Feeling a little detatched from the Iraqi conflict this holiday? Put a human face on the stories here:



A Baghdad girl's diary



Thanks to habibi for the link.

Hail To The Thief, indeed....

Radiohead Frontman Protests Bush Visit To London

(LAUNCH, 11/20/2003 5:00:00PM)







Radiohead vocalist Thom Yorke is at the forefront of protests surrounding President George Bush's visit to London this week, with Yorke calling Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair "liars," according to NME.com. The singer emailed NME after learning that London police were planning to create a three-mile "exclusion zone" to keep protesters away from Bush, because of concerns over alleged threats of terror attacks against the American leader.



When asked why he chose to speak out, Yorke said, "To make Blair squirm over his decision to take us into a illegitimate war (in Iraq) and follow this religious lunatic (Bush) toward a dangerous future for the whole planet...both of these men are liars. We have the right to call them such, they are putting our children's future in jeopardy. They are not controlling the terrorist threat, they are escalating it.."



Yorke said he was enraged that authorities were using "the threat of terrorism to suppress whatever they choose, intimidate and arrest whoever they wish."

Yorke concluded by suggesting that members of the British Royal Family protest Bush's visit as well, saying that "now is a good time to remind Blair that he's on very very very very very very very very thin ice."



Members of other British bands, such as Blur and Travis, have also spoken out against the President's visit to London and both leaders' stance on the occupation of Iraq. A protest march is scheduled for today (November 20) in London.

Wife takes razor to man's genitals

Posted Thu, 06 Nov 2003



A Cambodian woman who suspected her husband was having affairs attempted to cut off his genitals with a razor blade in a jealous rage, a newspaper report said on Thursday.



The couple from downtown Phnom Penh — Mar Len (29) and her husband Kan Bunhou (26) — began arguing on Tuesday evening but neighbours stepped in to cool the dispute, the Kampuchea Thmei (New Cambodia) daily said.



Kan Bunthou told police that the pair then went to bed but he awoke when his wife began attacking him with a razor blade.



He managed to fend her off before she completed the job and fled, he said, adding that family members took him to hospital where he had received 12 stitches to repair the damage.



The newspaper said police were searching for Mar Len, who would be charged with attempted murder.



During the row she had accused Kan Bunthou, a cameraman who filmed karaoke DVDs, of infidelity with the actresses and singers he worked with, it said.

Word on the street has it the Sex Pistols are planning a concert in the middle of bombed-out Baghdad...

"The Sex Pistols suck, we’re more punk than they ever were."

Billy Joe Armstrong, Green Day

"I created Punk for this day and age. Do you see Britney walking around wearing ties and singing punk? Hell no. That's what I do. I'm like a Sid Vicious for a new generation."

Avril Lavigne (Seventeen Magazine, 2002)

"People are like, 'Well, she doesn't know the Sex Pistols.' Why would I know that stuff? Look how young I am. That stuff's old, right?"

Avril Lavigne (Entertainment Weekly, 2002)

‘Britney Spears is as punk as that silly Lavigne bird. I never, ever cared for Green Day, with their ice cream van and huge video productions. As far as I’m concerned, anything that’s MTV-led I worry about. MTV is like a headless chicken.’

Johnny Rotten (MSNBC, 2003)

More quotes from Mr. Rotten:

Courtney Love — Now there’s a peice of work--trying to be Nancy Spungen, except

she should have taken a note from her since she’s dead.

Britney Spears — Her parents should be whipped. What’s going to happen when she

grows up?

Kurt Cobain — Is he still alive? That shows you how much thought I put into

that!

Arnold Schwarzenegger — He is excercising the

wrong muscle.

Madonna — A very nice lady.

Sadaam Hussein — He’s probably hiding with his “weapons of mass destruction.”

Joe Strummer — Very sad. It seems to be that when the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame

nominates people it creates death. It’s to our benefit that they’ve ignored us.

