A Crab Die

noreply@blogger.com (Crabbie) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 09:13:00 +0000

I haven't checked on this for a while, but I'm still around, and am almost done with the column. I enjoyed writing it, but am feeling a little done with being a cab driver, or at least like I'll be cutting back on it significantly. And my computer sucks. So anyway, yeah, I'm (voluntarily) giving it up. But I fixed the link on the right, which will take you to the archive. When I'm done, maybe I'll start this back up, as plenty of things have happened which didn't really fit the WWeek formant.

noreply@blogger.com (Crabbie) — Fri, 25 May 2007 13:00:00 +0000

I've just been WAY too busy with work and trying to find a place to live and woman stress and buying a car and everything else. A new column went up on Wednesday, I probably won't be back to blogging in any significant way until after I'm settled (early June? hopefully? please?).

Back in town

noreply@blogger.com (Crabbie) — Thu, 17 May 2007 07:37:00 +0000

Memphis was awesome, the internet situation was not. I'm too tired to upload photos, but there'll be a bunch in the coming days.

There's a new column up here. No, he did not get me for $93.

I'm in Memphis

noreply@blogger.com (Crabbie) — Fri, 11 May 2007 07:31:00 +0000

My sister's graduating from college. I'm very proud of her, and my computer's being very cranky. It's good to be back in the South, it's so different from Portland. I'm glad to be here, but I'm also glad that I don't live here.

I'll try and post more pictures tomorrow, when the computer's hopefully less cranky.

Ho Ho Ho

noreply@blogger.com (Crabbie) — Wed, 09 May 2007 13:57:00 +0000

Another retread column's up here, likely the last for a while. Starting next week, most columns will be ones you haven't read before, though I may still slip in the occasional "greatest hits" piece every once and a while. The archive remains here.

I'm going to Tennesse in a couple of hours.

R

noreply@blogger.com (Crabbie) — Sun, 06 May 2007 08:47:00 +0000

Whale Blubber

noreply@blogger.com (Crabbie) — Sat, 05 May 2007 08:37:00 +0000

The Church of Swinetology

noreply@blogger.com (Crabbie) — Fri, 04 May 2007 12:10:00 +0000

libations, hand-washing, and a schema for personality change

noreply@blogger.com (Crabbie) — Thu, 03 May 2007 12:05:00 +0000

Another story you'll recognize

noreply@blogger.com (Crabbie) — Wed, 02 May 2007 13:38:00 +0000

Column's up here.

End of the Shift

noreply@blogger.com (Crabbie) — Wed, 02 May 2007 10:54:00 +0000

Western foot of the Broadway Bridge (NW 10th & Lovejoy).

A friend's house

noreply@blogger.com (Crabbie) — Tue, 01 May 2007 10:45:00 +0000

Just Married

noreply@blogger.com (Crabbie) — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 09:53:00 +0000

Yay for post 100!

(and C & R's marriage)

NE 42nd @ Alberta

noreply@blogger.com (Crabbie) — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 10:51:00 +0000

Boo flash & dirty windshield.

I played a show tonight, and then I went to see an awesome one by Bigg Jus and Myka 9 (ohmygod). Then I worked for a couple of hours.

I feel completely beat, and wish that I had someone's rump to spank. Other than that, life is beautiful.

Happy Birthday to Me

noreply@blogger.com (Crabbie) — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 10:18:00 +0000

(I did not take this picture)

I had a very happy birthday - dinner at Ya Hala, and then I got to see the amazing Konono No 1.

I don't want else to say except that I love my life. I know Wil wants music reviews, but I'm not sure how to describe Konono No 1.

"Awesome" is a good word.

"Fantastic" also works.

I have not enjoyed a show that much since I saw Afrirampo for the first time, and I can't reccomend their music enough. It was a real treat to be able to see them live, I just had a huge ear-to-ear smile on my face through the whole show. If you buy the album, you will love it, and all of your friends will think you are awesome when you introduce them to it, and be jealous of your taste in music. This is true for anyone of any age, no matter what kind of music you normally listen to.

