in the past twenty-four hours

I've interviewed writer/director/actor John Sayles. twice. once in-person (with his longtime partner and producer (and actress) Maggie Renzi - yeah, I know Return of the Secaucus 7, but I thought she was great in her smaller Matewan role as an Italian immigrant) and once by phone (because we had a technical fu-fu on the in-person; I try to tell myself that these things happen). written not one but two Sayles pieces (after a decent amount of transcribing). and this snafu, workload delayed my already last-minute research cram session on Stephin Merritt of Magnetic Fields (and three other bands: The 6ths, Future Bible Heroes and The Gothic Archies) who I interviewed around lunchtime this afternoon (still within that 48 hours).

and, and, and . . .
I submitted my year end picks to idolator.com as well as the Village Voice's Pazz & Jop poll (actual picks to be revealed at a later date).

and then there was work and shopping and lack of sleep and packing on the horizon.
but this time tomorrow I'll be in Alabama. and hopefully a little more relaxed.

you can almost imagine my Sayles overload in the last movie I've ever seen section.
and ditto on the last album with Magnetic Fields (though the last album I listened to straight through was Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream on the way home from Thursday's day job).

by the by, Sayles' 16th and latest movie, Honeydripper, is set and filmed in Alabama, stars Danny Glover and will see a nationwide release in February.
(and Maggie and John both seem to be genuinely nice people. score one for the good guys)

and Magnetic Fields' next disc, Distortion, will be released on January 15th (it's pretty damn good, too. my pick cut, thus far, would be "Drive On, Driver.").
(and Mr. Merritt is nowhere near the "rude" and "nasty" grouch (at least he wasn't with me) that he has almost unanimously been portrayed as. I actually thought our visit was rather pleasant, interesting)

finally, I meant to write something a few days ago about Dan Fogelberg's premature passing last Sunday.
I hadn't listened to Fogelberg in years. likely decades. but he got a lot of play (the early albums) my first couple of years in college. the women in my dorm area loved them some Dan Fogelberg. and hey, if it makes 'em happy, you know. was certainly in no position to be looking for conflict with young female types.
which is not to say that I didn't listen to him a bit myself.
but perhaps unsurprisingly, Fogelberg's music, even the early stuff (not unlike the fiction of John Kennedy Toole and Kurt Vonnegut), doesn't age all that well.
I went back, did some research, and after seeing most acclaim for Fogelberg's first, Home Free, purchased same. but outside a couple of LA (even though Fogelberg was from Peoria, IL) alt-country Eagles predecessors (most notably, and possibly only, "More Than Ever" and "Anyway I Love You"), the rest is pretty much unlistenable.
still, a death that came much too soon.

merry merry and happy happy ya'll.