Stuck Up Girl tagged me to share eight random things about myself and pass along the task to others.

Here’s how this is supposed to work:
1. Post these rules before you give your facts
2. List 8 random facts about yourself
3. At the end of your post, choose (tag) 8 people and list their names, linking to them
4. Leave a comment on their blog, letting them know they’ve been tagged.

Here goes!

1. I still really like stickers
2. I’ve played a show in Antwerp Prison twice with two different bands and had every enjoyable dinners with some of the inmates (in the opening bands)each time. When I went with The Bad Apples, the opening band named themselves The Crazy Bananas (or something like that) in homage to us.
3. When I was 15, I spent a summer in Greece with a family that did not speak English in a small town called Larisa.
4. Though I am anti-animal breeding, I secretly want a Scottish Fold or Bengal kitty (no offense, Angus and Malcolm)
5. I once drove across the country with rockabilly icon/weirdo Hasil Adkins.
6. My Mom is a very talented artist who can blow glass, make jewelry, take great photos, make prints...
7. That one half of my family is Italian and the other half is Polish, but my great-grandfather grew up in France and remembered the war, poverty and starvation from his youth so clearly, he’d often cry at the end of our meals together because there was so much food
8. The first seven inch record I bought was “We Are The World”.


Wow…I’m sure everyone found that riveting! I don’t know eight people to tag. Doh! I’ll have to work on it.

The other day, a friend at work read me a very amusing, bitter letter from The Austin Chronicle. We both appreciated how the author made his salient points over and over again, as well as the frequent profanity. If all Letters To The Editor were as good as this one, I'd read them every day. Here is the link to the webpage. And here is the letter, from the Sept 7 - 13th issue.

Date Received: Wed., Sep. 12, 5:02PM
EXHAUSTION? REALLY?

Dear Editor,
I laugh heartily at the various cancellations for this years Austin City Limits Music Festival. "Exhaustion"? Are you fucking kidding? I have played music for 20 years and find the exhaustion excuse foolish and irresponsible. I am an Austin musician. Like most Austin musicians, I have a day job. My day job happens to be a cook. So, in my 13 years here, I have worked 12- to 18-hour shifts, loaded my drums, brought them to the club, played them, broke them down, unloaded them at home, than returned to my job several hours later. For no money. That's the going rate in this town to play, by the way. Nothing. These White Stripe/Winehouses we are currently dealing with are beyond comprehension. These assholes do not set up their gear. They do not transport their gear. All they have to do is exit their air-conditioned hotel room, pick up their perfectly tuned instrument, and wank for 45 minutes (as I feel the Stripes do). That Winehouse flash in the pan only has to poorly lip-sync to a silly record she put out. Now listen, as I said, I have played music for a number of years in this town and other towns across the U.S. Yes, you party. Yes, you feel exhausted. Cocaine, alcohol, and a host of other intoxicants will bring about a feeling of exhaustion. Who fucking cares? Play, bitch! Your responsibility is to strap on your instrument and play for 45 minutes in front of adoring fans, exit the stage, and collect a staggering check. If you cannot meet these silly requirements, then fuck you! I work 12 hours a day, lug my gear down to the Hole in the Wall, wait around for two hours with no drink comps, play a smoldering show, and get nothing. These assholes are turning down six figures cause they are "exhausted.” Wanna see exhausted? Try my life. Try any Austin musician's life. We're exhausted, you asshole. Giving interviews between margaritas and rails might be exhausting, then you have to get in your limo to the show, where all your gear is set up, and you just have to plunk out your derivative foolish shit for 45 minutes. Then return to your hotel while someone far more talented than you breaks down your gear. Have some gratitude for the fortunate, unearned life that has been dropped into your lap, and play the show. Besides, you're only gonna be famous for another eight minutes. Look some people in the eye that got suckered into buying your trash, and rock them. You can't play 45 minutes because you're too "exhausted"? Gimme a fucking break. -Justin Andrews

Rockabilly musician Janice Martin died Sept. 3rd from terminal cancer. Her first single was released when she was just 15 years old (though she had been performing long before that). She returned to show business in the late seventies and has been rockin' ever since. At the time of her death, she had several shows booked.