Fall Cleaning Con't.

Fall Cleaning

this was at
el rancho last
year... it found
shelter in my
school computer but
now i must
make space for
more digital preparations.
ellen plays it
in a different
key and i
really screw it
up. but it
was fun to
play, anyway. exciting.

items of newer interest

june star makes another shift in a line up. patrick hughes, drummer and nice guy, is moving to another state... westward ho! he goes. i'm sorry to see him go... in his place will be e.j. shaull-thompson from caleb stine and the brakemen. we're all looking forward to the new addition. rehearsals have been going well, smart and well thought out... the new songs from the double album are gellin' swell.

we're not sure about our september show it was supposed to be on the 18th at the metro gallery... but the date or the venue might change... but look for a great poster coming up soon...

so... the town meeting thing is getting weird... people are out of their minds... they're bringing guns to these things? really? nothing gets a party started like a group of angry/frightened/goaded people and a loaded handgun. not only that... but yesterday i read someone complaining about democrats saying that their voices were unamerican... to which the writer/blogger/protestor/triggerman said, "Since when is giving a dissenting opinion un-patriotic? I have the right to free speech!"

well, it's the same issue just five years ago when those same people told me that "a vote for john kerry was a vote for the terrorists. if you don't vote for Bush, the sitting president, you're unpatriotic." freaking whatever. that's what i'm reduced to thinking... this seems to be a dark summer... guns, misinformation, and katy perry is now the arbiter of talent? "shut up and put your money where your mouth is/that's what you get for waking up in vegas/shake shake the cradle." look out bob dylan.

tired, i should get back to my book

grimm

8x10 show

been too long
good friends since
my keys have
been pushed, greased
from butter fingers.

8x10 show was
grande... sparse... electric...
small but happy
crowd, sold cd's
and made new
friends. yes. success.

made me re-think
the whole sense
of stage volume
loud and piercing.
some more shows
coming and looming
in the distance.

i'm looking forward
to this year.
busy year... buzzy
nights... many shows...
many bar gigs
three hours of
chugging through material
honing and chopping
the songs and
the tunes. promoting
and hoping. management
lurks in our
near future eh?

putting together the
tour schedule for
next year and
looking at certain
goals... email addresses
electronic hello's and
goodbyes... our van
will drift into
many parking lots.
i suppose. it's
true... all this
while teaching full
time next year...
hmph. looking at
a new amplifier
today, the mesa
boogie express 5 25
maybe it will
happen and then
again, maybe it
won't.

hearts and stars

grimm

such a slug

am i that
i do not
do not do
the things i
absolutely must do.

work out... get
on that contraption
that i will
travel four invisible
miles to reach
healthy city, a
rumor at best.

will listen to
marquee moon while
being tortured... that
should let most
of the other
stuff go by
quickly eh? tonight
at the el
rancho i'll be
playing with some
cool folks. my
first solo acoustic
show in a
while... i'm playing
some deep cutz.
stuff i don't
normally play, nor
june star. should
be a challenge.

predictions of the
crowd size? Fourteen
is my estimate.
maybe less, probably.

here's john cooper clarke's
song... heart disease called love:

one kiss became a weapon
and i don't want to bleed in vain
the clouds collide in the heavens
and i surrender to the rain

the death bell lit up so red
like madness from above
i'm going out with a bang
and a heart disease called love

99 below zero
and it seems like fever now
you know me i'm no hero
don't even ask me how

i'm down in the deep deep freeze
what was i thinking of
in the painful breeze by the frozen trees
with a heart disease called love

after dinner mints and new lovers
and the coffee is so bitter and black
your fingerprints they cover
this knife sticking out of my back

you overlooked the fine details
you should've worn your gloves
and now i've got a girl in jail and a house for sale
and a heart disease called love

the return

hey folks... now
i'm back... the keys
the keys were hot
and sweaty... oppressive
dare i say... read two books
pride and predjudice and zombies
and the road
funny and scary
in that order.

imminent collapse of society?
go for cannabalism... seems to
always bee the trick right?

cormac has got it
going on for sure...
tight succinct phrasing
seemingly unconnected images
attached to previous and post
actions serving as
commentary. good stuff.

ugh... music... getting
back onto the
bronco whom bucks.

i'll be rehearsing
today for friday's show
at el rancho... and
trying to get e.j.
up to speed for friday!

the band will be a
four piece on july 24th
as opposed to the six
piece... small issues on
that...

The keys

Sunny hot and
sweaty for sure
I am blogging from
my new iPhone
ooh ahh I'm so
up to date it's ridiculous ...
Seriously.
Let's see if I can upload a pic
nope not yet.

