Sunday Sunny Sunday

Considering it was the one Sunday a month that I get off, I knew I couldn't waste it. And waste it I did not, although wasted I was. Starts off with a club run in the morning followed by an afternoon Nini's with Jarles, Gavroche and Glace's friend Jen from the East Coast. I'm still feeling the late evening at the I from Saturday, so I start off with Katie's special, and I'm not talking about the breakfast sandwich....straight to Mimosa. It's midway through said Mimosa that Glace enters her, "we should go get drunk today" spiel. This isn't the first time she's played this game.

We decide that given the weather and her visitor, heading to the city is certainly what we should do. Around 3 Jarles, Gavroche, Arturro, Jen and myself head up there, loaded with two travel mugs of Rodkas, and start off at Zeitgeist. Out on the patio, we kill a few drinks, a j, and start up a lively conversation with two guys, one of which happened to be at the Throw Me the Statue show the night before. We chat it up for a while, Gavroche going full bore into his MMM speech, and after a bit more networking we take off for Dolores Park. On warm sunny days in the city, nothing brings out the people like Dolores Park. Everyone's on the grass, drinking, smoking, throwing frisbees, listening to music, dancing and generally kicking back. A beautiful scene. Mau and VMez have joined us at this point, and I sneak off for a few to meet up with The Choosy, T, Tri and a few others who are on the other side of the green. I feel like I have two families.

It's when I'm back with family 1 on the green that I bring out the shots of Patron I had been hiding in my backpack. Glace and I split one and the afternoon gets immediately warmer. We decide it's time to head on, and walk to the Dolores Park cafe where Mau goes inside to use the restroom and the rest of us start debating cab rides to the Marina. The next 30 seconds are probably the quickest decision making I've seen from a group of people.

As we agree we need cabs, and that we'll need two, at that exact moment we see two cabs, heading in opposite directions on 17th. I whistle at one, who sees us and stops, and then I whistle at the second one, who also stops. Of course, they've both stopped at almost the exact same spot, in opposite directions, on a green light, blocking traffic in both directions as we all run and jump randomly into the cabs. But Mau is still in side, Gavroche recognizes this, and all of a sudden, both cabs are driving away, Gavroche is standing on the sidewalk, and we have absolutely no idea about where to tell the cab driver to go. Glace calls Chaz who can't stop laughing on the phone because we just went from standing to in two separate cabs with no set destination in about 20 seconds flat. We decide to meet over in the Marina.

Once there, we take to the green for some frisbee throwing and general sunny laziness. The current mood of the group is pretty faded, as we've been consistently drinking beer, vodka and tequila for the last several hours in the sun. It's time for dinner now, so we head over to Betelnut, who tells us there will be an hour wait, and then skip over to Osha, which can seat us immediately. I sneak away from the table, run down the street and eat a burrito. I order it standard...steak, sour cream, guacamole, cheese. The lady making it is a traditional woman from the looks of her, and when she sees my ticket, I see a look of disdain on her face, and she shakes her head back and forth disapprovingly as she puts the cheese down. I've never been ridiculed for my burrito choice before by the person making it. It's a new perspective...

Back at Osha, it's more drinks and some great food before the cabs take us back to the car and the car takes us back to B-Game. I watch tv while finishing the last mini bottle of Patron...up next...IOWA!

Better Make It Random

After the track meet on Saturday, I have no idea what I'm going to do. Za's on a plane for Seattle, Chaz and Gavroche are at a private birthday party, T's got no set plans, Glass is coming back from Marin and Topher is out at the Giants game. Due to all of these early plans, no one knows what they're doing later, which makes my plan planning a bit dicey. I've talked to PSoo who is on his way over to Elbo Room, so when I get into my car around 10, I decide to meander towards there and see what comes up.

And sure enough, something does. Turns out there's a Throw Me the Statue concert at the Bottom of the Hill that not only had I not heard about, but also wasn't sold out yet. I jet over there immediately and run into KFer, Da, Gavroche, Jarles, and about half of the remaining population of CSU. Bottom of the Hill is where I got to see Ratatat a few years back, and what a good venue for a smaller show and a band of friends. TMTS rocks through a solid set, and afterwards we kick it around for a while. Afterwards, a group of us splits off to go home and the rest of us head over to meet E at the I where the nightly celebrations are in full swing. I won't go into details here, but I will say that E has told me for a while that it's my destiny, and he's starting to look correct about that.

