Randomness on Humpday

1) I finally received my interview questions back from the singer of Dead Meadow. I e-mailed him the questions, and he fucking faxed them back to me -- late! Worse yet, his answers are scribbled on paper in barely legible handwriting. I think he's on tour currently with Sleater-Kinney, so I could choose to cut him some slack. But gimme a fucking break.

2) Work is abysmal right now. I just finished my edit of the only book I was looking forward to this fall. Really, what's left on my plate isn't of much interest. And, I had to pass on the Rodman book to another editor due to time constraints.

3) I may be the only person that really cares about this, but here's some exciting CHAN MARSHALL NEWS! (Compliments of Pitchfork.)

Preliminary word from the Matador camp is that performance-shy singer-songwriter Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power, is getting in touch with her Southern roots. She's currently recording the follow-up to 2003's You Are Free at the famed Ardent Studios in Memphis, which has played host to Led Zeppelin, Big Star, Isaac Hayes, the Replacements, and R.E.M. Marshall has teamed with producer Stuart Sikes, who worked with her on What Would the Community Think, and-- your interest will be piqued here-- a "group of old Memphis bluesmen, including members of Al Green's band," according to label publicist Nils Bernstein. The album is untitled for now and there is no word as to when it will be finished, but if all goes well its anticipated release date will be early in 2006.

4) Summer vacation has been on my mind a lot recently, mostly because unlike in past years, I get to take a real vacation this year. Real = longer than a few days...and I actually get to go somewhere vacation-y. In mid-August, M and I are heading to the coast of North Carolina. We got a hook-up on a beach house on Emerald Isle. (I know, kinda sounds cheesy, but supposedly it's a small town that isn't too big on tourism unlike other beach towns up or down the coast from it.) We'll also be spending a couple days in Washington D.C. Other than relaxing on the beach, we hope to take in some sights in D.C., ride horsies on the sand, and see a Durham Bulls baseball game. Oh, and hopefully catch up with my friends Fred and Zac.

5) Chris Carpenter pitched a one-hit, complete-game shutout last night against his former team, the Blue Jays. Since I live in a shithole of a cable market in central Illinois, only one or two Cardinals games a week are on TV. (In comparison, I can see the Cubs or White Sox most nights of the week.) So, of course, this game wasn't on TV. I tuned in to "Baseball Tonight" to see the highlights. One would think that since the Cardinals are one of the best teams in baseball, and their game was one of the few games that was already over when the program started, and that the performance by Carpenter was remarkable, that maybe "Baseball Tonight" would lead with the story. Instead, I had to wait 45 fucking minutes before they gave me a recap, and even then it was over in 25 seconds with no in-depth analysis provided. Meanwhile, I got to see FOUR updates on the Cubs game (which wasn't much of a game considering the Cubs were up like 14-0), several other updates on less interesting games, lots of Yankees-related crap, and the usual boring opinion sharing and trade talk that makes me tune out "Baseball Tonight" on most occasions. Just a subtle reminder of how much I dislike ESPN's "news coverage". I so wish that my satellite dish experiment wasn't a total failure.

6) Why did I go to see Mr. and Mrs. Smith last night? Was I really that desparate for a 25-cent tub of popcorn?

N/P -- A country mix I made M's dad