THE EVER HILARIOUS INTERNET

so sometimes when i want to write you all a little blogBLAB, i zip up to the ever helpful GOOGLE bar, enter in the first thing that pops into my mind, and see what images come up.  then, i get inspired from there, and use that as a jumping off point to share my ever ridiculous thoughts.  this picture, i like.  it doesn't have anything to do with anything really, but ....it's neat, no?  apparently it was made out of construction paper. creative.

but this is what happened today when i popped up to that google bar.

i typed into the normal search field, "images of...."  and right when i was about to think of something, the autofill came up, and what it completed for me, i found utterly hilarious....and enlightening.

i don't know how the internet works really, and if YOU typed in "images of..." on YOUR computer i don't know what would autocomplete....but mine said: (in this order)

images of jesus
images of america
images of bed bugs
images of fall
images of money
images of christmas
images of dogs
images of the sun
images of hearts
images of 9 11

now....

WHAT?!  like i said, i don't really know how it works, but i would assume, as we type things in, it tries to figure out what we might want to see, based on what everyone online has been typing in.  i assume this, because sometimes, when i am trying to find things about myself for example, i am slightly annoyed or perplexed as to what follows my name.  but THIS LIST!?

are we really looking for visual proof or confirmation of THESE THINGS??? in THIS order?!

is this what people on the internet are 'trending' on?  (i don't think i used that twitter term correctly)  who ARE we?  what is this telling me?  and...

BED BUGS!?!?!?  has it gotten to be that big of a problem/issue/neurosis/fear?  i know they are real.  i know friends of mine who have suffered through them.  bed bugs have become a topic of conversation over drinks more than once....but....#3?  right behind jesus and the USA?  for cryin out loud, where's justin beiber on this list?  i mean sheesh.  i just discovered last night that he has the most viewed youtube video on the internet (i obviously have more time to putter around/kill precious brain cells online as i am actually letting myself relax on break...it's amazing....no, i didn't need to know this about j beibs, and no, i couldn't make it past about 50 seconds of the 'baby' video....but....good for him)

i don't know.  i just find it amusing/amazing that THESE are the things we are looking for on the internet.  naturally, jesus would be up there....but....he got to number ONE!  wow, way to go dude.... you beat beiber.  and then not surprisingly/a bit nauseatingly narcissisticly patriotic, there america is....right behind the supposed son of god.  but then...

BED BUGS?!?!?

i'm sorry, i just can't get over that.  it is hilarious.  i mean come on, hearts and puppies got pulverized, money was shut out, and one of the worst days of the world was trumped by....insects.  fear.  boo.

here's hoping we start looking for other things in 2011.  here's dreaming that our obsessions become less focused on paranoia or pride or gain.  maybe we can get down with a little joy....hell, maybe even a little sexiness, or possibility.

i at least hope that the sun makes a climb in the coming months....in all ways.  let it shine :)

and i also hope pudding pops make their way back onto the market.

peace

g

FREAKY BALLET MOON MARTIANS

i typed into google image search, "lunar ballerina" and this is what came up.  pretty cool, eh? a bit of a blend of both i thought.

it's  a lunar eclipse tonight....and i saw BLACK SWAN finally today.  i think it is only appropriate that there is some weird moon thing going on when i would see that movie.  honestly, as it was going along, i think the hype i had heard almost destroyed it for me.  i thought, yeah, it is provocative and made me cringe here and there, but i didn't find it 'surprising' necessarily...though i did leave the theatre feeling like i had done something wrong....and natalie portman's face was burned in my head.  she's something else.  wowsers.

the only other time i remember a movie making me feel like that was THE TALENTED MISTER RIPLEY.  something about that movie gave me guilt.  like, i left thinking i was going to get in trouble....like i had been a very bad person and i was going to get caught, and nothing was ever going to be the same...like...it was going to be worse from now on.  

it was an icky feeling.  and miss SWAN did that to me today too.  so....BRAVO to darren a and the gang!  lol

now about this eclipse.  i think it is aliens.  i feel like science has decided to 'explain' this for us so we don't all freak out.  i think these blood red changes to big balls of light in the sky, or flashes of green they call 'northern lights' or meteor showers or shooting stars or bizarre weather patterns....

all of it.

aliens.

and according to THE EVENT....they are getting pissed off and want to go home and we better back off.  you hear me?  or jason ritter and his weird ass girlfriend with the perfectly curled hair in each scene (that annoys me, ps) are gonna get EVEN MORE postal and take us down, while they never age a day.

i'm just saying.

happy holidays earthlings.

peace

g

HISTORY

i am so grateful today.  no, i'm not in the military, so, i'm not directly effected by the decision that the senate made today.  i could never do what those courageous civilians do who willingly offer up their lives for service,  but i am gay and i do spend a lot of my living and breathing feeling like the government and the country in which i live does not have my best interests at heart.