As I leave the club, I start walking to my car to head over to the crepe stand. I put on my music and start dancing in the street, moving towards my car. About 6 blocks down from the club, I realize that the silver cigarette case I carry with me, that has the last j of the evening in it, is not in my back pocket where it's supposed to be. I freak. I backtrack. I walk back to the club and turn around, walking slowly looking along the ground, getting more and more infuriated with the idea that not only did I lose the case, but I lost the last j that was in it. I spend about twenty minutes looking for it before giving up and realizing that I can't let it spoil what was otherwise a very good night. I want to throw something until I get back to my car and find it there, right in the sidedoor where I left it. I spend the car ride from Broadway to the crepe stand dancing and celebrating profusely.

I get to the stand and bury a strawberry/nutella/coconut before heading home. Another night well played.

Birth-Day-Me

Friday night is supposed to be a quiet one. I've got an early track meet on Saturday, so the idea is to go out briefly to celebrate Bini's birthday and then get in bed before I turn into a pumpkin. Half of that goes as planned. Hessica and I scoot up to the city around 8, and head to Do-Re-Mi, a karaoke place in J-Town. When we arrive, I'm immediately taken off guard as the place feels like a cross between a karaoke bar, a brothel, and that scary dungeon place in the movie Hostel. You walk in and there's a guy behind a counter in front of a long hall way with doors on both sides, all closed.

In each room are a bunch of couches, a tv and a karaoke machine set-up. Bini's there (complete with an awesome shirt that proclaims she's, "Better than a vibrator"), along with -Barbara, T, Tri, Za, McButter, Windy, Marge, Bini's brother, Xena, Cattastic and a few others. While I love the group, the karaoke songs start playing, (complete with very odd and absolutely unrelated video clips), and I feel like I've awoken in a sort of personal hell. But what's awesome is that not only is everyone in the room into it (and you don't have to share your karaoke with random strangers), but the place allows you to bring your own food and drink, so everyone proceeds to get boozed. We get a stern talking to at a few points when the attendant walking by outside sees alcohol bottles and tells us to put them away.

At 10, our stay there is over (you book the room by the hour), and the group is on to a dance club to continue their evening. This is when I'm supposed to go home, but we've told Hopper from the LoveShack that we'd swing by the AIDS benefit the I-Vibe crew was putting on with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence over at the El Rincon in the deep Mission. We arrive there and while it's not at all crowded, it's got the same positive and smoke friendly vibe that the Lark is known for on Monday nights. If being out past my bedtime wasn't enough, Hessica buys me a few drinks, and by the time we leave the club, it's late, I need a crepe, and I get about four hours of sleep before heading out to Pacific Grove.

10 Things to Think About on a Friday

What a week! From Skylarkin' on Monday, Ultimate on Tuesday and Wednesday and Colibri on Thursday, it hardly seemed like a week at all. And now, looking forward to a birthday party, track meet and one of the rare Sundays without an open house, I'm pretty excited for the weekend. As you get excited for yours, here's 10 things you can think about...

1) Hard to believe that a bunch of police officers can shoot an unarmed man 50 times and not be found guilty of anything.
2) Ever seen a penguin in a wetsuit?
3) Passenger 57 is soon to be Prisoner #.....
4) If a politician can't defend the water board technique to a 20 year old college student, how do you think he sounds to the rest of the world?
5) Here we go again...more religion in the classroom. But did he really brand crosses on the students?
6) Would anyone ever leave a bar to hook up if they had these? Of course they would, but it's still interesting to think about...
7) This might make me switch from Rodka's (or Raging Bulls as some call them) back to Long Islands...I'm not trying to die from energy drinks!
8) If you're looking for an early Christmas gift idea for me, this could be good...
9) A lesson Paul, George and Ringo learned many years ago...don't fuck with Yoko Ono or the Beatles' copyrights.
10) I wonder, if because they're rich, politicians think that 600 dollars is a lot of money for us little folks, and is actually going to do something to boost the economy. I know mine's going to gas...

Be good to each other!

