Last night, Killola did a short live show that was available to people (like me) who had purchased their new album on the USB “dog tag.” I hadn’t seen this technology before but it was great!

I just plugged the album into a USB port, clicked on an option, and it opened a browser with a video window of the show, expandable to fullscreen, the live audio, and a chat area where fans could type to each other and to the band. It was a nice experience, second only to being there..

This morning, I had a long period of lucid dreams. I was constantly waking up thinking about Killola and in some cases hearing music in my head (which, unlike most people, never happens to me when I’m awake). At 6:22am, I got up and shut the windows and doors because of the noise from the birds. I hate birds.

In the first dream I remember, I was aware of myself walking around in a building, getting ready to go outside. It was night. As I approached the door, a large glass one with two large glass windows on either side, like the door in a business rather than a home, it appeared at first to be foggy outside. As I approached, I realized it was snowing! Visibility was limited; the ground was white. Maybe an inch had fallen; it was fine, slightly icy snow, the kind you get when it’s almost warm enough to sleet or freeze rain. I thought to myself, “Isn’t it July?” For a moment, I believed it was November and felt a moment of fear: Where have those four months gone? Was I in an accident? And that made me realize I was dreaming! I was completely aware of it and could carry on thoughts like I do when I’m awake. I often talk to myself in my mind and I think in my own voice. I wonder if that’s how other people think. But it was just like that.

The realization I was dreaming didn’t make it end like it typically does, and I stayed in that state and it persisted even if I moved around. After a short time, I tried to think a few things and the scene changed. Last night I had a nice call with April and I must have been thinking about her or about how much I miss her, because suddenly she was there, and it made me really happy so I kissed her (not something I normally do) and said, “that’s all,” abruptly finding myself in another scene.

I was listening to Goldfrapp — some kind of a CD-quality live recording that someone gave me and that I downloaded. For those of you who listen to Goldfrapp in real life, Alison can be pretty hard to understand. Very often, even though I’ve read the lyrics to her songs many times, I *still* don’t understand what she’s saying when I listen to them!
It’s a mysterious quality and some people aren’t into it, but I love her voice. Anyway, she was singing in perfect clarity; it was definitely her voice, but all the words were totally clear. It was just perfection, like how I felt when Kato kept the vocal take that Debbie recorded, the one that made me goosebumpy. I can almost remember some line about changing the day to night or about the day becoming night. It was so beautiful, I so wish I could remember the rest of it!

It’s so hot here, it feels like what I imagine a tropical forest to be like. It’s supposed to get much hotter too. And lately it’s been hot. A couple of days not long ago were the hottest in a decade.

Today is Alison Goldfrapp’s birthday and the new moon (which Chris Stein says is as powerful as the full moon), so I figured there could be no better time than now to finally start writing publicly again…. I finally did it.

The layout here *will* improve but I have to evaluate what I’m going to use that will let people comment and leave me with ownership of my content. I’m not sure how the free sites get away with claiming ownership on content written by someone else without paying them, but I don’t want involved in that. “Include me out.” Yesterday, I was doing some research and someone had “guidelines” for writing on the internet (they called it a “blog” but I despise that term; in fact it is on the LSSU List of Banished Words, so I will not use it). This person suggested that because there are so many people out there writing, that one should write on only one topic you are knowledgeable and passionate about. And to that, I say this:

I am knowledgeable and passionate about a lot of topics, I’m funny, and I’m a better writer than most. Sure, I’m no Diablo Cody (except maybe the diablo part;)… more on my favorite crazygrrrl another day… but I’m going to write about whatever I feel like writing about, and say it’s like a smut magazine: If you don’t like it, don’t read it! As for the rest of you, I hope I can bring some Blondie stories, laughs, insight, magic, bizarrely skewed reality, new music, and weird shit into your life.

The title of this thing is “10 Minutes After Midnight”, which is a line from the song “Mid-Day Rebel” off the new Killola album Let’s Get Associated. I love Killola. I love their music and the talented, intelligent, caring people who are Killola and who I am beyond delight to call my friends. And I love what they and their self-published status represent. I will discuss them in vivid detail another time soon…. for now, I’ll just say that is one of only three bands: Blondie, Goldfrapp, and Killola, who I would die without. These three, together with Crossing The Rubicon by The Sounds dragged my ass out of the darkest place imaginable. Goldfrapp turned out to be right: “What you thought you’d lost was just mislaid.”

For those readers of my past work who, like me, are very observant and recall a lot of detail, you might remember that After Midnight was the working title to the movie Intimate Stranger starring Debbie Harry. I’m a creature of the night, and she has an 11 in her email address, and 11 minutes after 11:59 is 10 minutes after midnight. That’s about as appropriate and personally relevant as it gets… just like naming my Debbie Harry fanzine Fan Mail.

BLK 2:22pm
May 13, 2010

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I don’t often edit my older posts with new information, but on “site launch day”, November 3, 2013, I’d like to point out one other strange development: the coincidence that 12:10 also happens to be my lovely girlfriend Steph’s birthday.  I had met her when I wrote the above and had already chosen the name, but I didn’t know her birthday and I certainly had no idea we’d become what we are now!