julia dawn's holiday extravaganza

last night was a really fun time. it's too bad more of our immediate crew couldn't have been there, but heather, adam and i had a blast.

nick nocketback opened up the show with some comedy stylings. this is tough, because you're doing comedy and everyone is there for music. and, it's at a club, so everyone is sitting around talking and not paying attention to you. nick was as shocking as he could be, but he still struggled to really grab a hold of them. but a good effort none the less.

ibid came on next. before ibid's set, i spoke we julia dawn and she mentioned that they had some technical difficulties but they were all worked out now. well, there were still a few bugs in the system as ibid's music wasn't working. so, short delay. i've seen ibid several times, at both tokyo garden as well as at club fred. he's a wonderful mc. i think the crowd gets into him a little more @ tokyo, while it's more intimate, you're jammed against the stage feel. i feel like i lose ibid's stage presence @ club fred. outside of that, i felt this may have been the best sound quality i've heard from ibid, but i still would've turned his vocals up a bit.

next on stage was tommy delgado and armen nalbandian. they had a real nice sound, real laid back. tommy played drums and some guitar and armen was on the keys, as well as a few other instruments sporadically. i actually think they would have been a little better suited to open the show, let the crowd kind of come into the music. but anyway, these guys played some good, interesting jams and had a good time on stage.

finally, everyone got what they came to see, julia dawn and her o.g. hump day band. julia always puts on a great show, and i'm constantly amazed that such a big voice comes out of such a little lady. and, her lyrics are soulful and deep. this concert showcased those elements of julia, but also her fun spirit and her talent as a performer. julia belted out several of her older tunes, some of them with updated style. she also played a few new tunes which i enjoyed. of course, her ensemble cast was amazing, and showcased what fresno has produced and what they are still producing. jason jurzak, eva scow, randy stindt, jeff simpson all ripped up the stage with julia.

click over and watch some videos of julia's set, including a great vid of nick nocketback's mad skillz as a dance machine.

extravaganza tonight

looking for something to do in fresno tonight?

hit up club fred for some great, live music.

tommy delgado
ibid
julia dawn

it'll be a blast

viagra makes me angry

i want to punch whomever owns the rights to elvis' songs in the face. i've been thinking about this for several weeks now, and have finally gotten around to posting this.

why would i want to inflict harm on another person? well, it's because...

viva viagra.

that's right, viagra bastardized viva las vegas. now, this wasn't my favorite elvis song or anything. and, although i'm known to belt out an elvis tune or two @ karaoke, i'm not the biggest elvis fan. but, i do like elvis.

(even if he was a hero to most but he never meant...)

anyway, let me get back to my point. viagra has screwed the song for us all. yeah, i know, i said that.

now, every time you hear the song, you'll think, viva viagra. when i go to las vegas, and think of that song, i hear, viva viagra.

i hate you viagra ad team. and i want to punch someone in the face for disgracing that song. i'm thinking it's nick cage. it seems like something he'd do.

now, i'm going to go sit in a claw footed tub in the middle of the countryside because i just got done rocking out with my buds in the garage.

legalized absinth

the ban has been lifted. apparently it's legal to sell absinth(e) in the states. and, i actually saw a bottle the other night @ my local. i was surprised, and asked the bartender about it. she said they mistakenly ordered it, their supplier misheard when she asked for something else while ordering.

the article from salon (linked above) is somewhat interesting, but i honestly think the wiki on it's a bit better. i also like that many people compare the alleged madness that absinth causes with "reefer madness." which, you can rent at blockbuster, btw.

and i'd put myself in the camp of people that don't believe in the hallucinogenic properties of the drink. i've had it before, and although it was a strong drink, i didn't see any fairies and such. drink too much, you're going to have some issues. that goes for any alcohol.

i'm your huckleberry

it's funny, sometimes you see a movie is on, and no matter how many times you've seen it, you'll watch it if it's on. tonight, i stumbled on one of those movies for me.

tombstone is on.

now it helps that there is pretty much nothing else on tv, but i am tuning in. the good thing about watching a movie you've seen a ton of times is that you can change the channel when there are lame parts on. like most of the ones involving dana delany.

here's a youtube clip from the movie. one of my favorite parts of the movie starts @ 3 minutes into the clip and goes to about 5:15. great stuff.



what movies will you watch every time you see they're on?