well, today....is a different day.

watching CNN and seeing all those suited up politicians talking about and voting on this issue that is ALL ABOUT the interests of gay citizens and our being recognized and set free......well....i am so happy for the service men and women who are able to stand up and be proud and be themselves, and now just get on with life and do what they have always been doing, without asking for any fanfare.   no, they were simply asking for fairness.  or rather...they weren't ALLOWED to ask for it.  

well now they can and now...they have it.  

i am grateful and confident that this is a MAJOR step in the process that will lead to FULL EQUALITY for all citizens regardless of sexual orientation or identity.  

we have so much work to do, and the backlash will be out there.  but ...

justice.  and a glimmer of hope for what is BOUND to come.

proud of my country.  proud of my elected officials.  proud of reason.

peace

g

RECENT FINDINGS

1.  CELEBRATION: dec 13...i made it

2.  DISCOVERY: i'm a hotel snob

3.  CRAVING: vegetable dishes

4.  EXERCISE: sobriety

5.  CONDITION: vocal fatigue

6.  ILL-TIMED URGE: spring fever

7.  BAR: charlie's in cambridge

8.  THEATRE: a.r.t.

9.  MEDIOCRE MOVIE: the tourist

10. GUILTY PLEASURE: katy perry

11. DREAM MAN: still...james franco

12. NEED: imagination

13. VOICE: euan morton

14. ACTIVITY: night walk

15. REUNION: wally and me

16. BIRTHDAY: heather's ....tomorrow

17. ARTIST: mark bradford

18. REGRET: steamed veggies at a fast food joint

19. HOPE: rising to challenges

20. WISH: peace to you

happy holidays.

peace

g

BACK IN BOSTON

i'm back in boston again.  chilling in my cheap ass hotel room.  seriously....

am i a snob now?  i choose to respond, NO, i'm not.  i'm older than i was before, and i have stayed in some pretty kick ass places, so i know what's out there.  and....i like those better!  lol.

don't get me wrong, it's all good, i'll enjoy it and hell...it's only a few days, but i wish EVERYONE could enjoy luxury.  i mean, checking into a hotel in a swank lobby, and taking the elevator up to your sweet room and throwing yourself down on that big soft bed with those amazing pillows and crazy ridiculous sheets....and later falling asleep in a beautiful pretend world where you live like a fancy fool....for a night....  it makes vacationing SO much more fun for me when i know i'm going home at the end of my day to a kooshkoosh place.

ok.  i'm a snob.  big deal.

:)

i can't believe it is christmas time.  seriously, i don't know why, but i just don't feel it this year.  i keep looking outside and seeing lights and trees and stuff, and think, "really!?  now?  isn't it ....NOT now?"  but it is.  i think it will all start to feel better when i get my ass home to my moms and pops.  christmas is family for me i think.  just chilling out with my parents, eating funny foods, playing games, doing....nothing.  i need that.  i feel like i've been running since i hit american soil.  time to STOP and breathe.

gonna try to go see BLACK SWAN tonight.  why do i feel like i am going to have nightmares?  i don't know anything about it, but that trailer is freaking me OUT.  but come on...it's ballet....how bad can it be?

(cut to me wetting the bed tonight)

peace

g

WHY THE F DON'T YOU TEXT, GAVIN!?

okay.  i think i need to clarify a few things here.

no, i don't text message.  i stopped texting on dec 29, 2009, and i haven't looked back.  truthfully.  i don't miss the convenience of it (although while i was in london for HAIR, i texted there...but only because the phone i had, which was from 1973, didn't have email capabilities)  i don't miss the quick banter, or the zip/beep/vibrate/ping of that incoming message.  i don't miss it.

i also want to apologize to those people out there who may have tried texting me in this past year, and to whom i (obviously) didn't respond.  it is annoying, but when you send a text to someone who doesn't text (me) it won't send you a default message back to say, "hey...gavin didn't get this message" or "texting is blocked to this number"  it just basically leaves you thinking i got the text and i'm just the a-hole who didn't want to respond.

i had at&t (who i will not be with for much longer, once iPhone works with verizon....smell ya later at&t....)  take the texting feature off my phone.

now i want to explain why.

no, i'm not like those vegetarians who don't eat meat because of the horrifying acts committed to animals.  (while i respect their conviction....steak....i can't quit you...why can't i quit you?) but i'm like one of those vegetarians who just decided....i've had enough.  i'm gonna stop eating that stuff.  it doesn't make me feel good, when i am finished with it i don't feel like myself, and really....i just don't need it, now do i?

