So there's been a lot of discussion lately as to the exact amount of pets to have come and gone in the Giuffre household throughout the years. So here's a chronological list as best as I can remember:
1980's
Merlin & Monroe - before my time, but I've heard about them
Sherlock - Horrifying dog who destroyed fences, got hit by many cars and refused to die
Lightning - Cat who in her waining years scared builders shitless
A couple rabbits - There's debate as to who actually left the hutch open
1990's
Patches - Annie's cat that ran away (ha)
Tiger - Adam's cat
Stripe - My cat who was almost always pregnant
Bigfoot - One of Stripe's kittens who stayed with mom during her recovery from surgery, then stayed with us until last year. Had seven toes and brain damage.
Five - The last remaining cat of the Old pack, found in a dumpster in Westfield by Annie
Peanut - Annie's cat. Doesn't really count, but she lived here for a while
Jack - The wonderful dog who when we were both 14 (he in dog years) we were the same height and weight (5'3", 110 lbs)
2000's (the age of strays)
Ahab - Real name Oscar, moved from down the street to here, then to my house in Mission Hill, then back home
Buster Brown - Walked into mom and dad's window and refused to leave, lived with me in JP for a few months where he was named by my roommate Marion
Puerto Rico - The stray who hung around my house in Austin
Dave - True name still undecided, found by Annie in Somerville. I call him Leto II after the Emperor of the Universe in Dune.
Grand total of my 25 year stay at this house is 12 cats, 2 dogs, plus one Puerto Rico. I have a vague memory of there being fish at one point and Lightning knocking the bowl over and eating them. Annie still has Peanut in San Fransisco, Adam's thinking about getting a dog, and Five, Buster Brown, and Dave still live here. I'm moving in a week to a house with two cats so those three are staying here.
6.09.2009
3.16.2009
I'm saving the good stuff. But you can have these.
So I guess I'll write a little on what's been going on. Things are progressing wonderfully with the Auntie Lee project, its just a matter of time. In the meanwhile I've been successfully scoring great interviews for the past few weeks. Still no bites and I'm waiting to hear from this one place on Friday, which would be not only a decent job but actually exciting and stimulating and could put me in a direction I've been meaning to lean myself. I had a great interview at a Candy Factory last Sunday and although the interview went well, when I went in to work the next day, the inner turmoil of a Father-Son operation presented itself. I never like when you have two bosses and neither can agree and both will occasionally come in to where you're working and tell you to work in a manner that completely negtates what the previous one had said, rising to the contradictory crescendo of me not getting hired. Tim raised the cute question of "Do you think anyone could have done that job?"
Saturday was lovely. Rolled into JP around the 3, got coffees at Miami Restaurant, which I'm convinced is the best and cheapest coffee in Boston or anywhere near it. Hung out with Keanne for a while then went over to Tim's and beat him at the version of dominoes Matt learned from the Domicans at his work. Then Tim beat me by not too much in the version his grandfather tought him. I think its the Cuban. After that we went to Same Old Place which is no longer the same old place because it now serves wicked cheap beer. We got pitchers and slices and they told us if we were to drink we'd have to do so in the back room which as it turned out was occupied with a six year old's birthday party. So we drank with a bunch of six year olds and were loud and vulgar and saw a Cabbage Patch Kid sticking ass-end out of a trash can. The party wrapped up and the moms assured us that if the kids had any more sugar they'd never go to sleep, so they gave us the rest of the birthday cake. We brought it home, ate it and played Mario Kart. We then went over to Chico's and found that we were the first to arrive at his basement show party. Chico's parties are usually really fun, but this one was totally busted. No one there, awful bands that I couldn't pretend to be interested in and a pay bar in the basement. We lost Harry and sang and drank all the way back to Tim's to get my car so we could go to All Asia where Aslhey was working the bar and could give us free drinks.
