rademacher + earlimart at the partisan

so, i ventured up to merced, california to see rademacher and earlimart on a tuesday night. i hadn't checked my myspace lately so i didn't even realize they were playing until a friend texted me on monday about it. when i heard rademacher, earlimart and $5 i knew i had to go.

first things first, the partisan, where the show was, is a hella cool spot. r.c. from el olio wolof fame runs the joint and it's a great little spot. nice bartenders, great visibility for the stage, nice sound system, plenty of seats.

rademacher came on and i was very excited to see them in their latest incarnation, now as a three piece. they jumped down our collective throats, in a good way. gone is the disco bounce from most songs. it's been replaced with some serious low end fuzz from gree. mad straight rock. i'm loving it. it is definitely a re-imagining of what they've been in the past, but i love it. there are enough similar licks and grooves that it's still your rademacher, but it's also different and great.

one thing i was missing was the tiny tots piano. i'm hoping it's not gone for good.

if you've never seen rademacher, you've got a lot of upcoming opportunities. today (wednesday) they're playing a noon show @ the pit @ fresno state. free, i think. and, they're playing @ howie's pizza in visalia tonight. tomorrow night (thursday) they'll be playing the post art hop show @ tokyo garden. hit up any of these shows and rademacher will make you a believer.

btw, eli, the drummer, also plays in the fay wrays. they were just signed to the same label as rademacher so expect an upcoming record release from them.

earlimart came on and their first three songs were like a dream mix. soft, hard, soft. thre third song was a great number off the new album, hymn and her. you should pick up that album if you haven't already. they've come a long way as a band and their sound is very mature, deep, trustworthy and supremely crafted. (no, i didn't just get a thesaurus.) i really have trouble believing that i saw this show in a tiny bar in merced. they should be destroying the airwaves and playing sold out concerts. if you can catch them at this point it will be your privilege. overall, earlimart has great lyrics, throbbing guitar and bass with vocals flying above. so nice. honestly, they will throw songs at you that the sound goes from melodic to crap your pants heavy. it's amazing that it is so seamlessly joined.

great night. so glad i went. can't wait to see rademacher play again thursday.

pictures from pennsylvania

so, i thought i'd post a few pics i took during my trip to pennsylvania. enjoy a brief slice of life:

why is it that people who have bags for the overhead compartment always have way too much stuff jummed the bag?



not the first amish i saw during the trip, but the first horse & buggy i was able to snap a blurry pic of



here's the church my friend got married in:



it's really old. the church building dates to 1813, the congregation to...



i read a local newspaper and even brought home a few copies if you want to subscribe. btw, you should read the top line of the newspaper.



awww, the happy couple on our way to reception (there's a story about the reception i might tell later.)



we had a roast pig. that's right, you see a whole freakin pig on that bbq.



i saw this horseless carriage in fresno this morning and almost freaked out thinking i was seeing an amish buggy. need a little more sleep when i travel.

the stewarts in pennsylvania

so, we flew out for tim's wedding and are checked in to our hotel. we've already seen a good half dozen commercials for the presidential election. crud. we are lucky that california isn't a swing state and are bombarded by this nonsense. i can't imagine having to put up with it.

miracle cash church

so, i was riding my bicycle home today and passed by a church that i must have passed by hundreds of times over the years. today, it caught my eye. it seems they have a new sign.



that's right, miracle cash! sunday services are @ 9, the doors open @ 8:40. wouldn't want people waiting around too long. or, maybe too much miracle cash would be dispensed.

down @ the bottom of the sign is verse, isaiah 56:7c. either the verse was on the sign and they didn't change it, or they've picked a little part and i'm not sure why. here's the whole verse, "I will bring them also to my holy mountain of Jerusalem and will fill them with joy in my house of prayer. I will accept their burnt offerings and sacrifices, because my Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations."

maybe prayer brings the miracle cash? anyone want to go and find out?

jesus was a community organizer

saw this over @ revolution in jesusland and it cracked me up.

ashley swearengin, fresno mayoral candidate

UPDATE! UPDATE: so, it turns out that i spelled the candidate's name wrong in an earlier post, and so if you spell it wrong like that i'll be the #3 hit. her name is now fixed on this blog. and, if you google her name properly, you come up with her site first. which makes the rest of this post irrelevant.

does ashley swearengin, candidate for fresno's mayor have a website? if so, you won't find it by googling her name. what you will find first is a post on fresno famous. the number 3 result, my blog. that's pretty sad when you're candidate for mayor of a city of a half million or so people and people find my blog when they're looking for your website.

