i wish god were alive to see this

When You Tore Your Dress, What A Mess.

I set my alarm early and took a train up to 105 st. The three hour Central Park walk was just what I needed.

I got to catch what was left of Fall.

Look at this great big orange guy!

There's old Hamilton.

Yellow.

Dead tree / red tree.

You can't see it in this picture, but Rudy Giuliani was skinny dipping down in that pond.

That old fork in the road!

As I walked out of the Park, I headed down the 57th to poke Mark.

I caught him only moments before he cut the head off of this Coke bear.

Headed for the polar dungeon!

Long Distance Runner.

The show was a smashing success and the trip was much too short. I have to wake up in 4 hours and get on a plane to San Francisco, so, full NY report later.

They Never Know, Because You Never Show It, You Always Get Your Way.

I landed at JFK and got into the one cab in the city that couldn't, for the life of it, get me to Brooklyn. What should have taken 30 minutes took nearly 2 hours! I finally got to the woodshop where good old Aviram Cohen works, and he gave me the keys to Mary and Annie's place. Mary and Annie are letting me stay at their lovely apartment while I am here, and they are in Europe. For this I am eternally grateful. Follow their adventures by clicking on the link to your left , 'Mary Alright Mary'.

Aska / Aether.

I spent some time watching / listening to The Sads rehearse for tomorrow night. I will say, it's going to be an inspiring and incredible night. I am brimming with pride for my friends.

I am so impressed by the growth and the uncharted territory they are entering. I didn't realize how good it would feel to get out of town for a few days and get some fresh inspiration and into some cold and bracing air.

I am lucky to be here.

Aviously.

Woman on the verge.

Have you puchased David's new CD on PPM yet? You really ought to. It's a huge puzzle piece in decoding the future.

And then we were starving, suddenly, and we walked for what seemed like an hour in 40 degree weather.

The wait, the walk was worth it. I ate, among other things, some toasted sesame bread with homemade apple butter and some super sharp cheddar on it that was maybe the best thing i've ever eaten.

Satisfaction. Aska showing the new universal signal for strong coffee.

I feel extremely lucky tonight to have the friends I do.

Hello Big Apple!

I am here, we are here. Look for me, look for us. Come tomorrow night to the Journal Gallery!

She Didn't Recognize My Face, She Wasn't Even Looking.

Jim Smith and Jenna Thornhill. Diamonds.

There was no show at The Smell this night. It was just a hang.

A pirate showed up.

Dan Monick was taking pictures of Jim and Mika Miko for Esquire or the National Enquirer or something.

So I piggybacked his lights!

Later on it was family portrait time.

And this looks like a happy family.

John Weise doesn't smile on the outside, but inside he can't stop.

That's real.

The eyes match the hoodie.

Sisters.

Member and founder of the OK Skate Crew.

Michael Vidal.

There's two Sads I'll be seeing in NYC tomorrow.

Goodnight pals.

I Suppose She Needs A Holiday.

My friend Bryan, the man behind the classic 'Fucked Up And Photocopied' book, has completed his latest massive opus, 'Punk Is Dead Punk Is Everything'. I will tell you more about it later this week, but it is a serious monster and the first of many special release signings will take place this Friday in San Francisco. He gave me the honor of contibuting my 2 cents, so I will be there also. Please come down and hang out.

Maybe You See Further Than I Can See.

Those maniacs from Den Haag, Holland are visiting me. Jeoron the Papa Bear and Marcel Paliyama.

Plex, Marcel, James and Jeoron. Jeoron is so huge, he is the only person I know who makes my massive couch look like a loveseat.

I Never Heard The World So Clear Before.

Dear people of New York City! I am coming to your town this week! See you there.

Be A First Rate Version Of Yourself.

Thanksgiving. Sitting at the laundrymat watching Dan Monick and his big beard wash 9 loads of laundry stuffed into one machine.

I Have Cultivated My Hysteria With Delight And Terror.

Attention vegans! The world famous Soul Veg Restaraunt has opened in Los Angeles!

Vegan soul food! Crab cakes, BBQ, black eyed peas, mac and cheese, meatloaf, the works. Everything I've had there is worth the trip to Pico and Crenshaw without a doubt.

4067 W. Pico Blvd. Learn it. Love it.

I'm Lying Here For What Seems Years.

A foggy night.

A foggy drive for a dueling birthday celebration.

Happy birthday, David Jacob Kramer.

We watched The Beaver Trilogy. It hurt me. It caused me actual physical pain.

Hi Camille.

And happy birthday Nate Harrington. Make em say uhhhhhhhh.

They Are Fine Animals And A Long Way From Home.

