terrible Halloween costume

dear asshole band,
it was not cute, cool, funny or whatever the fuck you thought it would be to wear columbine high t-shirts with bloody gunshot holes in them. it never will.

fay wrays, the sleepover disaster, geographer & fights monsters

looking for something good to do after halloween? or just because it's saturday? get yourself over to audie's olympic/club fred and see the fay wrays

11-01-2008 21:00 at Audie’s Olympic
w/ Silian Rail,
Geographer,
Fights Monsters,
and Sleepover Disaster.
Cost: $5.00
Fay Wrays, Silian Rail(SF), Geographer(SF), Fights Monsters (Bay Area), and Sleepover Disaster!!!!!!!!!!!

i paid $5 to see the sleepover disaster & light fm on thursday, and i'll probably pay another $5 to see them with the fay wrays.

staff meeting blues

so, i'm 30 minutes into a staff meeting, and the head of the school has been talking. that's fine.

what's not fine is the guy that came ten minutes late, that has commented on everything since he has been here, some things multiple times. there is about fifty people in the room, and I think fourty-six of them haven't said anything. take a hint buddy.

apparently, the daggers i've been shooting from my eyes haven't worked.

fresno rain

it's late, but fresno is giving me something beautiful to share. i'm sitting on my back porch, quietly listening to beautiful hip hop by ibid (from merced) and the rain on my metal porch roof. simply lovely.

halloween costume

so, like many recent years, i've put off coming up with a halloween costume until the last minute, or the last few minutes. at least i'm being slightly proactive and thinking about it today instead of tomorrow @ 8 pm.

i kinda want to do something fresno related. any ideas?

racial slur used against obama during palin speech

i'm a little suspicious of stuff on the internet sometimes, and so i can't guarantee that everything about this video is true. the additional audio could have been dubbed in, and of course the words on the screen have been added by the original poster

have a watch & listen:



if that video is accurate, and you're a politician making that speech you know to stop right there, go off your script, and condemn such language.

especially in light of stories like this one.

mac os problems?

dear computer,
i'm not happy with you right now. i would like you to stop crashing inexplicably. seriously, stop it.

your window makes me wonder

i saw this on the window of a truck the other day and thought i'd share



seriously? you think that little of your wife that you would put that on your truck for the whole world to see? and your wife put up with that crap?

coffee break for cafe corazon

damn damn damn. i read a post today over that made me pretty sad. my fav coffeehouse, the place i buy my beans, and some genuinely good folks in leo & liz are closing up shop for a bit.

it looks like i might still be able to get my fix, but the shop will be on hold for a while. hopefully. if possible, they'll reopen in 2 months or so.

much love out to leo and liz. although only casual acquaintances, i'm sad that the shop hasn't gone as well as they needed. here's hoping it works.

political attack ad against jesus

fusefest recap

i have to think the fuse fest was a smashing success. the venues were all packed, the bands were great and people were out and about downtown, spending money.

josh tehee, one of the event coordinators



cafe corazon during abigail nolte's set



milano during blake jones & the trike shop



the smokehouse during the suppressors



and a little video of the suppressors

campaigning in fresno

so, this morning i went precinct walking for henry t. perea. one of the first things i noticed was that most of these folks weren't "true believers," in fact most very uneducated about perea. that's not good.

to start out, the morning was a little bit of a rally, then some training and then walking. the political guy that was leading part of the meeting talked about a rate increase passed by council w/perea on it to slam swearingen. that doesn't make sense. btw, he looked like fogle/mcluvin from superbad.

in some ways, it was like a bad youth meeting, with very little training. the training we did receive dealt in a lot of stereotypes, which was odd to me because it's stereotypes about the group present, like hispanics have chihauhaus.

the actual precinct walking was pretty good. it was nice getting out, talking to people, and i'll do it again. in fact, i'm signed up to do it the weekend before the election. so, if you're interested, we can use more people.

btw, here's one way not to run a campaign:

joe the plummer

yeah, that phrase is already passe. stop effin saying it. when i hear them throwing it out on espn's nfl live, it's dead. dead.

fusefest - saturday, october 18

you may have seen this on the fresno internets, but i wanted to plug it again here. the fresno urban sound experience festival - fusefest.