Joey Ramone — Sad. These are nice people. It’s not true “the good die young”

‘cause I’m the living proof that that’s not the case.

Favorite Onion headline:

"God grants John Ritter's wish to meet Johnny Cash."

Johnny Cash: 1932-2003



Favorite songs-

Ring Of Fire

Cocaine Blues

Folsom Prison Blues

I Walk The Line

The Wanderer (from "Zooropa" by U2, 1993)

I Walk The Line Revisited (Rodney Crowell w/ Johnny Cash, 2000 (?))

Girl From The North Country (duet w/ Bob Dylan from "Nashville Skyline", 1969)

Tennessee Stud ("Jackie Brown" movie soundtrack, 1997)



Favorite albums:

Cash (American Recordings I, 1994)

Live At Folsom Prison

Live At San Quentin



Favorite Cash moments:

watching his TV special on video at Museum Of Broadcast Communications in Chicago, esp. episodes with guest Bob Dylan

Johnny Cash's liner notes for Dylan's "Nashville Skyline"



he will be missed

Here's something that's been bothering me for awhile: for years, the American public has been told by the media that if you go to McDonald's/BK/etc. and get a cheeseburger or whatever signature sandwich they offer and complement that with greasy fried potatoes and a sugar-laden soft drink, that constitutes a well-balanced meal. Never mind that the burger/whatever is mostly bread (empty calories) anyways, plus the oil in the meat, cheese and fries; plus all that sugar. Supposedly if you get it biggie/super-size etc. that's a really great deal, right? Wrong. Only in America can people be so well-fed, yet malnourished at the same time. Kinda reminds me of the novel, Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Also reminds me of the song, "American Fast Food" by Randy Stonehill.....



AMERICAN FAST FOOD



Words and Music by

Randy Stonehill



American fast food, what a stupid way to die

American fast food, order me the jumbo fries

Oh, oh, it's easy

It's so easy and it's trouble free

It's quick and disposable, just like me

If I don't stop eating this greasy American fast food



Well, we're undernourished, but we're overfed

And we're munching on the burger with the white bread

And we're sucking up the sugar in a milkshake

Till we slip into depression with a big headache

And our arteries are crying out, "give us a break"



American fast food, what a stupid way to die

American fast food, you kiss your old age goodbye

Oh, oh, it's easy

It's so easy and it's trouble free

It's quick and disposable, just like me

If I don't stop eating this greasy American fast food



You won't have to embalm me when my life is through

There are so many preservatives in what I eat

The job's being done right now for you



"Can I take you order, please?"

"A cheeseburger, fries, and a big chocolate malted"



It's prefab junk at an exorbitant price

And it's bound to make you nauseous if you look at it twice

But they're selling you by telling you it's food that's fun

When it tastes like cardboard It chews like sponge

'cause it's really only garbage on a sesame bun



American fast food, what a stupid way to die

American fast food, order me the chili-size

Oh, oh, it's easy

It's so easy and it's trouble free

It's quick and disposable, just like me

If I don't stop eating this greasy American

I don't stop eating this greasy American fast food



© Copyright 1983 by Stonehillian Music & Word Music (a division of Word, Inc.) (ASCAP)

Ok, the other night the wife and I went to Pizza Hut and wound up finishing an entire medium pan-crust black olive & mushroom pizza between us. I think I may have committed the unforgiveable sin, though, of actually (horror of horrors) re-filling my own soft drink... the server for my section kept giving me this look the whole time, you know? Ironically, I discovered while ordering that if you buy a large pizza, you get a free DVD! The choices were, Honeymoon In Vegas, Mr. Mom, All Dogs Go To Heaven, and Bill And Ted's Bogus Journey. The ironic part is, the next morning I stopped by Meitetsu grocery store to buy some orange juice and ran into (not literally) Dan Shor, who was "Billy The Kid" in the FIRST Bill & Ted movie. I told him about the DVD thing and his jaw literally dropped, then I explained it was the second one, to which he replied, "You mean the evil one"? just joking of course!



