Hey Everybody
That's right. We're moving out and emptying the house COMPLETELY. The third lease is coming to an end and we are leaving the house to the landlady/lord. If you ever left anything at the purple house, its probably already been taken, broken, or thrown out. As for the rest of the things that have been left by the wayside, I am having a tag sale on Sunday August 23rd.
This will be the last chance to claim anything aside from mattresses. Tag sale starts at 9 and will end at 3. Come by to claim your old sweatshirt and assorted purple house memorabilia (like the can of stinky sweatsock casserole!). Come and help out sitting the tables or sortting out donation items.
*Disclaimer* current purple house residents are not responsible for lost, stolen, broken, already claimed or pawned off property... so if you left it here, that's your fault.
Thanks!
Peter
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Summer Sublet at the Purple House
One decent sized second-story bedroom is available for rent June 1st- August 31st at the purple house. It's going for $475 plus utilities and house supplies ($50-$100 per month). As far as the amenities go, there's oil heating, electric stove, no natural gas, high speed internet, ($8 per month) and one parking space.
This is a five-person house with one dog. This season will present bountiful opportunity for plenty of summertime lounging on two porches, a large backyard, a decently-sized kitchen, living room, and basement.
Although not required, we encourage applicants to present a letter of reference or contacts attesting to your excellent housing track record. An email or a phone contact with a past landlord or house mate would be perfect.
If interested, contact Peter Bonos at peterbonos at gmail dot com
This is a five-person house with one dog. This season will present bountiful opportunity for plenty of summertime lounging on two porches, a large backyard, a decently-sized kitchen, living room, and basement.
Although not required, we encourage applicants to present a letter of reference or contacts attesting to your excellent housing track record. An email or a phone contact with a past landlord or house mate would be perfect.
If interested, contact Peter Bonos at peterbonos at gmail dot com
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
1st quarter update
So, for those of you who still may read this blog, I am giving a seasonal update on the house. On Valentine's Day, 2009 the house hosted Dubious Liftings IV, a multi-annual festival booked by Nick Williams of the Cave Bears. The lineup featured Open Star Clusters, Mudboy, Skinny Vinny, Ambergris, Crank Sturgeon, Dag Attack (Steve D'Agostino), Flaming Dragon of Middle Earth. Sunburned Hand of the Man was on the flyer for some reason, although they had never confirmed.
The concert was quite possibly the longest, craziest, most varied, reckless, crowded show to ever take place here. I will mention a few of most notable moments of the night. Flaming Dragon of Middle Earth began with the most concise rock sets I've ever heard them execute. Dag Attack suprised me with a contemplative, slow-building, and emotional elegy on lap steel guitar. A western theme was reinforced by a time-lapse video projection of monument valley at sunset. Ted Lee installed a projector in the cupola, providing a porthole into his twisted, obsessive, film-collector-collage/media monger (sub)consciousness. It was not seen by many at the show, but possibly viewed hundreds of times by drivers by in a fleeting, confused glance up up and away. Open Star Clusters kicked the show into high gear with a floor board shredding flurry of herky jerkiness. At 9:30pm the cops came by to let us know that our neighbors were not enjoying the show.
Skinny Vinny then gave us something more to feel than to think about. Their energy was propelled by a raucous audience, reminding us that yes, free-imrov can and will party.
Oh there's too much to recall from this point on. Mudboy turned out to be what we all had come out for. Evoking an alien swampscape and putting us all in our own places. Crank Sturgeon gave an hour-long technical difficulty laden presentation of fluid transfer while wearing nothing but a huge heart on his shoulders. I didn't see the Cave Bears, but I do know that they bursted open a pinata that Lisette had made in the shape of a heart. I do remember candy all over the floor, and Zach shouting "Its SO good!"
Well, then the moment of truth came. A couple of angry officers shouting at the door: "Enough of this B***S***! Will one of your A**holes Get someone who lives here!" So then I had the sad responsibility of giving them my ID and taking responsibility for everything that they wanted to dole out. It was too much. They spent a half hour at the door and told me the city of Northampton was pressing charges for keeping of a disorderly household. The show was already over. The party was over in more ways than one. This was the last purple house show.
Honestly, its a bit of a relief. It has been good. It has been messy. Now I only have to clean up normal daily use of the house. Sure it sucks the we can't do shows here any more, but I really think that the purple house as a phenomenon became too much for a house. Things were literally bursting at the seems and even in-between.
For the last month, things have been quiet. I'm broke and hungry for food and friends. I'm actually looking forward to work. I may have just been taking the news too seriously, reading Watchmen too closely, or getting sleepless from watching Children of Men and Lost, but it seems as though the world is on the brink of dystopia, and this is the quiet before the storm.