the main two reasons for me quitting texting though....were this:

a) i got sick of people getting MAD at me for not texting right back, or for getting their text, registering the information that i received, and then in my pea brain, thinking i had told them that i got the information.  either way, having a friend get pissed at you for not doing this immediate response thing, started to tick ME off.

and

b) THERE ARE TOO MANY WAYS TO GET IN TOUCH WITH ME....and NOT ENOUGH GOOD REASONS WHY!  i could be emailed to my personal email, to my business email, to my facebook email, you could post something on my wall, you could tweet me, you could RT me, or @ me or whatever that is, you could call my cel, you could leave a message on my voicemail, you could call my skype, or leave a message there or ....or....what else is there?   TOO MANY.

and inevitably, i forget things, like, when you call me and i'm talking to someone else.  in my effort to be polite (which switching over to another call really isn't, is it?  my mom always hated that....she's used to it now....sad) but to be polite i would just pop over and say, "hey allyson (sister) i'll call you back in a second.  just talking to (so and so)"  and then, i forget to call her for like 2 days.

that's my brain.  i try, but i forget.  so...when i was confronted at the time with feeling torn between so many forms of 'communication' (and i put that in quotations because are we REALLY in all these ways, truly communicating?)  ----okay, i can hear you groaning now and thinking "ugh he's all holier than thou and all self righteousy....ew".....i've probably lost you already because this isn't really that interesting...

but screw it.  anyway....

i just thought....i'm gonna lose one of these.  and TEXTING costs money.  so, i decided, i'm gonna get rid of it and bear the brunt of people being pissed about it for a bit, and then never have to worry about being torn away from a dinner or a walk or sex, or really anything so that i can just see 100 or so characters of information telling me something that i probably really didn't need to know RIGHT THEN anyway.

there used to be no call waiting and no answering machines and hell....i remember pulse tone dialing.  it used to drive me crazy that my parents wouldn't get a touch tone phone.  now...i dream of those days.

geeze, i'm turning into my grampa.  oi.

but just to clear it up,

GAVIN CREEL DON'T DO NO TEXTIN'

and i had to walk uphill in the snow BOTH WAYS to get to school.....grrrrrrrrr

(fart....recline....golf....nap)

peace

g

BLAST FROM THE PAST

i have sutton to thank for this picture (of us all looking slightly insane) she sent it to me in an email which contained only....this pic.  i love her for that.  a smile came across my face and i thought....where has all this time gone?

i look at this picture and i think...who was i?  WHERE was i?  thinking about all the life i have lived since that time, kind of overwhelms me.  like....i had no idea any of it was going to happen.  luck, 'success,' love, poverty, total confusion, burn out, bliss, heartbreak, insecurity, stagnation, life-changing experiences, laughter, curiosity, more confusion, and now....

bewilderment.

where does it all go?  seriously.  what am i doing here?  i don't want you to answer that.  i don't want anyone to answer it.  only to ask it.  again and again.

what am i doing here?

what?

why is this, THIS?

so i can dress up and run around and make people laugh or cry or think or marvel or sleep or what? that, i have realized, as fun as it is....ain't it.  and i can see it happening over and over again with new people...younger people, and admire that feeling, that emotion.  see it play out even in the same city i played it out in.  that rush of newness, that thrill of the crush on 9 people, that electricity of wondering what will happen tomorrow?  the freshness.

and i know it all fades.  not in a depressing way at all, but as it has always been meant to.  and pictures of plays that you did 8 years ago get sent to you in an email as if ....'remember that'  is all it now is.  what was so all-encompassing and 'important' and truly, TRULY massive to my one life....is now just a picture in an electronic file zapped across a wireless expanse, to make me think and wonder....

what am i doing here?

question on....

peace

g

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

i did it.

i have dreamt of fixing a thanksgiving dinner for years.  actually doing it.  all of it.  and today was the day.  of course, i couldn't have done any of it without help...and tommar wilson is the GREATEST help any kitchen has ever known.  seriously.  he helped me cook everything, he cleaned up everything, and he did it all with a smile.  good friends are awesome.

this picture is me taking carla out of the brine.  (i named my turkey carla) i tweeted it earlier, but i just had to repost.  the true verdict:  the turkey was too dry, but we didn't die of salminnelli (as i like to call it....it's flashier and less threatening that way).  next time i'm gonna make it moist as can be...ahem.

the flavor was great, thanks to a great brining recipe from my friend brandon, and i used my old faithful sausage apple cranberry stuffing recipe as well as the greatest sweet potato casserole recipe on the planet to round things out.  there were mashed potatoes, cran jelly, green beans, and for dessert, oreo surprise.  canada didn't have pumpkin pies out at the supermarkets and i didn't feel like making one.  so...surprise!