April iPod Update

{for complete music related posts, see .Evolving.Music}

How do you organize yourself and your music listening when you add somewhere between 50 and 150 songs, MixMatchMusic style, to your collection every month? That was the issue confronting me at the beginning of this year as I reflected on 2007 and saw that sometimes my iPod updates and music purchases (yes, I still purchase music) were erratic and not organized to the best possible use. With that in mind, I concocted a new system this year. As I add songs throughout a month to the library, they stay there. At the end of the month, I organize several playlists...album specific lists that are titled "A: Artist-Album," and an overall update titled "A: Month Update" that includes all songs added since the last update. Then, at some point during the month, the new playlists go onto the iPod, and the old ones are retitled "B:" which keeps the newest stuff at the top of the playlist while also retaining the older updates further down the line.

As it isn't always possible to do an album review for every one I pick up, and I get some amazing music in the course of a month, I've decided it might be beneficial and fun for all if I start a monthly post, "What I'm Hearing," glossing over and talking about some of the music I've been listening to that's good for your ears. With that in mind, here's some information about the April iPod Update...

First, I should start by saying that the 80s revival that has been bubbling up for a while now is most decidedly here. I've noticed, for the past 8 months or so, a steady and heavy influence of 80s synths, drums and instrumentation coming back to the music scene. And in the past 4 months, I've heard an increasing number of groups picking up different styles from the 80s and tweaking them just enough to retain that wistful electronic feel of some of the better songs of the era while omitting some of the more foolish and unlistenable aspects of the original genre.

The Beatles, Let It Be: Sure, it's an old album, and granted most people think of The Beatles now as that quaint collection they have in their library but rarely get into anymore, but delving back into this late album of the most influential band in history (yes, you read that right), offers quite a few gems that have matured over the years. For a while I thought of Let It Be as the weaker younger brother of the other albums, notably Revolver, Abbey Road and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. But hearing these original songs again after so many remakes of most of them (see the I Am Sam soundtrack, Pleasantville soundtrack and others) gives them a fresh perspective. The simplicity of the songwriting meshes perfectly with a group obviously quite comfortable with their musical abilities at this point in their careers. Don't Sleep On: "I Me Mine," "Dig a Pony," and "Two of Us."

To see what else I'm hearing now, go here.

IFPI Screws Musician!

{for all music related posts, see .Evolving.Music}

In an interesting tidbit of musical news today, the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), has been caught with its hand in the same virtual cookie jar as the RIAA found itself a few weeks ago when it turned out none of the legal proceeds from lawsuits was ever actually going to the artist. In an attempt at a lawsuit on the ubiquitous bitTorrent site Pirate Bay, the IFPI attempted to include the Swedish rapper Max Peezay as someone who had been cheated out of his rightful profits. The lawsuit sought financial compensation to Peezay for his "stolen" music. Sounds like a recording industry union going to bat for an artist they represent, right? Wrong.

Turns out, IFPI doesn't own or have any hold over any the rights to Peezay's music, and Peezay, whose lyrics often support file sharing, never wanted to be included in a lawsuit targeting a file sharing site. In fact, he was never approached, nor asked about his desire for involvement, and has informed the IFPI of such, effectively eliminating him and their claim for $19,000 in lost revenue for his music from their $2.5M lawsuit. The best questions are these: (post continues here)

Pennies From Heaven

This I had to file in one of the "ironic moments of my life" bin...I hate pennies. They're tiny, hard to count, worth almost nothing, and actually cost the government money because it takes 1.7 cents to make a penny (yes, that means every year we lose millions of dollars on pennies not because they disappear in couch cushions easily, but because we pay more than they're worth for them).

Due to this hatred, I've come to throwing pennies away. I throw them in trash cans where they will never be found. I throw them on the ground where other idiots can stop and pick them up. I've even tried feeding them to stray pigeons for personal amusement. So with all I do to combat the existence of pennies in my life, when I returned to my parked car the other night in San Francisco, I couldn't do anything but laugh when I saw this image right outside the driver side door....almost like God said, "you don't want pennies?! Here! Take 'em!!" And no, curious reader, I didn't pick any of them up...

