Monday) is the last day of my vacation, and after Wednesday, I’ll have homework. Ponder that.

I think I’ve used this one before but whatevs.
The Cure – The Last Day Of Summer

I’m not counting Saturday/Sunday, you see. They felt a little odd, but it’s hard to remember you have no job on the weekend. Unless you’ve been unemployed a while and maybe it wasn’t voluntary; that’s happened to me too, so I understand. Monday was weird but in a “too conscious” way, as if I had to keep reminding myself, my former co-workers are plugging away and I’m! not! Then I berated myself for a while because I meant to get some things done and I didn’t. I should have just written off the day early and felt good about doing nothing. Next time!

Tomorrow should be an interesting day. It’s today now but whatever. Remember my cousin who was discovering some home truths about The Employed Life? Right, well she’s in beauty school and is giving me a haircut tomorrow. Listen, cheap is cheap. Then, I’m off to see Trent Reznor to ask him about that whole “fat chicks tried to kill me” thing. Or not, it may just be a straight up Nine Inch Nails concert. I saw NIN on their first tour and not since. This is supposed to be the last tour and if I believed that, I would think it was an amazing bookends kind of thing. Still, it’s been almost twenty years and he’s put out two albums since then. I kid! I think it’s three. I don’t have the new one; they gave it away for free and I don’t trust people who give away their albums for free. That’s also a lie. I downloaded it an hour ago and am hastily trying to catch up.

A few items of business: I owe a Jew & A and it will be coming soon. Not tomorrow, though, it’s hard to write during that “I want to fuck you like an animal” song. Also, I have some US Open tickets for sale so if you are in New York City or its environs and would like to attend THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH during the first week, please contact me using the e-mail address at right or you can use the Jew & A form if you want to be really creative. Day and night session tickets are available. Because tennis is great day and night, naturally. Face value. Because your face has value. My Guide to the US Open is still mostly true (the backpack thing may have changed but it probably changed back) so feel free to check that out whether or not you get your tickets from me. But, you know, get your tickets from me.

In conclusion, it’s late and I just killed a gnat on my MacBook screen. Non-sequitors are fun!

I meant to make this iPod Song of the Week but I was busy working out my life when it caught my attention. This band is opening for NIN and are Teh Awesome! What I would have said then is that this is literally the only song I purchased the first time I heard it before it was even over. Of course, it’s like eight minutes so there was a lot of time, but still. It is so brilliant in every way and it still entrances me several months later. If you’re curious, I believe I made the purchase at 4:06.

I thought I’d celebrate my new life being appended onto my old one with a song that did the same thing. It’s two, two, two songs in one! It’s easy to hear the core of the original songs and even both of their titles are kept. So where we had “Haunted” and “When the Minutes Drag,” we now have “Haunted, When the Minutes Drag.” They combine pretty well, don’t they?

I like several songs like this, the two that come to mind are epic tracks made up of something like four songs, Yes’ “And You And I” and Matthew Sweet’s “Thunderstorm.” Speaking of the minutes dragging, both clock in at about ten minutes. Then there’s Elton John’s “Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding” which is over eleven and it’s only two songs. I don’t know why artists do this, but I find it very cool.

Anyway, this is from Love and Rockets’ first album and I love the build of it, and how it flows from tight to loose and the space just expands. And there’s no need to wonder what exactly the singer is haunted by. For the record, it’s: your soul, your hair, your clothes, your eyes, your voice, your smile, and your mouth. The word that would best describe this feeling, why, that would be, haunted.

Streaming audio:

Napster:
Love and Rockets – Haunted, When The Minutes Drag

I got this Facebook e-mail message from my first manager at the record store who, I guess, hasn’t read my numerous status messages, and wanted to know how things were going at Big Media Conglomerate. I should tell you that he actually still works in music retail! Yes, it exists! When I started doing a report at work tracking the major music chains and their sales of our titles ten years ago, there were ten or twelve companies and at least half sold music primarily. Now, there are six total and unless you count iTunes, only one is a “record store.” He works there as a district manager. I was just thrilled to find that out when we first became FB friends.

Anyway, when I told him I was leaving, he wrote me back the following:

I am glad to have been a part of [your time in the music business]. I remember when [redacted, my ex with whom I was still tight and in fact, still am] said to me, oh so many years ago, that he had a friend that wanted a job. How could I say, “no” – he was a great employee and if he said that you would be perfect for the store, I had to get you on board. You were one of the best people that I’ve worked with over my years in the biz and wherever you land in the future you’ll be successful.

God, must he have worked with some losers! I kid. I’m actually posting this because, in thinking about it, I realize that this decision he made that began my career was at the end of August, 1987. Twenty-two years later to the week, I’m out.

I still haven’t really absorbed it.

I worked at this label when this album came out. Just after it did, they fired a whole slew of people, including the band’s product manager who had worked so hard on it. The first time I heard this song after that happened, I cried. At my current label, I hung a promotional disco ball from that album in my office. I took it home tonight (on the subway!).

The party’s over… but it’s OK. You have to go home some time.

Title comes from:
U2 – Gone

I dedicate it to everyone I’ve ever worked with who left the music business, voluntarily or otherwise.

You’ll excuse my lack of blogging but we did have an epic post last week and besides, there’s only one thing on my mind this week. I’m not sure anyone will be interested but here goes.

You know how when you’re about to go on vacation, suddenly work takes on a new urgency? Because whatever doesn’t get done will CRASH YOUR BUSINESS while you’re gone? Imagine you are leaving FOREVER! This is to say, it’s been a bit of a crazy week. There’s been a lot of “oh my God, I’ll never have access to the global address book again – must copy down the contacts I need!” and “are there any CD’s I might want that I didn’t already take in the ten years I’ve been here? Because maybe I’ll suddenly have a need for that somewhere down the line! Grab it now, grab it now!” Conversely, my actual work has totally fallen through the cracks. The way I worked it out, I taught everything to my replacement in the last couple of weeks and now he’s supposed to be doing my job while I float helpfully in the background to answer any questions he may have. Except he’s still doing his job plus interviewing six people a day for his own replacement (I have no idea why this is) so essentially, no one’s doing my job. Oh well!

Also, my co-workers are beginning to get annoyed by the fact that I am grinning insanely most of the day. I’m not sure, but I think they are starting to suspect that I am delighted to leave. This is, of course, because I am delighted to leave. I know I’ll be sad and sobby the last day, but the week has been glorious. Wouldn’t work be awesome if it was just taking care of your own business all day? So like, making sure your insurance carries over and looking for a work-study job and deleting your files off the computer and planning your online business? In between chatting with people from your own company and your colleagues at other companies about how great it’s been to work with them and let’s all stay in touch? It’s gotten to the point where when someone calls me for actual work items (“could you hook me up with this info about Band X’s last record?”), I am at first indignant and irritated until I remember, oh yes, this stuff will still matter to you next week. Sorry.

Ironically, the closest thing I can compare it to is the last week of school. There aren’t any more tests, no one really cares, and everyone’s just hanging around and eating cupcakes. Or maybe I just dreamt that. Except here, of course, it’s just me and everyone else is staying. No matter. There is this overwhelming sense that soon, very soon, I will be free. It feels like mental cupcakes right now and I don’t think I’ll feel the stomachache until it’s over.

School of Fish – 3 Strange Days