Ya Hala's the best Lebanese food in town. I am a cab driver, and I know these things. Eat there.

This is not my arm

noreply@blogger.com (Crabbie) — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 13:07:00 +0000

Today is also my birthday.

noreply@blogger.com (Crabbie) — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 14:04:00 +0000

New column up here.

The short ride home

noreply@blogger.com (Crabbie) — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 13:01:00 +0000

David Halberstam is dead

noreply@blogger.com (Crabbie) — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 13:12:00 +0000

David Halberstam is dead, and that makes me sad.

I'm not going to bother trying to eulogize someone I never met, but he was, in my opinion, the greatest living American writer. And now, I guess, he's not. When I think of people with just pure story-telling chops (whose stuff I've read), regardless of their nationality or whether they're alive, he's near the very top of my list. Gabriel Garcia Marquez beats him out. Maybe James Jones. Maybe Alan Moore. Maybe Carl Hiaasen (again, purely in terms of ability to almost physically seize you with the strength of a narrative). Tom Wolfe isn't quite there, though he'd like to think he is.

And that's pretty much it. This isn't to discount other writers, it's to say that he was just that good.

While I was not a huge fan of his nostalgic sports books of recent years (meaning I didn't read them, I probably would've devoured them had I started them), the man wrote some of the most personally influential books I've ever read. I can't think of a book of his that I read and didn't like. I also can't think of one that I was easily able to put down. I mean Jesus, the guy wrote a book about the corporate politics of the automobile industry that had me riveted.

The Best & The Brightest and The Children should both be required reading for every American. I loved The Powers That Be and Breaks of the Game (required reading for every Portlander). These are all (save Breaks) gargantuan, and are all non-fiction. The amount of talent and intellect involved in writing a 900 page book that's actually interesting throughout is astounding. There are people who can write good sentences and people who can write good paragraphs, but he just wrote good books. And he just kept writing them, and writing them, and they never stopped being incredible.

And thinking about it, the main thing that strikes me is his enormous empathy. The amazing thing about his books, and this is likely a product of the enormous amount of interviews he did, is that there's never a villain, as such. The Best & The Brightest is an absolutely heart-rending story about how the U.S. got so entangled in Vietnam, and many of his books are about great tragedies (whether noticed as such or not) of American life, but throughout them we're always able to understand that the men and women making decisions that lead to such disastrous consequences are normal people, often good people, and perhaps even abnormally talented and good people, with moral codes and true desires to do the right thing.

I feel incredibly ineloquent (is that even a word), and I could just keep rambling and rambling, so I'll just leave it at this:

I am a better person for having read David Halberstam's books.

And that's how we get back to the new "things that make me happy" theme of the website.

Kitty Midwife

noreply@blogger.com (Crabbie) — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 12:45:00 +0000

Kitty Midwife at PDX Artix '06 (with adoring fan).

noreply@blogger.com (Crabbie) — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 12:08:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Crabbie) — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 12:40:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Crabbie) — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 14:19:00 +0000

Instead of explaining this one, I think I'd rather let you guess.

This should be made clear...

noreply@blogger.com (Crabbie) — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 23:49:00 +0000

On the column archive on the WWeek page, I've only written two (at this point). Those are the ones with the picture of the cab next to them. The ones with the picture of the woman's eyes in the rearview mirror ARE NOT BY ME.

I would've thought that this was fairly obvious, until I got a letter from my sainted mother telling me that the column had her transfixed and that she had so many questions, but still loved me. When did I live in L.A.? What was this about an ex-boyfriend?

Granted, this rather hilarious misunderstanding is from someone who can be a little... clueless with the computer, let's say. But still, I think it's worth making as explicit as possible.

noreply@blogger.com (Crabbie) — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 12:05:00 +0000