Pills...

"When at last we are sure, You've been properly pilled, Then a few paper forms, Must be properly filled. So that you and your heirs, May be properly billed."
- Dr. Seuss

A couple of years ago, in a late night haze, I stumbled upon a commercial for RLS, also known as Restless Leg Syndrome. I watched and wondered, "Is this why I'm awake"?, is the natural impulse for my legs to dance and shake in the night my problem? "RLS, you devil", I thought. Then the commercial ended, and I realized I'd just watched a 2 minute, paid-for advertisement, selling me a disease. With nothing else. I was baffled and skeptical, and then put it out of my head.

Until about 6 months later another commercial appeared in the night. This time, selling the miracle cure for this plague, RLS, that has consumed so many peoples lives for so long. Astonishing I thought, they sold the disease before the cure. Not only did they market an illness prior to the cure. They did it so apparently, that one semi-conscious insomniac got wise to it. These companies either think people are really dumb, or...people are really dumb.

It's no wonder that after some research I found out that prescriptions in the US have gone up to 3.4 billion dollars annually, a 61% increase from a decade ago. This industry is a beast, to the point that medicating people is written into the education of a doctor.

Someone brought it up to me the other day how common it is to see drugs prescribed for something different than what they were initially intended. Again feeding my feeling that the last 20-30 years of people, Americans specifically, have been guinea pigs for the drugs and companies that produce them. Who the fuck knows what this stuff does to us.

I've seen it with half a dozen people I know. It starts with one illness treated with medication. Which causes something that is treated with another pill. Then that one, now highlighted with the mixture of two, causes something else. Treated with what? Another pill, and so on and so on.

I don't want to sound like one of those pinko, YouTube nut jobs, who thinks every guys Imovie is as credible as the encyclopedia. But it does feel like some kind of dubious mind control, and with the type of influence and power the companies who produce the drugs make, I certainly wouldn't be surprised if hands were in pockets down the line to government, mostly on the lobbying side. Especially with $289 billion dollars in annual sales to the pharmaceutical market in the US alone.

Maybe it's good for the powerful few for us normal people to be sedated. Having people fixated about cholesterol numbers and getting a full 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep a night. Keep that serotonin pumping and the lemmings will continue to spin the wheel.

Maybe people have good reason to sweat and wake up in the middle of the night.
Maybe people are on the edge of anxiety filled breakdowns because of the world they live in, not the struggle inside their head. This makes me think of something my brother told me recently. He said, "there are a thousand definitions for mental illness, but not one concrete definition for mental health." We're treating "problems" with undiscovered solutions.

I know I'm paranoid, but this makes me nervous...


**My "info" from this is from Wikipedia...so who the fuck knows if it's true.**

I'll have the pankcakes in the age of enlightenment, please...

I've been looking at posting on this blog as some sort of homework assignment, where if I don't do it up to a certain snuff, it's not worth posting. This logic has lead me to NEVER updating the blog and only occasionally finding the energy to organize my thoughts and turn it to letter form. So today, I'm going off the cuff...let's see how it goes.

I'm all about this website Kickstarter. For anyone who doesn't know, it's a new site used to fund creative projects and help them come to fruition. Even though it's run via Amazon for the money aspect, it's an incredibly D.I.Y way for artists/musicians/authors/filmmakers to remove the "funding" middleman. Which is typically some fairly obtuse corporation who is used to bridge the gap from artist to consumer. This cuts it out, and directly puts the power in hands of people who want to see these projects completed for the sake of art and personal satisfaction. Secondly, statistical progressions give me a real boner, and it's how the website is organized.

So far I've donated to the re-mastering and re-release of the pinnacle 80's NYC graffiti documentary, Style Wars. And also this really interesting film project called "The Iran Job", which seems to mix two of my favorite things, basketball and fervent feminism. This is a link to the Huffington Post article about said film:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deborah-stambler/kickstarter-case-study-th_b_1119387.html

Speaking of basketball, myself and the other 9 Nets fans in NJ are thrilled to have an NBA season. After the lockout, we'll get a 66 game season starting on Xmas day. If you ask me, this is how many games the season should be anyway. For too long the NBA regular season has just been a cursory warm-up to the playoffs, a shorter season would help prevent that. Not sure what the hell David Stern is pulling with the Chris Paul/Lakers trader, in all my years of following sports, I've never seen a commissioner pull the plug on a fair deal worked under current labor rules. Daniel Gilbert is a whiner, remember when he said the Cavs would win a championship first year without LeBron? What a nut job.