The concert was quite possibly the longest, craziest, most varied, reckless, crowded show to ever take place here. I will mention a few of most notable moments of the night. Flaming Dragon of Middle Earth began with the most concise rock sets I've ever heard them execute. Dag Attack suprised me with a contemplative, slow-building, and emotional elegy on lap steel guitar. A western theme was reinforced by a time-lapse video projection of monument valley at sunset. Ted Lee installed a projector in the cupola, providing a porthole into his twisted, obsessive, film-collector-collage/media monger (sub)consciousness. It was not seen by many at the show, but possibly viewed hundreds of times by drivers by in a fleeting, confused glance up up and away. Open Star Clusters kicked the show into high gear with a floor board shredding flurry of herky jerkiness. At 9:30pm the cops came by to let us know that our neighbors were not enjoying the show.
Skinny Vinny then gave us something more to feel than to think about. Their energy was propelled by a raucous audience, reminding us that yes, free-imrov can and will party.
Oh there's too much to recall from this point on. Mudboy turned out to be what we all had come out for. Evoking an alien swampscape and putting us all in our own places. Crank Sturgeon gave an hour-long technical difficulty laden presentation of fluid transfer while wearing nothing but a huge heart on his shoulders. I didn't see the Cave Bears, but I do know that they bursted open a pinata that Lisette had made in the shape of a heart. I do remember candy all over the floor, and Zach shouting "Its SO good!"
Well, then the moment of truth came. A couple of angry officers shouting at the door: "Enough of this B***S***! Will one of your A**holes Get someone who lives here!" So then I had the sad responsibility of giving them my ID and taking responsibility for everything that they wanted to dole out. It was too much. They spent a half hour at the door and told me the city of Northampton was pressing charges for keeping of a disorderly household. The show was already over. The party was over in more ways than one. This was the last purple house show.
Honestly, its a bit of a relief. It has been good. It has been messy. Now I only have to clean up normal daily use of the house. Sure it sucks the we can't do shows here any more, but I really think that the purple house as a phenomenon became too much for a house. Things were literally bursting at the seems and even in-between.
For the last month, things have been quiet. I'm broke and hungry for food and friends. I'm actually looking forward to work. I may have just been taking the news too seriously, reading Watchmen too closely, or getting sleepless from watching Children of Men and Lost, but it seems as though the world is on the brink of dystopia, and this is the quiet before the storm.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Winter is Hard
The purple house has entered a new era. Gone are Ben, Jim, and Than. Gone are the days of dumpster diving and shrews drowned in honey buckets. The new year has ushered in the most hopeful united crew we have had for a long time. Lisette, Dan Cooper, Katharine Duckett, Jesslyn and me (Peter) are holding down the fort. Yes, it is cold. The purple house shudders under the weight of layers upon layers of ice. Yet, the purple spirit is not dormant.
Over the summer, I came to the realization that this house is akin to a puzzle. More like a puzzle with missing pieces and no photo showing the completed image. If it seems as though a piece is missing, it just takes a bit of pondering and searching to realize where things should go or remember where the missing pieces might lie. I did indeed find a puzzle in a bag in an ignored cabinet. Maybe someday I will attempt to put it together- but there are more pressing matters at hand.
Now that we are in the brunt of winter, I have come to another huge realization: the purple house is a force larger than any of us. Just when I think I got everything under control- WHAM!! I am at the whim of the big purple. My hands are covered in oil and I'm begging on my knees, praying for salvation.
NOT TO FEAR~! Just as everything seems as though its falling apart, there's an incredible show, house dinner, or late night powwow... and the spirit calls me back, wishing I never doubted it would.
THE PURPLE HOUSE LOVES YOU. HAPPY NEW ERA 2009
Over the summer, I came to the realization that this house is akin to a puzzle. More like a puzzle with missing pieces and no photo showing the completed image. If it seems as though a piece is missing, it just takes a bit of pondering and searching to realize where things should go or remember where the missing pieces might lie. I did indeed find a puzzle in a bag in an ignored cabinet. Maybe someday I will attempt to put it together- but there are more pressing matters at hand.
Now that we are in the brunt of winter, I have come to another huge realization: the purple house is a force larger than any of us. Just when I think I got everything under control- WHAM!! I am at the whim of the big purple. My hands are covered in oil and I'm begging on my knees, praying for salvation.
NOT TO FEAR~! Just as everything seems as though its falling apart, there's an incredible show, house dinner, or late night powwow... and the spirit calls me back, wishing I never doubted it would.
THE PURPLE HOUSE LOVES YOU. HAPPY NEW ERA 2009
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Puerto Rico: Biolumenescent Bay
I came to Puerto Rico to visit my long lost family not having any idea what to expect. I don't visit family, and I sure as hell don't visit family overseas. As we talked on the phone about what I may like to do or see, I was my usual indescisive I'm-sure-that-whatever-you-want-will-be-fine self except I made one thing clear: under no circumstances do I wish to be a tourist.As the sun sank behind the picturesque horizon, we paddled two by two into a single file line. I thought of baby ducks clad in yellow life vests advertising our tourism company. My uncle and I struggle for control of the boat. Our paddles clanked with the stubbornness of him refusing to take my lead, and me insisting on leading anyway.
