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Writers Blah… Part 2

Yep, still can’t get motivated to write anything….  Although I did start something on the turmoil in Europe yesterday. I may finish that today given the time.

Politics???? Meh! Kind of boring right now.  I’m sure something wi,ll happen soon enough that peaks my interest. But, right now, it’s boring me to tears.

There are some things I could write about.  For instance, I finally got a road bike, a used Trek 420, and am in the process of cleaning / fixing it up. Hope to have it road worthy for a little ride this week-end.

Also, I am leaving the 80’s band OutaTime. I know I haven’t been in it very long, but, things are happening to make it impossible to stay. Two people in the band  have side projects, me and the guitarist Rik. My other two are starting to get more work.  Between Rik and I, there will be very limited time for OutaTime band to get any gigs at all. And since we recently got a new lead vocalist and he’s still learning the songs, I figured this is the perfect time for a new bass player to come in and also learn the songs. We do have a gig lined up for June 3rd. I’m sticking around for at least that gig. They should have a replacement lined up by then.

On acoustic Highway – After the loss of Steve and Nancy Kuykendhall,  I thought Acoustic highway was kind of going to die on the vine. Anyone who has been in bands knows the signs. But, a funny thing happened on the way to our demise. After flirting with adding another guitarist, we decided to stick around as a four-piece. This means I will have to learn a few more songs, and write a few specifically for this band too. Chris Flores, our drummer, will get the chance to move out from behind the kit and play some guitar. That’s way cool, because he is actually a better guitarist than drummer, and he’s a very good drummer!   We now have several gigs booked for the summer, including playing for radio station KJWL at Art hop next month. That’s a cool gig! And getting more. For the first time in a while, I’m really exited about the direction Acoustic Highway is going in. Taylor Martin, my duo project, with our connection to Roger Perry, is also unexpectedly seeing more work.

So that’s what’s going on.

Caption This Tuesday!

I think there was a serious misunderstanding when they told Ang Lee they wanted him to direct the remake of the “Pissidon Adventure”!

After a particularly vigorous work-out this morning, Wang was feeling pretty stiff.

Mie always was good at keeping a stiff upper lip.

Asian Super-Hero’s have the strangest super powers!!!!

Destination – San Francisco!

Kim Kardashian to her sister:   “Meh… Kind of small, don’cha think?”.

Dammit Kim…  I said come to the party dressed as a cauliflower….   A  Cauliflower!!!     That’s not even close!!!!

A Serious Case Of Writers Blah….

I’ve been want ing to write something..  Anything!

But I can’t seem to find any motivation to write about anything.

Politics…. Meh.  It’s all the same.

Dan Savage…. Meh…. He’s gonna do what he’s gonna do.

The fact that my battery charger I bought last year has already died….  OK. But who cares.

The only thing that bums me out right now, it the news that iconic Fresno bowling alley Cedar Lanes is not  only shutting its doors, but is apparently being torn down.

What a drag.  Will have to go bowling there one last time before the take the ‘dozer to it, and implement my now famous between-the-legs shot!

Televised bowling was pretty big in the 70’s. Here is some old video of the Fresno Open, a bowling tournament. Who knew Fresno was in Southern California!

I have some recent video of my new band playing at Cedar lanes a month ago. I’ll post it when I get the chance.

Silly Quote Of The Day (and meme alert)

Brought to you by…. Newt!

“Marriage between a man and a woman is at the heart of our civilization.”

Um… Nope. Definition of Civilization is

“An advanced state of intellectual, cultural, and material development in human society, marked by progress in the arts and sciences, the extensive use of record-keeping, including writing, and the appearance of complex political and social institutions.”

• Did marriage increase mans intellectual state?

Nope.

• Did marriage cause an increase in either art or science?

Nope… Though sometimes art has been inspired by ones mistresses or forbidden loves!

• Did marriage spur the need for extensive use of record-keeping?

Nope….  Or at least not until prenups and divorce became more common.

• Did marriage induce the appearance of complex political and social institutions?

You know the answer.

Civilization does not suddenly go away if marriage suddenly did not exist. Civilization grew as a result of homo-sapiens ability to do things, such as refine agricultural techniques for instance, which diminished nomadic societies and allowed a greater number of people to be fed, which allowed a larger and larger number of people to live in one tribe, which freed more people to specialize in tribal responsibilities and created the conditions and the impulse to “civilize”.

It’s Monday…

… And I don’t mind.

Gonna go work.

Then come home and get my bass on! Playing a couple of bass songs at open mic tonight.

YouTube Banter – Heart-felt.

Someone on the Overkill video wrote this concerning the death of Men At Work’s Greg Ham.

I cried for strangers today and I don’t know why. Perhaps memories of my youth. Perhaps there is some majik when we are moved by another. The impossible knowing that they are on your side. May the creator find you willing and free.?

I know this. I get teary eyes when I listen to sad or touching songs that never used to affect me in this fashion. Part of it is thinking of the inevitable, when I’m going to have to mourn for the passing of a favorite artist – Paul McCartney, Simon or Garnunkel, Judith Durham, either of the Finn Brothers – when one of these great music influences go, I’m going to be devastated!. It all just brings our mortality a little too uncomfortably close.My mind often thinks that I’m younger, but the various little aches and pains in the body says otherwise. Granted… I’m not “OLD”. But I’m not young either. I hate the thought of our mortality, and more selfishly, my mortality.

