I've never been afraid of holding a man's gaze, it's natural!

Brand New @ the Pageant -- 2007.10.21

2007-10-23T15:14:23Z

Brand New @ the Pageant -- 2007.10.21
Originally uploaded by Todd | ishootshows.com.

Shannon and I caught Brand New at The Pageant Sunday night. It was an awesome show.

Dinner at Country Thai, Cupcakes from Jilly's Cupcake Bar, and a kick ass Rock Show. The perfect way to spend a Sunday!

Pot Smoking Daddies are so Cute and Funny!

2007-05-17T22:31:28Z

I thought I would post my letter to GQ here since it will probably never see print-

Dear GQ,

I was pretty excited when your June issue promised to tell me “How to be a 21st Century Dad” and I laughed so hard at your inclusion of a bong (page 193) with the tag line “Because Daddy needs his medicine.”

Oh, the fun memories of growing up with a Dad that was high all the time. I loved watching him sit on the couch and do nothing all day but smoke up, yell at my family for no reason but the fact that he couldn’t score any weed, and those arrests were a highlight of my childhood.

Come on, GQ! Get your head out of your ass!

-Buck Weiss

Morbid Curiosity

2007-04-17T23:09:15Z

As I start work on my paper about EmilyDickinson's Puritan background and her links to the heritage of thecaptivity narrative through her masochistic obsession with prolongedpain, I have been running into Gothic imagery of a macabre all day.

First a taste of Dickinson:

414

'Twas like a Maelstrom, with a notch,
That nearer, every Day,
Kept narrowing its boiling Wheel
Until the Agony

Toyed coolly with the final inch
Of your delirious Hem—
And you dropt, lost,
When something broke—
And let you from a Dream—

As if a Goblin with a Gauge—
Kept measuring the Hours—
Until you felt your Second
Weigh, helpless, in his Paws—

And not a Sinew—stirred—could help,
And sense was setting numb—
When God—remembered—and the Fiend
Let go, then, Overcome—

As if your Sentence stood—pronounced—
And you were frozen led
From Dungeon's luxury of Doubt
To Gibbets, and the Dead—

And when the Film had stitched your eyes
A Creature gasped "Reprieve"!
Which Anguish was the utterest—then—
To perish, or to live?






Then, I ran into the new Manson "If I Was Your Vampire."  I have never been a big fan, but I have always admired his sound.

Then I read this Story.

And new Interpol songs, though they are live and the audio is a little shitty.

Its ribs are ceiling beams Its guts are carpeting I guess we have some time to kill ...

2007-04-09T19:57:34Z

I know Spot Buck went over in a big way (although many said it was too easy to spot me in a crowd - Is it my fault I'm one of a kind?), but I wanted to post a cohesive run down of our awesome trip to Nashvegas last Thursday and the Decemberist love that ensued.

Since I had Mike, Meg, Kristin, and Niya at my mercy in Nashville I had to take them to the cheap but amazing eating at Kalamatas (I know Flavin knows Nashvegas food better, but I have a few places up my sleeve).

Where you can get some amazing Mediterranean cuisine. Their special was stuffed salmon, but I am allergic so I enjoyed the smells and loved my gyro plate and spinach pie (which was not officially spanakopita, but was just as delicious).

We arrived at the show about a half hour early. City Hall is relatively new and near downtown. I was really hoping it would be a new 328 performance hall (it was tore down years ago after I saw Elliot Smith, Junior Brown, The Strokes, Weezer, and many others. I actually played there myself on more than one occasion). Sadly, it was a shitty little warehouse with bad sound and a horrible set up. We were able to see most of the show, but the place was damn uncomfortable.

Mike brought his camera so we busied ourselves as we waited on the bands, with goofy shots.

I was excited to see the first band after hearing that the singer used to be in Granddaddy, but All Smiles was nothing to write home about. Their album might be good, but their show needed some work.

Finally, The Decemberists took the stage in all their glory. I was hoping that they would play for five hours and highlight everything off of their last two albums. I didn't quite get my wish, but overall the show was amazing. Highlights were "Crane Wife 1," "The Perfect Crime #2," and "The Chimney Sweep."

They surprised us by bringing out the amazing Gillian Welch and David Rawlings who played a Welch song with the band and then dueted on Gram Parson's "sin City" - I was shaking like a leaf.

