Random Crap From An Old Notebook the recurring feature is finally recurring

Haha. Long ago in 2009 I wrote a post titled Random Crap From An Old Notebook which was exactly what it was. When I was a much younger man who still had long curly locks on his head I was constantly writing and doodling in little spiral notebooks. I would also keep score when I played along with Jeopardy so you'll find these pages filled with numbers and then some question at the bottom. Anyways, when the first random crap post was done I said it was to be a recurring feature here, but I never posted another one. Until now. Eleven years in the making I drop another one for you dear readers. Maybe it won't take so long to do it again. This entry comes from a notebook called This Sucks Experiments in Prose that I wrote mainly during fall of 1986. There's a long, unfinished letter to my friend D.D. where I review the R.E.M. concert at the Grand Ole Opry House on September 10, 1986 which I may share on here one of these days. "These Days" was the opening song of that Life's Rich Pageant tour date.

There was a short story writing contest in Creem magazine to win a trip to see R.E.M. then so I was trying to write something to enter it, but never followed through. That's sort of the story of my life. I never follow through.......

This story I found might have been one of my attempts at that contest or it might not have been. I was writing lots of stuff back then. I have found variations of this guy meets a cool girl at the rock club in different notebooks so it was probably just a preoccupation in my mind. It was titled Commentary for some reason.

From 1986:

She read with poetry. Because she bought me a beer at the Exit/In. We left for awhile and drove around until we got lost. She had red hair cut the way I liked it. I asked directions at a convenience store somewhere in Green Hills. I found the main road full of hills like a rollercoaster. My hands were shaky. We almost wrecked lots. I impressed her. I kissed her. I gave her my prayer beads. She kissed me.

The band stopped playing. My head stopped spinning. I looked around and nobody was there except for a bartender and a few friends of the band. The bathrooms were empty. So was my heart. I stumbled out into the night....wasn't I just out there before....where did I park the car. I noticed my prayer beads were missing. Another night clubbing. Shaky keys in the ignition. Night posts flash by. Where did my love go...vanishing poetry in the night.

what is up what is down what is and isn't

Kicking it old school - which means beware linear thoughts and forget about punctuation and other assorted grammar tricks that get you all A's and so on etcetera ad infinitum.

Went to the U2 concert July 2nd and was, to my delightful surprise, bowled over with the evening. Tremendous songs and the 360 degree stage show lights still have me on a contact high. I used to think Bono was an egomaniac full of himself, but that has been tempered. I think he's got a good heart.

Current listening faves - U2, Stones, Oasis (digging into the post Be Here Now stuff which I gave short shrift to back in the day) and Bead Eye, Motörhead, some ancient hip hop stuff. And Yngwie Malmsteen...can't forget I have been digging his old stuff too.

Reading Just Kids by Patti Smith, well I finished it yesterday and it was cool. I really liked the book up until Patti and Robert Mapplethorpe started to become successful. It became boring once they had made it which is why most of the book was about the journey to stardom.

Getting some laughs out of White Line Fever which is Lemmy's autobiography. If you like your rock and roll loud and your stories about drugs and partying not to be weighed down with morals, but with belly laughs this is the book for you.

Television fave of the moment is El Chavo De Ocho. It doesn't matter that I can't understand about 90% of what they say. The comedy is broad enough to make the words not necessary.

That's about it for today. Not as spontaneous and punctuation free as I thought it would be. I guess only getting about 3 hours of sleep last night did me in more than I thought.

Random Crap From An Old Notebook

Now for a recurring feature here: Random Crap From An Old Notebook

In this case it's from one titled Skating Is Poetry from 1987. It was mainly filled with bad punk rock song lyrics that never got from the page to rehearsal and while those old songs might be more sociologically interesting I've decided to instead share some narcissistic observations along with some bad poetry. It's all non-linear and perhaps only good to me. But that's sort of the point.

1987

I always hate shaving in the morning.
It sounds like 70's music.

You ever notice that the Osmonds all look like frogs, especially that loathsome Jimmy.

One thing I had never noticed before is the blistering guitar solo on "Concrete Jungle."

Hippies...shake your heads like angry mops
Under the rain stroked sky
The gumball rolls into the slot
The preachers don't like rock
and roll
Cause it cuts into their profit.

Cardinal on the sill,
Time stands still,
Let's pop another pill.

The girl with the felt tip shoes
always leads the way.
She's got warm hands
that sound like trains
through kudzu draped railroad trestles.

I Probably Could Google This Stuff And Get Answers

Why do people paint tree trunks white?
Why do people raise mules today?
Why did Michael Anthony get the boot from Van Halen?
Why does anybody watch Mtv these days? And yes; I'm not a fan of The Hills.
Why listen to commercial radio in Nashville?
Why does it always seem like I'm riding my bicycle into a headwind?
Why do the junkiest trailers always have vicious dogs chained out front?
Why am I writing this and why are you reading it?

I think I'll go outside and play now....except that the head index is surface of the sun right so blogging seems like the thing to do today.