ON OVER AND OUT

I got to Cambridge Town yesterday at around 2:30. This is what you can see of the store till the sleep depraved, hungry and heartbroken (or all of the above!) finish gutting the poor, doomed beast on Wednesday.

I worked in this store for 6 years and helped out whenever i could (mostly by making Scott tons of distracting Japanese DVD's) afterward. Scott and i worked together nearly every day for 6 years, when i finally left Boston, i thought the separation might kill me. Various other CD Spins kids (the store was CD Spins first) helped out here and there, especially Sophia, who has recently gotten many honorable mentions here in the Dome. I met the 'Squee' here as well, and we became secret friends after i finished hating the world and taking it out on her! OOPS!

this is the Logo you would see when you walk in and look up and straight ahead.

Dudes! This is the wall where the DVD racks used to be! and the lonely, stripped wall straight ahead is... *chokes back sobs*....THE WALL OF QUALITY!!!!!

That's the main RPS wall before Dawn took the drill to it.

These are the stairs were we all consumed many delicious Lee's lunches. Remember how you could curl up on the top step and set up your lunch like a picnic and watch the goings on below with your sybjects completely unaware?




Above are the remains of those wretched drawers that you always wanted to just pull off their runners once and for all...well, they're gone now, being used as suitcases for worthwhile product.




And what we all know was the best part of that store, the hilarious notes we wrote and/or faxed to each other captured the spirit of the place better than anything else. and yes, i took them ALL. We lost nothing, people, except the physical location. But don't worry, i'm sure we'll haunt the new tenants for a long time still. Scott and I were discussing how even years down the line, the next business to move in (a Mexican shop for Mexicans) will still suffer questions and mind boggling inquiries like : "Hey! I remember when there was a record store here!" and "Did you know this place used to be a record store?" and then they'll stand and nod their head for a while and talk mostly to themselves about how they haven't been in the area for years but how they used to shop at the record store all the time...and the clerk will stand there and smile and nod and act like she/he hasn't heard this statement a million times already and then the 'customer' will wish the clerk a nice day and leave without buying anything. *SIGH* Cambridge.

My Anger Management chart from Scott (it really worked!), the list of jerks and some classic photos and post-its. who can forget the celebritiy cameos?

ok, so it's mostly Xtina, but what can i say? i love her. besides, there was also British Lou Barlow, Diego Luna, Shakira, Tori Amos, the guy from Versus, Johnny Depp, Spider Man, Mr. Ed, Jimmy Fallon...

SO like, this is incredibly long but, ya know, i did try to fit 6 years (considerably longer for Scott) worth of life altering memories into one blog. so just accept that it's the longest one EVER and don't even read it. just look at the pictures and wish you were there. Scott and i made a bunch of trips to the dumpster in the alley, to throw away mountains unspeakable crap (CD's) and as the dumpster crushed them, the cases snapping and crunching, i said (because it was just so darn appropriate) "Scott, that's the sounds of our hearts breaking..."

So There It Goes

GAH! GAAAAAAAAAH!! Did i mention...Gah? OK, in reference to the last bit of sillyness, Kumi was actually making a joke at her manager's expense and many people (kids, mostly, i hope) defending her seem to think this 'dried up fluids' thing is a 'scientific fact', which makes me sad. ANYWAY, just wanted to clarify in print (but she still got temporarilly banished from the pop star kingdom and lost her ad campaigns with Visee Cosmetics and almost had her tour cancelled).

OK!! i have returneth from 'The Project', which, by grand finale, had converted 2 of 3 non-believers. The professor liked it a lot (even the end part which i found to be a little heart wrenching because in Nagano, the joy kind of morphed into the sorrow of impending doom and it shows with the music i picked.) For those of you who don't know what i'm talking about, when i went to Japan last summer, the last half of the trip was spent in Nagano, meeting my friend's family and being blessed by the High Priestess of a Buddhist Temple (Zenko-Ji). And It was overwhelmingly awesome and everything, but because it was so awesome, because everything about Japan was so amazing, i was a miserable little lump upon my return to the states, so like, re-making my trip, as it were, brought back all the good and not so good memories. It was like leaving my friends and Japan all over again.

