Crazy Cat Lady at the Crazy Quilt Festival

On Saturday I had the pleasure of spinning at the Crazy Quilt Music Festival in Greenbelt, MD, which is one of three U.S. cities built from scratch as part of the New Deal. I spun between musical acts for several hours, and then did a one and a half hour set accompanied by the Playa Del Fuego fire dancers. You can see video over at the ALP site.

Unfortunately the day of the gig I had to make a vet appointment for George because his third eyelid was protruding--a sign of illness in cats. Fortunately through the wonders of technology I was able to keep an eye on George during my gig. As you can see in the photo, I have a netbook next to my DJ laptop that was used to monitor petcam footage from my apartment. Despite being 13 miles away I was able to see that George was eating and drinking. His vet visit later in the week indicated that his CRF has advanced slightly, so I will need to start administering IV fluids once a week or so. He is doing much better now!

A Day That Will Live in Infamy

On June 22, 2009, nine people perished at a spot thousands of metro commuters pass through every day en route to work in DC. An inconvenient consequence is that red line commuting will be f*cked up for months to come. Despite being terminally early to gigs, I am typically late to work, and my tardiness has increased exponentially despite efforts to leave my apartment earlier and earlier in the week following the accident.

Initially I tried shuttle buses that were transporting commuters past Takoma Station. On the second day of red line dysfunction I got fed up of standing on a speeding vehicle, and sought the refuge of an empty 14th street bus at Takoma station. This was not a brilliant move from a time management perspective! I have also tried taking the red line to Fort Totten and then switching to the green line and back to red. This results in a one hour forty minute commute. I don't mind this prolonged travel time if I wind up in an exotic location, but this seems like a lot of trouble to go through just to sit in a windowless beige cubicle all day.

Fortunately one of my coworkers told me about the S9 Express. I can catch it at its first stop, 1.4 miles from my apartment. It definitely transports a very different demographic than I am accustomed to on Montgomery County buses! The typical rider wears a suit and works on their laptop or conspicuously reads the New York Times. Not that there is anything wrong with that!! I was FINALLY able to arrive to work on time on Friday, plus had a nice above-ground view of DC as the bus traveled through DC's Gold Coast and Mount Pleasant en route to my destination outside the National Geographic building. I think this will work for me until the red line is back on track.

Queering Sound

Last weekend I had the privilege of performing at this year's Queering Sound, both as Arthur Loves Plastic and as The Window Shoppers. Below is video from TWS's performance, featuring the disembodied vocals of Mary Fox. Although the event is all about queer visibility, she decided to be a contrarian and perform from the closet by the drum set. Afterwards I projected a stream-of- consciousness video mashup of mid-century PSAs and lesbian porn on the wall during a couple of DJ sets though predictably I had trouble operating the DVD remote. Some amazing spoken word rounded out the evening. And the best part is, all of this took place less than a mile from my apartment in Silver Spring.

My Reading List

Given my love of the space program and true crime, it was only a matter of time before I bought a copy of Out There, the detailed account of the bizarre astronaut love triangle case. Lisa Nowak was a very determined, accomplished woman for whom failure was not an option. Neither was romantic rejection when the fellow astronaut with whom she was having an affair left her for another woman. The failed romance culminated in a showdown at the parking lot of the Orlando International Airport, for which Nowak infamously prepared by bringing along diapers so she wouldn't need to make a pit stop while driving from Texas. What made the book a fascinating read for me, beyond the story of breeders behaving badly, was the author's exhaustively researched description of NASA training and the shuttle missions. I never knew how much work was involved in hauling the trash out of the International Space Station. A highly recommended read!

Out There was a tough act to follow, but Twisted Triangle delivered! It is the true story of an FBI instructor's disastrous marriage to a sociopathic, corrupt undercover agent. The story gained attention a decade ago because during the divorce proceedings it came to light that the wife had had an affair with crime writer Patricia Cornwell. But the lesbian angle, though steamy, is overshadowed by the fascinatingly evil machinations of the scorned husband. I am glad I bought this one for my kindle app, so i could continue to read the spellbinding story with one hand if forced to stand on the metro.

