Peel back your skin; find something new. Dig, claw, scrape. Blood and bone and skin and muscle is just a trapping; discover the soul underneath, and stir. Tear yourself apart, gasp at the pain of your exposed spirit, struggle.

See the other side, even if like me, you're not there yet, and let's talk.

It feels good.

I figure I'd better write something about Golem!'s show last week before it completely escapes me to do so. In a word: fantastic. Showing up early and trying to find a way to kill time was well worth it. Bicycling through SF after the show, completely drenched in sweat was well worth it. Missing the last BART train and regular-running bus out of the city was well worth it. Missing the first late-night bus was well worth it. Dropping about $15 for a Denny's burger and fries to fill my stomach at 1:30am, and almost missing the next late-night…

Perhaps my loyal readers, all two of you (er, do I have that many readers?), will recall my encounter with one of San Francisco's finest about a month ago. I am happy to report that maybe, just maybe, I'm getting a little of my Spidey-sense back.

Let's rewind the clock to the evening of November 8th, 2007. The place: Violet, Louisiana, about 30 miles outside New Orleans, where the One Brick crew is staying in Habitat For Humanity's Camp Hope. Tony and I had originally planning to represent the East Bay at the Lyrics Born show at the House Of…

It's 4am, and I can't quite sleep yet; I'm feeling anxious. I've opened some new strange chapter in my life, and I want to get on with it. Waiting for a phonecall, waiting for the morning, waiting for keys, waiting for tomorrow night, waiting to see what happens next. Life's pretty damned good, all the same.

Another late-breaking announcement… Golem is playing on Nov 14th (tomorrow!) at 12 Galaxies. And by some lucky streak, I got a pair of tickets from The Onion's email newsletter. Awesome!

Golem is a 6-piece band from NY. I've never seen them play, and have only heard three tracks, but I'd describe them as eastern European folk / rock. Since seeing the Panorama Jazz Band last Friday at the Spotted Cat, I've been back on this Klezmer / eastern European music kick, with a big dose of hip-hop on the side.

I had a chance to see Golem many many months…

I'm back from New Orleans, but I think that I left something there. I only actually realized it when I got to my office this morning, and sat down at my desk for the first time in 9 days. There was something important missing– my hammer.

Well, not my hammer per se, but a hammer. For 4 days, I walked around with that faithful companion hanging my side, rapping against my knee with each step.

The first day was spent gutting an old clinic. For two years the majority had been untouched. Two of the three buildings saw the light…

I received some bad news early yesterday afternoon, the kind that's inevitable but still heartbreaking. I knew it was coming, and I tried to psyche myself out for it, but when I heard it, my whole body was infused with this dull ache and lethargy, my throat closed up a bit, and my heart sank into my stomach. Wasn't too productive after that, at work, so after a while, I took off.

On Friday, I thought about going to see Jason Webley at the Gilman, but decided against it at the last moment, for what reason I don't recall. I…

It's going to be a dark, dark, dark week for my ears, soon. Not this week, but the following: a week away from my music collection, and me without a working discman or iPod. No computer to keep tabs on my favorite bands. No guitar to dick around on. I'm going to miss several live shows I planned on going to: Do Make Say Think, Henry Rollins, and worst of all, Jesu, whom I promised myself that I would see this time. No time even to try to get to see Buck 65 or The Dropkick Murphys, should I have…

This is a little something I threw together tonight for dinner. It was easy, and pretty damned quick. Breakfast truly is best served any time of the day. I needed something quick, as after the Sunday-paint-the-folks-house routine, I went into San Francisco to check out Aquarius Records. Neat little place, with a comforting propensity towards metal of the extreme varieties (think black, doom, etc.). At any rate, I was starving by the time I got home.

So without further ado, I bring you my breakfast burrito:

Ingredients:
3 eggs
milk
1 red pepper
1 chicken & mango Aidells sausage
2…

I need to take my Spidey-sense into the shop for a tune-up. The last time I was in SF, I was making my way to the Boris show. I got off BART at the Civic Center station (underground), and I just had to go about 2 blocks "forward" to Hayes, make a right, and head up the hill. Unfortunately, by the time I got myself to the street, I was turned around enough times that I wasn't sure which way "forward" was.

When I got up onto the surface, I hopped on the bike in what I thought was the…