By the time we actually got to All Asia there was a line out front, I couldn't find parking, and I'd lost my voice singing along to Nick Cave so I just kicked Haggerty and Tim out of the car and went over to Amanda's. Woke up the next day to Karen christening me yet another nickname: Mini Gun. This is derived from a few weeks ago when I was talking about my noise band BCMG and said that rather than standing for Brian.Calderelli.Matthew.Giuffre, it stood for Big Cold Mini Gun. We drove to Swampscott, got scones and coffees, sat on a bench and looked at dogs and the ocean. At one point a jogging lady stopped to stretch and aimed her butt right at us, after which some wierdo said "Now I'm gonna stretch just like that" then gave us a bunch of seaglass in an oyster shell wrapped in painter's tape. "I'm saving the good stuff," he said. "But you can have these."
I then went over JD's and rearranged the shit out of his apartment and helped his downstairs neighbor move a washer and dryer from the basement to his second floor apt. He gave us ten bucks so we went to Kappy's and got some nice beer: Weihenstephaner Weissbeer Dark and Unibroue Seigneuriale (did I have to do a google search for spelling on those? Yes). We're waiting until another round of Resident Evil to crack them open.
So I've been keeping busy. I've finished four paintings since the new year, got a call from a freelance agency today, saw Watchmen and was pleased, started a band with two more hypothetical bands in the mix, and have just been doing well. The final piece is landing a job. Tomorrow I begin learning Javascript in an effort to learn ActionScript. And hopefully Friday I'm in love.
Saturday was lovely. Rolled into JP around the 3, got coffees at Miami Restaurant, which I'm convinced is the best and cheapest coffee in Boston or anywhere near it. Hung out with Keanne for a while then went over to Tim's and beat him at the version of dominoes Matt learned from the Domicans at his work. Then Tim beat me by not too much in the version his grandfather tought him. I think its the Cuban. After that we went to Same Old Place which is no longer the same old place because it now serves wicked cheap beer. We got pitchers and slices and they told us if we were to drink we'd have to do so in the back room which as it turned out was occupied with a six year old's birthday party. So we drank with a bunch of six year olds and were loud and vulgar and saw a Cabbage Patch Kid sticking ass-end out of a trash can. The party wrapped up and the moms assured us that if the kids had any more sugar they'd never go to sleep, so they gave us the rest of the birthday cake. We brought it home, ate it and played Mario Kart. We then went over to Chico's and found that we were the first to arrive at his basement show party. Chico's parties are usually really fun, but this one was totally busted. No one there, awful bands that I couldn't pretend to be interested in and a pay bar in the basement. We lost Harry and sang and drank all the way back to Tim's to get my car so we could go to All Asia where Aslhey was working the bar and could give us free drinks.
By the time we actually got to All Asia there was a line out front, I couldn't find parking, and I'd lost my voice singing along to Nick Cave so I just kicked Haggerty and Tim out of the car and went over to Amanda's. Woke up the next day to Karen christening me yet another nickname: Mini Gun. This is derived from a few weeks ago when I was talking about my noise band BCMG and said that rather than standing for Brian.Calderelli.Matthew.Giuffre, it stood for Big Cold Mini Gun. We drove to Swampscott, got scones and coffees, sat on a bench and looked at dogs and the ocean. At one point a jogging lady stopped to stretch and aimed her butt right at us, after which some wierdo said "Now I'm gonna stretch just like that" then gave us a bunch of seaglass in an oyster shell wrapped in painter's tape. "I'm saving the good stuff," he said. "But you can have these."
I then went over JD's and rearranged the shit out of his apartment and helped his downstairs neighbor move a washer and dryer from the basement to his second floor apt. He gave us ten bucks so we went to Kappy's and got some nice beer: Weihenstephaner Weissbeer Dark and Unibroue Seigneuriale (did I have to do a google search for spelling on those? Yes). We're waiting until another round of Resident Evil to crack them open.
So I've been keeping busy. I've finished four paintings since the new year, got a call from a freelance agency today, saw Watchmen and was pleased, started a band with two more hypothetical bands in the mix, and have just been doing well. The final piece is landing a job. Tomorrow I begin learning Javascript in an effort to learn ActionScript. And hopefully Friday I'm in love.
1.13.2009
So I now know the basics of PHP and this shit is mad boring. Its the type of stuff that made me disinterested in web design in the first place. Oh well. Its good to know. I guess I'll move on to Java now. I'm going to start recording the jam seshes and maybe set up a youtube channel for it. We'll see.