the company was great.  the kids had a fun time.  oliver did laps around kitchen for a good 7 minutes straight, screaming all the way.  it was hilarious.  we ate too much, like you do, we cleaned up, and then we headed over to see PRISCILLA again at the princess of wales.

as crazy as that show is, something about it gets me.  just does.  the cast is awesome, the show has fabulousness and heart, and it is a completely ridiculous and utter blast.

fun turkey day this year.  i hope you had a good one too.

peace

g

BEFORE BEDTIME BLAB

this makes me laugh.  and it looks like wally is laughing too.

there was this sign in london that was outside a cafe and they always had the funniest placards.

ok.  i'm really tired and i need to sleep, but i felt like saying hi.  robbie and i have been working on the setlist for the gig on sunday and we're really excited about it.  i trying to keep challenging myself by playing new music at every turn i can.  the process for me right now is to write and sing....write and sing.  my management has rocked it out, getting me booked into a lot of great places, so i can get up in front of your beautiful faces and experiment.  but soon, we'll be getting studio space and heading in to record the jams.  in the meantime, i gotta keep throwing my thoughts into song and sharing with you when i can.

it's funny.  we don't even really know each other, probably.  and yet....there you are.  what a crazy f-ed up way this interweb works.  i mean, you can see my puppy up there, laughing...you can picture my man robinowitz and i sitting in the living room while oliver and michelle sleep upstairs.  (we made zucchini bread tonight....domestic!)  the smell of cinnamon is still in the air, and i'm in a blissful way....me and my friends....growing up, and still dreaming.

i'm trying something new for a while.  i'm trying to only drink water.  like....no booze for  a bit and nothing other than water. (i just realized i had a glass of elderflower cordial this evening....balls....)

okay so, i'm doing so well but i'm gonna keep trying.  i think i could use a break from the sauce.  not that i drink it often, but ....i don't know....water...lots of it...for a couple months.  i think that could be good.  what do you think?

oh, and i miss my bed.  a friend of mine is staying at my place while i am away (hi dave!) (not the one who sent me the ticket...) and i just told him that the apt was all clean ...and that i love my bed.  damn...i really love it.  soft, great pillows, serene....i have no idea why i am telling you this.

i don't really know why i am telling any of you ANY of this.

just keeping the channel open, as ms graham says.  keeping it open to the universe, to the skies, to the interweb.

have a good night lovelies

peace

g

RECENT FINDINGS

1.  MOVIE: 127 hours
2.  RENAISSANCE MAN/INSPIRATION: james franco
3.  ANNOYANCE:  muffin tops
4.  ANNOYANCE-CONQUERER: my new gym membership
5.  ANNOYANCE-CONQERER-CHALLENGER: my not going to said new gym
6.  DREAM: the lovebus
7.  MISSING: london
8.  JOY: the smoker in my building being on vacation
9.  EXCITEMENT: cooking thanksgiving dinner
10.  FEELING: it never arrives
11.  HOPE: canine maturity
12.  DARE: to write five songs next week
13.  DARE-PARTNER: robbie roth
14.  WORRY: i'm just keeping myself busy
15.  MAGAZINE: new york
16.  CEREAL: raisin bran
17.  WISH: to be visited by an angel
18.  CONCERTS: toronto-nov 28, boston dec- 4, broadway inspirational voices- dec 6
19.  FAST: booze and dessert
20.  CHANCE OF THAT HAPPENING:  slim

JIM AND NANCY DAY!

it's parent appreciation day for gavin.

i just love my mom and dad.  i was talking about them last night with some new friends (who took me to an amazing restaurant called QUALITY MEATS ...go!) and while we were at dinner, besides the tirade i went into about the current state of affairs with the gay rights movement in our country, we talked for a while about families and parents....i just got to really thinking about my mom and dad and ....how great they are.

we have been growing as people our whole lives, but as adults, my parents and i have become so much closer.  i think about that and wonder WHY that is....i always figured as you get older, you grow farther apart.  i mean, i live in new york city and they are all the way down there in north carolina.  we don't see each other in person as often as we would like, and besides the occasional phone call/checkin/MAYBE skype session, our connection is more of a spiritual one most of the time.  they have a ton of activities they are a part of down in their community, i'm racing around doing whatever nonsense it is that i'm doing, and well...we're just getting older and doing it mostly apart.  so why?  why do i feel like i am actually getting closer to them as i age?

i think...it is a) because i'm just older.  i know this isn't profound in the slightest, but hear me out.  i have always been a pretty strong willed person and growing up passionate and strong willed....manifested in me (and i think manifests in a lot of people) in a little snotty know-it-all naivete, that...was/is probably pretty annoying.  as i get older, i'm really trying to shed that and realize how little i know and how much i need to obverve, ask questions, just be.  my parents have been living in that example for their adult lives.  and they have been patient enough with me to let me be crazy and young and think i know what i am doing...and just let me grow.

