I slacked on my work yesterday after coming back from the post office but I have and good reason… False Spring! The sun was out and the weather was in the mid 50’s. The irises are starting to shoot up as well as the bulbs. I trimmed up some bushes, transplanted some plants, put some plants in pots to give away, pulled weeds, and even read a zine while sitting in the sun with Marc’s cats, OJ and Jackie. I also smashed a finger, that wasn’t fun.
Toward the end of my day someone came to pick up some custom buttons while my hands were inches deep in the roots of a violet plant. The buttons were for somoeone in a beer competition…. and the person who picked the buttons up bround me a half gallon jug of beer! What a perefect payment and a great way to end my work day! I think the beer was an amber and it was really drinkably smooth with a nice malt base and very balanced.
Then Paul and I made a vegan mushroom alfredo sauce with penne while listening to records starting with Jane’s Addiciton- Nothing’s Shocking. The alfredo sauce is really rich and I made with a coconut milk base. I hadn’t made it for awhile so I’m glad I remembered the recipe. Paul made the garlic bread my favorite way: margarine, Vegenaise, fresh chopped garlic and parsley. Seriously, Vegenaise makes everything yummy! The beer went really well with the meal too. Then we worked on our crosswords puzzles while continuing our late 80’s early 90’s alterna-rock with Jesus and Mary Chain, Love & Rockets and Nine Inch Nails-Pretty hate Machine. ha!
What I really wanted to write about was karaoke. Last night I went to the Alibi with Marc and LillyMonster. I needed to get out of the house and they invited me. Let me make something perfectly clear, I don’t sing karaoke, ever. end of story. See, I have this thing. I will never do karaoke. I know it is all fun and no one cares blah blah blah. But here’s the deal: I have sang in real bands and when you are in a band everyone has a chance of messing up. When you are singing karaoke the one messing up is you. I can’t wrap my brain around that to make it alright.
Last night I got made fun of for scouring through the song book by band in alphabetical order. Most of the bands and singers I had never heard of and definitely none that I would want to sing to a room of drunk strangers. Sure, I have a soft spot in my heart for a few things like Meatloaf (yes, Meatloaf) ABBA and Willie Nelson but I jsut couldn’t see myself singing any songs by them in front of people. It made me realize some things.
One, I’m sort of a snob. and two, I have spent many years living in a pop culture vacuum. I stopped listening to FM music radio in 1992 so I don’t know any of the popular songs and even when I did listen to the top-40 radio it was the “modern rock” or “college rock” station. As I put it to them last night I was already too-cool-for-skool by jr. high in the late 80’s and made fun of people who listened to the New Kids on The Block, and Milly Vanilli. I don’t have those strings of nostalgia attached to them that would make me want to share it with others.
The songs that I have those connections to aren’t going to be in that book. I won’t find The Cure-Jumping Someone Ele’s train, Joy Division-Transmisison, Bad Religion-You, Tilt- Suspended, Dead Milkment-born to Love Vocanoes, or Discount-Fixing Rubble Building Us. Those songs just aren’t going to be there. Because of that I guess I just don’t see the point. I’d rather be good at making zines and solving crossword puzzles. I’ll leave the singing up to people who enjoy it like Paul… except for the one time he coaxed me into singing back up vocals on the very last song here… cause there’s a lot in life you can’t explain.
Ok, off to go polish my workshop notes or the Etsy Workshop I’m teaching at the IPRC tonight.
Alex Wrekk 