1.12.2009
Oh my. So I've been a creative tornado lately. I'm learning perl this week, and I'm moving on the php next week and I think I'm just going to code up some pages to show what I'm capable of, which is something I can't find a reason for not doing yet. I've been jamming constantly, typically with Brian at the metal shop in Lynn which is always fun and interesting. We pulled Marat in one week to play guitar and Tim the week before to play banjo with excellent results. Last Monday I had a wonderful jam with me playing drums, Tyler on upright bass, Marat on guitar, Evan on sax, and Tim from upstairs on trombone. Epic. Brian brought his set up but it was too loud and he just kind of sat out for most, but we're going to play again tomorrow night.
I've sold out of comics again and need to get to the shops to collect. I'm going to put this money towards printing my next comic once it gets finished, then from there sending shit to publishers. One of these days. I've begun drawing again. Large scale. Check out the work in progress as well as the two old boys that got finished. I only made two drawings last year in addition to other things. Although I did make two comics and started writing an intensive series of scripts. It was a good year kind of. Regardless, I aim to improve on this. Crummy pics, I know but I'm working on it.
And one of these days I swear to god I'll get a job. Until then, I'm still pretty happy. Its nice having a place to live.
I've sold out of comics again and need to get to the shops to collect. I'm going to put this money towards printing my next comic once it gets finished, then from there sending shit to publishers. One of these days. I've begun drawing again. Large scale. Check out the work in progress as well as the two old boys that got finished. I only made two drawings last year in addition to other things. Although I did make two comics and started writing an intensive series of scripts. It was a good year kind of. Regardless, I aim to improve on this. Crummy pics, I know but I'm working on it.
And one of these days I swear to god I'll get a job. Until then, I'm still pretty happy. Its nice having a place to live.
11.21.2008
Oh me, oh my. So. The JP experiement failed and I'm back in Wakefield, but not dreading it as much as I did last time. Last winter I was all over the place, but this time I think I can use this stability to get some work that I've been neglecting done. I bent another keyboard the other day and used it last night playing music with Brian at his metal shop in Lynn and it was really good. Brian said it made him think of soldiers. I'm currently cat-sitting and watching Ghost Hunters. The problem with this show that makes it total bullshit is that the cameras are on them, not where they're looking, so all the show is is them talking to nothing then going "Oh shit!" and the camera shooting over to where nothing is. Its happened like ninety god damn times so far. The should have head mounts, whatever.
Oh here's some sketches from the past few months. I'm going to start to try to do this at least a couple times a week. We'll see. I'm still plagued by the fact that after drawing for twenty years, I still can't draw cars.
Oh here's some sketches from the past few months. I'm going to start to try to do this at least a couple times a week. We'll see. I'm still plagued by the fact that after drawing for twenty years, I still can't draw cars.
9.15.2008
God Damn It
I just made a huge post about how wonderful tonight is, my current wonderful thoughts, wonderful things that are going on and a whole bunch of wonderful shit then accidentally hit "back" and lost it. But to Sum Up:
-Tonight's the type of night where you feel bad for anyone that's asleep because there's few nights like this in a year and they're missing it. Like every night in Austin in October. You also feel bad for yourself because you're experiencing it alone. Like every night in Boston in September.
-I need to stop. I'm starting to seriously miss having a home. I'm too transient. I haven't lived anywhere for more than three months in the last two years.
-I might move in with Tyler, Tim, and Mel into this great place in JP. I also might move back to Texas. I'm an idiot, now and forever.
-I'm in the process of acquiring bands for a show on October 12 at the Midway. Currently enlisted are Big Blue Octopus and Peace & Quiet. Eat Cloud is very probable, I just haven't heard back from Andy, but that's in no way unusual behavior. Andy's the type of person where you're crossing the street in Ohio and he happens to be on the other side waving and saying "woah." I emailed Neptune to headline because if they do the place'll be packed and the aforementioned bands would get a lot of exposure with the right type of audience.
-I had a roll of film in my camera for the last four or five months. It starts in Montreal and ends on Lamartine St. Visual catalogue of my pesonal lack of direction in the last few months. Here's some winners:
Man Man at the Paradise. Wierd night for me.
