Three Options

Tonight, I have three options for entertainment: Bonnie "Prince" Billy at the Pyramid, DJ Babu at Hi-Fi, and 48 Heures at the Lo.

• I'm only slightly familiar with Will Oldham's work, as I saw his records in the "indie" section of Musiplex (where I worked oh-so-long ago), and occasionally heard him on Brave New Waves. If I were to go, it'd only because I thought his appearance in the Zach Galifianakis' version of "Can't Tell Me Nothin'" was brilliant, as was the entire video.
  And if I were to go, I'd be the only black person there. You'd think I'd be used to that by now.
• Babu fucking rules. However, at the Hi-Fi Club, I have a feeling that I'll be hanging with folks that don't know who he is.
• 48 Heures is a straight-up rap and drinking party. The name? John Smith wanted to see if they could do a show with only two days of promotion. And of course, there's this.

Fuck it...rap wins. Peace.

The Dope Joints! Handbill

Listen to their show, if you know what's good for you.

A peek...

...at my piece for the upcoming Gigposters.com Coloring Book, Vol. 2. I'll keep y'all posted.

Out of Office AutoReply 2

Hi.
I'll be away from the 16th to the 20th, practicing the ancient art of Awholelotofnothing.
Until I return, [my supervisor] can help you out with whatever has you troubled/confused/flummoxed (circle one). NaylorNet matters pertaining to moi will be suitably handled by Sir [a dude I work with], Esq.

Peanut butter cookies for all!
Al

Word.

Twitter/tumblr

My current Twitter background.

I caved.
Almost two years ago, I killed any notion of joining Twitter. After listening to an episode of Freelance Radio, I decided to take the stick out of my ass and give it a shot. Y'know, for networking.
I like it. A lot. Many folks I admire are there, and they're constantly sharing knowledge and /or frustrations. It's rather uplifting. Not entirely sure why I hated on this in the first place.*

However, one thing I'm not giving another thought, is tumblr. Look, two of my friends are down with it, I enjoy reading Aqua Books posts, and this dude has the sexiest layout of the bunch, but I have no need for an account. I say whatever I want right here, at any length.
And with the existence of (name withdrawn, as acknowledgement gives the site owner reason to breathe) – the digital equivalent of a grade school slam book – I figure, why fucking bother? Life's too short for slander and libel.
So yeah, I don't need it. But I also said that about Twitter.

Some quick Twitter observations:

• ?uestlove seems to have a fair amount of time between segments on the Fallon show. I appreciate his observations.
• Q-Tip posts like craaaazy. And his tour seems to be doing well. To date, he's got 22,895 followers.
  
• Luda seems to only want to know how you're doing and how you accomplished your goals for the day. He's like...a life coach or something. I dig that.
• Reading up on Evan Dorkin's frustrations with inking is strangely...gratifying. I mean, his work is great, and at the same time, he's his worst critic. He's far more self-deprecating than I am. Remembering that the extremely talented have to stuggle like the rest of us puts things in perspective.

*I'm not really lookin' at this with rose-colored glasses, really. Just like every other social network thing that pops up, there's bound to be something that I'll hate about it, eventually. That's always a sure sign that it's time to go outside and do real things. Like talking to someone face to face.

A Lesson in Humility

Top: Chillin' at the King's Head with my man Shawn.
Below: Loot from Comic Factory 4.
The Big Book of Thugs, The Big Book of Little Criminals, Evan Dorkin's Dork #5, Glenn Barr's edition of Sparrow, and Doug TenNapel's Black Cherry.

Saturday was a fine day, thanks to hanging out with Shawn. Comic and record shopping was the mission, and I think we grabbed some great shit. While looking at a second hand copy of 9-11 Emergency Relief at Comic Factory 4, I came across a story in there that I thought was sub-par. Anytime I see something in a comic store that I think is crap, I tend to go through a mental checklist that knocks me off of my high horse.

1. Can you do any better than this? And...
2. Someone in the world thinks this is the hottest shit ever, so there. Different strokes, man.

It's a good little ego check. I can't entirely dismiss something as "shite" anymore, it's probably just not for me. And I know fully that you can't please everyone. Attempting to do so amounts to wasted time and energy. In the end, all you can do is push yourself to do the absolute best you can and progress constantly.
I can't say that everything I do ends up that way, but the thought of doing my best is in the back of my mind every time.
I'm not sure what I'm trying to say, but I felt the need to say it.