In other news, my wife and I enjoyed looking at Mars from the balcony last night.

I know, it's been over a month since I posted anything here. Oh well, people get busy, plus peer pressure forced me to start a livejournal. I really prefer blogger tho...



NEWS:

ftp'd some new mp3s to my website today, plus changed the content of some of the pages on my site and uploaded those as well.



that's all for now....

Went to a bar the other night where myself and the other patrons were treated to a free impromptu performance by the actor who plays Elvis over at the Hard Rock Cafe. Between sets by the band, he had met with the guitarist and worked out a medley of songs, including "Heartbreak Hotel", "All Shook Up", "Hound Dog", etc. Good fun. He bears a striking resembelance to Elvis, he's just a little shorter perhaps. Too bad his Elvis shades broke during the second song when he placed them on the conga drums and they fell off. >>>I might have to conduct an interview with him for the Red Elvises fanzine, of which I am assistant editor.... look for details, coming soon!



In other news, Bill over at 1980 records has finished mixing the Ice Cream Factory project. We're expecting to release it sometime in early August.

Bill Tucker of 1980 Records in Chicago will be releasing Ice Cream Factory's 1998 self-titled project on CD sometime in early August, as soon as we trade CD-Rs by mail and hunt down some missing tracks on ADAT. It will be a joint Aaugh!/1980 issue and I've already lined up tenative distro in the Netherlands and the Philippines. I'm also looking at distro possibilities in France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand and Mexico.



ICE CREAM FACTORY

Bill Tucker- guitar, vocals

Rick Williams- bass, drums, vocals

just posted a "links" page at the main site.



i've been listening to some tracks i downloaded from go home productions. they did an interesting re-mix where they put snoop dogg and dr. dre over a crowded house song... give it a listen!



download "return of the weather episode"



i burned this and have been trying it out in my car. interesting stuff.

I'm sitting here at work (on a Sunday) listening to Bob Dylan- Live 1966 at The Manchester Free Trade Hall (the "Royal Albert Hall" concert). I'm supposed to be studying UniCode so I can start publishing web pages in Japanese, Korean and Chinese. Came in and there were a couple of thick reference manuals on the desk... Last night I watched "Punch-Drunk Love" on video for the first time. Blockbuster let me have it for a whole week, so I'll probably view it a couple more times. Tonight I plan to watch Woody Allen's "Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex (But Were Afraid To Ask)" which I havent seen in probably 6 years or so.



The other night some of my Chinese friends introduced me to Sichuan hot pot. For the uninitiated, it's a huge pot of broth with beans, chilis, garlic, ginger, etc. (Chili ingredients in Texas); you place seafood, sausages, assorted vegetables inside the boiling broth and let them cook for a few seconds. Sichuan food being quite spicy, the results are quite literally breath-taking but absolutely delicious. Need a lot of rice and a cold beverage!



Check out Nic Tse's updated site (with lots of cool photos from around the world) at: www.nostalgic.org

A couple of releases I've been pleasantly surprised by over the last few months:



Riki Michele, Surround Me (rikimichele.com music)

This new disc by the former Adam Again vocalist is one of the most original releases I've heard in a long time.

It sounds nothing at all like AA or her past projects, Big Big Town or One Moment Please.

There's something very refreshing about the vocals and production; the producer is none other than Julian Kindred, who engineered most of The Choir's Grammy Award-nominated Flap Your Wings. More use is made of Riki's considerable vocal talent. This is the most forward I've ever heard her voice in the mix. The very fact that she released this herself (with a little help from her friends) is commendable. It has a big label sound on a home studio budget.



