tonight!

Many cool things to do in Sactown tonight. If you have not already, please consider the Olipom art show opening (19th & Capitol) from 6-8pm with art by RICHARD ST.OFLE. Or, check out BECCA COSTELLO and other poets at the Poems-For-All closing night reading at HQ (25th & R) starting at 8pm.


Meanwhile, I'm going to be at Red Square for this show:

Wired has a cool photo gallery up right now: 30 Years of Apple Products.

I remember my dad had the Apple III from the 1980-era line. It was in his office (read: guest room with a desk shoved in it and piles of books on the floor) and, on occasion, I'd go in there to use his phone and mindlessly tap at the keyboard while I chatted about, well, whatever it is that 10-year-olds talk about on the phone.




The Macintosh Color Classic was the first one I bought for myself. Actually, my dad got it for me when I was in college - one of the few things he's ever done to help me out since I turned 18. Getting this computer meant no more long hours in the computer lab, no more jockeying for the best machines, no more depressing Sunday afternoons spent in that very quiet room. I hated that place even when I had my headphones. Somehow working on a computer at home with the stereo blasting -whenever I wanted, day or night - was just a much better option. It still is.

welcome back, welcome back, welcome back

A Replacements reunion?

rise up with fists!

Jenny Lewis and Sarah Silverman ... Hee-haw!

Haven't heard about the cause of death yet, but Nikki Sudden died yesterday in New York. And, of course, the great Buck Owens died on Saturday.

just like spring rain...

Still on the mend from last night's Death Cab / Franz show. I don't really have much energy to blog and I'm kind of shocked that I still have to, you know, do things today. A 4 a.m. bedtime just doesn't agree with me much anymore.....Anyway, the Memorial was the usual Memorial with so-so acoustics but I actually found that after we moved around for a while, there were some decent pockets of sound. And, as much as I love, love, love the Death Cab (and I loved their forest set), I gotta say Franz Ferdinand really does kick their ass live. I've seen both bands three times now but seeing them back-to-back was rather startling.

Speaking of venues, say what you will about the Memorial but it is just far and away a million times better than the Concourse at the SF Design Center which is the venue where Belle & Sebastian played earlier this week. I don't know how many people that place holds - I've heard everything from 3,000 to 8,000 people - but it had all the charm (and acoustical finesse) of seeing a show in an aiport hangar. It was awful with horrible sight lines and if it wasn't for the fact that Belle & Sebastian rocks out pretty well live and also has a strong stage presence, I would have been even more pissed than I already was. Of course, it didn't help that I had some spastic hipster kid standing in front of me, literally having spastic hipster convulsions all over my feet. Ew. Dude, to each his own and all but keep your freaky dance moves to yourself. If you're regularly making body contact with me? So not a good thing.

Anyway, things to do...I really wanted to skate today but it appears that the rain is going to spoil that plan...maybe I really am ready for spring. Well, maybe for an afternoon at least... Then again if I could just spend the afternoon curled up on the couch reading or watching movies, I wouldn't mind a little spring rain so much....

roller jams, part 2

I just got these skates from Flatspot – the black ones. They have indoor and outdoor wheels. There was a guy in the store who was skeeving both Mike & I out and as I tested my skates in tiny shop he asked Where do I find a girl like you who skates?. Mike handled that one deftly, Uh, at the roller rink?

Anyway, I am very happy now.

Also making me happy: Tonight is the Belle & Sebastian/New Pornographers show. And Thursday is the Death Cab for Cutie/ Franz Ferdinand show.
It’s going to be a bit of a sleepless week, but I guess I’ll catch up on Friday when I’m off from work.
Finally, this is for Kepi: Bigfoot spotted in Minnesota?

the girl with the roller skate jams....

So, I skated last night— and I didn’t fall! Well, barely. I nearly bit oh, at least a dozen times. Particularly embarrassing was the time that I nearly ran head-first into Ted Angel...But the point here is that I didn’t—and this after at least 10 years of not skating. I felt particularly groovy while skating to Madonna and Blondie. What’s more is that Cory skated. He told me he wasn’t going to—he told me it’d been 10 years and he wasn’t even going to try and then next thing I know he’s lacing up a pair of skates and skating laps around me. He pretty much rocked…Anyway, even though I am seriously rusty and couldn’t even master the simple toe-stop, all I wanna do now is skate. I woke up this morning thinking of skating…So now I’m going to buy a pair of indoor/outdoor skates and, because I’ll be skating outside, a pair of kneepads and maybe even a helmet. I long ago gave up any hopes of ever looking cool doing anything so why worry about it now? I’ve also started mentally compiling my iPod roller jams playlist. It features plenty of Madonna and Blondie as well as some Donna Summer, Le Tigre, !!! and the like…I’d appreciate any good song suggestions to help me get my groove on. I love feeling 12 again. Oh yeah, Cory did tell me that when he was growing up in Woodland, "nobody cool" skated after 6th grade. Um, I skated well into junior high and even some in high school, so there you have it..