b)  they also haven't STOPPED.  not only physically (they rock that schwinn airdine exercise bike ...you know the one, with the big fan for a wheel....THIS ONE!)  and, like i said, they are constantly planning gatherings, running commitees, working in their church...they just don't stop) but beyond just the running around and keeping busy, they haven't stopped growing emotionally.  i think it is probably pretty easy as one gets older to just think "OKAY!  i know what this is....i'm done. i know who i am and i'm not changing now"  i think my grandfathers did that a bit.  and in all fairness it was a mans world then.  an america made for that person:  a straight middle class white male.  (sadly, i don't think that phase is completely over yet...)  but whatever.

but MY PARENTS i am proud to say, continue to evolve and learn and open their minds and hearts. and the thing that i think brings this most to mind....and what i realize is probably the biggest reason i feel closer to my parents now more than ever is....

c)  i am out to them.

they know every part of my heart.  they know i am a gay man.  they know i walk through this world as a homosexual.  and they know....that that word is not a bad word.  even my typing it now....still sets something off in me that makes me nervous.  homosexual.  homosexual.  homosexual.  isn't that crazy?  i am out of the closet, and know myself completely, and i still have a bizarre reaction to the word.  i can only imagine the process my mother and father have had to go through (and CONTINUE to go through) to be able to say or hear that word....and know that their son is one.

and then....to be PROUD of me for it and to realize, as they near 70 (sorry mom and dad :) hee hee
but as they near that new decade which most of the world probably thinks means someone of that age is slowing down, or close minded.....

my parents are actually raring up for the next phase and opening their hearts to learning and living more, and they are fighting with me and standing up for equality....and most importantly....LOVING ME for exactly who i am.  exactly who god made me to be.  and for that, i am so grateful.

i'll leave you with one neat story i remembered the other day.

when i came out to my parents in 2002, i did it at the beginning of the week i was home so that i could have the whole rest of the time to deal with any fallout (i was beyond nervous and didn't know what was going to happen)   without going into it, it all went fine (it was TOUGH! but fine) well, on the second or third day after i told them, i was in the kitchen with my mom and we were making lunch and i decided to step back into the conversation a little and see how she was doing.  now, i should preface this by saying, up to THIS point in our lives together, my parents and i really didn't talk about our feelings much at all.  our relationship was loving, but we didn't really go THERE ever (we do much more now....thank god for that)

but i just asked my mom, while i was making the potato salad.... "so mom....how you doing?"

"with what?" she said.

"oh....you know....what we talked about....with what i told you about me..."

and she said.... " well.....(silence) ....it's hard. (silence).... i just....."

then there was a more silence

and then she said, "well gavin....it's going to take me some time.  i just hope you don't go marching in any parades or anything."

it made me laugh, and at the time, i was not intending anything of the sort.  i was pretty private and at the VERY start of my acceptance of myself and my sexuality.

but....i will have you know, that 7 years later, my mother and father were marching in a parade WITH ME in the National Equality March on DC....through the streets of our nations capitol, wearing BroadwayImpact t-shirts, chanting and smiling and walking with pride for their OUT HOMOSEXUAL SON....for his rights.  for his future.

for OUR future.

i love you mom and dad.

peace

g

GREAT JOY!

i've been sitting in my apartment, for the last three hours, memorizing.  music.  for this concert.

y'all, this is one of the things of which i am most proud.  i am a member of B.I.V. or the broadway inspirational voices.  now, if you haven't heard this choir before, i am telling you, look at the info on this poster, call the number, go to the website, get a ticket and COME....JOIN ME on december 6 at 7:00 on the upper east side of manhattan for the most incredible holiday event of the season.

the voices, the spirit, the power in this choir... it is all truly uplifting and completely inspiring.   i joined the choir in 2001 and  besides blowing my voice out once in a while on some of the most challenging  music i have ever had to sing, i love learning from michael mcelroy, our brilliant leader/composer/performer/arranger.  i am humbled to share the stage with some the best voices in the world.  and i am proud that it is all in efforts to raise our spirits in praise.

praise....to whatever you believe it.  some of my friends (who LOVE it) have said, "it is definitely really jesus-y in there gavin!"  to which i say, "WELL, YEAH!"  but what is amazing about this choir, is that we don't care who you worship, or what you believe.  we just hope that you are open, and willing to hear the story and that you are there to connect with us.  no matter what your faith or background, no matter what your race or creed. i have yet to meet someone who has come to the concert and not been moved by the sheer power radiating out from this group of people.

seriously.  please come.

EVERYONE is welcome.  no discrimination.  no bias.  no need to know anything about christ or the story or any of it.

just COME.  tell your friends, tell your enemies (they'll become your friends once they hear this music :)

i am proud to be a part of this choir, and i really want you to FEEL why.

