True Blood Work
September 10, 2008
In all of my blustering about politics, I’ve realized that I kind of pulled a Bush recently, when I declared I’d finished writing my 2nd book…
Mission not accomplished on that front. And there will be no time tables for completion, either.
On the plus side, I won’t be blogging about the writing process, because that is boring. I won’t even mention “it” on here until I have a word on whether it’s going to be published. All I can say is that after a summer break from the book, I was very happy to pick it up today and I liked what I read.
Or at least the parts that didn’t, er, suck.
The timing of returning to the bloody book was perfect- today I went to the hospital to get labwork done in anticipation of Thursday’s appointment with Dr. Greg. They drained four small tubes worth of plasma, then I went to a coffee shop to refuel with an iced mocha before reading about vampires.
All in all, a really good day for a thinblood like me.
It’s after 3 a.m., and as the creatures of the night stir outside my home, I am about to add the final point to today’s vampire trifecta: I’m going to watch True Blood on Tivo. It’s the new vampire series by Alan Ball, the creator of Six Feet Under, one of my favorite TV shows… I gotta admit, I’m nervous because the previews looked cheesy. I hope it rocks like American Teen did.
I will report back soon with lab results. And whether or not True Blood tested positive or negative on the Suck-o-meter.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
Check out my memoir, My Pet Virus, and click to read a sample. Video of reviews.
Give a listen to "Sign", one of my songs from Synthetic Division’s Get with the Programs (co-written with Kyle Wiggins):
Get the song here on iTunes! Or watch Synthetic Division discuss Rory Gilmore.
Be sure to visit ShawnandGwenn.com, where you can see clips of our educational work at colleges and universities, as well as media clips from MTV safe sex programming and a Dr. Drew talk show. 2006 video of me and Gwenn, when I was finishing up My Pet Virus.
Haven’t seen a real blog in a day or so? Follow my cellphone micro-blogging at Twitter.com.
Synthetic Division Snubbed at MTV Music Awards
September 8, 2008
Saturday night a synthpop duo played their hearts out in Charlottesville. Then, on Sunday night in Los Angeles, MTV gave all their awards to Britney Spears. What?
No Best Synthpop Duo. No Outstanding Thinblooded Male Vocal. Not even a Video Vanguard Award for this.
Nothing! How many other artists can get up there and tear it up with a bleeding disorder?
Despite the snub to the bleeding disorders community, the weekend could only be considered a success. The rain stopped early in the afternoon on Saturday, and a good amount of people came out to shake their booties even though they saw us last month at the Dawning benefit show. (Cool live shot by Cousin Holly!)
This time, we were at Gravity Lounge, a place that holds fond memories. Gwenn and I had our rehearsal dinner there, and I did a reading at GL last year for the Festival of the Book. But this time? My only purpose at Gravity was to bring the rock.
The show was originally to be headlined by Girlfriend in a Coma, but the Smiths cover band broke up a couple of weeks before the gig… just like the original band! Still, the night was salvaged- Brad Savage from The Corner 106.1 spun 80’s and early 90’s tunes in between two Synthetic Division sets… the highlight of the evening? Watching Gwenn dance to Prince’s “Pussy Control”.
The day or so after a gig, I’m always limping around. Sometimes I’ll take a nasal hit of Stimate, a clotting agent, before a show, because I have so much fun on stage hopping around like an idiot with the proper amount of clotting factor. If Synthetic Division ever toured, I’d have to tone the antics down. But, at one gig a month, I think I can handle the fleeting discomfort.
In a long overdue move, on Saturday night Synthetic Division did a Depeche Mode cover, programmed by JDavyd Williams, who works with Marshall in another C’ville dynamic duo, Tacit Act. If you are on Facebook, check out a video of us performing the Depeche classic from 1981, “Photographic”, recorded by Stephanie DePaolis, who ironically has taken lots of photos at Synthetic Division shows… thanks, Steph!
If you’re not on Facebook, I’ll try to get an embed on the next blog.
Hope everyone else had a picture perfect weekend.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
Check out my memoir, My Pet Virus, and click to read a sample. Video of reviews.
Give a listen to "Sign", one of my songs from Synthetic Division’s Get with the Programs (co-written with Kyle Wiggins):
Get the song here on iTunes!
Be sure to visit ShawnandGwenn.com, where you can see clips of our educational work at colleges and universities, as well as media clips from MTV safe sex programming and a Dr. Drew talk show. 2006 video of me and Gwenn, when I was finishing up My Pet Virus.
Haven’t seen a real blog in a day or so? Follow my cellphone micro-blogging at Twitter.com.
Cool Cats Weigh In On Palin
September 5, 2008
I decided to take a break from writing about politics, but fortunately two brave females have stepped up to the forefront to discuss late-breaking matters regarding Vice Presidential pick Sarah Palin.
You may remember the greatest cat on Earth, pawsitoid River (living with FIV, aka “CRID”(Cat-Related Immune Deficiency)), whom I wrote lovingly about and who is still in foster care in Connecticut looking for a good home. Nudge nudge.
In response to the Palin pick, My Pet Virus’s feline reporter wrote this to me: “Meeeoooowww! She wants to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Way to come up with alternative energy sources! Oh, wait, if your husband works for an oil company, why would you cut into your personal profits to save the planet? People, I have fur… are you kidding me? What’s a cat to do?”
River isn’t the only cool cat weighing in.
Regan Hofmann, fellow Poz blogger, wrote. “The issue is not whether or not abstinence works to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies (it does), but whether or not it’s possible to keep people, particularly teens with raging hormones, from having sex (apparently, we can’t). Bristol is proof-positive of our nation’s failure to realize that abstinence is a farce.” Read the whole blog here.
