so, i had my follow-up today on the testicle removal procedure (orchidectomy)  and they claim they're following through with it. i'll need to wait for a phone call. but, you know that feeling you get when somebody says they'll call and you know they don't actually intend to? i dunno. these are doctors, you'd think they'd be forthright; i could be being paranoid. but, i'm going to have to stay on their ass about it.

i think what i'm waiting for is a call back to schedule an appointment for the surgery in toronto.

speaking of which, i finished my monthly cleaning routine on wednesday morning and, after a sleep, have spent the last roughly 24 hours clearing my event list of toronto concerts for july, as i am more than tentatively planning to go at the end of the month and to make a weekend out of it: i'll go down on a friday, serve in toronto and then file on the monday morning in london. i will check each of these discarded listings out as i'm working through the court documents, but i need to pare the list down to make it actually usable. so, i've been working backwards, and i think i'll be done soon.

i am thoroughly convinced that the oiprd review has been shelved, and that's fine, we'll let the judge deal with that. she won't be happy about it, trust me.

if there was a band playing somewhere tonight, i'd probably want to check it out. but, all i'm seeing are independence day drinking parties, and that's something i'd actually rather avoid. i mean, even if i was actually an american, i'd still want to avoid that. not my scene. sorry.

so, i'll be in tonight and potentially for the weekend - i'm not sure yet. but, the next task will be to get the event list into more of a normal looking shape for the rest of july.

and, what is my takeaway on this? i'm supposed to be trying to figure out where the fun went in this town. my conclusion is that there are still rock shows happening, but that "art rock" as a concept is mostly dead here. i like punk as a political vehicle, but i've never wanted to listen to the kind of barebones rock music that seems to dominate the detroit scene; i'd mostly argue it's pretty boring. the rock music that is organic to this place is midwestern and lower class both in identity and in attitude; it treats sophistication with suspicion and contempt, which was always the worst instincts in the punk scene. but, detroit remains a sprawling metropolis, and it's just a question of finding where the more meaningful outlet of expression lies. i think i'm better off looking in the noise, electronic and experimental scenes for a bit. and, i'm not sure the kind of rock music that i like is going to make much of a comeback, in the long run, although i'll have to keep looking for it. if it does, it won't happen here, and it might even skip here on tour.

so, i hit a "botanical fortress" show last weekend, which was a mix of post-rock, experimental, idm and noise acts. this show lasted late, so i got to the techno party late; it was also kind of lacklustre. there were some moderately interesting early rock shows, and an early trip-hop show, but i missed all of them. i was just late....but i'm usually late....so it wasn't the best night, but i insist it was the best path. i even sort of lost track of time, a little, as i had another trans person talking my head off all night.

the weekend before that, i found myself checking out a keyboard prog act on friday, an ambient show in the park on saturday afternoon, a not-so-doomy rock band called earth, a cyberpunk night and a couple of overnight techno parties.

i saw a noise show the weekend before that. and, if i head out this weekend, it's likely to be to shows of this sort; this is what is happening here right now that is of some actual interest to me, and where you're likely to find me in the short run.

that said, you'll also see me continue to check out touring bands, and these will mostly be more in the 90s rock tradition that i'm most comfortable in.

so, yes, we're in a down point, but it may be structural, and the creative music scene may be permanently shifting away from rock music and towards electronic music. and, how many times have you heard that? so, we'll see how that works out, but it's what i see in front of me just right now.

and, yes, i would be happy to see a more substantive creative/electronic/noise scene open up here. it's what i actually do, remember.