Friday Unrelated Information

1. The Drum Doctor and his Literate Lady recently moved into an apartment in the swanky Avenues neighbor hood of SLC. Tomorrow, to christen their new pad, they will be hosting a housewarming party. Interestingly, it is starting mid-afternoon; to get the partying started early, I wonder, or to ensure its early end? I will have to find out.

2. Earlier in the day, the final door-to-door campaign push for west-side state-rep candidate Angela Romero will be going on. I am planning to participate, although the last time that I did a certain needlessly hostile former friend was there as well, emanating ice cold vibes and insisting to meet the campaign manager in a separate spot at the end of the walk - I suppose because, oh my god, I am just such a dangerous and terrifying person, she feels threatened being anywhere near me. I mean, god forbid, I might try to say "hello"...Oh, it would just ruin her day. I certainly don't need to senselessly torment myself, but I want to do all I can to push Romero to victory, even if that means exposing myself to another round of passive hatred from a delusional narcissist.

3. I have three new songs in the works: one is kind of a ska/punk number with some interesting changes, another is a lament for lovely girls that self-sabotage due to insecurity, and the final an ode to my so-called 'crazy' best friend Mr. Bombs. The final song is a little bit disjointed, with a distinctly different feel to the verse and chorus, which I think mirrors the theme of the lyrics - although Remodel Man just found it frustrating. I was showing the song to the band last week, and Remodel Man proclaimed "That was fucking confusing! Dude, I don't play math rock!". While I share his distaste for songs that are needlessly complicated or overly jammy, I think the song is an interesting mash-up of styles, with just a slightly unconventional structure...but, perhaps it will have to stay in my solo catalog...

Have a great weekend everybody, and don't let the haters bring you down!

Friday Unrelated Information

1. Last night Mom, Frog, and I sang karaoke at Pipa's Asian Tapas Bar. If you haven't been to Pipa, you are really missing out. They've won the City Weekly "Best of Utah" award for best Asian fusion, and it is well deserved. From standards like BBQ pork and lettuce wraps, to exotic dishes with shark and eel, Pipa is hands-down the best 'chinese food' I have ever ingested. You're life is sorely lacking if you haven't experience the culinary masterstroke of their Snowball Shrimp. The new karaoke night, Thursdays from 7-10pm, is a lot of fun too. I tore up The Cars' "Just What I Needed," Mom nailed "I Will Survive," and Frog even stepped up to do an especially accurate rendition of Garth Brooks' "Friends in Low Places".

2. Tonight, Genre Zero is putting on a very special dinner show at Sun and Moon Cafe. What is it that is going to make this show special? We're going to break out all of our current material, and maybe even a few of the newer songs that we've been working out. Also between our two whole-band sets our bassist, the legendary Remodel Man, will be performing a solo acoustic set. Following that, I'll be dusting off a few of my most personal and poignant songs, before the band rejoins me to crank out our dazzling electric set.

3. Though I don't attend any more, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't stop by The Peoples' Market this Sunday, for their annual Animal Appreciation Day. This has been one of the most enjoyable days at the market in past years, featuring dogs and cats up for adoption, various animal advocacy groups, and the pets of vendors and customers alike. Perhaps if a certain someone has cooled off enough to no longer consider my mere presence an act of harassment (as the police advised it could be construed - hence my lack of participation in the market this summer), I might even stop by briefly, as I am looking to adopt a kitten...

Have a great weekend everybody!

Do A Good Turn Daily

 

My preferred routine for writing this blog, typing it up earlier in the day following the first few cups of coffee,  was interrupted this morning by heading out to do a good deed. Frog and I had gotten word over the weekend that our close family friend was having car trouble - specifically, her sturdy grandma van wasn't starting. The problem had been ongoing, and even after getting a jump from our godly mutual friend, the battery would not hold a charge. 

She had planned to take the van to a mechanic, asking us only for a jump and a ride in to work. However, after looking the van over, we gauged that the most likely cause was simply a bad battery. We went ahead and gave her the ride to work, removed the old battery, and installed a new one. The Voyager roared its return to the realm of running automobiles, and I drove it over to the HUD apartment complex she manages. 

This lady is pretty selfless - working extra unpaid hours each week to go above and beyond in aid of the complex's mostly refugee population - and it was my pleasure to help her out this morning. I am an Eagle Scout, after all, and the 'scout slogan' is "do a good turn daily". Consider today covered!