$100 wager

last night, i made a bet about hillary clinton vs john mc cain.

if these are the candidates, which they won't be, i have her beating him. i've got a c note on it.

here's to hoping that neither are the candidate.

good cop, baby cop

it came from teh intertubez

consumerism the musical

now go buy something for me online. there's a link to my amazon wish list to your right.

just kidding. about buying me something.

you must prove your love

okay, you don't actually have to prove that you love the tower district.

but, you could come help it out. especially because you know you'll be hanging out here over the next few weeks as you destress from all the family gatherings.

this saturday, december 22 is our monthly clean up get-together. we're out there from 8-10ish.

we meet @ the northeast corner of olive & wishon, in the chicken pie shop parking lot and then spread out to clean up the tower. give it a little spit shine.

provided for you are:
trash bags
trash grabbers
snazzy orange vest that proclaims your tower volunteer status

you must bring:
you
some gloves (we sometimes have latex ones, but any gloves will do)
a decent attitude

really, you should spare 2 hours of your life to help make our beautiful area even better looking. or, you can just pick up a few of the cigarette butts you've thrown down outside of the bar.

saturday, december 22
8-10 am
meet @ the corner of olive & wishon

we'll be there unless it's pouring down rain.

blue man in madera

last night i heard the song blue, but that has nothing to do with the title of this post. this post is about a story that i was talking about with some friends. it seems a guy has moved to the valley, madera specifically because people in oregon (i think it was portland) were too mean to him. why were they mean? well, his skin is blue. that's right, blue. his skin has turned blue due to some home remedy type drink.

well, today i saw the story hit big time. boing boing has a post up about it.

the condition is called argyria, and it happens when you ingest silver into your system. the guy, paul karason, says that it happened because he rubbed his treatment onto his skin. hey, i'm not a doctor, but i would imagine it has more to do with the daily drink of colloidal silver. whatever it is, it's an interesting story, and i think mr. karason for bring our area some attention. and, it shows we're nicer than people in oregon.

dude put down that joint

more science about how the doobies are bad for you. not the brothers, but the marijuana cigarettes.

here's some data skimmed:
research found 20 times as much ammonia, a chemical linked to cancer
five times as much hydrogen cyanide and nitrogen oxides, which are linked to heart and lung damage respectively
in the case of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, the toxin linked to infertility, the researchers found concentrations were actually higher in cigarette smoke (this one's about second hand smoke).

yowza. the article did point out that tobacco smokers tended to smoke more, which could equalize the effects.

week 16 picks

thursday game

away team	spread	home team	my pick
pittsburg	-7.5	st. louis	st. louis

saturday game

away team	spread	home team	my pick
dallas	-10.5	carolina	dallas

weekend games

oakland	+13	jacksonville	jacksonville
philly	+3	new orleans	new orleans
kansas city	-4.5	detroit	detroit
cleveland	-3	cincinnati	cleveland
green bay	-9	chicago	green bay
ny giants	-3	buffalo	buffalo
houston	+7	indianapolis	indianapolis
atlanta	+10	arizona	arizona
tampa bay	-6.5	san francisco	tampa bay
baltimore	+10.5	seattle	baltimore
miami	+22	new england	miami
ny jets	+9	tennessee	tennessee
washington	+6.5	minnessota	minnesota

monday night

denver

+9

san diego

san diego

fresno rain

no, not chocolate rain. fresno has been under the clouds these last few days and they have delivered. today, we got over 1" of rain, which i hear is some sort of record.