DEC 6 MONDAY 7:00pm

see you there

peace

g

AN APPLE A DAY

i'm sitting in the basement of this building.  oh, the genius of the apple genius bar....

i constantly want to tout apple products, and say how great this company is.  i am an apple convert and have an apple macbook pro, an iphone, and even a mobileMe account.  basically, i am dripping in apple.

but when that technology breaks down, and everything i have is kept within one fabulous company....things get a bit more complicated...and a little less fabulous.  i've always thought that the appleCare protection plan i bought would get me an appointment at the genius bar to fix my every woe in a simple and effortless manner.   this is partially true and part foolish dreaming.

i am about to send my computer off for a week to get the camera, dvd player, keyboard and mouse working again (none of them wor now....so basically i have a very expensive paperweight in the shape of a laptop)  but on this day, my iPhone has also decided to stop working ...so i have no link to the internet, the outside world, communication in general, and...really....'life'  (full well knowing, this break will probably be beautiful)

i guess the thing i want to warn anyone out there with an apple product, that while the applecare protection is necessary (i just saved 310 bucks today...so it basically paid for itself) the appointments at the genius bar are not what you think.  you may have to sign up for a meeting time days in advance, because you can rarely just walk in and sidle up to the bar to get something fixed, and even if you have scheduled up... you should know that they only work in 15 minute time slots.

i had a guy in charlotte at the southpark mall give me so much attitude about this due to the fact that my issue at the time was taking more time than his allotted 15 minutes.  i didn't realize that when i bought the insurance, it was only in quarter hour increments.  now, granted, he did stay with me until the issue was 'resolved' (obviously not totally because i'm back again)  but man...the attitude that dude dished out...wow.  i don't judge the company on his behavior, but man....he needs a beer or an adjustment.  dickHEAD!

my experience today, while still under that same gun, is much more pleasant (who knew??  in new york city!)  and they are going to fix my sh*t UP...but, i just thought i would let you know, while i  'kill time' at the (beautiful new) apple store, that the genius bar isn't everything i once thought it was.  (maybe i was foolish...but something about that long pine table and all those sexy silver machines with those tough looking, custom/border patrol-esque, attitude-laden computer nerds...note: i love nerds...i am one and i thought the SOCIAL NETWORK was awesome...but i guess i just thought it would be able to solve my every worry with an effortless, caring and easy way)

that's what i get for having expectations.

turns out....apple, is just human beings, running a company.

ah well

peace

g

HAPPY SPOOKYTIME

hey all you goblins.  happy 31st.  hope everyone out there is dressed up and ready for a great fright night.

this picture is completely random, but i actually just did a test and put into google image searches, "gavin creel halloween" and this is the first picture that came up.  and....this made me very happy.  i don't know who that girl is, but i recognize that guy from the Twilight movies .....and maybe from the calvin klein underwear ads!!!  needless to say, if i met either of them at a party late halloween night....well...i'll just leave it there.

OKAY!

what's everybody doing on this cool day?  it is beautiful in new york.  stunning weather, crisp fall breeze blowing through, and i am sat on my couch, in my pig stye of an apartment, amid boxes and suitcases and mayhem from the last 7 months traveling.  there is a party tonight that i don't think i can go to because i have a gig tomorrow and i need to REST UP!  :)   but robbie and i might go catch a movie and i'll scare him during it just to keep us in the spirit.

if you have never been to new york city on halloween, it is an awesome thing.  people walking around the streets in costume, riding the subway in full bloody drag, even the two guys who served me this morning at juice generation...one was a zombie and one a pirate.  i love it when people let their inhibitions go and dress up.  why don't we do it more often?  why does everyone wait for ONE day of the year to get all freaky?

i think we should start a day...in february maybe, because that month is always so damn dreary.  maybe we could call it FABuary FRIDAY or something.  okay, maybe not that, but a day in the middle of winter where everyone dresses up again.  just cuz.

or maybe just the two in this picture would pop over to my house in their costumes and i'll make them some mac and cheese....and we can all cuddle.

