Used for the Greater Good

I've been blogged. See it here.

My Friends Are Better Than Your Friends

Happiness can sneak up on you, but if you know the people I know, happiness will pummel you like an avalanche and the rolling laughter will send you down the hillside in a snowball of joy and love. Try to be sad when Randy Newman is blaring over the loudspeakers and you're sitting with Reed in Kemp's spittle, heads fuzzy from Stadium Club martinis. Try to be depressed when JR sings karaoke in an helium-induced octave at the best dive bar in Los Angeles. Try to stay bummed when you see two of your nearest and dearest bonding for eternity under a Palm Springs sun. Just try hating life as you fill your belly and soul with $6,000 of amazing cheese, mint juleps carried in vest pockets, Chris' stinging scorpion saltation, and the revealing of Bianchi's mad harmonica skillz. Try to be downtrodden when you spend over 2 hours dining in a cafe with rotating table guests and Huell Howser, after spending the evening shouting for John Barnacle to join your 5-person amoeba impression. Try to frown when you're drinking from a mason jar, feeding carrots to a tiny horse and leaving deer ornaments in the most beautiful pile of junk. Try to cry when you are unexpectedly handed mixed CDs from two of your oldest (and youngest) friends, spending the day in a tour van consuming anything delicious that pops into your mind. Try to stay sad when you are absolutely positive you are the most blessed person on the face of the earth.

Dissed by the Universe

According to my calculations, an average of 20 people take their shirts off at shows in Salem, one asshole will stand right behind me and talk through quiet time, 50% of love is returned, and an average of 4 people read this blog on a regular basis. So to you devoted 4, this one blog post will be more personal than I am comfortable with, but it's honest and this is its raison d'être.

Pluto is kicking my ass. Its destructive force moved into my life in the beginning of November. When you dream you are in danger and can't run, your legs are weighted, your mouth is open but no cry comes out, that is Pluto. But I am not dreaming, I'm just hurting and when I open my mouth the cry does emerge. I am not home, I am not with my friends, I am not with my family, I am not in my city and I am not in Love. And there we have the whole point of Pluto. To face defeat and continue on, emerging from the ashes a new and lovelier bird. There is a Sufi saying, "Die many times before you die." I'm being burned alive and it will happen again and that is life. Pluto is with us all. Now is the time for letting go. I will be angry and I will be sad and I will be defeated but I will never take my shirt off just cus everyone else does, I will never be the loud asshole, and I will always love with 100% of my heart.

PHOTO BY JESS REED

Head of a Parrot

Is it opposites day? I mean, I put at least one article of clothing on backwards or inside out a minimum of once a week, but today I discovered my underwear were on inside out, my leggings on backwards, and I slipped a hoodie over my head to be met with total darkness. I went to a Jake Shimabukuro show and found myself wondering how you can tell if you're the cool kid that happens to be into what your parents would like, or if you've simply turned into your parents? On a day like today I fear the worst. Not that there is anything wrong with my parents, it's just that I'm only 28 years old. I'm not ready for the ability to relate to parrot head jokes. That said, the concert was lovely and the sun came out in the afternoon.

iRape

Angel, like many others, loves her iPhone. This is the conversation that went down while fabric shopping in downtown LA yesterday:

JB: Is the iPhone expensive?
A: Have you ever been raped?... by a really hot guy?

Showers

I come from a land where people call in sick when it rains. SPRING BREAK DUUUUUUUDE!

Stroud River Expeditions

I made this logo for my brother-in-law. American Apparel hoodies, here we come!