Kill Your Television - Ned's Atomic Dustbin

Mod Musing from the Pacific Northwest:

*I have been going on about these bikini espresso places, and had to laugh when I caught on the news that a local “Grab and Go” was raided for a sting operation. Seems the girls at Grab and Go were charging for flashing customers and even more for allowing the clientele to touch them. Yep, arrested for prostitution out of a coffee hut. Amusing as heck to me…

*I saw a caterpillar on the road while walking. (Yes I have started walking again and it feels great!) I swear I can not remember the last time I saw a caterpillar-wow to the little things!

*Direct TV shows reruns of Trailer Park Boys!! I am finally getting it, and loving it! I also love that show I spoke of before, the Meatloaf hosted “Rock and a Hard Place” Music trivia answered by musicians- best show evar! LOL! Today- Tommy Tutone vs Ray Parker Jr. and Lisa Lisa vs Da Brat. I saw Sha Na Na on there a few days ago, they were real members from back in the day when they had their TV show. RIP Chico…

*I continue to get snide comments when I am walking my three pups. I bet if it were just two, I would not get the comments. I don’t understand why people feel the need to say something mean about the fact that I love dogs? Some people are nice, don’t get me wrong..I have adorable dogs but the people who pop off, why? I am a good dog owner who picks up after them in parks. And in doggie news, Wicket is ahead of the curve in his recovery..he is doing fantastic. I knew it wasn’t his time yet.. 

*A few after notes on the Polaris Prize:
It was interesting to hear the radio folks saying the next day that F*cked Up winning could push the awards a step back. It did seem to be an interesting problem, as other stations couldn’t even announce the name of the winner. It was so odd how they saved them for last to perform, a food fight breaks out and then this hardcore punk band, stripped down to their underwear wins the award for artist merit. I am willing to guess there are more people who think it was a mistake although I heard some say even if you don’t like hardcore, it is a masterpiece record. I saw F*cked Up while in Toronto for the 6 nights of Plaskett. That was the band Chris Murphy got up and sang punk with. Let’s be truthful, why else would I have seen a punk band? LOL

Jian Ghomeshi not only played with my least favorite band Patrick Watson, he introduced hip hop star K’Naan. I was quite impressed with K’Naan as a person and performer. I was not impressed with Patrick Watson, Jian or no Jian-LOL!

Elliott Brood, Hey Rosetta! And Joel sounded the best live! I don’t understand why Metric couldn’t play full band. I want to see Elliott Brood here in Seattle. We shall see, they are here in 2 weeks. They used cookie sheets and wooden spoons in the audience for percussion.

*Speaking of Hey Rosetta! I knew I like Tim Baker! His first concert was Glass Tiger!! LOL GT for Polaris Prize next year!

*I applied for a lot of radio jobs this week. Maybe I will get one response from them? Oh man, this is yet another of my most difficult challenges of my life. Believing something right will come along is HARD…

*I watched the premier of CSI for the heck of it last night. A lot of the good characters are gone-hello no Grissom? Gil was the reason I ever started watching, William Petersen is a fine actor in my opinion. But I bring this up because I can’t handle shows like that anymore. Plus it had spiders on it last night. My dreams after were nothing but bodies and spiders. Nope, can’t do that or horror films..

*Jon Auer is playing in Phoenix, I am excited for my friends that get to see him! He called from his hotel, so funny..it was in my old hood, where Karen and I always went for Joanns and Cracker Barrel. I am hoping one of my pals will call and let me hear a song from the show. I am sure I will get a show sooner or later living here..He did sayin an interview Serene Dominic did that they want to do another Posies record! Yes to all my fave bands still recording new music!

*Hoping I may get to drive someone to Portland, Oregon tomorrow!??

Day Job - Gin Blossoms

Don’t quit your day job unless you have another one signed and sealed! Times are extremely tough; some jobs are getting hundreds of applicants. I have a file full of big rejection letters. Shame on me for being so confident my resume was enough to get myself another gig. I maintain that I have the talent and the skill to kill at any job hired for but I am a job search virgin. Seriously, I never had to do this before. How blessed I have been, I went from job to job by reputation without ever needing to search for one. My interview several weeks ago with UW was my first committee interview ever. I plug away but the internet applications do not substitute for face to face contact. My resume certainly may throw off some educational institutes. I did not have a conventional job so the adviser jobs I apply for are probably thrown out the window. The one job closest to my Cronk job needed a fricking Masters degree. I suspect one needs an insider to assist in getting any interview. I magically dream that someone in a hiring committee sees this resume, says “Look how interesting and different this gal is.” Doubtful considering the amount of calls I have gotten. (That total is 1)