In music news:
Gaslight has been getting together quite often and working on the new record. We're in a great flow right now and I'm getting more and more excited with each song we finish. I'd say we're close to 3/4 through with the meat of the record, and tons more ideas are kicking around. Can't wait to leave town and lay this thing down...

The Bottomfeeder 10", on Alex's new label, Human Blood Records, will be officially out on December 16th. It's got nice gray/black/blue splatter on the vinyl, and our good friends at Letters From Earth printing ... (http://lettersfromearth.net/) did a great letter press cover on nice French card stock. Stoked.

Ok, that's the culmination of brain diarrhea series one...I'm not really naming it, I just look for any opportunity to include the word diarrhea into a sentence. One Love!

The Witching Hours...

"Sleep is the product of caffeine deprivation" - Author unknown

I just woke up. Feeling pretty refreshed. Got a nice chunk of sleep, uniquely uninterrupted by a needy dog or a thug kids car exhaust. Problem is...

It's 4:30 in the morning...

The biggest dilemma for me in dealing with insomnia is this element. I'm ready to start my day. Brew some coffee and walk the dog and grab a paper and sort out a plan to tackle the hours ahead. But insomnia, among other things, leaves me out of sync with most of the world. I'm ready to go, but the world isn't awake yet.

This issue isn't terrible when I'm at home. I have a couch, movies and a computer...food in the fridge and a closing door to where my girlfriend sleeps. I can wander around in the witching hours generally doing my thing without incident. Luckily I have a profession that allows these sorts of flexible hours. The only true everyday downside is an occasional bout of grumpiness, and I guess diminishing years on the end of my life.

The spotty sleep can be a terrible problem on the road. I've spent many a night wandering the grounds of a European squat house looking for a sliver of light to read. Or sat in a room, zombie-like, staring to the middle distance surrounded by slumbering bodies. Or pretending to be dead in a moving bus bunk. Less options for distraction on tour, in the middle of the night anyway.

One time in Trier, Germany...I was flopping around in a bunk bed and broke a 2x4 that landed on my drivers chest while he was sleeping. When I left the room a minute after, I was greeted by a gang of over sized and sinister looking German rats. If anyone has ever read the Maus books, you'll empathize with my panic.

On the good side of things. I've seen the sunrise creep over Niagara Falls with one leg in America and one in Canada. I've seen the sunrise come up over the driftwood and calm surf off the coast of Victoria. I've seen it come over an endless stretch of road in Kansas, being the first thing that greets you in hours, just barely tinting the horizon.

For all the frustration not being able to sleep brings, it's also an opportunity to use time that no one else gets to use...

Easy Rider...

"Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life." - Jack Keruac, On the Road

Today, I'm heading out on a mini road trip. Just me, my car, some needed distractions and a couple of destinations ... all it takes. This is one section of the American narrative that I love and cherish. Many parts of my countries history are ugly, violent and obtuse. This one is exciting and dusty, and most of all ... kind of romantic.

I've spent almost half my life periodically driving around like this. Whether it be for music, love or adventure. Perhaps that's why too much time in one place gets me itchy, when the little man inside of me freaks out and needs to jump around. Maybe crime rates would drop if everyone had a running car and a good map.

I haven't done this in a couple years. Since Gaslight has gone full time and started traveling over 8 months a year, I seldom find myself very itchy to leave once I get back. Especially since I can afford a livable apartment now. But with the longest stretch of time to myself in 5-6 years, I found my eyes/ears perking up again for something different ... something new.

Anyway, I'm gonna buy a giant cup of coffee, start up the car and get the collected works of Queen shuffling on my Ipod now to begin the mini quest. I hope a hillbilly isn't offended by my long hair and shoots me like Dennis Hopper in Easy Rider. I think I'll be alright though.

Train courtesy...you jerks.

