May 12, 1999 1:50 PM
I’m Out of Bed! It feels great! I went to the burrito, the post office, the drug store this morning, it’s a beautiful day, and my legs need some rejuvenating. I’m just getting ready to go out again.
The bed-in ended in mayhem. Annie and Jussi and Ben and Emily and Jon and I just drank and smoked and talked about the T and a million other things. My room, which had miraculously managed to stay clean for four days with me not cleaning it, got trashed. We don’t ordinarily smoke in the house — we made an exception for the bed-in, and everything smelled terrible and was covered with ash, owing to me having my windows wide open to get some fresh air. But it was a lovely time.
More interestingly, today I got a call from State Senator Steve Tolman’s office. They were calling to tell me that Senator Tolman had put a bill forward in the state senate calling for the study of the feasibility of the T operating later! He asked if I could come testify at a hearing tomorrow on the issue! He had seen the article in the Tab, and thought I would be interested! Fabulous! So, tomorrow I’m off to testify. That’s amazing. I, as much as anything, had very little hope in anything coming of this, so I find it particularly serendipitous that this hearing is the day after the bed-in!
On a final note, I did a funny internet interview yesterday with Punklitch, a zine in the Massachusetts/New Hampshire area. It was a little more off the cuff and silly, because it’s a pretty funny zine, and they were going for the comic angle, so keep an eye out for it.
On that note! I’m going to enjoy the sunshine! Thanks to everyone who stopped by, e-mailed me and called. I would have died of boredom without you guys.
rick
May 11, 1999 3:30 PM
We got the Tab! It’s so funny! There’s a big headline and a HUGE picture of me..
It’s a pretty good article, it’s on page 6… check it out! I’m not gonna quote the whole thing here, for now, because I’m grateful to the TAB and I think people should pick it up.. I’ll post it later this week or next. There some funny quotes in there, though.. I don’t remember saying some of them, but, then, I was at work, so who knows I what I was babbling about. I especially don’t recall saying that being a freelance graphic designer was a "pretty cynical career" but who knows — I definitely feel that way sometimes, especially at the assignment I was at when I spoke to Debra. Anyway, I’m very excited about it, even if I look funny in the photo since the photographer kept telling me not to smile. And my stuffed bunny, Poo Poo Hot Pot is in the picture too! Yay!
May 11, 1999 2PM
Three things:
I’m nick cave.. oh wait
My friend Sean is going to see a press screeining of The Phantom Menace today! I’m jealous. And what’s worse is that rumor has it that theaters are going to have midnight showings of Star Wars I on the 19th, and I’ll still be playing a gig then! Tragedy! And we had it all worked out to go to see it at a remote location later on the 19th. Now I’m freaking. 1999 is going to be difficult — first I gotta figure out this star wars thing, then I gotta figure out this new years thing, it’s all too much for one year.
I’m noticed my ashtray is made of pewter, and it leaves a little brown residue on my cigarettes, and I got all freaked out thinking they’re becoming substantially more carcinogen because of it, so I tried to prop my cigarette up on a piece of trident gum in my ashtray, but then I forgot about it and my cigarette burned into the gum and then I smoked it. Hmm.. kind of tasted okay, though. Maybe there’s some market potential there?
Most importantly: some enthusiastic neighbors broke my string to my bell this morning, so now I have no bell. So if you drop by, you’ll have to holler, and then I’ll throw the key down. Can’t fix it because no one is here to help me. Sigh.
My Friend Kris just dropped by, that was nice. Today is turning out to be a swell day.
Ta!
May 11, 1999 Noon
I’ve been really frustrated these last two nights. I’ve been wanting to enter a dream into my new dream journal, but somehow the desire is interfering with the dream.. When I’m having the dream, I think, subconsciously, in the dream "oh, I have to remember this and write it down in the morning" and somehow that ruins the whole flow of the dream, and my memories of it. Now all I remember is that I had dreams, and that I thought I should try and remember them and write them down. I don’t actually remember anything of the dreams themselves.