Derri Daugherty, A Few Unfinished Songs (Lo-Fidelity Records)

This disc by the Choir frontman is very understated, mostly song ideas he had been kicking around for a while. It bears very little resembelance to a Choir record; actually it sounds more like George Harrison at times (the Choir themselves covered Harrison's "Behind That Locked Door" a few years back). Very minimal production values (not overbearing, in other words) and only 5 songs in length, it gets full marks from me... still I hope to hear a full length solo release from him.

vous aiment des frites de liberté avec cela?

look for new cd releases soon.



we hope to have books in the online store by August.

i'm still working on the website, thanks for your patience...



Rick

I might be putting a new band together soon, mostly local guys... not "traditional" Chammorro music, if there is such a thing (most of the stuff you hear here is MIDI-oriented). It would be cool if we could get some new material together and come out with a CD by next year, maybe even play some dates in the US, Europe and Japan (I'm working on details as we speak)... I'm looking for musicians who are into U2, Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins- most of the guys here are into Linkin Park, POD, that stuff. Maybe it'll be a sort of compromise...



visit www.aaughrecords.com to find out all the latest news and info...



Rick

here's an interesting article on the bush admin's fabrication of evidence against iraq... (thanks to www.michaelmoore.com)

well, i went to see terminator 3 last night; between that, popcorn, m&ms and pepsi twist i was not having the greatest dreams... i dreamt that i was being chased by cyborgs or something... woke up at 3 a.m. with an anxiety attack and chased it away by browsing the internet for a couple of hours (i drank some cold water, too).....



my job still won't have an office until probably august. until then i'll keep trying to get things accomplished from home, not an easy task. it's all i can do to update this blog once in awhile, let alone work. especially in this heat.

I went to the movies with my nephew this weekend. We were supposed to see "Finding Nemo" but it was already gone from the theater... The remaining choices were "Hulk", "Bruce Almighty", and "Rugrats Gone Wild"..."Finding Nemo" had been replaced by some stupid "American Idol" movie (!). So my 6 year old nephew opted for "Rugrats...". I enjoyed some of the animation, esp. since it was done by the people who used to do the Simpsons (Klasky Csupo, I think); voices included Bruce Willis, Chrissie Hynde, Nancy Cartwright (Simpsons), and Tress MacNellie (also Simpsons). Currently waiting to see: "Charlie's Angels II (soon)", "Kill Bill" (Tarantino, Oct.), and "Anything Else" (Woody Allen, Sept.) The local Blockbuster seemingly has no word on "Punch-Drunk Love" or "Bowling For Columbine", neither of which I saw in the theater.



"There's only one person who hugs the mothers and the widows, the wives and the kids upon the death of their loved one. Others hug but having committed the troops, I've got an additional responsibility to hug and that's me and I know what it's like."—President George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Dec. 11, 2002

from www.moby.com:



during the clinton administration there was an investigation into his involvement in a failed real-estate deal called 'whitewater'. the republicans spent something like $50 million dollars to find out that clinton was blameless in his 'whitewater' involvement.

and now those same republicans have blocked efforts to look into:

the bush administrations use of falsified intelligence documents to justify the war in iraq.

the role of energy companies such as enron in determining u.s energy policy.

corporate fraud perpetrated by dick cheney at halliburton.

etc.

etc.

what a shameful excuse for government we americans are currently suffering under.

moby



06/12/2003

Just ordered some copies of my latest CD project, to see how it turned out mostly, also for giving out to ma homies...

also working on a possible distro deal with a label in the Netherlands... more on that later!



current mood: optimistic

current music: ten songs by adam again

FTP Log



created: Tue, 17 Jun 2003 11:15:47 GMT

220 batcave5 NcFTPd Server (licensed copy) ready.

USER FTPUser2

331 User FTPUser2 okay, need password.

PASS xxxxxx

230-You are user #1 of 250 simultaneous users allowed. 230- 230 Logged in.

SYST

215 UNIX Type: L8

PWD

257 "/home/FTPUser" is cwd.

REST 1

350 Will attempt to restart at position 1.

REST 0

350 Will attempt to restart at position 0.

Restartable feature is enabled.