Sunday night at The Smell, sold out by 9:30. Jay Reatard, No Age, Mika Mibo and more.

Sardine can city!

I was tired and tried talking myself into staying home, but by the time I left I was in full floating mode.

There was a negative vibe merchant who had to be escorted out. Out of all the places that you could go in this town and start a ruckus, why would you choose the one place that's a safe ground for all ages performance? You might as well go to an elementary school and tip over desks and spit at a teacher, or disrupt a yoga class or something.

Anyway, back to business. What a show!

Dean's label, PPM, just released a new David Scott Stone CD that demands your immediate attention, and a new 12" from Eric Copeland. Get both quick!

Jay Reatard played an incredible set that I failed to document.

And then Mika Miko played what will be their last show for a little while.

Nearly naked man.

He's got guts.

I predict some new MM songs coming soon.

In fact, I predict new and amazing things from everyone I know in the near future.

Because the energy here is expanding. I've never seen anything like it.

So fuck a bunch of Pilgrims. I'm thankful for this, all of it, right here right now. Thank you Los Angeles!

But She Wants To Be A Better Singer.

Here in beautiful Los Angeles, the holiday season is already in bloom.Case in point, someone brought us a helium balloon in the shape of a turkey today.

Of course, for Little Nate, it's always a holiday.

Ooh look! This is Cheryl Dunn signing my copy of her new book, Some Kinda Vocation. She schooled me a little, and made me laugh and made me nervous. She also wrote 'Party On' in my book!

An early heads up, Jesse has been hard at work on what will become the new Ooga Booga window. This will be unveiled on December 1st, and I can assure you, it is going to be totally out of hand, next level color explosion.

And David Kramer just keeps on guzzling..

That's A Hard One To Remember.

Simon Evans had an opening at the Jack Hanley Gallery.

Pocahaunted played. I have been listening to the Pocahaunted / Robedoor split CD all month, and am loving it, so I was psyched to see them.

And I wasn't dissapointed. Sammy Harkam was heard to remark after their set that while he started the night out empty, he was now full, thanks to Pocahaunted. I talked to them afterwards and figured out that they do Not Not Fun records. A label which I have clearly been sleeping on, since they appear to have over 100 releases! Crazy! Not Not Fun!

Sir DSS has a new CD out on PPM that I've been listening to heavily as well. Get ahead of it before it gets past you.

Simon Evans show was beautiful, and it looked incredibly painstaking to assemble. The pictures do nothing to illustrate this.

A lot of scissor/tape/glue.

Huge. Simon Evans, thank you for coming to town.

And tonight, at the Silent Movie theater, in honor of Nate Harrington and David Kramer's birthday, come watch The Beaver Trilogy at 10:30.

While I Was Sick In Bed.

Tonight. First do this.

And then do this.

When It All Comes Down, We're Gonna See A Real Masterpiece.

Yesterday around 3pm a generator, a bunch of people and No Age mysteriously showed up at the LA River.

The Los Angeles River is an intermittent river flowing through Los Angeles County, California, from Canoga Park in the west end of the San Fernando Valley, 51 miles southeast to its mouth in Long Beach. For most of its length, the river flows through a narrow concrete channel. Today, some environmental groups advocate the removal of concrete and the restoration of natural vegetation and wildlife.

Before the opening of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, the river was the primary source of fresh water for the city. Although the Los Angeles region still gets some of its water from the river and other local sources, most comes from several aqueducts serving the area. The river suffers severe pollution from garbage, urban runoff and treated sewage.

Did you know you can rent a generator for $52 and set up and play ANYWHERE until the cops come?

You can, and this is the proof.

So do it, do it and send me the pictures.

It was such a radical spectacle. You forget that you can do this kind of thing.

They made it through 4 songs.

And then the cops showed up.

A funny flurry of activity, people packing up and getting out of there.

One of the more memorable moments of the Fall. A rich afternoon.

Andy Coronado stopped by on his way to the hospital. He and Dawn were having a baby and they stopped by! By now he is a Father! Congratulations Andy and Dawn!

And these guys were just amused. Asking everyone who was in charge of this, and nobody knowing.

Afterwords everyone got dinner at India Sweet's and Spice's, and by the time that was done it was only 6pm!

It Won't Be The Same Without You, Please Come.

3PM Today. LA River. Sunnybrook Drive. No Age.

So I Lean On You Sometimes, Just To See You're Still There.

Daddy Magazine release bonanza at Ooga Booga.

"And were we born into this mess?"

Tanning salon.

Mosher Hall.

Good old White Chest.

We met in rain, you asked me in.

Follow me to the end of the dare.

And Burn Your Bridges Down.

And then.

In Order For The Light To Shine So Brightly.

