5 april 2000 ::i finally get it

i would hear it off and on here and there. it was always too mechanical for me. too sterile for someone who was brought into the electronica genre by the ways and means of William Orbit. Drum and Bass was simply... inaccessible for me. then i scored yet another Global Underground cd. This one was Global Underground 004 :: Paul Oakenfold :: Oslo.

Wow! a light went off in my head. i FINALLY got Drum and Bass!

okay, GU004 Oslo is not a D&B cd, per se. but of the first cd's worth, i'd say that 80% is ambient Drum and Bass. If that's your thing, or if you're just curious asto what it sounds like, go to Alien Records [their website appears to be gone] on 5th street and check out what they have to offer. If you have any excellent suggestions for drum and bass, trance, house or ambient for me, drop me a line.

now in all fairness, i do have to stress that Drum and Bass is a fairly inaccessible genre for the most part. much like jazz, you get it or you don't. you might eventually get it, but it's not something that can be explained to the point of clarity. happy groovin!

now, about last weeks show.

it was my feeling that Box of Bugs had reached a point where i could trust the public to carry their own weight. that is, i felt that after numerous nights of doing shows with topics, i felt that people were ready to do a little more "free form" than previously.

i was mistaken.

i don't mind pranks, but i do mind mediocrity. and all i was getting were these mediocre pranks. i came dangerously close to just playing music and calling it a night. i've never done this before, but i fail to see how my taking abuse from feeble minded boys whose sole interest on a saturday night is to hear themselves masturbate over the fone (masturbation being the self indulgent blathering of 3rd rate insults in this case). i mean, it's saturday night for the love of God! now, granted that i'm not doing anything glamorous on a saturday night, but at least i'm trying to do something positive.

sigh...

fast forward about an hour. a decent call comes in. in accordance with the pattern that i've known for years, the first intelligent call came from a woman.

now i cannot remember all that i ended up discussing with everyone that night. this is a by-product of the fact that as soon as the lights are on and i'm rolling, i can carry on a decent conversation, but later on, i can only recall a fraction of it. i'm not sure why this is.

i do remember one woman who called to ask what she should do about her boyfriend of two years who has apparently lost sexual interest in her lately. two days later a friend would tell me, "it sounded like he was trying to ditch her." to me. and his comment brought up a good point...

see, there is a good chance that this guy is trying to "ditch" her. but i cannot allow myself to say that on tee vee unless it is absolutely and categorically appropriate. part of it is the fact that if i start giving advice based on a worst-case-scenario, then i'm only giving the most pessimistic, darkest advice i can. instead, i feel an obligation to give people some sense of hope... that perhaps not all of their options are exhausted.

but having said that, there ARE times when i will give "worst-case-scenario" advice. if there is abuse, if there is drug use, if there is alcoholism or neglect or any other form of destructive behavior where the person in question is not willing to examine nor change their behavior, THEN i will openly encourage someone to leave their situation.

other than that, there were a few other calls that i vaguely remember. i do stronly remember the fact that (yet again), people wanted to get into my private life. sheesh! as if i don't reveal enough of myself here and on Tee Vee!

here's the thing. you as a reader, you as a caller, are anonymous. i do not know you, i cannot recognize you. however my life is another story. i do get recognized, i do have people who look at me and they automatically know more about me than i probably ever will about them. i choose this because i enjoy doing live television and as i've stated in my FAQ, i feel that in order to get something from a city full of strangers, i have to give something first. so i don't mind talking about myself, but only to a degree! sheesh!

and as for what my sexual orientation is, get the fuck over it, boys! if you're so obsessed about the sexual orientation of another man, go to a gay bar or a fundamentalist convention and go blow some guy. you can tell him how non gay you are as he jizzes into your mouth. just get the fuck over obsessing of who i'm attracted to. besides, if being gay or non-gay is your gauge of the quality of a person, you really shouldn't be allowed the right to call yourself human. besides, anyone who is fixated on the orientation of a stranger is obviously hiding something from themselves.

besides, all of the answers to your wee questions are answered in my FAQ.

 

25 april 2000 ::breathe in slow, exhale slower... repeat...

i went to my 10th Austin Ice Bats game of the season last friday. I've seen Rhesus Monkeys on quaaludes play better hockey than than what i saw that night. lord... well, the New Mexico Scorpions basically FEASTED on the Ice Bats. 5-1 was the final score, but before THAT happened, one of the Ice Bats took it upon himself to let happen one of the nastiest grudge fights that i've ever seen.

let me put it like this: fights are a part of the game. always have been, always will be. if a player keeps doing illegal checks and getting away with it, or someone who won't keep his stick under control, etc... it becomes the duty of someone on the opossing team to go over and drill the son of a bitch into the ice. fights are also important in that they allow a team to get motivated... maybe. it's hard to get motivated sometime when you're down by a couple of points and you realize you're going to have to work the next two minutes like you've never worked before.

but if the fight isn't going to serve any purpose other than to just let the anger and testosterone flow, then there's no point to it... none. nada, zip, zilch, nichts. gar nichts.

and in the waning part of the 3rd period, the ice bats player (i didn't see his jersey) just started beating the ever living dog shit out of the other player. admittedly, they were both dancing at first, but it was the austin player who just started pounding, pounding, POUNDING on the other guys head. finally the other player just went limp, his neck no longer able to hold his own head up. he dazedly looked over at the ref as to say, "i need to go to the hospital now".

the score at that time was 5-1 and yaknow what? thirty seconds later when the game ended, it was STILL 5-1. all that anger... all that testosterone and all for the sake of hurting another person "just because it felt good."

as a side note, the Ice Bats lost their series to the Scorpions, who are currently 2-3 in their quest for the Presidents Cup. they are playing against the Shreveport Mud Bugs.