rock over London. rock on, Chicago.

two more reporters are, uh, reportedly on their way out the door. that’s nine reporters down to four in ten weeks. hiring freeze still in place. also, a coworker on the desk told me he’s applied elsewhere. I’ve applied elsewhere. I applied to work at a Presbyterian church. yes. “you’re going to work for fuckin’ Presbyterians ?”
this shit is draining. I’m always tired, and I can’t sleep.

according to the television, one in five adults have genital herpes. so please, before me and you, you know, do it, wrap your junk in latex.

thoughts on music.

the CD – and when I say CD, I mean album – that began my record collection was Cake’s Fashion Nugget. Got it for Christmas. It’s pretty good, still, but it is long gone. my record collection sheds.

the second CD was The Action is Go by Fu Manchu. my brother gave it to me for my birthday when I was … when I was 14. I still have it, and it is awesome. matter of fact, I listened to it today. so in its own small way, Fu Manchu has been a constant in my life for the last eleven years. through that lens, so has Taco Bell. because it’s delicious! I remember the first time I went to Taco Bell, I swear to god. but that will be for another time.

last summer, Mike and I were driving around DC one night, and I put in In Search Of … . one of Fu Manchu’s albums that came out around, what. 1995 or 96. the first track is called “Regal Begal.”
my brother said, “this is the song you listen to when you go bodysurfing all day.” and that is exactly right. 
because there’s something to be said about a band that has based its career on writing songs exclusively meant for cruising and bong hits. I don’t think every band is groundbreaking. and thank god for that; that would be too heavy. sometimes, you just want to jam, and not in the lame Phish way. this is what Fu Manchu is for. being loud, and sounding like Sabbath, if they came up in Orange County in the early nineties.

*
I had this Aretha Franklin greatest hits album that I listened to incessantly until it started to skip, so I’ve got to dig up another one. a few months ago, I heard she got pissed when Beyonce, while accepting an award at some show, didn’t namedrop her amongst great female vocalists. Aretha Franklin noticed the absence of her name and actually contacted the press with her beef.
I mean, that’s awesome. that woman, god damn. she can sing.