Dying sucks!

But, even when I was a kid, I understood it as a natural part of life. It’s what we do.

Strange thoughts. I just realized, as kids, we understand the life cycle’s end long before we realize how we were brought into this world, i.e. sex. Only later after the single digit years do we come to grasp intellectually and physically the tremendous drive that creates us, dominates our life and kind of screws us up for so many years thereafter! We understand our end before our beginnings. Seems that should be the other way around.

What a strange and wonderful way things work out!

PS. Who is Judith Durham you ask? Only one of the finest voices ever to have existed on the planet, thank you!!!!

I cut my musical teeth? on this stuff. My brothers, sisters, and I used to sit around the kitchen table and sing together to this, Simon and Garfunkel, Kingston / Chad Mitchell Trios and anything else with harmonies in it. Though, as a musician, I’ve play so many different styles of music, these are my roots. To the Seekers and all the other influences – Thank you for teaching me how to think music, and be music.

PPS. And here’s a live performance.

See kids, this is how the grown-up do it! No auto-tune in existence. We had to learn to do it right when it counted! Love the newspaper hats too! Won’t that at concerts much anymore!

Fresno = Porn!

Haven’t done a “Fresno In The News” item in quite a while…. So here we go!

And it’s about “porn“!

This is even getting reported in New Zealand! We’re world famous!!!! Doesn’t get much better than that! Probably might as well retire this entire tag, as I doubt I’ll ever have anything to report on that can top porn!

PS. When you get into the details, there isn’t any porn per see. It’s just another Santorumite wanting to dictate morality and control our lives.

Fraud Alert!

I just got this in my email. It’s complete with Verizon Wireless graphics:

Your current bill for your account is now available online in My Verizon

Total Balance Due: $1706.74

Keep in mind that payments and/or adjustments made to your account after your bill was generated will not be reflected in the amount shown above.

> View and Pay Your Bill
Want to simplify payments?

> Enroll in Auto Pay
Thank you for choosing Verizon Wireless.

One little problem…. I don’t have Verizon Wireless.

I’m sure this has been out there for a while, but it’s the first time I’ve seen it. The links provided on the page are not letting me access the page. If i were using a Windows machine, that might be different. I am on my Linux computer, so I’m safe from any virus that might be attached to the e-mail or links. Regardless… Be warned. I’m sure there are a few people who might have gotten scammed in this fashion.

The Hillary Rosen Kerfuffle!

I’m sure you’ve all encountered some of the blow-back from the careless comments made by former RIAA lawyer Hillary Rosen about Ann Romney. If you haven’t hear the comments, here’s the video:

In a conversation on Facebook, someone wrote this about the core of Rosen’s premise:

“A stay at home mom, married to a billionaire, really shouldn’t be speaking on working women’s issues.”

As my Mom says…. “If you don’t “should” on me, I won’t “should” on you!”

(God I love my Mom sometimes)

From my POV, there is no reason why she shouldn’t be able to talk about it. Example – I’m not married, and I can not get married here in California, at least not to the person I wish to marry. Does this mean that I shouldn’t be able to say anything or talk about the topic? Now, you can say she doesn’t have the same perspective as an out-of-the-house working mom just as I don’t on actually being married, but, even then, sometimes looking at things from the outside gives you a perspective that an insider might miss.

Next:

“It is now being taken way out of context”

Oh, those of you who know me know that is a very BIG bugaboo of mine – taking things out of context. But, having just relistened to Rosens entire comment, even in its entirety, hers is a dumb comment and not out of context. Sometimes you get reporters who lead a guest to a spot where they are lured into a stupid comment. That’s not the case here. Cooper did not lead Rosen to the attack on Mrs Romney. Rosen initiated it. And it’s worse, because Mitt, with his statement, was obviously pandering, and using his wife to do so. Had Rosen stuck to the main focus of the question, Mitt’s pandering, there would not be the backlash.

It’s not as if Ann Romney has never stepped out of the house and never talked to business people and working women when she was either First Lady of Mass and doing charity work, or that she doesn’t have friends and or relatives who speak to her about such things.

I’m a trained teacher. I hear a lot of people level criticisms at the teaching profession. Some of those people not only have never been teachers themselves, but they don’t have kids as well. Some of the criticisms annoy me, because, having experienced the teaching environment personally, I know that some of their criticism is off base, sometimes ridiculous. But, even though there is no connection to the profession, some of it is still none-the-less valid.

I have no problem criticizing any politician when he or she is pandering, which Mitt was doing with his original comment. And it was clumsy, as usual. But what Rosen did, in order to score some political points, was akin to throwing fellow woman Ann Romney under the bus. And here it’s worse, because Mrs Romney wasn’t even in the road, but was a pedestrian on the sidewalk, and Rosen had to swerve to nail her!

White Water Rapids….

Here we come!!!!

Did this last year. It was spectacularly fun!

Hopefully, Greg will stay in the boat this year, and not lose his hat to the river!