"Well, what were you wearing?"

(This is the first part of a longer Persephone-themed piece that I'm working on. For now, this section is called "Well what were you wearing?")

Whipping playfully through and under her gently woven skirt,

A spring breeze then rushed through the ventilated underworld

Still carrying a scent of un-plucked lilies and seasons about to ripen.

Although Hades is cavernous, under-dwellers prefer to leave id and ego

In one authoritarian room, where light and dark are clear to them

They decide what is the truth and beat their chests to proclaim the victory.

As they have dulled down their senses from the beatings of their brothers, they cannot

Easily discern the subtle tones of the complex beings in the atmosphere above.

To catch her scent at all is surprising, but one grunted out: “Olive salt,” and the hunt began.

This week is fucking insane

Yes it is blip festival 2009 this week. And TWO of my close friends are having CD releases!

I sadly missed Misty Boyce @ Mercury Lounge this past Friday, AND Brook Pridemore @ the Sidewalk on Saturday. I'm sure there was PLENTY more that I missed.

I'm trying to think through this week & kind of promote my friends at the same time.

Here is what I am going to at this point. If you happen to read this, and I'm missing something, let me know.

MONDAY (12.14.09)

Ivan and the Terribles CD Release @ The Studio at Webster Hall. Also I believe Lowry is playing right after them. Suite.

TUESDAY (12.15.09)

Bar 4 for open mic/promotion of Blip Fest 2009/Public Assembly Show on the 20th.

All are welcome. Bring fliers/buttons/CDs if you want to promote!

**Id be happy to distribute fliers, just get them to me by tomorrow**

Sign up is @ 6:30 if you want to play.

**This is where I am pretty much every Tuesday. Its a party & an open Mic. Although its mostly singer/song writer stuff, it could be nice practice for Weds Pre-Blip open Mic**

WEDNESDAY (12.16.09)

The night before BLIP! Pre Blip Open Mic/Meet & Greet @ The Tank. I had an amazing time at this thing last year. My band 8BK-OK had our first performance, which lead to 2 DataPop shows, Pulsewave, etc. Just COME.

Also that night @ Bar 4: Local Correspondents Showcase! Lara Ewen! Heidi Sidelinker! (Paul Basile has really really good taste)

**********

FULL BLIP FEST '09 SCHEDULE

Blip Fest is taking place @ The Bell House this year. Super easy to get to. No excuses.

**********

THURSDAY (12.17.09)

First night of Blip has an amazing line-up:

8- Silent requiem (viz: JYK)

8.40-FAILOTRON (viz: Paris)

9.20-Leeni (viz: Vblank)

10-Minusbaby (viz: Enso)

10.40-Chromix (viz: the C-men)

11:20-JDD3J (viz: No carrier)

12-Albino ghost monkey (viz: Outpt)

12.40 Eat Rabbit (viz: Rosa Menkman)

ALSO: my friendy Dexter Scott is playing here (so go to that if you're more in the mood for singer songwriter pop)

FRIDAY (12.18.09)

This is going to be a commute-y night for me

Starts @ The Bell House for 2nd Night of BLIP FEST:

8-Disasterpeace (viz: ENSO)

8:40-Starscream (viz: JYK)

**only staying for the beginning of these dudes bc..

KEVIN JOHNSTON @ the Living Room, 9pm

(full band! They are so good, I can't. even. breathe.)

Kevin is also the Bass player in my band Ten Antenna, so there is no way I'm missing this.

**Back to the Bell House to catch:

10:40-I, Cactus (viz: Vblank)

11:20-NULLSLEEP (viz: Rosa Menkman & Paris)

12-RAINBOWDRAGONEYES (viz: The C-Men)

12:40-Patric C (viz: No Carrier)

SATURDAY (12.19.09)

IF it weren't Blip Fest I'd be going to this Because COME ON

But it is Blip Fest, so I'm doing this instead:

3rd night of Blip!

8-The J. Arthur Keenes Band (viz: Rosa Menkman & ENSO)

8.40- Trash Can Man (viz: JYK & Paris) <--<3>

9.20-Bubblyfish (viz: no carrier & outpt)

10-The Hunters

10.40-Glomag (viz: The C-men & Vblank)

11.20-Bit Shifter (viz: outpt & enso) <--someone might need to make sure i dont die during this

12-David Sugar (No Carrier & Vblank)

12:40-Psilodump (viz: Paris & The c-men)

SUNDAY (12.20.09)

TWO post-blip shows today! I organized the one @ night, so make sure you come!

Post Blip Matinee From what I understand, this is a showcase/CD release! At Piano's on Ludlow. 4pm-8pm. Should be sick, so go if you're not too hungover. That's my plan anyway.

