Dammit Damian is:
*A Concert Promoter in Napa Valley & Sonoma County & MUSIC VENUE VETERAN of 25+ years!
*a Freelance music / pop culture writer
*The Host of Mostly Harmless Podcast
* an enigma wrapped in a riddle, wrapped up in a piece of bacon.
Article for the Napa Valley Register about the North Bay Bands To Watch Concert at Jam Cellars Ballroom. We chat with and cover the three bands playing the concert, and speak of why this concert is important to the Napa Music Community.
Bands Featured include: Mama Said, Weekend Youth & Magenta Ray.
A Short story about learning patience and impulse control as a young adult, and how not having those skills can change your world view forever.
A Profile piece on the bandleader of Shannon and The Clams, Shannon Shaw! The piece is about her hometown roots in Napa and how she takes those pieces with her all over the world.
Late night musings from Facebook about Station Eleven, a limited series on HBO MAX. It was based on the novel of the same name by Emily St. John Mandel. Also notes about throwing a party for Danielle Deadwyler’s THE PIANO LESSON.
It’s been almost two weeks since I got home from the Mill Valley Film Festival! My brain finally feels as normal as it’s going to feel, and I can finally function again. Working 12 days in a row, 12-15 hour days and some of it in extreme heat really kicked my ass, but I also lost 10lbs. This was my second full MVFF, having only been able to work 3 or 4 days last year. Once again, I felt like it was life changing in ways I didn’t expect. I worked hard to put myself out there more as well, and I left the festival feeling even more fulfilled than I had in a long time. I met some amazing people and made some amazing connections. My batteries are recharged and I’m ready to start working once again on taking over the world.
Writing all this out helps me plan for the future, and who knows… one of you might see something on here you want to help with, or maybe you’ll come across something you think is right for me!
This is a Facebook post from June 4th, 2020. This was written during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. I wrote a lot on Facebook during that time, I like a lot of what was written here and wanted to save it here for posterity as Facebook slowly smothers the life out of it’s platform. -Damian June 2024 I can’t sleep. Who can these days, amiright? I told the lady I was going to stay up and read, and sure…I did a little of that, but mostly I sat in the chair and thought about the future. I felt good about those thoughts, but then I sat down here and started reading Facebook and instantly regretted feeling good. Because, let’s face it. We’re all doomed aren’t we? I just finished the book Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins. It was a gift from the lady, her favorite book. She was irritated that I didn’t read it right after Christmas, when she gave it to me. But books have a life and a mind of their own. They come to you when you least expect them, and when they open up to you…. When they truly open up to you… it’s magic. This book came to me and opened up at the right place and time. Jitterbug Perfume is about an ancient king who finds his first white hair in his beard. It’s decreed by the law of his land that he is to die of “old age.” Old Alobar isn’t ready to die and decides to run from death. He continues to run from death and somehow discovers the secrets to an everlasting life. The secrets are wonderful, but lonely. Towards the end of the book, I don’t think I’m spoiling this for anyone, but a random black character is murdered by police in New Orleans and there are violent protests and vigils for this character. But it’s a book about living forever and does this character really die? They don’t talk about him too much in the book. It’s a white book and made for liberal white people, but it has been on my mind for the last few days. Reading the chapters about this character’s death, while simultaneously watching the news was…. I don’t have the words for those feelings. Incredible is not a large enough word. His character was just a token. Created by a white man to die after a few humble sentences or paragraphs. I’m not a smart man. I’ve never been good at looking at the metaphors in novels. Maybe his death was represented in that way on purpose, and it’s the times we are living in that makes me evaluate what that character means. ya know? But that’s not what sticks with me about the book. The book is about how Alobar decides to change his world. He does so by breaking the chains of his oppressors, which are DEATH and the rules. It’s an interesting and fun book and I can’t wait to read more of Tom Robbins. But I keep thinking about how the book says Alobar learns to become immortal because he shirks his role in the greater scheme of life and rebirth. He decides not to be a part of the SYSTEM, but to be an individual. AN INDIVIDUAL. That’s his first step to immortality. Becoming an individual. But isn’t that the problem we have in AMERICA right now? Isn’t’ that the virus we are spreading to the whole world? ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME ME.instead of….WE WE WE WE WE WE WE WE WE WE. They’re the same letters. Just upside down. No longer do we live in the country of “We the People…” We live in a country of “ME!!!!!! The People!!!!”We’re a country of people who want what’s best for US, but when we say us… we mean… “Me. ME! MEEEEEE!!!!!!!” Me the people. Me the People. Me the People. Me the People. Look, I know I’m telling almost all of you reading everything you already know. But we’ve been living “Me the people” our entire lives and it’s not really working is it? The rich get richer, and the poor keep dying when they don’t have too. Who cares who can live forever, if the masses are dying in our streets. I see the “All lives Matter” posts and comments, and hell, I thought the same thing at first. All lives do matter, but WHY IS MY LIFE WORTH MORE THAN OTHERS? WHY?!?! I struggled with these ideas when my sister died some ten/eleven years ago. Why her and not me? Why George Floyd and not me? Why? Why? Why? Why? What is a life worth? How much? How many tears? I wonder how many people have seen a dead body. I wonder how many people have watched a person die in-front of their own eyes. How would that change their world? When I think of the “ALL LIVES MATTER!!!!” People I’ve been thinking of Jitterbug Perfume and the individualism it either taught or warned against. These are ignorant people, not bad people. Just fucking ignorant. They are just as much a product of the system as the dead black men laying in our streets. It’s been hammered into our collective heads since birth that we should be looking out for number one. You know why? Because communism is EVIL. Caring for other people is EVIL. I just know that we can not keep looking at the world and think that we belong as individuals. We have to start looking at the world from a place of WE. Or, I dunno…. Here’s another half brained metaphor: The earth is a symbiotic organism. We have to work together, or cancer seeps into those cells and destroys it. Each of us carry that cancer inside us. So when we do not work to form a more cohesive unit, we die and we destroy others. And WE! AMERICANS! are doing it every day. Dying.
