uh, excuse me...?

as some of you might know, everyone who’s doing the door at the stone is volunteers… it’s been that way since the beginning of this year pretty much and it's been working out great thanks to so many people's generosity… and i usually try to do it at least 4 nights a month when i can… and some of you already might have seen me at the door… well, i know that i’m no miss sunshine by any means… i’ve never been one and i’ll never be, let me just say that up front…
anyway, it’s been a really interesting experience “doing” the door though… it is great to help out a good cause and support the community and get to hear good music of course… and most of time the audience who come to the stone are super cool, polite and generous… however there are a few “types” of people keep turning up and i find that baffling and amusing at the same time… and i’d like to share that with you…

a. people who come well after the concert started and keep asking me how long the music has been on and how much of it is left… usually i tell them it’s full admission since i don’t want to encourage any bad habit… but then makes me wonder if those people have ever tried to do that at movies for example… you wouldn’t go to a movie and demand on paying only for what you watched… i mean it’s up to you to show up before the gig if you want to get the “full” worth of your money… and also it’s funny to see people measuring the “value” of live music that way… like how much you’d pay for a pair of shoes depending on how many times you’d wear them… (well, that's one of the ways i justify whenever i give in buying another pair of shoes... yikes...)

b. as you might know the stone has a few rules such as no drinks, no food and it applies to everybody… meaning even the musicians who are playing that night and yes, even the door person… however people will show up with some kind of beverage and i tell them they can’t bring it unless it’s water, some people take it rather personally… as if i came up with the rules only for them… some say “it’s only tea” or “it’s only lemonade”… hello, do you really think they are the same of good old H2O…? or some say “that’s ridiculous…!” we have that policy because the floor surface is rather fragile and cannot afford to have something spilled on unless water… also if you go to a concert in lots of places, you are not allowed to bring it inside the hall… just because the stone is a small place tucked in alphabet city with no huge sign outside, please don't think you are not expected to show respect to the space and the music…

c. also there are some people who come in and just stand there by the entrance... fully knowing that i'm looking at them so i don't have to walk up to them and "ask" for the admission... but after a couple of minutes them refusing to look at my direction, i get up and do exactly that... then they look rather surprised and start to look for their wallets... and usually it takes more time than necessary... i think we all kind of know that most of music venues do have admission in new york... unless it's listed that some where... so just not looking at the door person isn't going to make the admission go away too...

oh, well, as i said, the percentage of these types are very small… but each time i have to deal with them, makes me wonder… well, i do not like bouncers myself though… hmm…

ah... rainy day...

raining today... very refreshing after a few very sticky days...
watching(?) the danger man... love patrick mcgoohan...!
right after i got back home which is a month ago already, so hard to believe, i picked up a copy of "the fountainhead" by ayn rand... i'd watched the movie version some time ago and been meaning to read it but the volume of it, about 700 pages, scared me... however i saw this paper book version that was rather small in size and not too heavy, decided to read it... and in a week, i finished the whole thing... was such a book i couldn't stop reading and the characters became so vivid and real, i began to think them as real people... the book is about an architect, howard roark whose integrity and creative vision are so ahead of time, strong and uncompromising, he keeps putting to the test set by the rest of the world trying to make him fit in... meanwhile he meets a couple of people who can see what kind of challenge he has to face and try to help him... ayn rand was a philosopher who believed in objectism and said "must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life."
it might sound selfish and cold but if you read the book, you would know it's not about that by any means... it's more about not compromising your ideals and goals in order to achieve short term satisfaction and acceptance from the rest of the world...
all i can say is that it was a life changing experience...
then went to see "rescue dawn" which was really great... thought christian bale and steve zahn were so fantastic and real in portraying soldiers captured in the middle of nowhere... then also the music was quite interesting... music was done by klaus badelt and he used quite many tracks from dutch cellist ernst reijseger's solo album and a couple of frances-marie uitti, also another cellist specialized in scelsi's music and so on... guess it was hard not to notice...
then went to see "this in england" and that was an amazing movie... i was lucky enough to catch the last screening at IFC center and i was so glad i got to see it... the movie was so real and heartfelt, couldn't believe they were acting for the most of time... it was done by this director shane meadows and when i was in nottingham early this year, one guy came up to me and told me i should check his films out... and i know why now... i don't know if it'll make back to the theatres but if it does, please catch it... it was really a great experience... and 13-year0old thomas turgoose who plays the main role, shaun, never acted before... hard to believe... and stephen graham who plays combo was exceptional...
oh, also watched a few great film noirs at film forum... it's still going on...
so... there you have it...

hate postcards...

sometime toward to the end of last year i came up with this ridiculous idea of making my own postcrads... and made the first edition only for my friends... and now i have them available for everyone... that is if you are willing to pay 75¢ per each card... there are 5 designs... and they are not called hate postcards for their cheery messages...

view hate postcards

guess you could pay me via paypal somehow...
let me know what you guys think...
oh, it's also available at st. marks bookstore at the moment...