I hate the nightlife....

Even though I know the Haints are playing a St. Patrick's day show tonight (at that Citrus Heights, non-pillow fighting club I mentioned), I somehow didn't put two and two together and realize that it was, oh, St. Patrick's Day.

Thus, I went out into the world today, naive and clad entirely in black and gray, and felt more than a little shocked and overwhelmed by the sheer greenness of everything. The guy at the Post Office with his green buttons, the checker at Target - green flair pinned to the requisite red shirt - the kids walking past my house to school. Even my crazy neighbor lady (the one who is, dead on, the Chinese version of my grandmother) was sporting a giant green sweatshirt that almost reached her knees.

Not that I would've worn green today, but at least I would have been prepared for the hue overload.

Oh well, now I know for sure - 100 percent sure - that I will not leave the house again today and I will not, for the love of all that is holy, enter a bar or nightclub. Because, almost as much as I hate the nightlife on New Year's Eve and Halloween, I hate, hate, HATE the amateur crowds that crowd my favorite places on St. Patty's Day. Keep your green beer-drinking fool selves outta my way....

everything in miniature ...

Here's another thing that could convince me to reproduce: Cute baby furniture. I finally braved the new Ikea today because a friend needed stuff and we both oohhhed and ahhhed over all the Lilliputian furniture - the desks, the chairs, the tables. I also wanted a loft-style bed - the bunk bed top with the desk area beneath. So practical. yet cute.

Anything in miniature is cute. Almost.

Today was also a perfect day to be off work: Coffee with one friend in the a.m.; lunch and Ikea with another friend in the afternoon. Driving fast on 80 listening to my new mix CD....Hot pasta dinner with Cory....rain on the windows.....now hot tea with honey.

And here are my public service announcements:

Pillow Fight Club:

6PM on St Patricks Day March 17th at Caesar Chavez Park on J St downtown.

Bring a soft, fluffy pillow. Keep pillow hidden until
fight time.

At exactly 6PM, remove pillow and start fighting.

Read more about the San Francisco Pillow
Fight

RULES OF PILLOW FIGHT CLUB
1. Tell everyone about Pillow Fight Club.
2. Don't hit anyone without a pillow

And also - but, alas, without pillows.

St. Patrick’s Day Hoot tomorrow
Yes! St. Patrick’s Day at Shaker’s, 5940 Sperry Drive in Citrus Heights...21+, $4
This is being hosted by Andy Hawk and features the Haints, Steve Mahoney, Jake D from the Lonely Kings, and hopefully a Devastate or two!

I'm not sure if I'm doing this either because a) I'm a lover, not a pillow fighter and b) Shaker's is in Citrus Heights AND it is St. Patrick's Day AND there will not pillows....and as much as I love the Haints...well, let's just say I owe Cory one.


Also - Kepi & Cory are going to be on the radio in, oh, 30 minutes. They'll be playing music, not talking sports - although if you want to get Cory going on Artest and the Kings...anyway, now I need to go and see if there's a working radio in this house. As you can maybe guess, we are not really prepared for a natural disaster around here...

Update: I found a radio... it took a little while to warm up (old tubes), but we're good now...

it's the major, minor details...

I swiped this link from Beth - Liberals are less likely to breed than their conservative counterparts:

What's the difference between Seattle and Salt Lake City? There are many differences, of course, but here's one you might not know. In Seattle, there are nearly 45% more dogs than children. In Salt Lake City, there are nearly 19% more kids than dogs.

This curious fact might at first seem trivial, but it reflects a much broader and little-noticed demographic trend that has deep implications for the future of global culture and politics. It's not that people in a progressive city such as Seattle are so much fonder of dogs than are people in a conservative city such as Salt Lake City. It's that progressives are so much less likely to have children.

I wonder where people with cats fit into this equation? In any case, this is almost enough to make me want to reproduce.