Grimm

sir thomas browne

yes lawrence... more
reading and more
in depth have i traveled
into the browne stuff...
chapter 2 of
urn buriall... yes.
now i understand
rings of saturn.

do you want
to be buried...
or burnt on up?

i think cremation
for me... i like
the notion of being
scattered... perhaps
moved by elements
in nature rather
than our human impulses...
of course i'm
writing this on the
fly without thinking
too much about it.

lawrence, sorry i
singeled you out
at the wtf the
other night... hope
i didn't cause
you too much
trouble. you know
what june star needs...?
new songs... new life...
i'm getting tire of
playing the same old
songs at bertha's
and ye wtf. i'll
have to talk to the
guys about that...

tour coming up... three
days out... if you have
friends in the philly, ny, boston
area... please alert them!

album coming along
nicely... almost done tracking...
a few things to add...

but otherwise it's
pretty cool stuff...

grimm out
but not down.

grimm

lightning and other things

wiped out the stuff
we did yesterday... foolish me
i left the external hardrive
on and the power went out and
i hadn't saved my work... ah... i'm
such a nerd. i swear i swear
i swear. july will be a stretch
for a release... timmy is on his way
over and we will commence
recording at the completely
un rock and roll hour of 8 30 am.

so much to read... so much to do...

lawerence... i am reading your books
i swear it... kids i am reading my
brit lit. getting ready for the storm.

iran. holy cow. can you believe
that... can you believe the distrust
being riled up in america about
obama not being "tough enough" i guess
people are campaigning early this
time around... what do the people on
the teevee want us to do? storm iran
and overthrow the gov't.? ultimately
that's what they'd want obama to do, probably
it would end in failure and folks with
opposing view points can aim their
arm chair lasers at him and fire.

i think i'm done reading about these things...
it makes me sick... upset and just when
i was feeling better about my country these
opportunistic wannabe-machiavellian charlatans
step up to the digital plate and spew
conjecture, hot air, doubt, and panic.

although we feel entitled... we are not.
patience is important... i suppose.

grimm

senor dylan

the dylan tribute show was a success...
i must confess my sights were set a bit low...
as they may be for many reasons...
the patterson was packed and the audience set...
the venue was concerned that the june star
would be too loud for those folks... pish posh...
i joked that we were the dylan gone electric variation...
the audience laughed... i figured, they'll be cool.
they were...
something clicked for me... the divine guidance... and
i remembered all of the word to positively 4th street.
i didn't think it was possible... i crammed and crammed
back stage... when it came time to sing... the words were there... all
over the microphone... i don't think i took a breath
the entire time i sang.

june star tour coming up... july 30th through aug 2nd... two more
dates to book and i'll be good...

woohoo...

later

grimm

follow me if

you can. ha...
i'm in the
mood for music
slept well and
have eaten oatmeal...
not that instant
stuff, but the
real deal... quaker
oats looking prim
and proper... maybe
even a workout?
lemme see what
needs to be
done today... laundry
recording album... update
websites... practice...
grade a late
final... practice... you
see we have
this bob dylan
tribute show coming
up and i
must learn those
words... yes i must...
oooh... summer clean
up is here.
will post mortem
later

grimm

simply interesting

to see who
reads this blog...
from time to
time i run
into folks who
say they were
checking it out...
funny.

played a show
with wussy on
saturday night. good
times to be
sure. we were
loud but good...
comfortable playing songs
with the new
line up. patrick
was on vacation...
:( but butcher
filled in valiantly.
switching guitars swiftly
was fun too...
felt a good
pace was set.

friday night dylan
tribute... come see
us butcher the
rock poet laureate's
favorite tunes... although
i'd say that
i don't which
tunes he likes
best... but whatever.
here we are.

grimm

the devil went down to hampden

last night there
was a buzz
in the air.
you could not
escape it, it
was as if
it were your
breath. inside you
and so necessary.
palpable the cliche
would say, probably.
the buzz was
about june star.

it was june
star. emanating grandly
from the speakers...
tickling every cochlea
in a fifty
foot radius. shocker.
timmy noodled while
i emoted. sweetness.
the buzz grew
louder until we
were all intoxicated
by its rhythmic
simplicity.

while singing about
love, two things
occurred to me.

1. why call
it a humbucker
when the hum
was not bucked.
in any form.

2. why is
it that dimmer
switches produce a
sixty cycle hum?

grimm

sitting with dad

i'm off from
the schooling today
sitting with father
he has heart
stuff done yesterday
i oversee him
today. good talks
computers click coffee
hot. i'm missing
final exammies with
two classes. i
will, however, be
grading all day.
if i can
just get done...
that'd be great.
working on a
dream indeed springsteen.
holy frijoles tomorrow
night. are you
going? wussy on
saturday. hot stuff.
was listening to
their album "left
for dead" on
my way to
father's house. really
like the mood
and the texture
of the songs.
boy, they've gotten
some good press.
spin magazine to
note. welp. that's
what i have
so far. maybe
more later, maybe.