it made for a nice day. i could hear the rain falling outside and hitting the roof, could hear wet tires on the road, and occasionally looked out to see the water. i chilled out inside most of the day, but then i decided t head out and go for a bike ride. hadn't been on the bicycle for quite some time, so it was fun to ride again, although i had to be quite cautious due to the slick conditions. and, my back brakes were really off. somehow, they had come to need a real adjustment, and i didn't realize this until after i had started riding. i still had breaks, but had to squeeze the brake handle quite a while before it finally caught. when i got home i adjusted to a better spot.

the rain supposed to let up by tomorrow morning, which is good because i've got to go into work in the morning. if it's raining, this can mean wet motorcyclist.

gift idea

if anyone is looking for a great, last minute gift for me, here it is:



it is:
a kershaw, ken onion knife. i love these
matte black. love this color.
labeled "ward of evil." how cool is that?

the bad thing, that will probably prevent you from getting it for me:
$150.

that's 2.5x what the non-special edition kershaw costs.

Xmas by mail

christmas is almost always an enjoyable time of year. you've got friends, family, and yes, presents. in the past few years, i've done much of my shopping via the internet. it's easy, i can compare prices, and if it's not clothes, i'm not too worried about sizes.

internet shopping also combines another small joy of life, getting things in the mail. i'm home this week, and have been excited to know that there are packages coming. now, they're not really for me, but it's still fun anticipating when this or that package will show up. or, looking at the label of what came and thinking, "what's this one." or knowing what it is and who it's going to. and then thinking about how much the person will enjoy the gift.

today, a green fairy, amongst other things, arrived.

almost Christmas with rademacher

fresno favorites rademacher are officially releasing their album stunts. yes, you could buy it online, at shows and a few other places already, but it's out now and they're doing a cd release party in los angeles. now, i know you may not be in l.a., and wonder why you might be interested in it. well...

"So our official CD release is coming up. It is at the Echo on Friday and we're making a live record of the event. Maybe some video or something. We hope ya'll can come out and have a good time. We'd appreciate the support and we'll do our damn best to play an awesome show."


hmm, sounds cool to me. my only dilemma is that on saturday i have to be @ a family Xmas. i totally want to see if i can make both. any takers? it would be a leave friday night, roll to los angeles, come back real late friday night/early sat morn.

dream interpretation

you know, sometimes i wonder what dreams mean. other times, i just want to know what someone said. this morning, i was dreaming (not when i wrote this, so you can't sue me if it goes to fast). in my dream, a friend of mine was explaining something to me. i didn't understand what was being said, so i asked for further explanation. and then i woke up.

ding dang y'all. now i'll never understand. because frankly, the person in the dream wasn't really telling me this thing. i can't call the person on the phone and ask them to explain why i should move my car so the squirrels can eat that stuff off it.

steroids in baseball hullabaloo

yesterday, major league baseball released the findings of their investigation into the use of steroids, called the mitchell commission report. this report, that cost around $20 million to compile is worthless. that's right, it is without merit.

now, i'm not being naive, or pretending that there isn't a steroid problem in major league baseball. and, barry bonds (former giant) probably did use some sort of performance enhancing substance. and, according to this list (summarized from the report) so did many other players.

but, this report is little more than fluff. it is conjecture. it is second and third hand reports. really, this report isn't based on any positive tests. it isn't based on interviews with any of the actual players named, with the exception of jason giambi. it's based on jose canseco. really, canseco? that's one of your reliable sources. or some guy that worked in some capacity for the new york yankees? or some minor leaguer that swears that this or that guy admitted to him that he took steriods?

well, most of those are shot down by a simple statement from the player, "no, i didn't do it." your word against mine.

and on bonds, the report seems to have some credibility. the report talks to his former trainer. but, the trainer didn't give him steroids, the cream, the clear, etc. the trainer says that greg anderson gave bonds a cream and some clear liquid. so, although this seems a little better, it still doesn't prove much because neither anderson or bonds will confirm this. in fact, i'm pretty sure that both have denied it.

