Kurt Cobain stole my lighter.

A friend of mine gave me an Epiphone acoustic guitar yesterday that looks much like the first guitar I ever had, that my mother bought for me "on time". It's in fairly nice shape..but needs some work. The bridge is split. The bridge and top are also travelling towards the neck..which means the x-bracing and bridge block need some work. No matter how hard I try to get music out of my life..it keeps coming back, unbidden. And I'm always waiting for it, like a grinning idiot. It's just who I am, I guess.

My friend Bobby English is by far the best luthier I have ever known. He always set up my guitars perfectly. And I cannot stress the word "perfectly" enough. He set up my bass so well that all I had to do is think of the note....and it got played. Bobby disappeared from me about 7 years ago. I remember walking into Sean and Myron's crib to Bobby playing "Purple Haze" and singing it it German...but I digress. He dropped off his cat, Jackson, to my house, moved to South Bend, IN, worked for a carnival and dropped off the face of the earth. Come back, Robert...I need your mad skills. Apparently there ain't no guitar techs in Lake County, IL. Bobby was the guitar tech for the Smashing Pumpkins...and Kurt did steal his lighter.

New year's always leaves me feeling bummed. Mostly because I miss my band. God I miss my band. I guess we're playing at Phyllis' on July 4th.

Maybe it's the fact that I listen to lots of Nirvana, Tool, Ramones and Slayer during this festive time of the year, I don't know.

Maybe it's because the White Stripes, who I like and are the alleged saviours of rock music, lack the foreshadowing of doom junkie gravitas of Nirvana. Junkies or wannabe's make the best music, n'est ce pas? The White Stripes are a party band. Jack and Meg aren't going to die of anything except of old age...and how rock and roll is that?

I really liked Queens of the Stone Age...but they went away, too.

I always find myself wondering how much worse this year will be than the last. Then again, this year wasn't that bad. I quit my job. I'm now gainfully un-employed and trying to secure a grant to go to school.

Went on a couple of nice trips...but lost my friend Spot...which is a hole in my life I feel to this very day, and especially right now.

NO RECESS.