Here is the truth…I am scared and I am running out of money. What I am not out of is optimism. I took a huge leap leaving Arizona. I refuse to believe I made a mistake doing so. I absolutely LOVE Western Washington. I want to be here and I believe somehow I will find a way to make this work. I have my moments of depression, who wouldn’t? I miss having my own home, my chance to be creative, heck I miss my shoes.. ;) I have worn the same set of clothing I packed for the drive to Alaska. But do not read this as a feel sorry for me blog. I am so grateful to have a place to stay with Mary. I never realized it as much as when I drove back from Bellingham. I felt like I had a ‘home’ to return to. Being in this atmosphere has helped heal me. I was a wreck when I left Phoenix…I was worse from the Alaska ordeal. The peace I have been seeking since Dan said he wanted a divorce is happening in Yelm, Washington. I am learning so much about spiritual teachings. The ideal of living in the “now” is appealing to me on so many levels. I believe I will be thoroughly entrenched in bliss once the job search ends. It is such a nagging tap on my shoulder.

I was supposed to start the temp job at the Puyallup Fair this week. At training we were told we would work 12 hours a day for 22 days straight. Add an hour drive both ways for me and it would have been 14 hours a day. I really wanted to do it and was looking forward to the chance to mingle with all sorts of people! And yes I need the money. It just wasn’t going to work. Various reasons from the dogs to not being enough money made it impossible. I wish it could have worked out but it wasn’t meant to be for some reason.

One of those reasons may be the opportunity to meet with a GM at a radio group in Bellingham, WA this past Friday. Once again, my guardian angel of Yelm Mary made a few calls and found the contact for me to email. I have been thinking a lot about Bellingham as an option because of it being between Seattle and Vancouver. I also suspect the rent may be fairly less then Seattle. Mary encouraged me to take the 3 hour drive up and explore. The GM responded quickly to my inquiry, kindly agreeing to meet with me the following day. We had a very nice 45 minute talk about the Phoenix radio market in which he was quite familiar with. He was impressed with the stations I had worked at. It ended with him telling me to do a simple demo for him and he would “see what he could do.” That was more than I was even expecting so I felt empowered again. Empowered that I could do radio again, that I wasn’t too far removed from it to be considered. It was a reminder to myself that I did do major market radio and it could still be recognized as such. It was also an interesting juxtaposition of occupational interview styles. The discussion was much more down to earth. It reminded me that I was never fully part of the educational world. Job or no job, the meeting was important to my self-worth and confidence.

I don’t know what happens when I run out of money. It is the major worry I keep trying to fight. I know I need to keep looking for temporary work. My therapist suggested I advertise dog-sitting. I like that idea! Selling items is also an option. If I move my items into a storage space, I could sell the trailer. And yes, if worst came to worst, I start selling my CDs. It is so hard to explain but I am so calm and happy inside even though I am in the direst circumstances of my life. Oh if we didn’t need money in our lives…

Random music notes:

In the very same day I listened to the new Two Hours Traffic, Amy Millan and Matthew Good. WOW! I still just get so excited for release dates of my favorite artists! At this moment I would say that Matthew Good’s Vancouver will be my LP of the year. We shall see in December ;)

I got in the car to drive to Bellingham and Chris Murphy was co-hosting on CBC3. Naturally I was tickled! I have expressed a zillion times how much I miss his and Jay’s radio show. My favorite giggle of the show was Chris saying who else would host a show like Q than Jian Ghomeshi to which Craig Norris responded “You.” Chris said he tries to get Jian to let him fill in all the time to no avail. Love it! Another giggle was Chris looking at a picture of Sloan and saying “There I am with my old collarbone.”

Elephant Stone is a project from a former member of the High Dials. Big Ah-ha moment. Makes perfect sense now as opposed to them coming out of nowhere.

Andrew and I are plotting to go to Vancouver to see In-Flight Safety in Vancouver at the end of September. (I told Dan to send me money-LOL!) Two Hours Traffic are playing there the same week but I need to choose. I pick In-Flight because I know THT will be back but In-Flight seems to be touring less. Their record came out in Jan and they are just touring on it now… I am now Andrew’s flight partner. It means I fly as if a family member of an airline employee. Of course until I have a job, I won’t really be able to take advantage but I hope it means I can be at CV2 graduation…

(And I had no real good reason to use the adorable picture of Jim Zorn except that NFL starts tomorrow-Go 'Skins and 'Hawks!)