i like drab blue

have you seen them… l.a. county lifeguard towers have been getting a facelift. during the whole month of may i made bi-weekly treks up to ventura doing a little family job. pch is a very familiar stretch for me. not much changes along this 27 miles of scenic beauty, except the towers. i watched the railings and planks get painted bright red, yellow, green and blue. all that driving gave me plenty of time to ponder the county’s game plan. was it some sort of nod to miami. or maybe del taco was donating some upkeep, saving our cash strapped state and getting some free advertising in the process.

then yesterday while stealing a little me time, i saw the final step in the process. they were installing panels over the exterior. it read “summer of color”. a quick search revealed that it is the portraits of hope project. when complete some 100 guard towers will be painted to become the largest public art project in the u.s.

i’m all for humanitarian endeavors, cool art and keeping our beaches beautiful, but i would have commissioned patchie to put a little more ‘stoke’ into it. check out his stuff here too. he gets it. {yep – nobody asked me}

memorial weekend is here! in my mind that means summer time!! the date for poker has changed to June 19th. more details soon.

ever have a lame song stuck in your head

and you can't stop singing it.
that’s how i feel about the lost finale. days have passed and i’m still milling it over in my mind. hello my name is shawn and i am a lostaholic.

they were dead. it was purgatory. i think. i thought we thought that from the beginning? the writers were lost and it took them six seasons {time i'll never get back} to come clean. what about hurly’s numbers, ben and witmore’s rules, the dude in jacob’s cabin, why was the island under water (in a flash which-way), dharma initiative in the seventies, walt and the bird, or elloise hawkins? was there even an island when newheart woke up. i think i got the seinfeld-esque scene with the cast in the jail cell. but, as the plane flew off there was no ‘goodbye’ spelled out in the sand (ala mash). i would have settled for ‘sucker’.

i blogged it {that must mean i’ve hit bottom} if there is a spin off – it better be survivor lost island.

here’s how the music event played out:
1st m.c. 5pts
2nd j.s. 4pts +1 discretionary schwag point for oldest ticket stub and coolest poster
3rd m.b. 3pts
4th r.b. 1pts +1 with a bullet point
a.l. 1 pts + 1 discretionary schwag point for coolest ticket stub
s.m. 1 pts +1 discretionary schwag point for album cover and vintage t-shirt
d.f. 1 pt
j.b. 1 pt
j.d. 1 pt
j.p. 1 pt
p.n. 1 pt

you rock jeff!

off the richter

there have been a lot of earthquakes in so cal lately. if you check out the latest usgs map, you’ll see california looks like a hasbro lightbright board. in fact, there were 24 earthquakes 3.5 or greater in the past thirty days. i may have felt a few or at least i’ve heard about them on the news. they say, “it’s not a matter of if, but when.” dr.lucy from cal tech is always on the news right after any trembler big enough (or on a slow news day) to make the airwaves explaining up thrust or plate slippage. along with a bunch of telephone interviews of random people showing videos of their chandelier swaying or pool sloshing. every one of them exaggerating what they experienced. i am not prepared. no flash light (with batteries), fresh water (other than whatever is left in the last arrowhead case we bought), or transistor radio (do they even make them anymore). we’ve got some canned goods, an extra tank of propane and my camping gear that is just collecting dust in storage. i don’t even know if any of my items are on the preparedness list, but it makes me feel safe.

scientists say they can not predict earthquakes. i’m no scientist, but based on the tectnonic data i’ve complied (in the ten minutes i’ve spent on this post), calculating seismic activity, depths and trajectories. incorporating the median responses from my magic eight ball divisible by the radius of pi and the square root of ouija board answers indivisible with liberty and justice for all… i’m going to go out on a limb and predict the high probability of a large magnitude quake on saturday, may 23rd at 3pm. the epicenter will be at vinny’s pizza on franklin and main.

hey ho let's go to vinny's

thirty plus years ago four guys in leather jackets and torn jeans stepped out on the stage at cbgb’s and "1.2.3.4" changed music forever. today, the ramones are considered one of the most influential bands in rock and roll history. spin magazine ranked them as the second greatest band of all time just after the beatles. it has been said that the band's first four albums set the blueprint for punk rock and american hardcore. 3 cords, 21 albums and 2263 shows later their sound and style live on forever. fast loud and catchy says it all.

speaking of style- i may be pushing it but check out some ramone-a-likes

 skinny jean ramone

emo ramone

  

        howy ramone

ronson ramone

carrot ramone

if you listen to this song backwards you will clearly hear, "get your moty questions to jeff."

moty may event

when - sat, 22 may, 3-6 pm
where - the patio, el segundo
what - music trivia and related discussion

format - mc responsibilities will rotate among the group. mc will ask a round of questions drawn randomly from a deck of music "trivial pursuit" cards. each round will conclude with a bonus music-related question. running scores will be posted at the end of each round. we play as many rounds as there are participants. top 3 overall scores get moty points, everyone else gets participation points. discretionary points will be awarded by the event coordinator (js). criteria for discretionary points includes (must bring these to the event):

- best vintage concert t-shirt
- oldest concert ticket stub
- best album cover
- best music poster

note - bonus questions can be a little more open-ended and subjective. they're designed to elicit between-round discussion and break up the monotony of drinking beer. examples might include things like:

- if you could go back it time, what show would you see?
- what is the best show you ever saw? why?

we're asking participants to submit ideas for bonus questions prior to the event. send them to js. you will be allowed to answer your own question so submitting them increases your chances of being asked a question where you actually know the answer.

see ya then!

a mother’s day haiku

amazing woman
juggle family and friends
with the greatest ease

cuddle with the kids
kisses make it all better
selflessly you give

you follow my thoughts
as if they could be your own
offbeat as they are

the house will be clean
the fridg will be full and the
flowers are for you

celebrate the moms in your life, because without them we couldn't be dads.

con orgullo

in honor of cino de mayo we queued up a little latin music. i made tacos for dinner and my wife and i drank five coronita’s. my reasoning for the meal was, well, the ground beef expired yesterday (don’t tell her about that. she strongly believes there is no wiggle room to that ‘use by' date). and the 7oz coronas just happen to be because she inadvertently bought them a while ago and we had a lime.   tomorrow, my intension to commemorate the historical significance of mexico’s victory over the french at the battle of puebla in 1862. some, in the latino community, object to weto marketers spending millions to reinvent the day turning it into a drinking holiday, which further perpetuates an already damaged cultural stereotype.

{hold up… what about st. patrick’s day and the irish? or halloween and kids (of legal drinking age of course)?? and the fourth of july with all americans??? and then there’s new years eve and the entire world???? – stop the bus. i’m getting off.}  i'll remember by day and fiesta at night.  who’s up for some el tarasco or panchos? i haven’t had a dirty maggie for a while

next event: MUSIC is scheduled for may 23rd. details to follow