I’ve been reading.
Damn.
In about 1995 I started writing a book. It never amounted to much - though I liked the premise, I could never get the story to go anywhere - so I put it aside. But lately I’ve been messing with some new words, and looking though some old stuff I’d written in the past. So I thought I’d dig out the files for the book and see if there were any roads there that I could retrace. Not at easy task - I had to find and download a program to convert the ancient WordPerfect files - but eventually I got everything open and readable.
Damn.
I had forgotten how much I loved writing this. And writing in general. It’s not easy, it’s often doesn’t come when you call, but… In 1995 all I wanted was to take a six month long trip down the backroads and write. And today, reading this makes me want the exact same thing. Our narrator, Katherine Wallsley (remember her?) is talking about traveling, and about her own art:
And that is something we have learned. That places - rib joints, fields, highway rest stops, stores that sell used records, motels with detached cabins, little lonely ponds down roads nobody seems to ever go down, drug stores with fountains, paths - have personalities too. There are ones you don’t have anything in common with, and therefore don’t really much want to be around, and then there are the ones you could spend years just sitting next to basking in their company. And it’s not an easy thing to define - this personality. (No different than being able to say what you like about a person I guess). It’s not just being a bit older. Its not just the people that might be there. Not the fact that there’s deer antlers or calendars from 1979 on the wall. If I had to point to one thing, I’d go back to that idea that somewhere, somehow, somebody loves them. Not just as a way to make a buck, but loves them and would cherish them regardless. And it occurs to me this has something to do with my art. The best art I’ve made is the art that I’ve thrown myself at, with a love for the fun and the freedom of just being there with it and playing with a friend. And without a regard for whether it will sell, or even whether anybody else will even like it, or even look at it. Maybe that’s why we’re all here.
Photo from this weekend:
1. I ran 14 miles this morning. I wanted to do at least 10, but then I was feeling good so I thought I’d shoot for 13, and ended up doing 14. Or thereabouts. When I do long runs I measure by time, not distance, and figure I do about 9 minute miles on long runs. So I ran for 128 minutes. It felt really good - I was pretty strong all the way, and only hurt in the last couple of miles - and a good accomplishment since I hadn’t done more than 10 since this spring. More or less training for the Lynchburg ten miler in September and maybe the Richmond half marathon in November.
2. The Findells were great the other night - they did mostly songs from the new CD - there was much dancing and much fun.
3. My favorite picture I’ve taken in a long time.
1. I love the things that get caught in my spam filter. They’ve been doing a lot of “breaking news alert” spams recently. I got one today whose subject line was “BREAKING NEWS: Europe’s Most Wanted Man Discovered Living With Smurfs”
2. From my friend Foust, The Dysfunctional Family Circus.
3. Tonight = Findells!
4. And now… a cat in a pretty blue showercap.
5. Photograph.
I need a nap. I need to sleep for about four days.
1. The Bonnie Prince Billy show at Gravity was pretty great. The entire show consisted of the same band (3 Oldham brothers plus 3 others), with BPB (fronted by Bonnie Billy aka Will Oldham) and Anomoanon (fronted by brother Ned) taking turns in the spotlight. The show was a bit more raucous and a bit less quiet than I expected from the CDs, but like his recordings, the whole show had a very seat-of-your-pants feel to it - the songs were loosely arranged and slightly rehearsed, but they band was good, the songs were great, and the whole vibe was fun and excited. Local singer Sarah White joined the band for a few songs. I know everyone thinks she’s the bomb - I’ve never really gotten that. I’ve heard her 3 times at various shows - the anti-melodic wailing that she presents as singing has always struck me as nails-on-chalkboard, painful-reject-from-the-junior-high-talent-show material. Other than White’s participation, it was a great and very memorable evening.
2. From Boing Boing, Zombie Haikus!
3. A Floyd County mushroom:
1. Going to see Bonnie Prince Billy tomorrow night. Am excited.
2. About finished with two new mixed media pieces. Am excited.
3. This was a long week, and it is now Friday. Am excited.
4. Picture:
I am so in love with my new photographs that I can barely function in the real world.
Somewhere there’s a simple truth that holds everyone in its power.
I got the spend hours at the studio last night.
The studio is my savior. Music is my savior. Wilco is my savior.
I am looking forward
Toward the shadows tracing bones
Our faces stitched and sewing
Our houses hemmed into homes
-Wilco, “You Are My Face”
—–
Rite:
