Hello my loves. I’m going to take a short break. I don’t think I’ve ever been this burned out. I don’t want to make one more update, read one more email, look at one more website. I’ll be back in a few days.

It was an evening that built to a crescendo.

Last night was my big celebration for completing the Blogathon. It began with a bad movie. Jurassic III is a nasty piece of plotless tripe that should never have been made. Poor Sam Neill, he’s far too dignified to grace this sort of crap. The company, on the other hand, was delightful. There were six of us, Janie, Kelly, Mary, John, and John’s cute brother Craig.

Janie recommended Alessandro’s for dinner, where we had excellent Italian and an attentive waiter. I haven’t gone out with that many people in a while. It was nice to have a table large enough to support two conversations. We talked about wild parties (white trash, sister fights, Kelly setting things on fire), music, work. Craig scored major points with Janie and me for knowing who the Finn brothers are. It’s a pity only Janie and I went on to the show, because everyone else missed…

…the best fucking show I’ve ever seen. Afrocelt Sound System were not only perfect in musicianship, they were exhuberant showmen able to whip a packed house into a joyful frenzy. The venue was the Crystal Ballroom–a huge, gorgeous room painted with murals and floored with a floating dance surface that makes a hell of a lot of noise when a few thousand people stomp on it. And stomp we did. I left after two hours of high-energy music with hands swollen from clapping, feet swollen from pistoning up and down, and absolutely nothing else swollen because of sheer water loss. There were low points. There were a couple of icky chicks there that didn’t quite understand how to behave around children, of which there were plenty. One of them threw an empty water bottle toward the corner and instead hit Janie squarely in the head. Okay, she came over and apologized, but jeeze. Don’t throw shit! Still, that couldn’t diminish how amazing that show was for me. I just slept for 10 hours and can barely walk. Glad I don’t have to go to work today.

The 2001 Blogathon is now over.

I’d like to thank every participant who stayed the course, and every sponsor who donated. I’d also like to thank those that contributed their time, creativity, and server space. You have all made this event something to behold.

I still have a few dozen sponsors to enter, and will do so after I’ve had some sleep. Final totals up tomorrow.

Here’s the last Paul pic for the day:

In an interview for Strictly:

While I’m far too groggy to enter the most recent sponsorships right now, I did skim them to find that we are very close to doubling our $10,000 goal. So I’d like to take this last opportunity to ask you to sponsor. The event, and the chance to pledge, will end at noon. So blow us all away. Every bit counts. Sponsor.

I finally got a chance to go listen to Peter. I can’t tell you how grateful I am that he doesn’t have a crappy alternaboy voice. Even exhausted, his guitar work is nice. His voice, like some of my favorite voices, takes about two songs to get used to. Give him a listen.

Around 1993:

Props to Ryan for suggesting DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing. I love that disk!

Paul in his favorite Sydney pub:

I may play some more music later, but I’ve got the television on right now to stay awake. Amazingly, I got so many soundtrack suggestions this year that I didn’t have room for all of them. I’ll make sure everyone gets props in a later post.

At the moment I’m struggling to get at least SOME of the sponsors entered. Update soon.

Older Posts »