Summertime Fun (with delays)

The Chef & I are back from our whirlwind trip to the Midwest -- where we had healthy chunks of time spent with friends and family -- and (in between the celebrating) lots of waiting around at airports.

On arrival we had our usual high drama travel luck. We were nearly halfway there until this announcement. "We are now in a holding pattern over Sioux Falls. The control tower at O'Hare has just been evacuated due to chance of tornadoes and the threat of high winds blowing out the glass windows. If we are not able to continue to Chicago we will land in Rockford, IL to refuel."

"Wow!" I said to the chef "That's a lot of drama in one announcement. tornadoes! exploding glass! control tower evacuation! running out of gas! Rockford!"

Luckily, we were finally able to land in Chicago (whew) only to sit around for our flight to CWA to be cancelled. No one was going anywhere that night. All the hotels were booked up around the airport and they set up cots next to the baggage claim. Outside of the security area!

I took this picture (below) from the sidewalk while we were waiting (for another hour) for a cab ride to take us to an overpriced hotel downtown with our new desperate fare splitting traveler friend from Bimidge, MN. The Chef & I were happy to sleep in a real bed with four walls and a shower that night (minus the streetside view).

Mothers are always right.

I am resisting sending my mother the e-mail that proves that something she KNOWS she "e-mailed me about" was NOT in the e-mail that she actually sent me. She is unaware that one of the purposes of e-mail is to verify these sorts of claims.

Why? Because mothers are always right. I'll just nod and agree, "mmhmmm" and say that I must have forgotten all about it.

Max Roach

Thanks to Lutinna Iam, I once shook the hand of a legend. His name was Max Roach. I could feel the magic gravity of history in his handshake. Then I watched while Max Roach smiled and patiently autographed a giant stack of his vinyl recordings, at the fanboy request of Lutinna Iam (who was more nervous and starstruck than I had ever seen him!). In those brief moments, Max Roach was gracious and kind -- a real "cool cat".

When people ask me if I have ever met anyone famous -- I say, well, once I shook the hand of Max Roach (and another time I gave Michael Gerald from Killdozer a ride home in my Chevy station wagon - the brown one with the fake wood paneling).

A salute to a musical legend who shook things up and made it sound good.

Chicken John for Mayor

Chicken John is running for Mayor of San Francisco. Pirate Cat Radio (specifically Pixie) threw a fundraising dinner for him on Thursday night. We were invited by Dr. & Mrs. Virus and decided to attend (despite our reservations about PCR djs cooking). I'm now on the books as a San Franciscan who donated money to the Vote for Chicken campaign.

The dinner party was at his house -- aka Chez Poulet. That alone, totally worth the price of admission. Chicken John lives in a cool loft, and he has an old dog who came out to join the festivities. Plus, pie! I like pie.

I'm happy to support Chicken John for Mayor -- nice guy, good food and maybe the most important reason, he's covered every inch of his bathroom with vinyl lps. Even the ceiling.

Initially I thought I would support Chicken John and vote for Gavin, but now I believe that I will use my vote to help Chicken John slide into second place on the art & innovation platform. Chicken John for Mayor!!

Musical Saw Sunday

Who can resist the allure of a musical saw? We drove down to Felton (in the Santa Cruz Mountains) today to witness a whole mess of 'em at the Saw Players Music Festival.


It was quite amazing -- musical saw players of all ages and hipster levels - including the mighty saws below played by fellows who used mallets to bonk out the melody.

At the end of the afternoon, all of the saw players (who were left) sat in a circle and played "Auld Lang Syne" in unison.

Rock Mama -- we needed you here to represent some Mae Rae saw playing magic. Maybe next year when you are not busy planning your big party. We can't wait!

Breakfast View

This is Sweetpea's favorite place to sit. All curled up while the Chef eats his porridge.

Heroes

Another update on a past event. Back on a Saturday afternoon when the Chef & I were grocery shopping and someone ran into the store and shouted "Call 911!" Soon our panic shopping ice cream was melting in the car while we waited for the crime scene tape to be removed from the parking lot. Can you believe what whiners we are? Because while we thought it was bad timing to be grocery shopping -- there was lots of good timing going down that day. There were three people who were in the right place at the right time (one an emergency medical doctor who I'm guessing was checking out with his groceries as we entered the store.) If not for them, that girl probably would have died.

I didn't think of it at the time that the ambulances rolled in, but it's now I'm thinking of you paramedic e11a and knowing that you would have and could have done the exact same thing.

All hail the real-life heroes!

Missing Fionn

Remember my story of how the Chef & I (drinking pints with M&N) heard Fionn Regan being played in a bar in Galway? It put me on a quest to track down "The End of History" CD in London only to rave about it to everyone (and their aunt) on our return.

Well, it turns out (duh) that I'm not his only fan -- Fionn Regan was recently nominated for a Mercury Prize award in the UK and his CD was finally released in the U.S. to great acclaim. When the Chef & I went to see him on Saturday night we were kind of hoping we would be the only ones there because he was the opening act for two bands we had never heard of. However, we were informed by the beefy bouncers that the show was SOLD OUT and we had to go home with big frowns on our faces.

If Fionn Regan comes to your town -- buy tickets in advance.

Best Stencil Sign Ever