POST-BLIP SHOWCASE!! @ Public Assembly

My band 8BK-OK is playing with an AMAZING line-up :

Anamanaguchi

Magic Hammer

IAYD

starPause

8BK-OK

Viz by: JYK, Paris & Rosa Menkman

$5!! Doors @ 10!! COME

MONDAY (12.21.09)

MORE POST BLIP! @ Death By Audio

IAYD

sylcmyk

greenleaf

The Shortsleeves

exileFaker

(vizz tba...)

***

So then, I think if we haven't died from alcohol poisoning, or just been fired from our jobs...we deserve one more party...TBA.

Down to a Science

(I) A Flirtation always begins between 2 imagined people in the mind of a 3rd.*

--> Preparations may last months, but even Moments of pause on the outcome can stretch into decades of variable future memories.

(II) Calibration of scales is essential.

--> As Imprecise tension or balance can startle anyone into a doubting tailspin.

(III) Expectations should be closely monitored.

--> Speeches should not be given a modicum of motor memory.

*The degree to which you'll eventually long can be moderated, but you will always mourn the loss of what your lover would be.

something from 12.3.09

I wrote this a few days ago

______________________________

Is there nothing as Sublime

as the stubble from behind

The marble of this morning?

You turn your head and slightly say

a wit I cannot hear

Over the chorus of your lips, your teeth, your keepsake boyish smile.

I can't breathe in, I'd savor scents that linger on your jaw

I can't exhale, I'd only sigh and give myself away.

Luminous behind a shadow shy, and capillaries flushed,

Twisting your face at accolades into a shrugging hush.

You won't be charmed by spurious looks from these specious eyes,

Which can never match your ragged maps (too erudite to lie).

______________________________

(i don't know what comes next here, so i guess this one isn't done yet)

An open letter to the hot, straight males who finally purchased and wear skinny jeans

THANK YOU THAT IS VERY NICE OF YOU I ENJOY THAT THANK YOU AGAIN

XOXO,

Leah

I realized that you remind me of an old toy that I got bored with

In 1988, my family bought an "entertainment system" that came with 2 games, and only the big kids were allowed to play. When I worked up my nerve, I tried secretly all by myself, and found that it was surprisingly easy to figure out how to make the little man jump just by pushing a button. "Ooooh," I probably said to myself. I became obsessed. This game was fun and challenging (I had fewer motor skills then), and it always had some weird new thing to beat! Once in a while (or all of the time, really), I'd get stuck on a level, and I'd have to keep repeating and repeating the sequence until I figured out the right pattern of movement needed to get past. Sometimes, for weeks at a time, I couldn't even get past the very first level, and I'd sulk thinking "I'm so stupid! What is wrong with me?!"

My family would get new games that were prettier, easier to get along with, funnier, and smarter, but I still couldn't forget that I hadn't beaten that game. I beat plenty of other games, but I couldn't get to the ending of THIS game, which I KNEW was going to be pretty awesome after all of that hard work. And finally one day, without even trying really, I beat the final level. And the ending was not what I had expected. I didn't feel gratified because this ending was not at all what I wanted. I thought there would be like, a secret door or something that was much much cooler and more engaging than this stupid game that I'd been playing for entirely too long.

I thought that once I'd reached a certain level, that things would be different. I pushed aside these terrible thoughts that I'd been wasting my time, and I tried to play again and again. However, I only realized that I'd learned all of the tricks, the hidden levels and secret power-ups. The little noises and music that it made that I once thought were "so cute" were now so repetitive and predictable that they sounded like an alarm.

And, let's not forget, it didn't even ask me to play in the first place. It sat there quiet and happy until I made it play. It couldn't give me the satisfaction that I wanted because it was just a game. And games don't change. You can reveal all of their secrets, and try codes to get to slightly altered levels, but they can only give you exactly what they started with, and nothing more.

Bored out of my mind, I stopped playing. Well, that's not true. I would still turn it on if there was nothing else to do, but it was frustrating to see that game that I knew was easy think it was so challenging and interesting. And it hurt a little every time, because I'd be reminded of that initial disappointment: That it could never offer me anything new, or even remotely engaging. That it would leave me unsatisfied, but completely contented to leave things as they were.

So I'm sorry, but I can't play anymore.

PICKUP

Pickup/the first glance

(by: leah goldstein 12.1.09)

A rake am I, with wandering eye

And emerald glinting glare

Who teeters on the glassy edge

Of your discerning stare

Fixed forward, equine blinders on

(Or so I’ve set the scene)

The oppressed inherently posses

Gifts of Periphery

The sweeter one, who rests inside

Succumbs to the coarse tongued dealing

She floats upon her memories

And watches from the ceiling

The sickly smiling remains

Conjure their harbinger

Hold differently shaped glasses

Delicately in their fingers

A whisper breeze behind the ear

The flutter-combs beat gently

To remind the time was near

For trapping urban Gentry

My gaze was still for one, two, three

A pupil’s shutter captured

The filtered light and negatives

One is buried here, enraptured.