Jess at her senior show. Wierd night for me.
Keanne and Mel in the back of my car. Good day for me.
Garce got in a car crash in LA and that scar is from his bones leaving his arm. He had to move home. Wierd.
Horror Movies and 40's and Asheville all over.
Remember that bug I was talking about?
Queechee Gorge. Great day for me.
Me in Queechee Gorge. Great day for me.
You thought you knew what sweet was.
Lamartine.
So yeah. The original post was all sappy and poetic and whatever. I got work to do.
-Tonight's the type of night where you feel bad for anyone that's asleep because there's few nights like this in a year and they're missing it. Like every night in Austin in October. You also feel bad for yourself because you're experiencing it alone. Like every night in Boston in September.
-I need to stop. I'm starting to seriously miss having a home. I'm too transient. I haven't lived anywhere for more than three months in the last two years.
-I might move in with Tyler, Tim, and Mel into this great place in JP. I also might move back to Texas. I'm an idiot, now and forever.
-I'm in the process of acquiring bands for a show on October 12 at the Midway. Currently enlisted are Big Blue Octopus and Peace & Quiet. Eat Cloud is very probable, I just haven't heard back from Andy, but that's in no way unusual behavior. Andy's the type of person where you're crossing the street in Ohio and he happens to be on the other side waving and saying "woah." I emailed Neptune to headline because if they do the place'll be packed and the aforementioned bands would get a lot of exposure with the right type of audience.
-I had a roll of film in my camera for the last four or five months. It starts in Montreal and ends on Lamartine St. Visual catalogue of my pesonal lack of direction in the last few months. Here's some winners:
Man Man at the Paradise. Wierd night for me.
Jess at her senior show. Wierd night for me.
Keanne and Mel in the back of my car. Good day for me.
Garce got in a car crash in LA and that scar is from his bones leaving his arm. He had to move home. Wierd.
Horror Movies and 40's and Asheville all over.
Remember that bug I was talking about?
Queechee Gorge. Great day for me.
Me in Queechee Gorge. Great day for me.
You thought you knew what sweet was.
Lamartine.
So yeah. The original post was all sappy and poetic and whatever. I got work to do.
9.01.2008
I got Bless This Mess tattooed on my chest
Not really. So August barely happened. I think it's because I never really stopped moving the entire month. Since my triumphant return from a month of leisure and splendor in Asheville I wasn't ready to stop. I hit up New York, got pissed at it (thought I did shoot a video with Casey which turned out pretty good), went to Providence, loved it again, then got home. I spent a lot of time in Salem, met some new people, hung with the old and classic.
I spent three beautiful days in Vermont visiting my friend Becca and was constantly reminded about what's actually nice in life and what isn't. We camped every night in the rain, one night running for our lives from some hidden (imaginary) terror. Woke up to fog and sun and walked around tiny, lovely towns.
I came home wishing I didn't have to and started work on a new comic, a scathing review of my life in the spring. Its a reflection on how I basically did nothing but mope and drink from February til May when I finally realised that it was bogus and that I had been doing nothing for no reason, not for some person. It was my own decision to be shitty and being that way isn't going to fix anything that's wrong. Its called "Unproductive -or- My Sorry State In Spring 2008" and should be on shelves in Cambridge and Somerville in a week or two. 30p. Not bad. My most straight forward story ever since there's no monsters or blood or fights. Its good to look at the bad you and remember why you weren't like that before. I remember one night I was talking to Jess about something, maybe some fight I got into, and she said to me "What ever happened to going to the beach? Or flying kites?" And that helped me to get where I am now.
I drove to New York again to help a friend and left feeling horrible and alienated. I had a long, loud talk with myself for the six hours it took me to get home for some reason. I felt better when I got back.
I worked for a week and a half as a sculptor's assistant (helmicksculpture.com) and I can easily say it was the best job ever. Free coffee twice a day, free lunch, needless bonus pay and I landed free tickets to see Grizzly Bear at the MFA. And there were two cats in the studio. Dreamy. I saw Black Dice as well at MassArt and was terribly disappointed. I've seen them twice before and it was great, but this time... not so much.