Of course, audience participation was at an all time high and we all screamed along with the encore of "The Mariner's Revenge" and a giant whale came out on stage to swallow the band away.

The whole concert there was this guy next to us screaming "Sing the Whale Song!" that we kept wanting to correct, but knowing that it wouldn't do any good we refrained and laughed at his stupidity like the Decemberist elitists that we are.

The concert ended too soon, with only one song from Picaresque, but it was all worth it. I wish I could follow them around for a while like the Dead.

I ended up buying their new DVD that is amazing and I am watching right now!

The perfect night cap of the ride home was finding out that Meg loved Van Morrison as much as I do (his references to Gypsies is enough to seal the deal). As the other's slept we sang through "Moondance" and started back through before we saw Carbondale glowing in the distance.

Entire Crowd Sitting at The Decemberists' show last night

2007-04-06T14:26:37Z

Entire Crowd Sitting
Originally uploaded by 5pears.

I was searching Flickr for pics from last night's Decemberist concert in Nashvegas when I came across this crowd shot.

Time to play - Where's Buck and Mike!

Click on the image to see a larger version.

First person who spots us gets bragging rights.

Watson and the Shark

2007-03-28T15:35:18Z

One of my favorite American paintings is John Singleton Copley's Watson and the Shark (1776). Occasioned by a real attack that took place in Havana Harbour in 1749, and was most likely commisioned by the victim, who was a friend of Copley and believed the attack to have been educational.

A Great Day in History (via Does Today Suck?)

2007-03-25T15:59:18Z

1300 - Dante ascends into the Inferno in the Divine Comedy - COOL

1634 - The first settlers arrive in Maryland - COOL

1807 - The Slave Trade Act abolishes the slave trade in the UK - GOOD

Buck ignores homework by reading Does Today Suck? - BAD

Super Hero Dickinson

2007-03-22T22:00:18Z

Most of you know that I am taking Anthony's Dickinson class this sememster. Well, as much as I tried to fight it Dickinson's gothic prose and her Puritan heritage has won me over in a huge way. I'm hooked now.

The Poetry Foundation has two of her poems (one favorite of mine "It was not death, for I stood up") set to art by graphic novelist, Gabrielle Bell.

Check it out HERE.

First Day Back

2007-03-20T04:46:39Z

Well, I thought the first day back after my wonderful break went pretty well. My classes had fun hacking and slashing their annotations, got to see the english crew (though I saw most of them over the weekend), read 120 pages of Winthrop Jordan for my independent study (learned about the race battle of penis sizes and how the chart goes - Native American = small, Whites = normal, Blacks = too large to be safe around white women).

All in a days work, but since I got home I have fallen into the dumps. I got nothing done and found myself wandering the streets talking to my mamma about lfe. Not a bad thing, but she really had nothing to say but get the work done and stop worrying about things you can't control.

The music I've been listening to hasn't been helping much. I'm addicted to Amy Winehouse's Back to Black, which is amazing, but depressing. Here's some of the songs so you can be depressed along with me.

Recording the soundtrack for a new spaghetti western

2007-03-14T18:15:50Z

Well, my main goal for break was to get started on a 5 song recording project I am doing with my wonderful cousin, Chuck. Yesterday we began tracking and I can't wait to show the songs off.

I have had this project sitting in my head for awhile. Almost every song that I write borders on old country, but has something that makes it stand apart. My initial thought was a drum and bass country album ala Beck's Mutations, but after showing the songs to Chuck what we have is more of a modern spaghetti western. We just keep talking about the old "craptastic" movie, West World and how these songs could have graced that soundtrack.

So far we have started work on a song called "Josiah Cane." "Cane" is a bout a son of a gunslinger who faces both hating what his father did and wanting revenge on those who slew him.

Under the whole mix is a drum loop made from a sample of an old freight train and small hisses of electricity like a rattlesnake under your boot. An old bar room piano pulls against the chugging country guitar and a haunting fiddle counter melody (while writing it I could feel the joy of making music flood back into me) pulls against the vocal.

The bridge crashes up as the loops fall away and a Wurlitzer backs the lines:

I remember you with kinder eyes

A smile warm on your face

The last thing you said was ‘son forget this life’

But when I buried you I could feel your rage.

