           |
|
 Your Hey Mercedes weblog. The Cast: Robert Nanna Damon Atkinson Todd Bell Michael Shumaker Dan Keehn Chris Bickert Norman Arenas Ryan Snyder 
Ebay: Bob Damon Todd Mike Ryan Go Clock Go: absolute punk all music guide alton brown art of the mix awkward pirouttes bipolar braid heaven c & c drums cadmium chicago shows! critical darling dullest dvd file ebay google news grandtheftautumn invisible city kempa look like kenny michael moore my friend goes left the new top ok plus three panaphobic pirate smiles pitchfork punk news quoc machinery recwreck rocket fuel the scout theme park thieves trouble vagrant weasel manor who would buy work of fiction you look good hallelujah it's the indieblogs webring list random previous next |
March 17, 2001
Robert: 290 A Day in the Life - THe Beatles Hope i have some more time tonight to write, but in a word, last night's show was amazing. Expect a full report either here or here very soon. March 16, 2001
Todd: Hello hello...I'm sitting across from Todd who at press time is bloggin.Weird.I think I like this Blue Dawg joint.I can tell you that their hummus is pretty revolting.Try the egg breakfast sammich.Todd keeps looking over at me,and it's creeping me out.I think I'll push him around later after I feed him some brown liquor(see the Pele receipe)tonight at the show.And thank someone,anyone,that I'll be out of town. Big ups to everyone who turned out at the Stork Club last night.J todd was reppin. I had a great time. I guess we're out .boo ya
Todd: Ahhh... Free internet service in bagel shops.. Who knew? We are all just sitting @ The Blue Dawg bagel on Farwell. Dan is enjoying his bagel.. Bob is raving about his cheese-less breakfast sandwich. Mark hates the hummus. The Asiago and plain spread gets a thumbs up from me.. We'll gotta hit the road, wish us luck. We'll see you all soon.. March 15, 2001
Robert: More email... Eva has bought a new house! I would like to be the first in congratulating her, even if it is a dirty dusty dust ball as she says... Another anti-meter man story that involves the phrase, "Here's a quarter for the meter, call someone who gives a fuck." Brilliant. I hate those damn meter people. The whole lot of them. I always wish i could walk just ahead of one of their wussy-mobiles feeding all of the meters so that no tickets could be given out. That would show those slimy bastages. I hate em. The lot of them. A person who was at our Whitewater show and liked it a lot. That was very kind. He is also interested in finding out more of this delicious new nectar known as vanilla beer. Well, i'll tell you about it. It's called Stoney Creek Vanilla Porter and i got it at Whole Foods. My friend says it tastes like motor oil, but i just love the stuff. A person who saw us at the Troubadour and is inquiring about shirts. The shirts are NO LONGER available via the mail for the moment, because we're on tour! Once we get nack, we'll make all of the designs available through this very website, making it a breeze to get a T of your very own... We also had these spaghetti strap shirts made, that none of us realized were so darn small. I'm not sure who could actually wear them. Perhaps small children... Or at least they can be used as a dishtowel. Get em while supplies last. Limited edition of 25. A person informing us that we should cover "Big Boring Wedding" as a Guided By Voices song. Although I think that song is fabulous and maybe we'll do it, but the voting is long over! Soon we'll actually decide what song to do. Maybe by April 7th. Pass the word the chicks are back... Someone interested in filming a video. I'm still interested in doing videos. I think I spoke on this earlier. Even if there was no MTV or whatever, I'd still want to do videos. If only for my own personal amusement. Has anybody seen the video for the Pixies song "Velouria?" I hear it's a slow motion shot of them running across rocks, and that the one time they played it on 120 Minutes, Rikki Rathman (or whoever the host was) said they would never play it again because it sucks. Can i get a confirmation on this? A person interested in knowing our highest Scrabble score. I told her 850. Not too far off the mark! An email regarding a mysterious paypal transaction. An old friend will be at our Orlando show. Woohoo! A warning about inclement weather in St. Louis. Thank you. I can't believe it may actually snow. Boo. I don't like it one bit... But on a positive note, we will be playing Every Turn especially for your birthday! Another person ruthlessly deprived of the HM-mailer. What is up, Affinity? You got a problem with us or what? I think that's it for tonight. I promise not to do a live email answering blog session for a little while. It just seemed like something fun to do as i was waiting around. Now, I have to run to a hip-hop event with some mad mixing. Shouldn't I be getting a good night's rest?
