And... Go.

In the traditional fashion for this festive season, I hereby present your recommended dosage of holiday cheer: GIANT GLOWING INFLATABLE SANTA BOOTY! Have a wonderful holiday season, and don't say I never gave you nuthin'. -PAR

And then (and yes I know I'm suddenly re-establishing contact after a long silent stretch), I was a bit older. And what remained was a weekend's worth of memories made up of blurred recollections and amazing food and digital photos and falling over giggling and many many many many MANY drinks and old friends catching up and some newer friends suddenly being missed and yet more fantastic cuisine and getting distracted and wandering off and unrequited love and stupid jokes and stolen kisses and immense affection and loose ends and missing polaroids and a few long-time collaborators notable in thier absence and early mornings and late nights and intersecting social circles and intending to go somewhere and ending up somewhere entirely different by mistake and disorientation and selective equilibrium and unanticipated tenderness and music and fun and not a lot of sleep and holding one another tightly and missed connections and happy coincidences and no matter what details we'd ...

Things have been kinda crazy since I got back from California, but I guess I just haven't felt much like talking. At least, not in this forum. More when I begin feeling a little more conversational again. -PAR

And with that, I run off to California. Back soon, getting settled, housewarming, and all that other stuff commences. But 'til then... Ten days of beach and lovely weather and family and recreation. Awesome. More soon (when I return if not before). -PAR

Five days 'til flying to California. Five days of organizing and getting things squared and not having time to spend with wonderful girl and working and shuffling things around from bag to bag so I have proper articles of clothing and other things needed for ten days of goofing off by the ocean. Started making lists of things as I think of them in order to forget as little as possible. Dealing with details of new apartment that will be sitting ready when I return, making sure things like electricity and some manner of sleeping arrangement are in place. It's a stretch of inertia and powerlessness and desperation and heatwave and just-put-my-head-down-and-power-through-it-dammit that I know leads somewhere better, but is really frustrating in the meantime. Having just enough time to worry and overthink while not being able to set everything straight or participate in all the awesome things that're happening all around. But it's only a few days. I keep reminding myse...

Exhausted. Run a bit ragged. Wistful for the ocean. Waiting for a moment to pause and think. In the final stretch to get finances and housing squared. Planning trip west. Up far too late. Trying to turn down the sound and images spinning in my brain. Wondering at the incredible city I live in. Wishing I had more time to devote to family. Imagining how music can fit together, and wondering if I have the means to execute it. Stressed. Stupidly busy. Somehow still moving forward. Excited. Determined. Hopeful. Totally smitten. More soon. -PAR

It's been a while since I wrote anything here. The last few weeks have seen my life turned upside-down in fairly comprehensive fashion, and I expect the next few will continue the trend. The cafe has re-opened, and I'm back making coffee and working seven days / week (between two jobs). I've moved out of the apartment I was in for the past 4 years, put nearly everything I own into a Manhattan Mini-Storage space on the Westside Highway, and am staying on couches and floors of friends for the next few weeks. If all goes well, will have a new (bigger and better) place come August, living with my old pal Will in the Lower East Side. Gonna be DJing at NuBlu on the 20th of this month with a couple friends (which should be AWESOME). Have set August 3rd-13th as the dates for my next swing through California, staying in Santa Cruz with family, catching up with friends, and doing lots of wandering around. And in the midst of all this, I somehow end up dating an amazing girl. D...

The song of the summer will be Kanye West and Daft Punk's "Stronger". In-f***ing-credible. I've so far only heard it as a minute-long clip on a mixtape and as an mp3 taken from a radio broadcast in the UK (which has the DJ talking over large portions of it). It's not officially released for a little while. And it's already my new favorite thing. It tears Daft Punk's classic "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" apart, and then rebuilds it as an unstoppable juggernaut of synth-fueled hip-hop grandeur. A beat to slay the mightiest dancefloor, and the best lyrics of anything Kanye's done by far. "Let's get lost tonight. You could be my black Kate Moss tonight. Play secretary on the boss tonight..." This is the jam. This will be the tune to drop at every party. This will create sex on the dancefloor in a way nothing has in a few years. That is all. You heard it here first. -PAR

It's funny, I've worn through probably four or five pairs of batts since moving to New York. And every time, I've just had to throw the old ones out and buy new ones. If only I'd known that there's a place on the Westside Highway that specializes in re-facking them... -PAR

