fight for your rights..

Since it's Memorial Day and I'm sure that we're all -over tofu dogs and potato salad of course - talking about our past and present fight for freedom, liberty and justice for all: Amnesty International has launched Irrepressible.Info, an online campaign designed to fight Internet censorship abroad - nnd at home.

strike a pose, there's nothing to it...

The last half-block before work, I got sick of my CD and turned on the radio. Madonna's "Vogue" was on. Took me back to 1990 - which is not necessarily a good thing. Nonetheless, I had to ride with it - drive around the block a few more times just so that I could get my Madonna groove on...

And that was a good thing because so far the rest of my day has been craptastic.

Not helped by the fact that I just got back from Tahoe yesterday and it was so gorgeous there that it physically hurt to leave. We stayed at the new Montbleu, which used to be Caesers Tahoe. It's got fancy new nightclubs and restaurants but the same ol' fanny-packed tourists and blue-haired gamblers. You can take the togas out of the casino but...

Best moment:
Sometime way past midnight

Scene: Cory & I heading toward the gift shop (for bottled water), me wobbling because my 4-inch casino-worthy wedge sandals are killing like crap

Shaggy-haired, glassy-eyed boy: Hey - are you looking for me?
Me: (stumbling just a little - it's the shoes not the booze!) Um?
Shaggy-haired, glassy-eyed boy: Do I know you?
Cory: Ummm
Shaggy-haired, glassy-eyed boy: Do you know me?
Me: No - well maybe in the cosmic sense....
Shaggy-haired, glassy-eyed boy: Oh, yeah, totally...like spiritually, totally
Me: Right...spiritually. Totally.


As we walked (stumbled) away, Cory couldn't stop laughing. He says I never say shit like that...I say he's not spent enough time with me in casinos...

Tuesday, etc.

I'm listening to the new Sonic Youth song "Incinerate" on their MySpace page (shut up!) and man do I ever love it. I just love, love, love Thurston Moore's voice. It reminds me of New York, 1997, spring nights in a warm apartment - so many good things rolled into one sound. I want to marry it.

My TiVo is full and didn't record this week's SNL but Chris sent me this fucking awesome Kevin Spacy as Neil Young YouTube link.
Oh, and Andy Samberg as Conor Oberst? Brilliant.

In other news my weekend was half-good and half-all-kinds-of-suck. Let's just say yay for sparkling cool Madras drinks and, uh, leave it at that.

Also, Becca & I were driving around my 'hood last night and trying to think of a vegetarian/vegan-friendly place. There's Crepeville of course but what else? We ended up at Tower Cafe. Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated because one does not always want to be confined to the grid for dining choices. I wish I knew how far along that Curtis Park Village development is...and I hope that once it does go in that it is largely Jamba Juice/Subway-free. OK, I might be accepting of a Dos Coyote...but really, you get my point and it's the principle of the matter...

Zelda, R.I.P...

Last night as we watched the bands play at Old I, Cory & I plotted our weekend; first thing on the agenda: a night of NBA playoffs and Zelda’s pizza.

Now, it’s going to taste like the best, most bittersweet pizza ever. I'm going to have an extra slice of spinach pesto in Zelda's honor.

Also on the roster for this weekend:

• Yard work


• Fashion flea market


• HQ anniversary event


• Helper Monkeys


• neighborhood barbecue

Thank god for the rock and art or else I would feel wayyy too much like a suburbanite.... Also, I heard there's supposed to be a Jason Lytle in-store at the Beat on Sunday

a very happy mother's day...

We drove out to Rancho Murieta to visit Cory's mom on Saturday - only when we called to let her know we were almost there, it turns out she was an hour away somewhere else, having lunch. We didn't have a key to her house, but no worries, we just stopped off at the Country Mart, picked up a six-pack of Corona and let ourselves into her back yard.

That was the most relaxing hour I've had in about a million years...

Everything's coming up Anderson...

As I trudged out of work I found a copy of
the new Vanity Fair on the free pile table...

Suddenly, I was much, much more happy.


I am not at all ashamed of my Anderson Cooper
obsession.

tired, not wired...

Tired, not wired

I just seriously want to hole up at home all weekend and avoid people and life and so forth.

Bah. Just. Pissy. Today.

Well, at least I've crossed a few items off the agenda.

