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 Your Hey Mercedes weblog. The Cast: Robert Nanna Damon Atkinson Todd Bell Michael Shumaker Dan Keehn Chris Bickert Norman Arenas Ryan Snyder 
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January 20, 2001
January 19, 2001
Robert: Woohoo. Almost outta here. The day was such a drag, i can't even exclamate "woohoo." I was just reading about someone who i can get excited about: Julianne Moore, who has officially jumped into my top 10 favorite actors list. She deserves it. I forgive her for Psycho.
Robert: Hey gang. Have you heard about this super controversial movie from Japan called Battle Royale? I was just reading this article about it, and it seems absolutely horrific. It's presently on a tour of the US, most likely to try and secure some type of release here... Has anyone seen it? I'm just curious. Go read about it. It's just insane. The day had a bright shining spot by way of a lunch date at Bukara, but since then it has just sunk deeper and deeper into that mind-numbing funk that has me at every turn when m'here. Word has traveled fast through the wires here, so i'm fielding a lot of questions from passers-by. One of my counterparts even took the Killing a Camera video home last night and gave me a positive review. Her only complaint was that she couldn't hear the vocals that well. Isn't that always the way?
dan: I am feeling much better today and maybe it's cause I had a 24 oz. can of this beer before noon today. I dunno? I know your probably thinking miller lite? But thats what I had to choose from miller light, genuine draft, busch light or fosters..now Fosters would have f 'd me up too much so I went with the light to put me back at the level position I need to be in. I had to take this massive detour today ya see this bridge was closed and I took my own detour i guess; anyway I went way outta my way on these back country roads to get to work, so that SUCKED. But it did keep me from getting to work on time which is a great excuse I might add or I guess I just did add. One other thing before I go surfing , I just forgot what I was gonna say...bye. oh yaeh, I wasn't looking at all of the bars that I passed on my way to work or anything but I seemed to notice that they were all totally packed with people..hey it's friday are we really supposed to work? ps. watch out ann arbor I ain't takin any sh*t from nobody. seriously!
Robert: Nice day. Even the Crocodile Hunter getting bit won't cheer me up. It's snowing again which threatens to cast a pall upon tomorrow's travel. I think my cranky mood from last night has spilled into my morning. The usual post office woes abound. My room is a mess and there's no time to clean it. There are no less than 149 auctions up on Ebay for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon DVDs. I'm steering clear, because the last time i tried to play a Hong Kong DVD on my player, things went a little haywire. I had to take it to get fixed, whereupon they kept it for a day, said "um, nothing's wrong with it" and then charged me $25. I still have problems with it. Sometimes i think that's all in my head or something... And then there's that bike i bought last summer. A week after i bought it, during a nice brisk ride, the back wheel fell off. I mean, it FELL off. I walked the poor bike back and took it to get fixed. They kept it for a week, charged me and gave it back. A week later, the EXACT same thing happens. Maybe it's just me. Tonight, remind me to buy some Throat Coat tea, strings, and a pack of my new favorite treat, Tofurky Jerky.
Robert: 347 March of the Pigs - Nine Inch Nails More on this and that and some other things to come... January 18, 2001
Robert: My road to Normal will be a-rockin', thanks to Coconuts Music. Usually i wouldn't go near that place with a 39 1/2 foot pole, but i happened to notice a SALE there this morning. Every CD, basically for $9.99. So I went bananas. I finally picked up The Dave Brubeck Quartet's "Time Out" . I also got a Louis Prima / Keely Smith CD - "Breaking it Up", and lastly, the Nina Simone CD "After Hours," featuring, among other wonderful things, a version of "Lilac Wine." Oh man. I can't wait to drive.
Robert: Quickly, i had some chinese food for lunch (i know i will pay dearly), and my fortune read "The coming month shall bring winds of change in your life." Ah, yes.
Robert: Here's a good article on films to watch for in 2001 from Ain't it Cool... And, thanks to SurfWatch, i won't be reading any reviews of the movie Snatch. You have to wonder. How does it know?