A quick flip backwards through some pictures from the last few months. (Now that I'm able to get things from my Trekphone to my laptop again...) Lots of crazy. Lots of fun. Lots more to come. -PAR

This past Monday was the final day of the coffeeshop . Before catching my bus down to Charlottesville, I dropped by, did shots with my bosses and coworker , chatted with my best buddy Angus (who's thwee and a hawf), made fun of the guy who was asleep against the memorial wall, and spent a few last minutes goofing around at Alt. In a few weeks we'll rise again, like a phoenix from the ash and rubble. Renovated, clean, more family-friendly, with expanded menu and a new name and logo... But this was a last huzzah for the old-guard East Village hang-out that we knew as Alt.Coffee. Nice way to go out. -PAR

Then, one day, it's seventy degrees outside and margaritas start seeming like the best idea in the world. Time to start seeking out rooftops and patios. I'm catching a bus down to Charlottesville on Monday. Spending the better part of the week there, with few places to be or events to attend. An actual real-live vacation. Yeah. Spring is thus far a totally disjointed series of phrases and images that I'm not even trying to form into a cohesive whole. It's just stuff happening and things flashing by and falling-over tired and laughing a lot. The music needs to be louder. Sure, I'd love another drink. You're doing what? I'd love to, but I'll forget, could you remind me later? We need more of that. Open the windows. Yes, move to New York. Check THAT out. Yeah, I should probably get more sleep. High-five! Yes, please. I'll get to that one in a second. You like-a that one so much, we playa it for you again now. Easy, buddy. Faster. ...

It won't stop raining in NYC. And it's not quite warm enough to be enjoyable. It's just a cold and wet and dreary. Rain not even coming down, but streaming horizontally so umbrellas don't make much difference. Iced coffee is all that's coming between me and falling over, giving in to the 80-odd hour work week I'm winding up. Well, iced coffee and Mike Doughty's redition of "Looks" coming over the stereo. Perfect rainy day tunage. This upcoming week: the last few days of working at the coffeeshop before we close for renovation/transformation. Seeing a rock show with a cute girl. General exhaustion, margaritas with friends, dealing with taxes, buying tix for my trip to Ch'ville at the end of the month. Transmission continuing soon. -PAR

...And the next thing you know, it's full-on springtime. Daylight savings shakes everything up, time starts accelerating, kick the windows open to get some fresh air and turn up the stereo. My life suddenly kicks back into high gear between theater gig, planning next visit back to Ch'ville, being smitten with girl and pop music, other as-yet-nameless project taking too much of my time, coffeeshop what I work at closing to renovate, planning next stage of DJ career, and all the usual idiot revelry that comes with the being young and foolish. -PAR

Yeah, so I've been quiet for a while... Busy with all manner of stuff. Friends visiting, applying for some theatre design work, spending the usual amount of time at my places of employment, listening to amazing pop music, going to incredible concerts, reveling in the craziness as winter shifts gears and begins tempting us with notions of springtime. I offer this by way of explaining what I've been doing instead of writing here. Ramblings, pictures, and other nonsense will now resume transmitting on a more regular basis. I hope. -PAR

There's a bunch of new pics up on Mallfellows , taken over recent visits back to Charlottesville. (Two galleries by me, one by The Artist Formerly Known As benjones .) Working on lining up a few more dance-party-DJ-things, both here and down in Chville. More info soon, with luck. And let's not forget, it's almost January 31st ! And you know what that means? So stock up on bananas, pull your ape suit out of the closet, and enjoy this most festive of days. But beware of the odd abominable snowman wandering around amongst the apes... They can turn vicious. (All the latest and most up-to-date gorilla suiting info can be found over at Mark Evanier's "News From Me" , of course.) -PAR

Back in the big city. Back for a week now, and just beginning to get back in the groove of everyday life. Time in Charlottesville was fantastic. Saw nearly everyone I needed to see, played a couple great parties, designed a show that was everything I hoped, had plenty of time to just goof around and start feeling at home again. Long days, longer nights-into-mornings, walking and hitching rides and working hard and exploring the city I used to know backwards. Getting home as the sun's rising. Sleeping in far later than I should. Seeing the family, having a much-delayed holiday, eating, conversing, making merry. Afternoons reading and drinking coffee, or on top of a ladder moving lights about to create a space that I envisioned. Evenings in rehearsals or playing records, then to the teahouse for beverages and plotting the next stage of mischief. Impromptu after-hours rock shows. The C&O with bundles of friends, creating ruckus, conversing, catching up, cutting up, disr...