"The surprising thing about young fools is how many survive to become old fools" - Doug Larson

I like when people give up their seats to the elderly or ill on trains. Often I'll see an old and obviously distressed person who is clearly struggling to reach and hold onto the bars while the train careens through the tunnels. At the same time, I'll typically find a row of mostly young men and women, seated, ignoring the situation. I can never tell if this is a situation of people being selfish and rude, or being truly aloof. It's hard to tell, without asking I guess...maybe next time I'll decide to delve into their douchebaggery and conduct citizen surveys while riding.

I know some people feel too bad for themselves to pry their asses off the seats. They had a long day of work, and were fortunate enough to snag a place to sit, especially on the commuter trains. I can sympathize, many times I've felt the sweet relief in my knees and feet after a long day trudging around the city. This is when the act of kindness is done begrudgingly, but it is still necessary for a general working order or human beings to exist. Old people sit, young people stand...it's easy. If my knees hurt now, I can easily find the compassion to put myself in their shoes, and sincerely hope when I'm at that advanced age a younger person would help me out.

To the aloof section of the population. The ones who stay seated due to social parities based on where they're from, or a general lack of knowledge in concepts of social graces. I give slightly more of a free pass to these people, you can't blame ignorance. But, if you ride the train more than 3 times and see what's happening around you and can't adapt, then you should be brought behind the barn and wacked with a shovel. Like a groundhog making holes in a farmers field.

It's a small thing, I know. But a microcosm of some of the selfishness and self-absorption that's rampant these days.

Sometimes I like to wear a fake mustache on the train. Just to assess peoples' reactions, and give myself a comically imposed superiority to the other riders. It's good fun, and one time Alex R. walked by me in the tunnel and didn't recognize me. Mission accomplished.

Love,
The eggplant shaped man who occasionally updates this blog.

Shameless self promotion...

I know I haven't written in a while, not due to a lack of trying. Just don't have anything good to say right now. So this one is dedicated to giving myself and my friends a cyber handjob.

My new project BottomFeeder, with Corey from Let Me Run, Dan and Mike from Gates, and Derek from Jaguar Shark has just finished our demo. It's super jersey and fun. 2 songs are posted at...

http://bottomfeedernj.bandcamp.com/
or,
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bottomfeeder/219810618039694?sk=info

Spiro Agnew booked a show on September 2nd at Maxwells. It's Let Me Run's record release with The Scandals and Gates. Come out if you're local...

Gaslight is continually hanging and writing songs. The group of them we have going right now are a cool step for us and making us even more excited to keep writing more. Next record is gonna be a trip.

That's it for shameless self promotion.
Now time for lobster dinners and naked lady yacht parties...

Benny.

The People Zoo

I like cheesy movies, one of which being Love Actually. The beginning and end scenes of that movie show heartfelt re-unitings at the airport. All sorts, husbands and wives, mothers and daughters, little kids and grandparents, you name it.

I'm sitting at an airport right now, staring, and I haven't seen anything remotely sweet in 2 hours. Alex Rosamilia calls this the "people zoo". When you sit back and keenly observe human beings habits like you're a researcher at a zoo. Social habits....eating and smelling and scratching and moving. Sometimes the only difference I can see are that humans wear clothes, because of their lack of fur.

I try not to judge, but as an ameutur student of the human condition, I can't help but wonder what the stories are behind these faces and walks and attitudes. Is this German kid really a thug in his Yankee fitted and oversized cargo sweatpants, or did he just watch a 50 Cent video when he was younger. Is this upscale looking man in a suit really a succesful businessman? He could very well be a struggling beeper salesman or a drug smuggler, or not even a man at all. It would be fun if I could read people like the Terminator, just to get a brief synopsis of what I'm seeing.

It's impossible to know what people are all about on first glance, but I guess the little devil on my shoulder is pretty sure I have it figured out. I once read a book by Diablo Cody that detailed in memoirs her brief career as a dancer/stripper. When she would dance in the glass booths, her oddest recollection was a young, good looking businessman who entered the spank tank, paid his money, and got off by licking the semen off the floor and walls of the patrons prior to him. I mean, what the fuck. If I saw that dude at the airport, my interpertation would've been well off.

Just like I have to assume that most peoples perceptions of me would be well off if they based it from first glance. Because of that, I should probably stop doing it. But I don't think I will.