A Call From Up North

Lots of interesting developments shaping up. They involve Portland, Oregon and an airplane flight. More later.

Love Those Saturday Mornings

Saturday morning, feeling fine.

Another mellow week gone by. Got some interesting phone calls that I'll delve into at a later date. Some interesting developments may be taking place.

I cleaned the fridge out today. Entirely. Real proud. Real clean. It was quite the living petri dish. It wasn't that bad I guess, it just needed a good spit-shine.

Back From Salt Lake

Lots of Olympic fervor out there. There is an interesting air of excitement, promise and pride when you are around the event areas. The security was pretty intense. Lots of fuzz stationed in intersections and different checkpoints. You feel secure up there, which is good for the crowds. Downtown Park City was worth the tortuous commute. Rose and I prowled the strip hunting for treasures. And no, I couldn't get my hands on one of those god damn Roots berets. We saw Modest Mouse the last night. It was pretty good, they looked like they were enjoying themselves. I found myself singing along more than once.

The SNOWBOARDER house was exactly as I had expected: Bunch of dudes, killing time in front of a TV, going out for meals, standing around bars at night, etc. Same old shit. Got to know a couple new kids: Zimmerman, Cavan, Kramer and Durst. Good people.

On the DDC front: Rose and I are gearing up for some site improvements. Where do i find the time? I don't know, and I don't give a fuck what it takes. I'll find it, and you bet, it'll be one hell of an ordeal.

Glad to be back. Missed the gal real bad. We're saving our duckets, paying off the man and enjoying ourselves in this this Orange County hellhole.

Oh yeah, we saw the lead singer from the Offspring at Wahoo's today. Jesus H. Christ, I almost went up to the fucker to give him my two cents. But y'know, wanton negativity isn't cool. I'll bet that fucker has more people coming up to him to kiss his "OC punk" ass , praising the action sport anthems they churn out. I'd ljust like to see his reaction when someone says, "Man, you guys sure do create a lot of garbage." Upon speculation, Rose yelled, "You that guy from the Offspring?", he slowly nodded and said, "Yeah." We had a good laugh. I remember getting my final issue of SPIN in the mail awhile back, so digusted by seeing his face on the cover I just ripped it in half and left it in the recycle bin.

Ryno got a new rig. Gold served him well. She'll be missed. Good work on the new wheels.

Congrats to Rose on his new gig. He's heading over to the Jeenyus/Forum/Special Blend/Foursquare camp for some web work and marketing work. I'm really proud of him in his new adventure. They don't know what they are in for. Done.

Female Appreciation

Here's the deal: I've got a good woman.

Let me take this chance to thank my gal Melissa for being real good to me on way too many levels. I dig the girl a bunch and often forget to thank her for everything. She's of good stock, take my word for it, built by good people in the Midwest. She's a good eater, a lover of animals and not afraid to stand up to ogres like myself. I'm glad she's out here with me. We're a team. Hell, she's lucky to have me, come to think about it.

Thanks Melissa, for everything.

Truth Hurts. Truth Nags.

Missing home real bad. Real tired of this fucking place.

Over The Mountains, Toward The East

We kicked Temecula's ass today.

Rose and I headed east over the mountains into the high desert for some "mantiqueing." (Dudes, shopping for treasures, to those out of the loop.) We came up with some tasty little items too. Not the biggest catch, but worthy of hi-fives and boastful chatter. Fun was had by all. It was 82 degrees over there.

Woke Up In The West...

Farrar was in town.

Jay Farrar played the Belly Up in Solana Beach on Monday night, and the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano last night. Rose and I were there for both nights. Bridges and Sherowski joined us for the Coach House gig.

What can I say about a Farrar show? He's not known for his "on-stage antics." Hell, he doesn't have any. He's humble, with simple monotone offerings of "Thanks" in between every other song. He comes out, plays the songs, does an encore or two and calls it a night. I can't really say I enjoy the show, but it's almost as if I'm out there for other reasons I can't put my finger on. Maybe I'm just there to give thanks to the guy. He's way up there on my list, and I don't know if I can put into words what those tunes mean to me. There are a couple tunes that just sort of have an effect on me.

They remind me of home. They remind me of Minneapolis. They remind me of the freedom of the open road and sadness of a Midwestern town. They remind me of the uncanny sameness of Middle America. All in a good way, transcending the bullshit California offers.

So I won't try to pitch the Farrar show as some big spectacle. Not even close. Just a guy and his songs. Sometimes that's all I need.

Mark Spencer accompanied him on guitar. He provided the twang for the night. I was impressed. Brian Henneman from the Bottle Rockets opened each night. It was good to see him. Ryno and I saw the Bottle Rockets one time in Minneapolis. They were amazing. Tom Parr wouldn't sing. No big whup. They make me want to check out Festus, Missouri.

I miss that Midwest real bad.

Back from Vegas.

Another success wrapped up, one for the books.

1. Saw some amazing graphics, saw some piss-poor ones too.
2. Rose was in fine form. The best was his "walk up to some chump and grab his beer trick." Only Rose knows how to walk that line.
3. The Transworld Awards were fucking pathetic. Incestuous garbage. I feel sorry for them. Trying too hard to make something out of nothing. Nothing is what it was. Kevin Jones and Tara Dakides took the "Top Honors" for the night. Jesus Christ, what a couple of dolts. You'd think with all the coverage, attention and money thrown at those scrubs they would work up some sort of schtick. Nope, the same ol' "I'm drunk and don't care, mumble into the mic" bullshit. What did I expect? You can't make something out of nothing.
4. Saw the Strokes. Garbage. Bullshit NYC schtick. Go home.
5. Saw Social Distortion. Songs about Orange County. Mike Ness looks like he's about 60 years old. More songs about Orange County. Drank a bunch of watered down beers. Thanks to Embry for the drink flow.
6. The hunting tradeshow next door was pretty entertaining. The Nuge was there spraying about this and that. Complete goon. Lots of camo and orange. Made me homesick for the upper Midwest.>
7. Lots of giant dinners that involved kissin' asses of our advertisers. Thanks to Chief for the amazing meals. I'm still full from everything.
8. Good people list: Styk + Fank from Ride, Jessica from NYC, JAred Jeenyus, Oli Roy, Mike Dawson from Nitro, Tucker Fransen from M3, Mikey LeBlanc and his 162 graphic, the Analog catalog designers, Michaylira, Lanningham and his Richards graphic (excellent!), Baker on the mechanical bull, Brunkhardt's coy cynicism, Galbraith, Guba the great, Brad from Never Summer and other fuckers.

Thanks to SNOWBOARDER for a good week in Vegas.