The following week I spent three days at Alan's parents' beach house on Prudence Island and suddenly everything was great again. I felt like nothing was horrible and it was just good to hang with my friends like it was old times at Meatland. We grilled and watched cartoons and swam and I got pretty good at piloting a corical (a tiny circular boat). Lots of sunsets, lots of drawing, lots of writing, lots of reading. Just good times.
I got back too late to go to a wake I wanted to attend, but went to the fund-raiser the next day. The thing felt wierd and I left early. If you heard about a girl dying in Salem that was this girl I knew. No one should die yet. The Gulu, however, managed to raise 10k that night for her parents which is nothing short of amazing. Place was so packed I couldn't get JD's attention to pay my bill...
I spent the next day until sunday in Maine, bringing Lawrence back to the farm he'd been working on and to bring Mel home. It, too, was pretty wonderful, though I had hoped to score some cheap boots and found none. We had a nice surprise when we got there that Homefries and her friend Andrew were also coming back with us, with their bikes, but they had abandoned their bike rack in Bar Harbor. We played Apples to Apples and I managed to offend everyone somehow. There was lots of stars.
I slept that night with Lawrence and Mel in The Marshmallow, a tiny trailor the likes of which I hope to own one day. It was great except that I had a needlessly savage nightmare. One of those where you wake up and all you can think is what the fuck was that? I won't get into it. But I stumbled out of the trailor and into the most beautiful morning I can remember and felt intantly wierd. Still quivering from the nightmare but smothered in wonderful 7 am northern Maine on a farm. The Farm Mom had made blueberry muffins which I used to wake everyone else up so we could get to organizing the incredible ten pounds of shit we had to fit in a five pound car. Everything Mel owned, everything Lawrenced owned, a surfboard and two bikes. It took about 5 tries and the dog kept trying to get in. Such a good dog. But we did it and then went to Harrington? Beach in Scarborough. There were no waves and Tyler almost cried. I think we just came at the wrong time. The tide was going out, but the waves were breaking in the same spot, so if we came at high tide it would have been awesome. There actually were waves but at the time they were breaking about three feet from the shore.
I drove from there to Salem and got free Italian Ices from some new place that opened on Essex. Hung with JD and Brian, made a fire then went to JP when I got word Tim and Keanne had been baking pies. I got there and it was Corey's birthday so we drank a whole mess of mead but Tyler wouldn't sumo me. Piaxao fell asleep at some point, I got upset at some point (maybe aftershocks from the nightmare mixed with other things) and decided to just drive back to Wakefield for no reason.
I spent today applying for jobs in Boston, East Hampton, Asheville, Austin and Redrock and fixing my guitar. I've been working on it for six months and like most projects I put off, when I got back to it the solution was incredibly simple. It still needs a new 1/4" jack, but that's nothing. I'm starting a new band with myself and hopefully other people once I get it going called Human Hogan. Be on the lookout.
Speaking of bands I may be booking shows at The Midway in JP and Great Scott in Allston. That last one I might've imagined, but I think Natalie said that Ben said I could. So, if you need a show in a small place, I'm your man.
I'm reprinting DadMan Be Damned (this time with color covers!) and reapplying for the Xeric. The deadline is in 30 days. I got to mosey.
Tonight I began shading Unproductive then took a break and went to the beach. I sat down saw a shooting star and went home. Made some tea and started writing this.
I guess that's it. I'd say that's a pretty good month. Lets hope the next is >than or =to.
I spent three beautiful days in Vermont visiting my friend Becca and was constantly reminded about what's actually nice in life and what isn't. We camped every night in the rain, one night running for our lives from some hidden (imaginary) terror. Woke up to fog and sun and walked around tiny, lovely towns.
I came home wishing I didn't have to and started work on a new comic, a scathing review of my life in the spring. Its a reflection on how I basically did nothing but mope and drink from February til May when I finally realised that it was bogus and that I had been doing nothing for no reason, not for some person. It was my own decision to be shitty and being that way isn't going to fix anything that's wrong. Its called "Unproductive -or- My Sorry State In Spring 2008" and should be on shelves in Cambridge and Somerville in a week or two. 30p. Not bad. My most straight forward story ever since there's no monsters or blood or fights. Its good to look at the bad you and remember why you weren't like that before. I remember one night I was talking to Jess about something, maybe some fight I got into, and she said to me "What ever happened to going to the beach? Or flying kites?" And that helped me to get where I am now.
