minor corrections

[This was actually posted at 2:10 AM on the 28th, but I'll leave it where it is.]

Sigh. If I still can't write about the Quimby's show on Aug. 20 (and my cynical gin-inflected mood right now makes me wonder if I should bother; no one's posted here since it happened anyway) just yet, and besides, I have a horrible new story to tell (see below re: break-in), at least I can point you to Jason Pettus' very entertaining reports on it, posted Wed. Aug. 24:

http://www.jasonpettus.com/archives/000210.html
http://www.jasonpettus.com/archives/000209.html

I love that Jason posted such a detailed and illustrated account of the night (even though, oddly, on my computer, two of the photos that don't come up are the one of me and the one taken in my apartment!), and that he says he was looking forward to this as an audience member, as well as a performer.

But I'd like to gently correct a few details (in the order they occurred in his reports):

Okay, this time the name of my book-in-progress is correct (he's not the only one to get it wrong in the past). It's not so much about my ten years in Chicago as about mid-2003 to the present, but with plenty of flashbacks, so I won't quibble.

I should point out, though, that I didn't actually make a suicide attempt. Not to get too picky about uh, whether I've actually tried to kill myself or not, but for the sake of accuracy, people should know I haven't. It's definitely something they might think based on my doing a zine called Thinking about Suicide, so I'm not offended. I just hope no one I'm related to sees that. (Technically, a person could sue for libel over something like that. But not me, obviously.)

Moving on...Jonathan Messinger's show at the Hideout is Dollar Store, not Dollar Show; the link takes you to "information.com," one of those blah little links pages that has nothing to do with any kind of show...

Shag's Little Thing, which ran at Phyllis' Musical inn for six years (and we hope, will start again in a new venue), was an open mic/variety show, not a "reading series." (But I'VE been invited to arrange/host a new reading series, and maybe Shag will be involved.)

Oh, and yes, though my apartment IS filled with vintage and kitschy and pop-culture and retro stuff, the cage my parakeet lives in (just one now; as many as 4 have lived in it at a time) definitely isn't antique; it was $20 or so, I think from one of those discount stores on a Latino section of Milwaukee Ave. (It does have an older style to it. But I believe--and it's been a long time since I've read any bird-care information--you're not supposed to actually use antique cages for live pets; at least, you should never use old wooden cages. Hidden dangers.)

Anyway, hope that helps. Again, I'm really grateful for the reports, especially since 1) people actually read Jason's blog, as opposed to this one [but there's no sign that anyone's read MINE because of him
linking to it] and 2) he knows how to put photos up, which I haven't bothered to figure out yet, despite taking nice ones every day.