Robert: I'm pretty darn psyched about purchasing the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon DVD as soon as it comes out. It would be amazing if there were deleted scenes, behind the scenes footage, interviews, commentary, etc. One can only hope. Hence, I was pleased to find a "photo essay" on the movie courtesy of Time.com... However, I'm none too pleased about the fact that you can't even get to picture #1 because their link is wrong! Go ahead. Try it yourself. It is certain to frustrate you as much as i did me. In other news, there's a ton of work to be done here... Tonight, I'm driving back and forth from Normal IL (one of my least favorite cities on Earth), so i'm going to be up pretty late again. No sleep debt reconciliation for me tomorrow, though. Straight from work, it's up to Milwaukee for practice and pow-wow before the show on Saturday. Yahoo.
Robert: 348 Blister in the Sun - Violent Femmes Well, congratulations to the Violent Femmes for being the first band to land 2 songs on the list. Unfortunately, there will be no more appearances by the trio. Sad really. I guess i should mention some of their honorable mentions: Add it Up, Prove My Love, Please Do Not Go, and of course, American Music... I put up some actual dates on the Hey Mercedes upcoming shows page. There will be much more where that came from in the weeks ahead... Also, the US postal service can go eat a turkey or something cause they're really pissing me off. Since when has mailing something become such a terrifying experience? ... Now I will go see what's up with the world. January 17, 2001
Robert: You know the days are pretty dull when you find the time to actually write the word "blah." So here we are. Blah. I did make it over to the post office a little while ago. The line was the longest i had ever seen it. All the way out the door and into the hallway of the State of Illinois building. Luckily i didn't have too much to mail. An LP, a shirt, and a zine. So i used the handy DIY scale and just got enough stamps to cover the postage. That's what i'm doing with the videos now, cause i have about 30 more at my house, waiting, certain to make an unsuspecting postal worker pass out in disgust. Note that i didn't say "go postal." You figure i would. Hmm. Oh yes. I did update the HM news, although there isn't too much going on right now. We're playing Saturday, and then we're taking off the whole month of February to practice and write before we tour in March and record in April. So, i guess you could call this the interim, the waiting period, the rev-up, the foyer, the tunnel, the plains... The waiting... is the hardest part.
Robert: Who's left and who's leaving? Jason Newsted and Metallica. It should be noted here that, even though i did like Metallica as a young child of 13, they will not be represented on the list. And thank heavens, Roxette will be releasing a new album later this year. It's about time, right? (insert sounds of crickets) ....right? (insert footage of a lonely tumbleweed rolling by). Although i did once own the 45 single to "The Look," there will be no Roxette songs on the list. I am making this statement in complete confidence, even though i have not yet heard their latest single, "The Centre of the Heart (is a Suburb to the Brain)." Oh brother...
Robert: The day's not starting so well... So i'm pretty sure it was sometime between 3 AM and 6 AM. I woke up, in my bed, in my room, and could barely move. It took enormous energy to reach towards the lamp. When i finally got to it, it wouldn't turn on. I was convinced the electric was off. It smelled like something was burning. I saw that a lit candle had fell just under my computer and was setting fire to everything around it. I jumped over and extinguished the fire. I then noticed a steady flow of water shooting out from behind the phone jack. It was splashing everywhere and ruining everything in my room. I ran out to get my roommate to help. Then i really woke up... Got to start sleeping at normal hours. QT from that terrible MTV show 2gether died last night at age 16. It's always a horrible thing when someone so young dies. Even though the show was just plain awful, I'm sure that he could have gone on to bigger and better things... Why do i have a feeling all of today's posts will be negative... tragic... nightmarish... ?
