back EPISODE #4, JUNE 2000 (words@bendpress.com) GRAY SLIDE CONTINUED... Date: 5/16/00 AJ, Was Jim Gray (Response #3) referring to you visiting Gator Rogowski? What are the details on that? I'm interested in the premise of it; not unlike being interested in seeing the town fuck-up being shackled and stoned to shards, for all to see. Or, not unlike seeing Keith Richards perform. Only the most morbid type of curiosity, I suppose. But, fuck that, he's a fucking murderer. He relinquished all rights to be recognized as anything but a ghost; an apparition. —Larson PS The bend site gave me chills. And not the kind you get when you have diarreah (is that spelled right?). Gray is actually referring to a dream I had about visiting Gator in prison with Cheryl Dunn... we were doing a calendar on/with him. Strange. I was scared in the dream. You know, I had just finished a Gator graphic and introduction ad with Fishlips Skateboards (now defunct) when Gator turned himself in. So that meant that the whole time I was talking and dealing with Gator he had already killed that girl. Jesus. To take a life... unbelievable. —Andy Yeah, thats wierd because [Chip] Morton has a similar story... Gator had been over to the Ranch (19th St. house in Del Mar) days before he turned himself in, and Chip felt kind of creepy when it all went down... too much waste. —Larson SURFING? Date: 5/16/00 I saw the LEVEL mag, Mike Leon showed it to me... nicely done. Come surfing with us Andy, its warm no need for a wetsuit down in SD. I have a 9'2" tanker you can use... Michael and I are going this Sat. —Bret Banta OLD FRIENDS Date: 5/16/00 Huh? —Tod Swank Yup. —Andy What? Hey do you remember a Suzanne from Toronto that had a band called Tent of Miracles and some zines? She has written me throughout the years. Blah. My old band's website is back up at www.letdowns.com. Weee. —Tod Yeah, Ms. Lapper. We still write each other on occasion. She's a really good writer, I've been bugging her for years to put words down again. Dancing Fish was her zine publishing effort... really good. She recently told me she's starting to make music again. Remember Rob Ben? —Jenkins Oh yeah. That's it. Ben yes. Hmmm. Weird. That's some shit. —Tod MIKE DAILY'S ATTENTION TO DETAIL Date: 5/16/00 Hello Andy, I bought Valley and found a photograph negative in the pages. It's of a piece of art with dogs and it says Wormword regular. What is it? —Elizabeth Reilly That, Reilly, is marginalia in its physical, tactile form. —Andy TRAVEL Date: 5/16/00 Hey man I might be moving to London this summer. So get your Bucky hours in while they last. —Bucky (see attachment) Date: 5/17/00 Andy, I had some friends that were in Spain recently. They got rocks thrown at them by an angry mob of  Spaniards while sleeping under a bridge. Take rocks in case you guys fall asleep under a bridge. Or practice catching rocks. —Pat Wilkins TRAVEL PLANS Date: 5/23/00 Hi andy. I sure did enjoy the sight. and the pillow animation was way cool. I am sleepy now. Glad to hear about Dazed and Confused UK. How do I get a hold of one? Are they sold on newstands? I am reading Tom Robbins new book. I like so far very much too alot also and stuff. I hope the family is well. Do ya'll have any travel plans for summer? Love, —Joe Sorren Joe, tickle the little man on the front page. Dazed out sometime in teh fall, I believe, but don't hold me to it.. you kow how magazines are. —Andy DIRTY DISHES Date: 5/24/00 Okay, I'm keeping up with you guys via the website. It's become some kind of surreal voyeristic obsession, waiting for the next entry, which is really too bad because the dishes are piling up. —Anne Soucek DAILY ABSCONDS WITH COPIES OF VALLEY Date: 5/25/00 Jenk, Mike Daily called. I'm taking ten copies of Valley home for him to use in his job search. I hope that's cool. OK, man chill out. Don't shoot the messenger, calm down, jeez. I'm just doing what I'm told OK. Take it up with him. New Stuff: • Johannes posters for 'Gone in Sixty Seconds' are up about town. They look cool. • I got a Japanese distributor for Stacks. His name is Yoshi (see PS). He's enthusiastic. I told him I did want to sell very many. He looked puzzled. • Got a call from Cain at IFUSE, about doing an interview thing. I'm not into it, but I told him about the rest of the art department so maybe somebody can use them. They were shitty to Johannes so I'm gonna stay away. Plus the site is ugly. • Bought a lap steel guitar yesterday. Let's get sad. • Fuck Spain. —Michael PS This is probably the best email I've ever received; Dear Michael I have just checked your web-site. It looks good. Above the address of your web-site in your e-mail. It says "Secret Stuff". Is there really secret stuff ? If there is, please let me know how I can access to it. Thank you. Kindest regards, Yoshi THIS GUY JUST KEEPS WRITING Date: 5/30/00 Merry Jenkster, I hope spain treated you and your loved ones well. I dropped some trash in the mailbox for you. Until the crap arrives, chew on this weak ass folly: Last week some friends of mine went to a bar in St. Paul called Mancini's for karoke. The bar is pretty old and so are the regulars. Drinks were drunk and it was time to freak the funk. My friend Wayne got on the mic first and tried to do "Suspicious Lies". The karoke machine started to fuck up and the lyrics, "caught in a trap, can't walk out," kept repeating on the screen, but the music continued. Wayne repeated the same words on the screen until the music stopped. He was calm about it when it first happened, but by the end his eyes were wild and he was screaming "CAUGHT IN A TRAP, CAN'T WALK OUT" like he was really trapped in some sort of hell. Other patrons were becoming nervous and freaked out. Getting kicked out seemed like a real possibility, but it