TYPE A

200 Type okay.

TYPE I

200 Type okay.

PORT 192,168,10,109,151,34

200 PORT command successful.

STOR archives/aaughnews_archive.html

150 Opening BINARY mode data connection.



226 Transfer completed.

TYPE I

200 Type okay.

PORT 192,168,10,109,151,37

200 PORT command successful.

STOR homes/aaughnews.html

150 Opening BINARY mode data connection.

.

226 Transfer completed.

QUIT

221 Goodbye.

I swear when KFC or Subway get a cam we'll be all up in that mug.



8-)

Yet another view of McDonald's- this is their other branch on Saipan.







Fun, ain't it?

The Cds are available finally, click on the titles on the main page. Soon enough I'll have CD-Rs available for half the price of the regular CDs, for those of you that want to try the Aaugh! experience first..... There's a whole bunch of T-shirt designs and etc. also available form our merchandise center (Aaugh! Records - Rick Williams - Brownpeace - Basket Cases), let me know what you think of the d'zines... books are on the way!



"You say you’re depressed but you’re not

You just like to stay in bed"

-Paul Simon, "Darling Lorraine" (You're The One, 2000)

A peek behind the scenes at one of McDonald's fine quick-service dining establishments:







..that's their main store here on Saipan. It's one of the few Mickey D's in the world that serves Spam!

Just thought I'd share a couple of my favorite lines from "Austin Powers In Goldmember", which I happened to see part of again today at Blockbuster:



Goldmember (Mike Myers): "Would you like a shmoke and a pancake? Waffle and a shigar? Crepe and a pipe? Bong and a blintz? No? There's just no pleasing you, is there?"



Nigel Powers (Michael Caine): [to Goldmember] "There are two things I can't stand in this world. Intolerance of other peoples' culture, and the Dutch."

Well, the last few days I was out with a wicked cold that had me in bed most of the weekend. Didn't get much rest and woke up Sunday feeling like my head was the inside of a volcano. Took a bunch of cold medicine, drank tons of water and hit the sack again. It's Monday evening and I'm starting to feel somewhat normal again (still have a bad cough though, and am sniffling like crazy). Hope to get some actual work done this week!

You're a Non-box.



What box do you get put in?
brought to you by Quizilla

AOL/Netscape chat

You have just entered room "Diet and Nutrition Chat."




aaughrecords: Hi there, what do you want to talk about?

tbsagt: hi

aaughrecords: Hello

tbsagt: i like chocolate

aaughrecords: Tell me about yourself

tbsagt: why?

aaughrecords: I live on a small island in the Pacific, kinda boring.

tbsagt: i live on small planet in the solar system

aaughrecords: what's your favorite food?

tbsagt: chocolate

aaughrecords: thought so.

tbsagt: i´m just making fish for lunch

aaughrecords: funny, I just had fish for lunch today!

tbsagt: no wonder when you live in the pacific

tbsagt: it´s fried fish with noodles

aaughrecords: heard of tilapia?

tbsagt: no

aaughrecords: very tasty, medium sized fish- large bones, easy to remove. Good fried or grilled.

tbsagt: oh i thought it´s the island hehe

aaughrecords: the island is Saipan, like the movie "Windtalkers"

tbsagt: i must go and check my fish

aaughrecords: OK

tbsagt: not that it burns

aaughrecords: yeah!

aaughrecords: I'm assuming you're in the UK, must be noon there...

tbsagt: not too far away

aaughrecords: whereabouts?

tbsagt: germany, anyway i´m gonna eat now

aaughrecords: Guten appetit!

tbsagt: danke! hehe

tbsagt has left the room.

on the cd player: The Beatles, "The White Album"

"The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill" could really be about W., if you think about it.....

No word from the manufacturing plant yet, I'm just working on the inside CD booklets, making sure they look ok. My wife just came back from a teacher's conference in Rota this weekend; I made some fresh guacamole tonight and we ate it w/Doritos (couldn't find any regular unflavored tortilla chips like Tostitos....).

