Author: foxtongue

things more important than “by the way, want to sleep with me later?”

Over my shoulder, the message lands, beginning with “Happy New Year Lady” and ending with “My love to any animals frozen in your freezer.” What else is there to reply but, “I love you too.”? We were a disaster in Toronto. We’ve been a disaster plenty of times. It is okay that I am Atlantis. Yes, I can see the forest for the trees, and these trees are shaking, waiting for the rain that falls to break them, waiting for the day when your hand takes my hand and we run into the ocean, laughing.

The Queen has a YouTube channel.

I touch both my eyes, and hear the real question, “what is romance to you?” It’s been a question he’s been skirting, trying to fall into step with me, but not having any idea what I might want to expect. I dredge my memory, easily splintering a few emotions, and call up past relationships. Riffling through the options like thank you cards. The day I collected all the light strings in the house and taped them into a giant glowing heart on the wall above the bed. It lived there for over a month, crookedly falling down regularly, charming and gentle. The cookies I baked iced with naughty poetry, the candles I left in a trail like flower petals, she loves you, she loves you not, she loves you, she loves you not, something to count on the way to the bed. Notes left in clothing, under books, inside his wallet, inside the lunch bag. I like your eyes they might say, or you make everything worthwhile. A magic trick recorded at four a.m., exhausted, but glad. The chocolate I made, then left in a tin at the front door of his office, with a calligraphy note signed in invisible ink.

I thought everyone expressed themselves like this, moving through the world with poetry, an unspoken law, but I can see by his tightening smile, so sad, he does not.

Be seeing you, Number Six.

R.I.P. Patrick McGoohan

“..most famous as the character known only as Number Six in “The Prisoner,” a sci-fi tinged 1960s British series in which a former spy is held captive in a small enclave known only as The Village, where a mysterious authority named Number One constantly prevents his escape.

McGoohan came up with the concept and wrote and directed several episodes of the show, which has kept a devoted following in the United States and Europe for four decades.

Born in New York on March 19, 1928, McGoohan was raised in England and Ireland, where his family moved shortly after his birth. He had a busy stage career before moving to television, and won a London Drama Critics Award for playing the title role in the Henrik Ibsen play “Brand.””

He’ll always be Number One.

EDIT: Equally bad news, Ricardo Montalbán passed away today as well.

two weeks to annual rabbit hole day

via Dan Curtis Johnson aka crisper:

Let’s face it. You’re in a blog rut.

Most of the time, you write about more of the same kinda stuff that you usually write about.

Maybe it’s your day-to-day life, the stuff you did. Maybe it’s topical news response. Maybe it’s short fiction. Maybe it’s re-linking random stuff you see on the internet. Maybe it’s LOLCAT porn. (I hope it’s not LOLCAT porn.) Maybe it’s here on LiveJournal, or it’s over on Vox, or Blogspot or Blogger or Blogblog or Postablogablowablog, or WordPress or Facebook or FacePress or FacePlant or maybe it’s just your Twitter account. It’s what you’re comfortable with, I know, I know…

…but why not try doing something different, just for a day?

Two weeks from today, Tuesday January 27th, is Lewis Carroll’s 177th birthday. Carroll, you’ll recall, wrote about a girl who fell down a rabbit hole and found herself in a place where all the rules had changed. In two weeks, on Lewis Carroll’s 177th birthday, you should do the same.

That’s right: the 5th Annual Rabbit Hole Day is coming.

When you wake up on the 27th, instead of writing about your usual work and school and politics and friends and news and stuff, experience life down the Rabbit Hole and write about the work, the school, the politics, the friends, the news, the stuff that you find there instead. Travel through time. Turn into an animal. Flee from assassins. Talk to your goldfish. Conquer Greenland. Sprout some extra limbs. Learn how to walk on water. Marry an insect.

Take a break from the Every Day and write about your Rabbit Hole Day. Your normal life will be waiting for you when you get back.

——
For consideration: as always, distribute widely

My 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005.

I will never get used to the perpetual rain

The Hidden Homeless of Los Angeles

White is the new small project. A strip of white to replace the porridge-boring cancerous apartment ecru of the verge hanging in the living room over the sliding balcony door. Once it’s painted, it will be finally time to open the poster tube next to the couch, pull out the Etsy bought vinyl decal of birds on a wire I found on sale ages ago, and glue the image to the wall like a designer child’s shiny sticker.

I can only hope it will work. I am still too new at adjusting my surroundings to express myself to be proceeding with any sort of certainty. It makes me uncomfortable, even as I try to make the place a little more welcoming. The idea of settling into a place is too atypical of my thinking, my skills regarding the idea too primitive. When I moved in, I never intended on staying. Sections of my heart shout loudly in ridicule. “You think this is going to work? This will all end in disappointment.” I persevere in the face of my possible incompetence through sheer force of obstinate will, insisting to myself these renovations are agriculture, and my efforts will all bloom like a sunflower, something bright and cheerful, persistently reminiscent of summertime.