Regan posted this alleged photo of Palin on her blog. I think it’s a fake, but I’m quite sure that if she and McCain are elected, her annual Vice Presidential Hunting Trip will draw far more interest and enthusiam than the current, hair-triggered Vice Prez.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
Live in or around Charlottesville? Then come see me rock my balls off at Gravity Lounge on Saturday. First set is at 8, second is at 9. Will post video on the blog for out-of-staters next week.
Give a listen to "Sign", one of Synthetic Division’s songs from Get with the Programs (co-written with Kyle Wiggins):
Get the song here on iTunes!
Check out The Hook’s write-up of the show online.
Cousin Holly, Synthetic Division and Family Reunions
September 2, 2008
At the beginning of August, I was honored to entertain my secondish-cousin, Holly, who was in Virginia for our family reunion.See, the six siblings of my late grandmother’s family were serious about staying in touch. And Holly’s grand-or-great grandmother was my grandmother’s sister. I’m terrible with family trees. Anyway, each of the six siblings picked a color many years ago, and every summer the extended families get together.
Holly is a Red Shirt from Kentucky, I’m from the Navy Blue shirt clan based here in Virginia.
Holly is 17, and traveled all the way for Louisville (”Lua-vuh”, as she says). I was lame and skipped out of the reunion this year, but I was there last year and that’s when I got to know Holly. She rocked out for the dreaded Talent Competition of the family reunion, playing either the clarinet/trumpet/sax.
I’m terrible with wind instruments. (”A trumpet!” Holly has corrected me.)
After the dreaded Talent Competition, which I watched from the sidelines, there was the dreaded Family Reunion Auction. Family members make homemade jams, ovenmitts- you name it we make it. Inevitably, feelings are hurt when hours of work are auctioned off at less than wallet-busting prices.
Last year, one of Holly’s relatives bought My Pet Virus at the discounted rate of $3. A signed copy, no less! This slight only occurred because my Mom wasn’t there to insult the family into putting more bids towards the single greatest professional achievement of my lifetime.
After tipping a tray of nachos, I regained my composure and noticed the trumpet player had my book. I complimented her on her outstanding musical abilities. We exchanged MySpace and email addies, and stayed in touch.
I even sent her a Synthetic Division CD, based on her impressive lists of favorite bands on her site. She liked it, so when I got a last-minute show in Charlottesville that coincided with her trip to Virginia, I invited her to come along.
A talented photographer, Holly brought her camera along to document the show and the fun, which involved her meeting our friends in town and a late-night, post-show trip to iHop. “We don’t have one back home!” Holly said, lighting up at the opportunity.
One of the things that bonded me to Holly was the fact that, around her age, I too competed in the dreaded family Talent Competion. It was one of Synthetic Division’s first gigs, taking place at 1 p.m. at Dupont Park in the dead heat of summer in 1992. Armed with a synthesizer, I played an instrumental ditty, backed by layers of preprogrammed drums and synth lines.
The Green shirts, our beloved and most rural branch of the family, didn’t know what hit them.
Aside from the curious sounds, a fair amount of confusion and concern surrounded my fate in ‘92. I pinned so many hopes on making it in music, and the hours I spent listening to Depeche Mode and fiddling with my keyboards provided a safe haven from the doomed visions of AIDS, and what it may have held in store. Regardless of shirt color, I believe that most of the family members thought that that moment would be their only opportunity to see Synthetic Division live.
But that had little to do with Synthetic Division staying alive.
Proof of my confidence that I’d be around for a lot longer dates back to that Talent Competition in 1992. Painfully shy about my music, I agreed to give the family a Synthetic Division, but only under the agreement that I’d never have to participate again if the performance didn’t help secure the Trophy.
I played a couple of instrumental songs, and then the rest of the family came and clapped, playing the fools to the delight of no one. And seeing Dad shirtless in a faux-diaper made me realize what a masterstroke my deal was.
In 1989, Synthetic Division was more about image than actual music. (That’s me on right)
Mom figured that the judging panel would be swayed to reward me for my brave battle with AIDS, and could see the delight in her own mother’s eyes when the trophy came back home to the Navy Blues. What they didn’t figure in is that my music sucked, AIDS or no AIDS. Also, this reunion was a full five years after my diagnosis, and the family was starting to get comfortable with the thought that I’d be around for a while.
“There’s always next year, kid,” as they say.
We lost that year. And I’ve stuck to the terms of the agreement, never participating in Talent outside of judging for the Blues. I like that. And I like the thought that the only time I will attend the family reunion as an adult in diapers won’t be until the year 2060.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
PS… see Synthetic Division in Charlottesville, this Saturday! Two sets, first one at 8 p.m, second at 9 p.m.
Prayers For Rain
September 1, 2008
Last week God was asked for rain- and lots of it- by James Dobson and his cronies at Focus on the Family. The purpose? To rain on Barack Obama’s parade.
Well, Mother Nature bitchslapped the request, and Obama gave his speech as beautiful weather surrounded him, almost in protest to the wishes. Either that or God did listen? He put the requests on a sticky note, got on a serious roll on World of Warcraft, and then scrambled to whip up the storm and get it to Mother Nature in time.
Could procrastination- one of humankind’s most abundant traits- also plague the Big Guy? It could be a coincidence, but if Hurricane Gustav is a belated answer to those silly misguided prayers, then God help us all.
Wait, never mind.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
PS… in all seriousness, I hope that Hurricane Gustav does as little damage as possible.
On Behalf of the Thinbloods…
September 1, 2008
The Republican National Convention is starting today… could politicians- of both blue and red stripes- please cool it with all the talk of breaking glass ceilings? It’s making people with bleeding disorders a bit nervous.
Thanks,
Shawn
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