I’ve been averaging one two liter bottle of diet coke a day. I had only bought two for the whole bed-in, but that quickly proved inadequate. I also somehow fooled myself into thinking I could use this opportunity to try and quit smoking — that’s like me.. when an event’s coming up, anything that can be put off until the event is, and then I have more to do on the event than I should. I always make this mistake with vacations. It’s a vacation, but somehow I’ve given myself fifty tasks I need to accomplish on it, instead of just relaxing. This bed-in is proving to be quite similar.
Good day yesterday.. Got a lot of that letter I need to write done, but it’s ballooning. Trying to think of everything you have done in, or even a brief overview of, the last ten years is a challenge, but I’m enjoying it. I got bogged down at one point, because I realized I had NO IDEA what I actually did the summer of 1992 — I knew where I was, but I didn’t remember my mindset. Reading old journals is pretty entertaining. I seem to forget abou the crushes that never panned out, even if I was paralytically enamoured with them. I read a page and go "really?"
No visitors most of the afternoon, just the roommates. Dave kindly brought me Star Market make your own stir-fry, that was good. Oh, and another bottle of diet coke. It was a quiet day in bed. I really enjoyed it.
Jussi, my partner in the record label, came by around 5:30 and we talked a little business, caught up on any number of things. She showed me a bra-panty set she got free in the mail (it was in her bag, not on her person) from Victoria Secret as a sample to the magazine she worked it. That was pretty funny. She took some Turkish Delight CDs for Sean, she forgot the herald article, which she’s going to bring by after work today.
Somewhere along the line Ivelise came over, she brought beer, and she and I and Jussi and Dave and Josh started a good drinking binge.. Annie stopped by along the line, and Jussi left. Ivel, Josh, Dave, Annie and I drank and sang Beatles songs that Josh and Dave played on the guitar. Dave kindly learned You know my name (look up the number) for me. Ivel and I had some good talks about the state of affairs in our lives and around us. We had some pretty serious current affair talks — all five of us are pretty freaked about the Chinese Embassy thing, and Josh is freaked out about a nuclear satellite in a decaying orbit. Annie and I thought that was pretty funny, well, no, but we were struck by it’s similarity to a key plot line of Wim Wender’s 1992 Until The End of the World, which takes place in 1999 against the backdrop of an Indian Nuclear Satellite falling out of orbit. Great movie, and we’re all eagerly awaiting some opportunity to see the five hour cut. Tony (another Archenemy Partner) told me once that at the WOMAD festival (peter gabriel’s festival) he met the aboriginal truck driver from Until the End of the World who was there teaching Digeradoo lessons. But I ramble.
Annie succumbed and played with the Dinosaurs with us, and she even went so far as to sing us a song about the Stegosaurus that she knew. We enjoyed that immensely.
People started filing out, eventually, Josh first, then Annie, then Ivelise, who had to Leave against her will because the T was closing down soon (ha!) and then dave hit the sack. I stayed up (in bed) writing e-mails, since my e-mail server had not worked all day and I didn’t get any of the day’s e-mails.. I answered them all and went to sleep around 3:00
At 5:30 AM My friends Aug and Andy Shea came by. The were a bit tipsy. They had brought a tape for me to hear, but I don’t have a tape deck anymore, so we were all sad. Andy had some duct tape and a magazine as well. They played with my computer for a while, and it’s all a bit of a blur for me because I was half asleep. But it was still funny. I enjoyed it.
So, wake up today, take a potty break, put on some pulp and write this update. Today’s the last day. In truth, I’m loving it. I’d like to be able to get out of bed to do things like open and close the blinds, but it’s SO NICE just staying in bed. I’m not regretting it and I’m not sick of it. It’s another nice day, and I wish I could go sit on the stoop, but you know, in life, we always wish we could be doing something else, I’ve moved the slider over so that all of life’s existence is on the side of the slider that is forbidden to me, and it’s still not so bad. Perhaps it says something about life, evne when you can’t do ANYTHING it’s still okay. No, I don’t think that’s it, because I can still see my friends and write to them and call them, and those are some miraculously great things. So maybe all you need in life is friends, family, health and bed. Ahh the cloudy philosophy of someone just woken up.
More updates before I get out of bed!
Hair T Bed T,
Rick
May 10, 1999 12:23 PM
Good morning everyone!
Just woke up today, rather late, I must admit, especially considering I went to sleep so early last night.