This week I'm starting work with a company that publishes web pages for various gov't agencies. My job will be training employees in the offices to update their own web content...

can someone send me Zwan's Cd, burned or otherwise?

Just posted recently online: a review of my 2001 e.p. "Shinkansen" in the webzine "The Cutting Edge". This e.p. is no longer available on it's own but was incorporated into the 2001 release "Don't Look Now", available on CD-R from the Aaugh! Records store.

Shipped the master CDs off to the plant in California today via Priority Mail...now all that's left to do is wait for them to recieve them and start putting together the finished product.

Thanks to those of you who already asked about "Siamese Connection"; seems the Phantom Tollbooth review, while coming off a little negative (probably the reviewer should stick to major label reviews, not indies or diy projects, he dosen't seem to "get it") seems to have done more good than harm (you read that right).

Website's under construction.... visit soon! It looks really cool......

finished the Cds this weekend, they're all ready to ship off to the plant.


I did the artwork on my computer (Corel Presentations formatted for Cd booklets,


etc.) and mixed some new tracks as well. Now i just have to entrust them to


Newman and his colleagues at USPS.....

check back soon at www.aaughrecords.com for more details!

For some reason the Hostdepartment server is down so I transferred the aaughrecords.com domain over here until they get it back up again...

planning to finish the CDs this weekend, look out for a CD by local Saipan band "Split Attitude", coming soon...

here's all the links you need for the site:

store


e-mail


my site on Tripod (w/ discography + links)

Later!


Rick

New status regarding the Cds:

The CDs in Cafeshops.com are down temporarily until I get the rest of the music uploaded; sorry for the delay!

If you want to, just e-mail me w/ the title you're looking for....

Later!

In case ya didn't know-tice this page has a new look.... whaddya think???

New to the aaugh! site:

Guest Map (you can put a little virtual thumbtack on a map in a

pop-up window so we can all play "Where's Waldo?"!)

New CDs coming soon; the PayPal shopping cart is only temporary. I might still maintain it for selling

special items like limited edition CD-Rs, newsletter subs, etc. but my main focus will be through the CafePress.com

sites (Aaugh! Records, Rick Williams, Brownpeace, Basket Cases, etc.). I just put a lot of time and effort into re-designing the Cd covers, especially The Basket Cases' Symphony For A Lost Generation... it really looks great!

BTW, I got pretty sunburned volunteering at the Tagaman Triathlon doing (guess what?) the same ol' job of directing cyclists down a road (a proper road this time, not a footpath through the jungle).

Janet and I watched the movie "Kandahar" last night, an Iranian film about a young woman trying to get to her sister still in Afghanistan. We liked it very much. If you haven't seen it yet, run, don't walk to your nearest Blockbuster etc. and rent it today!

Ciao!


(I think that's Italian for "food" or something...)

Just saw a Chevy El Camino today for the first time since, probably, the 1970s.



Did you know that McDonald's in India serves burgers made from mutton or chicken only? And in Israel they operate both Kosher and non-Kosher restaurants (the Kosher ones are not open on the Sabbath). One of the strangest items to me was the Bulgogi Burger in Korea (and I love Korean food!). Or probably the Teriyaki Burger in Japan...



new additions to the website, check it out..... I relocated the site to a free server w/out any banner or pop-up ads! 8-)

i have been here for awhile: watching, thinking. it seems that the world is becoming increasingly more complex. we earn more money, but the money becomes worth less. we discover new medicines but new diseases spring up. we locate new food sources, yet millions of people starve while food lays rotting in storage houses.



perhaps there was a time when life was easier and there was less to think about, when there was less non-essential information to contend with. now some people talk in terms of light years. men have landed on the moon but has a man ever landed on earth? once, but we crucified him.



once we lived in houses we built with our own hands, ate the food we grew in the fields, and walked whenever we wanted to travel - but people wanted a better life. so now we are a "civilized world" with technological conviences like automobiles (to breathe) industries (to drink) and insecticides (to eat) - science presumes to replace God = with technology our bishop, chemistry our high priest, and the atom bomb our pope. scientists say that soon they will be able to create life in laboratories. i sometimes stop to wonder, did man evolve from the animals? or did man become an animal all by himself?