In 2023, I was invited to be the officiant of my dear old friends, Sean and Alee’s wedding. It was the invitation of a lifetime and I was honored to be the one to bring their lives together. Sean and I both were tearful in the moment, while Alee was ever the dude who made fun of us for being a “bunch of crybabies.” I share this here today for posterity, misspellings and all. Below is the Officiant’s speech (or whatever it’s called). ***YOU MAY BE SEATED.***** Dearly Beloved We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of Sean and Alee! So many of us have traveled great distances to be here for this joyous celebration. There is nowhere else we would rather be than right here right now, celebrating this NEU family. Pun intended. Hold for chuckles. The love in this venue is powerful! Can you feel it? So many friends. family. both old, new and those friendships yet to be discovered. Of course Friendship is the cornerstone of any great relationship and that’s where today’s journey begins. Sean and Alee began their life first as friends. They met at College and became roommates. They lived together in a large house, each working towards their futures. Both of them were unaware that their futures were destined to be together. Sean and Alee would stay friends after college. They would go on to start their individual lives, but they stayed close. They were there for each other through thick and thin, growing slowly towards becoming the best friends they were always meant to be. Weddings are intended to be quiet affairs, but if we might break decorum real quick. Can we get some noise from those of us who knew long before they did that these two both were meant to be together? It was so obvious wasn’t it? Obvious to everyone but them! Every story I’d hear, the nicknames or inside jokes from these two said it all… These two were meant for each other. But isn’t that how the greatest relationships are formed? Time. Growth. Dedication. Love. All those qualities existed long before they found their romance. It was those years of friendship that they built the foundation of this love and their future life. Sean works in Security and in the days before I met alee, I would joke, “I wonder what it would take to get that Top Secret clearance to Sean’s heart?” I stopped joking the moment I met Alee. Immediately, I knew she was the key to his heart. They are each other’s Yin and Yang. They bring each other a sense of Balance. Who else experienced the absolute joy when they revealed that they had finally taken that obvious leap into romance? And it was in those early days of this adventure that Sean and Alee invited my love and I on a double date at the Botanical Gardens. We watched as these two danced around each other. Still so nervous of the relationship that was blossoming. These two had loved each other for so long, but what did it mean now? It was in those tender moments in the gardens.. watching as the two of them held hands.. watching them gently explored what this next chapter of their relationship would become… I knew these two would GO ALL THE WAY. Their love grew to the true place it was always meant to grow. Today we are here in celebration of what they have discovered since that afternoon in the gardens. The love in this room is powerful. Look around the room and You can see the love and joy that these two represent, reflected in each of your faces. Not just our love of Sean and Alee, but the love we have for each other. With this love in our hearts, we are helping to build the bond that will carry these two forward into their futures. That love is worth more than any of the wrapped boxes we brought with us today. Those are the real gifts that we bring to this couple by being here today in this joyous celebration. As we continue this ceremony, think of your love of Sean and Alee. Think of your favorite moments you may have of them and hold that love close in your hearts as we welcome these two to their next chapter and adventures unknown. OFF MIC: Shall we begin? Are you two ready? Marriage is a supreme sharing, perhaps the greatest and most challenging adventure in life. It is the joyful uniting of two individuals whose care and affection and understanding have flowered into a deep and powerful love. Those who take its vows have their lives blended together into one, as the waters of two rivers are joined when they come together to form an even greater one. The bride and groom have prepared their own vows: —- Alee: Do you take this man for your lawful wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this & day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health as long as you both shall live? Sean: Do you take this woman for your lawful wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health as long as you both shall live? You may kiss the bride! Ladies and Gentlemen.. I present to you… Sean And ALEE NEU!!!