dan: robert, I further wish not to be 'boo'd' when you mention my name...If you feel the urge to 'boo' me, I would request you do it in person...I took that 'boooing' to heart and you would know, being a gemini yourself, that we are sensitive....so please, with sugar on top, boo me in person you son beacth...what does snoop dog wash his sheets with? bleee atch see ya--
Robert: 292 I Palindrome I - They Might Be Giants After a successful practice last night, and quite a restful sleep (thank you hk), I woke up feeling kind of shoddy. Perhaps it's this oddly braced sofa bed. Perhaps it was the deli sammiches loaded with cheese that i proceeded to scarf down on Tuesday in wonton abandon. Perhaps I have a classic case of hypochodria. Many people would like to believe the latter, but you see, they just don't feel what i feel... I really need my sister, the nurse, to hook me up with some of those portable disposable under-the-tongue thermometers so i can keep a good check every 2 hours or so. I think a few boxes full would do the trick. Of course, if it always turned out normal, I wouldn't believe it... but at least i had a second neutral opinion on the subject... other than "Bob, shut up already, you're fine." You see, those little plastic thermometers just give you the news, quick and factual, every time, no matter how much you complain to them! With all that being said, I'm really excited to get outta dodge. I negotiated out of the jobby-job with little worry (if you don't count the sammiches), and now we have wrangled up a vehicle (no slap of the panic button), and everything is going to be alright. Right? I am right now going to do a live blog rendition of me checking my email. (I have some time to kill before I visit Miss Katie L, the Hey Mercedes hairstylist. Here goes: First I go to Bulk mail (18 new) and extract anything pertinent out of there... The following subjects did not make the cut: Free Florida Vacation. 77 MILLION FRESH EMAIL ADDRESSES FOR $99. Cable Decoders & Descramblers (462560). Dear Hotmail Member. (and of course) Sick in your face XXX hardcore action. On to the inbox (16 new): University Dipolmas? DELETE. A person interested in who won the Britney Spears Bonanza... Ironically, this is the person that actually won. Damon will be emailng him later today. A person sharing my hate of metermen. Right on, brother. He complemented me on "Sticking it to the man". I thank you, but i still bet we'll get a parking ticket in the mail. Unless merely posting about it consists of sticking it. I think it does. A person wondering about a possible tequila / throat coat mixture remedy. Even though I despise tequila (see tijuana post), it may be something to look into if i get desperate. A person who did not receive the Hey Mercedes mailer. Well, we can blame Affinity Webhosting for that (why i oughta...). I will send her another one, gladly. A person, oh wait it's Dan. Boo! He has a question about the Cincinnati show. I answered it. Promptly... Well, i still have 9 new ones to go, and 1 more just popped up into the Bulk Mail folder, but Miss Katie and Her Clippers are waiting... So i'll be answering them all tonight. Promises, promises!
dan: *note to self: When dining on pizza, if you plan on drinking wine don't go and drink 3 of these ....afterwards. you'll have a slight headache and won't feel as good as you'd like to feel..
dan: last half-day for me today...can't wait to get off and gather all of my shite together..I'm pretty much done..I'm looking forward to a nice night and some good eats..I hope we don't need snow chains...blessed weather...last night I counted every t-shirt we have in the house folks..I was counting them in my sleep..i was counting them with a sheep...I was counting them on the street...I even had to use my feet... bob- don't forget your hk sleeping bag.. March 14, 2001
Robert: I'm thankful. No need to slap the panic button yet. Next time we meet it will be on Milwaukee time. Cheers to you.
Robert: Yo. For the record, we most likely won't be learning a GBV song at tonight's practice. For some reason, i want to say that we've got bigger fish to fry, but that saying doesn't really work here. But it rolls off the tongue so nicely... Things may have fallen right into place for all i know. But really, what do i know? I'm just stuck here at work for another half hour... I'm excited to sink right into those green Amtrak cushions and catch some Z's. Hopefully when i open up my eyes, I'll be in Milwaukee and my bags won't have mysteriously disappeared... Tomorrow will be a busy day. I can feel it. At least I get to sleep in. Woohoo! Suckaz! ... Just joshing. I'll be blogging it up in no time. I'm still on par for a blog a day to coincide with da countdown. Is this something to be proud of? There is a transmission coming through. Please hold.
Todd: Ahhh.. The start of our weekend, and our tour, really. We will all be together in preperation for our tours start as of tonight at 7pm. It's Wednesday already hard to believe, and Bob will come up tonight straight from work, we will practice, sort through merch, and brainstorm how we are going to get our van prior to leaving on Friday. Should be interesting... Just flipped over to side two of the Lemonheads Lick. Hard to believe this record came out 13 years ago. Time now to go run last minute errans and hit the store to buy some toothpaste. See you all soon..
