Could use some. Four of ’em. On one, non-wack vehicle.
I’ve you’ve got a line on a ride, let me know.
Three key factors are:
1. Affordability.
2. Timeliness.
3. Well… affordability.
Thanks for any localized tips, ala, “my uncle’s in the business and is a real pleasure to work with,” etc.
In my last (ever) amateur boxing match, I got worked over at Cherokee Rec Center. In my corner was trainer Buddy Shaw.
Last night, Buddy Shaw was the primary corner man for Cory Spinks, in a world championship bout at Scottrade Center.
Also in the corner, was Cory’s dad, Leon Spinks.
Who, of course, way back in the day, defeated Muhammad Ali.
Even if it’s only me, I find this extremely hilarious. Gotta work this tenuous angle, somehow… who knows an editor at Ring Magazine?
He’s leaving us.
Oh, sure, some will lament Aaron Belz the Poet, the Dad, the Advocate for Local Arts. I’ll take a moment to note that: he’s got of the sharpest elbows I’ve ever encountered on a basketball court (a latter day Wes Unseld, I’d reckon); his Facebook-ing skills rival those of a Mehlville HS ninth-grader; and he’s one of those cats that can take a stolen scooter and turn it into a local legend. So let’s add all of that to our collective, embittered, Exiting Stage Left bio, shall we?
The comedic poetic stylings of Aaron Belz are soon to move west, way west. With the news now public, we’ll go ahead and post the grim details, while noting that there’s a chance to catch the man in his very natural habitat in the next week:
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To those of you who are or might be attending my reading at Regional Arts Commission next Tuesday evening:
I’ve accepted a position at a college in L.A. and will be moving out there in July. This might be the last time I get to see some of you in a while, so I hope you’ll come let me shake your hand and raise my eyebrows at you in a slightly creepy way.
Remember – the reading is free, and so is the wine.
http://belz. wordpress. com/2008/ 03/10/rac- poster/
PLEASE BRING $10 for a COPY OF THE BOOK if you don’t have it yet. I want to sell and sign some of those.
Love,
Aaron
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Not answered in the above: When’s the garage sale?
Bunch up at flickr. Should be working on taxes. I’m not.
I’m putting up a bunch of photos at flickr.
Eastside ramblings, buildings accessed (but not fully) and a wealth o’ Melo’s highlight this installment. I need me some people pics!
Interesting piece on a new blog, written by John Clements and referencing a photo from my flickr site.
Located here.
It’s an interesting and increasing small world.
So, like, I’m in this movie. For maybe 25-seconds. I’m awesome.
It’s screening on the 27th, at the Contemporary. You can hit the hotlink here, or the read the text below. Word has it that many of the folks involved will be on-hand and that organized-yet-improvised hijinks will ensue. Potentially even from those who cameo. Nice.
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3.27.2008: Film Screening: A, (anonymous)
6:00 pm, Free admission
Directed by Daniel Bowers and shot in St. Louis, this mockumentary explores the world of support groups and 12 step programs. Gavin Tartowski has been called a quack, a cult-leader, and a barista who sees himself as a guru. Looking for a support group to help him with his compulsion to wear extremely tight pants, Gavin was turned away from 12-step programs like AA, NA, and GA. “Why all the labels?” Gavin asks. “Why not put all problems under one umbrella? That is why I created A. I want to help people no matter what their challenges are.” Members begin to work through their own inner-demons and start to see the value in their lives. Although Tartowski’s methods are less than orthodox, his ability to heal is indisputable.
The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis will collaborate with B-Side Films, a film distribution company based in Austin, Texas, to present a film series of independent films from local, national, and international filmmakers. We will be teaming up with B-Side every Thursday night during the month of March to bring you their latest releases free of charge!
In lieu of doing of needed, “serious” work, I’m going to toss up some playlists from recent KDHX shows.
Thursday, March 13, The Underworld, 2 – 4 p.m., sub for Doug Morgan (artist – song – album). Note: all STL set.
