dealership

tuesday, august 26 (03)   [link]

jane:  I apologize for having to cancel so much of the tour. As many of you know now, my mother was rushed to the hospital last Wednesday morning, and she passed away yesterday afternoon. I have had nothing but support from friends and fans, and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. It is still difficult - and I suspect will be so for a long time - but your understanding and compassion have helped me feel that I can get through this.


I am so especially grateful to my bandmates, the Chrises. They were with me when my sister called to give me the devastating news, and they were with me for the entire terrible day, all the way up from Lake Forest until we got to my house. They took me to the hospital and offered advice and help and comfort. I would have completely fallen apart without them. We don't say so to each other very often, but Chris and Chris, I really love you. Thank you.

tuesday, august 19 (03)   [link]

chrisw:  Reporting from Oceanside on 8/18: A 99 cent store. A tiara! A clown. You could plan a wedding there. Moonlight Beach. (No moon present.) We grilled with the wonderful Scrabbel. Body surfing. Back to their pad. Party. M3. Many fake tattoos. Late-night french onion soup. Karaoke: taking advantage of race-blurring for the young at heart and age. Stanley! Electric Avenue! And the unmentionable thing about the dancing and the inappropriate touching.

monday, august 18 (03)   [link]

chrisw:  Reporting from San Diego...
August 17th, 2003.


A little caffeine. (Not for me.)


Observance: the greatness of Dolly Parton. Sometimes...it is a Hard Candy Christmas.


We have a chance meeting with Scrabbel. Serendipity at Kettlemen City. Not a total surprise: the odds are lowered: same destination, same itinerary.


Soundtrack by The Soft Pink Truth. Re-visit Ladytron. "You don't have to spend / You just have to pretend"


A water pipe bursts! Inside Twiggs! The AA meeting is pushed out to the streets.


Scrabbel: beautiful. Accompaniment by Speak N' Spell! "You are incor-rect. The cor-rect spel-ling is F-I-R-E-D."


The Whistle Stop is a bar. And a nice one.

sunday, august 10 (03)   [link]

jane:  Friday night Chris Groves and I went to the Björk show, at Pier 30-32. If you went, too, you know how beautiful it was. The moon was almost full, hanging low in the sky over the bay. Björk's fireworks went off in time to the music right across the sky. As Justin said later, "The element she conjured was fire. There was water all around us, but she played with fire." We found out later that all the fireworks and other pyrotechnics were MIDI events controlled from the stage. It was amazing. I'd never seen fireworks used as a percussive element before.


I wish I'd had a camera; but we weren't allowed to bring in recording devices of any kind.


Björk was wearing a spacey satiny-white pantsuit with enormous batwing sleeves that billowed behind her in the breeze as she danced. Her hair was cut in a severly asymmetrical bowl cut.


Matmos played as part of Björk's band, along with an amazing harpist and the Icelandic String Orchestra. Drew from Matmos was wearing a long strange hooded caftan. Chris found out later that it was a Masonic robe he'd found in his grandfather's basement.


After the show we went to the after party - which we found out about through our friends Jay Lesser and Bevin, who are in a project together called Sagan, just wrapping up recording their album. Martin from Matmos was quitting his job at the Art Institute, so the party was in part a celebration of independence.


It was a very warehouse-y party, a concrete floor with a couch and a few chairs dragged in for sitting, a DJ and projector showing black and white footage from another time. But they were serving Veuve Clicquot, which Chris immediately noted and took advantage of.


Before long Björk and her entourage entered. Her entourage was not very big, just a few friends and Matthew Barney, looking just like he did in Cremaster 3, with a leather newsboy cap. He was shorter than I thought he'd be (aren't they always?). Björk was wearing purplish high-heeled ankle boots with a sort of 19th century storybook look to them, a Pucci-like print dress, and her bowl cut. One side of her head was shaved, and drawn on with brilliant shiny make-up in a colorful pattern. She was standing right next to me but you have to understand, Björk is from another stratosphere, a different plane of existence. It felt so surreal to have her in the same room.


Chris went up to her though and told her he liked her hair. And then the dancing began. Jay and Ryan began a strange ritual, stripping off their clothes and exchanging items, doning each other's clothing. (I have to rely on the testimony of others, as I was outside at this time.) Then they chose Justin and Chris to continue the ritual. I can attest to the=is part: Justin and Chris did indeed strip off their clothes, fling them at each other, and put on the other man's duds. They then attemted to choose two others to carry on the ritual, but were denied.


It was about time to go. Chris and Justin had clearly had a great deal of champagne. The sounds of the show we'd seen , although several hours ago, were still ringing in my head. It was an auspicious Friday a week before the Dealership tour. Although now of course we are going to include fireworks!