(this is annie)

Jesse and I are working on our respective projects in his office, drinking Coca-Cola and eating stale Polish chocolate. The air inside this second-floor converted apartment is warm, but the cool breeze outside blows in from time to time. Jesse doesn't know it yet, but he's going to help me write this. I hope he is not angry about it.

Me: What are you doing?
Modest Mouse (yelping): YEAH I DON'T WANT YOU TO BE ALONE DOWN THERE! BE ALONE DOWN THERE!
Jesse: What?
Me: WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
Jesse: Working on Better Propaganda. What are you doing?
Me: Kinda itching my eye.
Jesse: And?
Me: Nothing. Tell me something clever.
Jesse: Annie in the Attic is a pretty bad name for a record.
Me: What is it called?
Jesse: Satanic Panic in the Attic.
Me: That's not so good. Do you have a good joke for me?
Jesse: What's a good one? (Clutches head frustratedly) Someone told me a joke at Rainbo the other night. (Pause) I don't know, man, I'm coming up with [either "nothing" or "a monkey"]. It's the heat.
Modest Mouse (quieter now): TALKIN' SHIT ABOUT A PRETTY SUNSET!

(five minutes pass)

Me:Did you think of that joke?
Jesse: No. It has something to do with a bear and a bar.
Me: Oh, I know this one.
Jesse: Some sort of a pun, with a bear eating a woman at the bar? Do you know what I'm talking about?
Me: No.
Modest Mouse (drawling): Cowboy Dan's a major player in the cowboy scene.
Me: This bear walks into the bar, and he sits down, and the bartender goes, "What can I get you?" And the bear just sits there for a while (pantomimes sitting in an ursine fashion). And the bartender goes, "Hey, why the long paws?" No! The big pause. Why the big paws?
Jesse: Yeah, that's not the one. It's like, "If you don't serve me I'm going to eat that woman over there." And the punchline is a pun. I can't remember.
Modest Mouse (inquisitively): Have I toldja? Have I toldja?

Labels: chicago