Lighter switchblade combo.

Blow me down.

Mika Miko / Miba Mibo. Thrilling as always.

Negative Approach sticker.

High waisted.

And to the Echo/Echoplex I ask, why do you have people outside waiting in a huge line for over an hour, while inside you rush bands to start on time and play to an empty room? How come?

Oh look, Nathaniel Luke Walton is back in town!

And David Kramer just got back from Israel.

Oh No Age.

Crazed lighting guy tonight.

Oh and did you see No Age in this weeks New Yorker? Crazy!

What's next? National Geographic?

Nate used to steal the beer backstage. Now he steals the hummous.

Black Dice.

I thought they were excellent. Like getting hit by a huge wave.

Jenna paid herself a bonus with toilet paper.

And for some, the night ended.

I Write Of The Wish That Comes True.

I almost ran Hunter over last night as he blindly ran into traffic.

Tonight @ The Echoplex - Mika Miko, No Age, Black Dice and a cast of thousands. See you there.

When I Was A Little Loved.

I thank god above that my parents never fed me pigs feet. They did, however, feed me plenty of sardines on toast.

Sunday it was supposed to rain.

So Spears and I decided to walk around Downtown. It didn't rain, it wasn't even cold. It never rains in this mother.

We went to Clifton's Cafeteria though, which is always fun and exciting and sort of the most perfect looking place in the world.

Just like Heaven. At least how I would imagine Heaven.

Neon God.

Lucky diners.

It's a shame about the food though. Stick with dessert.

Clifford Clinton, the man with with the vision.

In olden times, even the sidewalks were beautiful.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.

Jesse shot her first gun. A .38!

She is a natural. A crack shot.

Just another Sunday afternoon.

You Can't Stop What's Coming.

We Met When We Were Almost Young.

Paper Magazine 24 hour department store.

I'm sharing a booth with The Smell.

Everyone has a real professional looking booth except for ours. Jimmy pointed out that everyone else's looks like a store, and our's looks like a merch table at a punk show.

Ooh Jeremy Scott.

Ann and the Opening Ceremony booth.

Now let's take a moment to recognize the passing of Norman Mailer.

And now let's take another moment to go and pick up Aaron at the airport.

Back at the Paper jam, it's Dean and Randy.

Scheid trying on a new look.

And another.

Spears and Hunter.

There is a vase filled with flowers inside that bag.

Kime made this sign for the Family table.

Lo makes a birthday wish.

Cupcakes at midnight.

And Dirty Roy showed up for his shift. Midnight to 6AM shift. Harsh toke shift for old Dirty Roy.

Sailor Dan Monick, and the rest of the over 30 crew packed up for bedtime, and we will get good night's sleep while the youngsters hold down the fort, only to return today.

I Did My Best, It Wasn't Much.

Hey! Look at this crazy shirt that Susan Cianciolo designed for Uniqlo! On the back it says 'Are my favorite bands'! So cool. If you're in Japan or NYC, go to Uniqlo and get one..

Tonight at 6pm until tomorrow night at 6pm is the 'Paper Magazine Department Store'. It's open for 24 hours and all kinds of fancy people like Colette, Opening Ceremony and Marc Jacobs have booths, and all kinds of awesome people like Family and Ooga Booga and The Smell have booths too. Teardrops is sharing a booth/table with The Smell, so if you're in LA, come on down.

Friday Nov. 9th to Saturday Nov. 10th. 6pm to 6pm
233 S. La Brea Ave. at 3rd

It's free to come, shopping costs $$$$. Duh.

A Book Of Voices.

The following is a review of the recent Teardrops book release, 'Help Yourself Help Yourself' by Patrick deWitt. It is taken from the blog 'Moonlight Ambulette', and I want to say "Thank you" to the woman who wrote it.

"I haven't been feeling very bloggy lately, but I did read a really funny little book over the weekend I thought I would mention. It's called Help Yourself Help Yourself, and it's by a fellow called Patrick DeWitt, and it's the first book published by a great record label out of LA called Teenage Teardrops. (Check out the sad/gross cartoon on the site!) The introduction calls it a "weekend book" and it sure is -- could be and in fact was read in a pair of train rides bookending a Saturday outing (Did I mention it is teeny and fits in cute little clutch? Not that this is why a person should read a book but hey, it sure didn't hurt). It's funny and sad and makes you want to carry around a notebook and write things down and write letters to everyone you know and draw pictures of sad people seen on the subway. Sort of Lydia Davis meets John Hodgman for the ADD set (it's barely 50 pages). There are stories of hauntings and stories of silent fights with spouses and stories of certain svengalis. The last story is a paragraph is a plaintive ode to friendship and loneliness. In fact, on the whole, though it is, as he writes, "a book of voices," it strikes me as being a lonely book -- a book about the loneliness felt in the midst of voices."

