Your Sunday Squirrel

Squirrels are curious animals.  They don't let anything like a big fence stop them.  There were quite a few out yesterday.  The fellow above was just hanging out by the fence and I managed to get him to my side.  I won't use the phrase "out-of-focus" to describe this photo.  It's more like "soft focus" - like in the Golden Age of Hollywood.

I went across the street and this guy was hanging out around the field.  It always makes me a little nervous when I see squirrels there, because it means they have to cross the street to get back to their trees.  And we all know that they're lousy in traffic.  Well, I'll just have to believe that he made it back safely. 

Your Sunday Squirrel

Yeah, Denny Park is still very much closed, but I cannot be stopped!  Look at that:

Yep, that's a real Denny Park squirrel right there.  OK, so if you want a good shot we'll have to dive into the archives.  Here you go:

Shooting in a Tattoo Parlor!

Speaking of movies, it looks like they were shooting something right across the street in Under the Needle earlier this week.  I didn't ask anybody what it was.  All I know is that it was a very quick shoot.  They were there in the morning and gone by lunchtime.  I don't even know whether it was a film or a commercial or whatnot.  Anybody know?  Anybody??

The Cinerama's 70mm Fest

A few times a year during lulls between blockbuster seasons, the Cinerama presents a bunch of old films that generally look fantastic on the big screen.  The current installment was no exception.  I saw Apocalypse Now, Pink Floyd's The Wall and Life Force.  Previously, I'd only seen Apocalypse Now on the small screen, but what a difference seeing it in the theater can make.  It was like watching a completely different film.  Yeah, it was pretty tremendous.  I highly recommend it.  I saw The Wall for the first time.  It was a bit odd and very difficult to describe.  In some scenes, the action goes with the music; in others, it totally doesn't.  There's a strange repetition to it that makes you feel like you're in a time loop, but the story does move forward.  Of course, the best thing about it is the music.  After paying little to no attention to Pink Floyd for years, I realized that I like them quite a bit.  I know that Roger Waters has his Wall roadshow.  It was one of the top-grossing live acts a few years ago.  Next time he comes through town (if he ever does again), I think I'll catch it.  Finally, there was Life Force.   It's nobody's favorite sci-fi horror film starring nobody's favorite actor, Steve Railsback.  You might recall him from The Stunt Man and nothing else.  I'd seen it previously and totally forgot that the actress who plays the main alien spends most of the film naked.  So that was a selling point.  All I remembered about it is that London gets trashed by a bunch of zombie vampires and the story doesn't make a whole lot of sense.  But hey, it was on the big screen and the special effects were good for the time.  Anyhow, the really surprising thing was that a lot of these screenings were sold out.  Aliens, 2001, Apocalypse Now, Lawrence of Arabia were all sold out.  I hope that means this will continue indefinitely.  I really enjoyed the films, but they did charge $15 per show.  If I wasn't broke, I wouldn't mind, but in retrospect, the experience was really worth it.            

Your Sunday Squirrel

Well, until I find a way into Denny Park, I'll have to utilize the archives.  This guy is from about a week and a half ago.  Now that we're rounding into September, I'm getting pretty excited for the calendar.  This fellow is a distinct contender.  What month should this be?  I'd say...May or June.  It's sunny, but not too sunny.  There are so many nice shots, it's gonna be hard to decide.

Denny Park Is Closed...

I went on Friday and it looked like this:

And I'm thinking, yeah, I can still work with this, if it's the most closed they get.  It wasn't.

Nope, by Saturday, it was completely shut down.  And it's gonna stay that way till December, which means that they'll probably be done in February.  Remember how long Bell Street Park took, sweet people?  Yeah, so the squirrels are getting a lot of privacy and the bums will have to find some other place to flop and yell at each other.  I'll miss you, Denny Park.  Come back soon.

So August Happened...

Well, it was an eventful month of summer-ness.  I recorded two albums at Studio Litho, which was a lot of fun.  I played drums on both efforts and the results are pretty solid.  The set above is the house Rogers kit, which I absolutely loved.  It had some fantastic sound and a wonderful feel to it.  The good news is that I like both albums very much.  The bad news is that I'm now broke.  The worse news is that I'm working on another three (possibly four) albums for next year.  It's a pretty well-known fact that nobody listens to my music, so there isn't much chance of I can finance these with sales.  And it's also pretty widely known that I don't play live.  I have a choice of where to spend my money: either on recording or on hiring and rehearsing a band to play live.  I always choose recording.  Sure I could form a band via Craigslist and start that way, but after working with some of the finest musicians in town over the course of nine albums, I'm afraid that would be a step back.  I write a lot of music, so it's important for me to record and then move on.  Somebody might like it someday.  That's pretty much all we can hope for.

Anyhow, the first album will be out early next month, while the second one won't be released till late January.  By that time, I'll probably be ready to record another pair of albums.  The next two will be electronic, because that's the best course of action for a broke person like myself.  And no, I don't ever consider Kickstarter.  There's something completely creepy about asking strangers for money, especially for songs that are so, y'know, gleefully misanthropic.