here's what really interesting about the report: it doesn't mention the guys that actually have tested positive since steroids were outlawed by major league baseball. so, you have this "report" on the use of performance enhancing substances and you don't name the guys that have actually been caught? instead, you run with gossip and hearsay? it seems that mlb wants to have a big public show, pretend that it's "getting tough" and "cleaning up the league" but really won't do much else. because i'm pretty sure you can't hand out penalties based on unproven accusations. in fact, the report doesn't even suggest punishment, it does recommend that, "The commissioner should give the players and everyone else the chance to make a fresh start," Mitchell said, "except where the conduct is so serious that he must act to protect the integrity of the game."

for it's part, mlb says it will review the players mentioned on a case by case basis. but, i highly doubt any will admit to it, and unless you've got more evidence than the report, not much can come of the reviews.

now, they can pretend they've looked into and solved the problem. future big leaguers will never use any performance enhancing substances.

yeah right.

public service announcement - cooties

video game causes sword attack

fresno, my beloved, continues to impress me with stories. a 31 year old man was arrested for assaulting his roommate after they got into an argument over a video game. the victim was stabbed in the leg and had some cuts on his fingers.

the weapon of choice: samurai sword. that's right, the assailant went all kill bill (i'm not sure which volume) on his roommate. or, maybe he went fresno state basketball on him. i forget what late '90's fsu player was also arrested for attacking a guy w/a samurai sword, but i think it also started over video games.

i wonder what they were playing. obvious choices would be:
heavenly sword
dragon quest sword
prince of persia: rival swords
red steel

less obvious choices:
tiger woods gold
rayman raving rabbits
cooking mama: cook off

come on gamers, learn to settle your differences in the game, not by stabbing each other over the game.

sometimes i think i'm big time

booyah! i'm coming up big on cnn's website right now. if you read this story about the australian rape case and scroll down to the bottom & click on the blogs, commentary, etc button i'm the first to show up. my first post on it.

in all seriousness, i still can't believe that the judge handed out that sentence. i saw another case about a rape in the u.a.e., where two men raped a teen boy, and they were given fifteen years. now, this case has some interesting twists because it involves the rape of a boy, so some may say that justice cares more for males. also, the family is crying out because one of the men has aids, and new it, so they feel he should have been given a much longer sentence.

asinine.

week 15 nfl picks

a few games on alternate nights this week

thursday game

away team	spread	home team	my pick
denver	+1.5	houston	houston

saturday game

away team	spread	home team	my pick
cincinnati	-9.5	san francisco	san francisco

weekend games

jacksonville	+3.5	pittsburg	jacksonville
atlanta	+12	tampa bay	tampa bay
seattle	-7	carolina	seattle
green bay	-9	st. louis	green bay
baltimore	-3.5	miami	baltimore
new york jets	+24.5	new england	new england
arizona	+3.5	new orleans	new orleans
buffalo	+5.5	cleveland	cleveland
tennessee	-4	kansas city	tennessee
indianapolis	-10.5	oakland	indi
detroit	+10.5	san diego	san diego
philly	+10	dallas	dallas
washington	+4.5	ny giants	ny giants

monday night

chicago

+10

minnesota

minnesota

instant coffee = yuck

today @ work they ran out of coffee filters. this meant no coffee in the lounge. but, everyday a catering truck comes around 9. i figured they might have coffee and i'd be fine. i went out there, saw that they had coffee for sale for 75 cents and thought i was in luck.

i ordered, and the guy said, "here's the stuff, you make it." so, yeah. it's that instant coffee, crystals just add water crap. i put in the right amount, add hot water and off i go, back to my desk.

holy crap. this stuff is terrible.


but of course i'll drink it. i'm just wondering if it's sanka, which is decaffeinated. that would be the worst, because i'd be suffering through terrible coffee w/o the mild pick up.

art!

art happenings:
new post here
prepping for show @ the philharmonic @ the end of january
prepping for rogue 2008 - will be showing @ ashtree

should be posting more regular art updates on art blog as i'm actually working right now on stuff. love to work under a deadline.

update on australian rape case

apparently not everyone is australia is retarded. the attorney general of the state said that the punishment was "manifestly inadequate," and, ""Any child under the age of 12 cannot legally give consent to sexual intercourse, so the relevance of the judge's remark mystifies me." well, i guess that also helps us know when one can consent in australia as well.

