Notes
from Austin Volume 3 #10 - Lodger's
Notes
Wow.
It's hard to believe it's been over two months since I wrote
a "Notes from Austin."
Anyone
who writes a weekly column and holds down a real full time job
must have no friends. Of course, I have been averaging 2 to
3 movies reviews a week, helping organize the site's calendars
and columns, working for film festivals, doing the cable access
show, drinking a lot, hanging out with my new girlfriend (I'm
so Gregg Araki), watching
webcams and lots of other stuff. I'm a busy guy.
On my
Nightstand:
Jitterbug
Perfume by Tom Robbins
In
my CD Player:
Magnetic
Fields
Sid
and Nancy Soundtrack
Bandits
Soundtrack
Hedwig
and the Angry Inch Soundtrack
Bowie
at the Beeb
And
a ton of other stuff including a lot of MP3's I've downloaded
and burned.
So,
what have I been up to?
Well,
film-wise, I haven't really been doing any more than just
getting to the local megaplex and checking out the new releases.
I went to a sneak of "Orange
County" and saw a rough-cut. I also got to see "Novocain"
at a sneak. The only film event type thing I've been trying
to get to of late is the Austin Film Society's Russian New
Wave series. That's been pretty interesting. I haven't been
to the Alamo in ages. I've been to the Dobie to see "Tape"
and the AFS thing is at the Arbor.
As for
the cable access show, Lube TV, I've sorta let that go and I'm
hoping my producer and co-host Mark Brauner will pick up the
slack. So far, he has only done so in a minor way. It's very
frustrating for me, so I just have to turn it over. We have
the director of a short film called "College" on a week or so
ago and I forgot to watch the show, tape the show or send out
any messages. I guess I drop the ball as much as Mark does.
Mark and Alan Campbell and I, by the way, have gone to the AFS
Russian series together a few times.
As for
my film, which I was shooting with my friends Rich and Kelly,
that has kinda gotten put on hold with the holidays and all.
I did go to Rich's birthday party a couple of weekends ago but
other than that I haven't seen them much. Rich's party was fun.
Mainly,
I have been hanging out with my girlfriend Melissa and spending
money on her like she was a boy. We go to 503 a lot on Mondays
and see the East Side Kings play. Even with their drummer ill
and a no-show, they rock.
They
do two songs that I love: "Taxi," which is just beautiful,
and "Hoochie Mama" which is Melissa's theme song. We really
jam out when they play those. They also do a song called "Hole
in the Wall" that's pretty cool. I think most of their songs
are covers but I'm not sure. My friend John has went a few
times and recently bought their CD. (I've got to burn a copy).
It has "Hoochie," but no "Taxi." I'm pretty sure "Taxi" is
a cover. I've got to find out who does it. Every time I hear
it I think of "Across 110th Street" from the "Jackie
Brown" soundtrack, but I forget to look at my CD and see
who sings that. It's not Bobby Blue Bland.
Melissa
also introduced me to the wonders of Starseeds, an awesome
little 24-hour burger joint on I35 around 38th street or so.
This place rocks. It's all punked out. The wait staff is cool
but doesn't take any crap and the music is always blaring
in there. Twice I've been there and they were playing "Bowie
at the Beeb." At first, I thought it was like a greatest hits
package and it sounded different because I was only hearing
one channel (listen tot he early Bowie stuff, he often recorded
separate vocal tracks for left and right channel). Anyway,
I finally snapped that it must be "Bowie at the Beeb" and
after jamming to it so much at Starseeds, I had to run out
and buy the damn CD. It has a lot of early Bowie stuff ('68-'72)
and the "Limited Edition" box set I got also had a 3rd CD
with Bowie live in 2000 at the BBC. It's wicked awesome.
Anyway,
back to Melissa. She was living with a cute little young couple
named Russ and Lauren. She recently moved, but we still go
over there and play poker every other week or so. They're
cool and it's been really awesome for me to hang out with
a new clique. Russ and Lauren are friends of Dusty's, the
guy Melissa was dating. I haven't seen Dusty lately. Melissa
pissed him off by sleeping with his friend Kevin.
I
recently realized that I had to love the drama of young people,
if I was going to hang around them. I mean, drama just means
human interaction and emotion. If it weren't for drama, we
wouldn't even know we were alive. I like quiet time and relaxation
as much as the next old queen, but I also like interaction
and emotion. There just has to be some control of the fluctuations.
