It’s been an impressive couple weeks for humanity. That’s right, folks, I finished recording drums on Saturday! Wooooooo! We did it!

I went in there a bit after noon with three songs to go and actually finished them all pretty quickly. I think I was done around 4:00 and full of pride and confidence. I must be getting better at this, I thought to myself. Of course we had to go back through and listen to each track and make sure they met our standards of “good enough.” One didn’t quite make the cut, so I figured it’d be no big deal to go back and do it again. I was now, after all, a pro. Wrong! It took over three hours to re-do that one damn song, and it’s only marginally better now than it was before. Bah. A quick day of three songs in as many hours turned into a grueling session of pain and torment. Fitting that it was a gorgeous day outside and I was stuck in the dark basement playing a song called “Daylight Wastings” over and over. Afterward, Jack and I went to a shitty diner for some shitty breakfast for dinner and then I took a bath and sat in my robe until I fell asleep with every BRAIN VACATION song playing at the same time, over and over, in my pounding head. It was awesome!

Here are the lyrics to “Migrant,” probably my favorite new song of ours. It’s about that picture up there:

Off in one direction, not to look back – I’m on my way
Off in one direction, don’t give a damn – I’m on my way
Off in one direction, moving for life – I’m on my way
It all looks the same (take it for granted won’t see it again)

Off in one direction, looking for truth – I’m on my way
Off in one direction, can’t give a fuck – I’m on my way
Off in one direction, long gone for good – I’m on my way
It still looks the fuckin same

Endless black gives way to brown and red (to brown and red)
That blue green life of theirs is bound to end (it’s bound to end)
Marooned out in the dust of a godless land (a godless land)
Blaze a trail for future that I don’t have (and I don’t want it!)

Further from the sun, damned to be the one
Alone before I left and doomed to bear the heft

Five more miles of rock and sand
Centuries led to this
A roving robot measuring
How much how old how dense and thick and
Only built for simple work
Oblivion a one-way trip
Born dead, live dead, and die

Someday they will find me just more cosmic debris
A most stunning achievement doing nothing
Pinnacle of a species on the brink
They can’t save themselves from infinity

Everything passes by (passes by)
For the very first and last time (the last time)
It’s never the same one moment to the next
If I’m ever seen again might depend upon whom they elect

Never look back, don’t give a shit
Stuck here for life, no other way, there’s just one truth:
“Among the stars, infinite black, you must migrate”

Some nice end of the month blog post quota filling going on here.

On November 6 I went to a lecture/discussion called “Art on Mars”, which was part of the Chicago Humanities Festival. The marquee in my mind was staggering: Two rocket scientists and a contemporary artist talking about the red planet and the convergence of art and science. Moderated by Lawrence Weschler, author of one of my favorite books. The bill added up to the most highly anticipated academic/cultural event I’ve attended in a long time (unless the FEST counts). It didn’t quite live up to the promises I had made myself on its behalf, but it was still pretty neat.

A summary: Weschler’s pretty involved with the CHF so that’s why he was there. I’m sure it sounded interesting to him so he volunteered to sit there while the other dudes talked. New Yorker Tom Sachs has been making “daring” and “progressive” artwork about consumerism and global culture for a while. Having made enough counterfeit Chanel guillotines and Tiffany handguns he decided to fake his own moon landing. It was as much about the poetry of the gesture (shooting the moon) as it was about the final product (art object/installation/performance/video), which is purposefully loose and fun. Sachs’ motto seems to be, “If I can’t have the real thing, I’ll make my own.” An important tension in the work is Sachs’ simultaneous attention to detail (as when prepping the astronauts very carefully for “launch”) and complete disregard for it (the “moon” in the sky is a ball of duct tape).

The whole thing was a success so like many artists who find something that works Sachs set out to replicate his triumphs. Gregg Vane of NASA/JPL happened to be in the neighborhood one day while Tom was working on a second version of the moon landing project. After touring Tom’s studio and chatting for a while, Gregg suggested Tom think bigger. Conversations continued and fellow NASA/JPL rocket man Adam Steltzner was soon included. The outcome is another Sachs space “mission,” this time to Mars, and this one a bit more detailed and researched. With the help of Vane and Steltzner, Sachs has been working on a replication (or, maybe here, a prediction) of the Curiosity rover’s 2012 arrival on Mars. (Tongues remain in DIY cheeks to some degree: Mars is a red ball of duct tape.)

This unlikely collaboration is pretty much what they talked about, offering plenty of asides and visual aids (such as excerpts from the above video, which stole the show). Weschler managed to come off like a total jerk despite saying very little. The only thing he brought to the table (literally and figuratively) was a notebook of “pertinent” quotations. He peppered these in wherever he could, saying things like, “I believe it was Socrates who said, ‘Only man knows the true limits of his inner and outer self.’” I’m paraphrasing and misquoting (twice) but you get the idea.

Meanwhile it was pretty clear that Sachs and the scientists were having lots of fun together with this collaboration but I couldn’t help but feel like, as it is now, it’s a wasted opportunity. Essentially the NASA guys are just helping Sachs produce something that looks like a Mars landing. I agree that it is cool to fantasize and pretend, but we have a simulation video of that already (complete with a bunch of “reality TV” shaky-cam shots so you really feel like you’re there). I think part of what makes the idea behind his moon landing interesting is that he did it and figured it all out himself. For Mars it’s like his dad is making his diorama for him. Instead of meeting in the middle to show off Science Lite in an Art Gallery, I suggest these guys look beyond what they know in search of something that might amplify rather than dilute their respective fields.

At least the guys were a bit more lively than Weschler and it was definitely fun to see the scientists out-weird and out-profound the artsy guys. I fully agree with Steltzner’s comparison of the rover to an art installation. You know what kind of art I would make with 2.5 billion dollars? That’s right, I’d shoot a robot into space too.

“Eric’s Weekend in the Bay Area” final tallies:

-Days: 3
-Nights: 3
-Naps: 4
-Meals: 6
-Snack sessions: 10
-Bad Religion tapes listened to in Dad’s old car: 3
-Times checked to see if UCLA has decided my fate yet: 8
-Things purchased at the Pleasant Hill Library’s used book sale: 5…

… including Time Life’s awesome “To The Moon” box set — 6 LPs and one hardcover book recounting the space race, starting with WWII and ending with one small step for a man. Published in 1969. Pretty bad ass. I sat on the couch in the sun on Saturday afternoon and listened to the first 1.5 records. So far, it’s pretty clear from the narrative that America rules way harder than Russia (aka Chumptown).

I also went and saw WATCHMEN, which I thought was pretty good. All the changes made from the book seemed sensible enough, and it wasn’t too overblown with sex and/or violence (it had a fair share of each though). The essence is retained, and it leaves you thinking about the same things the book does. When Dr. Manhattan is giving his tour of Mars and asks, “would it be greatly improved by an oil pipeline or a shopping mall?” regarding Man’s place in the cosmos, I had to smile.