-Larry Norman, So Long Ago The Garden

(linear notes, 1976)

From today's Marianas Variety,

Letters section:



"This is regarding the Washington Merry-Go-Round column that runs in your paper, written by Jack Anderson and Douglas Cohn.

In the most recent column, they state, “President Nixon launched the war on drugs in the 1970s, with Elvis Presley as his poster boy. Presley died addicted to drugs, and drug use has remained constant despite the government’s best efforts.”

A common misconception is that Presley was on LSD, cocaine, marijuana, acid, whatever, you name it, while ironically being named Nixon’s top DEA enforcer. In actuality, Presley was being PRESCRIBED pain killers and the like by several different doctors, none of which he should have been taking together for the period of time that he did.



In another recent column, the authors claim that “Tokyo Rose” was Filipino. According to my research, there never was a person broadcasting anti-American propaganda for the Japanese under the name “Tokyo Rose.” “Tokyo Rose” is more of an urban legend if you will, a product of the imaginations of several thousand lonely U.S. soldiers in the Pacific. It was they who gave that name to a combination of women who were hired by the Japanese military to demoralize U.S. troops but wound up having the reverse effect.

A journalist landing in Japan after the war promised a reward of $2,500 to “Tokyo Rose” if she would come forward and tell her (exclusive) story. The woman who stepped forward was Iva Toguri D’Aquino, an American citizen of Japanese descent (married to Felipe D’Aquino, a Portuguese national) who had gone to Japan to visit relatives shortly before the war broke out. She found herself stranded without her passport and no money to return to her family and subsequently confessed to being “Tokyo Rose” if only to collect the money and return home. She was tried for treason and eventually pardoned by President Gerald Ford after spending a number of years in prison. She now owns a small store on the north side of Chicago.

Hope you’ll do more research in the future, gentlemen!"



RICK VAUGHN

San Roque, Saipan

Good Friday today; all the local businesses are closed 'cause they feel like tormenting all of their customers who aren't Catholic like them.



Bush League

(Lost Dogs, from the album "Scenic Routes")

written by Gene Eugene and Terry Taylor



1,2,3,4

I don't know what I think about it

But I know what I think of you

Well I know I can live without it

And I know what I want to do



I'll pack you a lunch, clear your desk

It's going to be hell to clean your mess

All I know is that you gotta go



I don't know what I think about it

But your bush league days are through

Will you give me a job I doubt it

Here's a bird in the hand for you



Next time you start a storm

You better get you a mess kit, canteen and uniform

Cause we feel like livin' so you've got to go



Your points of light are almost gone

So here's your yellow ribbon-burning song



For Millie and Danny and Saddam and nanny

Babs and Ronnie and Clyde and Bonnie

Clarence and Ollie and the Beave and Wally

And Maggie and Gorby and the new world ordey

First update in a month!



Nothing new really; just found out that the Cutting Edge as a 'zine has been discontinued (www.geocities.com/baptistboy_46), so I guess that means no Siamese Connection review. :-(

Volunteered at the Saipan Xterra Triathlon this past weekend directing cyclists off the road, down a muddy slope and into some bushes (honestly, that's where they were supposed to go!) for 2 1/2 hours...

My wife and I came up with another idea to raise some funds part-time: convert our car into a taxi (let's see if it works).

The aaugh! records site has been updated finally: go to www.aaughrecords.com and click on the graphic in the middle of the screen. also check out the Phantom Tollbooth's CD review of Siamese Connection at www.tollbooth.org/2003/reviews/rwilliams.html.

