Sic Semper Tyrannis

On Holiday

I'm on vacation this week, bitches.

Read Nerd City while I'm gone.

posted by Mike @ 5:19 PM 0 comments

"World Trade Center?"

Is anybody else creeped out by these ads for the movie “World Trade Center?”

I’m not sure I like the idea of movie-makers profiting from recounting the awful things that happened to those people and to our country as a whole on September 11. It seems kind of crass and greedy.

posted by Mike @ 6:20 AM 5 comments

In the Moment

I usually think of myself as a guy with concrete flowing through his veins and a heart of stone.

But once in a great while, I feel like I’m privy to a moment of sublime…”rightness”…for lack of a better word.

It happened on Saturday night. A bunch of friends and I at a duck pond, wasting away the twilight hours and unseasonably cool weather with whatever conversation came up. And then a similar situation later, with snow-cones by a busy street, the rest of the world hurrying to some destination down the road.

It’s my belief that the simpler life of wasting time like this with friends should actually be the destination. So, often, though, we’re running and scurrying, from this obligation to this diversion to this expensive entertainment. But to me, none of that busyness can compare to slowing down enough to look someone else in the eyes and relate- to share stories, share time, share the unspoken pain and joy of existence. I get a little caught up in it sometimes and ruin the moment by saying something trite like “It doesn’t get any better than this.”

But it seems that sometimes “sharing” life doesn’t come naturally. Sometimes, to me anyway, people seem to be more trouble than they are worth. Sometimes “hording” seems a little easier. As if you could really get through life hording your time, thoughts and experiences to yourself. That becomes impossible the moment you walk out your door.

End diary entry.

posted by Mike @ 12:21 PM 1 comments

A Concerted Effort

Ok, faithful readers, if you’re still out there. We’ve been ignoring each other for long enough. Let’s gossip!

I’ve been thinking about the band Wilco lately and today I was reminded of how great their concert was when they came and played at the Coca-Cola Bricktown Events Center… last year was it?

Anyway, that got me to trying to think of the best concerts I’ve been to. Now I’m not a heavy-duty rock n’ roll-type person. I haven’t been to just hundreds of shows or anything, but I do have some pretty strong memories…

Van Halen 1993 at the OK State Fairgrounds—it was in the middle of the summer, hot as Hades. I was in summer band that week and it was so great to leave early and meet all of my friends in the parking lot of the arena and have a tailgate party, drinking warm Shasta. Being surrounded by all of that bare concrete hours and hours before the gates opened, with the sun beating down, it left a pretty indelible memory. I remember we played the song “Ice Cream Man,” really loud on the car stereo in honor of the guy in the Ice Cream truck who came and parked near us. Vince Neil opened the show and that was pretty horrible. But when my heroes took the stage, I was mesmerized. To see Eddie up there in real life--pretty amazing. They played this song “Rockin’ in the Free World,” which I had never really heard before then.

Pink Floyd 1995 in Dallas with my oldest brother-- Even though it was the Roger Waters-less version, I didn’t care. I felt so adult flying down there alone.

Blink 182 in Dallas—that was back in the days when they were still uber-popular. They were crazy energetic, opening for Bush. I was just amazed at all the running around they did. I saw them a few years later in an outdoor setting, opening for Green Day and it wasn’t nearly as good. I think they got lazy and relied on pyro too much. Green Day, however, was quite impressive at that show.

Elvis Costello at the Bronco Bowl in Dallas—Phantom Planet were the openers and it was a good time with good buds who couldn’t have loved E.C. nearly as much as I do. I was impressed with his endurance. He just kept going with encore after encore, definitely worth the money.

Wilco in Bricktown—like I said before.

King Crimson in St. Louis—the great LOST Concert. I had a ticket and everything, but it was just one big snowstorm from here to there. So I would up having to miss it. Still upset about that one.

So, what say you? What are your top concerts?

What was your first concert? I’m pretty sure mine was Kenny Rogers at the Savannah Civic Center when I was just a little tyke. I was young enough to get my dad confused with Kenny.

posted by Mike @ 3:01 PM 0 comments

Back from New Orleans

Well, I’m back from an awesome trip to New Orleans last week. I spent the bulk of the week doing some heavy-duty, sweaty domestic destruction in the name of the Lord.

I, along with 18 others, gutted a whole house in four days and started on another one of Friday.

We had the pleasure of meeting and working alongside Zippy, the homeowner. He and his wife were awesome to us, bringing us breakfast and lunch and hanging out with us downtown on Thursday night. I don’t think Zippy ever quite understood that we were supposed to be helping him, not the other way around! He was pretty reluctant to quit working whenever we took breaks.

As everyone else would probably say- it was the toughest week of hard labor that I’ve ever known. I have a desk job. We had to wear HAZMAT suits in the house and I was soaked in sweat about fifteen to twenty minutes into each day. It looked like I went to White Water in my clothes. So, lots of physical labor and less-than-luxurious accommodations, (read: no A/C, just fans.) But it was worth it to know that Zippy appreciated it. I consider him and Pam to be long-distance friends now.

And I do have the distinction of bringing home a war wound. I stepped into a broken piece of glass that was obscured by weeds and had to get five stitches on my shin. Thankfully, that was the morning of the last day of work and we quit early so it could have been a lot worse.

And as I’ve been asked quite a bit—yes, New Orleans still needs A LOT of work. The neighborhood we were working in was pretty quiet- a few people living in FEMA trailers outside their badly damaged houses, but for the most part, it looked like a young ghost town. (I got an eerie feeling every time I went off to the backyard next door to pee and was surrounded by the silence of the neighborhood. Just by the sound of it, I could have sworn I was in some beautiful meadow somewhere, the distant chirping of birds and the humming of insects. But it wasn’t beautiful. It was sad and confusing and scary. I wondered if anyone would ever come back to rebuild all of this.)

And the area that was close to the levee break—it looks pretty much unrecoverable. Those cheaply-built little wooden houses had no chance and they look like it--ripped from their foundations, squashed to the point of unrecognizability. I’ve never seen a “war zone,” but in my head…

If you are the kind of person who prays or sends up good thoughts or whatever, the people of New Orleans could still use it.

If I ever see any of you, dear readers, maybe I will tell you tales of the hot tub we pulled out of the house.

posted by Mike @ 3:47 PM 0 comments