My current read is The Turnaround by the George Pelecanos. I love seeing films and reading books that take place in DC, so even though I don't like crime shows and am sick of people proselytizing to me about The Wire, I had to give his books a try. The Turnaround not only takes place in the South Dupont area where i work, but the characters live in Wheaton, the Montgomery County suburb that was a haven during my first decade in the DC area, and home to the largest music retailer on the East Coast. Pelecanos provides intricate geographic details, such as the timing of the 70 and the 79 buses, while presenting an emotionally moving tale of guys from different sides of the tracks being brought together by a tragic night from their past. I will be reading much more of him in the future.

The New Cat

Long time no talk! I have been preoccupied lately getting read for Queering Sound 09, for which I have been "practicing" for an improvisational set with The Window Shoppers and putting together a montage of NASA footage and girl on girl action for a video to use as my backdrop during some ALP DJ sets. And, I finally got a friend for George.

To get another cat was a huge decision I did not take lightly given that I am commitment-phobic, and cats can live to be as old as 20 these days. But although George seemed to like being the only cat when I was around, it did not make up for his loneliness when I was at work.

I first met Kimba when I was going to visit a kitten at the Greenbelt Shelter that my gf thought I would like, but decided since I prefer cats to kittens anyway, I should get someone past their adoption prime (the kitten has since found a home of her own). Kimba was actually born at the shelter, and is almost 2 years old now. The only time she had lived in a home was a 3 week stint spent behind a dresser hiding from an obnoxious child. The family who had adopted her brought her back to the shelter, and according to the shelter staff, she became less skittish after this experience. Kimba reminds me of Leo, the first cat I grew up with, and the fact she purred when I petted her in the cage she calmly occupied underneath a temperamental tomcat sealed the deal.

Kimba initially went under my futon when we arrived home, but emerged later in the evening for some attention. Despite my attempts to separate the cats for a few days George ended up entering the bedroom and was not as surprised as I thought he would be to find himself face to face with another cat. He hissed a few times but there has been surprisingly little drama. Even though he just tolerates Kimba, having another cat in the apartment has helped ease his separation anxiety. He no longer follows me around the apartment howling when I get home. He appears to enjoy wielding his authority. She likes to be near him and doesn't take it personally when he swats her.

You can see photos and petcam surveilance photos of Kimba and George here.

God Hates F*ggot Poets!

The Rev. Phelps and his entourage of rabid followers took a break from their hectic schedule of disrupting military funerals to protest at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda. The issue? The school's namesake is rumored to have been gay or bisexual. The school's teachers turned this into a teachable moment by helping the students mobilize a peaceful counter-protest. Watch the Washington Post video for signs of social progress--I can't imagine the privileged dunderheads at my Florida high school speaking so eloquently in support of gay friends.

Late to the Party, I Know!!

I recently decided I wanted a portable way to check e-mail and surf the web, just in case I need to look up trivia in wikipedia while away from home. Laptops are just too cumbersome for this purpose. I was initially hesitant to consider the iPhone because I have several friends that are tethered to the internet via this means and speak with religious fervor about application such as virtual fish tanks that seemed a little superfluous to me. I failed to see how this device could be useful!

However, once Amazon announced a free kindle app, I was sold--and Apple helped enable this impulse by selling refurbished 2nd Generation iPod Touch units for under $200. The Touch is kind of like a gateway to the iPhone--it connects to the internet via wifi but there is no phone attached. After owning one for just a few weeks I don't understand why everyone in the world doesn't own one. The interface is so intuitive that the device literally becomes an extension of the brain. And it has already enriched my life to a degree I had never dreamed possible! While on a recent work trip to Seattle, for instance, I was able to read the Daily Mail while dining alone in an Indian restaurant, watch YouTube videos while eating hummus at a lesbian bar, and online shop from my hotel room while watching reality TV. What more can you ask for from a gadget?