Exploring

After spending all day in baking heat at a track meet, 7:30 pm on Saturday saw me jetting home, showering quickly and doing the fastest scrub to black tie turnaround known to man. After getting home around 7:45, I'm shaved, showered, tuxedoed, rolled up and two drinks deep by the time I hit the city at 9.

The event of the evening is a company party for Glass. They've invited close to 1,600 people to dress black-tie, come and enjoy free food and a completely open bar (well, to be honest, throughout the venue there were about 15 open bars), all at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. For those that haven't been to the Exploratorium, it is a gigantic warehouse style building housing all manner of very fun and cool scientific exhibits and hands-on activities. It's basically a very large playground for kids. But when you turn the middle into the dance floor and then allow a bunch of inebriated adults to roam around, there's no telling what's going to happen.

We get there about an hour late due to my late arrival, and Glass does not shy away from walking in the first entrance she sees, which happens to be the caterers' entrance. We get inside and people are everywhere with food and drink in hand. The food ranged from shrimp and sushi to meat platters and main courses. The bar was completely open with just about anything you would want to drink. Seizing on the opportunity, I tell the first bartender I see to take me to that Island I like....the Long Island. We mix and mingle for a while, sporadically playing games or fooling around with the numerous exhibits available. The DJ is sick, playing almost exclusively mash-ups, the variety of which is impressive even to me.

As the evening winds down, they start closing up the place and everyone pours out into the street to grab cabs to the next destination. Turns out the company has set up guest lists at a number of clubs so I call Maurod who takes us over to Gravity where the place is packed, mainly with people still wearing their tuxedos and masks from the party. We last about 15 minutes there before we decide to get out of the stuffy corporate atmosphere and head over to meet E at the I. Never a bad idea. Of course, in my tuxedo, I do look a bit out of place, but E seems to enjoy this. We get there a bit before last call, pound a drink and get back with Maurod to take us back to the Marina where it's Pizza Pino at 2 in the morning.

Yes, that's me drinking water from a toilet bowl, and no, I wasn't drunk at this point...they had a series of "mental challenges" that included a water fountain in a toilet bowl, a ladder to walk under, etc...meant to show that some people will shy away from these things due to superstition, even if they know from the set-up that it's safe. I obviously don't have these types of concerns...

10 Things to Think About on a Friday

Here we are again...and this time it's the dreaded Friday before Tax Day. But, I'm going to avoid the urge to rant and rave against the IRS (sons of bitches), and simply give you 10 things that you can ponder as the clock ticks closer to 5pm...

1) Considering the evidence, I guess it's a good thing this guy was a principal at a Elementary school rather than his preferred age range of high school...

2) Are people really dumb enough to pay $100 for a shot of coffee made from cat feces?

3) Let me get this straight...Bush wants us to fight terrorists "over there so we don't have to fight them over here," yet wants to bring one of the most deadly and contagious diseases known to livestock from a secure island where it has operated safely for years over to the mainland, near cattle? This makes sense how?

4) Is the approval of torture by almost every cabinet member under Bush really a surprise to anyone?

5) First off, what is a 13 year old doing at a tanning salon? Secondly, why's he going three times in one day? Finally, they don't make tanning salons have staff on site?!

6) To protest, or not to protest, at the Olympic games?

7) I love how this actor, who played R2-D2, gets sick, and the only picture they post in the news is of R2-d2...

8) Is this the beginning of the end for Windows?

9) How much can a swimsuit help in your quest for Olympic gold?

10) And if a swimsuit can help you win gold, can a buried t-shirt stop you from winning the World Series?

OutKast's Big Boi Does Ballet

Imagine the well-heeled, tuxedoed crowd of ballet sharing a sip of champagne with a group of hoodied hip-hop heads ready to crunk. This could very well be the scene in Atlanta, GA tonight at the Fox Theater as Big Boi of the Outkast launches his first attempt at a ballet show.

That's right, you read me...Big Boi of OutKast has teamed with a ballet troupe in Atlanta headed by Lauri Stallings to bring together a fantastic mixmatch idea in the form of bringing Big Boi's hip-hop music into ballet with a show called "big." Fresh off his musical turn in Idlewild, Big Boi was approached by the ballet, and the show that will combine hip-hop and ballet, dancers and audience, is set to kick off tonight with the encore being Boi's new single "Sir Lucious Leftfoot Saves the Day."