Sorry it's been so long in updating this. If these sentences are gramatically incorrect i apologise for any inconvenience but my brain's in a fog due to a cold i picked up, i think at work the other day. Just went to see my friend's band play a new gig at the Dai-Ichi Hotel the other night. The place was packed, mostly w/ Japanese tourists and gay Filipino hairdressers (!). At the moment I'm listening to Phil Keaggy jammin' with the 77s; it's something I downloaded from MP3.com last year. I might go see the new Jackie Chan movie Shanghai Knights this weekend, if my head clears.



Later!

At last, another week of school done with..... today was a 1/2 day, due to report cards so the children went home at 11:00 a.m.

Janet and I may try to get out with some friends and go to the Pacific Islands Club. Thay have a great buffet and some cool waterslides.

Checked at Blockbuster again today but "Pumpkin" is still checked out. I read some favorable stuff about it in the Chicago Reader online edition.

More thoughts on "Gangs":



My wife Janet preferred "Catch Me If You Can". She didn't care for the starkness and grimness of "Gangs Of NY".

Also, before the movie we were browsing over at Price Costco an someone was listening to a different U2 song- "Elevation".



Just started watching Woody Allen's "Curse Of The Jade Scorpion" this morning- very funny! I'm about halfway through...

I also borrowed "Barbershop" and "1941". I love how Blockbuster lets you borrow movies for a full week now! Only problem is they can't seem to keep "Pumpkin" (starring Christina Ricci) on the shelf.....

Just returned from seeing "Gangs Of New York"; we only got it this weekend at the local theater (kinda like if we lived in Dubuque).

I enjoyed it but would not recommend it to those easily turned off by violence or nudity. The opening sequence contains a massive battle scene between the "Dead Rabbits" (Irish immigrants) and the "American Nativist Coalition" or something like that (a bunch of white guys born in the US of English stock, mostly opposed to new immigrants and freed slaves taking their jobs). It takes place in the later half of the 19th century in lower Manhattan, in an area known as the "5 Corners". Rumour has it director Martin Scorsese (Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Taxi Driver) was working on this for the better part of two years. Now I know where the Irish immigrant footage in his short film during the Concert For New York City came from- that's the one where he gives a guided walking tour of lower Manhattan, post 9/11. I really appreciated the last shot of the NYC skyline in the film... I only didn't appreciate the kid in the projection booth shutting off the projector a few seconds into U2's theme song "The Hands That Built America" during the end credits.

Just recieved in the mail last week: Larry Norman, Upon This Rock (2CD) & Randy Stonehill, Welcome To Paradise- both released by Larry on his Solid Rock label. Very impressed by the sound quality and artwork; these haven't been available on CD, much less available at all since the mid '70s.

Read a good quote today in Newsweek magazine:

"Send us off to foreign land to fight the infidels


God protects the oil wells


God saves gas prices


God saves Texas family fortunes."


-Conor Oberst, Bright Eyes

My wife went to Bible study tonight but I may be coming down w/ a cold so I stayed home to "rest".... work starts up again tomorrow (Monday) after a long holiday. We had a good time, going with my sister-in-law and her husband & 2 kids to a water park/buffet at a nearby hotel that was jam-packed with Japanese and Korean tourists. The tourists couldn't get to Guam because a recent typhoon knocked out a lot of essential services there, so they came to Saipan instead.

The other evenings we played Scrabble and ordered in from a local Thai restaurant. This morning a group of people from Chuuk (formerly the island of Truk) came by the house singing Christmas carols. It's the 5th of January already here but I could listen to their singing all day.

Bought Rolling Stone (w/ Eminem on the cover) and Blender(w/ "Xtina" (?) Aguilera on the front) last night... both had good reviews of Bob Dylan: Live 1975 and George Harrison: Brainwashed. Modern Drummerhad an interview w/ Abe Laboriel Jr., where he mentioned Paul McCartney leads the band in prayer before they go onstage (although I was watching VH1 awhile back and a scantily-clad "Xtina" (?) led her backing dancers in a prayer also). Hmmm.....