Bored; Need Bombs

Well, I've been busy living the Tucson nightlife; band rehearsals, bar-hops, the Geeks who Drink Quiz. MadMatt has been kind enough to drive me around in his Volkswagon Bus-o-Awesome, Stella. Of course, my main man G Money has been carting me around plenty as well, and we've been practicing the songs at least once a day. Also, I wrote a new song about life on the road and it is inspired by all of my dear friends. It has been so deeply inspirational, humbling, and motivating to see so many of my closest and best people, even though we're now scattered across the country. Also, I have met a lot of really great people through my friends...and now we are all cross-country friends with each other!

Here is one of the old-gang reunion photos:

This already made the rounds on facebook, but, who knows...I might have to delete that again if I get too excited! You can see Matt's bus behind us.

 Also this week, Matt took me around showing me some of the best graffiti art around town. Tucson is pretty spectacular in that there are large swathes or town where you can't go a single block without seeing a psychedelic mural, a graffiti collage,  or some other excellent piece of art:

I really like how the artist used the decaying bricks as teeth! We're trying to put together a video (!!) to show off a bunch of the cool public art in Tucson, so keep your fingers crossed...

What a Weekend

Just a brief post this morning to recount some of this weekend's awesomeness:

* My dinner party was fairly successful; everyone seemed to really enjoy the awesome food.

* People's Market, despite a few hiccups, appears to be gearing up for a successful season. I spent some time helping them out at the Live Green Festival at Library Square, and their seedling swap & sale coming up a couple weeks has generated a lot of interest.

* The Chicken de Mayo show at The Garage was entirely awesome. I was on the guest list, first of all, placed there by my friends in No No Yes Yes. The first performer was Tupelo Moan, and they rocked the earth. No No Yes Yes did a great job, too. To finish out the night, The Chickens played some far out jazz that was really rad and very danceable. The crowd was great the whole time, a lot of dancing went down, and at the end of it all I helped the bands with the load out. Fun fun times for him.

* Sunday evening we went to a friend of the family's for outstanding, muy authentico carne asada and quesodillas, followed by Tres Leches milk cake. Deliciouso! My Spanish is no doubt misspelled and hopelessly broken, but the food was great. I also had a blast playing piano tunes with our host; he had learned a bunch of Beatles songs from a book of sheet music.

Now I have a couple of days to gear up for an awesome camping trip. More to come in the following days!

Getting my Rushmore on

Now that I am back in school, there is a lot more going on in my life to stimulate my mind and occupy my time. However, I am only taking three classes, and there is still a lot of empty space each week. I've decided to fill this with all manner of clubs and activities. I realized at the beginning of this semester that my last year or so at college is really my last chance to make a lot of hip young friends all at once. Now, this wouldn't be such an issue, as I prefer to maintain a small group of close friends whom I am truly devoted to...but, my small cadre of near-and-dears has managed to first implode and then evaporate right out of my life.

So, I am aspiring to get involved on campus, and to get to know others who are as well. This is a difficult task at my school. First of all, I transferred in as a junior, having already earned my associate's degree at the community college. This puts me at a social disadvantage, as my peers have already been going to school together for two or more years. Complicating matters further is the fact that I live off campus. The kids in the dorms even have a term for this, which I find has some derogatory connotations: "commuter". To make things even worse, I am attending a prestigious liberal arts college. The sort of students that go there are, by and large, eccentric weirdos and hipsters. While this is certainly more of my crowd than say, the lunatic sports fans who populate the public university, they aren't the easiest bunch to get to know.

I liken the majority of students at my school to New Yorkers - everyone walks around with their head down, in their own world. If you stop someone and engage with them they will perk up and be very friendly and helpful, but once this interaction is over and done with, they want nothing further to do with you and continue right back on their single-minded path. This is not to say that they are an anti-social bunch, but they are mired in what appears to me to be a rigid system of cliques and coteries, one that is particularly distrusting of outsiders.

I could go on and on (and often do) about how frustrating this is for me, a genuine, direct, no-nonsense person who honestly wants to get to know nice people for who they really are and build lasting friendships with them. Complaining, though, doesn't get anything done, so I have been (and will continue) taking action to get myself involved. I'll wrap up by saying: Look out kids, here I come!

