Lots has happened since the last update, but since I don't have a lot of time to write tonight (and I cut the tip of my right index finger pretty badly today), I'll keep it short and get right down to business:
I went to New York City for 3.5 days to attend the Gotham scooter rally. My friend Simon found me a RT fare for $139 to nearby White Plains and that was all she wrote, Paw Paw buddy and dancing sensation Joseph X. Burke led me on a fantastic walking tour on Monday. I love New York, it feels and looks different than anywhere I've ever been and enchants me in a way that few cities have (Kyoto, San Francisco, Hong Kong and New Orleans were all pretty damn enchanting too). I guess Chicago used to captivate me in that way, and sometimes I still get a little tingle from it, but not like when I was younger. Diversity is not some wishful hyperbole there, it's everyday life and you can still find dozens of ethnic enclaves whereas Chicago has but a handful of these neighborhoods intact. Special thanks to Simon and Sondra for the lodging and hospitality and Greg and Nicole from Portland for the use of their helmet while I rode bitch on the back of Simon's bike.
Since the last update I also added a small featurette about my pilgrimage to Cincinnati and the house of J&H Productions. Have some more plans for J&H in store, an homage piece to be specific, so stay tuned for that.
Vanessa is getting more famous all the time, she was recently featured in a role on Chicago Public Radio's sketch comedy show Schadenfreude as typical and pretentious college radio DJ "Jade to Black," a role which she played excellently. It's episode 50 and if you don't mind RealAudio, you can listen here. Congratulations and here's to many more hours of airtime.
Will be riding up to Madison, WI on Friday for the Defilers scooter rally. Should be about a 4 hour trip, I'm riding with Quiet Juan. Looking forward to it, staying with Jean, my old buddy from PETA.
Have had several visitors to the city lately, including Jean from PETA and Todd, Aaron and Kyle from the CSA days. William from PETA will be here later in the week and towards the end of the month I'll get to see Tal from PETA and Brad Berling (and his lady) from MCAD. Looking forward to it all, I'm actually starting to work out a designated "driving tour."
In Hands on a Hard Body news, who is making a follow-up to the documentary? Do I have to, to find out what sage Benny Perkins has been up to these last ten years, to check in on the truck? Is Janis back to settin' under that Air Condition? What's gonna be most of Ronald's problem right there? Can you do this thing in boots? These are questions that I need answers to, yesterday.
Posted by pj at May 11, 2005 12:40 AMbooyah!
wow.
wow.
i look like a complete stiff playing DDR. in my defense, too, i realize i'm much better at the home edition -- dancing to bad techno is not my forté, much less dancing to bad techno in public.
at any rate, the excursion was, as stated previously, an A+ masterpiece.
-joe.
Posted by: Joseph X. Burke at May 17, 2005 09:43 PM