btw, her website is ashley4mayor.com. to finally find it, i had to search "ashley swearingen (yes, spelled wrong) for mayor fresno" and it didn't even take me to the front page of her site.

candidates, step your game up. it's a new world, and teh internets is going to play an ever increasing role in campaigns.

btw, if you search henry t. perea his campaign site is the first result.

voter match-o-matic

don't know who to vote for? not sure on the issues? well, abc has put together a neat little clickety web vote decider. you click on the quote you agree with, and it tells you who to vote for.

i admit, it may be a little transparent on some quotes, and i think i also spent time guessing who said it instead of whether or not i actually agreed with it. but it's a fun little time taker.

lebron james loses at horse

this looks pretty legit, and the la times had something to do with the video, but teh internets are always full of craziness. check out this amazing, stunning, sick video of lebron james playing horse versus some guy.



i want to find the guy's website and see how many sick shots he has.

delorean, me n ed's coney island & back to the future

last night i went and wastched back to the future over @ edward's theatre. it was cool, i enjoyed it. lots of people taking photos of the car out front. i got mine well before the show.



also, before the show, we went to a new me n ed's (new to me at least) in riverpark. it's called me n ed's coney island. pretty nice space, you can get pizza by the slice, and they have hot dogs. i had a combo slice, which surprisingly didn't come w/a thin, ny style crust. it had a thicker, herb crust which was very nice.

the funny thing about my experience there was that my slice of pizza cost more than the 20 beer i had. huh? that's quite a deal.

tower beautification

looking for something to do on saturday morning?

something i've been involved with, although it's not all that creative but it's certainly community oriented is Tower Beautification.

FOURTH SATURDAYS

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27TH, 2008

WHAT:VOLUNTEERS CLEAN UP CURBS,WALKS, VAN NESS

TIME:8:00.–10:00 A.M. Arrive on time for insurance sign-in.

WHERE: Gather at Chicken Pie Shop parking, Wishon and Olive

BRING: Hat,Gloves, light rake or broom if you wish

ALSO BRING: water in refillable bottle, a friend of the Tower

WE SUPPLY: Orange vests, pick up bags, grabbers & scoops, insurance

WHY: Ongoing goal : to beautify our community and build empowerment with responsibility for the quality of life in our area... and to model CLEAN !!

(The area around the Farmers’ Market needs lots of help.)


since we're in the middle of a film festival down here, we'd really like to make sure it's nice, shiny and clean down here so people keep having the idea that the tower is a cool, clean, safe place to hang out.

bizarre whitey's ad

i saw this bizarre ad last night and had to take a photo to share with you all.

enjoy

that's what she said iphone application

so, last night a friend i was hanging out with kept throwing out the "that's what she said," line over and over. anyway, someone near us overheard and interrupted. it seems that he and a few other friends are developing an application for the iphone that'll deliver the line on request. i think they had four different versions of it you could choose from.

i talked to him abou thow it may be a little impractical to have to whip it out (that's what she said) and select the application and then push the button. he realized this, but said it could still be a cool little thing to goof with, like most of the iphone apps are.

so, be on the look out. it's coming to your iphone from fresno.

that's what she said.

flashback feature of back to the future

so, they've been showing older movies over @ the edward's theeeeeater one night a week, one show. tonight, they're showing back to the future. while i'm not all that excited about that particular film, i think i'm going to go. why? bloggeraderie.

i've met some cool folks through teh internets, and tonight's a chance to hang out, have a drink and a slice of pizza, and then watch a movie.

thanks to brodiemash over @ the dumb for instigating the get together.

i guess i'm sort of bakersfield famous

in other news, my blog post about seeing the homeland security bus got picked up by bakersfield.com, which it seems is a part of the bakersfield californian (their version o' the bee).

what's funny is that the comment thread spiraled out crazy about potential terrorist targets, repubs vs dems regarding terrorism, and other randomness.

tvlgfhf in the undercurrent

well, the cat's already out of the bag, adam & i are writing a joint column for the undercurrent. it's good to know people in the right places. they've listened to tvlgfhf and liked what we were doing enough to give us a chance to fill up about a half page of content.

we'll see how it goes. i'll be honest, it's a whole different can of worms than blogging or podcasting. blogging, i'm doing that solo, it's all my writer voice. podcasting, we play off each other and whatever guests we've had. so, figured out a way we think it might work, and hopefully it does. we're basically each covering half the space with fresno related content.

