CHRIS WALKER VS. A NIGHT IN MOLTRASIO

There was a girl, about my age, four or five floors up, sitting in a windowsill, nonchalantly reading a book. The visual was remarkable. It spoke to the European way of life I love, the romanticism that makes me want to learn a foreign language, leave America, and disappear into a new city. I wanted to take a photograph but didn’t. I didn’t think I could capture the beauty or the feeling in a photograph; it was better left as is.

Yesterday was my birthday. We spent most of it on trains, drinking wine and eating salami sandwiches en route to Moltrasio, Italy. I can think of worse ways to spend one’s birthday. Aside from relaxing, drinking, and eating, the trek allowed me time to compose worthwhile questions for bands in the upcoming installment of Bands and Booze. I’m happy with how they turned out and hopefully the end result will be even better than the first run. Looks like I’ve pegged down a couple bands I’ve been after for a while so things are looking good.

I’m drunk and ready to put on my headphones, listen to the new Grizzly Bear album, Yellow House, and fall asleep with the windows open, the cool breeze rushing in. Enjoy the pictures.

CHRIS WALKER VS. COINSTAR

I’m currently sitting in the Red Carpet Room of the San Francisco airport, drinking a Bloody Mary, waiting to board an airplane to Frankfurt, Germany. No, there will not be a repeat of my voyage from Frankfurt, Germany – if you read that story. I’m behaving myself…and don’t have any drink tickets.

The Man Games story is coming. Granted my battery doesn’t die I’ll have plenty of time on the eleven hour flight to write it. Also, Bands and Booze is definitely having an encore; I might just make this an on-going project. I’m currently recruiting bands and the response has been amazingly good, just like last time. I’m going for a more eclectic array of groups this time. To give you an idea some of the bands I’ve asked are As I Lay Dying, Secret Lives of the Freemasons, and Annuals, among a lot of other surprise guests. On top of that I’ve been asking comedians to get involved in the mix and although their response hasn’t been overwhelmingly good I’ve already conducted one interview that is fucking awesome. I can’t wait to share it with you.

Finally, I have something really cool to tell you about: save your change, kids. Put it in a jar, cup, what-the-fuck-ever. Save your change and then, when you feel you have enough, go to the grocery store and put it into that CoinStar machine. You’re probably thinking, “Chris, everyone knows how to do that, you’re a fucking idiot.” But you probably don’t know about this: if you turn your change into a gift certificate CoinStar doesn’t charge a service fee. More importantly, you can turn your change into an iTunes gift certificate. I just did it yesterday and now I’ve got $52.50 worth of iTunes money. I feel like a kid in a candy store.

So far I’ve purchased the Sorry for the Delay EP by Grizzly Bear, David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Good shit.

Anyway, I’ve got to catch a plane so talk to you later.