halloween weekend

here i am in my apartment in boulder. it's prep time for halloween. i am john mcenroe circa 1972. i just got back from an amazing sushi dinner at hapa. orgasm roll, amazing.

i'm listening to griffin house. he's singing a song for me about L.A.. "even if i had the money to stay, i still can't afford what it costs. all my things melt away, only love remains" you should really here this song, it's called "love remains".

i'm going to see the motet tonight. they are a jazz/funk/jam band. really good. as they say, dance your ass off! every year they do a halloween show that covers an artist. years past have included michael jackson, prince, etc. this year: madonna. i'm not that big of a madonna fan, but it's not about madonna. it's about letting the good times roll and messing around and meeting strangers and enjoying the evening and being john mcenroe.

also, not to be materialistic, but i also bought this from patagonia. patagonia is very nice.

and then next week is the big apple. NYC, it is on.

peace, happy parties on halloween, and laissez le bon temps rouler!

view from my office

caroline in the new york times

there must be some magicical vibe between my friends and the new york times. first, alex beh is brotally quoted in an article. now, my friend caroline shows up in a picture. check out the girl in the back with the blonde hair. she is seen at an annie leibovitz gallery showing which she helped set up. here's the link.

congrats caroline, i wish that one day i will make it in the new york times. you, caroline, are a celebrity. how does it feel?

rod stewart alert (see pic), music, and snow???

is it really october 9th? wow, time is flying. things are happening.
beer is brewing. leaves are falling. snow is coming?

yes.

we might get a couple inches of snow this evening. that's right.
two days ago it was 75 degrees, now we might get a dusting of snow.

so, as the leaves change or the snow falls, i have some music for you.

here's what's happening in my house these days:

lupe fiasco - food and liquor
fave tracks: i gotcha, kick push, real, hurt me soul
my morning jacket - okonokos
fave tracks so far: golden, lowdown, steam
easy star all stars - radiodread
fave tracks: karma police, let down, no surprises.
(this is a reggae version of ok computer)
medeski scofield martin & wood - out louder
fave tracks: tootie ma is a big thing, legalize it
josh ritter - girl in the war
only song i have and therefore my favorite:
blame it on the tetons (modest mouse cover)
ray lamontagne - till the sun turns black
fave track: you can bring me flowers (WHEN I'M DEAD AND GONE!)

ok, peace out people. have a nice october.
remember, the leaves changing does not mean death.
it means they are exploding with life... and you gotta love it.

oh, and here's a little tip for you on drama:
if it's necessary drama, deal with it.
if it's unnecessary drama, get over it.

oh, and welcome back seth!
please leave a comment if you read this...
i just want to make sure you didn't combust on your honeymoon.

cya!

jackson hole, wy

imprints in the sky

limb by limbs

teton peaks

the snake slithereth

togwotee pass or your favorite camping spot

teton up

these are from my labor day trip to wyoming with jenna...
hope you like them.
click to enlarge.
-me

lighten up

so, sometimes it is necessary to take life seriously... to overthink the details, to proclaim the seriousness of life, and to always be in control.

but most of the time it's not necessary.

for example, i have 2 great friends in los angeles that are in entertainment: one a scriptwriter, the other a music manager.
they both work hard, are successful, and go for it in their careers. but they also don't sweat the setbacks, don't give a shit if things don't go exactly their way, and they always have a positive outlook. they also admit they don't have all the answers, and go with the flow and make things up along the way if they have to. they work hard, but play hard. they don't take themselves and their self-importance seriously... which is a good thing.

so, lighten up. we're specks of sand in a galaxy. yes, we each have meaning, but take it easy. don't be so serious about yourself. if things work out, awesome. when they don't... it's ok. things will come around. life will keep moving. everything is going to be ok.

boarding gear... it's on.

saturday mornings

Two things make my weekend mornings more enjoyable:

Coffee and The New York Times.

I've started drinking matte b/c it makes me less jittery
and doesn't make my ears ring as much b/c of my tinnitus,
but i still like to drink coffee - especially with a good newspaper.
besides, matte is very very boulder. drink it too much
and you might forget about bruce springsteen, hunks of bbq'd
pork shoulder,and american beers like rolling rock and miller high life.