As the entrance of the mangrove approached, the wind grew still and the water shallow. The ripe odor of stagnant water mingled with our repellent drenched bodies. As was swerved back and forth, zigzag with and against the channel, we did our best to avoid the roots that stretched out into the inlet. Did you know that Mangroves are the only trees that can stick their roots in salt water and thrive? I wonder they can ever feel it burning and still continue.
We could hear whistling and hooting, the hollowed sound of some special kind of frog. When we’d reach a particularly intergrown bunch of threes they’d form roofs over our heads that blocked out the light in a perfect display of blackness. We had been seeing little glitter like specs of the bioluminescent creatures we had come to admire through the clear bottom of our kyaks. In these enclosures where we couldn’t even see one another or the shore, we began to see our paddles like up as the swept through the water. We kept paddling.
After twenty minutes, we finally came to the opening in the tunnel. We could see the light of the full moon brilliant on the surface of the bay. And as we broke through that curtain of light, the creature greeted our paddles fervently. When we lifted them out of the water, a glistening streaks of light would flow down, leaving bright green drip marks all over the surface of the
water. My hand felt the water warm and smooth like melting butter as I swooshed it around to reveal a trail of glow like fireflies and light sticks. We splashed the shimmering water at one another and I found a strand of vegetation from the bottom that when I ran it through the water appeared like a comet trailing my finger tips.We paddled to the opposite side of the lake and turned around for the most picturesque moment imaginable. The moon peaked up gradually through the densely interwoven branches. It was so many layers of beautiful piled on ontop of the other. The moon, the silhouetted mangrove trees, the serenity of a secluded bay brought alive by the playful kyakers splashing around in amazement. So I guess I'm more of a tourist than I was willing to admit...
Sunday, June 29, 2008
endings
I'm exhausted. We're home. Our last show is tonight. Come see us at the Purple House. The following notes will be brief. Perhaps too brief.
Recap:
Louisville: Awesome bands, nobody showed up, Dizzy Whiz is my new favorite restaurant. We heard that Allister Crowley is George Bush's grandfather and seduced his grandmother with sex magic and mind magnetism. Caboladies and Pete Fosco rule.
DC: Perry Palace were fantastic hosts. Tons of kids came out, they were awesome. Also some unexpected Hampshire friends made it an especially nice evening. We stayed with Peter's sister Lisa in her house. She has a beautiful apartment in a very happening part of town. To get to her home, we drove for about 11 hours through the middle of the night to cross all of Kentucky and West Virginia and part of Maryland. We saw the sunrise through the Appalachian Mountains. We ate at the Flying J at 2 in the morning. Peter almost bought socks.
Philadelphia: Cheesesteaks, Hoagies, skillshares @ the white lodge. We are fond of this city and its inhabitants. Peter was told that he looks like Jimmy Kimmel. I was not compared to anyone. Neither was Jim.
Now we are back in western mass. Hi everyone. Come hang out.
-Ben
Recap:
Louisville: Awesome bands, nobody showed up, Dizzy Whiz is my new favorite restaurant. We heard that Allister Crowley is George Bush's grandfather and seduced his grandmother with sex magic and mind magnetism. Caboladies and Pete Fosco rule.
DC: Perry Palace were fantastic hosts. Tons of kids came out, they were awesome. Also some unexpected Hampshire friends made it an especially nice evening. We stayed with Peter's sister Lisa in her house. She has a beautiful apartment in a very happening part of town. To get to her home, we drove for about 11 hours through the middle of the night to cross all of Kentucky and West Virginia and part of Maryland. We saw the sunrise through the Appalachian Mountains. We ate at the Flying J at 2 in the morning. Peter almost bought socks.
Philadelphia: Cheesesteaks, Hoagies, skillshares @ the white lodge. We are fond of this city and its inhabitants. Peter was told that he looks like Jimmy Kimmel. I was not compared to anyone. Neither was Jim.
Now we are back in western mass. Hi everyone. Come hang out.
-Ben
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Boar Toggling
More from tour:
We're in DC. House show tonight. Be there.
We had a kind of weird show in Cleveland. The band Zs ended up playing with us. That was cool. We had to do the show at a bar, which was less cool. We aren't much of a bar band. I think this is because we aren't a band.
Then was Chicago. Chicago ruled and I am pretty sure continues to rule in our absence. Maybe it won't rule quite a hard, but still. Dallas and Liz hosted us. A ton of old and new friends came. WJ had a large contingent. Jim and I ended up doing encore sets for latecomers. Chicago is full of the three B's- Barbecues, bookstores, boyfriends. Seriously, everyone there is in a couple I think.
Anyways, writing happy things is not that interesting.
*
Urbana is more interesting. The headlining band was supposed to be Plan B from Chicago. They were going to suck, but then they didn't even come. In fact , no one came. I think that the booker may have intentionally sabotaged the show, because he kept us far from the venue entrance during the time when people might have come and he let other people know that the main act had cancelled. He didn't even stick around to let us show him my book or Jim's demo, even though we were going to. He just left while Jim and Peter were in another room.
