The Colorado Dark Arts Festival was this past Sunday. The event goes from early afternoon until bar close and I managed not to drink too much this year. Not so some of my friends (you know who you are, ya drunk bastard!).

Highlights:

The Dragon Roll at the sushi bar in The Church.

Deviant.

Artwork by Grim, but specifically the framed life drawing he had on display.

Barbequed burgers and Strongbow on tap at Netherworld.

The Shelter as a venue (three rooms of Gothy goodness).

Sharing absinthe.

DJ Pharoahmoan playing Gorillaz.

The only thing I didn’t like was the lack of the usual Goth bus shuttle between venues. Yeah, I know they were within blocks of each other, but it was close to 90 degrees and windy. Also, the shuttle forced people to get to know each other a bit during the short ride.

More than that, though, I had to wear flat boots rather than go high fashion for the event. Yeah, I know, waaaah, poor me.

Eight pairs of platforms and couldn’t wear any of ‘em.

We saw Thomas Dolby in concert last Tuesday night. It’s not like us at all, to go see someone who hasn’t evolved (or had a hit) in 20 years, but I’m glad we did.

I’ve always liked music that didn’t sound like everything else. When I was a preteen, I heard and liked the Saturday Night Fever disco sound, but I also listened to funk, hard rock, southern rock, folk music, and everything else I could get my hands on. My tastes have always been very hard to describe, mainly because of the wide spectrum involved.

When I was 16, a good friend - okay, I’ll admit it, I crushed on him hard for years - asked me what kind of music I liked. I don’t recall what songs I mentioned, but most were not in heavy rotation on any radio station at the time. I guess my answers were right, because he recommended I pick up Thomas Dolby. “The ‘Blinded Me with Science’ guy?” I asked. That was the one. I’d written Dolby off for being too pop-sounding.

The next day my mother and I were out shopping and I headed to the record section of the store, as I always did. There in the front row of albums was Thomas Dolby. It wasn’t his LP, or full-length album, it was an EP and included just 5 songs, all of them remixes of songs on the LP. I recall thinking how strange it was that an artist would want to remix their own songs and release them on a different album, but it was the only Thomas Dolby they had at the time, so I talked my mom out of the money and picked it up.

It remained on my record player at home for weeks. Months. I made a cassette of it and listened on the way to and from school. It was just the beginning of my love for all music electronic which was lucky, since new wave was making huge inroads and would soon compete with hair rock for my music dollar (they both won some).

In the early 90s, I picked up Dolby’s “Astronauts and Heretics” in a used CD bin. As I recall the album didn’t sell very well, as I hadn’t even heard of it before spotting it in the bin. Again, I was hooked, even though his sound was more pop than ever. I’ve always liked his transitions, the bridges he creates between themes, and his melodies have always managed to get caught in my head on a loop. This one was no different and it remained in my CD changer for months at a time.

Then the man disappeared. Poof! For 15 years, nothing. I didn’t check online because I figured he’d just moved on like other artists of the 80s.

Then I picked up the paper a few weeks ago and saw he was coming to Denver. Excuse me? The Thomas Dolby? Oooooookaaaaaaay … then I couldn’t decide if I should go or not. I mean, what if he’s not that good? One of the negative aspects of nostalgia is that the brain is constructive, so my memory may be much better than it could ever be to see him perform live. If my memories were better, wouldn’t I fuck it up by seeing him in concert?

I was undecided until the day of the show, so I got our tickets with the thought I would at least enjoy a night out if nothing else.

Let me just say here that I have a geek fetish. I have always had a geek fetish. Bill Gates? Yeah. Harry Potter? Uh-huh. I go to Dragon*Con every year for a reason: Geeks. Lots of them.

We arrived at the concert just as Mr. Dolby was hitting the stage. He was dressed in a trenchcoat with microphone and camera and goggles attached to his shaved head. He was the only one there and he was surrounded by machinery. Keyboards and computers and buttons and foot pedals and switches and dials (oh, my).

Now most people who play electronic music just hit one button and go for it. Mr. Dolby programmed the songs into his system as he went, meaning each song had to be built from scratch before he could sing along and play the solos.

He’s a geek. A big dork. And I have a crush on him now. Great.

He hasn’t recorded anything new yet, though he said during the show that he is going to do just that. However, I’d like to send this suggestion out to you personally, Mr. Dolby:

If the songs in your head are just as pop as everything you’ve done in the past, please record them and hand them over to Haujobb or VNV Nation or some other synthpop/ebm folks and let them produce and/or remix them for you. You will still have the positive sound you’ve always had, but a larger audience - full of geeks who love electronica - will catch you this time around.

I’m just sayin’.

Genius does not make someone a nice person. The world is full of geniuses who also happen to be total assholes.

This axiom also applies to heroes.

If you have a way to download this short-lived show, cancelled after only 4 episodes on NBC, get them.

Get them now.

There were only 8 episodes, I’ve now seen 6 of them, and I can tell you that if all Christians lived up to the ideals expressed in episode 6, I’d be a Christian.

I mean that with all my black little heart.

If there were an Illuminati, Bavarian or otherwise, do you think I’d be here talking to you? Don’t you think it would be wiser to go find them and attempt join up?

That’s a paraphrasing of something Robert Anton Wilson said at Dragon*Con a few years ago.

If you don’t yet get it, read up on Occam’s Razor.

Television ad for Net Neutrality: $70,000.00

Reaction to MoveOn.org and Christian Coalition together: Priceless.

You read that right: MoveOn.org and the Christian Coalition have joined forces for Net Neutrality.

Everyone knows we deeply disagree with the Christian Coalition on many issues. It’s safe to say the same is true for them. But we can agree on preserving the Internet as a venue for democratic participation, economic innovation, and free speech. The only serious opposition to Internet freedom comes from AT&T and other Internet operators who are spending millions lobbying Congress for more control over what we see and do online.

To win this fight, we need to show Congress the huge public backlash they will face if they sell out the Internet. The pairing of MoveOn and the Christian Coalition is unheard of, and it’s sure to get Congress’ attention.

Of course, they’ll have to do a lot more than pair up with MoveOn.org on one campaign to get a link from my page to theirs, but this is a good start.

Isn’t this the seventh sign of the apocalypse or something?

Beer is the mind-killer.
Beer is the little death that brings total inebriation.
I will face my beer.
I will permit it to pass into me and through me.
And when it has gone past me, I will turn to see beer’s path.
Where the beer has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

So I will drink more beer.

If no one in your life has ever said they hate you, you’re not living up to your potential.

We were discussing when to reschedule our European trip and the idea came up that someone’s boss would not let it happen. Then these words were uttered (and I quote):

We’re going to Europe this year if I have to quit to do it.

End quote.

What red-blooded, successful, American guy says something like that and means it?

Lest you think he just spends all his time and energy spoiling me, please note I don’t write a lot about the mundane things I do each day to ensure his needs are met. The topic is terribly boring and includes a lot of filing, phone calls, and housework. Consider for a moment trying to keep Captain ADD organized - especially after a weekend at our place - and you may start to get the gist of what I do.

Still, I feel like I’m in a movie sometimes, like this can’t be real. Do other couples spoil each other rotten constantly?

Maybe they should.

These are the things I needed to get going today.

Not necessarily in that order.