Hour one: Junkbox, Need to Explain, Out of the Gate Again; Treeweasels, She Denies Them, Three; Belinda Chaire, Riding a Wave, Growing up Naked; The Nukes, Five Years Left, State of Missouri; Phonocaptors, Broom Factory, Futura Phono; Uncle Tupelo, The Long Cut, Anodyne; Tinhorn, Take the Line, Adios-Exactly-Goodbye; Shelby, Steady Stars, Steady Stars; The Love Experts, Cuba Street, Cuba Street; The Boorays, Band of Gold, Pumpkin Pie Crustacean; Jon Rosen, Silence, The King of Las Vegas; Drift, Beehive, Suddenly the World’s Glass is Half-Full; The Getaway Car, The System, First Gear; Tripstar, Becoming, At the Instar Motel.
Hour two: Rough Shop, Dance all Night, Live at Kemper Museum CD sampler; Painkillers, Dork on the Moon, unreleased compilation; The Ambassadors, California, The Ambassadors; Bunnygrunt, Names of Trees, Jen-Fi; Stranded Lads, Someday, Reservoir I & II; Corporate Humour, Not that Good, unreleased compilation; The Red Squares, Separated Lives, Jumping on the Bed; Finn’s Motel, Thanks to Gravity, unreleased bonus tracks of Escape Velocity; Judge Nothing, Nashville, Riveter; The Dead Celebrities, X-Ray Eyes, The Many Moods of the Dead Celebrities; The Ded Bugs, Bandwagon, Planet of Blood; The Urge, Bread, Bust Me Dat Forty; Cloister, Possibilities, Recorduroy; WaterWorks, I Hear the Voice, WaterWorks; The Imps, Secrets, Innocence is Full of Pleasure; The Blastoids, Eat Like You Mean It, The Blastoids; Crushed, Trophy, The Closed Room.
Tuesday, March 4, Suffragette City, 10 p.m.-midnight, sub for Rene Spencer Saller.
Hour one: Klaatu, Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft, Klaatu; Monade, Etoile, Monstre Cosmic; James Combs, OK It’s Sunday, Nice Dream if You Can Get It; Cat Power, New York, Jukebox; The Warlocks, So Paranoid, Heavy Deavy Skull Lover; Black Angels, Empire, Passover; PJ Harvey, Grow Grow Grow, White Chalk; Kendra Smith, Stars are in Your Eyes, The Guild of Temporal Adventurers; Siguar Ros, Salka, Huart; Adam Franklin, Morning Rain, Bolts of Melody; Mark Gardener, To Get Me Through; These Beautiful Ghosts; Mojave 3, Who Do You Love?, Out of Tune.
Hour two: Dandy Warhols, Holding Me Up, Odditorium or the Warlords of Mars; Calliope, Hello… Spaceman?, I Can See You with My Eyes Closed; Thom Yorke, Harrowdown Hill, The Eraser; Bob Mould, Stupid Now, District Line; The Red Romance, Break Away, The Red Romance; The Bureau, Human Coal, We Make Plans in Secret; I Am the World Trade Center, The Postcard, Tight Connection; Brad Laner, Find Out, Neighbor Singing; High Violets, Love is Blinding, To Where You Are; Mercury Rev, I Only Have Eyes for You, Goddess on a HiWay; His Name is Alive, Letter, Stars on E.S.P.; The Orange Peels, California Blue, Circling the Sun; Aimee Mann, Lost in Space, Lost in Space; New Pornographers, The Jessica Numbers, Twin Cinema.
Today: filling in for Doug Morgan on The Underworld, 2 -4 p.m., on KDHX, 88.1 fm.
Tomorrow, March 14: early set at Royale, 6- 10 p.m., 3132 S. Kingshighway.
Week from tomorrow, March 21: switching out for the late set at Royale with the outstanding Mark Early; he’ll be spinning my usual slot on the 28th, with Chicagoan and STL expat Jamie Hays.