This left us all alone in the Urbana Independent Media Center. This place should have been very cool. It is in a former post office building. It's about 100 years old and has several floors, a radio station, a bike-workshop, a free-internet computer room, and a capacity of almost 1000 people. It was super creepy. We stayed in this weird room in the basement on pathetically small couches. They left the air on-- cooling the whole place to 65 degrees all night long. This is supposed to be a liberal organization. Think about the energy use for that. Anyways.
Then the stupidest hypocrisy of all- they block google. They have free-wifi, but you can't use google or any other websites owned by google. This is, apparently, activism. Note to IMC- Censorship is not a good way to create change. there is a difference between censorship and voluntary boycott. Blocking blogspot and gmail is not going to do anything good for the world. It just inconveniences people. Plus, why block google but not myspace or facebook or even walmart.com? Apparently it's more important to lodge a totally useless protest against a company that has been accused of bending to foreign censorship (irony again finds its way in) than to block companies that cause real harm on US soil. This is largely the same kind of jingoist and self-deluded thinking that leads to people driving 400 miles to DC or New York for Free Tibet protests.
The absurdity of the night kept it from being a total loss.
*
Next came St. Louis. Awesome show at Open Lot. The people there were super-enthusiastic, welcoming and warm. We had a really amazing time.
I should rewind a bit though. Before STL we had a lot of time to check out southern Illinois. We visited the history museum of Vandalia, IL and were shown around by a very lovely elderly woman. The building was in a beautiful former church and our guide even showed us the upstairs even though it was supposed to be closed. She also showed us a tool that Abraham Lincoln once owned and had carved his initials in, logs from the national road, and all kinds of exhibits like photos of Vandalia's first basketball team and the town's first switchboard... lots of odds and ends. It was a very charming little stop.
We then went to the Cahokia Mounds. Look these up. They are incredible. They're a UN world heritage site, home of the largest earthen structures in the Americas and the former home of the largest pre-colonial city in North America (10-20,000 people). The mounds were something like North American pyramids, serving largely as burial grounds for high-ranking members of the community. It's a pretty amazing place.
*
After the history museum, mounds, and St. Louis show, we continued on to Louisville, KY.
I am tiring of blogging. Louisville is a very big and weird city. We went to Dizzy Whiz. Soon I will add details. There will be a post to discuss the last leg of tour. Maybe two.
-Ben
We're in DC. House show tonight. Be there.
We had a kind of weird show in Cleveland. The band Zs ended up playing with us. That was cool. We had to do the show at a bar, which was less cool. We aren't much of a bar band. I think this is because we aren't a band.
Then was Chicago. Chicago ruled and I am pretty sure continues to rule in our absence. Maybe it won't rule quite a hard, but still. Dallas and Liz hosted us. A ton of old and new friends came. WJ had a large contingent. Jim and I ended up doing encore sets for latecomers. Chicago is full of the three B's- Barbecues, bookstores, boyfriends. Seriously, everyone there is in a couple I think.
Anyways, writing happy things is not that interesting.
*
Urbana is more interesting. The headlining band was supposed to be Plan B from Chicago. They were going to suck, but then they didn't even come. In fact , no one came. I think that the booker may have intentionally sabotaged the show, because he kept us far from the venue entrance during the time when people might have come and he let other people know that the main act had cancelled. He didn't even stick around to let us show him my book or Jim's demo, even though we were going to. He just left while Jim and Peter were in another room.
This left us all alone in the Urbana Independent Media Center. This place should have been very cool. It is in a former post office building. It's about 100 years old and has several floors, a radio station, a bike-workshop, a free-internet computer room, and a capacity of almost 1000 people. It was super creepy. We stayed in this weird room in the basement on pathetically small couches. They left the air on-- cooling the whole place to 65 degrees all night long. This is supposed to be a liberal organization. Think about the energy use for that. Anyways.
Then the stupidest hypocrisy of all- they block google. They have free-wifi, but you can't use google or any other websites owned by google. This is, apparently, activism. Note to IMC- Censorship is not a good way to create change. there is a difference between censorship and voluntary boycott. Blocking blogspot and gmail is not going to do anything good for the world. It just inconveniences people. Plus, why block google but not myspace or facebook or even walmart.com? Apparently it's more important to lodge a totally useless protest against a company that has been accused of bending to foreign censorship (irony again finds its way in) than to block companies that cause real harm on US soil. This is largely the same kind of jingoist and self-deluded thinking that leads to people driving 400 miles to DC or New York for Free Tibet protests.
The absurdity of the night kept it from being a total loss.
*
Next came St. Louis. Awesome show at Open Lot. The people there were super-enthusiastic, welcoming and warm. We had a really amazing time.
I should rewind a bit though. Before STL we had a lot of time to check out southern Illinois. We visited the history museum of Vandalia, IL and were shown around by a very lovely elderly woman. The building was in a beautiful former church and our guide even showed us the upstairs even though it was supposed to be closed. She also showed us a tool that Abraham Lincoln once owned and had carved his initials in, logs from the national road, and all kinds of exhibits like photos of Vandalia's first basketball team and the town's first switchboard... lots of odds and ends. It was a very charming little stop.
