secret motel

I squirmed out of going to Modesto for Thanksgiving. I knew I would be unhappy if I went there. I also knew I would be unhappy if I DIDN'T go there. I decided to stay in secret motel and not feel bad about it. One might argue that I could've gone to Modesto and made the decision to not feel bad about it. Very true. But I highly prefer being alone and quiet and staying off that goddamn freeway. Maybe I'll go there for Christmas. I have plenty of time to resign myself to a Christmas visit.

Since I was here, I attended Amoeba's Black Friday sale, this morning. The concept is a kind of mini Record Store Day: limited edition releases on vinyl. The list of releases is a lot shorter than what is available on RSD. And the crowds are smaller. I picked up only a couple things:

Sun Ra - "Exotica" [3-disc LP on colored vinyl] This was the primary motivation for my excursion.

"Garage Daze: American Garage Rock From The 1960's" [Green & black swirl on vinyl]

I was also hoping to pick up a copy of Sonic Youth's "Dirty" deluxe vinyl re-issue. That was actually released a few years ago and wasn't a part of the Black Friday sale. I was reading about it, recently, on the SY forum and realized I had never heard many of the songs included on the deluxe re-issue. But Amoeba had no copies in-store. Now I want it even more. "Dirty" was my first experience with SY. I bought it on cassette when it was released in '92 and saw them for the first time that year. I've been stuck on them ever since, and I really miss them.

I'm being really good about drinking only on weekend evenings. But, since I'm off from work for the better part of a week, my definition of "weekend" has stretched a bit. I do find that I enjoy it more, now that I'm doing it less. And my mind is a lot calmer