I'm Old Gregg!

This is a clip from an excellent show from across the pond, the Mighty Boosh. It won't help much to explain the background, but in this episode, there's a 70/30 man/fish named Old Gregg in love with a jazz maverick called Howard. Old Gregg happens to keep the Funk in his cave with him, which is why he sounds and looks a bit like a soggy Rick James. Anyway...enjoy.

Getting SMART.

On Tuesday mornings, I read with kids at Barnes Elementary in Beaverton. Although I have no plans to raise children of my own, I am concerned that the kids my friends are raising are dumb, and they will have to pay my Social Security someday and I can't live on what a burger-flipper makes. I have been volunteering with the SMART program (Start Making A Reader Today, natch!) for four years, and in that time I've learned a lot about snakes, sharks, dinosaurs, and what Clifford, the big red dog, is up to. I am also well-versed in Arthur the Anteater's social circle, which includes a monkey and a rabbit. Once I tried to create a re-enactment with a real rabbit, monkey, and anteater, and the results don't bear talking about. Suffice to say that they were not friends, and I think the rabbit is still in therapy.
Anyway, this Tuesday I went to the school, and I had kind of rubbed at my hair after taking my bike helmet off but had not checked it in a reflective surface, and these two girls of around eight looked up at me and smiled and one said "I like your hair-do" and I thanked them and moved on, but then I realized: around eight is when little girls can get mean. Did my hair look stupid? Were they mocking me? I spun around on my heel and watched them move on, and in another second I was on them, punching and cursing. Even if they were sincere, it's better to demonstrate dominance early. I suspect that they had poor reading skills, as well.
I guess one of the best things about volunteering is that they can't fire me.

Art Institute Gallery Gig, 2/2, 6-8

This Groundhog's day, please stop by and listen to us play some minimal synth and electronic records in support of an interesting-sounding installation called Email Erosion: http://www.ethanham.com/ethan.html. The deal, insofar as I am capable of understanding it, is: you can write The Eroder an email during February at eroder@emailerosion.org, and the robot will get data from the email and it will alter the sculpture depending on that data. You can watch the robot making the sculpture either on the webcam on the website as of 2/2 at 6 PM, or come see it in action tomorrow at 1122 NW Davis St. It will be aided and abetted by fine, fine recorded music.

Also, if an expensively-dressed First Thursday couple sees their reflection in a puddle today, it means that metropolitan housing prices will stay high for another six months.

Postscript: That robot did not work, because as it turns out it did not have internet access, but we enjoyed some electronic music, delicious cookies and social interaction with students with tattoos and vacant expressions. Ah, youth culture!

Post-postscript: They got that robot to work eventually, and the final shots of the eroded sculpture are kinda awesome. I can't link to them, but you can look at the websites above for updates.