I


've been disgusted with humanity and my place in it since the New York City trip. I've been betrayed by my closest friends for the cheapest form of glory.

But online life continues to be amusing & amazing. One of my fake identities has been spectacularly revealed, and I've created a web page about it in the satire part of my site. Check it out, because I have little else to say today. I'm recovering from event overload, and past musings entries are still in the works.

The weather today was unnaturally cool. And a cold gloomy thunderstorm came through while I depended on reliable electricity at UVA's Cocke Hall.

Of course, the whole album is derivative (what the hell isn't?), right down to the idea of "hidden track" number 20.

T


he music for the last day has been nothing but Tripmaster Monkey's 1996 CD Practice Changes, the one non-consumable I bought in the Big Apple. I'm enjoying it much more than I could have expected. It was definitely worth the $5 it cost me, and it was new.

It sounds very different from an earlier Tripmaster Monkey CD EP I bought, Faster Than Dwight. Whereas the earlier one was sort of an extra-poppy/overly-anthemic variant on the grunge sound, this one is simultaneously cleaner, tighter, more experimental and more chaotic. Several songs have a strong Pavement influence, though much of it has a nostalgic lazy summer day late-70s rock and roll sound. The guitars jangle like galloping horses and the basses boom while the vocals ride along in their own little occasionally low-fi slot or harmonize in a gentle chorus in the background. There's a jazz song, a quasi-funk tune and one or two half-finished songs complete with overheard practicing musician commentary. Some of the songs, for example track number 14, "There are Creatures," have a peppy 2/2 country beat to them. Track number 19, "Spinning to Unwind," reminds me of Gus. Of course, the whole album is derivative (what the hell isn't?), right down to the idea of "hidden track" number 20. But I don't care, I love it.

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