Robert: I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m pretending like I don’t feel sick. I’m chewing Extra Winterfresh gum. I have an employee self-review to fill out before I leave. I have 4 more hours until I leave… Our Weekend Starts on Wednesday Out of the darkness sinks a signal to our sleep, APB for every dream, dead within the week. Hooray! We will have our way… Our generation needs a folly and a fix before Friday at six, a kiss and then a kick. Hooray! We will have our way… Because our weekend starts on Wednesday, and we will race the world to get there, our weekend starts on Wednesday, and we’ll replace dead weight with grace. Wednesday, great day!… If not for deep down guilt, I would say Goddamn any man that says I can’t, amen and all that jazz. Hooray! We will have our way… Because our weekend starts on Wednesday, and we will race the world to get there. Our weekend starts on Wednesday, and we replace dead weight with grace. Wednesday, what a day! Hope that cheers you up. Now I need some cheering up. Zzz.
Robert: I can’t relax. It’s supposed to snow tomorrow. I have this constant feeling like I’m getting sick… There was no hot water in the shower this morning. I can’t relax. I have about 3 tons of bags to lug around… resting here under my desk… I will never forget the ugly look on that sick powertripped metermaid’s face. This sad sorry old codger who was smoking a stogie, for pete’s sake! I am in her car, outside work, saying my sweet goodbyes, bags packed in the backseat, when this lonely old crabby meter jockey comes rolling up to the driver side in his wussy little 3 wheel ticketing machine that I could knock over with a light sneeze… Rolls up, mouth open, the meanest stone cold face you had ever seen… we turn to look. I’m infuriated. Just yesterday, the car was ticketed while we were in the bakery grabbing a coffee… I say out loud, “Get the fuck out of here.” And this grizzled old curmudgeon with the fat disgusting cigar orders us to roll down the window and sneers (in a voice permanently gravelled from eating packs of cigarettes), “you’ve got two choices: I can give you a parking ticket or a moving violation.” I went ballistic on the guy. She was just dropping me off. Thankfully, my counterpart stayed calm and explained the situation. I unloaded all of my bags and stormed up to my desk… shaking. Everyone here is smiling – “Today is your last day, how does it feel, lucky you, etc.” and I just give my best impression of a smile back. Furious. Only now am I starting to calm down. … That I mentioned Rio yesterday is pure coincidence... and if I remember correctly, we did have a bucket of Coronas when the gang returned, but when Dan and I were chillin’, I’m pretty sure I had a dos equis… now that I think about it. And for the record, the wise man who said “do your best and don’t worry” was Morrissey. I try every day to heed the advice, but that second part is just the death. I can’t relax.
Robert: 293 Rio - Duran Duran This has been the worst morning... and i don't care if it could have got me arrested. March 13, 2001
dan: Tonight is a wonderful night..I think I'm gonna go have cookies that these scout like girls made..... wow that was fun.....: : : :: :: ..... .. .,,.. ..,.
Todd: Dan, I think you're right.. Coronas it was.. Did we not get a 'bucket' or two? Was'nt that the special there @ that outside eatery? Bucket o' beers?? And that poncho! I'll never forget walking back over the hill from the city with my newly aquired marble chess board I bargained in TJ for 25 bucks, the sun going down, a beer buzz in my walk, the heater poles in the beer garden ignited.. coming into view of Dan Keehn sitting in a plastic lawn chair with a cold one.... in full poncho.
Robert: She’ll be coming round the mountain… I am enjoying some Throat Coat Tea at the moment, sitting, staring at the screen. At this time tomorrow, I’ll be an hour and a half away from a 2 month (minus one week) worky work-type-work hiatus. Feels good, but in an odd way. Todd, whose last day at work was today, likened it to the last day of school. I would have to agree… it’s a cool tingly feeling… But that might just be the tequila. I hate tequila. Had it last in Tijuana, because, duh, it’s a rule, you have to. Afterwards, I was thwarted in an attempt to sing Rio at a Karaoke machine, and then I blew up at some moshing kids at our show that night in Poway… It may also have been the Rolling Rocks I drank while Dan was negotiating a poncho. I hate Rolling Rock. Well, I don’t exactly hate it, I just don’t really prefer it. It’s not as good as that vanilla beer I guzzled two nights ago, but it’s leagues better than that pumpkin ale I tried one halloween. I hate pumpkin ale. I like pumpkin muffins, though. It’s a damn shame that they are long out of season. In my world, pumpkin season would last from October to May and then May through September would be Lemon Poppyseed season. You know, so farmers could grow Lemon Poppyseed muffins during those months… I hate moths. Flying around like they’re all so tough. Filthy bugs, really. Oh wait. I mean, months. Oh well, whatever. I’m babbling for blog’s sake. I hate saki. I gave away all of the bottles I brought back…
Robert: The new feature is the setlist page. Somebody won the button. Don't email with the answer. You will only get a shameful glare... As you know, the whole site will be getting revamped for the summer, and this feature will go right along with it... It will be nice. I promise. Take a sammich. Leave a sammich.