Okay, it’s still March. Deadline made, for a change.
Soccer team: It’s on.
Band, I: Klaatu is a group that somehow escaped me for several decades, but the Canadian prog rock group has infiltrated my daily listening habits with songs like “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft,” as lyrically ridiculous as they are strangely hooky. (Which I initially typed as “kooky,” which would also be correct.) I’m not sure if this is a fast-burning crush, but having most of their vinyl priced at $4.99 at Euclid made it an affordable relationship worth pursuing.
Band, II: Speaking of trippy, the full edition of Sigur Ros’ “Heima” film is now found on YouTube, a sprawling 90-plus minutes of Icelandic beauty, both aural and visual. Damned awesome. Don’t cheat and scroll through. Watch in total.
Band, III: My last musical obsession of the month is Mandrill, a group that was fully brought to my attention with a cover story on the fantastic Wax Poetics. On the same run that yielded the Klaatu vinyl from above, I scored a variety of Mandrill vinyl, including the stellar “Beast from the East,” “Mandrilland,” “We are One” and “Mandrill Is.” Slip this on and it’s a party at anyone’s house.
Hoopster: SLU senior Danny Brown wouldn’t know me from the man-on-the-moon, but I’ve enjoyed watching him play at the Scottrade for the last four years. His recent dunk at Saint Joseph’s is online for eternity. “Oh, my goodness, Danny Brown! Elevating and flushing!”
Docs, I: Warholia has climbed on my obsession charts in recent years. Having watched virtually everything Warhol-related on Netflix (including the recent and HORRIFIC “Factory Girl”), I was excited to see “A Walk into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory” on the Webster U. Film Series calendar. With director Esther Robinson in the house on a recent Sunday evening, the film played to a mid-sized audience of students, artists and (I hope) fellow Warholians. What a beautiful, dreamy, intriguingly-crafted film. Can’t wait to catch it again, hoping to glean all the little things that slipped past me the first time.
Docs, II: A week later at Webster, “Billy the Kid” played, and Jennifer Venditti’s doc drew an assortment of the, let’s call them, “more-unique” students from the Webster community. Perfect! After all, the film’s a look at a quirky kid rambling through his sophomore year at a rural Maine high school, the ultimate outsider captured in verite style during his most vulnerable year(s). While I’m of the belief that there’s an incredible amount of inherent cruelness to the film – most people seeing this (and most of those needing to see this) would laugh at, rather than with Billy – all high school misfits will find some poignancy and lots of pain in these 87-minutes. What a disturbing work, bouyed by positive press and sold as a story that champions the underdog.
Book: Speaking of high school, Jonathan Franzen attended Webster Groves High School the better part of a decade ahead of me, but the stories he tells in “The Discomfort Zone” ring weirdly true. After all, we both had Mr. Knight as a principal. On the other hand, Franzen eventually found a place in the school and generally doesn’t seem to hate Webster Groves’ society and culture, which would differentiate him from me on two important points. I’m enjoying this memoir, with only a few pages remaining. You can read it online here.
Flickr poster: Don’t know Manganite, a photographer from Bonn, Germany. Wouldn’t mind meeting his acquaintance, though. What an eye.
Blogger, redux: Patterson’s blogging. Good for him. I look forward to vigorous disagreement shortly.
Addiction, kicked: I am over The Fan Show. Haven’t been in weeks. Have felt the twitch on Sundays. Have tuned in. But have not attended. Kurt Labelle, you’re on my list.
Website: Being a fan of photography and history, it was pleasure to get clued into a fine site called Shorpy, which seems to be a clearinghouse for outrageous amounts of miscellaneous photographs, documenting the American scene of the last century.
Restaurant: Iron Barley. Gotta go there more.
Two chances to spin music this week.
Tuesday: KDHX, 10 -midnight, filling in for Rene Spencer Saller on “Suffragette City.”
Wednesday, Halo Bar, 10:30 – 2:30, filling in for the inimitable Jim Utz.
Any requests?