36

A couple of my friends have been encouraging me to start blogging regularly, and so I thought I'd take this moment to refresh my memory as to how to do this. this is a test, this is only a test. anything I say can and will be used against me in the afterlife...

(they all start out this stupid)

I turn 36 today. My birthday has started off quite wonderfully so far. a good friend got me a couple of Bukowski's latest books, and the new Ani Difranco CD. On Thursday I watched the Bukowski documentary (Born Into This) and became an instant fan. In the bonus material, Tom Waits reads a poem from Last Night Of The Earth Poems, and as he says so himself, it was a beauty. I saw Tom Waits in Detroit on Friday night, where the spirit of Howlin' Wolf and Flannery O'Conner were conjured by the gravelly voiced patron saint of the homeless and downtrodden. I like Tom Waits because he finds value in the valueless, gives dignity to the forgotten, the dreggs of society. Though I dont' think he's particularly religious, I think he is in his own way "looking for baby Jesus under the trash". Our society so thoughtlessly throws out so much, and Tom Waits has a way of making you dig through that trash, sure that there's something you've mistakenly discarded that is actually essential to life. His gruff voice is addicting if you can listen long enough to get past the barking abrassiveness that initially makes you want to cringe and cover your ears. His music is not "immediately accesible", even though he has been covered by people like The Eagles, Rod Stewart, Bruce Springsteen, and Sarah McLachlan (among many others). oh, and his show (at the Detroit Opera House) sold out in 10 minutes. I did the best I could, but TicketBastard made sure I wasn't able to get better than 5th from the last row in the upper balcony. at least I was there...

Tonight I will complete the religious experience by going to The Church. Under the Milky Way and all that. Happy Birthday to Me. And Thank You to the friends who have made it a great one already not even 4 hours into it. You, your life and friendship, are the true gift I continue to recieve and enjoy in gratitude.