Why The New York Times?

Because the articles are incredibly descriptive, smart,
and interesting.what other newspaper will simultaneously
have articleson a hole-in-the-wall new york pizza joint,
lupe fiasco's debut album,traveling in patagonia, mario batali,
and noam chomsky's book?

On other notes, fall is here in Boulder. It's snowing in the
mountains,but here in Boulder it's all about nice consistently
crisp autumn days.last weekend i bought a snowboard
(salomon amp), bindings (burton custom),and
boots (vans with the rad steel lacing system).
i also bought the fivemountain pass (arapahoe basin,
keystone, breckinridge, vail, beavercreek). this will winter will
be a new adventure in learning how to board and
having a hell of a lot of fun in the process. oh yeah!

And after the labor day trip to jackson hole, i have new new
travels ahead.first, going to oxford ohio this coming
weekend for seth's wedding. then going to new york city for
my birthday at the beginning of november.
i've already managed to convince the people at the woody
guthrie archives in nycto let me in the door
and look through rare unpublished guthrie lyrics.
i'm also planning to make it to mario batali's
(molto mario) restaurant "babbo" in nyc and have
the best meal ever recorded on planet earth.
in addition to that, the all-star lineup of tyler, caroline,
aniko, and iwill all be in the same city at one time.
should be epic. i don't plan on sleeping
too much. did i mention epic?

ok, time for me to get off this thing. peace.

also, i took the above pic of the berlin wall in 2001.

from the garden...

my grandfather has passed on

it was a long week this week. on friday i got the news that my grandfather, known as grampy to a few and mayor olexia to others, had passed away in his sleep. it's been a tough week, filled with many tears and sorrow. i went back to mingo junction, oh with my sister and stepped back into time... into a small steel town once vibrant but now lifeless and rusted out.

it was my first funeral as an adult. i saw my grandfather in his casket. he had deteriorated terribly in the past several weeks, but they did the best to give him the appearance of the man we loved and knew.

but to me, that wasn't the point. he could have looked absolutely like himself, but that really wouldn't matter. i wasn't looking at the man i knew, it wasn't the spirit and personality and energy that made grampy... grampy. that is the person i miss. call me religious, call me whatever, but i just don't see how someone can believe that death is the end. there is more to life than what we see, i do know that.

Check out these links:

A Newspaper article honoring my Grandfather

Obituary

So, As Grampy said, Let the good times roll. And just take it one day at a time... life can end any moment, so live each day richly.

-me

WISH LIST:

uh oh... the pumpkin is attracting attention...

Today I was surprised to receive the following email from a complete stranger...
I guess he is pretty serious about his pumpkins:

--- "Lee" wrote:

> Rusty: A neighbor and I were concerned last night
> when we walked past your plot and saw your very
> obvious, gorgeous, huge pumpkin. This is the season
> of theft and pumpkins are favorite targets. I used
> your plot sign and some squash leaves I found in
> your path to try to cover the pumpkin. It needs to
> be hidden very well and my job may not have been
> good enough. I used to cover mine with loose dry
> grass. It also needs to be harvested as soon as it
> is ready. Anyway, it was still there this morning.
> Lee , Plot #415

So, hovering on the line of sarcasm and sincerity, i sent him this reply:

Lee,

Thank you for the kind note. This probably all goes
back to my birth in Circleville, OH - home of the
world's largest pumpkin festival. I'm sure God has
known about this particular pumpkin for a long time.

You're right... The pumpkin needs to be harvested as
soon as it is ready. But if I'm going to grow
Colorado's biggest pumpkin of 2006, then I guess it
won't be harvested for at least another month (maybe
two?!). I'll devise a system to cover it up, thanks
for the warning. I would hate to see it get stolen, so
I'll figure something out... maybe a booby trap?
haha...

But seriously, thanks for the suggestions on how to
cover it up. Loose dry grass sounds like a pretty good
idea. I appreciate your concern and for taking the
time to contact me.

Take care,
-rusty


it's crazy out there in the garden plot. people don't play around when they're talking about their organic veggies...
later.

ps: the pic is of the circleville pumpkin festival