lars and the real girl

as we scanned the channels tonight we didn't see much that looked entertaining. fortunately, we had rented a few flicks a week ago from the neighborhood chain (they were due back yesterday). since i wanted to get the films back asap, we decided to watch the one that we hadn't yet seen, lars and the real girl.

when this movie was first being talked about, it seemed creepy and weird. the basic premise is that a guy has a real doll for a girlfriend and is passing her off as living. the film received praise from the critics but it still wasn't enough to get us to the theater. but, i was willing to take a chance on a rental.

this was a great film. it was funny, yet strange. and it had a lot of heart to it. i almost was weeping by the end. it's not sad, just touching.

the movie stars ryan gosling, who is a very good actor. i've only seen two of his movies, but i'm impressed with his talent. he is very convincing as a awkward man working through the issues of his life.

i highly recommend this film.

dinner review qn4u

so, i'd heard a lot of good things about qn4u. a friend of mine, who came with me, had previously eaten there and wanted to go back and try a few more things. we grabbed another friend and off we went. qn4u is sort of on the edge of old town clovis, and is kind of far from our part of town. no worries though, that's what they make cars for.

we were quickly seated and the waitress got us drinks in short order. in fact, the service on the evening was great. tons of refills, she checked on the quality of our meals often, and pretty much did everything to make sure we had a nice experience.

we started our meal off with the "pig candy" appetizer. they take little smokey hot dogs, wrap them in bacon, roll 'em in brown sugar and then bake them. ah, sweet decadence.

i figured i was @ a bbq joint, so i ordered the ribs, especially because they're award winning. full rack. i knew there was no chance i'd actually eat them all, but that meant leftover ribs would be in my future. it comes with two sides, and i went with sweet potato fries and beans. the portion size for the sides was appropriate, while the entrees are a bit excessive. but, we're americans, we like things big. i enjoyed the ribs. they were tender, but not quite fall off the bone. this helped because i was able to actually pick the ribs up and more or less suck the meat off them. good times.

my one friend ordered the texas tommie. it's a huge hot dog, probably around a pound, that's sliced down the middle, stuffed with cheese and green pepper, wrapped in bacon and then cooked. this massive dog comes in a roll, and a side. so much food.

my other friend ordered the bbq chicken, which is three large pieces, covered in bbq sauce. it also comes w/2 sides. he went with the sweet potato fries (copycat) and the cole slaw. the cole slaw was interesting as it had bits of apple and some other fruit along side of the normal cabbage and what not. his chicken was good, although i actually think he was a bit more impressed with the slaw.

so, from my experience:
good food
nice place
great service

visit to bakersfield

so, yesterday i rode the train down to bakersfield with two friends. we played cards the whole train ride, and even saw some weird stuff that one of them might blog about. why'd we go? well, my buddy needed to pick up his car from the shop. it's a super fly ride, and we had a blast driving around bakersfield in the 59 belvedere, and rolling back to fresno today. it's always fun when you're in a car that makes everyone stop and look, and not because you're obnoxiously loud or driving like a maniac. this thing has style.

anyway, we went out for the evening in downtown bakos, and hit some decent little spots. it's not home, but it was nice. while we were driving, i saw this:



okay, it's not a great photo, and all you can probably tell is that it's a bus. but the kind of bus is the crazy thing. it's a homeland security bus. huh? i didn't realize bakos was a potential target or a terrorist hotbed. i guess they need the swat style homeland security bus rolling through downtown bakersfield @ 10:30 pm.

a letter to evangelical Christians

dear evangelicals,
i want to say first and foremost i count myself in your ranks. that is, i believe in Jesus and His call to spread the good news (evangelize). i am evangelical in the small e sense, like most of you. those of you who actually belong to the one particular denomination that is called evangelical w/a big e, i'm not a part of that. but, i am a part of the big evangelical umbrella of Christianity.

however, i feel like i have to let you know some things. neither candidate is perfect, neither represents everything you believe. and, neither vp candidate does either.

since many of you have jumped on the mccain/palin bandwagon, i did want to let you know somethings that may be passing under your radar.

