we went to see april jam on the keyboard/flute/maracas in the teenage dance craze house band at the knockout on friday. weird coincidence, the roommate of new metier girlfriend, rachel, is also in the band. so tracy, rachel and i had a metier dance night and got our cute outfits all sweaty. the band- april, lisa, russell, and sergio - looked quite snazzy in coordinated polka dot outfits; so good to see phoebe and meet bf willy; and traded retail horror stories with katie. just another night at the ko!
nico and i have been on the road for almost a week now, making our way through the american southwest, camping, sightseeing, taking photos of roadside oddities, changing lanes, and marveling at the outrageously huge amounts of SPACE out here! we're in taos, new mexico right now and were forced by raging thunderstorms to get a room at the adobe sun lodge motel. our only chance to check email, charge phones and camera batteries, and UPDATE OUR IPODS!!! jesus, i didn't think we'd get sick of the eagles this quickly! (nico did.) here are our picks for top cruising tunes:
NICO'S PLAYLIST:
REBECCA'S PLAYLIST:
and for some reason, this song keeps following us:
ian and i go way back. we were just kids studying together back in munich, an odd couple but somehow it worked out. maybe it's our motivation that keeps us connected-- ian always pushed me to do things i was too jaded or too cool to do and i always told him what music he should be listening to and what food he should be eating. now he's living the rockstar life in berlin with his lovely lady, lilly, working for soundcloud and playing shows to a bevy of eyelash batting german girls. he's driven, intelligent, charming, talented (ok, i'll quit jerking you off, asshole!) and was one of the first people i asked to do BIG THINGS AHEAD last year. despite the age of the answers, it's still worth reading and i think ian would agree that what he's done since filling this out is certainly on the path that he sees for himself. digging around for these old photos was a trip! dont forget to listen to a few tracks! see you soon in berlin!?
Name: Ian William Hooper Age: The ripe young age of 22…for another month Hometown: Gig Harbor, Washington Where are you right now? Berlin, Germany
What do you do? I am torn. During the working day, with my wingtips and tie, I play Bruce Wayne, working in the heart of Berlin…except I’m no billionaire bachelor. I am an exploited wage slave in the capitalist system. Ha, no. Well, sort of, I guess. By night, I play Batman…except instead of handing out life-lessons in justice to the city’s slum, I play music. My life is very two-sided but, luckily, I am pursuing two paths in life that are of great interest to me.
I recently finished my Fulbright in Hamburg and applied for this gig in Berlin – luckily, I got it. I am an intern with a transatlantic non-partisan organization based in Berlin. Having studied international relations, I figured this would be a solid fit for me. A month in, it has turned out to be a mixed-blessing. The organization, while well-intentioned, seems to serve as a quasi rich-man’s club and seeks to facilitate ties between the upper echelons of Germany’s and America’s private and public sectors. They do have interesting exchanges for journalists, social-studies teachers and underprivileged youth. I am essentially a glorified secretary. Nonetheless, it is pretty well-paid, it allots me the opportunity to live in one of the world’s greatest cities for my age and to learn a great deal about what it means to be at the bottom of a hierarchical organization wherein shit runs down its slippery slope to…the bottom.
Where are you going? This is a question I ask myself daily…multiple times. I would like to imagine that I am going forward. I am at a crossroads in life but am moderately comfortable with the uncertainty pertaining to my future. Right now, I am balancing options: looking into graduate programs in international business and management (seems to be a good option for me); law school (highly unlikely); trying to land a job that requires and motivates me to think and take initiative; and pursuing my aspirations to become a professional musician (which is really just an imaginary line that gets crossed once I have to start hustling gigs to eat – the hobby aspect and money on the side thing is pretty sweet for now). The biggest question for me though is: Germany or America?
What will you be doing when you get there? I anticipate that I will be learning. Whether it is school, a job or music, I stand to learn a lot about myself in terms of what I really enjoy doing and how best to do it. No matter what I do though, I am sure I will have my hands in both music and work – best of both worlds, options are essential in life.
How did you decide to go in this direction? Considering that my direction is pretty limited, I cannot ascertain that any conscious decision has really been made. I guess the driving the factor, if you will, is the hope for a high quality of life. Regardless of what I end up doing, it is important for me to be financially stable and to be happy. Everyone’s dream, right? Well, yeah, I guess I fit the mold in that respect. So, I am guided by some force that is pushing me to succeed in whatever it is I do. Whatever direction I take, wherever I next land, I anticipate it to function as a stepping-stone – a leg up to something better.
Do you have any expectations? To be happy. To be content but never settled. I hope I always have the urge to explore. I anticipate that this will come from an amalgamation of inputs into my life’s equation: family, friends, hobbies and job.
Are you excited? Nervous? Terrified? Thrilled? Excited, definitely. I have no idea what will become of me but I do not think I will settle for a paltry end-product. I must admit, though, that nervousness and fear of failure are strong motivators for me.