Robert: You know, as much as I rag on this place, it really is a swell place to work most of the time. They are throwing a little going away soiree for me this afternoon. Deli sammiches and all. I’m sure there will be cheese on them, but it’s ok. It will be the last bit of cheese I ingest until April 28. Mark the words… Last night, I had dinner at an excellent restaurant that I forgot to mention in my pseudo-food-feature. It’s an Italian called Scoozi, and the potato gnocchi is to die for. It’s a great wide open place with a relaxed atmosphere, complete with an accordian player and an operatic crooner serenading each table. I wasn’t exactly in the right position romantically last night, but I could sense that mood. It’s a tad on the pricey side, though, and I was shocked to discover that my glass of marvelous shiraz put me back $10. Well, it didn’t really put me back per se… But it’s a great treat, especially if you’re looking for that casual, yet still romantic touch… This has been ‘table talk’ with your renowned food critic R. Thomas Nanna, brought to you every Tuesday by the fine folks at areyouwearingawire and life cereal. Mikey likes it! Alright, enough funking around. If there’s one thing that aywaw readers will be interested in as we tour and record will most certainly be: who is winning at Scrabble? Now, even though I have successfully negotiated a CD Rom of the game for the LT, it shall only be used for practice purposes, vs. Maven (computer player, who I finally beat at expert level), or as a spar between players. A healthy volley, if you will… The real game is fought in the trenches of the travel version, where letters are hid and brutal strategies are conceived. It gets pretty ugly. Perhaps we can stage a live internet broadcast of a game, complete with color commentary. For instance, we can blog as we wait for the other contestant to work the rack. Talk about getting inside the mind of minolta… This is where the tour document shines… I suppose we’ll play some songs for people, as well. If you can find the beginnings of a new feature on the HM site proper, I will send you a HM button. Please email me if you can find it. First bird gets the button. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some sammiches to retrieve. March 12, 2001
Robert: I can always count on good old Tim to keep me updated on Shane MacGowan news. Here’s an article with an excerpt from an upcoming book “A Drink with Shane MacGowan." Apparently, the new show from the South Park creators is an animated account of our president’s family’s adventures, titled That’s My Bush. I just read that the debut episode will feature “a 12-inch-tall aborted fetus who smokes a cigar and a scene in which Bush administers a lethal shot to a death-row inmate.” Offensive? Certainly to some. Funny? Well, I guess we’ll see. Actually, you’ll see. I’ll be in Little Rock… Speaking of which, In a little while I’m going to be getting the rock out of here… 2 more drag days to go.
Robert: Wellity wellity wellity, it seems as though the panaphobics have struck. It’s a shame that I will not be able to give you an absurdly detailed account of my life’s interconnection to Musical Youth’s opus “Pass the Dutchie.” Maybe next dreary dull day. My lunch was amazing. A cacophony of delights left over from a pre-dancer dinner last night. It is a merry mish-mosh of ingredients stuffed into a pita (or tortilla), and enjoyed with some ranch dressing. I have some issues with it’s current moniker: the garbage pita. Instead, I’m going to dub the thing: the Super-Everything. Last night’s super-everythings consisted of the following ingredients: potatoes, asparagus, tomatoes, feta & mozzarella cheese, mushroom, tofu, egg, and avocado. It was our best symphony yet. And this afternoon, even without the benefit of a toritilla, it was music. Reading the heroes site, I can’t help but get giddy over the thought of blogging from the road and from the recording studios. How cool is that? You will be right there in with us. Every excruciatingly bad vocal take. What? Who said that? You shouldn’t talk that way about Damon… I am hilarious. Actually, I’m going to let the cat outta the bag and make it public that Damon did the backup vocals (“safe for now”) on the EP song “The House Shook.” That’s right, I said it. This mysterious new blogger over at nuts better give the world a full scale review of the Chicago Home and Garden Show. Itellyouthatrightaboutanowa.
