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Hey everybody, it’s summer! Here’re a few pics

Benjamin Parzybok — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 23:09:51 +0000

We’re mid-way through Summer. These damn things go so fast. The blueberries in the yard are half-gone. The raspberries are placing the peas into thorny bondage. The kids are popsicle-juice-stuck to the screen door, which is why I have a few spare moments.

Here are a few random pics from adventures so far (click them to make bigger). What’s your Summer look like?

My brother Ezra, standing in a lake in Vermont.

Naming plants is totally going to be my next job.

For my money, Moment of Truth looked suspiciously like Computer.

Self portrait. (procrastinating an edit, I believe)

Truck being eaten, San Juan Island.

Tiny crabs, San Juan Island

Windmills in the Columbia Gorge

Beehive, BZ Corner, Washington

A cat named Ned. He’s awesome. And named after my friend Ned, also awesome.

Vermont. So pretty

Hey! We have a post office box. Did I mention this already? So far, Laura and I mostly use it to place strange little objects for each other…since there’s not much mail yet. Hey, I know, you could put something in there!

Ben Parzybok or Laura Moulton

PO Box 13642,

Portland, OR 97213

The inside of our Post Office Box.

This city looks familiar.

That’s all for now!

Wanted: 3G internet card thingy for live performance

Benjamin Parzybok — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:27:50 +0000

I’m just going to throw this out to the cosmos:

I have an event up at the Hugo House in Seattle in late November, and I want the Internet there on stage with me. It’ll play a key part in a devilish plan I’m brewing up.

I’ve talked to H.H. and it’s unlikely they can supply it. My next best bet, I believe (suggestions welcome!) is to get a 3G USB or ExpressCard for my Macbook Pro.

Do you have one I could borrow? Do you know where I could borrow or rent one?

I’d be happy to trade for something I have ( a signed book? money? a few chickens?).

If you have another suggestion, or know something about the Hugo House Theater that I don’t, I’d love to hear it.

Thanks!

Somebody really dislikes pay parking

Benjamin Parzybok — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 04:57:52 +0000

Love how this shot turned out – took it in downtown Portland.

Bowerbirds Beth And Phil release Upper Air

Benjamin Parzybok — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:53:21 +0000

A few years ago a handsome, charming young couple from North Carolina answered a craigslist ad we posted for a house sitter – something about: “must love chickens and cats, like to read, etc”. We were on an east coast family tour and decided to trust the internets to take care of our house.

Theirs was one of the many responses to the craigslist ad, but they answered most charmingly and explained they were going to play around in Portland for a few weeks and maybe play a gig or two, and yes, they loved chickens.

Beth and Phil turned out to be The Bowerbirds – and they’ve since become one of my favorite bands, as well as the favorite band of many others, I imagine, as they’ve done quite well for themselves.

Last I’d heard they were building a log cabin – here’s Beth flexing her impressive, accordion-playing muscles:

And Yesterday they released a new album: Upper Air

Nice work!

See The Bowerbirds here: http://bowerbirds.org or check out their music on iTunes

L Magazine Interview

Benjamin Parzybok — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:59:36 +0000

There’s an interview up at L Magazine that I had a lot of fun doing:
Ben Parzybok’s Best Date Ever

Craig Arnold

Benjamin Parzybok — Sun, 10 May 2009 05:07:32 +0000

ah shit! Craig Arnold, author of Shells and winner of the Yale Younger Poets prize, died. Apparently he fell from a cliff while hiking in Japan (where he’d been teaching for University of Wyoming).

I’ll never forget listening to him read from Shells at Powell’s on Hawthorne. Afterwards, starry-eyed, I asked if he’d consider submitting to Gumball Poetry. He was incredibly gracious and took the poem capsules I jammed into his hands. What a loss.

Here are a couple of links:

Craig Arnold’s Volcano Pilgrim blog

Find Craig Arnold

Craig’s books at Powell’s: Shells, Made Flesh

Farragoblog - a blog remembrance – there are many more of these online.

No name calling week

Benjamin Parzybok — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:14:36 +0000

Two pics I took from the halls of the elementary school I was in last night.

I especially love the “No! Name! Calling! Week!” — can’t we have that as a national holiday?

Also note that at Voice Level zero, students are advised not to eat fish skeletons.

Laura reading at 1000 Words Series

Benjamin Parzybok — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 07:46:05 +0000

Laura will be reading at the 1,000 Words reading series (hosted by Mel Favara) this very Monday. Here’s the release. The website is here – but it’s not updated yet. If you haven’t been to one – it’s a very fun series.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 1,000 WORDS READING: THEFT

7PM sharp, MONDAY, MARCH 2 AT THE MAIDEN, 639 SE MORRISON STREET (503-232-5553)

FREE

ALL-AGES VENUE UNTIL 10; THE READING WILL BE OVER BY 9

PETE KREBS TO FOLLOW

Please join the 1,000 Words Reading Series to witness four great writers—Young Brilliant Upstart Maddie Camp, Bold Fictionista Sara Kolp, impresario, writer, teacher, and all around literary go-to girl Laura Moulton, and stellar Portland poet Wendy Noonan will each read four tiny, 250-word pieces written for the occasion over the past month, based on the theme THEFT and a set of prompts and arbitrary rules provided weekly by series curator Mel Favara. It will be fast and fancy if not furious. Vancouver emo-punk trio We Play Quiet will also play songs based on the writers’ prompts, which is a phenomenon not to be missed, unless you don’t mind missing things that are singularly fantastic.

Elizabeth Gilbert on the origin of creativity at TED

Benjamin Parzybok — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:40:50 +0000

Here’s an incredibly wonderful piece on creativity, the origin of, and more specifically on surviving it, from Elizabeth Gilbert at TED. For those who are not smitten with her by the end, you are stronger than I.

heads to the wall

Benjamin Parzybok — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 23:24:55 +0000

I just love this image:

via This isn’t happiness and Let’s Go Mets

Happy President’s day.

Every time I hear “happy president’s day” I think of a laughing president, playing at the beach maybe, or at a cocktail party, telling jokes and being gay. It’s a nice image.

#22

Benjamin Parzybok — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 05:53:39 +0000

In Seattle at the Warwick

Benjamin Parzybok — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 06:02:51 +0000

and the view is just lovely (click for large-size).