Wilco at the Winery

Monty @ the Beach

First stop - North Beach

Second Stop -- Fort Funston

Monty and his dachshund friend.

These ears block out the Golden Gate Bridge view.

x

The Chef + Monty

Definitely Monty

First day on lap!

What is going on in there?

Monty and rawhide stick blur.

New favorite toy.

Monty Woolley indeed (beard + eyebrows, thanks Kim!)

New Arrival

Um, today the chef & I adopted a new member of the family. We've been talking about it for years -- and, well, we saw this picture, agreed immediately and filled out an online application at wonderdogrescue.org. Right now we are crossing our fingers that the cats will come out of the bedroom eventually and bond with their new little brother -- a 6 month old dachshund norwalk terrier mix with giant ears. He likes to sit on laps. So far, no hissing! We are thinking Marty -- for Martin Scorsese, he of the legendary eyebrows.

Turboprop

The turboprop outside my window from CWA to Minneapolis. Doesn't it look fake?

Concert Spree

The last few weeks have been full of amazing live music. Starting with an evening of exotic dinosaur serenades -- Dengue Fever performing the score to "The Lost World" @ the Castro Theater.

Friday: Hauschka + Magik Magik Orchestra @ Swedish American Hall. Highlights - the charming story behind the song written for all the women in his life with gaps between their front teeth. Also, the bag of ping pong balls dropped upon the piano strings.

Monday: The Vaselines -- touring twenty+ years after their debut release. Biggest surprise, Francis McKee's onstage patter descends into filth more than just a few times. Who knew? I'm just now connecting the dots to song titles like "Rory Rides Me Raw". They look so innocent!

Thursday: Steve Earle instore @ Amoeba -- who, along with strumming his guitar, shared many great stories about his friendship with Townes Van Zandt. Did you know that Townes' biggest influences were Robert Frost & Lightnin' Hopkins? Steve Earle said that ("for years") anyone who didn't immediately understand this he just didn't have time for (and dramatically shrugged) but it sounded as if this was still the case.

HomemadeTreasures

Isn't it cheeky to complain about faux-birthday blues when I'm showered with such amazing treasures? Thanks to Mrs. Virus and Kim Bitter for these wonders. I am adding them to my altar of happiness.

...and I shall name you, um Daisy Navel?

...Jonboy L. sends birthday greetings by jumping out of a cake AND music inside (OMG!)

Reclaiming April

In April there was more than this: Thursday Drink Night, Masa mistake, balsamic ice cream in the Mission, Easter Egg 3 o'clock, faux-birthday, strawberry rhubarb pie in Pescadero, sock monkey pillowcases, airport shoeshine, flying business class upgrade with a ringer for Dick Cheney, hanging out at Juilliard, the Romanian violinist who pleaded "I must go outside and walk around in this country!", staying up all night waiting for videos to upload, Ms. Eiko on toy piano, box seat at Carnegie Hall, bonding with a member of the Vienna Philharmonic about our mother's shared birthdays (Hitler's Birthday!), secret burger hide-out at the hotel, vloggers!, six tickets to a millionaire's party only to have to be rescued from the bouncer, taxi rides, orchestra rehearsals, almost getting shushed by the Maestro, documentary crews, press conferences, work overload, 30 minutes in Central Park, open mic night, girls night out at the Crab Shack!, 9th wedding anniversary, tulips!, melt card, romance-aquarium dinner splash, garage door lunch, anticipating Napa -- and so happy to be home.

post-symphony text

sent 4/16 at 1:23AM:
I have six tickets to millionairrew partuy do you want to gop ?

Annual Egg Party 3 o'clock

Indigo is victorious egg boxing champeen. It was a draw!

Joe visits SF

The day after I returned from SXSW....Joe came to visit us! We took him to the Broken Record - one of our new favorite spots in the not-yet-so-trendy Excelsior District. On our first try, we interrupted the weekly "Trivia Night". Everyone was focused on tallying their answers to random incomplete phrases being read from a microphone (really) and, even stranger, the kitchen was closed! However we returned a few nights later on Joe's request -- he couldn't stop thinking about the sausages.

Afterwards, a regular stop on our tour == Mitchell's.

Joe opted for the exotic UBE flavor. That's purple yam ice cream. Also, we discovered that Mitchell's had remodeled since our last tour -- new marble counter tops and they took away the bankteller-esque high plastic screens. We can't decide if this is an improvement.

Joe didn't care about any of that --but he did like the ice cream. Purple!

SXSW '09

SXSW 2009

Nonstop fun in Austin, Texas. MUSIC, kebabalicious, j. langford fix, mad laughter, nice label folks who listen to Pacifica radio, Reivers + 22 yrs, La Bl0g0teque intro, riot grrrl in the elevator, Daniel J., BBQ, ponytail joy and pinata candy, and a rockin' the chair heads gone astray reunion.

I've already booked a room for next year. See you there? Think about it!

Kim Bitter Birthday

A Happy Birthday to the one & only Kim Bitter --

...and here's to many more years of Rockin' The Chair!

Daniel J.

After all those years collecting the home made tapes in the '80s,

...last week in Austin I finally saw Daniel Johnston perform.

Daniel sang one of my all-time favorites. I forgot that I don't approve of people singing along at concerts while I sang along.

I was in such a blissful state, I wasn't even bothered by the guy in front of me with the fuzzy hairdo.

For the rest of you "learning to cope with the emotionless mediocrity of day to day living", here's another gem.

Last Night In Austin, TX

Being showered with candy by Ponytail!

Pea Portrait

Watermelon Radish

Saturday Farmer's Market Find -- Watermelon Radish. Mmmmmm.

Holy Street View

The current scene on the street where we live.
Who needs a front yard?