2008 FUSE Schedule

Cafe Corazon
4:00 Scats on the Sly
5:00 Abigail Nolte
6:00 Bobby Joe Neely
7:00 David Aus with Andre Bush
8:00 Loveseats
9:00 Roger Perry
10:00 Wheels of Fortune

Milano
4:30 Rademacher
5:30 Blake Jones & the Trike Shop
6:30 Tokyo Death March
7:30 The Neptunes
8:30 It's an Icicle
9:30 It'll Grow Back
10:30 Fashawn

The Smokehouse
4:00 Hellaquent
5:00 Chuck Dimes
6:00 The Suppressors
7:00 Fay Wrays
8:00 Flywright
9:00 Brian Kenney Fresno

Tokyo Garden
10:00 Ibice
11:00 Javon Davis Band
12:00 Patrick Contreras


THIS SATURDAY
October 18th
10 bucks gets you into everything.


sadly, like many festivals with multiple stages, you've got to pick and choose who you'll see. i'm thinking i'm going to milano @ 4:30 to see rademacher, then blake jones & the trike shop, then tokyo death march. but, i'm probably going to leave mid death march to walk over to the smokehouse to see the fay wrays play @ 7. or, i might even leave before 6 to see the suppressors and their skankin music. 9:30 maybe find me back @ milano for it'll grow back, you got to love old school punk. local hip hop phenom fashawn is up after that @ milano, @ 10:30.

however, it's possible that i also might completely cut out before fashawn to head back to the tower district. there's a good show @ audie's olympic/club fred.



that's right, abigail nolte is playing with the sleepover disaster. abigail's playing @ the fuse festival, but it's mid-rademacher. so, i think i'll catch abigail & sleepover, and be almost close enough to throw a rock at my house.

things that i'm enjoying right now

every so often i like to run down some of the stuff that i'm digging:

-dear and the headlights - drunk like bible times. i'm not exactly sure how i heard about this band, but i am really enjoying this group. they have lighter indie sound, sort of poppy. they're catchy, fun, and worth finding. and really, how great is that album title, not to mention their band name.

-it's always sunny in philadelphia - this may be the funniest show on tv. I enjoy the office, but sunny is darker, more cutting, and gets away with a lot more stuff because they're on cable. if you've never seen an episode, go to hulu and watch as many as you can.

-fantasy football & the nfl - it's fall and that means football. i don't know what i did before ffl, but it makes football so much better and more interesting to follow. before, many of us just followed our team, now we're following everything. and, it gives more opportunity to talk smack.

- ruth's chris steak house - great restaurant that i wish i could afford to eat at more.

dinner review - hooters

so, i went to hooters tonight with some friends for dinner. i've never been to a hooters before, and i doubt i'll go back. the food was mediocre and the beers were pretty expensive.

also, the environment is really strange. outside of the waitresses, there were 4 other women in the restaurant. not that i need a lot of ladies in a restaurant, but it's sort of creepy being in a "family" restaurant with about 25 dudes, waitresses in bizarre shorts & tights, and three women.

however, the fried pickles were decent, although not something i could eat in large doses. they were, in fact, better than the ones @ sequoia. they were sliced thinner, so they weren't mushy like sequoia.

update on life

it's been a good run these last few days.

the fair was fun.

i sold a painting (check my seldom updated art blog). and, it's not just one of those, i want to buy that painting, which i've actually had a few times on this particular painting without actually finishing the deal. i've got a down payment, and am supposed to get the rest next week.

i subbed an extra class today and earned some more $.

die hard is on tv. sadly, it's only the tbs version, but of course i'm watching it.

he's a cat, flushing a toilet

fresno fair finale

today was the last day of the fair, and i was headed over once again, this time with some friends. sadly, not as much of crew could come as had initially wanted, but mike, adam and i had a decent enough time.

the first place we went was the junior's exhibits. as i wandered through the student art, which once again was better overall than the adult exhibit, i saw a drawing of a familiar face. ken wilkinson, grinning away at my. ken and i were seat buddies on the track bus when he was on the team, and i was in his wedding. adam lived in the same dorm for a year with ken, and mike knows him through all our friendships. funny stuff. and, you can't really tell, but the drawing is made up of all these little symbols, which is a cool touch.



adam and i were hungry, so we parambulated around in search of grub (not grubs). adam went witht the old fair corn dog, but i'd had one on my first trip to the fair so i didn't feel the need. instead, i went with a bbq beef sandwich. it was pretty good, but i actually had to eat a good portion of the meat out of the bun before i could actually eat it as a sandwich.