Almost.

Work's been moving along at a steady clip but now I'm off for the next two days and I couldn't be happier about the prospect. Not that I'm going to do anything particularly fun -- it just means I have two days to get my shit together (house, taxes, errands, catch up on phone calls, etc.) before another busy weekend...Which reminds me, I'm going to go and try and get my skate on this Sunday at the Sac City Rollers derby fundraiser. 7pm at Foothill Skate Inn. $10 in advance or $12 at the door - includes skate rentals. I'm too lazy to look up the Foothill link right now but those are the particulars and you're on the internets right now, right? You can figure it out....Anyway, should be interesting...it's been at least 10 years since I last skated and these days I have trouble enough staying upright when I'm in sneakers or maryjanes....hopefully I'll emerge from the night unscathed...If I ever do decide to do roller derby, I've already picked DJ Bonebreak as my skate name...


... OK, I've got some America's Next Top Model to which to attend...in the meantime, wish my grandma some love - she just got of the hospital after being treated for a particularly nasty bout of pneumonia...Also, love and good thoughts to GB, Becca and the newly arrived baby Gabriella...

let it snow...

Wow, in the last few hours, the temp has dropped from 50 degrees to 45…It may snow in Folsom over the weekend. How amazing would it be if it snowed in Sac? It’s been a few years, I think we are long overdue for a winter wonderland…

Uhhhhh...

Um? What is wrong with Madonna's face in this cover photo for the latest issue of Out ? Or rather, what isn't wrong with it?

a typical conversation in our house:

Me: Oh, good - we still have Saturday Night Live TiVo-ed.

Cory: Why?

Me: There's supposed to be a funny Natalie Portman video rap / thing

Cory: How'd you hear about it? Are you getting a ton of hits for "Natalie Portman boobs" on your Web site?

Me: Uh, no...I read about about it on some blog...

Cory: So no one's Googling Natalie Portman's boobs?

Me: Well, not on my site...

Cory: Don't people care about her boobs?

Me: I've never written about them - but I'm sure people care

Cory: Well, they are pretty tiny ...

Me: Yeah, but some people like tiny boobs...

Cory: True...

Oh yeah, and the "Day in the life of Natalie Portman" rap video thing? Mildy amusing ...but it's no Lazy Sunday.

nothin' but good times ahead....

I was useless yesterday. The worst sinus headache ever. I muddled through work, went home and was in bed by 8 p.m. Sad. I feel 100 percent better today though I now have a ton of catching up to do.

I was actually pretty useless the entire weekend (so why should Monday have been any different?). Consider the evidence: Stayed home Friday night. Stayed in most of the day Saturday until the Baby Grand show at the Fox & Goose. Even then I didn't get to the show until 10 p.m. and left shortly after midnight. Sunday - only left the house to go to Trader Joe's. Otherwise spent the whole day either a) sleeping b) watching the Oscars or c)....uh...I don't think there is a "c" ....

Speaking of the Oscars - I thought the performances in Crash were amazing - but the film itself? Kind of heavy-handed if you ask me...really, not a thread of subtlety running through that movie. But, whatever...

Speaking of the Oscars....how happy was I that "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" won best song? So very, very happy....

Speaking of the Oscars...Jon Stewart? Didn't completely suck as the host but also did not do a bang-up job - thus leaving me to conclude that hosting the Oscars may be The Worst Job Ever.

Speaking of the Oscars - I tied with 2 other people to come in second place in our newsroom Oscar pool (out of 32 people). Not bad. I won $6. (Doubled my money). The winner? A newsroom aide/intern. He won $96. Rock on Jonathon!

To do for the rest of the week:

• Project Runway finale


• Catch up on Gilmore Girls


• Write


• Mom’s birthday=birthday dinner


• Start this book


• Captain 9's & the Knickerbocker Trio show at Old I!


• bridal shower


• Kepi-curated "Whales & Helicopters" show at Deep!


• Sellout-Buyout!

Hmmm, if my sinuses cooperate, this could be a very good week.

A fucking great way to start the week. Serious sinus headache - so bad that my vision is blurry and I'm dizzy. A pile of work to sludge through. Oh yeah, and the governor of South Dakota just banned most abortions in that state.

Bring on the Supreme Court.

random question

Does anybody have a copy of the Sewer Trout 7" that has "Que Sera" as a B-side? Or, alternately, have another punk version of that song? That isn't the Johnny Thunders version?