first, torture is not a Christian value. (A) "poll of 600 Southern white evangelicals was released Sept. 11 in Atlanta in connection with a national religious summit on torture. It shows not only are white evangelical Southerners more likely than the general populace to believe torture is sometimes or often justified, but also that they are far more likely—to tweak a phrase from Proverbs—to “lean on their own understanding” regarding the subject." that whole, do unto others thing as they would have them do unto you seems to be glaringly absent here. oh yeah, that love your enemies thing Jesus said a few times might be considered as well. if you don't want al queda, russia, or whatever other group out there to torture our soldiers, then we've got to stop torturing people first. that's the thing about the golden rule, it's you treat others how you want to be treated...first. you set the example. and, then, if they don't respond how you want, well, you return their hate with love. turn the other cheek. forgive. so, unless you'r saying that you want other people to torture our soldiers, tell our gov't to knock that crap off.

second, you might want to check more into mccain's positions on things that you've been very vocal on, like homosexuality. although he is against gay marriage, he's recently reached out to the log cabin republicans and indicated that he's willing to lift the don't ask, don't tell policy. here's quote about mccain you might also find interesting, "We're pleased Senator McCain is not attending the Value Voters summit,' said Patrick Sammon, president of the Log Cabin Republicans." so, they're good enough to fight and defend your country, just not get married in it.

third, stop saying that palin is for abstinence only education. she's not. although a 2006 gubernatorial survey said that was for abstinence only, she also said she wasn't a mere two weeks after that. while she thinks you should teach abstinence, it's not the only option. in fact, here are her words, "I'm pro-contraception, and I think kids who may not hear about it at home should hear about it in other avenues,' she said during a debate in Juneau."

fourth, if you're going to jump on a particular bandwagon because they're like you, remember that all of the candidates have openly stated that they are Christians. all four have said they are personally against abortion, although all four vary on how that would affect their public policy. and seriously, read obama's conversion story. it seems a lot more authentic than mccain's statements from just a year ago that basically said yes, i go to church, but that's a personal issue that i'm not really going to talk about. stop telling lies about how obama is secretly a muslim, and when you hear those lies, confront them with the truth.

i feel like i could go on forever. look, we're brothers and sisters. we don't have to agree on everything. i just want us all to stop pretending that one party is "our" party. both need to do a much better job caring for the poor, defending the weak, looking out for the fatherless and the widows.

sincerly,
ed

faculty meeting

ah, the joys of faculty meetings. yeah, i know. you don't care. i know i could gripe about every one of these for numerous reasons. here's my reason today: not everything needs a story. just because you have a story that relates doesn't mean we all need to hear it.

random musings

so, i was just going through life today and was thinking about tons of random stuff and thought i'd post a little here.

-man, i really dislike red light runners. i don't know if fresno has more than other places, or maybe the major intersections i go through get more, but damn! stop running the red light, especially you left turners. at one intersection 3 cars in one lane turned after my light turned green. that means yours has been red for at least a second.

-i saw a license plate that read i love my camry. how much do you have to really like a car to get your vanity plate about it. and a camry?

-i was subbing a class today and showed the movie 'freedom writers.' pretty good movie, well made. hillary swank has horse teeth. here's my deal about the movie: i know it's based on a true story, just like dangerous minds was (this isn't the problem). i find it problematic when the stories routinely done by hollywood are the old "whitey comes to the projects and saves the inner city kids." it's overplayed, and it maintains the idea that minorities can't do it on their own. but, that doesn't mean we can't tell the stories like freedom writers. i just worry that we only tell those stories.

simpons video in lego

yeah, it's been a little slow on the posts around here lately. so, when i saw this on boing boing, i immediately knew what was popping up on the blog. i loves simpsons, and i love people's takes on the opening sequence.



this guy won 40 whole dollars for doing this. hey, it's still cool.

(neatorama saw it before boing boing where i saw it.)

cindy mc cain's $300,000 outift

okay, i realize that everyone is wearing outfits when they're on screen @ the convention, but $300,000 seems like crazy money.

here's how vanity fair broke it down:
# Oscar de la Renta dress: $3,000
# Chanel J12 White Ceramic Watch: $4,500
# Three-carat diamond earrings: $280,000
# Four-strand pearl necklace: $11,000 to $25,000
# Shoes, unknown designer: $600
# Total: Between $299,100 and $313,100

maybe that's not how everyone rolls @ the convention. laura bush was onstage for a whole heck of a lot less:
# Oscar de la Renta suit: $2,500
# Stuart Weitzman heels: $325
# Pearl stud earrings: $600 to $1,500
# Total: Between $3,425 and $4,325



and no, this really doesn't mean anything about whether or not her husband is qualified to run the country.


in other interesting political developments, it seems that john mccain and sarah palin aren't on the same page with sex education. this is interesting to me because i'd heard that she was abstinence only. apparently, she's okay w/teaching about condoms, and mc cain isn't.