Vanity Fair on New York’s Greenwich Village

explaining heart strings

http://fauxfire.com

A restaurant in Gastown burned down this week, scorching my friend William‘s apartment into ashes with it. For now he’s staying with me and some other people, bouncing around as he tries to pick up his life, while he searches for a more permanent residence. Does anyone need a roommate? $500/month, comes with a cat. He’s clean, he’s tidy, he’s even sort of cute in a blonde looks-like-Jesus sort of way, if you like like them young and sweetly idealistic.

Playing with the moon.

Shuffling facts like piano keys, trying to play this history in the right order. This is how it all went down, this is how the penny dropped, how the worst occurred but the patient survived. I try to keep it light. We’re Talking About Boys as we walk through the rain. Coats slowly soaking through as we make it to a gallery, everything splashing as the words pour out of me. “He brings me clean laundry like a valentine, when I would rather the time was spent folding origami roses.” She is also troubled, someone who should have missed her did not phone. Someone who loves her, but only in sections of time, sliced like wedges of cake iced like a clock. My problems are more and less ephemeral. My heart’s not a mess, it’s simply too clean, too drained of colour and left to beat untroubled like glass.

I’ve waited with her for a bus, then turned in my own direction, continuing as the rain. He is walking toward me, then stops, a stranger, says hello, turns around to walk me home. Unasked, he tells me how his father died and refers to me as a female, leaving me conversationally in the cold. My guess is that he’s been drinking, a faint perfume of anise and something less particular but just as sharp. Mark says hello from the doorway of Falconetti’s, a temporary rescue. We make plans to see each other Sunday and I leave when the strange man’s back is turned. Half a block later he’s there beside me, taking my arm, enduring the rain. We see Jess, wave to her, make more plans. The stranger is taken aback, does not understand how I know all these people. Makes guesses that fail. When we reach my apartment, I make him wait outside. When I return, I am holding an umbrella. “Here, take it,” I say. “Happy holidays.” I do not expect to see him again.

That 1 Guy Winter Tour (bold where I will be or where I know you live)

 

 

That 1 Guy - Page Header Navigation2009 WINTER TOUR
 

January 30, 2009 – Thirsty Mule Saloon – Suxxex, NB – tickets: 506-433-3939 * facebook

January 31, 2009 – Marquee Theatre – Halifax, NS – tickets * facebook

February 4, 2009 – Imperial de Quebec – Quebec, QC – tickets: 418-523-2227 * facebook

February 5, 2009 – Black Sheep In – Wakefield, QC – tickets * facebook

February 6, 2009 – Rivoli – Toronto, ON – tickets: 888-655-9090 * facebook

February 7, 2009 – Hillside Inside Festival – Guelph, ON – tickets * facebook

February 10, 2009 – The Green Spot – Coos Bay, OR – tickets * facebook

February 11, 2009 – WOW Hall – Eugene, OR – tickets * facebook

February 12, 2009 – Silver Moon Brewing Co – Bend, OR – tickets: 541-758-3243 * facebook

February 13, 2009 – Doug Fir Lounge – Portland, OR – tickets * facebook

February 14, 2009 – The Tractor Tavern – Seattle, WA – tickets * facebook

February 18, 2009 – John’s Alley – Moscow, ID – venue site * facebook

February 19, 2009 – University of Montana, UM Ballroom – Missoula, MT – opening for Girltalk – tickets * facebook

February 19, 2009 – The Badlander – Missoula, MT – venue site * facebook

February 20, 2009 – Gallatin County Indoor Arena – Bozeman, MT – opening for Girltalk – tickets * facebook

February 20, 2009 – Filling Station – Bozeman, MT – venue site * facebook

February 21, 2009 – The Garage at Yellowstone Brewing Co – Billings, MT – tickets: 406-855-9939 * facebook

February 25, 2009 – Pyramid Cabaret – Winnipeg, MB – tickets: 204-957-777 * facebook

February 26, 2009 – The Aquarium (Dempsey’s Upstairs) – Fargo, ND – tickets: 701-235-5913 * facebook

February 27, 2009 – The Cabooze – Minneapolis, MN – tickets * facebook

February 28, 2009 – LRC Theater – Nicolet College – Rhinelander, WI – tickets * facebook

March 1, 2009 – Shank Hall – Milwaukee, WI – tickets * facebook

March 3, 2009 – The Annex – Madison, WI – tickets * facebook

March 4, 2009 – Schubas – Chicago, IL – tickets * facebook

March 6, 2009 – Papa Pete’s – Kalamazoo, MI – tickets: 269-388-2196 * facebook

March 7, 2009 – Beachland Tavern – Cleveland, OH – tickets * facebook

March 8, 2009 – The Thunderbird Cafe – Pittsburgh, PA – venue site * facebook

March 10, 2009 – The Ninth Ward (Downstairs at Babeville) – Buffalo, NY – tickets: 888-223-6000 * facebook