grimm

short timing

school is all
but finished... i
have had some
of the nicest
students in my
classes this year.
man, i'm going
to miss them.
i think about
my past 14 years
in public school
and i find
that i have
been quite fortunate
with my students
and so-called career.

this year was
easy in terms
of student interest
and academic commitment.

thanks students, you
are the best.

now on to
other things, the
church are coming
to rams head
tavern on june
30th. and i
am giddy... also
gonna see them
at the state
theater on june 28.

huzzah. what's so
great about the
church? I can't
figure out how
steve kilbey writes
his lyrics... where
he goes and
what he taps
into... "mechanical
bird of prey,
sing! for your
emperor." "in the
space between our
houses, some bones
have been discovered."

rad...

grimm

underscored

quick notes to
say i missed
you while on
my bloggity hiatus
i have a
quick minute to
exercise the typing
fingers and let
you know that
we expect you
at the shows.

fun is more
fun with you.
singing to you.
singing for you.
you know. i
bought tickets to
see the church
later this month.
anticipation is creeping
into my bones.
it's been some
time since I
have felt that
way. at all.
about seeing music.

do you feel
that way about
us... we'll see.

grimm

a month beyond

hello friends... i
have come back
from the dead
to tell you
all that i
am not really
anything remotely
kind of close
to being hamlet.

j alfred prufrock
truly needs a
hug. and some
rubbing, apparently. sorry
to be absent
so long. i'm
winding the school
year down and
there is an
awful lot of
grading that needs
to get done.

june star is
rolling right along.
ep is out...
it is fantastic
and super awesome.
you should buy
two dozen copies.

you should come
to our shows
scream for our
new hot songs...
you should go
to a lynyrd skynyrd
concert and yell
"Sugarbird!" you should
tell your friends
about us... fun
shows abound ahead.

thursday night, timmy
and me will
be playing at
holy frijoles @ 10pm
get a quesadilla
and listen to
us tickle yer
ears with acoustic
versions of songs
you normally hear
super loud...

saturday june 13th
we at mum's
with Ohio's Wussy.

it will be
a party for sure...

full ep uploaded
to the myspace...
go listen and
weep for why
you didn't go
to the cd
release show and
buy your own copy.

grimm

the tendencies (blahg #41)

inherently we all
try explain ourselves,
contortions and rationales.
twisting and bent
just to reverse.
this is not
what i meant,
says the women
yapping about michaelangelo.

funny but true.

we're sent into
this hurlyburly with
pathetic gear. our
tongues flap and
sputter between our
teeth and yet
it feels like
we're not heard.
for all of
the screaming and
yelling, one's voice
is a pitch
below a whisper,
when you really
think about it.

sometimes that's how
i feel about
the june star.
recognition and art
are not the
same thing, desire
for compliments fished
are not real
compliments after all.
are they? so.
here we sit.
e.p. ready to
go? must call
tim about that.
andrew grimm solo
effort ready for
deployment. must rehearse.
must must must.

grimm

tales told twicet from some memories long since past (blahg #40)

"get caught up" she says.
there's no catching up with her talking

teeth and tongues clicking and clinking.


seriously, if she ever took
a moment to just breathe she'd
find god and maybe then she'd shut up.

the yap, the trap,
it is open for giving me
the business. like i
had thought before, "Why not
give in, stop calling the fouls and
and the unnecessary roughness and fall
limp. possum dead. she would sniff and
scratch a little and convinced you're not
worth it she could scuttle on."

but it doesn't work that way. nope... she was
named after saint tenacious. terror and treachery
were gifts grafted on to her by her mother.
out of control, a career in firing up careening emotions.

mother means thorough
mother means deliberate
mother means permeate
mother means absolute

she did her job on that daughter.
the other daughter too, she meant to warp them and
water damage takes time. the single drop every few minutes
that pools eventually and seeps deep into the grain.
expand and contract... wet then dry then wet again.
yup. that's the stuff. right there, that's not a
twinkle
in her eyes... but a twinge... a reaction the well conditioned
emotion muscles that weigh down the lips, forms the crease above
the brow, taking the reasonable straight line to glorious new
angles. each lift marks or beeps a new stage of disappointment.

at some point i need to pause, or block out the talking,
to ask,

"has anyone ever done anything right?"

grimm

welcome (blahg #39)

i've been keying
in the wrong
passwords? all this time?
the memories i've kept
tied up in a glad handy cinch
sack, that thing you probably
call your mind, yeah that thing,
it's funny what you find at
the bottom. at the bottom of the
patch of leaves you raked months
ago and there they sit. browns and
dull yellows. and at the bottom,
moist funk. waiting... for the you
to dive into and release the
air and damp. as the early
morning approaches and creeps.
the yes to the no
the right to the "sort of"
warmth is all that i long for
no matter what no matter what
every picture i see from when
is now digital and hasn't lost it's
glow.
not
one
bit

grimm