Busy Weekend

Wow! What a holiday! First, great sunshine at the water-park, and continuing all day on Friday into my parents' big party.

Saturday was a blur...sleeping in, then prepping for the 4th of July celebration, where People's Market had a booth. We also ran a big sack-race that was a huge hit and had kids running in from all over the park to participate. I cut out before the big fireworks show...so I could make it home and head out with Better Living to a park up on Capitol Hill...where we watched fireworks going off all across the valley.

Sunday, the market was a blast, although I caught a lot of open hostility. Apparently, some people just don't have any manners (or class, or humility). It is okay, though...they are like a shadow to me now; an echo of a person. No sense letting one little shadow ruin a fantastic weekend!

And how about all of the SUNSHINE?

Friday Unrelated Information

1. Just saw Transformers 2 last night. All told, I was just as dissatisfied with it as the first live action Transformers movie. Too many human characters, doing too many stupid things, with too many stupid lines. I keep waiting for them to just REMAKE THE ANIMATED MOVIE, which was the apogee of animated action movies as far as I am concerned. I have read some hints online about introducing Unicron for the inevitable third Transformers movie. If only we are so lucky.

2. So what is this? Micheal Jackson is dead and everyone is *mourning* ?? Everywhere I look on the internet, it talks about people "mourning" his death. Is this really the right word? I don't mean to hate on the guy and his memory, or his music, but are we all supposed to wear black for a month and be sad because the "King of Pop" died? I don't know...it is always unsettling to me when a celebrity dies and the public and media talk about how it is a tragedy, but more so in this case.

3. Buy Local First Utah is starting their "Independents' Week" tomorrow to celebrate local businesses. They will be set up at the Downtown Farmers Market on Saturday, and more importantly, there will be a big hullabaloo Sunday at The Peoples' Market, involving silly games and contests with lots of prizes and giveaways.

Friday Unrelated Information

Taking (stealing) a cue from Better Living, I will reserve Friday posts for random bits of news, info, game talk, and stories that bear little or no relation to one another.

1. Warhammer 40,000 "Planetstrike". So GW came out with a new "expansion" for 40k, "Planetstrike", detailing invasions of planets from space. While that sounds awesome...I just don't know if it merits an entire new book. Also, and I might be wrong, I can't see there being a whole lot of new material in there. We already have drop pods, orbital bombardments, and deep-strike. Are there going to be rules for all sorts of *NEW* drop pods, orbital bombardments, and deep-striking? I guess I can see this sort of as the 40k version of Warhammer Fantasy castle sieges. Which are cool. But I'll bet there won't be, say, cauldrons of boiling oil for your Marines to pour down on the invading Tau. If they are going to put out this product, I would hope for it to have detailed rules/scenarios for sieges, boarding actions on enemy ships, amphibious assaults from the oceans, etc. We'll see.

2. Peoples' Market is in the lead! Apparently, someone nominated the Peoples' Market for a "Nickelodeon Parents' Pick Award" (I am assuming some parent). Now, anyone can vote online for best farmers market in salt lake city...and Peoples' Market has currently edged out the behemoth Downtown Farmers Market for the #1 spot! We're ahead 36% to 32%. So come on, you one or two people who read this, click the link and vote for Peoples' Market! You can vote multiple times; once per day.

3. North Temple / TRAX Community Planning. Last night I attended a "community planning workshop" addressing the TRAX line going in on the the west end of North Temple street going out to the airport. The Mayor and his crew have expressed their desire to turn this stretch of North Temple, home to the power plant, trailer parks, the famed Red Iguana, and some blight, into a "Grand Boulevard". So there we probably about 200 people in attendance, some of whom I knew (thank God), and we listened to different people talk about the TRAX project. It is expected to open late 2011 or early 2012 if I am remembering correctly. Then, we broke up into dozens of little "work groups", where we actually drew on nice big maps of the street what we would like to see. I was pushing for lots of greenspace, community gardens, a community supported agriculture urban farm, and of course several large, impressive 5-15 story office/residential buildings. Let us expand downtown to the West, across I-15, only instead of the empty lots and surface parking that plague the current downtown zone, we'll have green space and parks and gardens and farms. Sounds good to me anyway.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend. I won't get any gaming in, although I will probably have some painting time.

Valentine, signing off.