(and, yes, retarded works there because it means delayed or slow, which apparently some of their judges are working on some 18th century definition of rape. you, know, when they were still all criminals there.)

i really feel badly for this girl, because it seems this wasn't the first time she was victimized.

"Meanwhile, Queensland state Premier Anna Bligh confirmed reports that the girl was first sexually assaulted at Aurukun in 2002 by several juveniles. They were not charged.

Ms Bligh said the girl was placed into foster care after the incident but was returned to the settlement in April 2006, where she was gang-raped shortly after. "

damn. sad, sad state of affairs. reprehensible.

6 rapists slapped on the wrist in australia

"Judge Sarah Bradley told them that the victim 'probably agreed to have sex with all of you".

probably? no, i think it's whether or not she actually did agree. that's one of the big issues whether or not it's considered sex or rape, consent. so, either she consented or didn't. which is it?

"Judge Bradley later defended her sentencing, telling The Australian that the sentences were "appropriate" because they were the penalties sought by the prosecution."

well, then the prosecution are idiots, too. what does the law say should happen in this case? i doubt that the law says that convicted rapists should be given sentences ranging from probation to six months in jail.

at least activists have some sense about them, exhibited here:
"There is nothing culturally, there is nothing morally, there is nothing socially and there is definitely nothing legally that would ever allow this sort of decision to be made," she said, the she being Boni Robertson.

now, i agree with the last statement, but this case does demonstrate some of the difficulties of living in a society that is made up of different cultures. i don't know if australia is considered a "melting pot" like the u.s. fancies itself, but i do imagine that they do have a fair amount of diversity. and, it seems that this is a little bit (big bit) of cross-cultural dilemma,
"The case comes six months after a high-profile inquiry into child sex abuse in remote northern Australia said it found problems in every Aborigine community visited by researchers."

so here we have a case of sex between 6 males, 4 of which were minors, and one female. one ten year old girl. let me say that again, a ten year old girl. it seems that we may have some issue in aboriginal cultural of when is the appropriate age of sex. i although i admit to my ignorance here, i'm going to go out on a limb and say that ten is too young, and would imagine that their culture would agree, too.

so, ask yourself, judge sarah bradley, was she:
1. consenting?
2. able to consent?

if you can't answer both of those with a legal yes, than it's rape. and they should be punished appropriately, even if the prosecution isn't asking for it.

one fnial quote to throw into the mix,
"The offenders came from some of the most powerful and prominent Aboriginal families in Cape York, while the victim's family had a lower status, the Australian reported."

ah, yes, this may not actually have anything to do with cross cultural values. it's got to do with justice being blind for the right price, now isn't it?

david beats goliath at basketball

UPDATE: here's the story from the perspective of the l.a. times.

call it what you want, i'll call it a victory. when i heard that fresno pacific university, with it's undergrad student population of about 1000, would be playing usc in basketball, i figured it would be a massacre. i didn't think the sunbirds had a snowballs chance in, well, hell. i mean, this is the university of southern california. the trojans. the trojans whose head coach used to be in charge of the chicago bulls. the trojans who have a guy who may be the next big thing, o.j. mayo. usc! fresno pacific has got to lose to them, right?

i was wrong. tonight, the sunbirds pulled off a minor (major?) shocker by defeating the trojans 65-44. now, it should be noted that usc, realizing that they were playing a naia school in an exhibition game did not play their starters. but you know what, it's not like the other athletes on usc's roster are a bunch of losers. they play division one college basketball, the top tier for the men's college game. and they were playing against a little naia school that doesn't even have full ride scholarships for all it's team.

david beat goliath. i bet that was a fun bus ride back to fresno.

recognize fresno. there's some basketball being played in a small gym in southeast fresno. it's worth checking out. the tickets cost less, the crowd can be just as into it, and hopefully you'll have a good time.