Robert: I just attempted the first mass HM emailer. Hope it worked… The blogs have been pretty quiet recently. I’m not sure if I like that. This mean I may have to pull another ‘bad-song-critique’ out to liven things up. Don’t make me do it. So last night I finally saw Dancer in the Dark. I had been wary of the film, given the wildly bipolar reviews and the everpresent gray cloud of warning: prepare to be disturbed. I had been preparing for a good month and a half I suppose, constantly putting it off… But last night, I dove right in… and I liked the water. A lot… Firstly, and maybe I was building it up for myself, I didn’t find the film nearly as disturbing as I expected it to be. Perhaps it was the (fantastic) vanilla beer that I was swiggin down, but I was pretty entranced by the whole thing. Given my current occupation, I can empathize SO much with Bjork’s character at the factory – the daydreamer who finds music in the buzzing, clicking machines. I mean, look at me now! Blogging at the factory. There are printers slicing away, keyboards clacking, coughs, phones… yeah I can see that. (Don’t expect me to get up and dance around here, though.) … Sure there was some cringe-worthy overacting and it pained me greatly when one of my least favorite actors (next to Shooter) started singing… but overall, I dug it. Bjork was truly incredible. We had to wonder if the part was written especially for her… I’ve been into her for a good 8 years now, and seeing her singing and dancing onscreen would have solely been worth the price of admission. Why was she not nominated for an Oscar? Sure, she wouldn’t win, but still! She deserves it. (Haven’t seen any of the other nominated actresses’ movies though. Still prepping myself for Requiem.) The Get Up Kids / Weezer show was a blast. It was great to see the old gang still rocking it out. And oh yeah, I met Rick Nielson and Robin Zander of Cheap Trick backstage. Seem odd? Well, throw in this: They played 2 songs with the Get Up Kids, including “Surrender.” Yes. Insane, I know. I guess Robin and Rick’s children are big fans of the Kids, so they wanted to show em how cool their pops’ were. Brilliant. I can even forgive Robin for refusing to give Damon a high-five as he walked off stage… For reasons I can’t go into until January 1st, I missed a good chunk of the Kids’ set, which sucked (the set didn't suck, it sucked cause i missed it. i knows my english.), but hey, my old band played exactly 80 shows with them, so I’ve had my share… Weezer, I had never seen before, and I was pretty impressed. With a sold-out crowd full of kids singing every word, you really don’t have to do too much of the stage presence thing, and they didn’t… but they rocked anyway. Afterwards, we hung out for a few on the GUK bus and watched a video of my old band and the Kids playing in a radio station in DC. Were you there? You and 9 other people! It was pretty cool to see. We were so young and impressionable. Those were the days… We left the bus to find a swirling snowstorm. We braved it to go back in to the Rave Bar and do some serious kicking back… I was very happy with the evening. Thumbs up, even without Bjork… You hear that, Kids? Cheap Trick is cool and all, but when Bjork comes up onstage and does a duet with James (as Reggie) – you give me a call, ok? Somebody’s got a case of the Mondays. Should have brought the half full case of vanilla beer to tide me over. Vanilla beer… Who knew? If Panaphobic does not update by 3 PM, i will be forced to write a scathing critique of some despised song. Where are you? For the folks that won the birthday song contest, never fear, your prizes will be mailed out before Wednesday. You have my word as a gentleman and a blogger. ...also, Robin and Rick were none too pleased that the closest they came to this list was a modest #497 with the live version of "I Want You to Want Me." Thankfully, I didn't mention "The Flame", flickering out back at #1328. March 11, 2001
dan: sorry miss jackson...i have to go to sleep now... :::::>>>>>....."avdan1000@yahoo.com" I am here to help you...
Robert: 296 Voices Carry - Til Tuesday I am the undisputed anti-king of common sense... and i have started obsessive project #986b. It will slowly unveil itself starting January 1 of next year. It's good to plan ahead.
Todd: Happy sabbath everyone! And yup, I spend mine sleeping in. Time now to go fight for a dryer and finish my laundry for tour. Meanwhile I'll go bug Mark for a coffee and scope out all of the crazies hanging out @ Comet. Maybe I'll order a plate of that delicious veggie biscuits n' gravy too.. Yummy! A sunny day here in Milwaukee. Time to go play outside. Why can't I get that Elton John song outta me head? Sing-a-long everybody! 'Hoooaalld me clossa Tony Danza!'
dan: hello.....casino versus japan...nice-soothing-after-a-hard-night-of-getting-together-with-some-friends music...sunday...whats the song? where's everybody? what am I doing here? .,.,.,.,. ...,, ,,, .... . ,,, .... .,,,,, ..... ,,,,. ....,, ..... |