only got worse after that. Two other friends, Dennis and Jamie (who were in drag) stepped up to the mic and did Nat King Cole's "Unforgettable" adding extra words like fuck, asshole, shit, etc. throughout the song. The management finally stepped in and asked that nobody use the word "fuck" on the mic. Everybody was asked to leave. I talked with Wayne about it the next day but his recollections were pretty hazy. The wheel in the sky keeps on turning, —Oak Kelsey  I STILL HAVE THE COMPUTER Date: 6/2/00 Tony keeps playing the Crail Tap theme song over and over. He plays his 'Fast Times' movie quotes over it as lyrics. Pretty funny. Have you heard it yet? The Crail Tap site is up. You probably don't give a shit about any of this. I wouldn't if I was in Spain. Sorry to ruin your trip. No Spain writing in a while? Did you throw your computer into the ocean? —Michael Leon YOU SEE... Date: 6/6/00 Hi Jenks, After the neighbors moved out across the street, Kevin and I took over the garage. We were in junior high and engaging in all types of fucking around. One of our experiments was gunpowder. We learned the formula at school, found reasonable substitutes, and mixed them together. Our first batch didn't light up so we soaked it in lighter fluid and let it sit for a day. Then Kevin and I took the grey paste out to the back steps and lit it up. It began slowly on one side like a fuse but it then started shooting out huge sparks and went out of control. I saw visions of the dry grass catching fire and this house burning to the ground. Before I had completed this thought Kevin had unzipped his pants and was pissing on the fire. He put it out instantly. I just stood there, stunned. Kevin Asp is a man of action. Caught the vapors from your trip. They were bursts of tightness against a background of perfect relaxtion. mad black circles on the sky. Take me with you next time. I've got the biggest balls of them all, —Oak Kelsey OUR PASTS Date: 6/9/00 Just read [new Glimpses]... excellent. I love to read your writing. My life is similar to yours (don't know if you care to hear). Except my Dad was a crazy-ass heroin dealer. So were my grandparents, like generations long. Bank robbers, prostitution rings. I saw many things, like my mother being shot by my father, aunt murdered by my uncle, FBI raids, hanging out at my dad's "shooting" gallery... fucking brutal. They had no regard for my sister and I so we pretty much were never home. Learned to take care of ourselves. Many days of not eating. My mom divorced my dad when we were 7 and 9 due to my learned violence, in which I was acting out on my sister. My mom at this time was drinking and doing drugs. She was raped, in head-on collisions, accidents and in the hospital constantly. Then she sobered up. We had to leave Chicago due to numerous burglaries (we think done by my family's hoods to get us to leave). So she packed us up and moved to Upland, CA to escape. During this time my Dad starting using heroin and THC (pure powdered form of Marijuana) and he left reality. He too is an excellent artist. He takes Halceyon(sp?). My sister, Edie, writes to him. I don't. I have no ill feelings towards him, just sadness. Through our experience I feel we've learned to be independent and self-sufficient and like you said, on the flip side; insecure and self-defeating at times. Up until I was about 20, I drank like mad too. That's a whole other story. I got sober in 1989 (with my Mom's help, who is still sober, 17 years now) and I've been sober for 11 years now. That's why I don't drink. I'm lucky enough not to have bad depression or manias. I help a lot of people get clean and sober... puts my experience to use in a productive manner. I'd like to write a shot story or script someday. Just wanted to share with you... I can relate. Thanks for your writings. Definitely an inspiration for me. —Rob SPIKE Date: 6/12/00 Hello Andy. I was wondering if you guys were still planning to release the collection of Spike Jonze's photographic work. I think it would be awesome if you released this and you couldn't pick a better time to do it, (since Spike's popularity is high right now). Well, that's just my take on it. Thanks for reading, —Brian JESUS Date: 6/12/00 Mr. Jenkins, Last night, for the first time, I dreamt I could fly. I recognized the location in my dream as the site of Evel Kneivel's ill fated Snake River Canyon jump except there was a hotel on one side that I kept landing on. I just kept going back and forth across the river and soon another friend joined me. I had always fallen in my dreams previously. It was beautiful. I will take this as a positive omen. My girlfriend always goes to sleep earlier than I do and I always wake her up when I come to bed... I kiss her and ask if she has been dreaming. She is usually in pre-dream state, but sometimes I get to hear some great stuff. I feel kind of like an asshole, but I just can't help myself. One night she was dreaming about Jesus and she said "I love you Jesus" as she wrapped her arms around me. Another night she said "goodnight dad" to me when she was dreaming of her father. When she tries to talk to me when I'm sleeping, I usually swear and say mean things, yet have no recollection of these events. In the beginning of our relationship this led to some confusion. I really like your site. The visit to Spain was like a vacation for me while i was at work. Thanks for the trip. Do you know Clive Noctchaw (Noctchow? Nacho?)? he seemed kind of fishy when I met him, but that was a while ago. I found this picture on the web and I thought it may be him. Is it? [Unable to display image] Do android dogs dream of electric cars?, —Chip Johnson, Punkeskawin@aol.com HUH? Date: 6/13/00 Can you please send me out some stickers. —Horstmann back