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Smoked
J:
Thursday
- The usual: ate at the Noodles place with Dorian,
Cathy, Kory, Dave, Gina. Then off to the Looneys for games.
Friday - Work,
then it's all a blur, unfortunately. Here's a snippet from one of my
emails:
All the civil
servants got today off, but I had to come to work-- leaving me unable
to mourn properly for a dear American who was instrumental in making
the world a better place.
He's
a true hero.
I'll
really miss Ray Charles.
Saturday - Went
to work again, for a bit. Then back home. Chris Welsh visited,
and he and Kory went out for a bite while Gina and I went to the town
center to see the band Radio
Mime play. They're a good cover band, but their sound wasn't all that
great this particular night, in part because Jeff, the guy who usually
handles sound for the New Deal Café, wasn't around, and the guy
who was trying to work the soundboard would typically just get up and
walk away from it. During one of his disappearances, the lead singer
said he couldn't hear himself on the monitor, so I wandered over to the
unmanned soundboard to see if I could decipher it. As I fiddled
tentatively with the knobs, a guy named Bobby "Smokey" Hall (whom I had
seen earlier, eating in the New Deal with other band members)
approached, helped me find a knob, and asked if I would like to buy his
CD. "I write songs with the lead singer," he said, pointing to the lead
singer.
"What kind of music is it?" I asked.
"Pop rock, it's good stuff. Sounds a lot like the Dave Matthews band."
So I agreed to buy one for ten bucks. When I sat down next to Gina she
scolded me for buying a CD without listening to the guy's music first.
"I just turned that guy down," she said.
"I'm sure it'll sound fine," I said. I'm fairly forgiving when it comes
to local artists. Radio Mime sounded really nice.
Later we went to the local theater to see a movie with Chris and Kory.
When we left the theater Radio Mime was just beginning to pack up, so
we went home. I put my newly purchased CD on for a little listening
session, so I could prove to Gina that it wasn't so bad.
It sounded horrible. After suffering through the beginnings of several
songs I declared that I would try to get my money back, knowing full
well that I probably wouldn't succeed, but determined to let Smokey
know that his product was sub-par. I drove back to the scene of the
crime with Chris and Kory in tow.
G:
I couldn't bear to watch the
confrontation, so I stayed home.
J:
Some of the band
members were still there, along with Smokey. I
approached him and said I wanted to return his CD and get my money
back. He asked why. I said I didn't like the music, and the recording
quality was awful—buzzy background,
too much bass, and I had to turn the volume way up to hear anything. He
said he couldn't give me my money back because he had just spent it at
the New Deal.
I didn't believe him. I said, "You mean I'm the only person who bought
a CD from you ?"
"Yes," he said, nodding seriously, "the only one."
I didn't believe him. "I don't believe you," I said.
He reached into his bag. "I can exchange yours for another one."
"No thanks, I'm sure it'll sound as bad as this one."
"Do you have a car?"
"Yes," I said, slightly confused.
"C'mon." he said, walking toward the parking lot.
"Huh? What does my car have to do with this?"
"I want to hear it on your CD player."
"My car doesn't have a CD player, I listened to it at home, on a really
good sound system. It didn't sound good."
"Well I can't give you your money back."
That was about what I expected, and I thought we had reached the end of
our discussion, but as he walked away mumbling about his fans, he
suddenly spun around. He came back and said he'd give me another CD, a
newer one "recorded in 2004, not '97, with 15 songs, not eight, like
this one has." He sounded very magnanimous as he handed me another disk.
I stupidly took it, not really wanting it, and tried to give him the
other CD. "No, you keep that
one," he said, "and you can have this
one too. 'Cause I've got to keep my fans." Suddenly
I was a fan?
Later, when Gina saw me return with two CDs, her face fell. "I can't
believe it. You got another one?"
Determined to squeeze the most entertainment value
out my lost ten dollars, I put
on my sheepish face and said, "Well,
he offered this one for only five dollars. It has 15 songs instead of
eight, so I said alright, and gave him a twenty, and he went into the
New Deal to get change, and then he disappeared." Chris backed up my
story for about ten seconds, then we all had a good laugh.
I put the second CD on for a spin, not expecting much. Actually the
sound quality was better. The songs still aren't to my taste, and I
wouldn't call them pop rock. Sort of woo woo shallow slow rock, xeroxed
covers with cheap CD ROMs inside, containing electronic drum machine
music and bland woo woo lyrics, not at all like Dave Matthews. In the
end I still felt scammed, but at least I got to tell Smokey (who is
such a good scam artist, he's probably fooling himself) that his
recordings aren't worth my ten bucks. Smokey may have his fans, but I'm
not one of them. So, as you can see, I'm fairly forgiving
when it comes to local artists.
Sunday -
Gina went to another craft workshop, while I spent part of the day
playtesting and tweaking some of Kory's game designs with him and
Chris. Then I went CD
shopping with Jenny to purge myself of Smokeyitis. We went to two used
CD stores (both of which have return policies!) Jenny bought about five
CDs, and I bought one—a mellow album by a group called Cat Power. When
we returned, Chris, Gina, Jenny and I went to Beijing for a little
dinner, then they went dancing while Kory and I
played a seven point match of backgammon. Later Leo and Lucy visited to
chat.
Monday - After
work, Gina made a yummy soup. I played more backgammon with Kory. Then
I went to bed while Leo, Chris, and Gina playtested another Kory game.
Tuesday - Gina,
Chris and I watched about four episodes of Sex & the City, then I
walked Booda in my pajamas (that is, I wore my pajama pants and a
t-shirt while walking Booda because I was too lazy to change), then
Luisa came by, gave us a beautiful carved stone gift from Bolivia, and
chatted till late.
Wednesday
- Luisa took Gina
away to walk Lazarus, who Luisa is dog sitting. I'm fiddling with this
website.
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THE HEAP
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like strong coffee
death of a salesman
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rainbow warrior blog
guardian's
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'04
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