So, until Monday, this is how it goes:

• yard work (and slathering on tons of sunscreen)


• Elements art show at Deep This show is gonna rock. I can just tell.


• The Haints with Richard March and Amee Chapman at Old I


• Flea market Sunday morning followed by not one but two mother's day visits


• Survivor finale mini-party

But tonight? Tonight I am a pathetic NBA playoff-watching zombie. Sorry Rose, I know that's going to be a fantastic show and I'm going to kick myself later for missing it...but truth be told I'm about five seconds away from falling asleep on my feet (this despite gallons of coffee, literally)...It's been a very long week.

damn...

One of my favorite bookstores is closing. I know there's another Cody's but it's just not the same. My Telegraph Avenue Amoeba/Cody's/Smart Alex trifecta has been broken.

it was a very good year

Wedding!

I'm a week late in posting this, but the wedding and everything leading up to it was great...perfect weather (OK, maybe a bit hot...) and time spent with friends. It was wonderful for all of us to be on the same coast, in the same city, for an entire weekend...drinking beers, eating chips and salsa, watching Kings games...felt just like old times...complete with the part where I definitely feel older, if not wiser...Made me miss those good ol' days of 1997 when I lived on 26th & J (right across the street from Rob Cockeyed) and I'd come home from work, run up to my apartment to change into jeans and then run back down to join Tom & Rachel & Laura for a few beers and neighbor-watching...Looking back I think that was one of the happiest years of my life. Which is kind of funny to say if you know me and know the circumstances of that time...all in all, I know now that it was a very good year...and even though I keep telling myself that I am, to quote Baby Grand, much too young for this nostalgia...it was nice to relive some of its finer moments during Marcus & Laura's wedding festivities...I know, I know...weddings always make me sentimental....

out with the old....

I'm not an Adleman hater but news of his probable departure doesn't surprise me at all.

But will a new coach really give this team the spark it needs? Will a new coach make Bibby more consistent?

I also will not be surprised if Brad Miller is gone before the new season. Which is too bad because there's something about his pouty sharpshooting. Too bad it was more pout and less sharpshooting as of late...

Hopefully they'll fork over enough cash to keep Bonzi..

In any case, the Kings-Spurs series was a mostly anticlimactic end to the season and so, yeah, changes should probably be made. Oh, and the Maloofs should also rethink any ideas to raise the ticket prices again. Judging by how fickle fans seemed to become this season, those rich brothers might want to lay low for awhile...

I'm so sad to hear of Grant Mclennan's death on Saturday. I first got turned on to the Go-Betweens way back in 1990 (i think) when I came across a cassette copy of "Liberty Belle & the Black Diamond Express" in a college store bargain bin. That now seems so long ago. "Spring Rain" is still one of my favorite songs...48-years-old is just way, way too young.

p.s.

Because I'm a selfless public servant like that, I talked to Ashlee Simpson so you wouldn't have to.

The topics? Environmentalism, world peace and nuclear physics, of course. No, sorry, I didn't ask about her (alleged) nose job.

weekend to-do's

Weekend to-do's...

So much to-do, so little weekend ... now that the wedding is over (pictures, to come), I feel giddy at the thought of a warm and sunny carefree weekend. I'm even excited at the thought of pruning my roses...

In addition to the garden love, here's what's on my agenda:

Tonight:



but before that, screaming at the TV during the Kings-Spurs game...

And then later...

We're thinking of driving to Granzellas tomorrow. I'm craving road-trip scenery, a warm summer evening and their yummy artichoke sandwich. Oh, and ice-cream too.

Also, I'm going to finish Enrique's Journey. And hopefully start Rose of No Man's Land in anticipation of Thursday's Michelle Tea reading.

And then, maybe another game on Sunday and maybe going to see Don't Look Back at HQ or maybe watching that Chuck Berry documentary or maybe just hanging out with friends and drinking beer.

Happy Cinco de Mayo...

The wedding processional is done and, two days later, I still feel slightly hungover...that's what you get out of four non-stop days of celebrating...good times though...now back to reality and warm summer-ish weather and a Kings game tonight.

I really do have more thoughtful things to say than all of this. I want to blog about the book I'm reading, Enrique's Journey, because I think it gives some interesting depth and color to the current immigration debate.

But that will have to wait until I've regenerated a few more brain cells.