We then went to the Cahokia Mounds. Look these up. They are incredible. They're a UN world heritage site, home of the largest earthen structures in the Americas and the former home of the largest pre-colonial city in North America (10-20,000 people). The mounds were something like North American pyramids, serving largely as burial grounds for high-ranking members of the community. It's a pretty amazing place.
*
After the history museum, mounds, and St. Louis show, we continued on to Louisville, KY.
I am tiring of blogging. Louisville is a very big and weird city. We went to Dizzy Whiz. Soon I will add details. There will be a post to discuss the last leg of tour. Maybe two.
-Ben
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Tour Pt. 2
A brief summary of our stay in Pittsburgh will follow shortly, but first a bit of news.
My book, 78 Stories, is officially up for sale on the No Record Press website. It's at www.no-record.com. Buy it (please). Buy it right here http://store.no-record.com/78stories.html (please).
Shameless self-promotion temporarily aside, I will now recount our last few days. We've been staying with my relatives in Pittsburgh. They live in a great house right on the edge of Frick Park. We've basically spent the last several days being wined and dined and dined again by all of my various relatives. They've been really really generous and we've just been totally relaxing and being taken care of. So the short version is that Pittsburgh has been very awesome. Our show was quite small, but warmly received.
Pittsburgh, contrary to popular lore, is a quite beautiful city.
Tomorrow- Cleveland.
-Ben
PS: We are wondering what is happening on the homefront. Please report news of events in the the purple house. We also miss you.
My book, 78 Stories, is officially up for sale on the No Record Press website. It's at www.no-record.com. Buy it (please). Buy it right here http://store.no-record.com/78stories.html (please).
Shameless self-promotion temporarily aside, I will now recount our last few days. We've been staying with my relatives in Pittsburgh. They live in a great house right on the edge of Frick Park. We've basically spent the last several days being wined and dined and dined again by all of my various relatives. They've been really really generous and we've just been totally relaxing and being taken care of. So the short version is that Pittsburgh has been very awesome. Our show was quite small, but warmly received.
Pittsburgh, contrary to popular lore, is a quite beautiful city.
Tomorrow- Cleveland.
-Ben
PS: We are wondering what is happening on the homefront. Please report news of events in the the purple house. We also miss you.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
we're so on tour right now (pt1)
We have a lot to write about, so I'm going to try to stick to the highlights.
Jim, Peter, and I are officially on tour. We started off in New York. Jashin and Egan set up a show for us at Yoyo's amazing loft in Soho. It was also Jess's birthday party.
First: Egan and Yoyp set up a fantastic space and hung several of their photographs and paintings. It was a really beautiful setting. We performed. I think we all performed well. I forget details. There was a lot of wine etc.
Everyone we met was very supportive, even the people we didn't previously know. It is not rare to get to do shows for your college friends, but the mix was much more eclectic than I expected. Besides the usual suspects we had several Germans, a Marine, a professor, a renowned documentarian, and several others and everyone seemed to get along and be into our presentations. As sappy as it may seem, it's actually very touching and inspiring to share work with a large group of people and find that it's genuinely appreciated by such diverse crowd. And then there was the wine etc., which lasted practically until dawn.
The next morning, we cleaned the apartment. Mostly I cleaned the apartment because I woke up early and couldn't fall back to sleep. This led to an unfortunate sequence of events in which a fairly large rag was accidentally flushed down a toilet and amateur plumbing (with all of it's attendant anxiety and hilarity) was forced to ensue. The clog was fixed. The rag was not salvaged. We owe Yoyo a rag.
Our second minor hitch of tour: Getting out of the city. Day 2 was relaxed, but we were also pretty worn out. Peter was still working at the Vision Jazz festival, so Jim and I hung around the city and caught up more with friends.
I am trying to avoid listing names of friends because there are a lot of them and I've chosen to omit all rather than forgot any. Except for the people that actually helped organize the evening. And us. Our names stay in. Anyways...
We'd stashed the car at Russ's house on Long Island (I used another name, but that's really more of a location). Jim and I returned there in the evening and waited for Peter to finish. We made mistakes in planning. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Russ's, but we stayed too long and got started too late on our drive.
Also, we had to return Matt's guitar. This sucked. We got lost. We went out of our way. We did not find his house. The guitar is still with us. By the point of the failed guitar return, it was 2 am and we were in suburban New Jersey. We pressed on to Ocean City, where we had lodging at Jim's shore house. I took over driving and made good time for the first hour or so, and by 4, we seemed about to finally reach our destination. The fog materialized. Visibility rapidly approached zero, as did our speed. We crossed the bay in such a haze that we were unable to tell that we were even above water. We finally crawled into Jim's shore house around 430 and promptly passed out.
We woke up too soon the next morning because we needed to make Pittsburgh by 7. Jim's dad was at the house and we met him and spent a too-brief morning visiting, and then drove for 6 or 7 hours.
