D for JK.

Received a call from the field producers of the Jimmy Kimmel Show today.
They asked if I'd be interested in directing for them during the month of May.

It's kind of weird.
I'd be making things for a national, mainstream audience,
which is something I've never done before,
or had any interest in doing for that matter.

I've been living in my own head for so long
and making things by instinct with total creative freedom,
it's hard for me to imagine what this might be like.

They said I'd have to join the Director's Guild and pay my dues
and I'll have to travel back to sweaty Los Angeles for a bit.

I guess if it all pans out,
it'll be a learning experience one way or the other.

Who knows?
Life is so fucking nuts.
One minute I feel like I'm face down in the gutter,
and the next,
I'm being invited to work in a shiny, polished gutter for money.

Hopefully, I can at least pet some of the weird, sewer alligators!!

(I mean... cough... celebrities)

BIG RULE. BIG MORAL

Never go to 7-11 and
place your crappy, freshly microwaved
"Owen's SnackWich Sausage, Egg & Cheese Biscuit"
in the same plastic sack as your crsppy, frozen
"Snicker's Brownie Ice Cream Sandwich"
and drive home
expecting everything to work out.

Because it won't.

The biscuit will melt the ice cream.

dimmer switch

it was a dark week.

but then i got to hear your voice.

and the
whole damn thing
got brighter.

thank you.

(by the way, i love the car in this picture)

cannot sleep tonight.

I can't sleep tonight.
It feels like there's something burning in my eyes.
Or maybe it's in the back of my mind?

Once again, I don't know who I am tonight.
I tell ya, if my childhood spirit were to see me now,
he probably wouldn't know either.

I've been driving and walking for hours now.
Down by the bridges.
Down near the south part of town.
Stopping by the house just to sit down for a minute,
and then get up
and do it all over again.

I'll probably drive all night tonight.

Too restless to sit still.
Too crazy to be moving for too long.

I do like the night.
I used to be scared of it as a kid.
But I've grown to love its peaceful smother.

I like squinting and watching the street lights pass.
Feels like I'm flying through space,
passing through blurry
smears of stars.

Being alone like this,
forces you to find love in the strangest places.
In the cracks.
In the puddles.
In the memories.

In the details.

You make do with what you got.
And do whatever it takes to survive.
Even if it means,
soaking in the streetlights,
and loving the lonely side of life.

this week

i wake up
and a flash of sadness slides across the surface.

like kerosene
eyedrops.

gasoline ribbons
snake slowly across my eyes.

their metallic shimmer
stings and cuts
with every blink.

i am in pain today.

remedies lie scattered
on the shelves and the floor.

i reach a hand inward
but find nothing there.

nothing but
an empty ribcage,
and the reminits of a vacant storm,
long since passed.

tattered feathers of crushed angels
and fibers of dust, hover in the light,
blown in from only God knows where.

cracked fence boards and
brittle wood held together
by gravity alone.

i can feel the nothingness in my fingers.
i can feel it.
inside me.

it is light.

like warm sand.

like youthful fingers stirring
summer air.

it is familiar and welcoming.

and it knows my name
all too well.

once again, i find myself fighting to remember,
this affliction
is not my home.

please,
this is not my home.

I'll trade security for freedom and unusual life experiences, any day!

"The first 90 years go by pretty fast... then one day.. you wake up and you realize that you're not 81 anymore... and then you begin to count the minutes instead of the days... and you realize that pretty soon you'll be gone... FOREVER... and that ALL YOU HAVE ARE THE EXPERIENCES. That's IT JOHNNY! Don't you see? THAT'S ALL THERE IS TO EVERYTHING!
THE EXPERIENCES!"

-Burgess Meredith in "Grumpy Old Men"

How to Avoid a Potentially Dangerous Situation - Almost Robbed

The other night, while driving back from a pancake house with Dustin and Mitch, I encountered a potentially dangerous situation. It was around 3 AM and we were in Dustin's brother's truck (a GIANT Dodge RAM, complete with a lift kit and 36" tires). We had just pulled into a residential neighborhood when a strange truck aggressively pulled up behind us and began honking. Thinking there might be something wrong with our truck, we stopped and cracked the window. Like lightning, a shady guy came shuffling towards us with his hands buried deep in his pockets. His voice was quiet and his eyes were cold. At first he seemed to approach us with intent, but upon discovering 3 of us in the truck, he soon backed off and began to rant on about how he "lives in Guthrie" and is "working construction on his dad's house" and needed "gas money to get home". Throughout the story his right hand stayed buried in his pocket.

