The Apoka Collective / Meeting Notes
October Monthly Meeting
Updates from last month:
Overhaul of Apoka.net has been completed.
The novels/novellas released for far have been added in their entirety.
Rip Peterson wrote and released the novella, The Hand Job.
Current Projects:
Alan is working on sequel to The Plot of Your Life. No time frame on completion.
The Factoid Club has most of 9th album complete. Only 6 or 7 tracks need vocals added.
TS is also going through recordings made during the Pay by The Hour Motel tour and may release a live album if there is enough usable material found.
Rip began work on his Christmas story, Santa Claus Hates Poor People. He is also in the process of completing President's Day and began plotting a story he is calling The Escalation Plot.
Album Listened To: R.E.M. – Monster (Picked by Alan)
Pizza: Extra Large Philly Cheesesteak Pizza from Milano's (Picked by TS)
Beer: Newcastle (picked by Rip)
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Track One: What's The Frequency Kenneth?
Rip: Jesus. This song reminds me of the eighth grade.
Alan: Why's that?
Rip: Do you remember that guy Mike? The one we went to middle school with.
Alan: Vaguely.
TS: No.
Rip: I was hanging out with him a bit back then. That was around the time that Monster came out. His dad had a black box. I wanted to watch music videos but he wanted to watch softcore porn.
Alan: You didn't want to watch porn?
Rip: Not with other people around. At least not at that point in my life.
TS: Chuckles.
Rip: Anyway, his dad had a foosball table in the basement. We played quite a bit and he always beat me. I hated playing foosball after that. Listening to this album reminds me of how much I hate playing foosball.
TS: You were probably just spinning the rods as fast as you could and didn't pay attention to what Mike was doing.
Rip: That's how I do everything.
Alan: My dad actually took me and TS to see them during the monster tour. Radiohead opened. It was a really good show. The album brings back good memories.
TS: It was a great show. I still miss that orange monster tour t-shirt that I had.
Alan: You did wear it a bit too much.
TS: I mean, there was only like six t-shirts I'd wear regularly.
Rip: But luckily you had like 50 flannels to balance that out.
Alan: The pizza is really good. I didn't expect that I'd like a Philly Cheesesteak one.
Rip: It is better than expected.
TS: I've been wanting a Cheesesteak for a while but the rules say bring pizza. I was hoping it scratches the itch.
Alan: And what made you pick Newcastle for the beverage?
Track Two: Crush With Eyeliner
Rip: Iceman. Uncanny X-Men #395.
Alan: I forgot that you read comics.
Rip: I do.
TS: Thurston Moore plays on this song.
Rip: Who?
Alan: Sonic Youth
**Rip;** oh.
Alan: So how's the album coming along?
TS: It's not. Luckily, I don't have a timeframe.
Alan: That is one of the benefits of being independent.
TS: It is.
Rip: Well , at least you got some sponsorship.
TS: I don't think I could stomach anymore sponsorship.
Rip: Do you have all the lyrics for the album finished or still working on them?
Track Three – King of Comedy
TS: I have most of them done. Just working on cleaning up second verses and trying to find the time and space to record them.
Rip: Well if you need help….
TS: Thanks
Track Four – I Don't Sleep I Dream
Alan: So…The Hand Job?
Rip: Yes.
Alan: It was really interesting. Out there, but interesting
Rip: It was pretty out there.
**TS** (Singing): but you know what I really mean
Track Five - Star 69
Rip: Oh my god! This song reminds me of hanging out at Mike's too. He always had a big container of those cinnamon flavored candy. What are they called? Fireballs? Or is that the liquor?
TS: I think they are called fireballs but I don't know if they still make them.
Rip: I can taste cinnamon now.
Alan: Really?
Rip: Let me check if they do still make them. I'll pick some up if they do.
Alan: No phones!
Rip: it'll be just for a second.
TS: You were the one that made up that rule!
Alan & TS: I'm tired of people always breaking their phone out mid conversation.
Rip: I remember! Jesus. My own rules are coming back to haunt me. That rule was mainly just to stop you from checking Facebook every two minutes
TS: I'm not even on Facebook.
Rip: Fine. I'll leave my phone in my pocket.
Alan: Thank You
TS: Anyway, isn't it weird that this is track five and not six or nine?
Track Six: Strange Currencies
Alan: Do you guys remember that one guy that we went to high school from for like a semester. He used to come with us to the hill to smoke?
Rip: I'll need a bit more info.
TS: That was a long time ago.
Alan: He was trying to impress us in the pretzel line…
TS: Those pretzels were awesome. That's the only thing I remember about high school.
Rip: They were really good.
Alan: We should sneak in and get a couple.