This is a review I wrote about the film, A WRINKLE IN TIME, directed by Ava Duvernay that was posted on Facebook on March 15th, 2018. I wanted to post it here to keep for posterity. Thanks to MoviePass, I went and checked out A Wrinkle In Time tonight at the movies. The books were my favorites as a young boy. I remember actually getting detention in the 7th grade for getting caught reading one of them in Science class, a class I tried to purposely fail for some 7th Grade reason. Watching the movie, I remembered being that awkward shy fat kid who didn’t really have any friends, who was picked on and beat up in school every day. Watching this movie, I remembered that boy and tapped into him and I could see what this movie was reaching for and I think that’s why it held so much over me. I remembered getting the shit kicked out of me for wearing Rustlers or having a lunch box instead of a brown paper bag… I remember what it was like to be an outsider, yearning for something more and I remembered what brought me to those books in the first place. Because of my love of the source material, I didn’t hate the movie. I actually rather enjoyed it for the most part. The end was clunky and I felt like somewhere down the road they took a machete to the source materials and cut massive amounts of the heart and story from the books. I like some of the ideas of what they have left, and some of the new things they made up, but It felt like they cut oh so much meat off the bone that all you were left with was the scraps of a much better meal and I know what that meal tastes like so I can imagine it why I’m eating the scraps of how good it could have been and I think I just answered why I liked it. What I remember from the books, which is a little bit foggy. I own them, but probably have not read the first on in about 8 years… The original novel is about the inter connectivity between ourselves and the universe. How we and the Universe and everything in it are all a part of each other. These children are on a mission to save their missing father and save the universe. The book had a message that was much more about how only the power of LOVE could defeat the darkness that is advancing on our universe. Whereas in the newest film, it’s lessons are to LOVE YOURSELF and find your strength from within to defeat the darkness. I like the idea and I like the lessons of that idea, but by making that the core concept of the film, it took away a lot from other ideas from the book left in the film. So characters like Calvin had much less to do in the new film and much less a role to play in the new story than the old. PLUS WHERE WERE THE BROTHERS? You left in boring old Calvin, but got rid of the brothers?!?!? What the hell. The bad guy at the end of the universe. The darkness coming to over take us all was much more scarier in the book. Oh and Charles Wallace is a psychic child who knows things and is “creepy” and the kid who played him in the film was OKAY, but more annoying and less Creepy. I kept wanting, this character, which is suppose to be one of the most impressive minds in the universe to be a little more otherworldly like he is in the books. I kept thinking I wanted him to be more GAGE from Pet Semetery. haha Also, and why make this extraordinary mind adopted in the film?! In the book he’s the son of two of the most brilliant minds on earth, so it makes sense he’s so…. Otherworldly, but in the book he’s just a psychic adopted kid. But seriously, we felt no menace at the end of the film towards this Ultimate big bad…. So it felt flat. Okay. I’m nitpicking and I’m probably still buzzing off that edible… OH AND WHY DID THEY CHANGE THE CREATURE MRS WHATSIT CHANGED INTO FROM THE CENTAR THAT WAS ON EVERY COVER OF EVERY BOOK THE THE LEAF CREATURE!?!?! What the hell! But still. With all that said, I enjoyed the film. I think it will be great for young children and I really hope it opens them up to the book series. The books gave me strength and hopefully it will continue to do so for generations. Adults who are not fond of the source materials… Stay away. I don’t think there will be much for you here beyond some cool looking popcorn scenes. And the movie right now has an IMDB score of 4.2, but I would give this something like a 6.2. Not horrible and worth to watch on Netflix on a dark and stormy night…. (As I get down here to the end of this I realize I’m probably definitely still buzzing on this edible and probably shouldn’t post this. Did I even say anything worth a damn at all? Oh well. I spent all this time on it, so why let it go to waste.)
A favorite Facebook post from February 6, 2016: I really wish there were exit interviews for relationships. You start each relationship with a hundred questions, why not end them with a couple? Most end in silence. How great would it be to hear, “There was someone who was just a little better than you,” “I’m not ready for anything too serious,” “That one time you came over to my apartment you smelt like corn chips.” You know, anything to help you be a better partner in the next relationship. I’m going to go take a shower and scrub this handsome body down.
I just wanted to put this out there for those who struggle in silence, so that those can know they are not alone and if this buffoon here can work to make himself a better person, so can you.