We are currently in Pittsburgh. This entry is getting too long. Pittsburgh will be described in the next few days, but for now I am going to sign off.
-Ben
PS: This tour is rad.
Jim, Peter, and I are officially on tour. We started off in New York. Jashin and Egan set up a show for us at Yoyo's amazing loft in Soho. It was also Jess's birthday party.
First: Egan and Yoyp set up a fantastic space and hung several of their photographs and paintings. It was a really beautiful setting. We performed. I think we all performed well. I forget details. There was a lot of wine etc.
Everyone we met was very supportive, even the people we didn't previously know. It is not rare to get to do shows for your college friends, but the mix was much more eclectic than I expected. Besides the usual suspects we had several Germans, a Marine, a professor, a renowned documentarian, and several others and everyone seemed to get along and be into our presentations. As sappy as it may seem, it's actually very touching and inspiring to share work with a large group of people and find that it's genuinely appreciated by such diverse crowd. And then there was the wine etc., which lasted practically until dawn.
The next morning, we cleaned the apartment. Mostly I cleaned the apartment because I woke up early and couldn't fall back to sleep. This led to an unfortunate sequence of events in which a fairly large rag was accidentally flushed down a toilet and amateur plumbing (with all of it's attendant anxiety and hilarity) was forced to ensue. The clog was fixed. The rag was not salvaged. We owe Yoyo a rag.
Our second minor hitch of tour: Getting out of the city. Day 2 was relaxed, but we were also pretty worn out. Peter was still working at the Vision Jazz festival, so Jim and I hung around the city and caught up more with friends.
I am trying to avoid listing names of friends because there are a lot of them and I've chosen to omit all rather than forgot any. Except for the people that actually helped organize the evening. And us. Our names stay in. Anyways...
We'd stashed the car at Russ's house on Long Island (I used another name, but that's really more of a location). Jim and I returned there in the evening and waited for Peter to finish. We made mistakes in planning. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Russ's, but we stayed too long and got started too late on our drive.
Also, we had to return Matt's guitar. This sucked. We got lost. We went out of our way. We did not find his house. The guitar is still with us. By the point of the failed guitar return, it was 2 am and we were in suburban New Jersey. We pressed on to Ocean City, where we had lodging at Jim's shore house. I took over driving and made good time for the first hour or so, and by 4, we seemed about to finally reach our destination. The fog materialized. Visibility rapidly approached zero, as did our speed. We crossed the bay in such a haze that we were unable to tell that we were even above water. We finally crawled into Jim's shore house around 430 and promptly passed out.
We woke up too soon the next morning because we needed to make Pittsburgh by 7. Jim's dad was at the house and we met him and spent a too-brief morning visiting, and then drove for 6 or 7 hours.
We are currently in Pittsburgh. This entry is getting too long. Pittsburgh will be described in the next few days, but for now I am going to sign off.
-Ben
PS: This tour is rad.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
It's really hot
Did you know that Hawaii has both the lowest all-time high temperature and the highest all-time low temperature of any US state?
Look it up. Hawaii's all-time high is 100 degrees and all-time low is 12.
To be fair, Alaska's all-time high is actually also only 100, so they are tied for lowest-high, but Hawaii's low is a full 14 degrees higher than second place Florida's -2, which makes Hawaii also the only state to have never been in negative degrees.
Let us contrast this with Northampton, MA which has a low of -30 and high of 100. Our swing is almost 50 degrees greater than the entire state of Hawaii. Honolulu only has a swing of about 40 degrees all-time (95-52)
On the other extreme, the state of Alaska has a 180 degree variation from -80 to 100. The city of Fairbanks alone has seen every temperature from -66 to 99.
World-wide, I cannot give a certain answer for the most impressive variance, but Yakutsk (Russia) might be a good guess. It's been as low as -85 and as high as 103.
-ben
Look it up. Hawaii's all-time high is 100 degrees and all-time low is 12.
To be fair, Alaska's all-time high is actually also only 100, so they are tied for lowest-high, but Hawaii's low is a full 14 degrees higher than second place Florida's -2, which makes Hawaii also the only state to have never been in negative degrees.
Let us contrast this with Northampton, MA which has a low of -30 and high of 100. Our swing is almost 50 degrees greater than the entire state of Hawaii. Honolulu only has a swing of about 40 degrees all-time (95-52)
On the other extreme, the state of Alaska has a 180 degree variation from -80 to 100. The city of Fairbanks alone has seen every temperature from -66 to 99.
World-wide, I cannot give a certain answer for the most impressive variance, but Yakutsk (Russia) might be a good guess. It's been as low as -85 and as high as 103.
-ben
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Come to this
This is going to rule. Go to http://stout.hampshire.edu/~pdb04/phtour/houseshows.html for more info
we're back..
It's been too long since this blog was posted in. Far too long.
- Ben
We have way too many things to talk about that should have gotten blog coverage and now must not. Apologies slighted blog topics.