Robert: 349 Hybrid Moments - The Misfits Whenever I stay up late or get up super early, i usually use the next day to pay back some of my sleep debt. Whenever I come home from work and take a nap, it always ends up lasting way too long. Yesterday I woke up at 12:45 AM. Whenever I sleep more than 8 hours, i get nightmares. Last night was no exception... January 16, 2001
Robert: One last thing... the Polyvinyl Records website says we are playing on Saturday in Urbana with Pele. This is wrong. We are playing in Ann Arbor, MI on Saturday. Just wanted to clarify. And now, I leave.
Robert: The worst part about a slow day is: having the time to noodle around on the internet and stumbling upon a hotbed of negativity. It does wonders for my ulcer and creates a tiny voice in my ear that seems to be whispering, "Bob, now is the time to start being the best damn securities clerk that you can be." Rub my eyes, read some news, and stop listening... On a simliar note, it looks like i'm on track to keep m'job over the summer, which won't be too bad, since we're not doing any real touring until August and September. There was an Orwell song that had the lyrics "Come August Come."
Robert: The day has been going by pretty fast and has thus far seemed overwhelmingly empty. I've only got 3 hours left here and then it's home for some REAL work. Speaking of REAL work, we bagged another song this past weekend, tentatively called "Eleven to Your Seven." I'll most likely hit the hay kinda early, given my time of awakening this morning: 4 AM. That's right, I said it. I spent two wonderful days in one of my least favorite cities, Normal IL. Luckily, it contains some of my favorite people, so i enjoyed some Cranium and Beyond Balderdash, and, shunning the train, drove a car up to the tay. I left at 4:15 AM. Surprisingly, i'm not that tired yet. It will hit me as soon as i get home, i'm sure.
Robert: You know that song by CHICAGO that goes "oo woo woo no, baby please don't go" ? Well, it's constantly on the radio sitting atop the desk right across the way. The song is on every single day. It has ingrained itself into my subconcious. I find myself humming it, singing along, tapping the desk. Help. Someone... Don't worry, though, it's not going to show up on my list. Speaking of m'list, it's been a long weekend, but yet i've still managed to get to the blog to keep you on track with the big countdown. So far, I've posted every single day of 2001. I guess that consistency is something that me and the CHICAGO song have in common. Every... Single... Day. I was a major Ben Folds Five fan for about 10 months straight. I still think "Whatever and Ever Amen" is an amazing album, but they've since melted into the big crowded background, to resurface at odd nostalgic times (and for pointless countdowns). If you fell for Ben and the gang's wonderful mix of jazz, rock, showtune, etc, like i did, than it would have been impossible for you to not smile at the song "Kate." What a happy-go-lucky crowd pleasin' ditty! The bridge where he sings "Down by Rosemary & Cameron, she hands out the Bhagavad Gita," seriously runs through my head at the oddest times (much like the drumbeat to Jawbox's "Chinese Fork Tie"), and with lines like "When all words fail, she speaks. Her mix tape's a masterpiece..." you can't really go wrong in m'book. Ben has since married and divorced Kate, along with his band, so i doubt i'll be hearing this song performed again. Although, i hear there's a solo album on the way. And i wait patiently. Jeers to inbound Interstate 55, between Joliet and Chicago. You have now become my most despised of expressway stretches. There's the outright despicable right-wing billboards, and the drivers... don't get me started. Just this morning at 5 AM, i saw a little car cut off a truck... so then the truck pulls up alongside and starts swerving fast into the little car's lane - to scare it. A truck, people! Grow up. Y'ain't gonna get anywhere faster by taunting some poor little car that just wanted to exit, right? You'll be happy to know that i gave the truck driver the frowning of a lifetime as i passed... But the real question is: why was i on 55 this morning at 5 AM?
Robert: 350 Kate - Ben Folds Five I tried to iron a shirt this morning and i horribly failed. I burned myself a few times. I just don't get it. How can one's skin take all of that direct steam heat? Next time, I'll try it when i'm not actually wearing the shirt. I'm back at work and i just informed m'boss bout m'tour. More to come. January 15, 2001
January 14, 2001
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