"In a widely quoted 2006 survey she answered during her gubernatorial campaign, Palin said she supported abstinence-until-marriage programs. But weeks later, she proclaimed herself "pro-contraception" and said condoms ought to be discussed in schools alongside abstinence.

"I'm pro-contraception, and I think kids who may not hear about it at home should hear about it in other avenues," she said during a debate in Juneau."

and in true hypocrical fashion, the conservatives have nothing to say,
"Other conservatives who have backed Palin, including James Dobson of Focus on the Family, declined to weigh in."

one more quote from palin on the issue, "No, I'm pro-contraception, and I think kids who may not hear about it at home should hear about it in other avenues. So I am not anti-contraception. But, yeah, abstinence is another alternative that should be discussed with kids. I don't have a problem with that. That doesn't scare me, so it's something I would support also."

september art hop

ah, the first art hop of the school year. city college students are out en masse viewing art as an assignment. i managed to actually motivate myself out of the house to see what other local artists are up to.

aurora, who i met @ my show @ cafe corazon, has a pretty cool show up over @ cafe corazon. she even got some good beehive press, as well as an article over on famous. some of my favorite pieces are drawn on the back of fresno post cards and look like a deck of cards but w/different hairstyles on them. she's get a good amount of work, mostly mixed media, that will be up all september.

over @ the cultural arts building on broadway i saw a few pieces that caught my eye, and it seemed that there were some new artists working in the space. one artist in particular reminded me of the work of another local artist. whatever, that doesn't help you at all.

i also checked out the more established spots and was really impressed w/one piece over at gallery 25. on the eastern wall there are several pieces, but one stands out. i admired it for a bit at a distance, and then moved in to see who the artist was. the name: l.k. papadakis. if you remember, i was moved by her work before, and did a little write up in january. assuming l.k. stands for linda kay, i really think she may fresno artist going right now. at least of ones that i've seen. i sort of want to meet her at a show and pick her brain a bit.

it's almost about time to head off for the post art hop show @ tokyo.

mike murphy and peggy noonan talk about sarah palin

um, wow. i don't know if it's rat's on a sinking ship, but listen to these two republican speech writers talk about the choice of palin for vp, thinking that their mics weren't on. let's just say that the language is a little salty, and maybe they're not for her as vp.



read the whole story here.

post art hop show - malcom sosa, brian kenney fresno, blake jones & the trike shop

what are you doing after 9:30 this thurday? i think i'll have actually gone to some art hop stops (shocking, i'm lazy) and will be heading to the post art hop show @ tokyo garden. this month's show features malcom sosa of rademacher, brian kenney fresno, and blake jones & the trike shop.

$5, 9:30 - and they're getting better @ starting then.

henry t perea & ashley swearingen podcast

the bee scooped tvlgfhf by actually asking and getting the mayoral candidates on a podcast. i'm listening right now, and man, it's a little slow starting but around 18 minutes in it really starts to hit, especially dealing w/prop 8.

when you've got an hour, give it a listen.

(and maybe i'll update some thoughts later.)

maybe i'm biased, but henry t is crushing swearingen right now.

downtown sky room vs cabo wabo fresno

lost in the sea of info about the cabo wabo cantina opening in fresno is the opening of something much cooler. well, in my opinion much cooler.

"The Sky Room at the Fresno Downtown Holiday Inn reopened to banquets today."
"Wednesday, the Fresno Advertising Federation will bring about 100 members to a lunch meeting."

however, it's not completely open...yet.

"The Sky Room is only allowing banquets until a minor problem with the dance floor is repaired. A section of the floor is raised slightly and needs to be fixed before the general public is allowed in, Van Orden said. He did not give a date when repairs would be complete."

trust, when it's open, i'm going. i'll watch the sunset, i'll scan the downtown skyline, and i'll have a drink or two. honestly, i'm hoping the environment is chill enough that we can record a future episode of tvlgfhg from there.

here's to hoping that the food is good, the service is great, and that the experience is just right.

palin on makes the cover of foreign affairs weekly

ah, the political season is upon us. it's not that it just showed up, but with the conventions it is definitely getting cranked up. i know i've got tons of thoughts on politics, but sometimes it's the humor that i really appreciate. someone was wondering what it would be like if politics were treated like celebrities, a la us weekly. here's their answer



i wonder if any of the local photoshop experts could whip up one of these for fresno?