So here we are on day three. Not really bored yet, I must admit, but a little nervous because it’s a Monday, and I don’t know if anyone will come visit me today… My friend Rachel called this morning, though, that was a pleasant surprise.
Yesterday was pleasant, though… Mr. Goldberg and Mr Ruhe came by and brought me some gifts, drew my portrait in bed… Annie came by again after spending mother’s day at her mum’s house… I talked to my friend Nick on the phone for hours, and that was really, really good — one of the reasons I did this is so I could have long, slow, undistracted talks with old friends — catch up. And it worked perfectly with Mr. Nick. I enjoyed that. I telephoned me mum and we chatted — I actually spoke to my whole family yesterday, which is a rare treat. Sis, pa and mum. They all seem to be doing well. I wasn’t going to tell the parents about the bed-in for fear of their rather pre-baby-boomer work ethic showing some disdain, but they thought it was funny. Miraculously, my mom and dad, born in 1946 and 1942 respectively, seemed to have missed completely John’s bed-in antics. I guess the Alaskan wilderness does that to you.
We had a number of stranger visitors today. I think my roommates are running a bit of a vaudevillian sales act from the front stoop, because people kept walking by saying they heard my roommates mention it and had to come up… I had a total of 6 stranger visitors, mostly from the house next door, and they were all very nice and supportive.
What else? I wrote a lot of e-mail, ate a burrito, got sick from my multi-vitamin (which is starting to happen right now, again… have to remember to eat them at night), read a little bit more of Pale Fire., and my roommate dave taped Simpsons and X-Files, so Mr. Ruhe, Mr. Demma, Mr. Goldberg, Annie and myself all watched them on the VCR later in the evening. I retired around 12:30, entirely against my will, just fell asleep in a strange position in the bed and woke up around 10 AM, still with my head at the foot of the bed and no blanket and fully clothed.
So no word from the MBTA, they seem pretty indifferent to my antics. I was hoping for a call or something, at least, but of well. This is really, in truth, tying into my newfound Don Quixote complex, so I guess I’d prefer it this way. Lost causes are the best causes.
I’ve switched back to tom waits again today — "if there’s love in a house, it’s a palace, for sure.." I’m really drawn to this album.. I can’t get it out of my head, which is a welcome change from my constant head nag of last week, Cher’s "strong enough" thanks to the KISS 108 listening co-workers at my freelance job.
And I really mean to write that letter to the high school girlfriend today.. thoughts about the macro-scopic, large-scale general trends in my life over the last 10 years are really running through my head constantly, and I need to get them down. Today will hopefully be the day. What other plans? Hmm… I dunno. .Let’s see what the day holds.
With slightly stiff limbs,
rick
So May 9, 1999 2:30 PM
Hello there!
Went to bed around 5 AM — after a wonderful birthday party, unexpectedly cut short by the Boston Police, due to the fact that our entire neighborhood was overrun by BU students, having just completed their studies. Unfortunate coincidence that my birthday party and bed-in kick-off coincided with BU ending.
But, a pleasant time was had by all, and a small cadre of friends stuck it out after the police went through our house, and we sad up chewing the cud on the stoop until 5AM.
After a rousing speech by Rachel, a housemate’s girlfriend, about her linguistic background, I headed off to bed and, without too much ceremony, fell asleep.
Woke up Saturday morning and I felt a little paranoid — "oh, god, what have I gotten myself into?" It seemed totally impossible to stay in bed for four days. But after a little deep breathing, I caught hold of myself and thought "hey, it’ll be all right" and just laid back and enjoyed myself.
Saturday was pleasant. Friends stopped by — Mr. Demma and Mr. Ruhe, Mr. Stone and Perry and Heather. Annie and my roommates Dave and John kept my company a good part of the day. Annie worked on my computer, making me a set of 5 greeting cards from her black and white illustrations of pears in famous art scenes — I had commissioned these so I could have some good thank you cards for my birthday.
I read a great book that Craig and Heather had given me the night before, called Good Time Girls: The women of the Alaska and Yukon Gold Rush. This was insanely interesting to me, mainly because I learned all about the hidden bawdy past of my hometown, Fairbanks Alaska — a past that has been, shall we say, swept under the carpet by the conservative element.