I want to go to this clown school

2007-03-08T23:10:23Z

New Portishead performance

2007-03-08T14:18:49Z

I caught this new Portishead performance of 'Wandering Star' (an old tune) on Pitchfork. Now, I am chomping at the bit for a new album.

Who cares about deer, I almost hit a Cow!

2007-03-08T06:48:30Z

Conversation between me and a campus police officer 12:30 AM.

Officer - Hello, campus police.

Me - Hi, this might sound strange, but I was just out on McCafferty road and there are cows standing in the street. I didn't know if this is the right place to call.

Officer - Oh no, you called the right place. This happens all the time.

Me - Well, I'm not hurt, they moved when I drove up. I just didn't want some speeder to come up on them quick.

Officer - Yeah, they are slow going. You did the right thing, sir. We'll just call the farmer and he'll put them back.
----------------------------------------------------

Then he took my name and number, presumbly in case I was lying they could come shoot me.

Take the Tom Hank's Urination Quiz

2007-03-07T14:24:23Z

Can you match the urination scene with the Tom Hanks movie.

I scored a 90% I'm Hanks-tastic!

Twain and Poe used to publish scientific hoaxes

2007-03-07T04:49:35Z

I found this article earlier that some of you might be interested in.

It seems that Twain and Poe enjoyed pulling the wool over the eyes of people crazed by the scientific advances on the nineteenth-century.

I was feeling down and Tori showed up as usual

2007-03-06T05:16:46Z

I just heard the new Tori and thought I would pass it along. It's called Big Wheel and it sounds wonderfully decadent in a southern honky tonk gospel sorta way.

I have been working all day on a annotated bib for Anthony about Puritan narratives, Emily Dickinson, and sadomasochism so of course Tori had to show up with her Bible in one hand and shame on the other.

New Shirts

2007-03-02T15:22:04Z

Yesterday, I made my first two color shirt for World in White's Cd Release Party. I was really worried about this one. It was the most complicated design I have ever tried and it was my first two color.

Imagine my suprise when the whole thing perfect and I had an enjoyably easy day zipping out shirts and watching Farscape.

I also made some tote bags for the release party that turned out better than I expected.

Finally, here I am looking all emo in my new WIW myspace pic.

Chuck Norris and Savage Chicken Rock!

2007-02-28T17:35:10Z

Check out Savage Chicken.

Craptastic Studies

2007-02-28T05:02:42Z

Craptastic Studies now has its own Wikipedia Entry

I want to be Dwight

2007-02-26T15:14:44Z

If you missed SNL on Sat. with Rainn Wilson & Arcade Fire here are some of the wonderful highlights.

The dead on Office parody.

The hilariouos Digital Short!

and as a bonus!

The Dwight Schrute music video (with Joss Whedon direction on the first clip)

I'm only a Major Geek

2007-02-22T14:18:04Z

According to this Geek Quiz I scored a 39.25%. That doesn't seem too high, but it rated me as a Major Geek.

Someof the questions are pretty hilarious. My favorite: Do you own amulti-colored inkpen? Pointing to one of my favorite geeks who wontreturn my phone calls.

Valentine Day Scares!!!

2007-02-14T05:49:01Z

The best Val-day video ever!

2007-02-13T20:27:23Z

Suprised by Joy

2007-02-05T22:43:39Z

Blagh, I feel kind of crappy today. I'm just sitting around watchingFarscape and reading my history book. I'm tired and out of it.

Although, I did get to see and talk to Anna today over the net from a cafe in London. It was nice.

I also heard a wonderful cover of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear us Apart." Joy Division (and later New Order)is one of those amazing bands whose songs can be adapted to other styles in very interesting ways.

Here's the Joy Division version

and here's the new one by Susanna and The Magical Orchestra.

Baklava and missing Anna

2007-02-05T04:17:53Z

Since my girl is over in Europe right now (Ireland at the moment and England next week), I have been busying myself by missing her and cooking all the dishes that she usually makes or we make together.

I've made quiche and chicken vendaloo. Greek chicken and potatoes are on the menu, along with spaghetti and bacon.

But tonight, while the super bowl played in the background and my reading went neglected, I made my first solo pan of baklava.

I think it turned out ok, though I believe the recipe might make more syrup than is needed and it might be a little runny. It's cooling now, so we'll have to see what it looks like in the morning.