Rip: I think they'd be able to tell we aren't teenagers.
TS: they don't make them anymore anyway. The lunch lady who made them retired years ago and no one else wanted to make them.
Rip: I wonder if the recipe is online?
Alan: You can check after the meeting is over.
Rip: Fine.
Alan: So the guy was only there for a semester. We were in line to get pretzels but they also sold milk there. The guy stole like 10 cartons of milk. He just kept putting them in his backpack while we were ordering pretzels.
Rip: I vaguely remember that but I don't remember the guys name
TS: Oh fuck. We went to the hill. He used his backpack as a seat and broke open a bunch of the milk cartons!
Alan: Ha! He did. I don't know why that popped in my head. Maybe it's cause I had a glass of milk earlier.
TS: Rip, if you do find the recipe for the pretzel, bring me a dozen next meeting
Track Seven – Tongue
Rip: What the fuck is this?
TS: It's a falsetto.
Rip: It's unpleasant
Alan: I'll be back.
Track Eight – Bang And Blame
Alan: I need this. It's usually work, family sleep.
Rip: How are the kids?
Alan: Annoying.
**Rip;** Really?
Alan: No but it's easier just saying that. People usually don't ask follow up questions.
Rip: You're awfully quiet
TS: Just listening to the song.
Rip: Is it bringing back any memories?
TS: Not really.
Rip: Does it make you want to shave your head?
TS: I'm not the one who's balding, Rip.
Rip: Touché.
Alan: I miss drunken taco bell runs
Rip: That feels pretty random.
Alan: It is. I don't drink often so I'm guessing I'm already a bit buzzed but I miss going to Taco Bell when I am hammered.
TS: Oh shit. I loved going to Taco Bell with you back in the day. You'd order like 10 things and only eat like two. I didn't have to order anything and I'd still get full.
Alan: oh god, and it was usually like $15. I wonder how far that would go.
TS: I think you could get like two chalupas and a drink nowadays.
Rip: Taco Bell forgot who they are.
Alan: They really did.
Rip: I wish I would have been able to go the taco bell trips. All I got was the cow thing.
Track Nine – I Took Your Name
TS: that was your fault though! You spent a whole summer talking about cows.
Rip: It wasn't the whole summer.
Alan: It was. After you found out you could rent a cow for $150, Every time we went somewhere, you would try to collect donations and find out how much people were willing to spend to do stuff with the cow.
Rip: That sounds grosser than it actually was. If I remember correctly I would ask three questions.
Alan: Yes and you asked like 100 people. We got kicked out of that party.
Rip: The questions weren't bad though. I asked how much they'd be willing to pay to ride the cow, how much to milk it, how much to feed it a hamburger and then how much they'd be willing to pay to slap a cow in the face with a steak. All normal questions.
TS: And Alan was pissed at you for a while because you ruined his chances with Cindy.
Rip: And he should be thanking me for that.
TS: And then when we saw that giant cow statue in the Kroger parking lot, you just had to stop.
Rip: Bessie!
Alan: Oh god.
Rip: Listen, it was fun. It would have been. You were the dumb one who decided to climb up onto its head. All I did was pretend to suck the udder.
TS: I still can't believe you fell off that cow.
Rip: He bounced after hitting the pavement.
TS: And then you wanted to leave him
Rip: We were 20 and drunk. I didn't want to get in trouble.
Track Ten – Let Me In
Track Eleven – Circus Envy
Alan: So are we actually going to do this once a month? We were supposed to have a monthly breakfast starting two years ago but that only happened once..
TS: I forgot about that.
Alan: You both owe me a breakfast.
Rip: I think I prefer the pizza, beer and music. Going to breakfast seems like an old lady thing to do.
TS: I'm down for either but night works better for me.
Alan: I guess I'll never get those breakfasts.
Rip: probably not. But you'll get pizza and beer. And when it's TS's turn, some weird indie shit.
TS: Probably. But you'll probably bring Burt Bacharach on your months to choose.
Rip: Tom Jones, probably. But you'll be singing along..
TS: I doubt it.
Rip: no one can resist What's New pussycat.
Alan: Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Oh
Rip: Exactly
Track Twelve – You
Alan: so is one pizza and one six pack enough?
TS: it's just the three of us. Maybe bread sticks?
Alan: I kind of feel like having more beer.
Rip: You're just saying that because it's your basement, you've got a little buzz and don't have to drive home.
TS: Yeah, if we were at one of our places, you'd probably get paranoid about driving after one beer.
Rip: We should probably just keep it at a six pack. And I agree. Let's start getting breadsticks.
Alan: You sure about the beer?
(Transcribed by R.W. Alan)