This also from the introduction: "Help Yourself Help Yourself: Becuase nobody wants to take of you. Because do you know how disgusting you are? For a fee and the promise of future of friendship, I will tell you. And I like you right back; after all I'm disgusting too."

Something Awesome With My Life.

Brother And Sister! Minnesota!

There Is A Crack In Everything, That's How The Light Gets In.

I'm home again.

Blue wall painted pink.

New doorway thanks to Jesse.

So long, Ronnie.

The season is upon us. I have new slippers, the heat is on at night in my house.
The popularuty of Earl Grey tea is through the roof, and I am trying to finish a few more things before the year ends.

Try to finish the year feeling like I milked it for every drop.

And to finish the year feeling like I didn't waste a moment.

Satisfying, but tiring.

I Have Changed My Name So Many Times, I Have Lost My Wife And Children.

My trip up north was over much too soon.

For this guy too.

Farwell drum solo from Gustavo.

More more more!

Family photo, minus Mom, who is in Mexico taking Day of the Dead pictures.

Kicking it around.

I left the Island covered in wool.

Which was a little much on my return.

I Choose The Rooms That I Live In With Care.

I feel like driving the ferry back and forth all day could be a pretty sweet job. Sitting up there in the top cabin, wearing a captain suit and eating complimentary clam chowder. It would be fun in storms!

I was also thinking about how cities change. Seattle, Echo Park, New York, all of these cities are approaching unrecognizable status from when I first came to them. Some of the spirit remains, but the old architecture is leveled for office buildings, and there are never going to be less people, so the return to form that my subconcious imagines just isn't coming. I love old buildings, and they are all going to be gone in my lifetime.

Classic bacon tongue.

Will peach stucco buildings bother Gus, or will that be all he knows?

Back to the ferry captain fantasy. Did you know that the world's largest octopi live in the deep black waters of the Puget Sound? They do. All the more reason not to fall off the boat.

Gus amazed me on this trip. He calls me a 'beautiful guy',and he is obsessed with trucks.

Sluey's bakery in Poulsbo, Washington is THEE place for sweets.

My Family cursed me for bringing so many baked goods into the house, but I was on vacation, and I needed pie, and plenty of it.

A house in the woods, tea, a fireplace and plenty of pie. It's how I unwind.

She Finds Him Lying In A Heap.

Surely this is one of the finest places on Earth to spend some time in during Fall.

I like being here as much as I do Central Park in Fall, and if I had the money and the time, I would do both this month.

It's totally clear, no rain, and 50 degrees during the day.

This is Port Townsend, a place that I fantasize about living in.

Gus loudly sings Beyonce songs.

And Devo songs.

I love the Country as much as I love the City.

I imagine eventually the Country will win.

Rene chops wood like he was born to do it.

And my family will stay warm for at least another week.

You're So Misty, Tell Me What I Want To Hear.

Ferry into the City, greeted by a jack-o-lantern skyscraper that was probably the work of a math whiz.

Mr. Spencer Moody standing proudly in the guts of his store/gallery The Anne Bonny.

Ooooh it's Gabe Kerbrat!

And Cory Merchbot! In Seattle, last night, I was surrounded by old friends who have grown up and grown into incredible adults.

Leslie loving my baby brother.

Gabe as Nick Nolte in 'Down And Out In Beverly Hills'.

Spencer asked me to curate a Los Angeles show at The Anne Bonny for spring, and I am wicked, wicked psyched for that.

Seattle, do your Christmas shopping here. He has a pool table that converts to a couch available for cheap.

We loaded into Nicky's van, The Pistachio, and headed up to a parking lot where The Cave Singers were about to play.

Leslie was in full on party mode.

Cowardly Lion.

Straw Man.

Tin Man.

And a drunken sailor.

They were great last night, The Cave Singers.

So was this lady.

Zollo the drunken sailor cracking up with Baby Brother.

Good show buddy.

Last night I realized that my 30's are better than anything that came before, and that I'm happier now than I've ever been. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

And then I saw Cookie Monster trying to bone Elmo.

The boat home.

And remember, the best way to see through muddy waters is to give them a chance to settle.

I Am Waiting For Your Breath.

Somebody went trick or treating for the first time tonight.

The mustache crew took him into Winslow, Washington for the goods.

The happiest firefighter in town.

Or as Gus says, fiew fidew.

Parents.

He never gets sugar. First lollipop ever.

He was staring at it and saying over and over again, "I love it! I love it!". I believed him.

Even Bobby was in the Halloween spirit!