Listened to the same 5 CDs all day — the new Tom Waits, Mule Variations, Suede’s B-Sides collection, Sci-Fi Lullabies, Spiritualized’s great debut album, Laser Guided Melodies, and a rough mix of one of our new songs, so I could practice vocals. Didn’t really get tired of any of them. I’m loving the new Tom Waits anymore. Liked the Suede B-Sides a lot — had heard a bunch of them before, but not all at once. I think, as a whole, I like them better than the albums.
Today I’m listening to the Beatles anthology volume 2 (this whole bed-in thing, along with one or two peculiar coincidences going on in my life, has really caused me to re-examine the Beatles for the first time since I was into them in high school.). Typing this update in Microsoft words, and it’s good to see that they included the word "Beatles" in their built-in spell checker. I’m loving more and more the song You know my name (Look Up the Number). Also listening to a compilation CD I made for my trip to Austin in march. Lots of lazy, new-alternative-country stuff, laid back pop and what not — Clem Snide, Chamber Strings, Tarnation, Freakwater and the like. Fits the sunny day perfectly.
Wrote a ton of e-mails, read some more of John Lennon’s biography until 5:30 AM — when you’re in bed all day, you can’t just fall into bed and try and go to sleep if you feel a little tired — I had to wait until my eyelids were so heavy I could barely keep them open before I had a chance of falling asleep.
I got a blank notepad for my birthday from my friend Jes, and I made it a new "notebook of lists" the first list: Things my friend Julie taught me: 1) to smack your lips and think of different foods in the food court when you don’t know what you want, 2) George Sand is good, 3) Sarah Moon is good. Learned a lot from her.
Aug bought me Nabokov’s Pale Fire because we’re both on a Nabokov kick, and I started that yesterday, too. Read through the intro, started the poem. Saw how the novel is not a novel in the traditional sense, how you have to flip back and fourth a lot. Liked the idea a lot, but didn’t feel I had all my mental faculties intact enough to tackle it just then — might start it today.
Woke up this morning feeling much better about my prospects in the bed. My roommate John, Annie and I hooked up a mechanism so that I could receive visitors even when none of my roommates were here, involving bells and keys and ribbon and a sign: Annie made a lovely sign for the whole mechanism, explaining it’s operation. Dave brought me cigarettes and diet coke, Annie and I have eaten a burrito today. I started a new Dream Journal in a hand-bound blank book my friend heather gave me ñ†a few months ago she had mentioned dream journals and I never gave it much thought before that. I started one for a few weeks in an old steno notebook from my soccer referee days in high school, but now that heather gave me that beautiful book (with a bed illustration on it) it seemed like a good book to log dreams in. I had a dream with a bunch of my friends at a lakeside resort — a common recurring dream of mine — at which I feel that first, giddy moment that you realize you’re in love — another common recurring theme in my dreams.
My roommates are having barrels of fun with my new bell mechanism, getting me all excited for a visitor only to find it’s a roommate.
Jason Sanford called me today, we talked about the Neptune album, which is taking me forever to manufacture, but it’s nearing completion. He told me about the new automated instruments he’s making, using a computer to control mechanical harps and whatnot. Sounds insane. He’s playing a gig, under the name "further experiments in the Neptune laboratory" at the Milky Way this month. Should be exciting.
Today is auspicious: it’s a beautiful day out, but I don’t mind, I have some spacious, pretty windows, and they’re wide open and it feels good in here. Craig and Heather stopped by and it was nice to see them, told them about the book they bought me. I got some e-mails from my friend Rachel. I like bed, I’m not sick of it yet. It’s a little difficult to get anything done, and I have to rely on my friends (for whom, I can see, the novelty is wearing off a little). I had some ergonomic problems yesterday, Neck and back hurt a bit, but I finally found a good pillow-propping position that didn’t hurt so much.
So, now a new day. Let’s see what today holds. I will definitely write some more e-mails — and I’ll start that letter to my high school girlfriend… she wrote recently asking me to write, tell her how my life has turned out. Good time for self-reflection — long lost acquaintance, four days in bed… I feel lucky to have this opportunity. We may have an acoustic band practice today — we need it for our gig on the 18th, especially the new song, which I’ve finally written some solid lyrics to and gotten a good melody down. And who knows what else!
So long!