I drove to New York again to help a friend and left feeling horrible and alienated. I had a long, loud talk with myself for the six hours it took me to get home for some reason. I felt better when I got back.
I worked for a week and a half as a sculptor's assistant (helmicksculpture.com) and I can easily say it was the best job ever. Free coffee twice a day, free lunch, needless bonus pay and I landed free tickets to see Grizzly Bear at the MFA. And there were two cats in the studio. Dreamy. I saw Black Dice as well at MassArt and was terribly disappointed. I've seen them twice before and it was great, but this time... not so much.
The following week I spent three days at Alan's parents' beach house on Prudence Island and suddenly everything was great again. I felt like nothing was horrible and it was just good to hang with my friends like it was old times at Meatland. We grilled and watched cartoons and swam and I got pretty good at piloting a corical (a tiny circular boat). Lots of sunsets, lots of drawing, lots of writing, lots of reading. Just good times.
I got back too late to go to a wake I wanted to attend, but went to the fund-raiser the next day. The thing felt wierd and I left early. If you heard about a girl dying in Salem that was this girl I knew. No one should die yet. The Gulu, however, managed to raise 10k that night for her parents which is nothing short of amazing. Place was so packed I couldn't get JD's attention to pay my bill...
I spent the next day until sunday in Maine, bringing Lawrence back to the farm he'd been working on and to bring Mel home. It, too, was pretty wonderful, though I had hoped to score some cheap boots and found none. We had a nice surprise when we got there that Homefries and her friend Andrew were also coming back with us, with their bikes, but they had abandoned their bike rack in Bar Harbor. We played Apples to Apples and I managed to offend everyone somehow. There was lots of stars.
I slept that night with Lawrence and Mel in The Marshmallow, a tiny trailor the likes of which I hope to own one day. It was great except that I had a needlessly savage nightmare. One of those where you wake up and all you can think is what the fuck was that? I won't get into it. But I stumbled out of the trailor and into the most beautiful morning I can remember and felt intantly wierd. Still quivering from the nightmare but smothered in wonderful 7 am northern Maine on a farm. The Farm Mom had made blueberry muffins which I used to wake everyone else up so we could get to organizing the incredible ten pounds of shit we had to fit in a five pound car. Everything Mel owned, everything Lawrenced owned, a surfboard and two bikes. It took about 5 tries and the dog kept trying to get in. Such a good dog. But we did it and then went to Harrington? Beach in Scarborough. There were no waves and Tyler almost cried. I think we just came at the wrong time. The tide was going out, but the waves were breaking in the same spot, so if we came at high tide it would have been awesome. There actually were waves but at the time they were breaking about three feet from the shore.
I drove from there to Salem and got free Italian Ices from some new place that opened on Essex. Hung with JD and Brian, made a fire then went to JP when I got word Tim and Keanne had been baking pies. I got there and it was Corey's birthday so we drank a whole mess of mead but Tyler wouldn't sumo me. Piaxao fell asleep at some point, I got upset at some point (maybe aftershocks from the nightmare mixed with other things) and decided to just drive back to Wakefield for no reason.
I spent today applying for jobs in Boston, East Hampton, Asheville, Austin and Redrock and fixing my guitar. I've been working on it for six months and like most projects I put off, when I got back to it the solution was incredibly simple. It still needs a new 1/4" jack, but that's nothing. I'm starting a new band with myself and hopefully other people once I get it going called Human Hogan. Be on the lookout.
Speaking of bands I may be booking shows at The Midway in JP and Great Scott in Allston. That last one I might've imagined, but I think Natalie said that Ben said I could. So, if you need a show in a small place, I'm your man.
I'm reprinting DadMan Be Damned (this time with color covers!) and reapplying for the Xeric. The deadline is in 30 days. I got to mosey.
Tonight I began shading Unproductive then took a break and went to the beach. I sat down saw a shooting star and went home. Made some tea and started writing this.
I guess that's it. I'd say that's a pretty good month. Lets hope the next is >than or =to.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