The idea is not just to bring a new media look to classical ballet, but to help cross-pollinate the fans of the two, introducing hip-hop to classical ballet lovers and introducing those dance watchers to the vibrant world of hip-hop. The dancers are calling it different from anything they've done before, which I can only imagine is incredibly true. How many ballet dancers have you seen leaping off the stage to crank it in the audience? Whatever the outcome, the fact that Big Boi is willing to branch out into ballet, and Ms. Stallings is brave enough to attempt to choreograph it makes this an endeavor worthy of some attention in a MixMatch world.

MLB '08: The Return to the Park

So what if Barry Bonds doesn't play for us anymore? What do you care that we have a 2-7 record? This is baseball season people! It's about being outside, watching some overpriced players and drinking beer as much as it's about winning, losing and home run chases! While I thought that Thursday would be my first game according to my season tickets, yesterday I got a call from my Dad who had found two free tickets and a parking pass on the bulletin board at work.

Even better is when you find out the free tickets are 16 rows off the field. Combine that with an extra innings win and a walk off home run, and you're talking Spring! Now...about resigning Bonds...

Lollapalooza iTunes Mash-Ups?

{for complete music related posts, see .Evolving.Music}

In a press release today, I read a most interesting thing about the long-running mega music marathon known as Lollapalooza. Founded in 1997 by Perry Farrell to say good-bye to the legend of Jane's Addiction, the tour stalled out on the national level to be revived in a format similar to Bonnaroo, Coachella and this year's Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco. While not a multi-day festival like these, the Bridge School Benefit has been doing much the same at the Shoreline Amphitheater for more than 20 years now.

Of course, the most frustrating portion of these festivals is the opportunity to see a wide variety and assortment of acts, and then never hearing their music or their collaborations again. In recent years, Bridge School has started recording and releasing acts by the artists, but it seems to me that in this day of high quality live recording and digital distribution, it shouldn't be that difficult to release an entire live set from one of these festivals a few days after it ends.

For the charitable festivals (Outside Lands/Bridge School), this can increase the revenue poured into the cause, and for artist-centered festivals, it can help increase their revenue from the show. But really, it's the unique collaborations that happen on stage between dissimilar artists that are usually the highlights of these shows. Tom Waits performing with the Kronos Quartet at Bridge School, Tom Petty sharing the stage with Neil Young. These are musical moments that are incredibly memorable to the audience ("Man, you should have been there when X and Z performed together!") but retaining the way it sounded in your mind is much more difficult over time. This post continues here.

Welcome Back Ultimate!

It's spring and daylight savings time...and that means not only the return of baseball, but the long awaited return to Ultimate Frisbee season. Sure, I play winter league in SF as well, but the games are cold and you're lucky if you play more than 5 due to the constant rain-outs that plague the league. So now, it's back to sunny daylight ultimate in SF (SFUL.org) and San Mateo at the sloppy but oh so fun San Mateo High game on Wednesday nights.

In an effort to bring my level of play in the SFUL league up, I decided that 33-37% of my team's total offense that I've averaged the last few seasons (goals and assists divided by the total number of goals scored over the season) was no longer acceptable for me. I decided I wanted to bump that up to the 40s range. Through two games...Game 1: In a 13-7 win, I scored 6 and assisted 1. Game 2: In a 13-7 win, I scored 8 and assisted 1. Total offense percentage through two games...61.5%

But really, it's about getting out there and throwing the disc around for me. I somehow rarely feel as free as when I'm chasing down a long huck to the end zone, making a cut that breaks someone's ankles, diving to knock down a pass on defense or getting up over a defender for a catch (yes, that's a picture of me...) The sun on my back, the blue sky above, the fresh smell of grass and a frisbee floating down field. This is ultimate.

Warm Glass

Saturday, following another brutally long day at a Livermore track meet, I made my way up to the Marina for Glass' housewarming party. Recently moved in from corporate housing to a private apartment for her and the beast Dixon, Glass was ready to warm her apartment with friends and family...and it got warm.