What are you looking forward to? Everything, really. I am looking forward to having the opportunity to make a change – maybe not on a scale as grand as the world as a whole but hopefully in some beneficial way. I am looking forward to watching my friends grow old and living life with them. I am really looking forward to having a family and kids; I fucking love little kids.
What are you scared of? Living in a housing development in rural America, coming home from a job I hate to an unsatisfied family. Ha, really, I am just scared of selling myself short.
What happens if it doesn’t work out? I don’t want to say, “It will” but if it doesn’t pan out the way that I have dreamed it up, I assume I will have myself to blame…or lack of contacts in today’s plutocratic world.
What is the worst thing that could happen? Not really sure: to lose a loved one, to lose the ability to enjoy life.
What is the best thing that could happen? To have a happy, healthy family. To have the ability to see my parents and my sister and my closest friends often. To be a musician. To have a job that I look forward to going to everyday. To have enough money that I do not have to worry about money anymore. To be able to soak up the culture offered by a real city but also the freedom that only nature can proffer.
Did you ever think you’d be where you are now? Yes, in part. I figured I would end up working in Germany at some point, as I am a dual citizen with Ireland and can do the EU thing without hassle. I assumed I would give the international relations idea a whirl but this isn’t proving to be what I had hoped. I never thought I would be playing gigs regularly and getting paid well for them, or that I would be recording a cd and talking to people about management.
Have you ever felt like this before? Yes, I can only characterize my sentiment since high school as confident uncertainty. I do not know where I am going but I am going to try hard to get there.
What are you leaving behind? Well, having lived in Germany for three of the past four years, it is hard asserted that I am leaving anything behind anymore. But, I really am. I go home once a year and each time it makes me more homesick. I love my parents and my little sister and, every time I leave the country, it hurts the most to fly away from them. I am leaving my friends: such a beautiful, wonderfully mixed and talented group of individuals that I know I will never be able to replace (nor would I want to). I am leaving behind a lady, which makes distance and time seem such formidable opponents. I am leaving the unparalleled natural beauty and space of the Pacific Northwest, a region of the world that has so profoundly shaped my personality and attitude toward life. I am leaving behind America: all that is familiar.
What will you miss? Everything I just wrote, including driving. I miss driving when I am in Germany…but I miss the bike-culture when I am in the states (unless I am in Portland).
What did your friends say when you told them? Most of my friends are used to me leaving by now. I still get mixed reactions though. Some still cry and tell me to stay but all are supportive of what I am doing. It gets harder every time to leave my friends. When you are one of the only ones gone far away, the fear grows that you will be forgotten.
its a boiling 90+ degrees in athens and after a strike shut down the metro lines, i decided to spend the afternoon at the contemporary art museum instead of exploring in the heat. it was a rather shabby building housing quite unthrilling and unimpressive art, except for an online exhibition including THIS INCREDIBLE PIECE by san francisco-based daniel massey and aaron koblin. a bicycle built for 2000 paid 2000 workers (through amazon's mechanical turk workforce, weird check it out) to imitate an isolated sound, all of which were later combined to re-create classic american ditty, daisy bell. i love the (unknown!) collaboration of strangers to produce such a unique sound for a simple song!!! watch it from their site, it's better, or if you're lazy watch the video above. ENJOY!
thrilling! suspenseful! mysterious! romantic! just watched elevator to the gallows w/lisa, tim & teresa. trina recommended it b/c of the sexy miles davis score and sexy jeanne moreau. can't believe louis malle was only 24 when he directed this!!!
there's nothing like reliving your pre-teen fantasies, especially those involving leonardo dicaprio. lisa and teresa and i watched romeo + juliet the other night and could barely mop up the drool on the floor. pre-titanic leo and post-so-called-life claire danes are so youthful and dreamy, individually and even more so as a pair! the film is so stylized- the colors! the costumes! the dialogue!- yet it works so well. such a classic story that somehow, despite the various vague references to pop and american culture, remains timeless and placeless- just like their love!!! i would also love to have leo's hair! ultra side part and shaggy bangs that you just want to sweep out of your face...or have him sweep them out of my face.......
think about: scents as sounds...color as scents...sounds as tastes...etc etc etc...thanks to stephen malinowski for these radical musical animations, developed over a 40 year period with his music animation machine!
i just signed up for netflix (finally!!) and my first rental was PSYCH OUT, this old jack nicholson movie about a deaf girl traipsing around psychedelic late 60s san francisco looking for her acid freak brother. music by strawberry alarm clock and a special appearance by the seeds at a faux hippie funeral (probs up on mt. tam). totally trippy, totally kitschy, totally san francisco.
wesley willis is a chicago institution. artist, musician, and paranoid schizophrenic, he won the hearts of chicagoans and beyond with his "savant-garde" punk music and thousands of drawings from a unique perspective. i think max originally told me about him years ago (give credit where credit's due!), but strangely enough, i found two zines of his drawings at agnes b. last year. please enjoy these as much as i do!
