Live rock, LP records, extreme karaoke, dancing (especially Thursdays/Saturdays at Club Congress and Mondays at Surly Wench, both of which sometimes let me DJ), hiking/camping, my bicycle, cactus and other desert flora, vegetarian eats, making cat noises, indie film, trains and the tracks that carry them, old buildings, maps, public transit, public art, public/pirate radio, meteorology, mini golf (I play), roller derby (I watch), environmental and civil/human rights activism, Olympia WA, other people's cats, having quirks, not growing up, not moving to Portland, being short, being a shy exhibitionist, Atari 2600/5200, and YOU!
I'd like to meet:
Voters! Okay, and non-voters, too, but only if you're willing to change yourself into a voter.
Specifically, you need to vote on November 4 for a man from the south side of Chicago named Barack Obama, as well as his charming side-kick from Scranton, PA, Joe Biden.
John McCain is not a maverick, but a solid conservative who supports George W. Bush on almost every issue. Plus his running mate, Sarah Palin, is staunchly against abortion even in cases of rape/incest, believes that global warming is a hoax, and she's NOT qualified for the job of leading this nation! Less than two years governing one of the least populated states? Heartbeat away from the oldest person to run for a first term as president? Bad idea.
If you think that you're too "against the system" to vote, then I have some advice for you. Don't get pregnant or get anyone pregnant, because abortion is likely to become illegal once those two get to appoint some Supreme Court justices. Don't get a job that's more than two miles away from home, because those gas prices are just going to keep going up. Don't turn 18, because that 100 year war in Iraq is going to need lots of fresh, uniformed meat. And don't get sick, because good luck getting health care via McCain's "market-based" solutions.
Obama/Biden are not perfect. I do not agree with them on every issue. That's okay! Because they are inteligent, rational, responsible people who will do a damned good job. What makes Obama so inspiriing is in his call for all of us to get involved. Once he becomes President, we have to keep working to help enact the solutions this world needs. (For example, Obama and Congress can pass incentives for clean energy, but we have to do our part by driving less!) November 4 is only the beginning!
Music:
The top forever: Husker Du, Jawbreaker, Rites of Spring, Embrace, Cringer/J Church. All the others, according to our alphabet: All Girl Summer Fun Band, American Analog Set, ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Antelope, Archers of Loaf, At The Drive-In, Atom and His Package, Avail, Bad Brains (before HR turned out to be a homophobic, violent, drug-addled asshole), Bangs, Beat Happening, Bebe and Serge, Bikini Kill, Birthday Suits, Black Flag, Black Sabbath, Blake Babies, The Blow, Bob Dylan, Bob Log III, Buzzcocks, Cheap Trick, Chester, Coachwhips, Crimpshrine, Dag Nasty, Descendents, Discount, Doo Rag, Engine Kid, Erase Errata, Farside, Fugazi, Galactic Federation of Love, Garden Variety, Gaunt, George Squier Orchestra, Glossines, Go Gos, Golden Boots, Gorilla Biscuits, Hank Williams, Health, Hobart, Hot Water Music, Robyn Hitchcock, Injections (CT), Joan of Arc, John Cash, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, Joy Division, Kid Dynamite, Knockout Pills, La Cerca, Last of the Juanitas, Lemon Drop Gang, Ted Leo, Les Georges Leningrad, Les Thugs, Le Tigre, Lifetime, Make Believe, Melvins, Mercyland, Mika Miko, Mineral, Minutemen, Misfits, Mondo Guano, Mr. Airplane Man, The Nerves, Nirvana, Octopus Project, Okmoniks, Old Time Relijun, Operation Ivy, Parts and Labor, Pixies, Pohgoh, Pork Torta, Portastatic/Superchunk, Primadonnas, Public Enemy, Ramones, Scrog, Seaweed, Sebadoh, 7 Seconds, Shark Pants, Shudder to Think, Sicko, Silver Scooter, Slant Six, Sleater-Kinney, Starfish, Stooges, Sugar, Sugarbush and related projects, The Cars, The Clash, The Cure, The Gossip, The Smiths, The Thermals, The Who, Thin Lizzy, Tiger Trap, Token Entry, Tomorrow, Tones on Tail, Ultra Maroon, Uncle Tupelo, Undertones, Unrest, Vaselines, Velvet Underground, Violent Femmes, Weird Lovemakers, Wesley Willis, Winelord, X, XBXRX, Xiu Xiu, Neil Young
Movies:
Amelie, Bowling for Columbine, Empire Strikes Back, American Splendor, American Movie, Life of Brian, Edward Scissorhands, Mary Jane's Not a Virgin Anymore, Taxi Driver, Oh Brother Where Art Thou?, Bob Dylan Don't Look Back, The Straight Story, Lost in Translation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, O.G. Night of the Living Dead (slow zombies forever!), Ghost World, Day the Earth Stood Still, Chasing Amy, All Over Me, Hands on a Hard Body (NOT a bodybuilding flick), Hard Day's Night, Rock n Roll High School, Bandwagon, We Jam Econo
Television:
Doctor Who, The Simpsons, Fawlty Towers, M*A*S*H*, The Weather Channel (in general), Square Pegs, The Muppet Show, The Prisoner, Avengers, All in the Family, O.G. Star Trek, Welcome Back Kotter, Good Times, Glenn Campbell's Good Time Hour, Twilight Zone, Jack Horkheimer: Star Hustler, Facts of Life but first season ONLY, What's Happening, The Desert Speaks, Honeymooners, The Joy of Painting with my good friend Bob Ross, Yes Minister, CPO Sharkey (my dad's all-time favorite show, but he'll never be on MySpace so I have to list it for him), Battlestar Galactica--oh, I just found out there's a new one, but unless it has an actor who will later end up on the A-Team, and another actor who once starred on Bonanza, plus a robot dog even more ridiculous than Doctor Who's K9, then it cannot possibly hold a candle to the original.
Books:
Desert Solitaire--Abbey, Travels with Charley--Steinbeck, 1984--Orwell, King Leer--Shakespeare, Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung--Lester Bangs, Johnny Get Your Gun--John Dudley Ball, The Elements of Style--Strunk and White, anything by David Foster Wallace (the more footnotes, the better--and may he rest in peace!), anything by Salinger not just the obvious Catcher in the what's its name, Hemmingway when I'm feeling manly, Bradbury when he's not wasting time getting on Michael Moore's case, and the inevitable Tolkien. I'm tending these days to prefer short stories and creative non-fiction to novels both as a reader and writer and am reconsidering my ideas of who my favorites are.
Heroes:
Awesome short people: my dad, my brother Matt, Jane Wiedlin, Iggy Pop, Prince, Michael Feldman, my congressman Raul Grijalva, and most importantly, Monika Jane Seitz!
One-person rockers: Bob Log III, Atom, Har Mar Superstar, NoBunny, Wesley Willis, The H-Girl (with shout out to the P-Man), I Hate You When You're Pregnant, Hawnay Troof, Tracy and the Plastics, Militant Children's Hour, Tender Forever.
And my overall favorite people in rock history: Bob Mould, Ian MacKaye, Guy Picciotto, Blake Schwarzenbach, Lance Hahn, Calvin Johnson, Kevin Seconds, Tim Kinsella.