I show up about two hours late to find everyone significantly buzzed and taking shots of Patron. Unfortunately, a Jack in the Box breakfast (chicken strips, bacon cheddar potato wedges, double bacon Western cheeseburger) and a Taco Bell dinner (two taco supremes, two beefy cheesy melts), the idea of taking shots was not in the realm of possibilities for me.

Glass, her two brothers, Hay and numerous co-workers and friends I hadn't met yet were in attendance. At about 11:30, after having talked for about an hour about going to dance somewhere, we actually manage to start moving out of the house. We decide to head down to Circa. Once there, the majority of the group decided the line was too long and we shouldn't wait, and lead the expedition across the street to another bar. There, going in, are three guys from my former fraternity (yes, I was in one), which is about as random as I could hope to get. But once inside the bar (actually, I don't even make it in, I'm still shooting the shit with the guys I know outside), the group turns around and decides it's too crowded and we should go to another bar. This leads us to KT's.

About midway through the KT's stop, I decide I need to go to the bathroom. Having only been to the one in KT's once though (and that on Golf Night, no less), I'd much rather go someplace I'm comfortable, so I literally run across the street to City Tavern to use theirs. There, I see Chris behind the bar who makes me a free shot which I down before heading back to the party.

At about 1:30, people start heading home, which leads me to Pizza Pino, the site of the infamous KFC fight a few months back. A large half Greco/half Athens later (think artichoke hearts and garlic), I've successfully completed a fast food meal trifecta for the day, and wonder just how my stomach will feel in the morning.

Verdict: just fine. Up next: First baseball games of the season, and maybe, just maybe, Skylark.

Blue Scholars Live

{for all music related posts, see .Evolving.Music}

In all of the concerts of all the genres I've been to, hip-hop shows are by far the most risky to go to. More than most genres, hip-hop shows can be extremely hit or miss depending on a variety of factors centered around the music and the group's preparation. At a hip-hop show, you're usually more likely to encounter sound issues, poor crowd interaction, truncated songs or artists who just didn't put enough time into rehearsing their material, sometimes needing to ad lib or cut songs short because they don't know all the words. Great hip-hop shows consist of a solid mixmatch of a setlist, rappers who know their words and can interact well with the crowd, good music and fantastic energy. Luckily, the past several hip-hop shows I've been to have been on the stellar end of things, and Tuesday night's performance by Blue Scholars at The Independent in San Francisco fit perfectly into this string of good shows.

For those that don't know Blue Scholars, you can check out my write-up of their sound and style in Putting Emerald City on the Map. It's safe to say that they're one of the most musically and lyrically diverse groups on the hip-hop scene right now, and the combination of Geologic's in-depth and personal lyrics with Sabzi's unique and multi-faceted understanding of various genres makes Blue Scholars and Bayani two different and fantastic albums. Of course, having never seen them before in concert, and knowing of the historically wildly unpredictable transformation of hip-hop groups from studio CD to live performance, I went out to The Independent last night not sure what to expect.

What I got was an amazingly positive and energetic set centered around fantastic lyricism and incredibly well put together musical mixes. At the beginning, I was concerned because one of the fastest ways to tank a hip-hop show is when no one in the crowd knows you, and they did not appear to be as enthusiastically received as I would have liked. Being the opener for GZA doing a full rendition of the renowned classic Liquid Swords album, Blue Scholars had their work cut out for them. But from the minute they took the stage, you got the feeling that their energy was going to be a train, and you could jump on or get run down. Visually, the hip-hop of Geologic's baggy clothes and zip-up hoodie contrasted nicely with the more indie look of Sabzi's glasses and button-up shirt. It's a good feeling when one part of a duo introduces the other as "my partner in music."They started with a song that used the guitar rift most recently heard in Green Day's "Hitch a Ride."

For the rest of this concert review, see "Blue Scholars and GZA at The Independent." Below are two clips from the show, although the camera mic distorted the louder portions a bit...

Magnificent Movies of March (9)

Movies slowed down last month, but all for good reason as Skylark was in full bloom every Monday, track season is underway and we had the ridiculously awesome birthday party for T. But, on the positive side, all the movies were excellent, so who can complain?

3: Young Cesar
4: The Lives of Others
12: Bender's Big Score
16: Steel Toes
18: Pulp Fiction
19: Get Shorty
20: Primer
23: Rounders
24: Blood Diamond