i watched an incredible documentary about the reconstruction of the World Trade Center. it’s hard to describe, but basically, a developer leased the WTC for 99 years in July 2001 (for billions of dollars), was left with the responsibility of rebuilding the towers (he collected the insurance money), and chose to use david childs, an architecht who he had worked with before, instead of daniel libeskind, who won the design contest that was highly publicized last year.

george pataki ordered the two architechts to collaborate, but the motivation of childs (to maximize square-footage, and thus profit), was irreconcilable with the aesthetic motivations of libeskind (who thought function was secondary to what the new building would do for the NYC skyline.. it was his artistic vision that won the contest to begin with).

after months of feuding and viscious legal disagreements, the governor forced the two groups to compromise at the last minute, and the result is a pretty ugly mutt of a building. it was really sad.

i realize that i am normally apologetic at the start of a new post, because i feel bad for not posting more often..

perhaps this is unfounded, this sense that the world’s eye (or at least a few teenage eyes in the midwest) are on me. then again, my aunt chastised me for excessive drinking after i talked about a rough night a few months ago.

regardless, it’s a rainy sunday in portland (it seems to be a trend), and i’ve been up for about three hours now (it’s 4:30pm), and i am letting you know that life as a Speechwriter is *pretty* sweet.

between now and christmas we’ll be playing a smattering of shows on the west coast and perhaps a choice few on the east coast as well. in addition, we’ll be sleeping on beds and not eating subway five times a week.

last night we had a housewarming party, and played a short set in our basement. dave’s hands were mildly electrocuted because of some faulty floor wiring. we are happy to announce that there are no clear indications of lasting damage.

we will talk more soon. we love you.

i’ve been a bad band member.. i have not been as communicative as i should have been. a lot of exciting things have been happening in my life, and i have not been sharing them with you, the fans. i have been negligent in my obligations as a rockstar.

so, we moved to portland. that was exciting. i put up a map of the world next to my bed to keep things in perspective. first we take over the US. then barbados. then the world.

the apartment is huge. we have a little home studio set up in dave’s room, which should be good for everyone involved. we bought a new piece of gear (a dl4 line6 for those scoring at home), which will surely drain the waking hours of the better part of october).

i got myself involved in the Trick-or-Vote movement (Trickorvote.org). I recommend this for anyone who is lactose intolerant, as it makes Halloween relevant again.

it rains here a lot, which makes me sad, which means that i’ll probably write some songs, which means that you all might listen to them, and they might make you happy, which will make you not want to write songs, which will perpetuate the artist/fan divide and allow me to avoid getting a day job for a while longer, so i guess i can’t complain.

that’s about all for now.