:)

have a great night

peace

g

okay, so i am a poser here. i don't actually play the guitar, but one of these days....i am going to learn.  i have been saying this for years, but i WILL DO IT...someday.  i have just been busy in the meantime.  and it hasn't been a total priority i guess.  besides i have brilliant players all around me who do the job way better than i could ever dream of doing, so, that certainly doesn't help matters any (come on robbie....be a sh*ttier player and i will finally learn to jam out on the geeetrrrr)  (just kidding....please keep being amazing)

i am heading home to NYC today.  about to head to the airport in 5 minutes.  i can't wait.  seriously, it has been almost 7 months since i have lived in my apartment.  i left new york in the cold, and i am returning....to the cold.  but that is all fine because the person i was when i left is NOT the person i am now.  thank the lord.  time is a beauty like that.  one minute it is mocking me, and marching so slowly across my face, and then i turn around and it is skipping on by, calling for me to catch up and skip too.  love that. (and hate it)  but love it.

we have a FEW tickets left for the BIRDLAND shows, so if you haven't already purchased yours, get to that website asap.  here is a little link:  http://www.instantseats.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.venue&VenueID=68

just scroll down to whichever date you want to come (nov 1, 8, or 15)

robbie and i have been going over the tracks, and there is so much new stuff that i am psyched to get to share.  while time was marching across me...i was writing songs....so....there will be some journey there.  (not the steve perry kind....i dont' want to sing that high)

ok.  i'm off to the airport.  see you all soon.

peace

g

i'm back in T.O.

second favorite city for the gav.  totally jetlagged, but happy to be in the roth masion, getting ready to write more music and practice for the birdland gigs.  the fall is packed with so many cool opportunities.  more to come.

has anyone out there seen wanda sykes: ima be me?  holy sh*tballs that was the best stand up act i think i have ever seen.  she is freakin HILARIOUS.  smart too.  and inspiring.  but FUNNNNNNY.  go get it. watch it. laugh. and pee a little while you are laughing.

going to see will swenson in priscilla this week.  cannot wait.  i saw the show twice in london (my friend oliver thornton was incredible) and i really enjoyed it.  so, now to see it with friends in it....gonna be amazing.

i am sorry i don't have much more to say, but i just wanted to blog it out before bed and say hello to you out there.

peace

g

CAT CALLS

i have been having an interesting experiment as of late.  a phoneless experiement.

i am renting a room in a beautiful flat/house in london and the woman who owns the place has a cat.  now i have never been much of a cat person, but the minute i meet this one, i'm like....'hey you're a dog/cat' which for me is the best kind of cat.  i don't actually know if it is a boy or a girl to be honest, but its name is misa ...or meesa...or something like that.  come to think of it, i should ask.  oh whatever...it's just a cat.  

ANNNNYWAY, this cat is really sweet and follows me around and comes when i call and eats DZOWN.  like, cannnnnnns of food.  it's a wonder it isn't rolling around this house like a fatcatsplat.  the other day, however, when i woke up, i grabbed my cel phone to take it with me for the day, i noticed there was no charge in it.  i had had it plugged in all night and thought, 'that's wierd...well, the switch on the plug must not have been on' (they have this smart thing here, where each outlet has a switch attached to it which actually helps save energy from constantly flowing to an unused plug....america!??  are you listening?)  

so, i just grabbed my charger and headed out, thinking i'll charge it when i get to my friend's house.  when i get there, i plug it in, and ....nothing.  at this point i'm like, 'ah screw...the connection must not be working'  i try a few different plugs....nothing.  grrrrrr, i think.  

and then i look down at the charger cord....and it is in two completely different pieces.

that little shit cat went to town on my charger cord while i was asleep and chewed right through it!  it actually made me laugh, but now....i haven't had time to go and get a new charger for my london mobile and for the last, almost week, i have been without a phone.

and i have to be honest....it has been kind of amazing.  

for starters, i haven't done that really annoying thing that i try not to do, of checking it all the time, while i am with people, or by myself.   i haven't looked for voicemails, i haven't just made a phone call that i don't REALLY need to make, just because i can.  i haven't texted (i don't text in the us, but i text here because my london phone is from 1978 and doesn't have email on it) i haven't had to excuse myself to take calls, or really.....be distracted at all by that little annoying (and necessary) machine.  

then i thought back to the time when none of us had them, and i wondered....could we all get by?  is this convenience REALLY necessary?  i mean, for cases of emergency, people always argue the importance of cel/mobile phones, but obviously there were emergencies in 1978, and no one had a phone permanently attached to their ear then....we got along just fine.  

it got me thinking....maybe i should try it.  maybe i should try to go without my cel phone when i get home.  maybe just for a month.  just for a 'communication break.'  just to see what changes, what i notice, what i engage in (or disengage from) i don't know.  just something i'm thinking about.

it will probably drive me totally crazy and i won't last a day, but....it's been an interesting little experiment i have been forced into....

by a funny little tubby kitty. 

thanks misa...or meesa....or whatever your name is.

peace

g

(ps. that is not the cat or my phone in the picture....but cute, no?)