First and most importantly to the house, we got new people in the double and Kristin moved out. This is the kind of bittersweet news we often have here. Maggie and Lydia are very excellent newcomers however, so overall I'm excited about summer here.
Secondly, Jim and Peter and I are going on tour in a week. Peter made a website:
Go get details there then come see us.
Ok so those are the major house news items. We can begin once again blogging about trivial topics at frequent intervals.
For example, Obama Nation sounds like Abomination, Friendly's was giving away free cones today, and it is 90 something degrees out right now.
The heat has destroyed my will to carry on writing and my ability to craft a decent sentence.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
div freedom
So the last few weeks have gone by in a blur. The weather was cold for a while, but now its sunny and cloudless. We had a fantastic show on Sunday with Ladybird and Snaps and Claps. Ladybird warmed everyone's hearts with their french charm and endearing singalong melodies. It was a classic purple house moment, with the sunflower paintings bringing the cheer into the basement. Next, Snaps and Claps went all cute on us. The basement was packed! Maybe 30 people, all very politely sitting on the floor with beaming smiles and the occasional giggle brought on by a witty out-of-tune lyric.
The concert then took a turn for the weird. The crew basically jumped the bill in two waves. Rory and Matt (joined by James Pettingale on Drums) droned their way out of cute land with Rory on clarinet and vocals and matt on 12-string. Enveloped in darkness, James held down the skittering beats. Pretty transcendental, yet imperfect and not too serious. Next, a free jazz all-star debut with me, Gerald, Ben Daly, Zach Ianazzi and Devendra (from Boston). This was a spontaneous, no holds barred aggressive flow of loud piercing squeals and conversational lines held together with some drifting, complex drones. It got a bit more sensitive too, once I encouraged the band to play a quieter for the second song. That was my favorite.
With plenty of free time, for the last five days, I have been working the sound and video for some Div 3 screenings. There was some excellent work over the weekend by Brendan Toller, Bjorn, Emily-Rose, Skylar, Ben Balcom and more. I was completely blown away by the triple threat of three non-fiction films by Dean Colpack, Zach Ianazzi, and Danilo Coleman at a screening last night at film and photo. It has made me very proud of all my friends and peers to see the fruit of their labor get the attention it deserves. I really feel like the class of 2008 has made some great accomplishments this year.
Peter
The concert then took a turn for the weird. The crew basically jumped the bill in two waves. Rory and Matt (joined by James Pettingale on Drums) droned their way out of cute land with Rory on clarinet and vocals and matt on 12-string. Enveloped in darkness, James held down the skittering beats. Pretty transcendental, yet imperfect and not too serious. Next, a free jazz all-star debut with me, Gerald, Ben Daly, Zach Ianazzi and Devendra (from Boston). This was a spontaneous, no holds barred aggressive flow of loud piercing squeals and conversational lines held together with some drifting, complex drones. It got a bit more sensitive too, once I encouraged the band to play a quieter for the second song. That was my favorite.
With plenty of free time, for the last five days, I have been working the sound and video for some Div 3 screenings. There was some excellent work over the weekend by Brendan Toller, Bjorn, Emily-Rose, Skylar, Ben Balcom and more. I was completely blown away by the triple threat of three non-fiction films by Dean Colpack, Zach Ianazzi, and Danilo Coleman at a screening last night at film and photo. It has made me very proud of all my friends and peers to see the fruit of their labor get the attention it deserves. I really feel like the class of 2008 has made some great accomplishments this year.
Peter
Friday, April 25, 2008
i have 12 hours
12 hours before i need to hand in my division three. not to be a debbie downer, but it's going to suck. the product, not the act of handing it in. i shouldn't be writing this right now but i'm sick of deciphering jargon at the moment.
i've seen the sun rise almost every day this week. hopefully this will be the last time, at least for a little while. i drank a cup of coffee 2 hours ago and fell asleep 10 minutes later. why does that always happen??
jesslyn is coming home early!
our back porch is perfect these days. it's screened in, the trees are budding, the farms are ripe with sweet smelling manure, even when it's hot out the area is shaded and kept cooler, it has electric plugs for laptops that only work with chargers, the coffee table is out there for the time being, and it's the perfect spot to watch peter and ben act out cheesy novels. also a good area for social smoking, drinking, laughing, schmoozing and taking naps.
i've seen the sun rise almost every day this week. hopefully this will be the last time, at least for a little while. i drank a cup of coffee 2 hours ago and fell asleep 10 minutes later. why does that always happen??
jesslyn is coming home early!
our back porch is perfect these days. it's screened in, the trees are budding, the farms are ripe with sweet smelling manure, even when it's hot out the area is shaded and kept cooler, it has electric plugs for laptops that only work with chargers, the coffee table is out there for the time being, and it's the perfect spot to watch peter and ben act out cheesy novels. also a good area for social smoking, drinking, laughing, schmoozing and taking naps.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Chad Gad Ya
I'm too tired for a very well-written posting, but I thought I should make a quick update in light of the major last few days we've had here.
-Passover is in full swing. I went to a seder in CT at Aliza's house and it was awesome. Thank you so much. I am still thinking about the brisket.