we saw dan taylor & warren armstrong from channel 30. yes, it's a terrible picture.



mike was super excited to see barack obama. obama seemed like a jovial enough guy, but he was a tad stiff.



after obama, mike ran into john mc cain. mc cain seemed a little sad, maybe because he's trailing in the polls as well in most of the pivotal states. from where i saw him, he also seemed a little wooden.



mike actually managed a tri-fecta by getting a pic with sarah palin. she's a little taller than i thought, but i only saw the picture. while mike was getting all political, i was talking to the guy from tuff sheds.



while i learned about sheds, adam ate a cinnamon roll. to keep up, i needed to find something to eat. i decided to go the healthy route, and ordered up some fried zuchinni. i only managed to get down 2 1/4 of the 4 that i had, and was a little ticked because i burnt the roof of my mouth.



after that, i decided to endanger the crowd with chance of a vomitous eruption on the swings. i love the swings. it seems every year the seats are smaller. or maybe i'm bigger. i don't know. perhaps i need less fair food in my life.



swings, check. at this point, i could pretty much go home. we wondered through one of the exhibit halls and i almost got sucked into buy the shamwow. pretty cool demonstration, seems like a good deal, but when would i use it. instead, i spent some money on a funnel cake. in fact, adam and i both had funnel cakes, which is a bit surprising since he'd already saturated his sweet tooth, whereas i was just rolling on grease.



damn it all if adam didn't come within two small bites of finishing his, where i quit with about a 1/4 left.

another fair, come and gone.

big fresno fair monday

tomorrow is the last day of the fair, and we're headed to it. you're welcome to join us after work for some viewing of animals, plants, etc. we'll also be eating some fair grub, and hopefully riding the swings.

sadly, we won't be visiting corin hoggard @ the channel 30 booth, his shift has been moved up to 12-3 or something like that.

obama rocks fresno + smog city roller grrls recap

so, we had a nice saturday downtown. the obama event was nice, although i suspect that they did not promote it very well because there weren't too many people there. but, the music was nice, the weather wasn't too chilly, and smoke bros provided some nice grub.

here's rademacher during their set




rademacher - robot show


rademacher - they are always into that


not everyone enjoys loud music



malcom sosa of rademacher delivering a message



unfortunately, we left the obama event during 40 watt hype. it's been a while since we've seen 40 watt, and i wanted to hear their grooves again, but alas, we wanted to get over and get seats @ the derby. i did get one of their songs on video though:



our favorite derby grrl, hari kari.




a jam from the match


the final score, not even close

fresno rocks obama + smog city roller grrls

so, we're about to head out for the day. first on tap, some good music, good people, supporting a good candidate.



after that, we're off to get our derby on.

downtown fresno friday

so, i needed to pick up some tickets for this weekend's smog city roller grrl match, and they are available for presale at many locations. but, you can only buy them with cash, so i needed to pick up some cash as well. being that i hadn't eaten lunch yet, i figured I could combine my trips. seeing that milano was one of the spots, and it's near my bank, i knew where i was headed.

now, i have eaten at milano a few times. i've only had pizza. today, i branched out and went for the meatball sub. it's a nice sandwhich. the sauce is tastey, and the meatballs are delicious. the only drawback is that they bread gets a little soggy, but that is probably the case in most every meatball sandwhich.

now, i'm off to cafe corazon for some coffee.

bumper sticker politics

so, i was driving home today and the truck in front of my had an eye catching bumper sticker. it read, "obama sucks."

profound. i hadn't realized that political discourse could be summed up with such brevity, clarity, and simplicity.

fresno filmworks gonzo

looking for something to do on this friday evening? like interesting stories? have you ever heard of hunter s. thompson?

well, check out fresno filmworks show of gonzo @ the tower theater




Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Friday, October 10, 2008
5:30 p.m. and 8:15 p.m.
The Tower Theatre
815 E. Olive Avenue, Fresno
$10.00 General Admission
$8.00 for Students and Seniors

obama rocks fresno

looking for something to do on saturday before the smog city match? why not take in a concert and show some support for our future president, barack obama?

