2:24 a.m. // 20 October 2003

Dwayne and I did a lot of clapping today, and a lot of feeling sorry for entertainers with small audiences.

first Nazli called at 11:30 a.m. and woke us up because she had free tickets to the circus. It was a small, no-animal, artsy-kinda circus. It was sad, at first, how few people there were -- I felt like I do at Mable's when there are like four people to see the band (which foreshadowed that night's show). But it was fun. Nazli and I kept gasping and grabbing onto Dwayne during the acts that involved people dangling way up high, often without safety harnesses. The clown picked Nazli for some tomfoolery in the ring. (This was her FIRST circus, ever.) And we rode the inflatable Titanic-shaped two- or three-story slide.

Then we ate at Bagheri's. Then Dwayne and I got in the car and trucked it on down to 1919 to see the Cattle Assassins (eh, vox too quiet), Lazy Magnet (awesome!) and Usaisamonster (more awesome!). 1919 brings together weird convergences of different sorts of people. I don't just mean the hippies and the punks. I mean also the guy with the do-rag and the Spanish rock shirt on. I mean also the older guy who strolled out munching on a huge bag of Fiesta brand corn puffs. I mean especially the slightly older redneck-looking guy in a camo trucker's hat who walked in on Usaisamonster's set and came and stood right up front, and looked at girls' tattoos, and when the guitarist's string broke, offered him a pick saying loudly, "I'm a guitarist too, man. I'm a guitarist too."

Then Dwayne and I drovedrovedrove back to Denton to put on a show at ol' Mable's. Local bands were promised and never showed up. Instead a two-piece called One Way from Tel Aviv played, followed by rock'n'rollers from Oklahomer Forty Minutes of Hell. Really no one showed up tonight -- well, like five people came, but not until later. I had to run the door and the absence of people made me pissed off and sad and depressed. Especially since I wanted to go see Lightning Bolt at rgrs. It was better when we gave up on running the door and I stood up front for 40 Minutes' set. They cheered me up and I saw that everyone was having a good time.They wanted to set up a donation jar for the Rvrbt Gmblrs, but since NO ONE was there we only collected $4 -- AND it was from the guy who wanted to do the donation jar in the first place.

d. and I are getting tired of running shows. Or rather, we're tired of running shows where no one shows up to see the bands. maybe it's time to give up the ghost.

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