- Peter's Div III was a resounding success. Almost like a Bar Mitzvah, Peter has passed another milestone on the road to manhood. Also lize a Bar Mitzvah, he did it along with family, friends and klezmer music. The Freylech Valley Orkestr is really really good. The whole show was fantastic. The after party was appropriately rambling and raucous. On a related note, we all met his sister, Lisa, and found her to be an excellent house guest. I love meeting people's family members and hearing about stories about my friends in their small-child incarnations.
- Pennsylvania primaries have come and gone, and it seems that Democrats in my home state want to drag this race out in the most annoying and self-damaging way possible. Way to go Pennsylvania! On the plus side, Obama won my home county, the county I went to high school in, Jim's home county, and the county he grew up in along with precisely 3 other counties state-wide. I think this proves that Jim and I leave a lasting positive legacy wherever we go.
- I finished my pint of ice cream.
-Passover is in full swing. I went to a seder in CT at Aliza's house and it was awesome. Thank you so much. I am still thinking about the brisket.
- Peter's Div III was a resounding success. Almost like a Bar Mitzvah, Peter has passed another milestone on the road to manhood. Also lize a Bar Mitzvah, he did it along with family, friends and klezmer music. The Freylech Valley Orkestr is really really good. The whole show was fantastic. The after party was appropriately rambling and raucous. On a related note, we all met his sister, Lisa, and found her to be an excellent house guest. I love meeting people's family members and hearing about stories about my friends in their small-child incarnations.
- Pennsylvania primaries have come and gone, and it seems that Democrats in my home state want to drag this race out in the most annoying and self-damaging way possible. Way to go Pennsylvania! On the plus side, Obama won my home county, the county I went to high school in, Jim's home county, and the county he grew up in along with precisely 3 other counties state-wide. I think this proves that Jim and I leave a lasting positive legacy wherever we go.
- I finished my pint of ice cream.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
san fran
okay so now i'm in san fran and this is going to be real quick because one shouldn't blog when they're in san francisco. okay i'm at this really cool hostel in downtown san fran, it has a movie theatre on the fourth floor! cool! anyways i'm staying here tonight and then probably with my friend Lori tomorrow and then i'm not sure. My ranching experience was interesting. i had mixed feelings about it. I did fall in love with a terrier named Buddy, and it broke my heart to leave him but then i remembered that i have a Benny at home (who is having surgery on friday?!) My friends from Maine are also in san fran and hopefully we will meet up at some point. also i'm spending way too much money! i stole stale crackers from the ranch and that's all i'm going to eat until i come home. also i'm real excited for the Leaf music and arts festival that i'm volunteering at/going to in north carolina, just east of asheville. i think it's going to be a lot of fun. okay anyways this is kind of scattered but i'm alive and doing well and missing everyone! i hope you guys are well.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Recap
The game yesterday was one of the best I've seen in a very long time. Kansas came back from down 9 with 2 minutes to play, hit a 3 with 2 seconds remaining, and won in overtime.
As I wrote about in my previous post, foul shooting and depth proved to be the difference. Kansas gave up a few too many turnovers, which allowed Memphis to built up a However, the Tigers' 1-5 shooting of free throws down the stretch killed them.
As I wrote about in my previous post, foul shooting and depth proved to be the difference. Kansas gave up a few too many turnovers, which allowed Memphis to built up a However, the Tigers' 1-5 shooting of free throws down the stretch killed them.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Rock Chalk Jayhawk
Today is the NCAA Division 1 National Championship Game! The Memphis Tigers, led by former UMass coach John Calipari and freshman stand-out Derrick Rose are playing against the Kansas Jayhawks.
I'm rooting for Kansas, who I originally picked to win the tournament. I prefer the Jayhawks style of play and maturity. I also think the Memphis's team is not really made of student athletes. They have a dismal graduation rate and a lot of players have ahd run-ins with the law, including their top big-man, Joey Dorsey, who was seen this summer 'making it rain' at a strip club.
Anyways, moralizing aside, Memphis's free-throw issues will be a serious hindrance and the Jayhawk's incredible depth (they played 12 people in their semi-final victory over North Carolina) will allow them to use fouling as a defensive technique to disrupt Memphis's fast-paced offense.
I'll provide post-game analysis tomorrow or later tonight.
Tip off is at 9:20.
I'm rooting for Kansas, who I originally picked to win the tournament. I prefer the Jayhawks style of play and maturity. I also think the Memphis's team is not really made of student athletes. They have a dismal graduation rate and a lot of players have ahd run-ins with the law, including their top big-man, Joey Dorsey, who was seen this summer 'making it rain' at a strip club.
Anyways, moralizing aside, Memphis's free-throw issues will be a serious hindrance and the Jayhawk's incredible depth (they played 12 people in their semi-final victory over North Carolina) will allow them to use fouling as a defensive technique to disrupt Memphis's fast-paced offense.
I'll provide post-game analysis tomorrow or later tonight.
Tip off is at 9:20.
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