Now... the good part.

Dustin couldn't really see the guy because our truck was so tall. Also, he couldn't move much because he was wearing a life-size BEAR SUIT from shooting a scene in our latest film at the pancake house. Mitch was also in costume, wearing REALLY BIG EYEBROWS and a weird FAKE MOUSTACHE.

Due to the time of night, the stranger's aggressive driving maneuvers, and the bizarre disposition of his character, had there only been one of us in the truck, we believe this guy's intention was to mug the driver. HOWEVER, when he finally got a look at the cargo... which looked a lot like THIS:

our little mystery man quickly changed his strategy to BEGGING for money
instead of TAKING IT.

I wish Mitch would've spoken in a serious, baritone voice and said:
"Hey there Buddy. Wanna join the party?"

I only wish I knew what that guy was thinking when he drove away.

missing the u

i miss you.

i wish you were sitting on the porch next to me,
knitting,
reading,
singing,
drinking,
or even staring at nothing.

i wish you were in my passenger seat,
shoulder to shoulder,
telling me that
"i'm going the wrong way"
or to
"drive into the ravine".

i wish
you were throwing things at me
or
tugging at my sleeve.

and i wish that we were writing
together,
painting the wall to match the wood grain,
and making things

that

matter.

making things.

that are ridiculous.

together

i wish i had
access to your mind.
every now and then

and a window
to watch it work

no matter how reckless
and
destructive you deem it.

sigh

I suppose,
above all,
I just miss YOU.

i love you, friend.

Everyone's Working Construction

Sometimes there are days when I watch it fall a part.
And sometimes there are days when I find pieces
behind the door,
that I didn't even know were missing.

Working overtime.

Building something.
Building nothing.

I tell ya...
sometimes I find myself
not only wanting help,
but really NEEDING it.

But most times you reach for that red phone,
it ain't even plugged in.

And you have to accept that help might never come. 

And that there's nothing you can do about it.

And that the only options are to
curl up and die
or pick yourself up...

and keep hammering away at the void.

Well, keep hammering away my friend.
There's not a minute to spare.

Grab the nails, kids.
Storm's a brewin'.

 

Today's To Do List

Today, I rented both a grizzly bear costume and a
private wedding chapel.

I played a little music,
ate some grapes,
and did the dishes.

I also mailed some letters,
placed a black tarp over my future garden,
drank tea,
and played a little more music.

And thanks to that pleasant, bubblegum flavored circle,
I spent some time reminiscing Chewels,

Tidal Wave,

and Pillsbury Food Sticks. Ahhhh. Pillsbury Food Sticks. Such Memories.

Wait a second... I don't remember Pillsbury Foodsticks. FOOD STICKS?
I didn't eat Pillsbury Food Sticks. I don't even know what they are.

Food Sticks? What's a food stick? And what are the ingredients?
Let's check...

Hmmm. Sounds pretty good.

I Had No Idea Upside Down Lawnmowers Were REAL

I Like This

I bet this decorative circle tastes like that
weird, fake bubble gum flavoring
used in children's mouthwash.

Created the YEAR I was BORN

It seems like most people share their birthdays with a big celebrity or a moment of historical significance. Every time I look up events that occurred on my birthday, all I get is: "David Eisenhower writes his last sports column". Maybe that's important to some, but to me, it means nothing. My birthday is August 26th 1977 and until now, I've been searching for something of TRULY GREAT IMPORTANCE that occurred on that date. Well... I found it. THIS was created:

Daily Country Escape

Went driving out in the country today.

I got pretty far out there and stopped to take some pictures.
It seems like everytime I pull the car over and step out to look around
a random, passing truck will also pull over to ask me what I'm doing.

I suppose if I had my own land far away from the busy bubble of the concrete world
I'd be protective of it, too.

Someday.

(Just not too far away, because I do like having friends) 

 

 

 

New E.P.

I just finished my new E.P.
It is called "Mandated Meds and High Blood Pressure".

It can be downloaded for free HERE .

freeze ray

he threw up his hands
but it did no good.

threads of sun
still made their way through the window,
feathering his fingers.
feathering her eyes. 

and it was there
in the white of the flare

that along with his own body
he watched his paramour disappear.

he had met her in that very same place
only a year ago.

and now,
they were side by side
as the grate of the world above them
shredded their tread

leaving them with the pinprick realizations

that their hands would not close,
their legs would not bend,

and their ability to
fight the world
had been
lost
completely.

and so they were left

frozen.

there in the sunlight.

together
with nothing

but a breath
of dust to spin.