RECENT FINDINGS

1. MOVIES: tamara drewe & made in dagenham
2. CAT: this grey one right here
3. LIFE: mine in london
4. HEROS: marathon team for BroadwayImpact

5. BEER: san miguel

6. SNACK: crisps!!!!!

7. PUB: the regent in kensal green

8. SONG: the new one i just wrote yesterday....holy sh*t you're gonna flip

9. SALVATION: zantac 150 before bed

10. NEED: sleep

peace

g 

LONDON MUSINGS

so i'm back in london town.  it truly feels so good. man i just love this place.  have you ever been here?  if you haven't, you have to come.  seriously.  i think a lot of people make a mistake of treating london like a stopping point on the way to other european cities, but there is just so much culture and history and beauty to get lost in right here, that ...well....just come and see for yourself.

i've been walking around in a sort of creative bubble too.  something so nice about not having a show to take my attention or time (or joint fluid) and just sit in whatever space i'm in, and see what comes up.  sometimes....it's just stillness.  sometime it's fear.  but most times, it's an energy that makes me shake my arms.

i used to do this before my swimming races as a kid and, i don't know why, but it immediately invigorates me.  i just walk around, and shake 'em.  i do.  i look like a total crazy person, but i don't care.  people sometimes ask me, 'are you cold' because it looks like a shivering.  and i just reply, 'no, i'm just weird.  peaceout'

well, i'm wandering around london, shaking away.  all the while, i'm in contact with my kick ass manager patrick, who is rocking my world, putting together a lot of amazing surprises for you all in the coming months.  thinking of lyrics, humming new tunes, dreaming about life and the witnessing of deeper, truer things.  it is all new and old and mine and ours.

the flat that i'm staying in smells of rose.  the furnishings are shabby chic and incredibly beautiful.  the cat that lives here is like a dog.  the seats on the tube are carpeted.  i need to buy soap.  i have two scabs on my left hand and i don't know how they got there.  i finally found a good mexican restaurant in london.  i switched to deodorant only, but i can't tell if i smell.  life is funny.  i think i like it today.

peace

g

CHILLIN

back to north carolina.  having the best time home with mom and dad.  i'm lucky they let me come down to crash with the pig for a while.  haven't had this much quality time with them in a long time.  grateful for that.

today's a lazy day. going through boxes, getting ready for the next big move.  heading to london soon.

it's a grey day outside.  perfect sunday weather.  all i want to do is sleep.  and watch bad tv.  titanic was on television today.  i watched a bit of it.  some things are better left in my memory.  it was good and all, but...in reflection today, over my grape nuts and banana, i thought to myself....REALLY?  THIS was the biggest movie of all time before those blue people showed up?  REALLY?

but a perfect movie for a grey lazy chill day like today.

who doesn't love a webber grill?

peace

g

MINN, MN

so apparently, this spoon and this cherry are here.  somewhere.  in minneapolis.  i am only here for two days, so i doubt i will see said cherry and said spoon, but just to know they are out there....somewhere....thrills me beyond belief.  go minneapolis.

i am here for a concert tonight to help raise money for the democratic candidate for governor, mark dayton. my friend jake reitan (who is a kick ass human rights fighter and a total inspiration-if you haven't seen FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO, see it...he and his family are a beautiful part of that documentary) but jake called me a while back and asked if i would be willing to come out to minneapolis to lend my voice (literally) to help the cause.  i watched a couple videos, let jake school me on what is up in this great state, and i said, 'i'm there,'

in case you didn't know, the republican opponent is name tom emmer and he is about as anti-equality as you can get in this modern age.  like many people out there with their 'love the sinner hate the sin' mentality, he looks pretty wholesome and pretty 'normal.'  most are, aren't they?  but when it comes right down to brass tacks (i gotta use that more often...brass tacks....that's a good'un) he's about dividing some of us into that ever convenient 'second class' category and that ain't it kid, THAT AIN'T IT KID!

so i'm here, and we are gonna raise a little money to help with sir dayton's campaign and push for the governor seat, BECAUSE: he is the first gubernatorial candidate to ever publicly support marriage equality in MN!  and jake tells me that things here are looking totally possible IF DAYTON BECOMES GOVERNOR.  if emmer gets in....you better believe that will be d.o.a.

please let your friends and family in MN know, get talking, spread the word, twitter, facebook, whatever you can do to get out the vote and help make this historic moment to happen in MINNESOTA!!

see you soon

peace

g

HELLO AGAIN

to you, reading this.  hello. 

we may have never met, you may not care what i have to say, well…maybe if you are reading, you are curious. 

well, hello. 

i’m starting up my blog again.  i am hoping to open up my currently pea-sized imagination and communication abilities into something that sets me freeeeeeeee.  to write lyrics, poems, explore ideas, rant about a great movie, talk of a current trend i see in the world, really….just to blab. 

i am excited to see where this takes me.  us.  me.  i want to create this year.  as the fall approaches and i see the colors starting to change in the north carolina mountains, i want different colors within me.  okay.  that was douchey. 

this is going to be fun!

peace

g