i've never heard of a hurricane destroying a city that wasn't in a coastal state. we are over a thousand miles from the texas coast. but on sunday hurricane Ike's winds rolled into town and beat the living hell out of us. the governor declared a state of emergency hours after the storm hit. the tree in the pic fell minutes after i rode threw there (rushing home on the bike in 75 mile an hour winds). after 4 days 300,000 louisvillians are still without power. i just got mine back at 9pm tonite. and i think it's only because there's a children's skool on my block. my father lives a block away and he was told it would be at least 10 more days before he gets his restored. all the electricians went down to texas to help. i can't believe they went down before the storm was over. there are limited recourses here and the city is restoring the rich neighborhoods first. in louisville the rich live in the east, and the poor in the west. last night i rode over to the hills of southern indiana and looked at the louisville skyline. the east was glowing and the west was absolutely dark.
the city is empty on fuel, iv'e seen people beating each other at petrol stations for a single drop. people stay up sitting on their stoops guarding their homes from looters. it's wild. i just ran off two rednecks in a truck full of scrap metal eyeing my motorcycle.
it's been a hell of a week. iv'e spent nite after nite in the dark with the kitty. she knew something was wrong too. she actually listened to me during the black out, now that it's back, she's back to ignoring my rules. good girl! it's pushed the ziggy record back (agian) and the recording studio is still without power. it's gonna be headache getting this thing back on line. but i'm determined.
iv'e got a weeks worth of emails to get into,and a fridge full of spoiled food to throw out, but i wanted to jump on here and let everyone know i'm ok. i haven't heard from jeffrey, i know he lives in german town which is mostly without power. i'm sure his doing ok.
17 comments:
good luck john is all i can say. my thoughts are with you now - especially for the bowie! but good to know you made it through and can frighten determined looters... and that bubblegum is back to normal!
jeez, sounds all very frightening . Unbelievable that people turn into little monsters when something like that happens. Than it's suddenly everyone for themselves. Take good care in that jungle out there John and Jeffrey! I was planning on sending my package today, maybe I just wait a couple of more days 'til things are more normal there? What is wise?
it seems like everyone is behaving themselves around town. i haven't heard of too much craziness. the first 2 days people were frighten and didn't know what was going to happen, but we are getting regular petrol deliveries know, but much of the city is still dark. tonite me and a friend tamara dearing rode around on the motorcycle in the dark and saw many electricians working. there's been trouble with transformers blowing up after power is restored.
me and kitty are happy. i'd say it will be fine sending the packages now. i'm ready for new cds!
has anyone gotten my 'destroy me' cds? i sent them quite a while ago. i'd be interested in hearing your feedback. i have my 2nd package all ready to go, i'm just waiting for the post office to open up again. we are getting the mail delivered to our homes on a daily basis now.
i guess we all have had some tuff times lately, but things are looking up i think. talking and sharing really help a lot!
Okay, I'll send it out this week. Hope you're all right. Still no sign from Jeffrey??
I did receive your September supplement John, thanks a bunch it's in the car stereo for a while now. Good idea to give it to her too, that must help even better I guess.
How's the city doing? Is the light coming back yet?
well, sending it to her helped for a while, but now i can't listen to those songs without getting upset. and those are some of my favorite tunes. let me know what you like/dislike from it. so it's in the car, cool! does that mean you have a new car?
no word from jeffrey, he might be without power still, but he's got power at work. hopefully he hasn't forgotten about us. speaking of, has your friend in japan gotten back to you?
it's been 10 days of dark now, that's a long time for some older people and those with disabilities, but some people say it has been kinda fun. i liked it. it was a mandatory break which was nice. but now i have no excuse for not doing my work!
i have 5 days to get streaming tracks up and a pre-order form together. ugg. iv'e finally got a promo image for it though. what do you think?
dear cydde,
how are you? your new photo is neat and kinda scary. i don't know what's happening there, i think there's a cat involved. it reminds me of a dream i had last night that my cat was chewing on my nose. since 2 or 3 weeks ago she has started sleeping next to my head where cora's pillow was (it's not there anymore). she's never done this before, but it's been every night since she started doing this. so quite possibly we both rolled into each other last nite and it wasn't a dream after all.
i now have this hilarious mental image of you squashing the cat john, or headbutting each other! maybe she was nibbling your nose. we have another cat at home that is liable to do that if you stay still long enough. so yes, it is a cat (hilda) and i put my hand over the flash so that's the colour. a bit like leo's over-exposed one. we've all got pretty freaky photos at the moment!
i have been incommunicado with mum (who should be able to go home this time next week) and with our congress and other events this week - constant 16 hour days. but will be back in the fold soon.
i have said to john that i am going to focus on the swap this weekend which is my first chance in ages, and it will feel fantastic to do so.
i actually wondered a bit about you giving it to cora, because i did think it could feel like you were giving songs away. i remember for a while i felt after i had given songs to someone in a mix tape that i couldn't listen to them anymore (and actually there's one i struggle to listen to because some guy used it to come onto me in a very unsubtle way one time - equally though it's not the best song so i don't miss it, see if you can work THAT out!).
but there are some songs i feel as though i've 'sung' to exes who i feel don't deserve to have them anymore, a bit like they don't deserve to have any part of your heart anymore (because they always take a little bit with them).
i think this weekend i will start a new string - still talking about your supplemental john. i think because i've picked up quite a lot of the songs:ohia and you sent the magnolia electric co that it's all very much in my head right now, and i need to discern the ones you've put on the compo. sometimes it pays that i just sit in the semi-dark (with fairy lights on) and do nothing else but listen to make out every word and sound in a song.