March 11, 2009 – Red Square – Albany, NY – venue site * facebook

March 12, 2009 – Iron Horse Music Hall – Northampton, MA – tickets * facebook

March 13, 2009 – Higher Ground – S Burlington, VT – tickets * facebook

March 14, 2009 – Middle East – Cambridge, MA – tickets * facebook

March 15, 2009 – Decibel/Club Hell – Providence, RI – venue site * facebook

March 18, 2009 – Pianos – New York, NY – tickets: 212-505-3733 * facebook

March 21, 2009 – World Cafe Live – Philadelphia, PA – tickets * facebook

March 22, 2009 – 8 x 10 – Baltimore, MD – tickets * facebook

March 23, 2009 – Gravity Lounge – Charlottesville, VA – tickets: 434-977-5590 * facebook

March 24, 2009 – Jammin’ Java – Vienna, VA – tickets * facebook

March 25, 2009 – Kirk Avenue Music – Roanoke, VA – tickets * facebook

March 26, 2009 – Jewish Mother – Virginia Beach, VA – tickets * facebook

March 27, 2009 – Lincoln Theatre – Raleigh, NC – tickets * facebook

March 28, 2009 – Double Door Inn – Charlotte, NC – tickets: 704-358-9298 * facebook

March 30, 2009 – Jackrabbits – Jacksonville, FL – tickets * facebook

March 31, 2009 – Skipper’s Smokehouse – Tampa, FL – tickets * facebook

April 1, 2009 – The Social – Orlando, FL – tickets: 407-246-1419 * facebook

April 2, 2009 – Engine Room – Tallahassee, FL – venue site * facebook

April 3, 2009 – The Five Spot – Atlanta, GA – tickets * facebook

April 4, 2009 – Crossroads – Huntsville, AL – tickets: 256-513-6733 * facebook

April 5, 2009 – The Nick – Birmingham, AL – tickets * facebook

April 17, 2009 – Emo’s – Austin, TX – tickets * facebook

April 18, 2009 – Longhorn – Fort Worth, TX – tickets: 817-740-9477 * facebook

April 23, 2009 – Off Broadway Nightclub – St. Louis, MO – tickets * facebook

April 24, 2009 – Bottleneck – Lawrence, KS – tickets * facebook

April 25, 2009 – The Waiting Room – Omaha, NE – tickets: 402-884-5353 * facebook

April 26, 2009 – The Mill – Iowa City, IA – tickets: 319-351-9529 * facebook

artpost: a practice fallen from style

My memory tickled by a conversation I had that mentioned Victorian Memento Mori, I spent a bit of time on Sunday fruitlessly searching for a particularly nice contemporary hair artist I’d found on-line two or three years ago that I intended to post about, but never got around to. Today, oddly, not even a week later, the artist has fallen directly in my lap via my friends over at Ectomo and she’s gotten even better:

“Melanie Bilenker makes jewelry from precious metals, resin, wood, and her own hair, arranging the strands into tiny snapshots of everyday life.”


chocolate, 2008
brooch, 9.5 x 7 x 1 cm, Gold, ebony, resin, pigment, hair.


From her site:

The Victorians kept lockets of hair and miniature portraits painted with ground hair and pigment to secure the memory of a lost love. In much the same way, I secure my memories through photographic images rendered in lines of my own hair, the physical remnants. I do not reproduce events, but quiet minutes, the mundane, the domestic, the ordinary moments.

(I used to do this with Antony in the shower, make tiny, ephemeral pictures of our life together on the tiles of the wall with our shed hair. Our lines were not half so fluid as Melanie Bilenker’s, but they were ours and sweet and fun. Every day we would wash them away and draw something new. Now, years later, I should regret I never took a picture, but it is enough for me that they were there.)

I support the cause but not the action. BART has nothing to do with the Oakland police.

Following up on Jake’s post regarding the BART Police that murdered a man on NYE, I woke up this morning to Warren reporting that Oakland erupted into a riot last night:

“Overnight, west Oakland finally went up, probably triggered by 1) all the mealymouthing around the shooting from the authorities 2) while everyone else was watching the fucking video of the guy being killed and 3) probably also the news that the shooting officer has resigned and is reportedly refusing to cooperate with investigators. And that no-one seems overly bothered by same.

So I just woke up, and the first thing I see is a link Laurenn sent me, to the Flickr set of a guy who went out there with a camera last night.

Naturally, what’s actually being trashed in this riot are people’s cars and “mom’n’pop” corner stores. All of whom are obviously The Man in Oaktown these days.”