ok, but the very end of it came out way funny, so it leaves you light hearted. i hope. SO, 3 months i worked endlessly on 'The Project' (which, incidently, i named 'Lines, Wires and Love' after the dorky little quip on the side of this blog) and now it's done and i can write and draw again and yeah, i think my fluids are dried up (>.<)

i can't draw and HAVE to draw because i have other projects! 2 of them, one is a gift and one is an assignment (I'm sorry Sophia, sooooooon!!). Hopefully the misery of having to bid farewell to the only constant in my life in Boston this weekend will bring about some ability. I'm actually hoping just thinking about it will make the artistic gears turn this evening at work. I did this one during the project too, thinking of impending projects, i don't know if you'll be able to see, but she's picking jelly beans off a cupcake...SOPHIA!!! On Church St. is closing its doors for good. On Church St. was the safe haven where i worked, and just about lived, i spent so much time there. It was CD Spins before my dear friend and at one point, my employee, decided to buy it when it went up for sale. Then he became my boss and all heck broke loose. He got me into Japan. it's entirely his fault. how can i ever thank him enough? i wouldn't be who i am today without that place and everything that happened inside and out. Sure, there are some horrid memories (stalkers and ex-boyfriends, junkies, drunks, thieves, horrible little gay men with little dogs and/or big bellies), but there are some really brilliantly hilarious ones as well (stalkers and ex-boyfriends, junkies, drunks, thieves, horrible little gay men with little dogs and/or big bellies). I guess it was suitable that E.P.H came in last time i was there to tell Scott what jerks we are for never buying his awesome stolen Miles Davis box sets and that he just sold them to Newbury comics and hopes they put us out of business...well, that didn't happen really, it wasn't Newbury, because no one shops there either.

But we'll let Mr. H continue to believe what he wants, whatever makes a junkie happy, you know, America? anyway, i'm saying goodbye to this big ole piece of my heart on Sunday, i get to help tear the place apart!! Hooray for destruction! then i plan to become very, very drunk. Then, i'll come back here and write about it! Yay!

SAVE KU-CHAN!!

well, i've just sucked down the last drop of beer and yes, the rum is gone. BUT, i've also just finished my taxes! Hooray!! i don't have much of a point today, i'm afraid. i just found out a bit of disturbing info that may only disturb...me. here, let me tell you about it anyway! it seems that one of my beloved Japanese pop idols, Kumi Koda, has been banished from the J-POP Idol Kingdom by her own label, Avex Trax. SO the girl doesn't have much going on upstairs, she still writes super pop songs and she's a great singer, dancer and what a hot piece of...OK, maybe she's a little ho-ish, but i love her anyway, don't you? you better, considering she sang ALL the songs for my FAVORITE MOVIE EVER: Cutie Honey. Anyway, so i may not like EVERYTHING she's done, but she's always got a place in my heart for attaching herself to such a perfect film. She had a little slip of the tongue that unfortunately offended apparently the entire country of Japan. She said something to the affect of "your 'fluids' dry up after the age of 35 if you're a woman...." Now, i don't know about you, but i thought to myself upon reading this; "Jeepers, that sounds like it was taken out of context since it makes no sense on its own..." Well, Kumi was talking about how she wants to have a child before too long because (insert said offensive statement here). Of course, poor Ku-Ku was just talking out her cute lil' butt about having a family, as many famous people often do...i don't think she put much thought into her statement considering it's completely inaccurate. Kumi, honey, your femme juices NEVER dry up. till you die. you got 'em.So her label and the TV networks found her statement vile and offensive to women in that 'dried up' age bracket. Kumi issued a televised as well as several written apologies, stating that the statement was taken out of context and she didn't mean any harm. Her label is halting all promotion for her newest album and you can't find ANYTHING recent about her online, her videos are NOT ON YOUTUBE!!!! Thankfully she hasn't been dropped from her label, as it is a monster major label for all the super best J-POPsters like Ayumi Hamasaki, Sifow, Hitomi, Every Little Thing & Namie Amuro, to name a few.

Anyway, i just wanted to give a holla to my girl Kumi cause she messed up, but she's been punished enough! People should know she's a young pop star who's appeal is largely based on her astounding ability to integrate various acts of copulation into every dance routine she's ever choreographed, and that intelligence isn't generally part of the equation for the perfect pop-tart. Yeah, i was going to post her video for Cutie Honey here...but now i fear Avex would hunt me down and destroy my blog...so i'm not gonna. But the thought was there, so that counts. dammit.