it's making something come to my mind though, perhaps not about a theme but just ponderings. and it's around those songs that you might listen to a hundred times and still find down the track that you pick up new things, or work out a word you'd sung for ever was totally wrong! it changes the entire concept of the song.
what's in that?
i love the 'put your fingers over the flash' trick. it's your flesh and blood that put's the red hue in the picture. neat. my cat has been biting me and attacking me a lot this week. i think she's pissed that when i'm ever home, i'm glued to the macbook. i'm working my tail off trying to get everything together for the ziggy cd. somehow public demand has pushed a sort of 'pre-release' event for oct.1st. on online magazine called 37flood.com is sponsoring a preview thing on the first with spotlighted tracks and bonus material, which is awesome. i'm just afraid that by the time dec.1st comes around everyone will have forgotten about it.
anyway you guys can get a chance to hear some of what iv'e been talking about for the last few months. i'm thinking of putting the gallery singers track up, the engineer, kevin ratterman, says it's one of the stronger tracks, and it being my track aside(i hate pushing my own music, so i don't), i put a lot of faith in what this man says. he's a genius of the music sort. he owns/operates the funeral home recording studio. (i've mentioned it before)it's worth googling if you have the time. it's the oldest funeral parlor in louisville, and a working studio together, it's an odd paring but seems to work well.
anyway take a peek on the 1st at 37flood.com or louisvilleisforlovers.com
as far as pushing my own music i don't like it, so i'd rather let someone else do it, and that doesn't happen much. but this week i was asked to make a music vid for a music vid compilation. i used to love playing infront of an audience, but it's been awhile. and they cut out what ever mistakes so i guess it's ok.
as far as giving songs away to those who don't deserve it (and don't appreciate it probably) your right cydde. i had an overwhelming need to have her hear what i was feeling, and when i did, those weren't my special songs anymore. they used to comfort me, the song shared my heartbreak, then i gave it away, it doesn't mean the same.
i did indeed put songs on there for her that had maybe just one line that meant something, if she got it, good, if she missed it, it's only because she doesn't care enough to remember anymore.
a new sadness is one of those. i wanted her to hear what i was doing/feeling/thinking. and 'motorcycle' could have been written about us exactly, except it was written years ago by people i don't know.
I feel litterally a bit cut up last two days, I have a hell of a headache that won't go away with painkillers, seems to be a virus going round, i hear of more people having this.
Anyway, what I like about your CD John is in general almost all of the songs. The other thing is the idea behind it. You're clearly still very busy with the ending of your relationship and I think it's a good way to express what you think/feel. And you have the guts to share it with us! Which makes it intimate as well.
I was wondering if you can translate this into making songs of your own and record them with the Gallery Singers. On the other hand, why should you if songs by others suit you well?
We bought a new car just before the holidays and this one has a CDplayer in it. I love to listen when I drive!
I haven't heard anything from Japan yet...
i do agree leo - even when you give the songs away there's still that reassuring feeling that they reflect what you feel. i feel like i gave away one of the closest songs to me when i wrote the lyrics on a piece of paper, but i took comfort that it wasn't a direct offering and they knew nothing more of it. they didn't know how the song actually went or that it came from me, like telling them in a way that they DIDN'T understand. i've learnt far more now about when to 'gift' certain songs that are so close to me. before it was an arbitrary expression of words i wish i could say and have them hear.
and john i'd love to hear the gallery singers effort from ziggy - i know what you mean about self-promotion.
leo i hope you feel better soon. i'm so fucked right now that my brain is close to shutting down, but much more in the coming days.
by the way leo, your picture just got even freakier!
i love the painkillers, they do everything but kill pain unfortunately. i've found that if good old fashioned aspirin doesn't stop a headache, nothing will.
i'm watching the mcCain/obama debate right now. i'm starting to think the united states are going to continue destroying itself. for a while i thought maybe the people would demand change, and that one candidate would have better judgements than the other.
besides that, i think songs help us heal or understand certain events, but definitely only i can completely come to terms with my unique situation by my own thoughts or actions. which means working on my own songs. last month i was talking to local singer/songwriter joe manning about this. the both of us take for ever finishing songs, and we both recognized that it is because it forces us to deal with our painful issues. once we can, we are better for it, but it takes a long time and a lot of pain to get there.
i am working on a song called 'i got some bad news' about the time i found letters and mix cds from the other man that cora hid in her car, and knew she was having an affair of some sort, so i told her i didn't need to know what all happened between them as long as she promised to end it with him and to not talk about/to him anymore.
maybe by next year i can get to the part where she sneaks out into the night never to return.
also cydde, i've been meaning to tell you, now i can't stop listening to "didn't it rain" i can't get enough of it. i think sometimes "ghost" is a memory, and sometimes a burden, and sometimes used instead of the dreaded word 'soul'. either way it's everywhere in his music. what album is that from? i'd love to hear the rest of it.
and i hand stamped my packages this time instead of taking them to the post office so let me know when you guys get them so i don't worry. jeffrey should have already gotten yours i think?
and my best wishes to leo and cydde who both are feeling a little under the weather.
well john it came from the short album of the same name. at least it seems short. i will put that in the MEGA PACKAGE i'll be sending, as i will combine october in with september.
leo and jeffrey, please let me know if you can whether you already have the album, to perhaps save me from giving you a copy you don't need! i will assume you have it probably.
feeling better today, the aches have gone and actually the painkillers worked for me (though admittedly were of a stronger variety than over-the-counter stuff - quite a bit of coedine in them!).
now on with the actual composition. once i've progressed that this afternoon, john i will hop back on and write some more about 'destroy me'.
Hey Cydde, I do have the Didn't it Rain album. I f you mean that one. by Songs:Ohia. Feeling much better after last week now!
good to hear it leo!
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