perfect strangers

me & cousin larry
Originally uploaded by third uncle.

as mercenarias
from the compilation
the sexual life of the savages
LISTEN/inimigo

it was real nice having cousin larry in the big city this week. we go way back, best friends in the fourth grade, playing bonks adventure, crawling the underground tunnels, coppin' hugs from mrs. nerney, shooting each other with imported/illegal japanese pellet guns, knockin over the kitty litter, singing about firecrotch. he's been thinking about moving out here, and although i would love it if he were here and i think that he would adapt exceptionally well to new york city, it's hard for me to persuade him to leave good ol' san francisco, a city i still miss a ton and consider one of the sweetest most beautiful places in the world. but he would really love it here. especially all the great record stores, a few of which we shopped around in today. it's a real joy to see a friend drop four hundred dollars on records in a matter of a couple hours. just imagine the possibilities of a full day spent shopping. really though, there's no better way to spend that hard earned cash (although a few other vices come close in the running). i thank him for inspiring a purchase of my own today, this cool new soul jazz compilation of brasilian post-punk, 'the sexual life of the savages'. i spotted it within his healthy pile of newly bought vinyl and just couldn't resist picking it up myself for the absolutely eye-catching cover and soul jazz's goldmine reputation.

good morning to the new world

the graduate
Originally uploaded by third uncle.

silver jews
from the album
starlite walker
LISTEN/advice to the graduate

hurray! hurrah! pj has finally done it. she is now a master of the arts. a certified moving image archivist & preservationist. how fancy! i'm so damn proud of her, knowing (well, not in the way that she really knew) what she went through these last couple years to realise such achievement. so many sleepless nites, the baggy eyes, the mind racking determination, the greying hairs. her work and perseverance has been total and i truly believe that she and her MIAP cohorts will do great service in preserving our history, a true benefit for our often unconcerned, and speciously assumptive, automatic society. history does not sustain itself, it's the efforts of the sympathetic few that ensures our story will continue to be shared. so, write to your government and tell 'em we need to allocate less money to ill-advised wars (oil and drug alike) and put more money towards the arts and preservation! a culture is at stake, and so is our personal livelihood! the girl's gotta work. lord knows i'm not bringing home any bacon.

happy birthday brother tony

tony
Originally uploaded by third uncle.

david bowie
from the album
hunky dory (rykodisc re-release)
LISTEN/quicksand (demo version)

there's too much to say or maybe there's nothing i can say, so i'm not going to say it or try to. well, i can say this. it was 37 years ago today that my beloved brother tony was born. tony has given so much to so many people in this time. for me he has shaped a tremendous amount (if such a thing can be measured) of who i am and how i see it all. most everything i love, am inspired by, believe in, laugh at, cry over, etc. are all an outcome of big brother tony's influence. all the other shit like my laziness, impatience, selfishness, and occasional dips into asshole behavior are all purely troy. which, i guess, is to say that everything good is all thanks to tony tu. and this includes one of my greatest loves, music. tony flipped my world around sometime in '95 when he gave me the first of a handful of life altering and affirming mixtapes. on that tape was this demo version of bowie's 'quicksand'. it devestated me then and continues to do so to this day. is there a song that i come back to more that still steals my breath and puts a lump in my heart with guarantee everytime? probably not. i listen to it now and that lump in my heart has changed its shape, become enormous, and my breath has gone and run away from me.

gardening at night

pretty flower makes pretty picture III
Originally uploaded by third uncle.

bobby womack
from the compilation
dirty laundry
LISTEN/bouquet of roses

roscoe holcomb
from the album
an untamed sense of control
LISTEN/fair miss in the garden

sun city girls
from the album
box of chameleons
LISTEN/moonflower power

it's been a little while since my last post. my better half,pj, her computer decided to poop out on her just days before her big brain-sucking thesis paper was due. my mac stepped in for relief, processing strong under the constant type key bombardment of her studious assault. her mac came back from repairs today and alas my baby compy is back in daddy's arms. anyways, on with the content. landlord dan keyed me in on the big plant sale happening at the brooklyn botanic gardens today. offering use of his membership card he rightly encouraged me to go and check it out. this served as a good reason to visit the gardens, a place i've never been which is really silly considering i live, like, a mile away from it. by going i discovered yet another neighborhood gem and another undeniable reason why park slope is just so lovely and why i'm so happy to live here. the japanese cherry blossoms were still in full bloom, pink bunches swaying gently with the wind. and long stemmed tulips, like this here picture i took, of all pattern and colors just beginning to open up their petals. there were other people snapping close ups of flowers like myself, mostly asian like myself (who would've guessed?). i felt like i belonged. oh, and the plant sale was something else! i picked up a hanging chinese ivy prayer plant, an aurora borealis succulent, an early budding spathiphyllum, and a gorgeous broad-leaved 'moonlight' philodendron.