(oh yeah, congrats to the sunbirds volleyball team. national champs. national champs.)

(and the men's soccer team finished in the quarterfinals of the national tournament, which is dang good, too.)

big ced's famous bbq & cafe corazon - what a saturday!

check out my reviews of big ced's famous bbq and cafe corazon. (i yelped 'em as well.)

el olio wolof

take some time, and enjoy a little bit of el olio wolof, recorded thursday @ tokyo garden.



now enjoy the rest of your day

week 14 nfl picks

thursday game

away team	spread	home team	my pick
chicago	+3	washington	chicago

weekend games

miami	+7	buffalo	buffalo
st. louis	+7	cincinnati	st.louis
dallas	-10.5	detroit	dallas
oakland	+10.5	green bay	green bay
san diego	pick	tennessee	san diego
new york giants	+2.5	philly	philly
carolina	+10.5	jacksonville	jacksonville
tampa bay	pick	houston	tampa bay
minnesota	-8.5	san fran	minnesota
arizona	+7	seattle	seattle
kansas city	+6.5	denver	kansas city
pittsburg	+10.5	new england	pittsburg
cleveland	-3.5	ny jets	cleveland
indianapolis	-9	baltimore	indi

monday night

new orleans

-4

atlanta

new orleans

art hop + post art hop plans

a couple of photos to share before i...


(photos may or may not be added later. blogger is quirky and won't let me upload photos.)



tell you all to go out and see some art tonight. we're headed out to tower mosaic, then over to broadway studios, and then corridor (i forgot the numbers). nick potter has a show over @ corridor, which i'm excited to see. if you're interested, we're meeting up @ tower mosaic @ 6:30.

then, i'll head home, watch survivor & an office rerun. then, off to the post art hop show @ tokyo garden. malcom sosa solo set, el olio wolof, good times, great music.

crime doesn't pay

especially when you're stealing hats.

seriously, these guys were stealing hats from a sports store in visalia. hats? i hope you got a whole rack of yankees caps (i figure this is the crap hat people would steal). and how many hats can five guys steal? i'm guessing at least four.

the thing is, they crashed their getaway car and were all caught. brilliant. i wonder if they stole ginormous hats and it covered their eyes?

post art hop show

a fire breathing dragon blows into town on thursday night. that's right, el olio wolof will be playing @ tokyo garden after art hop.

malcom sosa, of rademacher, will also be playing a solo show.

and a two other bands, one named myriad encephus, one named wheels of fortune.

it's only $3. you should go.

r.i.p. pimp c

pimp c, aka chad butler was found dead in a sunset strip hotel in hollywood. this is sad news. pimp c and bun b make up the group u.g.k. (underground kings), an influential houston rap group.

u.g.k. had been on the shelf for a few years as pimp c was in jail for a few years for not paying child support. but, he had been released in the last year and they had a #1 album.

although i wasn't a huge fan, i did enjoy many of the songs they had collaborated on such as jay z's big pimpin. their current album had a song on it w/outkast that was very nice. i'm going to have to pick that up now.

it's still unclear how pimp c passed, but we'll know more in time. rest in peace, pimp c.

alan autry is a stone cold killer

here it is, proof you don't want to mess with bubba.

banksy's new west bank art

english artist banksy has always impressed me with his subversive work. previously, he had done a series of pieces on the wall separating the west bank in bethlehem. recently, he did a new set which include the following (from bbc news).

rademacher video

starting to upload some video i took at a recent rademacher show @ tokyo. i'll be uploading more @ youtube over the next few days, so check my youtube link later.