I don't really get too involved in the drama; I just like
to watch. I'm such a voyeur.
Anyway,
it's funny when I hang out with Melissa because we often seem
like a real couple. It's funny how easy and natural people
accept us as a couple even if they know I'm gay. It's funny.
We went to dinner at Starseeds with her ex-boyfriend, who
is also a friend of mine, and we sat on one side of the booth
and he on the other. Melissa and I had inside jokes and stories
and stuff. It was weird, like I expected him to get jealous
even though I've got a much bigger crush on him (and he knows
it) than I do on Melissa.
Melissa,
by the way, doesn't like to be called Missy (and I hate Mel)
so I am going to try calling her Mimi from now on. (She hates
that too).
One
of my old boyfriends (fuck buddies? lovers?), Mike, called
me recently and we've been talking on the phone and on-line.
He saw Mimi on my website and went nuts for her. She's so
cute.
We
went down on SoCong (South Congress to you not inside the
loop) during the cold snap on Wednesday and went to a store
called Lucy in Disguise that was really cool. They had all
kinds of costumes and retro clothes and stuff. We finally
found a lot of cool stuff in a bargain rack. We also found
two really cool coats. I got this long blue cloak that is
made for a woman. It's divine! I love it.
You
know I haven't written a whole lot about the big blow up between
me and my so-called friend Ryan over the stupid "The
Last Hope" film. It's a moot point anyway. But before I
kicked his ass outta my life, he made a mix CD for me of stuff
by Magnetic Fields and it is awesome. I could actually forgive
him for being so dumb every time I hear "Papa Was a Rodeo".
What an awesome song!
"Papa
was a rodeo, Mama was a rock and roll band. I could play guitar
and rope a steer Before I leaned to stand. Home was anywhere
with diesel gas, Love was a trucker's hand. Never stood around
long enough for a one night stand... Before you kiss me, you
should know; Papa was a rodeo."
Those
are awesome lyrics. You'd have to hear the song to even begin
to imagine how awesome it is. There's tons of good songs as
the lyricist and lead singer of the band really seem to enjoy
playing around with gender roles and sexual identity. There
is also a female singer, so if a song of love seems to be
aimed at a girl, the female sings. If it is aimed at a guy,
the male sings. Cool.
"Papa
was a Rodeo" ends with a twist that makes it seem not to be
the gay song it seems to be (remember "My Girl Bill" by Jim
Stafford?) but it's still way too cool to let this ruin it.
Magnetic Fields is probably the best bisexual band since Aerosmith!
Other
songs by MF that I like: All the Umbrellas in London Underwear
When My Boy Walks Down the Street Come Back from San Francisco
Reno Dakota The Desperate Things You Made Me do Yeah! Oh Yeah!
A Chicken with its Head Cut Off Busby Berkeley Dreams Acoustic
Guitar Fido Your Leash is too Long You and Me and the Moon
"Acoustic
guitar, I'm gonna make you a star, get your picture all over
the world. Acoustic guitar, you can have your own car, just
bring me back my girl...
"Acoustic
guitar, if you think I play hard, well you could have been
owned by Steve Earle or Charo or Gwar. I could sell you tomorrow
So bring me back my girl.
"You
better bring me back My guuurrrllll."
That's
good stuff.
Another
song I just heard that I really dig is "Digital Love" by Daft
Punk. I downloaded the MP3 and then burned it to a CD with a
bunch of other random songs. It took me two weeks to figure
out it was Daft Punk, I thought it was some 80's song or some
80's song that someone else had recently remixed or something.
Have you heard it? They really mess with the EQ. It's the first
song I've ever heard (and I don't listen to much rap or hip-hop)
where the EQ is like another instrument. This is a kick-ass
song!
I was
driving around just today and tuned into some new radio station
called Mega 97.7 and they actually played "Digital Love." This
station seems to be some sort of underground pop station that
plays stuff like you'd hear at raves and dance clubs and stuff.
They also played that cool song "Fine Day" by Opus 3. I listened
again later in the day though and it was pretty standard pop
hop junk.
I don't
know. I do a lot now. I have an even bigger and better life.
And even though my day job sucks and does not pay near enough
and my rent is outrageous and I'm even deeper in debt than I
was when I moved here, I'm in heaven.
I
still love Austin, man. It rocks.
Happy
Holidays!
Lodger2001
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to do this Week - Check the calendar!
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