"Fresno’s Music scene is revved up and ready to throw a fundraising party in support of Barack Obama: Obama Rocks Fresno!
This is the final push before this very important election to register new voters, raise funds for the campaign and get as many volunteers as possible involved to get out the vote in support of Barack Obama.
Celebrate a full day of music outdoors with your family and friends along with some of Fresno’s finest musicians.
Visit: www.FresnoForObama.com for more details"

the current band roster looks like this:
in order of appearance:
Terril Cross
Mariachi Los Viajeros
Lonesome Jem
Rademacher
Three Bags Full
40 Watt Hype
It promises to be a wonderful day of great local music!"

here's a final thing about the day i'm definitely digging:
"Food by Smoke Brothers Barbecue will be available for purchase."

fresno fair trip

quick question for fresno folks:
would you rather go to the fair on friday evening, or next monday evening?

friday - well, it's the weekend, so you don't gots nothing to do the next day. but, it's the weekend, so it'll be jam packed.

monday - well, it's monday so you have to probably go to work the next day. but, the crowds might be smaller, and it's corin hoggard day over @ the channel 30 booth so we can bother him w/signs demanding 'corin dogs' or whatever else.

thoughts?

earth, wind and fire at the big fresno fair

so, tonight we went to the big fresno fair to enjoy some sites, sounds and grub. and, we were able to get into the fair and the show for free, complements of the beehive.com.

we got there early-ish and checked out the animals. baby pigs = cute, pig crap = terrible smelling. move away quickly. after wandering around in the barn yard, it was time to head out for some food.

now, i'm almost always going to get a corn dog @ the fair. but, i was also planning on going to the fair more than once this year due to the free entrance tonight. so, the dilemma, do i eat a corn dog tonight, next time, or both? well, i decided to split the indian fry bread w/beans & cheese & some sweet potato fries. sadly, neither of these were that good. so, i didn't finish what i was splitting and went after the old standby corn dog. it was decent. i'm recommending the corn dog stand to the west of chicken charlie's.

to the show. when we sauntered into the paul paul theater an opening act was on stage. they were named strong mecca and were pretty cool. they had a bit of a p-funk feel, and were pretty nice. here's them on stage:



after strong mecca, there was a short break before the big show, earth, wind & fire. here's the stage getting set up:



and the band during the show:



you know, when a band has been around longer than you've been alive, it's probably going to be an older crowd. but who cares, i wasn't there to see them, i was there for earth, wind & fire. but, before i move onto the show, i do want to mention there was a high percentage of cougars and wannabe cougars in the crowd.

so, earth, wind & fire was fantastic. there one of those bands that you don't really realize how many of their songs you know. i admit, i don't own any of their albums, and yet i still knew a ton of the songs and had a blast. musically, these guys are very tight. well practiced, energetic, and you can tell they're having a blast as well. vocally, i can't believe how good and strong their voices are. really, these guys are better now than akon, t-pain or whoever the crap is out there now. and, they do it live and without any sort electronic aids.

when it was all said and done, they had played everything i wanted to hear, and we had a great time. thanks beehive.com.

one last thing, a picture of a funny cactus:

chile verde omelet?

dear al's cafe,
what looks wrong in this picture of my chile verde omelet?



would it be...maybe the...red sauce?

post art hop show review

some brief thoughts on last night's post art hop show @ tokyo:
the first band (i forgot their name) sucked. and sucked loudly.

the second band, low red land, was really good, albeit a little loud. i bought their cd and the things i liked about them like both guys singing multiple parts @ the same time, their lyrical content, the slamming guitar parts, and the groovy bass all sound much better when properly balanced @ the right levels. i'm not sure who's fault it was, but their set could have been e.q.'d a little better. but they still were good enough that i plunked down $10 for their newest cd.

the third band, rademacher, well, you've heard how i feel about them. they were good again, although i think they were slightly better on tuesday @ the partisan. i think it was a long week for them all, and so maybe they were a bit weary. but they did play a new song that was pretty cool.

october archop

"...an exhibit of artwork by architects and architectural work by artist, these works are linked by inspiration and process with a focus on form, light and texture."

so, i broke off a quick trip to arc-hop tonight. mainly, it's because my chum was showing 2 pieces. there were some nice paintings, but overall i felt the show was underwhelming, it didn't seem to stick to the idea that they wanted, and the large scrap sheet metal wall that was erected in the middle of the room distracted from the good art all around.

there was some art done by architects. and, there were a few structural/architectural work done by artists. but most of it was just artwork. some of it very nice artwork, but didn't fit well at all with the theme of the show. really, very little of the art done by the artists had any relation to architecture, in my opinion.

good idea, poor delivery.