once again, it’s time for the renegade craft fair. it’s huge. seriously. and there’s so many booths, you need two days to see it all. if you’re in chicago this weekend, you should take some time and go. it’s free.

every year that goes by i think i’m getting further and further from microsoft windows… then i remember what my job is.

http://momentile.com/chrisdetmer/08-27-2009

saturday, july 21st, 1979 – tuesday, july 21st, 2009

30 years, 10,958 days, 1565 weeks, 262,992 hours, 15,779,520 minutes, 946,771,200 seconds

indianapolis, alexandria, zionsville, carmel, grand rapids, east lansing, lansing, bregenz, chicago

3rd, pleasant view, driftwood, gilchrist, west akers, hagadorn, nemoke, prospect, pennsylvania, cedar, racine, spaulding, sawyer

eagle, children’s house, forest dale, ada, forest hills, michigan state, lansing community

belzer, spring hill, rotary, blue lake

voice, recorder, piano, coronet, guitar, bass

horny tricycles, mission eclectia, the associates, nebuchadezzar, scarmando, the mattress, hunter rose, the blood wings, separate by miles, james collin

dish washer, locker room attendant, cashier, video editor, sandwich artist, stacks maintenance, service manager, creative director, web designer, instructor, web developer

united states, canada, netherlands, belgium, france, england, scotland, austria, germany, switzerland

commodore, mac, nintendo, windows, linux

music, ballet, french, architecture, photography, graphic design, german, philosophy, religion, anthropology, linguistics, programming, web design

artist, musician, writer, designer, photographer, mechanic, handyman, confidant, poet, dreamer, human, son, brother, friend

tonight is earth hour: http://www.earthhour.org

do the earth a favor and turn off everything electrical between 8:30 and 9:30pm, local time. light candles, play music, go for a walk, take a nap, have sex. just do anything but use electricity for an hour straight. show your support to fight global warming by letting it cool down for just one hour.

it smells like alex.

If you haven’t seen his stuff yet, you’ve gotta check it out. Kutiman (twitter), a musician/producer/dj from Israel, recently launched a site dedicated to mashups of YouTube videos.

In short, it’s effing amazing: thru-you.com.

The Chicago City Council is attempting to pass a law that would severely hinder and even prevent smaller and independent music promoters. The ability to book and host shows in bars, clubs, galleries, basements and lofts could soon be quite a costly endeavor if this legislation goes through. That means that any small artists wishing to perform in legit venues may soon have virtually no where to go.

The claim Chicago has as a haven for music will wither and disappear nearly overnight if the underground scene cannot thrive as it has been allowed. Some regulation is necessary, but what the city council proposes will strangle all those operating without a huge, industry-level budget. To read the current version of the ordinance, head over to the Chicago Music Commission blog. They would love to hear from you.

This aggression will not stand. All those who value the great wealth of music this city offers on a daily basis should help raise the cry. Blog it, tweet it, contact the city of Chicago, contact your alderman. Make them hear the noise, and let them know that if the music scene dies, a part of the great city of Chicago will die. We will not go quietly into the night.

the schedule for this year’s running of the lake county film festival is up: lakecountyfilmfest.com.

last year, a video by my musical alter ego, james collin, was featured as a short. i won’t have anything shown this year, but i still plan on attending. they’re screening over 80 films and shorts from march 4th to the 10th on the campus of the college of lake county in northern illinois. anyone wanna go?

i can smell the rain, coming up from under the back door.
it makes me wish it were summer, on a warm night,
a subtle breeze and the sounds of the city straining through.

“A man of color as the head of state unleashes the imagination in so many ways for so many people and it frees up children to see themselves in more expansive terms.”

Election of Obama a civil rights triumph

“You cannot enjoy the light without enduring the heat.”

How Obama will shape US history

for the first time, in a very, very long time… i feel proud to be an american again. there is hope in the air. it’s palpable. not just in the u.s., but in the world. never before has an american political official stirred feelings of such optimism in me.

the thing that strikes me the most is how human he is. he is not flawless. he has some personal and political views with may ultimately slow progress in some arenas, but overall his election alone is another big nail in the coffin of oppression that has plagued this nation’s past. that i am able to witness this tells me that all is not lost. i just hope the rest of the world will join hands and work with him as a comrade, not an opponent.

Obama’s innagural address

Obama’s election victory speech